Chapter 39
Thirty-Nine
T he world around her dissolved into a medley of sensations. She felt stretched and compressed, as if her body were being forced through a keyhole, before being spit onto a narrow stone ledge barely wide enough for their celestials.
Oppressive heat slammed into them like a physical wall.
The cavern stretched ahead, blackened stone descending into a shadowed abyss. Rivers of molten rock snaked across the floor far below, their orange glow painting the walls in hellish light.
“The wormhole’s gone,” she gasped, glancing back at the smooth stone where it had been moments before.
“Fuck,” Caius swore.
Stalactites hung from the ceiling like jagged teeth, dripping with magma that sizzled when it struck the ground. Stalagmites jutted upward from the floor.
They clustered together on the ledge—Solflara in front, then Beck, Hadrian, and Onyx—barely fitting single file. The drop on either side promised nothing but molten death.
The air reeked of brimstone and sulfur, thick enough to choke on. Each inhale scalded her throat raw.
Her lungs seized, every breath a desperate fight. She fumbled for her breathbind reliquary and took quick puffs, the acrid air like breathing through cloth soaked in acid.
Caius eyed her with sharp interest. Before he could land a cutting remark, she held up the device. If they were to function as a team, he needed to know. “It’s called a breathbind reliquary. It keeps my lungs open when the airways close up and I can’t breathe.”
For once, Caius looked almost sheepish. “I didn’t know.”
“There are a lot of things you don’t know about me.”
“Hold up, everyone.” Dawson dismounted at the ledge’s far edge, squinting at the cavern wall. “There’s an inscription. The letters are glowing.”
Alaire slid down Solflara’s back, carefully slipping past the celestials pressed along the ledge. One wrong step meant plunging into molten fire.
Words carved into black stone flickered with a reddish glow.
Dawson read aloud:
“In Betelgeuse’s Blaze,
Four shall enter, bound by fate,
Tethered together to navigate.
In fire’s blaze, through trial and test,
Only united can they progress.”
The moment he finished, shimmering light wrapped around each of their midsections. Silver threads snapped taut, then vanished from sight.
“What was—” Kaia stepped forward, only to be yanked toward the ledge’s edge by the unseen tether, dragging the others with her.
Alaire’s stomach lurched as she stumbled, catching herself inches from the drop. Every sudden movement from her teammates sent sharp tugs through her body.
“I don’t know,” Caius said, glaring at Dawson. “You just had to read it, didn’t you?”
“We’re tethered.” Dawson tested the bond, pushing back until it pulled the rest of them forward.
“Dear gods,” Caius groaned. “More teamwork. Because that’s worked so well for us in the ten minutes we’ve been doing this trial.” He dragged a hand down his face.
The bond tugged faintly as Dawson shifted his weight, nearly toppling Alaire forward. Kaia crowded close in the small space, pressing her against Dawson’s side.
Alaire shot him a glare. How she wished Archer were here instead.
Kaia brushed her fingers over the glowing inscription. “It’s instructions—or at least clues on how to finish this trial. The magic forces us to work together.”
Alaire’s gaze caught on the first line: Four shall enter, bound by fate. Clearly, that referred to their unit of four.
The following line about being tethered together to navigate needed no explanation—the magic had already made that obvious.
She drummed her fingers against her leathers, rereading the next line: In fire’s blaze, through trial and test. Whether the flames were metaphorical or literal, they were about to find out.
She scanned the cavern. The ceiling disappeared into shadow above, while rivers of magma below formed a winding maze. Ahead, the cavern stretched endlessly.
“We have to fly through it,” she murmured.
The flames licked higher in answer, the heat pressing in as if alive.
Dawson noticed too and frowned. He reached for his weapon—only to find nothing.
“My broadsword—it’s gone.”
She checked her own belt. Empty. Everyone’s weapons were gone.
“This trial wasn’t designed to be solved with steel,” Kaia said quietly.
“This just keeps getting better,” Caius muttered.
Alaire looked between Dawson and Kaia. “What about the last line? Only united can they progress. ”?Worrying about weapons was pointless—it was part of the trial’s design.
Caius crossed his arms, still fuming.
“It means we put our differences aside,” Dawson answered, glancing pointedly between Alaire and Caius. “We have to complete this together.”
“It won’t be that bad.” Kaia’s faint smile carried conviction. “We are stronger together.”
“What if we’re forced to split up?” Caius challenged. “Flying as a unit means covering multiple obstacles if needed. I don’t see how that’s possible now.”
“We don’t have a choice,” Alaire retorted. “We adapt and figure it out as a team.”
Caius shook his head, skepticism plain.
The cavern walls began to tremble. Dust rained from above. Small stones jumped along the ledge beneath their feet.
Slots screeched open in the stone walls.
“Mount up!” Alaire shouted. “Now!”
They scrambled onto their celestials as flaming arrows erupted from every direction, dozens of fire-tipped bolts soaring through the air.
“Get in formation!” Dawson called. “Diamond pattern. Alaire, you lead. I’ll take the right flank, Kaia, the left, Caius, rear guard.”
Solflara launched from the ledge. The tether snapped brutally tight, nearly ripping Alaire from her seat as she was yanked backward by the others’ weight. Her spine cracked under the whiplash.
“We need to adjust,” she gasped through the pain lancing her back.
Alaire chanced a look behind her. Hadrian had veered too wide, his wingtip scraping the cavern wall in a shower of sparks. Onyx hissed from the rear, fighting the invisible restraint.
They were moving like newborn colts—unsteady, confused, dangerous to themselves and everyone else. The constant tugging made her shoulders burn, muscles straining against the bonds that jerked her left and right with every movement her teammates made.
The walls shuddered again. More slots ground open, glowing with inner fire.
“Incoming!” Alaire spotted the telltale light but couldn’t tell which direction it was coming from. “Lean left!”
She banked hard. The tether caught, dragging Dawson sideways into her flight path. Beck squawked, wings tangling with Soflara’s. The bond yanked Kaia forward as Hadrian was pulled off course, which jerked Caius into a spiraling dive.
People are counting on you . Responsibility settled on her shoulders. Don’t let them down. Don’t be the reason someone dies today .
She forced the swirling thoughts to stop. She could do this. They could figure out the pattern. Move through the cavern. Reach the next sector.
An arrow whistled past, singeing a strand of her hair.
“This isn’t working!” Caius snarled from behind. “We’re going to kill each other before this damn trial has a chance to start.”
Alaire’s mind raced as she studied the wall slots. A faint glow always came before a volley. The arrows came from different sections, but there had to be a pattern.
“Kaia, track the intervals between volleys!”
They pressed deeper into the cavern, dodging the next wave by luck alone. The molten rivers below cast everything in a hellish red light that reminded her of the wraiths’ eyes.
Where does this end? How far do we have to go?
“One minute between volleys,” Kaia announced.
“Got it. Next wave in thirty seconds. Watch for the glow!”
“ Being forcibly tethered to Hadrian and Beck is making me nauseous . Hadrian keeps trying to poke me with his beak . As if a lady of my pedigree would ever let anyone near my behind .”
“ Focus , Solflara . No one cares about your behind right now .”
“ Hadrian does , unfortunately .”
Alaire ignored her phoenix’s rambling, eyes scanning for the next glow. There! A section of wall brightened like coals in a forge. “Right side, high! Bank left on my mark.”
The glow intensified. “Now!”
She threw Solflara into a sharp left turn. This time they moved together, the tether helping instead of hindering as it guided their formation cleanly through the turn. Arrows streaked past their right flank, missing by a healthy distance.
We’re getting it. We’re actually getting it.
“Roll left,” Alaire commanded as the next glow appeared. Tilting her body, the others mirrored her instantly, spinning through the cavern like a single creature with four sets of wings.
The cavern blurred around them—walls of black stone, rivers of fire, the endless void above.
“Stay alert,” she called back. Her heart hammered as she counted down the seconds.
The wall ahead lit up, too many sections flaring at once.
“Dive!” Kaia shouted. “Multiple launch points!”
“Stay sharp. We move on my mark.” Alaire could almost picture Caius rolling his eyes at being forced to follow her lead.
“ I can incinerate him ,” Solflara offered.
“ The cavern may just do that for us .”
Alaire flattened herself against Solflara’s neck, muscles bunching and releasing beneath her as they dove. The tether yanked at her ribs, trying to pull her upright as the others followed. Heat blasted upward. Sweat streamed down her face as they skimmed dangerously close to the bubbling magma.
Every time she closed her eyes, flames consuming everything she’d ever loved flashed behind them. Sulfur burned her nose. She blinked hard, forcing herself back to the present.
Then the cavern floor cracked.
Her eyes widened as fissures spider-webbed across the stone below. The molten rivers swelled, pressure building beneath the surface.
“Below! Something’s happening!” she warned.
Then, the floor exploded.
Geysers of magma erupted like volcanic fountains, shooting blazing streams hundreds of feet into the air. The molten rock burned holes through solid stone, sending chunks of cavern wall crashing down around them.
“Climb!” she screamed, throwing Solflara into a spiraling ascent as a geyser erupted directly beneath them.
The formation scattered, then snapped back together as the tether caught. Hadrian corkscrewed through the air, the sudden spiral whipping everyone to the left. Alaire’s neck cracked from the violent shift.
A massive geyser erupted directly beneath Dawson and Beck.
Her heart stopped.
“ Focus ,” Solflara reminded her.
Fixing her gaze forward, they continued dodging falling stone and streams of liquid fire. The air burned thick with sulfur and ash.
She tried covering her nose and mouth with her leathers, but there was no escaping the stench. Nausea rolled in her stomach as the smell of her nightmares came alive around her.
Another geyser erupted directly in their path.
“Reverse roll! Alaire, pay attention!” Dawson shouted. The world spun; the floor became the ceiling, molten rivers appeared above her. Screams rang in her ears. She squeezed her eyes shut against the barrage of sensations, forcing herself to concentrate.
Her vision swam, then snapped back into focus.
Alaire scanned the cavern desperately. In the chaotic light of magma and flames, she searched for the exit. “There has to be something!” she yelled over the roar.
But the ceiling stretched above, an unbroken dome of black stone. No exits. No openings.
They were trapped in a tunnel of endless rock. Panic clawed at her throat as reality sank in: there was no way out.
We’re going to die down here .
“Another volley!” Kaia yelled.
Arrows showered them from every direction, geysers spouting lava as they pushed forward, because that was their only choice. They were flying deeper into a death trap.