Chapter 75 - Journaling

  Just as Ariel finished eating, Lilia stood.

  She glanced around briefly, then reached into a small gap in the stone wall and pulled out the empty journal she had hidden there when they first arrived.

  Ryn raised an eyebrow.

  Lilia sat back down and opened it across her knees, smoothing the page flat before beginning to write.

  “We can’t have a repeat of last night,” she muttered, mostly to herself.

  Ariel and Ryn both turned toward her.

  Lilia looked up.

  “We know a few things now. We have roughly twelve hours before night falls.”

  She wrote as she spoke.

  “The night doesn’t end until we defeat the challenge. So far, that’s meant aberrations. We don’t know if that will change.”

  Ryn nodded slightly.

  “The aberrations…”

  “They’re getting stronger,” Lilia finished. “We can’t confirm it, but if the first one was a Faded Beast… the second might have been closer to a Faded Spirit.”

  Ryn’s jaw tightened.

  “And we don’t know if that increase continues.”

  “Let’s assume it does,” Lilia said. “It’s safer.”

  Ryn shook his head slowly.

  “If they increase in rank every night, we won’t survive this trial.”

  Lilia’s charcoal paused. She looked up at the six suns burning overhead.

  There was a moment of silence before Lilia spoke.

  “T-That’s true… If that’s how the trial works, by the sixth day we’d be facing something far beyond us.”

  Ariel spoke quietly.

  “That doesn’t make sense.”

  They both looked at her.

  “Trials are meant to challenge us,” she continued. “Not be impossible. They scale to the participants, right?”

  Her fingers curled slightly in her lap.

  “There’s no way Sol expects us to fight aberrations of that rank with our current strength. The fact that we “…survived the last two nights is already a miracle.”

  Silence settled over them.

  A long one.

  Then Lilia sighed, closed the journal, and turned toward Ariel.

  “Ariel… what do you know about this trial?”

  Ariel frowned slightly.

  “What do you mean?”

  Lilia shook her head.

  “I mean—you knew where it was. How to start it. You knew it belonged to the Sun God. I thought maybe you knew more. But if you don’t…”

  Silence.

  Ariel's fingers curled slowly in her lap.

  Lilia was about to move on—

  “No,” Ariel said quietly.

  “I know some things.”

  Ryn’s eyes sharpened.

  Ariel swallowed.

  "It's a trial of the Sun God. I know that because…"

  She hesitated, the words catching in her throat.

  "He told me to come here."

  For several heartbeats, neither Lilia nor Ryn moved.

  Lilia stood so abruptly that the journal clattered to the ground.

  “What?”

  Ryn didn’t react outwardly. He only brought a hand to his chin.

  “When?” he asked.

  Ariel didn't meet their eyes.

  She raised two fingers. her hand trembling slightly.

  “Twice,” she whispered.

  "The first time was in the tower. When you were unconscious, Ryn."

  She looked down at her hands.

  “That’s how I knew the trial’s location.”

  Lilia's breath hitched.

  "That long ago?"

  Ariel nodded.

  "I thought it was a dream at first. I was exhausted. Grieving. I thought—"

  She broke off, shaking her head."But it felt different. Too real. Too vivid."

  Her voice dropped to a whisper.

  "He told me the three of us wouldn't survive. Not without help.

  Not without… this."

  She gestured vaguely at the ruined temple around them.

  Ryn's expression hadn't changed.

  But his fist had clenched against his knee.

  "And the second time?" he asked.

  Ariel's eyes flickered.

  "In the temple. The night before we entered."

  Lilia's voice came out stiffer.

  "When you collapsed?"

  Ariel nodded.

  "I don't think it was a dream that time."

  She looked up, meeting Lilia's eyes for the first time.

  "I think he was actually there."

  Lilia slowly lowered herself back to the ground.

  She reached forward and grabbed Ariel’s shoulders.

  “Why didn’t you tell us?”

  Ariel looked away.

  "I'm sorry," Ariel whispered. "I thought—

  "You brought us here because a god told you to. And you didn't think—"

  She cut herself off.

  “Lilia,” Ryn said quietly. “Let her finish.”

  Lilia released her immediately.

  “Right. Sorry. Continue.”

  There was a stretch of silence before Ariel continued

  Her breath shuddered as she went on.

  “They warned me that the three of us wouldn’t survive unless we completed a trial. I believed them.”

  She paused.

  “They said there would be power here. Power that would let us not just survive—but win. And that it was the price I had to pay.”

  Her voice softened.

  “They said they wanted me to grow stronger.”

  A moment or two of silence

  Lilia didn't meet ariel eyes.

  If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  "You could have told us," she said finally.

  Ariel looked down. "I'm sorry."

  Lilia didn't say anything more

  She stared at the ground.

  “I mean… as an apostle, it’s not unheard of,” she murmured. “But…”

  she paused then whispered again

  “Power…”

  Ariel’s voice dropped to a whisper.

  “I’m sorry if that isn’t useful.”

  Lilia shook her head slowly.

  “No… it clarifies one thing.”

  She looked up.

  “Sol expects you to survive this trial. At least you. He doesn’t want you dead. Which means it isn’t impossible.”

  Her expression steadied.

  “It’s within our power to beat it. He expects you to.”

  Ryn muttered under his breath, “A god’s interpretation of what a mortal can survive might be… generous.”

  “Especially a celestial,” he added.

  Lilia huffed a quiet laugh.

  “That’s true.”

  Then she straightened.

  “But for our sake, we assume he expects us to win.”

  Lilia picked the journal back up and began writing again.

  This time, she wasn’t listing observations.

  She was sketching.

  Her brow furrowed in concentration as she dragged a piece of charcoal across the page, occasionally glancing up as if replaying the fight in her mind.

  After a few seconds, she lifted the journal and turned it toward them.

  “This is what we fought on day one.”

  Ryn leaned forward.

  He stared at the drawing.

  “…What the hell is that.”

  Lilia blinked and looked down at her own sketch.

  It was… vaguely lizard-shaped.

  With too many legs.

  And a jaw that didn’t quite connect to the head.

  “H-Hey—I’m not the best artist,” she said quickly, the stutter slipping back in. “It’s just a rough draft.”

  Ariel brought a hand to her mouth and pressed her lips together, visibly fighting a laugh.

  Lilia’s ears turned red.

  “J–Just ignore the drawing,” she muttered. “Focus on the important parts.”

  She tapped the page defensively.

  Ryn sighed and leaned closer.

  Lilia continued, tapping the page with her piece of charcoal.

  “If the aberrations aren’t increasing purely by rank, then maybe we’re looking at it wrong.”

  She drew another quick sketch beside the lizard—this one a mass of twisting lines.

  Ryn stared at it.

  “…That one is surprisingly accurate.”

  Lilia muttered something under her breath and flipped a page corner down in embarrassment.

  “Anyway,” she continued, “the difference between these two isn’t just strength.”

  She pointed between the sketches.

  “They behave differently. The first one forced us into a straightforward fight. The second adapted. It reacted. It learned.”

  Her gaze sharpened.

  “What worked on the first wouldn’t have worked on the second.”

  She lowered the journal slightly.

  “So I’m guessing the next aberration won’t just be stronger. It’ll be different. Not necessarily in rank—but in behavior. It’ll force us to fight in a new way.”

  Ryn stared at her.

  “So it’s useless to try and predict it.”

  “Probably,” Lilia admitted. “...But we can prepare for the unpredictable.”

  Ariel frowned slightly.

  “How do you prepare for something you don’t even know?”

  Lilia sighed and shrugged faintly.

  “We assume our plans won’t survive first contact.”

  "So we're basically making it up as we go," Ryn said.

  "Not making it up," Lilia corrected. "Adapting."

  "That's just a nicer word for the same thing."

  Lilia didn't argue.

  Ryn exhaled slowly.

  “That’s what happened last night.”

  “Yea…” Lilia said. “Which brings me to the next thing.”

  She turned toward Ariel.

  “How did you do that with your Blessing?”

  Her eyes flicked toward the ruined entrance.

  “I thought your limit was projectiles,” she said quietly.

  Ariel looked down at her hands.

  “I thought so too.”

  She hesitated.

  “But when you were trapped in there… and I couldn’t do anything…”

  Her jaw tightened.

  “I thought of something ridiculous. Probably stupid.”

  She looked up.

  “But I think it worked.”

  “What do you mean by that?” Lilia asked.

  Ariel hesitated.

  “I’m not really sure myself.”

  She stood. "Give me a minute."

  She looked down at her hands.

  “Whenever I use my power, I condense it. I take that feeling in my chest and compress it into something small. A projectile. I shape it. Force control over it.”

  She frowned slightly.

  “I always thought I had to. That if I didn’t shape it, it would… spill.”

  She ran a hand through her hair.

  “But I wondered—what if I didn’t? What if instead of forcing it into something compact… I just let it expand?”

  She looked up, uncertain.

  “I don’t even fully understand what that feeling is. I just know it’s there. And this time, I didn’t try to contain it.”

  “And it worked?” Lilia asked.

  “…Kind of,” Ariel admitted.

  She extended her arm and closed her eyes.

  A faint glow spread along her skin, white light wrapping around her forearm instead of forming at her palm.

  “This is it,” she said quietly. “Instead of firing it outward, I let it coat me. I think I can guide it to certain areas if I focus on where the feeling moves.”

  She lowered her glowing hand toward the grass.

  The blades slowly caught fire.

  Not violently.

  Just a steady, controlled burn.

  Ariel looked at Lilia, sweat already gathering at her brow.

  “If I push it harder… I can do what I did at the entrance.”

  The flames spread, faster than she'd intended, crawling outward until Ryn stamped them out. Ariel gasped, pulling her hand back.

  "S-Sorry—I lost focus," Ariel said quickly

  She sat back down.

  Her shoulders tensed as she exhaled sharply, teeth clenched.

  “But it hurts,” she admitted. “It hurts a lot.”

  Her hands trembled slightly. "Sometimes I wonder if this is what Mother felt. Every time she used her power." She looked at Lilia. "Did it hurt her this much?"

  Lilia stared at the burnt grass for a second too long, then nodded, eyes lowering briefly.

  “It’s okay,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry we made you do that.”

  Ariel shook her head.

  “…No. Compared to you two, it’s the least I can do.”

  Lilia hesitated.

  “What about inside the temple? When the tendrils attacked.”

  She met Ariel’s gaze.

  “What was that field of light?”

  Ariel let out a faint, almost embarrassed laugh.

  “I’m not really sure. That one was desperation.”

  She looked at her hands again.

  “I think it’s the same principle. I just… let it go further. I stopped keeping it inside me.”

  Her voice dropped.

  “But that one cost a lot. Energy. Pain.”

  A long Silence settled.

  Ryn watched the two of them carefully, aware he had missed more than he realized during the fight.

  Lilia closed the journal slowly.

  “One last thing,” she said. “Where are the rewards?”

  She set the book down beside her.

  “I thought completing challenges in a trial was supposed to grant something. Relics. Tools to help with the next challenge.”

  She looked between them.

  “We’ve survived two nights. And we’ve gotten nothing.”

  “The first aberration made sense,” she continued. “It left a corpse. It wasn’t born from a relic.”

  Her voice lowered slightly.

  “But the second one… I thought we’d at least get the gem at its center.”

  She shook her head.

  “But nothing.”

  Ryn nodded slowly.

  “That is odd.”

  A pause.

  “But even if we did get relics,” he added, “it wouldn’t matter. You and I are unblessed. We can’t use them.”

  He glanced at Ariel.

  “And I’m not sure Ariel even knows how to access her soul properly. It’s not something we can teach.”

  Lilia turned back to him.

  “What about the ring? That was a relic, wasn’t it?”

  At that, Ryn looked away.

  “…Right.”

  Lilia leaned forward slightly.

  “Then let’s try it. Maybe Ariel can learn to use it.”

  “That’s the strange part,” Ryn said evenly. “When it was given to Eldric, it was a relic.”

  His gaze hardened.

  “I don’t think it is anymore.”

  “When I touch it, I don’t feel anything. No pull. No resistance. No pressure in my chest.”

  Lilia frowned.

  “…But you don’t know for sure. Let’s try it.”

  Ryn exhaled.

  “Fine. Let’s do that.”

  Ariel nodded, scanning the ruined chamber.

  “But I’m not sure we’ll even find it under all this rubble,” Ryn muttered, glancing around at the scattered stone.

  Ariel pointed.

  “Isn’t that it?”

  They followed her finger.

  There it was.

  The ring lay half-buried near a fractured slab, sunlight catching faintly against its matte surface.

  Lilia stared at it.

  “That thing really is creepy.”

  Ryn stood, walked over, and picked it up without comment. He brushed the dust off with his thumb before returning and placing it carefully between them.

  Ariel reached for it.

  The metal felt colder than it should have.

  “What exactly am I supposed to do with it?” she asked.

  Ryn shrugged.

  Lilia shook her head. “I don’t know. Try… feeling something?”

  Ariel nodded and closed her eyes.

  Silence settled over them.

  Only the faint sound of loose stones shifting from the cracked ceiling broke it.

  They waited.

  And waited

  “…Anything?” Lilia asked.

  A long pause.

  Then Ariel sighed.

  “Nothing.”

  “Nothing?” Lilia asked again

  “Nothing.” Ariel confirmed

  Lilia leaned back and groaned softly in frustration.

  Ryn didn’t look at her.

  “I said as much.”

  He stood slowly, rolling his shoulder once as if testing the lingering stiffness.

  “We use what we have.”

  Ariel followed him up. She turned and extended her hand toward Lilia—the one traced faintly with golden cracks.

  Lilia hesitated for only a moment before taking it.

  Ariel pulled her to her feet.

  The three of them stood there in the ruined temple, dust drifting lazily in the afternoon light.

  Ryn stretched his neck once.

  “Time to prepare for tonight.”

  Lilia nodded, picking up the journal and tucking it under her arm. She brushed the dust from her clothes with quick, efficient motions.

  Ariel looked toward the horizon.

  “Night three,” she whispered.