Chapter 4
Rynlee’s POV
“Oh, my gods, I am so sore,” I groaned, collapsing into a seat at one of the long wooden tables in the feeding hall.
It was finally dinner time, and despite it having been hours since my sparring session with Aiden, my muscles still ached as if I’d been trampled by a herd of wild horses.
Which, honestly, would’ve been preferable.
He was relentless. Ruthless. Not that I should’ve expected anything different.
He was like that even when we were younger.
“Well, yeah, you did kinda get your ass handed to you,” Ryan commented, sliding into the seat beside me with a tray piled high with food. His short blond hair stood spiked in every direction, and his brown eyes gleamed with mischief. He always had something to say. Usually, a sarcastic remark.
“I was fighting a third year,” I snapped, pouting. “One who fights like a fucking gorilla and stands a head taller than me.”
“Fair point,” he replied, grinning and raising his hands in surrender. “Still funny to watch, though.”
“What’s up, losers?” Luna dropped into the seat across from me, flashing a sly grin.
Gia arrived a second later, taking the spot to my right.
I gave Luna a nod. Ryan grunted through a mouthful of food.
Despite everything, Aiden’s warnings, the near-death sparring sessions, the overwhelming pressure, it felt…
nice, sitting here. Like we were normal students at an ordinary academy.
Not recruits in a school designed to push us to the edge of survival.
“So,” Gia said, brushing her braid over her shoulder.
“What do you guys think the Trifecta actually entails?” At the word, my stomach did a nervous little flip.
I only vaguely remembered hearing about it once in passing, during one of those formal dinners my parents used to host. My father had been talking shop with the other commanders, tossing the word around between goblets of wine as if it were nothing more than a game.
I had paid hardly any attention then; I was too busy sneaking extra rolls from the breadbasket.
At the time, I thought my future was herbs and healing, not survival gauntlets designed to break people.
“My brother, Garret, wrote me a letter about it,” Gia continued, lowering her voice slightly like she was sharing a secret. “Said there were moving blocks, sharp cliffs, and even a magical maze.”
Ryan stabbed a forkful of something unidentifiable and deadpanned, “I’m thinking definitely lots of traps. Certain death. Probably snakes.”
I snorted, despite the pit in my stomach. “Yeah, sounds about right.”
“Maybe fire pits and spinning blades, too,” Luna added with a shrug.
We all chuckled, but a quiet settled afterward.
We wanted to laugh it off, but the truth hung between us like smoke.
This wasn’t just school. This was war prep.
And people were dying. Still, sitting here with them laughing, talking, sharing nerves, it felt good.
Aiden had warned us not to form friendships.
Don’t get attached, he’d said. But how else were we supposed to make it through the first four weeks if we didn’t hold onto something?
The next morning, our unit marched out to the southern ridge, an open stretch of wild terrain where the training ground met the edge of the Arcane Mountain range.
The wind was warm, brushing across my cheeks and pulling loose strands from my braid.
Above us, the mountain loomed gray and jagged, etched with trails we hadn’t yet walked.
A steady beam of purple light pulsed from the mountain’s peak, piercing through the cloud cover like a warning.
That was part of the Celestian channel. The heart of the world’s magic, and it was humming today. Our unit lined up silently, boots crunching against dirt and gravel. It had only been a week since we arrived, and already five names had been etched into the stone plaque near the academy gates.
First-years. Dead. Killed during sparring, and there would be more.
The school burned their bodies and sent what little remained: books, spare uniforms, personal stuff back to their families.
I tried to imagine it. Receiving a box of your child’s things.
No explanation. Just…a name carved in stone.
My stomach twisted. Arcanna was not only a college. It was a crucible.
And the Trifecta? That was the fire. Not only could we die during sparring, but the Trifecta was the first true trial in even reaching the Fourfold Rite.
If fighting was survival, this was war. Each tier of this challenge presented its own nightmare, designed to test everything we were made of.
And when, or if, we reached the summit of Arcane Mountain…
it became a free-for-all. Kill or be killed.
Because only those who fought and survived at the top would be deemed worthy of receiving power.
No mercy.
No second chances.
“Wow,” Gia breathed beside me, staring up at the looming peak.
I nodded, still silent. That was Arcane, steep, jagged, and terrifying.
It pulsed, alive, like a beating heart beneath the mountain.
The ground seemed to hum faintly under my boots, as if the world itself remembered every scream and each name carved into the plague outside the gates.
“Welcome, cadets,” a deep voice called, breaking me from my spiraling thoughts, “to your first real challenge.” Professor Firebeard stepped in front of us, and the field seemed to tighten around him.
Conversation died instantly. Even the wind was quieter.
He stood tall and broad-shouldered, built like something carved from dark stone and left standing through a hundred battles.
The color of his skin was deep and rich beneath the open sun, made more striking by the shock of flame-red hair crowning his head. It wasn’t a soft red. It burned.
The same blaze spilled into the thick beard that framed his jaw, vivid against his complexion like a torch against midnight.
And his eyes were bright orange. Not brown.
Not gold. But a fierce, molten shade that mirrored the fire in his facial hair.
They didn’t flicker. They held. When they swept over us, you didn’t feel shouted at.
You were measured. Broad shoulders filled out black leather armor, the material worn but meticulously maintained.
A silver medallion gleamed on one shoulder, catching the light.
On the other was a patch: the mark of the God of War.
The only professor ever bestowed with divine magic.
Lucky him.
“This is called the Trifecta,” he began, as he took a wide stance in front of the arched entrance to the stone labyrinth.
“A four-tier obstacle that stands between you and the Fourfold Rite.” His voice carried effortlessly over the wind, full of weight and warning.
“Tier one will test your agility and intelligence. It’s a maze, but not just any maze.
It changes. You’ll need to think fast, move faster.
” He paused at the archway. Engraved in ancient runes along its surface were the words:
One step too slow. One thought too soft. And the Rite takes you.
Charming.
“Tier two,” Firebeard continued, “tests your adaptability. The environment shifts. Your footing will be unstable; the terrain unsteady. You will be judged on how quickly you adjust. Tier three?” He smiled grimly.
“That’s pure strength. You’ll need it.” A beat.
“And tier four… well, you’ll find out if you make it that far.
” I swallowed hard and glanced up the mountain again.
I could now see more clearly: narrow ledges with gaps we’d have to jump, ropes dangling from overhead crossings, platforms that swayed in the wind. My stomach twisted. I’m definitely going to die. My heart was pounding so loud it was drowning out my thoughts.
“Guess Garret wasn’t exaggerating,” Ryan muttered under his breath from beside me. “Moving blocks, unstable cliffs, magical mazes—yep, this is exactly what he wrote about.”
Gia smirked faintly, though her knuckles were white on the strap of her satchel. “Told you. My brothers don’t make this stuff up.”
Ryan leaned closer, a crooked grin tugging at his lips. “Great. Well, it would’ve been nice if he had, because I would’ve gladly taken the snakes over the moving blocks.”
Gia smiled with a roll of her eyes, and for a fleeting moment the tension in my chest loosened. Leave it to Ryan to make a joke while staring down death.
Gia took my hand softly.
“You will do great,” she whispered beside me, as if she could sense the panic buzzing through me.
“Yeah, you’ll survive, Ryn. Just… try not to trip,” Ryan quipped, bouncing on the balls of his feet like he was ready for a sprint.
“Thanks for the overwhelming confidence, Ry,” I replied dryly, one clammy hand gripping my pant leg while the other squeezed Gia’s, desperate to stop the shaking.
“That’s what I’m here for.” He smirked and turned forward.
Luna glanced over her shoulder from ahead of us in line.
“Look, Rynlee, don’t overthink it. You’ve got this.”
“Okay, wow, I don’t need a pep rally,” I muttered while Gia gently squeezed my hand.
“You have faced worse,” she whispered. “You’re stronger than you think.”
I gave her a weak smile in return. I wanted to believe her.
And maybe… I could navigate the maze. Perhaps even tier two.
But tier three? That was my worst fucking nightmare.
And don’t get me started on tier four. Who even knew what waited up there?
I breathed slowly and focused on Firebeard’s voice.