Maya's POV
Pain woke me, but it was the voices that made me open my eyes.
"—glowing! Her eyes were glowing red!"
"She spoke in the Old Tongue. I recognized some words—"
"Is she possessed? Should we—"
"Touch her and lose your hand, hawk."
I blinked. Four worried faces stared down at me. Kael, Riven, Shen, and Torrin—all crowded around where I lay on furs. Their expressions ranged from concerned to terrified.
"What happened?" My voice came out scratchy. My head felt like someone had filled it with broken glass.
"You don't remember?" Shen asked carefully, like I was a bomb that might explode.
I tried to think. The battle. Varak's army. We'd won somehow. The stone guardian had appeared and—
The Heart Stone.
I sat up fast. Too fast. The world spun. "Where is it? The glowing rock the guardian gave me?"
Kael held it up, wrapped in cloth. Even through the fabric, I could see red light pulsing. "Maya, when you touched this, you changed. Your eyes went red and you spoke—"
"I know." The memory crashed back. That voice speaking through me. Ancient. Powerful. Not mine. "Three trials before the gate opens. Three keys before the darkness wakes."
I shivered. "I remember all of it. Hearing the words. Feeling something else inside my head." I looked at them. "But I don't know what it means."
"The Old Ones," Torrin said quietly. "My mother told me stories. Before the Beastworld became what it is, there were others here. Powerful beings who built gates between worlds." His eyes were serious. "They're supposed to be dead."
"Maybe they are," Shen said. "But their magic isn't. That stone is proof."
I stared at the glowing rock in Kael's hands. "The guardian called me a Key-bearer. Said I broke reality barriers coming here." My scientific mind tried to process impossible things. "What if I'm not just some random person who died and woke up here? What if something brought me here? On purpose?"
The four of them exchanged glances.
"For what purpose?" Riven asked.
"The prophecy mentioned trials. Keys. And darkness waking." I stood up, wobbling slightly. Kael steadied me. "What if there's something sealed away? Something that needs three keys to open? And I'm supposed to—"
"Absolutely not," Kael interrupted. "Whatever this prophecy wants, it can find someone else. You're not getting involved in ancient magical nonsense."
I would've laughed if I wasn't so scared. "I think I'm already involved. I'm the Key-bearer, remember? I don't think I get a choice."
"There's always a choice," he said firmly.
"Is there?" I gestured at the Heart Stone. "That thing is literally glowing with power. The guardian specifically gave it to me. And apparently, something dark is waiting to wake up. What happens if I ignore it? What if ignoring it makes things worse?"
Silence. Nobody had an answer.
Shen picked up the wrapped stone carefully. "The prophecy said the first trial begins with blood. What does that mean?"
"Nothing good," Riven muttered.
I reached for the stone. The moment my fingers touched the cloth, heat shot up my arm. Not painful—more like recognition. Like the stone knew me.
Images flashed through my mind. Fast. Disjointed.
A massive gate carved with symbols.
Three empty locks shaped like keyholes.
Darkness behind the gate, pressing against it, hungry.
Blood dripping onto stone.
My blood.
I gasped and pulled my hand back. "I saw something. A gate. Three locks. And blood—my blood—on stone."
"Your blood?" Kael's voice went dangerous. "No. Whatever this trial is, we're not letting you bleed for it."
"It might not be a literal sacrifice," I said, though I wasn't sure I believed that. "Maybe it's metaphorical? Like a blood oath or—"
The ground trembled.
We all froze. Not again. Not another creature.
But this was different. The trembling came from everywhere at once. The air grew heavy, pressing down on us. And from the Heart Stone came a sound—a low hum that made my teeth ache.
"It's reacting to something," Shen said, backing away.
The stone's glow intensified. Red light filled the shelter, painting everything crimson.
Then I heard it. A voice. Not speaking through me this time—speaking to me. Inside my head where nobody else could hear.
The first trial awaits, Key-bearer. Come to the Bleeding Stones at dawn. Come alone. Bring the Heart Stone. Your blood will open the first lock—or seal your fate.
"No," Kael said, even though he couldn't have heard the voice. He must've seen something in my face. "Whatever it's telling you, the answer is no."
"It wants me to go to the Bleeding Stones at dawn," I said. "Alone."
"Absolutely not!" All four of them spoke at once.
"I don't think I have a choice—"
"You do," Kael insisted. "We could run. Leave this valley. Go somewhere far away where ancient magic can't find us."
"Can we?" I looked at each of them. "The guardian said worse things are coming. That I'm a crack in reality. If I run, does that make it better or worse? What if whatever's sealed behind that gate is already waking up because I'm here? What if the only way to stop it is to complete these trials?"
"Or," Riven said darkly, "completing the trials opens the gate and releases something terrible. Did you think of that?"
I had. I'd been thinking of little else. "Then I need to understand what I'm dealing with. I need to go to the Bleeding Stones and find out what this trial actually is."
"Not alone," Torrin said firmly. "If you go, we go."
"The voice said—"
"I don't care what the voice said." Kael stepped closer, his yellow eyes fierce. "You're not facing ancient magical trials by yourself. We're in this together."
Something warm bloomed in my chest. These four beastmen barely knew me. I'd been in their lives for less than two days. But they were willing to face unknown dangers at my side.
"Together," I agreed softly.
Shen cleared his throat. "We should rest. Dawn is only a few hours away, and we're all wounded. Whatever this trial is, we need to face it at full strength."
He was right. We all needed sleep. But as the others settled down on their furs, I found myself staring at the wrapped Heart Stone.
Blood will open the first lock—or seal your fate.
What did that mean? Whose fate? Just mine, or everyone's?
I must've dozed off eventually, because I woke to Kael shaking my shoulder gently. "Dawn's close," he whispered. "Time to go."
We gathered our limited supplies. My hands shook as I picked up the Heart Stone. It felt heavier now, like it was carrying the weight of whatever was coming.
The Bleeding Stones weren't far—a formation of red rocks at the valley's center. We'd avoided them before. Something about them felt wrong.
Now I knew why.
As we approached, the stones began to glow. Not red like the Heart Stone. Black. A darkness that seemed to absorb light.
And carved into the largest stone was a symbol I recognized from my vision—one of the three locks.
"This is it," I breathed.
The Heart Stone in my hands pulsed. Once. Twice.
Then it flew from my grip, shooting toward the symbol. It slammed into the carved lock and stuck there, glowing bright red.
The ground beneath us cracked.
Not a tremor. A split. The earth opened up right under my feet.
I fell.
Kael lunged for me, his claws catching my wrist. For a second, we hung there—me dangling over darkness, him holding me up by pure strength.
"I've got you!" he yelled.
Then something grabbed my ankle from below.
Something cold. Something that shouldn't exist.
I looked down into the crack.
A face stared back at me. Human—or it had been once. Now it was twisted, wrong, its skin gray and eyes hollow. More faces appeared behind it. Dozens. Hundreds.
And they were all reaching for me.
"The dead," Shen whispered in horror. "The trial isn't blood. It's death. She has to go into the realm of the dead."
The thing holding my ankle pulled. Hard.
Kael's grip slipped.
I fell into darkness, into cold, into a realm where nothing living should go.
The last thing I heard was Kael screaming my name.