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## 🖤 *"Trust your shadow, and don't trust the light."*
That's what Seris whispered before they dragged her away to the S-Class ranks — before she became everything I'm not.
She always knew things. Things no one talked about. Things I wasn't ready to understand.
But today… I'
**Entry One**
I woke up choking on nerves. Not literally, but it felt like I was swallowing glass.
Everyone says the maze is just a test. A "first trial." Like survival is something casual. Easy. No big deal.
I'm E-Class. No powers. No spark. Nothing.
The **Rating Stone** decided that a year ago. They brought me to the chamber, pressed my palm to the obsidian surface, and waited. The colors swirled, and then dimmed.
**E.**
No explanation. No second chance. Just the scar of that letter burned into my file — and into my life.
Even my own mother — the *S-Class legend* — looked at me this morning like I'd already failed. Like sending me here was a waste of time. A last-ditch mercy.
But Seris believed in me. Or maybe she just pitied me. I don't know.
*Trust your shadow, don't trust the light.*
I still don't get what that means. But I repeated it to myself as they opened the gates and shoved me inside.
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**Entry Two**
The maze smells like damp stone, rot, and old magic. The kind that makes your skin crawl before you know why.
Every shadow moves like it's alive. Watching. Breathing.
The walls groan like they're holding secrets. Or corpses.
I don't belong here. But I'm here anyway.
I walked for maybe minutes. Or hours. Time doesn't feel normal inside this place.
Then came the first trap — smooth black stone, almost liquid, like oil frozen in place. My foot slipped. I went down hard.
But something inside me **snapped awake** — a flicker of *something*. Dark. Warm. Powerful.
My hand burned for a second. Just a second.
Then it stopped.
Was it power? No. I'd know if it was. Right?
Right?
Only Second Years are chosen. Only the chosen receive magic. That's the rule. That's the law. That's the one thing the **Rating Stone** is never supposed to get wrong.
But something's wrong.
I kept going. Not because I was brave. Because I had to.
This maze doesn't want the strongest. It wants the ones who won't die easy.
I turned a corner and saw it — a door, carved with glowing symbols that pulsed like a heartbeat.
I touched it. The cold sank straight into my bones. But I didn't pull away. I *couldn't*.
Something shifted. The door opened.
And just like that, I passed the first trial.
But I swear I left a part of myself behind in that maze. A part I might never get back.
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**Entry Three**
When the door closed behind me, the silence was louder than the maze ever was.
No whispers. No groaning walls. Just stillness. Too still.
I looked down at my hand. The one that burned. It looked normal. No marks. No glow. Nothing.
But I felt it.
Something humming under my skin like a secret trying to get out.
There were others waiting in the chamber ahead — all older, stronger, cleaner. Watching me like I didn't belong here. Like I'd somehow cheated just by surviving.
Let them stare. I'm used to being the disappointment in the room.
A voice echoed through the stone — deep, cold, emotionless:
-"E-Class Elara Vayne. Trial One: Passed."
Some of the others laughed.
-E-Class.
They said it like a slur.
But I didn't flinch. Not this time.
Because something inside me is awake now.
And it's not leaving.