I stepped through the ancient archway, and into the sunny plains beyond. Here, I had a much better glimpse of the surroundings, and it was revitalizing. I emerged from high upon a rocky outcropping. It was built like city docks, open, with a flat platform stretching to an edge over a long drop. The formation itself looked as old as the First Lords, but was unadorned in the usual way. Great columns framed the archway that I had had exited, holding up the foundation of the structure. Various boulders and jagged plinths surrounded the sloping rock leading up to the platform, deterring anyone from trying to take a different route.

I turned back to the breathtaking view.

Capacious and untenanted hills spilled out in every direction, like verdant green waves on an endless ocean, and far away, just at the cusp of the horizon, I could see little homesteads dotting the line where land met air. Clouds eased along the zenith of the sky in a lazy fashion, and looked as though they went on for miles beyond the scope of my sight. To the north and the south, I could see the slightest intimation of ridges, but I didn’t recognize them.

Towering above all, in the center of my vision, stood the gigantic sword, hundreds of spanning feet of it glimmering white in the sunlight.

“Where am I?” I wondered aloud, “is this still the Almagest?”

“Of course not,” said a voice.

I jumped, and turned around to find the source. My eyes landed on a black-clad form, relaxing quite comfortably between two crooks of jagged stone. A hood was pulled up, hiding her facial features, but I recognized her instantly.

“Freya!” I exclaimed, smiling.

“Hey, there, liar,” she said. I couldn’t tell by her tone what her thoughts were, but as my own smile vanished, her’s grew.

“Oh, come on, Carthage!” she exclaimed, “I’m only messing with you! Sheesh, you made me feel bad. You looked like you were about to cry!”

“I was,” I said, smirking, “big, masculine tears.”

“Well, save them,” she said, lifting herself from her perch between the two rocks, and hopping down, leaping from several more stones before landing on the ground.

“ ...you’re likely going to need them shortly.”

“Where’s everyone else?” I asked.

“Probably already finished with the last Trial,” Freya said, “Helene and I parted ways just a little while ago. We didn’t see anyone else when we arrived.”

“Parted ways?” I asked, “why? Also, what are you doing out here?”

“Waiting around to see if you’d show up.”

I was taken aback, and shuffled my feet a little.

Is she going to try and attack me?

“Oh, don’t worry, Carthage,” she said, “I’m not here to assassinate you. I just wanted to see if you’d poke your head out.”

I didn’t know what to say. It was nice that she’d thought I’d been capable of getting here on my own. But that left me with other questions.

“So, you’re not upset that I misled you?”

Freya cackled and punched me lightly in the arm.

“What? Are you talking about before in the riddle room? That’s ancient history.”

“Oh,” I said. Words seemed to be escaping me. My life had been bewildering for the last year, and I felt that I’d lost my once confident nature.

“You sure are brooding,” Freya said, her smile wide under her hood.

“Says the girl who’s wrapped up all in black under a spooky cowl.”

“It’s an aesthetic,” Freya said, but then pulled back her hood to reveal her face. She rolled her eyes at me, still smiling.

“Oh god, put it back on!” I said suddenly, pretending to shield my eyes.

Freya winced, and instantly, her daggers were in her hands. She leveled one directly at me, her eyes dancing with mirth.

“If you don’t like what you see, I can take care of that for you. Really quick,” she said, “been looking for some mismatched eyes to add to my collection.”

I dropped my hands, putting my palms out in a placating gesture.

She’d probably do it.

“Alright, easy, now. I was just kidding,” I said.

Freya squinted at me, a bemused expression always a constant with her. She seemed incapable of taking anything too seriously.

“So why do you have two different colors, anyways?” she asked, studying my left eye carefully, “it looks unnatural. Does that have something to do with your Adventure Class?”

“Oh, er, I dunno,” I lied.

“Liar,” she chuckled, and was suddenly moving very fast, and stopped near me, inspecting my face closely, “it looks like the same color as the flame that engulfed you in the Labyrinth.”

I shrugged my shoulders, trying to move away from her, but she tailed my every movement.

“Why are you so cagey, sheesh, you’re worse than me!” Freya said, “don’t you trust me?”

The irony of the girl scowling at me, with her daggers out and so close to every part of me that could potentially bleed, was apparently lost on her. My hesitation to reveal too much to her seemed understandable.

But, there were other reasons…

“Sorry,” I said, stepping back from her and scratching my head, “I haven’t met many people outside of the Berrywood other than those in Vuss. And most of those people hated me for what I was.”

Freya seemed perplexed.

“They hated you because you’re a thick-headed coward with two different eyes?”

I paused.

“What? No--because I’m Ilfin--er, I’m not a coward!”

Freya shook her head, chuckling. She placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.

“That was a joke, thick-head.”

I could feel myself beginning to blush from embarrassment.

“Well, you’re one to talk,” I accused, “you barely told anyone anything during the Second Trial. You can’t really give me any grief if you’re doing the same thing!”

“I didn’t trust them,” she said, “those others in there. Some of them had an unsavory scent to them. Especially that big arrogant disaster of a noble. You seem alright though.”

I smiled.

“Aw, thanks, Freya,” I said, “you seem nice too.”

“Sheesh!” Freya sneered, her eyes sparkling as if she was privy to some joke, “don’t fall in love with me, thick-head. You’re not my type.”

That flustered me. I had only been trying my hand at returning a compliment.

“What? I’m not--”

“Relax,” Freya interjected, slugging my shoulder again, “I’m just tugging your chain, thick-head. You’re so fun to mess with.”

I hurriedly turned back to the rolling valley beyond the platform, and waved my hand over it, trying to change the subject.

“Ahem, er, Freya,” I said, “do you know where we are?”

“If I had to guess,” the girl said, padding forward and squinting out at the valley below, “I’d say we were somewhere in the Citrine Province.”

I stared at her, and she turned back to me and smiled.

“What?” she asked innocently, “you’re impressed, right?”

“We were transported hundreds of miles away?” I asked, stunned.

“Seems like it,” she said, shrugging.

“How?” I asked dumbly.

“Wait,” Freya said, wheeling on me and smirking, “we just got our insides scanned by a magic gateway, beat the ever-loving-piss out of a bush demon, answered infant-level riddles from a talking pebble, and this is the thing that throws you through a loop?”

She shook her head and chuckled.

“Magic, thick-head,” she said, “I may not come from the sort of specialty bloodline that you do, but come on, just start suspending your disbelief a little.”

I could feel the hot blush return, crawling up my neck and cheeks now.

“Oh, er, yeah, that’s probably it,” I said. I frowned.

“So, where did you say Helene went?”

Freya pointed out at the gigantic sword with the tip of her dagger.

“Towards that big ‘un there.”

I could see a couple of birds flying around the middle section of the massive weapon, far away. They circled a few times, and then something else seemed to grab their attention and they flew away from it, closer to our direction. I turned back to Freya.

“Well, I suppose we should head that way too before we run out of time,” I said, then, seeing the sheer side of the platform, got concerned.

“How, uh... how do we get down?”

Freya just shrugged.

“I dunno,” she said, “I was taking a nap when Helene left.”

“WHAT?!”

“Easy, thick-head,” Freya said, scowling, “I was exhausted from all that talking and interacting. It really wears a girl out.”

Suddenly, Freya’s face froze, her eyes wide as she stared at something over my shoulder. She was trying to prank me so she could make fun of me again.

“Hilarious,” I said, rolling my eyes, “but let’s focus on figuring this out. Time is of the es--”

“Look…” she breathed, pointing over my shoulder with the tip of her dagger.

“If this is another prank--” I started, turning to look, but I froze as well as I witnessed what the girl had been staring at.

One hundred feet away from us, two large, white forms were soaring through the air toward us. They each looked to be at least twenty feet in length, with massive wings twice that on either side of them, that caught the wind thermals as they glided towards us through the air. Their bodies looked like they were made of stone, but they had the distinct etching of scales all along their hides. Their faces resembled those of lizards, with slit nostrils and almond eyes that glowed yellow and menacing. They were trained on us, and approaching fast.

Those aren’t birds.

I ripped my climbing hook from my back, and stood with it out in front of me, ready for an assault. Freya stood next to me, her black daggers glinting in the sunlight, her body poised for battle as well.

“Drakes,” she hissed.

The creatures grew closer, and when they were only a dozen feet away, beat their wings suddenly, to slow their approach, and fluttered them, holding them floating in front of us, their eyes boring into my own.

“Welcome Appointed,” said a voice in my mind.

Was that the drakes?

“You are correct,” the voice returned, “but we are not here to do battle. You would be killed instantly if that were the case. You pose no threat to us. We would tear your heads off and feed our young with them.”

Was that entirely necessary? Then I remembered they had responded to my previous thought and tensed.

I didn’t put down my weapon, though. Instead I questioned them.

“If you’re not here to fight us, then what is your purpose?”

“We are here to take you to the last portion of the Challenge, Appointed.”

I looked past them at the looming sword in the distance, then back to their fluttering forms. It did seem like it would take a long time to get there if we went on foot.

“Come,” the voice returned, “for time is running out.”

With that, they dropped closer to us, their taloned feet grasping the edge of the platform firmly. They looked like razor sharp blades, each as long as my arm. The drakes tilted their bodies down, exposing their shoulders and the backs of their necks to us.

“Climb,” came the voice.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, and turned to Freya, and found that she was smiling ear to ear.

“Yes! She exclaimed, sliding her daggers into their sheathes, and before I could say anything, raced up the beast on the right’s shoulder and onto its back.

I sighed. What other choice did I have? If Waldo could do this, then I definitely could.

Here goes nothing.

With a final look behind me, I climbed onto the drakes back, and almost instantly, we were off.

--------

- ELSEWHERE -

“Make way, make way!”

Three sets of boots pushed past the sentinels standing guard in front of the throne room. The men parted, and allowed the others to enter, bowing slightly at their approach.

The three individuals stepped inside the magnificent chamber and stopped. The central figure was dressed in red finery, though it was a bit more tattered and mud-covered than usual. He swept several strands of his long, blond hair behind his ear and beamed across the chamber at the rotund man sitting in the throne.

“Father!” Prince Luxor exclaimed, “I have returned!”

King Zephyr started, having been napping in his seat of power until just this moment. Another guard stood at attention next to this throne, watching the newcomers with a vague disinterest.

“Whu--what? Oh!” he exclaimed, seeing the arrival, “my boy! The road finds you… dirty? Did you fall in a ditch?”

Prince Luxor laughed humorlessly and shook his head.

“It was a long battle, Father, but I have returned, and I have much to share with you!” the prince paused, and then motioned to the guard, “perhaps privately?”

King Zephyr snapped his head to his protector and smiled.

“If you could give us a moment, Baldr?”

The guardsman nodded curtly, and marched out of the throne room with purpose, the loud clomp of his boots disappearing down the hallways beyond.

“Well, now,” the king said, shifting in his seat, “it must be quite a story if you’ve come here with two… er, who are you friends?”

Luxor raised his arms to his companions and gestured to them.

“Oh, just some new brothers-in-arms I have met along the way,” he said, then, the prince turned to face two he’d entered with. Both were garbed identically in all black, everything obscured save for their simmering red eyes. They nodded to the prince, knowingly, and he returned the gesture, his body suddenly crackling with magical energy. His own glowing, crimson eyes flicked to the opening to the hall.

“Bar the door,” he commanded.