Time Remaining: 42:00:00
Phase 1 Active
Players Remaining: 8
Second Trial Approaching…
For the next 24 hours, no one slept.
Even those who pretended to rest didn't.
How could we?
The Graveyard was quiet—for now. But the air buzzed like something hungry was waiting beneath the surface. Watching us through the cracks.
Me? I was sitting against a crumbling statue of Hades, soul still echoing from everything Julia said:
Descendant.
Olympus is fallen.
Zeus is dead.
And I was some kind of legacy waiting to explode.
No pressure.
Across the graveyard, I spotted the others.
Keon sharpening his blade.
Vix juggling daggers with her eyes closed.
Orion meditating, surrounded by glowing bones.
Even Trinity, now awake, watching me from the other side of the field.
She'd arrived an hour ago—teleported into the trial space with a flash of flame and silver. Her Mark had awakened on its own.
We hadn't spoken yet.
Too much unsaid.
The sky cracked.
Thunder without lightning.
A voice—low and final—rippled across the arena.
"Trial Two Initiated."
"Fate will not favor the slow."
Black mist erupted from the ground, forming four zones. Each lit by different energy:
A forest of thorns.
A hall of mirrors.
A collapsing bridge over lava.
A frozen battlefield with falling glass.
And hovering above them, glowing gold:
[Catalyst: CHOOSE]
Everyone turned to me.
I stepped forward.
The choice is mine.
I chose the Hall of Mirrors.
Instantly, five of us were dragged into it.
Me.
Trinity.
Keon.
A Watcher girl named Rina.
And a boy I didn't recognize—but his energy felt wrong.
The Hall shimmered.
Endless reflections.
Thousands of versions of ourselves.
But not all of them were us.
Some of the reflections moved on their own.
This place is a mind trap.
Then it began.
Trinity vanished.
The lights cut in half.
The boy I didn't recognize drew two scythes and lunged at Keon.
"WATCH OUT!"
Keon blocked, barely, but the kid was fast. Something was off about him—like he wasn't fully alive. His eyes were too gray, his body too perfect in motion.
He didn't speak. Just fought.
No hesitation.
No emotion.
And then—
Keon slipped.
One blade sank deep into his gut.
He gasped, eyes wide.
Blood poured.
I screamed.
"KEON!"
But he smiled through it. "It's fine…"
He pulled the kid close.
Grabbed one of his soul threads.
"Tell Vix…"
"I never missed a shot."
He ripped the thread.
A shockwave burst out.
Both he and the attacker disintegrated.
[Player Keon – Eliminated]
[Player Idran – Eliminated]
Players Remaining: 6
I fell to my knees.
Anger roared through me.
Trinity reappeared beside me. Her eyes burned white-hot. She saw it happen.
"Was he—?"
"Yeah."
She grabbed my shoulder. "You can't let this break you."
I nodded.
Then stood.
I looked up into the Hall's reflection ceiling.
Thousands of Keons staring down at me.
All of them… fading.
The voice returned.
"Round Two complete."
"Final Ranking in Progress…"
A new notification:
[You have made your first sacrifice.]
Path Locked: Soulbound Echo]
Catalyst Tree - Branch Chosen.
Your fate is no longer random.
I walked out of the trial chamber with blood on my hands.
And a weight on my soul.
The Game had just claimed its first ally.
And I would make sure it remembered what it took from me.