The desert roared.
A tremor pulsed through the sand like the beat of a slumbering beast's heart finally stirring. The ground under Ashen's feet shifted, then surged upward in a sudden quake that threw them all off balance.
"Move!" Elira shouted, yanking Lin to her feet as the dune behind them exploded.
A monstrous shape burst free from beneath the earth—a centipede, but not like anything natural. It was longer than a warship, its armored segments bristling with glistening spikes. Mandibles the size of swords clacked and screeched as it rose from the sand like a god of nightmares.
Its many eyes glowed a ghostly green.
"What in the hell is that?" Kerr cried.
"Run!" Reynor barked. "Scatter and regroup!"
The group split instinctively, diving behind dunes or scrambling to higher ground. Ashen didn't run. Not at first. He stared at the creature, something whispering in the back of his mind. Not words—just the pull of memory. Faint. Forgotten.
"Move, Ashen!" Sera screamed, grabbing his arm.
That jolted him. He darted left as the centipede lunged. The impact shook the desert floor, sending up clouds of sand. Where Ashen had stood a moment ago was now a crater.
"It's guarding the gate," Elira realized, panting. "It's part of the trial."
"You think?!" Reynor snapped, unsheathing his weapon—a rapier glowing faintly with energy.
The beast hissed, and its screech echoed across the desert like metal scraping bone. Then it attacked.
It moved impossibly fast for something so massive. A blur of scales and hate. Lin fired a volley of throwing knives, but they bounced off its carapace like pebbles.
Kerr raised his hammer and charged, screaming. The centipede reared, and its tail whipped around, catching him mid-run. Kerr flew across the sand and hit a dune hard, groaning but conscious.
Reynor dashed in next, striking at the creature's exposed leg joints. His blade sparked against the chitin but managed to draw a hiss of pain from the beast.
"Weak points!" Reynor yelled. "Under the legs!"
Ashen drew the rusty blade he'd received during the first trial. It was unremarkable, but he gripped it with purpose. The centipede lunged toward Reynor again—this time faster, smarter. It had learned.
Reynor parried once, twice, but on the third strike, the beast's mandibles snapped close around his sword, shattering the weapon.
"No!" Reynor fell backward, sand clinging to sweat. The centipede's eyes glowed brighter.
Then Ashen moved.
Faster than anyone expected. Faster than even Ashen realized.
He dove between the centipede's segments, sliding beneath its body and jamming his blade into the soft flesh near one of its limbs. The beast screeched.
With a surge of unnatural speed, Ashen yanked Reynor back just as the centipede struck again, its massive head slamming into the sand.
"You—" Reynor gasped, looking at him, wide-eyed. "You're… not normal."
Ashen didn't respond.
The centipede reared again, flailing now, in pain and rage. Elira, Sera, Lin, and Kerr regrouped. Together, they launched a coordinated assault—Lin with her daggers aimed at the beast's eyes, Sera slashing its legs, Elira charging with a spear crackling with energy.
Kerr, bloodied but grinning, swung his hammer with a roar and shattered one of the centipede's legs.
The beast shrieked and thrashed.
Ashen climbed onto its back. He wasn't sure why—only that he needed to end it. He stabbed his blade deep into a fissure near its spine. Blood sprayed, thick and black.
The centipede convulsed.
Ashen jumped off just as the beast collapsed in a heap, kicking up a tsunami of sand.
Silence followed. Only their panting remained.
Reynar stood slowly, staring at Ashen.
"You saved me," he said.
Ashen nodded.
Reynor's eyes narrowed. "But how? You moved like… like one of the elites. That's not something you can fake. You're hiding something."
Ashen said nothing. Just looked at the collapsed creature, then toward the gate, now pulsing brighter.
Reynor didn't press. But the suspicion lingered in his expression.
Elira approached. "Everyone still breathing?"
Lin raised a hand weakly. "Barely."
"We need to leave," Elira said. "Before something else comes."
No one argued.
Bruised, bloodied, and scarred, the team walked toward the obsidian gate. It opened with a low hum, revealing a swirling passage of mist and light.
One by one, they stepped through.
Ashen went last.
As he crossed the threshold, the whisper in his mind returned. Stronger. Sharper