Noctis's POV:
The doorway pulsed like a dying star.
Unstable.
Flickering.
Hungry.
The Haven groaned behind us, walls cracking, sap dripping in slow, heavy drops. The air tasted wrong — thin, metallic, like the moment before a storm breaks.
And beneath it all, the Hollow whispered.
"Little… one…"
Rielun flinched.
My wings snapped open before I could think, shadows curling around his legs, his wrists, anywhere I could reach. Rowan stepped forward too, staff glowing, protective in that steady, infuriating way of his.
The others formed a loose circle — Aeris's wind spiraling sharp and anxious, Elias's sigils flickering, Sylas's vines trembling with wilted blossoms.
Then the doorway spoke.
"Choose who enters with you."
The Haven's voice was fading, but the command was unmistakable.
Aeris moved first, wind snapping around him. "It should be me. I can get him out if things go wrong."
Elias shook his head. "This is a heart‑trial. You need someone who understands the First Guardian's lore."
Sylas stepped closer, vines curling around Rielun's wrist. "He needs grounding. He needs someone who can keep him steady."
They were all wrong.
I already knew the truth.
Rowan did too.
We didn't speak.
We didn't argue.
We didn't ask permission.
We stepped forward at the same time.
Rielun looked between us — wide‑eyed, overwhelmed, pulled in two directions he didn't know how to choose between.
But the Haven chose for him.
The doorway pulsed.
And swallowed the three of us whole.
The world reformed into a chamber made of fractured light and drifting petals — a place that felt like a memory trying to hold itself together.
The air shimmered with whispers.
Footsteps.
Breaths.
A heartbeat that wasn't ours.
Rowan steadied himself first, staff glowing faintly. "Stay close."
I didn't wait for him to finish.
I moved to Rielun's side, shadows curling around his wrist like a promise I didn't know how to break. "I'm not letting you out of my sight."
His breath shook. "I know."
The chamber pulsed again.
A heartbeat.
Not mine.
Not Rowan's.
Not Rielun's.
The heart.
I felt it like a cold hand pressed to my spine.
Rowan felt it like a spell.
Rielun felt it like a memory.
The petals on the floor shifted, forming a path deeper into the chamber
A silhouette flickered at the far end of the hall.
Kneeling.
Shaking.
Hands pressed to the floor.
The First Guardian.
Not whole.
Not alive.
Not dead.
A memory caught in a loop.
Rowan's breath hitched. "This is the moment he broke."
I hated how gentle his voice sounded.
My shadows flared. "He's calling Rielun again."
Rielun took a step forward — not willingly but pulled.
I grabbed his arm.
Rowan grabbed the other.
The pull intensified.
The chamber trembled.
The First Guardian's voice cracked through the air.
"My heart… my heart… where is my heart…"
Rielun gasped, knees buckling.
Rowan caught him.
I steadied him.
The echo lifted its head.
Its eyes were hollow.
Its voice was a whisper of grief.
"Bring it back to me…"
My wings tightened around Rielun instinctively.
I didn't trust this memory.
I didn't trust this trial.
I didn't trust the First Guardian.
I trusted only him.
The chamber split into three paths.
One of light.
One of shadow.
One of memory.
Rowan's grip tightened. "This is a triad trial."
I hissed softly. "It's designed to separate us."
Rielun shook his head. "We stay together."
But the trial didn't care.
The paths pulsed.
Light tugged Rowan.
Shadow tugged me.
Memory tugged Rielun.
The First Guardian's voice echoed again.
"Only those who share a heart may walk the same path."
My breath caught.
Rowan froze.
Rielun's pulse stuttered beneath my fingers.
The chamber waited.
The paths pulsed again.
And the trial demanded an answer.
Who shares Rielun's heart?