The floor beneath their feet was no longer marble.
It glowed.
Deep crimson, like molten metal breathing under glass.
Elaris felt it first — a pressure tightening around her wrists. Then her ankles. Then her chest.
Chains.
They erupted from the floor without sound, wrapping around all three of them with cruel precision. Cold. Heavy. Alive.
Kael swore under his breath as iron locked around his forearms. Xyren barely flinched, eyes already scanning patterns, angles, exits.
Above them, the silver-masked phantom watched from nothingness.
Its voice echoed, calm and merciless.
"Welcome to the second trial."
The chains pulsed.
"With every lie… they tighten."
Elaris sucked in a sharp breath as the metal constricted around her ribs. Pain bloomed — not sharp, but suffocating, like being buried alive.
Kael tested his chains with brute force.
They didn't move.
The phantom continued, almost amused.
"Truth is the only blade here."
Silence followed. Thick. Dangerous.
Elaris's heart thundered. She could feel Kael beside her — tense, restrained — and Xyren just behind, unnaturally still.
Then it started.
The floor flared brighter.
Elaris gasped as her chains pulled tighter, forcing her to her knees.
Images flashed in the air — reflections, not of bodies, but of thoughts.
Her own voice echoed back at her, distorted.
Machine. Weapon. Tool.
Her wings flickered — silver light stuttering like a dying signal.
The phantom spoke again.
"Speak, Winged One."
Elaris clenched her jaw.
"I don't—"
The chains slammed inward.
Pain ripped through her chest.
Kael's head snapped toward her. "Elaris."
She swallowed hard. Her hands trembled.
Slowly, she spoke.
"I'm afraid…"Her voice cracked, and the chains responded — vibrating, listening."I'm afraid that no one will ever love me for who I am."
The words tasted raw.
"Only for what I can do."
For a heartbeat, nothing happened.
Then—
The chains loosened.
Just a little.
Elaris collapsed forward, gasping, palms against the glowing floor.
Kael stared at her, something dark and unreadable in his eyes.
The phantom turned.
"Next."
The chains around Kael flared.
He laughed once, sharp and humorless.
"You want truth?" he muttered. "Fine."
The metal dug into his wrists, drawing blood.
"I hate that I was born into a cage," he said."I hate that every choice I make feels like it was decided before I breathed."
The chains rattled violently.
"I envy her," he continued, nodding toward Elaris."Because she chooses who she becomes."
Silence.
Then—
The chains around Kael shattered.
Fragments dissolved into sparks before hitting the floor.
Elaris looked up, stunned.
Kael didn't look at her. His jaw was tight. His chest rose and fell like he'd just survived a war.
Only one set of chains remained.
Xyren.
They had wrapped tighter around him than the others. Throat. Spine. Heart.
The phantom lingered.
"And you, artificial shadow?"
Xyren's lips curved into a faint smile.
"I was built to lie," he said calmly.
The chains tightened instantly, dragging him to one knee.
Elaris reached for him instinctively. "Xyren—"
He shook his head.
"I fear," he said, voice lowering,"that one day I won't be enough for you."
The chains trembled.
"That you'll outgrow me."
His smile faded.
"That you'll leave me behind."
For the first time, his voice broke.
"I was designed to protect you… but I'm terrified of becoming useless."
The chains exploded.
Light burst across the crimson floor like lightning.
Xyren collapsed forward, catching himself with one hand. For a moment, he didn't move.
Then he laughed softly. "Huh. Still here."
The phantom was silent.
The floor dimmed.
Chains melted back into the ground like blood returning to a wound.
The trial was over.
Elaris pushed herself up and crossed the distance to Xyren, gripping his shoulder.
"You're not useless," she said fiercely. "You never were."
Kael turned away, exhaling slowly.
The phantom's voice returned — colder now.
"You have passed the second trial."
The crimson floor began to crack.
"But truth has consequences."
A bridge of burning red light formed ahead of them, stretching over an endless void.
The phantom spoke one last line:
"The final trial awaits."
Elaris looked at the bridge.
Then at Kael.
Then at Xyren.
Something in her chest hardened.
Whatever came next—
They would face it together.