Amanda stood frozen, the elder's offer heavy in her hands. Power. Freedom. Ascension. All wrapped in one simple agreement. It should have been an easy choice, but a shadow lingered, coiling in the pit of her stomach.
It felt too perfect. Too smooth.
Still, the image of Leo burned behind her eyelids. His steady eyes. The blood they'd spilled together. She couldn't afford hesitation. Not now, not with so much on the line.
Her hand curled into a fist. She swallowed hard, forcing down the gnawing unease.
"Alright," she said, her voice barely more than breath. "I'll do it."
The elder's smile bloomed like sunlight after rain, warm and immediate. Relief softened the lines on his ancient face. "Thank you, Amanda. You have chosen wisely."
He lifted his hand, fingers tracing a quick, precise sigil in the air. A pulse of light struck her chest, blossoming into a mark. Alive and ancient. Amanda gasped as magic flooded her veins, rushing back with a force that almost buckled her knees. She could feel her runes awaken, humming like a familiar song deep beneath her skin.
Strength. Real, undeniable. Hers again.
For a heartbeat, everything else disappeared.
Leo. Their future.
Hope unfurled in her chest.
The elder stepped closer, his robes whispering against the mossy floor. "There is one more thing," he said, his tone shifting to something more ceremonial. "Participants in the selection must bear the regalia."
A soft light flared between his palms. A necklace, delicate yet commanding, floated there. Silver threads twisted like vines around a stone that pulsed faintly with hidden magic.
Amanda lowered her head instinctively, a half-remembered rite guiding her movements. She barely felt the elder's fingers brush her skin as he clasped the necklace around her neck.
For a breathless moment, she felt invincible.
Her runes thrummed, her mind sharp and electric with new potential. She could fight. She could protect. She could finally stop looking over her shoulder, afraid.
She smiled. Small, fierce, ready to step into the future she had carved for herself.
Then the world tilted.
It started as a pinprick. A tingling across her collarbone where the necklace lay.
But it grew.
Fast.
Heat and ice raced through her blood. Her limbs locked, leaden and foreign. The air thickened around her, each breath dragging like syrup through her lungs.
Amanda staggered, panic flashing white-hot. Her magic, once vibrant, guttered like a dying flame.
The elder's face twisted. The kindness melted away, revealing something sharp, mocking. His eyes gleamed. Not with pride, but cruelty.
"It is done," he said.
The light in the chamber guttered, the bioluminescent fungi dimming into ash-gray shadows. A chill swept through, biting through Amanda's clothing, straight to the bones.
Before she could gather herself, movement stirred the gloom.
Four figures stepped from the dark.
Amanda's heart hammered against her ribs, a frantic drumbeat of denial.
The first elder was a giant of a man, broad-shouldered and laughing like a crack of thunder. "Hah! The little sapling walked straight into our snare," he bellowed, his voice making the walls tremble.
The second was sleek and slithering, his words slicing the heavy air. "It matters little," he whispered, the amusement sharp in his tone. "We only needed her mana. The rest is… noise."
The third elder wore a smile slick as oil. His voice dripped false sympathy, wrapping malice in velvet. "Her loyalty," he crooned. "Such potential, now ours to mold."
The fourth, colder than the winter rivers, chuckled low. His breath misted in the chilled air. "It's remarkable how well the same technique worked on her as it did on Halodor," he said, his voice carrying a hint of admiration for their own cunning.
He turned toward the Spirit Elder, the leader of the betrayal, and grinned. A grotesque thing in the shifting dark. The deep grooves in his face caught the faint light, carving monstrous shadows across his features.
"Your plan was flawless, old friend."
Amanda's knees buckled.
Not from weakness.
From rage.
How could they?
How could they!
The magic that had once lifted her now crushed her. Her body refused every frantic command. She struggled, her soul thrashing against invisible chains, but the necklace tightened like a vice.
Tears stung her eyes, not from pain, but fury. Betrayal wrapped around her throat, choking every scream before it could be born.
The Spirit Elder watched her collapse without a flicker of remorse. His laughter, once warm as a hearth, rang hollow and cruel now, echoing off the chamber walls.
"Prepare yourselves," he said, a dark triumph curling his words. "Soon, we shall crown our King and Queen. And our dear Amanda will play her part beautifully."
The elders' smiles twisted wider in the dim light, grotesque parodies of celebration.
Amanda's vision blurred, darkness creeping in at the edges. Her heart pounded once more, a drumbeat of desperate defiance. But it wasn't enough.
The last thing she saw was their faces, gloating and victorious, as her world was swallowed whole by black.