Ahce's POV
The moment the Duke placed the blindfold over my eyes, I felt the air shift.
"Remember, Ahce," his voice was calm, but the weight of his words pressed on my chest, "the test is not meant to measure strength, but survival. Every heir of the Pentecase family faces the same path, alone. You either return with the blood awakened… or not at all."
Those words echoed in my mind long after the ground beneath me vanished.
When the blindfold was removed, the world had changed.
I was standing in the middle of a vast forest, no, a living labyrinth of shadows and mysteries. The trees towered endlessly into the night sky, their roots coiled like serpents beneath my feet.
The air smelled damp and old, and even the wind seemed to carry a thrilling heartbeat. There was no moon, yet faint lights flickered in the darkness, tiny, glowing fruits clinging to vines that twisted up the trunks like veins.
I touched one. It was warm. They were filled with energy.
