They stood before a massive stone gate wrapped in chains of silver light. No markings. No inscription. Just a single word burned into the stone:
> "Silence."
The third and final Circle of Greyhold.
Mire's voice echoed in their minds as if whispered through bone.
> "The final Circle tests the unspoken. The lies you tell yourself. The truths you refuse to voice. Here, silence isn't absence—it's a weapon."
The gate split down the middle, opening inward without a sound.
Beyond lay a barren amphitheater, wide and open under a sky of ash-colored clouds. At its center stood a pedestal, upon which a single card floated, glowing faintly.
Leo narrowed his eyes. "There's no opponent?"
Caesar scanned the arena. "There is. We just can't see it yet."
Jack turned. "You think it's… internal?"
Before they could debate further, a figure rose from the amphitheater's shadows.
She was cloaked in pale gray robes, her face completely obscured by a veil stitched shut over her mouth. A halo of cracked glass floated behind her head, spinning slowly.
Mire's voice again, faint.
> "This is the Silent Warden. She governs the Circle of Silence. You will not fight her with cards alone—but with withheld truths."
The pedestal flared, and new rules appeared in the air:
> Only one of you may speak per turn.
Any spoken lie causes the speaker to suffer mental backlash.
All cards must be activated in silence.
Jack let out a low whistle. "So we either talk and get punished… or play blind and hope for the best."
Caesar stepped forward, drawing his deck. "We've come this far. Let's finish it."
---
The Silent Arena
The battle began not with cards—but with questions.
The Silent Warden extended her hand. Three glowing orbs formed above her palm, each containing a single phrase:
1. What do you fear most?
2. Whom do you trust least?
3. What would you sacrifice to ascend?
The orbs hovered toward each of them.
Caesar's orb hovered close to his chest. The question pulsed.
What do you fear most?
He hesitated. Speaking was dangerous here. But silence could be worse.
"I fear... being controlled again," he said.
The orb pulsed blue. Truth.
No backlash.
Leo's orb asked: Whom do you trust least?
He gritted his teeth. "Myself."
Again, blue.
Jack's: What would you sacrifice to ascend?
Jack didn't hesitate. "Everything but them."
Blue.
The orbs vanished. The Silent Warden bowed her head—and the arena shimmered.
Now came the combat.
---
The Fight Without Words
They could not speak.
Each of them had to act in total silence, guessing their teammates' intentions, relying on intuition built through survival.
The Warden summoned three illusions—mirrors of them, each wielding their worst memories as cards.
Caesar faced a version of himself bound in chains, mouth sewn shut, his deck replaced with black voids.
Leo's mirror wore a mask of guilt and bled from old wounds, each drip morphing into a dagger.
Jack's illusion radiated silence, its every step muffling the air around it. A living void.
They engaged.
Caesar used "Phantom Step" to dodge a chain strike—but misjudged Leo's direction and nearly collided with his illusion. Jack, trying to cover them both, activated "Pulse Break"—but forgot that it silenced all sound, even movement cues.
They faltered.
The illusions didn't.
They spoke no words, yet fought in perfect harmony—reflections of internal fears working as one.
Leo went down first, his illusion stabbing him with a guilt-shaped blade: a spectral copy of his younger brother's face, twisted in disappointment.
Jack staggered next, overwhelmed by the silence that amplified his inner doubts.
Caesar stood alone.
The Warden raised her hand again. Another orb formed.
This time, it bore no words. Just a mirror.
It showed Caesar standing alone atop a distant island, free… but with Jack and Leo's shadows fading beneath him.
The orb asked a final question:
> Would you leave them behind to escape?
Caesar didn't speak. He couldn't.
Instead, he walked toward the orb—and shattered it.
---
A Break in the Silence
The arena rippled.
The illusions faltered.
A chime sounded—gentle, distant, real.
Caesar activated "Inverted Truth."
Instead of targeting an enemy, he aimed it at himself.
The card glowed red-hot, protesting—but he forced it.
> "Reveal the hidden cost of your greatest strength."
Caesar gasped as his vision blurred.
He saw a memory—not from before the prison, but from earlier on the first island. A moment when he held back a card that could've saved another inmate… but didn't use it.
He had chosen to survive, not save.
He fell to his knees, breath shuddering.
The Silent Warden stepped forward.
She held out a hand—not in threat, but offering the single card from the pedestal.
Caesar took it.
Card Acquired: "Vow of the Unspoken"
Passively links three allies. When one is struck by a memory-based attack, the burden is shared evenly.
The Warden bowed—and dissolved into mist.
---
Ascension
The chains on the amphitheater's edge unraveled.
A gate opened above them, light pouring down like a waterfall.
Leo stirred. Jack groaned.
Caesar helped them up, the new card still glowing faintly in his hand.
"She's gone," Caesar said softly. "We passed."
Leo winced, holding his side. "I feel like I got emotionally steamrolled."
Jack chuckled weakly. "Welcome to Greyhold."
Above them, the gate widened.
Mire stood at the top step, clapping softly.
"I'll be honest. I didn't think you'd survive the Circle of Silence. Most break."
Caesar frowned. "What happens to those who break?"
Mire smiled. "They stay here. Broken. Mute. Their cards hollowed out."
Jack muttered, "Lovely."
Mire gestured toward the top of the stairs. "You're ready now. The path to Island Three awaits."
---
Ascent to Island Three
The stairway was unlike the one between One and Two. This one shimmered, flickering between stone and light, as though it wasn't built entirely in this world.
At its peak stood a doorway—no guards, no locks.
Just a plaque:
> "Speak only what is earned. Play only what is known. Fear only what is hidden."
They stepped through together.
Beyond was sky.
A vast stretch of blue.
And in the distance—Island Three.
Not stone. Not metal.
But a forest, suspended in the clouds.
---
End of Chapter 11