Noctis's POV:
The chamber waited.
Three paths pulsed before us — light, shadow, memory — each one tugging at us with a different kind of gravity.
Light pulled Rowan.
Shadow pulled me.
Memory pulled Rielun.
But the trial's voice echoed again, soft and merciless.
"Only those who share a heart may walk the same path."
My breath caught.
Rowan froze beside me, staff trembling in his grip.
Rielun's pulse stuttered beneath my fingers.
The chamber wasn't asking us to choose.
It was asking us to admit something.
Something none of us were ready to say aloud.
The shadow path tugged at me harder, like a hook in my ribs.
The light path tugged Rowan with equal force.
The memory path tugged Rielun like a tide pulling him under.
Rielun swayed.
I grabbed him instantly, shadows curling around his waist. "Don't move."
Rowan stepped closer, jaw tight. "He's being pulled into the memory path."
"I know," I snapped, wings flaring. "I can feel it."
The trial pulsed again.
"Who shares your heart?"
Rielun's breath hitched.
Rowan's eyes softened.
And something ugly twisted in my chest.
Rowan stepped forward, voice steady but shaking at the edges.
"Rielun shares my heart," he said quietly. "He always has."
The words hit me like a blade.
Not because they were untrue.
But because they were.
Rowan had been the first to hold him.
The first to protect him.
The first to love him.
And I hated how much that mattered.
The light path pulsed brighter, tugging Rowan and Rielun together.
Rielun's breath trembled.
I felt him leaning toward Rowan.
And something inside me snapped.
"No."
The word tore out of me before I could stop it.
Rowan turned sharply. "Noctis—"
"No," I repeated, stepping between them, wings spreading wide. "You don't get to claim him like that."
Rowan's eyes narrowed. "This isn't about claiming—"
"It is," I hissed. "It always is."
Shadows curled around my ankles, trembling with emotion I couldn't hide.
I turned to Rielun — not touching him, not pulling him, just looking at him.
Really looking.
"You share my heart," I whispered. "You always have."
Rielun's eyes widened.
Rowan inhaled sharply.
The shadow path pulsed violently, tugging Rielun toward me.
But the memory path tugged too.
And the light path.
All three paths pulled him at once.
Rielun cried out, knees buckling.
Rowan caught one arm.
I caught the other.
The chamber shook.
The trial whispered:
"A heart divided cannot walk."
Rielun gasped, clutching his chest.
"I— I don't know— I don't know which—"
Rowan held him steady. "Rielun, breathe."
I pressed my forehead to his shoulder, shadows curling around him. "You don't have to choose."
The chamber pulsed again.
Harder.
Faster.
The paths brightened, then dimmed, then brightened again — like three heartbeats fighting for dominance.
And then—
The memory path surged.
A force slammed into Rowan and me, throwing us backward.
Rielun was pulled forward, stumbling into the memory path alone.
"RIELUN!" Rowan shouted.
"NO!" I screamed, wings snapping open.
But the path sealed behind him.
A wall of shimmering memory rose between us, impenetrable.
Rowan slammed his staff against it.
I clawed at it with shadows.
Nothing.
Rielun was gone.
The chamber dimmed.
The paths faded.
And the trial whispered:
"The heart chooses itself."
Rowan staggered back, breath shaking.
I fell to my knees, shadows trembling violently.
Rielun was alone.
In the memory path.
With the First Guardian.
And neither of us could reach him.