Chapter 52 – Vanessa (POV)
The Trial of the Heart
The forest felt heavier the deeper we went.
It wasn't just the air — though it was thick and damp, carrying the scent of moss and wet earth — it was something else. A pressure. A weight. Like the trees themselves were holding their breath, waiting for us to make a choice we didn't yet know we'd have to make.
Damien led the way, his tall frame moving silently between the trunks, every step precise. Kieran stayed a few paces behind him, his eyes scanning the shadows as if expecting something to leap out at us. I walked in the middle, my heart keeping time with my footsteps.
We had been traveling for hours, following the old maps and whispers left behind by those who had failed before us. Our destination was the second artifact — the Mirror of Sacrifice. The first had been dangerous, but this one… this one carried a warning so old it was almost a myth.
It tests not your strength, but your heart.
