The cavern was silent, save for Alpha's ragged breaths. The faint glow of Dreamstones in his palm painted his face in cold light. Across from him, the Nameless Knight stood unmoving, its hollow sockets locked onto him.
For a moment, Alpha thought the lesson was finished. That the skeleton would simply resume its endless vigil. He turned to lay the stones by the wall—then the Knight moved.
Its broken blade rose, its rusted armor groaned, and the ground trembled beneath Alpha's feet.
Alpha froze. The Knight stepped forward, slow, deliberate. The sound of its boots struck like hammers in the cave.
"You…" Alpha whispered, clutching the shard tighter. His voice shook, but his stance did not falter. "You're not… just watching this time."
The Knight did not answer. It never did. Instead, it raised its weapon high and swung.
Alpha barely rolled aside, the strike carving deep into stone where he had stood. Dust rained down, sharp and choking. He scrambled to his feet, heart pounding.
This wasn't like the others. The skeletons had been weak, shambling, predictable. The Knight was precise. Its every move carried weight, purpose—like the memory of a swordsman who had once lived.
It came again, blade arcing toward his chest. Alpha lifted his shard to block. The clash rattled his arms to the bone, nearly tearing the weapon from his hands. The Knight's strength was monstrous, the force enough to drive him stumbling backward.
Alpha gasped, sweat dripping from his brow. He had no chance if he fought blindly. He had to remember. The lessons of stance. Of focus.
He steadied his feet. Drew a deep breath. His body screamed, but he forced it to obey.
The Knight's sockets flared faintly as if acknowledging the shift. Then it attacked again.
Alpha ducked beneath the swing, blade grazing his shoulder. Pain flared, but he ignored it. He stepped in, swinging his shard upward. The blow struck the Knight's ribs, sparks flying as bone and rust collided. It did not stagger. It did not even flinch.
The counterstrike came fast—a kick that caught Alpha square in the stomach. Air blasted from his lungs as he crashed against the cavern wall. He coughed blood, the taste of iron flooding his mouth.
His vision blurred. His body begged him to stay down.
But then he saw them. The Dreamstones, glowing faintly where they had fallen. Proof of what he had survived. Proof that he could survive again.
Alpha pushed himself up, spitting blood. His voice was hoarse, but steady.
"I'm… not dying here."
The Knight charged, blade raised for a final blow. Alpha met it head-on.
Their weapons clashed again and again, sparks flying with each strike. Alpha's arms trembled, his legs buckled, but he refused to fall. He shifted, just as the skeleton had taught him in silence—small pivots, weight balanced, eyes steady.
The Knight's strikes grew heavier, faster. Alpha's breath came in ragged bursts. Each clash was a storm battering him apart. But with each one, he learned.
Finally, in a desperate surge, Alpha stepped into the arc of the Knight's swing. Too close for the blade to cut. He rammed his shard upward, into the gap beneath its jaw. The strike landed with a crack, snapping bone.
The Knight staggered. Just once.
Alpha collapsed to his knees, his chest heaving, his vision swimming. He raised the shard again, though his arms barely obeyed. "Come on… come on then!"
But the Knight did not advance. It lowered its broken blade, the glow in its sockets dimming to a faint ember. Slowly, it sank back into stillness.
Alpha knelt there in silence, sweat and blood dripping onto the stone. His shard clattered from his hand. He had not won. Not truly. The Knight had chosen to stop.
But he had not been broken.
The Dreamstones pulsed faintly beside him, answering the pounding of his heart.
Alpha's lips curled into something between a grimace and a grin. He lay back on the cold floor, staring at the jagged ceiling. His whole body throbbed, but inside, deep beneath the pain, a fire smoldered.
The trial was not meant to kill him. It was meant to weigh him. And for the first time, he had not been found wanting.
In the silence that followed, Alpha closed his eyes. His body was weak. His spirit, less so. The Labyrinth whispered all around, but he did not fear it.
Not anymore.