The scroll burned faintly even after Nia read it aloud. Its words had branded themselves into Andy's mind:
"Trial Initiated. Dungeon Gate: Eastern Sanctum. Failure results in severed bond."
Failure wasn't death. Failure was worse—losing her.
By sunrise, the ruined temple in the east was alive with whispers. A gate of starlight had bloomed within the sanctum, pulsing like a living heart. Knights dared not cross its threshold. Priests muttered prayers. All eyes turned when Andy and Nia approached, hands clasped tight.
Without hesitation, they stepped into the gate.
The world twisted.
They fell into fire.
The air seared their lungs, the ground beneath them cracked and glowing. Lava rivers flowed like veins across a blackened plain. Above, there was no sky—only a dome of molten light pressing down as though it would crush them.
The System's voice boomed in their minds.
> [First Star Trial: Forge of Fire and Light]
Survive. Trust the bond. Reveal the truth.
Flames surged at once. Andy's instincts screamed. He raised his blade, but the fire was not his own—it was hostile, ancient, invasive. It clawed at his wounds, his scars, his doubts.
Nia slammed her staff into the ground, silver light blooming around them. "Barrier—hold!"
The flames crashed against her shield. Andy gritted his teeth as the heat bit into his skin anyway. Her shield flickered, her face pale with strain.
"It won't last!" she gasped.
Andy's chest heaved. The fire was whispering, voices twisting in the roar. You are cursed. You bring ruin. You will burn her too.
He stumbled, nearly dropping his blade. The flames grew stronger, feeding on his doubt.
"Andy!" Nia's voice pierced the storm. He looked up. She stood shaking within the barrier, silver eyes locked on him. "Don't you dare listen. Look at me. Not them. Me."
Her conviction struck like water on flame. Soul Resonance flared, their rings blazing. The whispers faltered. Andy straightened, gripping his blade tighter.
"Right. You and me."
His flames surged—not wild, but steady, intertwining with Nia's light. Together they pushed the inferno back, forging something new. Fire wrapped in silver, silver hardened by fire.
The barrier pulsed, transforming.
> [New Skill Acquired: Twin Star Barrier]
Fire and light converge to deflect hostile energy.
The flames recoiled, hissing as the merged barrier held fast. The plain trembled, then shifted.
The fire collapsed into sparks. Light swallowed them whole.
—
They stood in a blinding white expanse. Nia blinked, raising a hand to her eyes. Here there was no heat, no sound, only silence heavy as stone.
"Andy?" she whispered.
But he was gone.
Her heart lurched. She spun, searching. Only endless white.
The System's voice rang cold.
> [Phase Two: Light's Judgment]
Face the truth hidden in the heart. Only one may endure.
A shape materialized ahead—Andy, or what looked like him. But his golden eyes were dull, his face twisted in anguish. He reached toward her.
"Why do you stay?" the illusion whispered. "I'm weak. A curse. Without me, you'd be free—your House restored, your path clear. I only drag you down."
Nia's chest tightened. It was Andy's voice, but not. And yet the words mirrored fears she had buried—whispers of her father, of the court. Could she deny them?
Tears burned her eyes, but she stepped forward, staff steady. "You're right. My House would be safer without you. My father would be satisfied. But I would be nothing. Because without you, I lose myself."
Her ring flared, light tearing through the illusion. The false Andy screamed before shattering into shards.
The silence broke. Andy stumbled into view, wide-eyed. "Nia?"
She rushed to him, clutching his hand. Their rings pulsed together. The white expanse shattered.
—
They landed hard on black stone. Shadows thickened, coiling into form. A figure rose—Andy's mirror, wreathed in black flame, eyes molten with hate.
The doppelgänger smirked. "You are destruction. You will burn her. And when you do, she will hate you. Just like the rest."
Andy froze, his grip faltering. His heart pounded—because some part of him feared it was true.
Nia stepped between them, silver light blazing. "No. He is not destruction. He is my flame. And I will not let you take him."
Her mana surged into him through the Shared Heartbeat. Andy's chest burned, but this time with strength. His blade ignited, brighter than ever, his fire wrapped in her radiance.
They moved as one. Andy struck, flames searing into the doppelgänger's chest, while Nia's light pierced its core. The shadow shrieked before dissolving into embers.
The dungeon trembled. The flames vanished. The dome above shattered into constellations, stars spilling like rivers across the dark.
The System's voice rang with finality.
> [Trial Complete: Forge of Fire and Light]
Bond Progression: 50%
Reward Granted: Twin Star Barrier
Status: Eligible for Higher Star Trials.
The world folded.
They stood once more in the Eastern Sanctum, the starlight gate fading into nothing. The knights outside stared, awestruck and fearful.
Andy collapsed to one knee, blade trembling in his grip. Nia caught him, her arm around his shoulders, pulling him close. Their rings glowed faintly, steady and warm.
"Halfway there," she whispered, forehead brushing his.
Andy managed a weak smile. "Halfway to proving them wrong."
And high above, unseen in the rafters of the ruined temple, Andrew watched. Shadows curled tight around him, his eyes narrowed, his lips curving in the faintest smile.
Halfway there, he thought. But nowhere near enough to survive what's coming.
—