Torrin's POV
"MAYA!"
Kael's scream tore through me like claws. I lunged forward, grabbing his shoulders as he tried to throw himself into the crack after her.
"Let me GO!" He fought me with everything he had. "She's down there! She's—"
"You'll die!" I held him back, even though my own heart was screaming to jump in too. "Kael, you'll die and it won't save her!"
The crack in the earth pulsed with black light. Wrong light. The kind that made your soul want to run. Those twisted faces—the dead things—had pulled her into their realm.
Maya was gone.
"No, no, no." Kael collapsed against me, and I'd never heard him sound so broken. "Not her. Not after I just found something worth protecting again."
Riven paced frantically, his wings flaring. "This is the trial. It has to be. She has to go through the realm of the dead to reach the first lock."
"Or she just dies down there," Shen said quietly, staring into the darkness. "The dead don't let go easily."
"Then we go after her." I said it calmly, but inside I was terrified. Going into the realm of the dead? That was suicide. But the thought of leaving her down there alone was worse.
Much worse.
"We can't," Shen said. "We're living. The moment we enter that realm, those things will tear us apart. Maya is—" He paused. "Maya is different. She's a Key-bearer. The magic might protect her. Us? We're just meat."
"I don't care." I stepped toward the crack. "I've spent years being afraid of my own strength. Afraid I'll hurt someone like I hurt my brother. But Maya? She looked at me and didn't see a monster. She saw someone who could help her build something." My voice cracked. "I'm not losing that. I'm not losing her."
The crack began to close.
"No!" Kael dove for it, but Riven caught him.
"Wait!" Riven's eyes were sharp, focused. "Look at the Heart Stone!"
The red crystal still stuck in the carved lock was glowing brighter. Pulsing in a rhythm like a heartbeat. And with each pulse, symbols appeared in the air around it—glowing red letters in a language I didn't know.
Shen moved closer, reading. His face went pale. "It's... instructions. The trial's rules."
"What does it say?" Kael demanded.
"'The Key-bearer must walk the path of the dead alone. She will face three tests in the shadow realm. Pass all three, and the first lock opens. Fail any test, and her soul joins the forgotten ones forever.'" Shen looked up at us. "'No living may follow. But the bonded may anchor her—give her a tether to the world of light. Without an anchor, she will be lost.'"
"Bonded?" I asked. "But we're not—we haven't—"
"Doesn't matter." Kael was already moving, pulling out his knife. "If we need to be bonded to anchor her, then we bond. Now."
"That's permanent," Riven said, but he was pulling out his own blade. "You bond with someone, it's for life. Your souls connect. You'll feel her emotions, her pain—"
"Good." Kael's eyes blazed. "Then I'll know when she needs us. I'll know when to pull her back."
He dragged the knife across his palm. Blood welled up, dark and red. "Who's with me?"
I didn't hesitate. I cut my own palm, pressed it against his. The blood mixed. "I'm in."
"Obviously," Shen added, cutting his hand and joining ours.
Riven sighed. "You're all insane. But so am I." His blood joined ours.
The moment our blood touched, something happened. Power rushed through me—not magical power, but connection. I could feel them. Kael's fierce determination. Shen's calculated calm. Riven's hidden fear. And underneath it all, something else.
Maya.
Faint. Distant. Terrified but fighting.
"She's alive!" Kael gasped. "I can feel her!"
"She's scared," Riven whispered. "So scared."
"Then let's give her courage," I said.
We pressed our joined hands over the Heart Stone. The crystal flared brilliant red. Our blood dripped onto it, and where the drops landed, light spread like fire.
The symbols in the air rearranged themselves, forming new words: "BOND ACCEPTED. ANCHOR ESTABLISHED. THE KEY-BEARER IS TETHERED."
Far below, in the darkness of the crack, I heard something. Not words. Just a feeling.
Relief. Hope.
Maya knew we were connected now. Knew she wasn't alone.
"Hold on," I whispered into the darkness. "We're here. We won't let you go."
The earth rumbled. The crack widened briefly, and through it I saw—
A path. Made of bones. Leading down into absolute darkness. And walking on that path, tiny and brave, was Maya. Surrounded by the dead, but moving forward anyway.
She glanced up, and even though she was so far away, I swear she saw us.
She smiled. Scared, but determined.
Then the crack sealed shut with a sound like a tomb closing.
Silence.
"How long?" Kael asked roughly. "How long does she have?"
Shen read the remaining symbols. "Until dawn. If she doesn't complete all three tests and return before sunrise, the realm of the dead keeps her forever."
I looked at the sky. The sun was just starting to set. That gave her maybe twelve hours.
Twelve hours to walk through death and come back.
"What do we do?" Riven asked. "We can't just stand here—"
"We prepare." Kael's voice was steel. "If—when—she comes back, she'll be different. Changed. We need to be ready to help her, protect her, anchor her to life." He looked at each of us. "And if something follows her out of that realm, we kill it."
I nodded. That I could do. Killing things that threatened her? That was easy. Waiting while she faced death alone? That was agony.
We settled in to wait. Every minute felt like an hour. The bond let us feel echoes of what she experienced—flashes of terror, moments of courage, waves of exhaustion.
"She's fighting something," Shen said suddenly, his hand pressed to his chest. "I can feel... combat. Pain. She's hurt."
"How badly?" I demanded.
"I don't know. The bond isn't that clear. Just... emotions. Sensations."
Kael paced like a caged wolf. "I hate this. Hate feeling her afraid and not being able to do anything."
"She's not alone anymore," I reminded him. "She can feel us too. Feel our strength. Our faith in her."
"I hope it's enough," Riven muttered.
Hours passed. The sun set fully. Darkness claimed the valley. And through the bond, we felt Maya descend deeper into the realm of the dead.
Then, around midnight, everything changed.
The bond went cold. Not disconnected—but frozen. Like Maya had stopped feeling anything at all.
"No," Kael whispered. "No, no, no—"
"She's not dead," Shen said, but he sounded uncertain. "We'd feel that. This is different. Like she's... suspended."
"The second test?" Riven suggested.
The ground trembled again. But not like before. This was violent, angry. Cracks spread through the valley floor. The Bleeding Stones began to glow—not red or black, but sickly green.
"Something's wrong," I said.
"Very wrong," Shen agreed, backing away from the stones. "That's not supposed to happen."
The largest crack split open. Not the one Maya had fallen through—a new one. Bigger. And from it rose something that made my blood turn to ice.
A creature. Massive. Made of bones and shadows and hatred. Its empty eye sockets burned with green fire. When it opened its mouth, the sound was every scream of every dying thing I'd ever heard.
"A Death Wraith," Shen breathed in horror. "They're guardians of the dead realm. They never leave. Never."
The creature looked directly at us. When it spoke, its voice was grinding bones: "The Key-bearer has disturbed the balance. She walks where living should not walk. The dead are rising. And I have come to collect the price."
It pointed one skeletal finger at the Heart Stone.
"Destroy the anchor, and she stays with us forever. Refuse—" its smile was terrible "—and I kill you all, then take the stone anyway."
We had seconds to decide.
Let the creature destroy our bond with Maya, trapping her in the realm of the dead forever.
Or fight a monster specifically designed to kill living beings, with no guarantee we'd win.
Kael didn't hesitate. He shifted to full wolf form and attacked.
The Death Wraith laughed.