The armored figure did not move at first.
Its red eyes studied Lina with unsettling calm, as if measuring her worth.
"You carry the seal," the figure said, voice echoing like metal scraping ice.
"But do you understand its price?"
Lina tightened her grip, frost spiraling around her arms.
"I understand enough to protect it," she replied.
The figure laughed softly.
"Protection without truth is weakness."
Without warning, the ground cracked.
Jagged pillars of ice burst upward, forcing Lina to leap aside.
She rolled, rose, and summoned a shield just in time to block a heavy strike.
Kyle shouted her name, but she waved him back.
"This is mine," she said, breath steady despite the chaos.
The winter answered her call.
Snow swirled, the air sharpened, and memories—not her own—flooded her mind.
She saw ancestors standing in a circle, the oath spoken with trembling hope.
She saw betrayal.
She saw the seal fracture.
Her heart ached.
The figure faltered.
"You see it now," it said. "Good."
Lina stepped forward, eyes blazing.
"The truth doesn't weaken me," she said.
"It gives me a reason."
With a cry, she unleashed the winter—not in rage, but in resolve.
The ice obeyed, binding the enemy in chains of frost.
As the forest fell silent, Lina knew the trial had changed her.
She had faced not just an enemy… but the truth behind her power.
To be continued…