Izar was alone.

Whatever instinct had prompted her to reach out for Oyzal was proven right. The sound of glass being broken had followed her as she now stood in what appeared to be a tunnel. The walls on either side were made of black stone, inconsistent in their appearance. There were places with spikes and shards while other spots on the walls were without blemish.

A soft glow permeated across the tunnel, the source of it she could not discern as she made her way through. Of course, there were no alternatives.

She walked for what could have been ten more minutes before the walls of the tunnel expanded, leading Izar to a rectangular chamber. As she took her first steps, torches on the walls started lighting up before there were a total of six lit torches on either side of the chamber, bathing the room in fiery light.

Four emerald pillars stood in the centre of the room. The walls were made of metallic blue bricks, with thick green lines marring the spaces in between. At the end of the chamber was an arched doorway, coloured in the darkest shade of green. The doors that sealed the passage appeared to be normal and they were sealed by a circular keyhole.

So, she needed a key.

Izar approached the doorway. She traced it with her fingers and found nothing noteworthy. Everything in the room appeared to be plain.

The walls!

The bricks could easily operate as a hidden lever, there were few of those at home. She went over to the nearest wall and found that the gap between each brick was at least a finger wide while the gap was half a finger deep.

Izar was convinced that getting out of this room had something to do with the bricks. Now, she had to figure out which section of the wall contained the brick she needed.

Not the wall containing the doorway. It would be too easy and too obvious, she concluded. Of course, the trial so far had been rather easy but then again, she had made a shrewd choice by teaming up with Oyzal.

Now she was on her own, but wasn't this what she had wanted from the start? To be away from the clutches of her family and she had made it so far. This was the last hurdle and she had no intentions of failing.

Enthusiasm and determination filled her as she concluded that the walls surrounding the tunnel mouth through which she had entered would be ideal for hiding a lever or a button. She dismissed the side walls mainly because they would be too arduous to go through, at least for her.

The tunnel mouth opened up to the roof but on either side were a section of walls. Convenient, Izar thought as she now had to go through fewer bricks. But first, she walked to the tunnel mouth. It was a hunch and it paid off because at the entrance of the tunnel was a brick that was inside the right wall of the tunnel.

Izar pressed the brick.

A key dangled from the centre of the room now, out of jumping distance and held by a strand of silver rope.

Izar was satisfied as she pulled a dagger out from the belt strapped to her stomach. Credit to her mother for Izar was deadly with a dagger. It had been ingrained in her as a child, her mother would spend an hour each day teaching Izar how to throw daggers.

And a dagger now flew, cutting through the silver rope and the circular key now lay on the floor.

Izar picked it up and placed it in the keyhole.

The doors noiselessly slid into the wall and allowed passage into another torch-lit room. But here, the torches rested on four pairs of pillars that were hugging the walls on either side. There were vents on the upper ends of the walls on both sides. The room was quite long and at the far end were steps that led to a slightly elevated platform on which resided another doorway. This doorway was completely dark.

Izar walked into the new room. It was narrower than the one she had left as a click followed the closing of the doors behind her.

Izar was alert, she had daggers in both hands now. She only had twelve strapped to her with more inside of her holding chip. It was quite obvious that she had to reach the doorway but it was at least fifty feet from where she stood now. She contemplated running but was scared of involuntarily triggering a construct and that fear won out.

Izar crossed the first pair of pillars.

Immediately, the sound of something metallic being dragged filled the room. Izars gaze whipped to the vent to her right and saw that the flap was open. And from that crevice, something climbed down. For a moment, the hairs on her back stood. The thing had six legs attached to a circular grey body and a stinger hanging out near the front.

The thing reminded Izar of a crab. Its legs made a rattling noise as it shuffled towards her.

Izar was caught in limbo.

And in that moment of hesitation, something sharp wrapped around her left ankle. It felt like needles were being inserted into her skin. She looked down and spotted another crab-like creature. While she was focused on the one that had climbed down from her right, this one had managed to sneak up on her from the left.

Izar crouched and plunged a dagger into the centre of the crab that had wrapped around her left leg. The grip around her leg tightened. Izar shouted with pain but did not let the dagger go. Now, she dragged the dagger across the body of the crab and was met with little resistance. The body was hollow. Which meant it was a construct. Her dagger reached the point where the stinger was and it encountered something solid.

The grip on her leg tightened further.

This time, Izar only winced with pain. With all her might, she pulled the dagger through whatever was blocking its path. The stinger fell and the body of the construct went limp, its legs were loose and she easily removed it from her ankle.

The construct was almost on her. Izar quickly jumped over it. She almost groaned as landing on her left leg hurt. She planted her right leg in the centre of the construct, pinning its body to the ground. Its legs writhed wildly.

Izar pulled out a balm from her holding chip and rubbed the content on her left ankle. A sigh of relief followed as the pain hollowed out. She then reached forward and grabbed the stinger. It was more of a leg than a stinger. Izar breathed in deeply and then pulled. The stinger popped out as if it was a plug. The construct stopped moving and Izar smiled. She was one step ahead. She then tossed the construct over the next set of pillars.

Izar had deduced that the pillars were a trigger and she wanted to find out what she would be facing next. In answer, three crabs descended from the vents on either side. These crabs had brown bodies and they moved around only in the space between the two sets of pillars nearest to them.

So, there were invisible barriers.

Izar moved forward and now stood a step behind the set of pillars where the six constructs now roamed. She moved her hand forward so that it crossed the pillars. Immediately, the six crabs that were moving listlessly started racing towards her hand. They were faster than the two she had countered before. Izar quickly moved her hand back and all six crabs stopped moving for a second. And then each took off in different directions. The constructs did not react to the presence of the dead construct.

Izar moved to stand near the left wall. In front of her now roamed an isolated crab. She crouched and moved her hand through the invisible barrier. Instantly, the crabs started rushing towards her. The isolated crab was the first to reach her and as it got close, Izar reached down and plucked its stinger. The construct stopped moving and then, she took her hand back. All six constructs were taken care of in the same way.

Izar stepped into the space that was previously occupied by the six constructs that now lay dormant. She picked one up and threw it over the next pair of pillars.

Ten. Twenty constructs with dark green bodies filled the section. They were fast, fast enough to cause Izar to worry. She twirled a dagger in her left hand. There were two slits in her robe which gave her access to her belt of daggers. The robe itself was intricately made which hid the slits extremely well.

The crabs were moving in random patterns which made it almost impossible for her to focus on a point to target. But still, Izar tried her luck. She focused on a random crab and aimed for the base of its stinger.

She focused, entering what her mother had called the space of concentration. Izar liked to refer to it as concentration. Everything else from her surroundings disappeared, only the base of the stinger remained. Izar took a deep breath and held it. She shifted the dagger to a throwing position. She released the breath and threw the dagger.

The dagger was a blur as it raced through space and hit just above the base of the stinger. It was cut clean off but the construct did not die.

Well, she had to do it the hard way then, Izar mused.

Izar moved one hand across the barrier and the crabs were almost upon her. She had an eyebrow raised and shrugged. She moved to the right, there were fewer constructs there. She pushed both hands through this time and managed to pull two stingers off before being a crab had managed to wrap its legs around her hand. It had jumped, which caught her off balance and she almost stumbled backwards.

It had taken her longer this time to clear the section. All twenty constructs now lay dead. But it wasn't without cost. Her sleeves were torn, there were bloody cuts around her hand and they stung. She had to use the last bits of her balm. The cuts had started closing instantly and were now gone. She thanked the heavens for the insight that had allowed her to grab the holding chip when she had fled.

Izar now walked over to the open vent. It was a door-like structure with two edges pinned at the top, the bottom part was open. That had allowed the constructs to move out.

If Izar had to guess, the next trigger would unleash at least twenty constructs and she had no wish to fight them all. She did not know how much time had passed and tiredness was slowly starting to creep in. If it weren't for the balm, she would have been tired enough to need a rest.

Izar now walked over to the right pillar of the next pair. She stared intently at the vent hugging the right wall. She held the dagger that she had thrown at a construct in her right hand.

Concentrate.

Her eyes focused on the right edge of the lower part of the vent. Izar arched her right shoulder back to gain maximum force. The dagger was primed and she released it. It flew over and with a solid thud, rammed into the vent. It stuck.

Izar did the same for the other edge before making sure two daggers were stuck on the left vent.

She stood on the edge of what she assumed to be the invisible barrier. No constructs were used as bait this time, she couldn't risk it. She had to cross twenty feet.

Izar took a deep breath and then, she ran.

As soon as she crossed the pillars, the sound of rattling filled the room. The vents were trying to open. Izar did not know how long the daggers would hold, frankly, she did not care.

The rattling noise was now tethering on the edge of being violent. It was intense and soon something metallic fell to the ground.

The steps to the elevated platform were close. The sounds of her daggers falling did not stop her and with a jump, she reached the bottom step.

An explosion of sound followed as the vents burst off their hinges. A plethora of blue crabs flew out of the vents on either side.

Relief flooded through Izar as an uncountable amount of these crabs flooded the space behind her. She quickly jumped to the platform, not wanting to take any risks. The crabs did not follow and Izar allowed herself some respite.

A soft blue light radiated from the previously dark doorway. It was another passage, at least ten feet long and four feet wide. The roof was arched. There appeared no marks on the whole structure as if the whole corridor had been shaped from a single piece of dark stone.

Izar found no visible triggers as she made her way toward the doorway. She held daggers in both hands as apprehension made its way towards her mind. The corridor was cold as she took her first step in it. The temperature did nothing to calm her. Sweat started to form on her temple as her steps became nervous and slow. She halted, scanning every inch of her surroundings for a clue.

Maybe she was overreacting but Izar had learned to trust her instincts. She did not want to make the mistake of treating it as a simple corridor despite the light of a fire that came from the other end.

She spotted nothing. She lifted her right foot to take another step when she felt it going through an invisible string. A hot wind rushed against her. Panic blossomed in her heart. Izar instantly took a step back. Four slits opened up on the roof.

A huge axe swung from side to side.

Another axe.

Another.

And another.

Four swinging axes blocked Izars path.

Deep breaths, no panic. She just had to count the interval between the first and the last axe.

One…

Two…

Three…

It took three seconds for the axes to complete a cycle. If she started to move with the first axe swing, she would get six seconds to cross ten feet. A lot of the panic that had bloomed in her heart disappeared.

The axes swung again, making noise as they cut through the air. Izar stood just behind the slit containing the first axe and waited for the axe to return. She held her breath.

Izar covered the first slit just as the axe finished swinging. She couldn't run as the axes in front of her prevented that.

Over the second slit, third and then she jumped over the fourth slit and spared a glance back. The third axe had finished swinging. Izar released the breath she had been holding and turned her back on the swinging axes.

And walked into a cave. The light from torches played on granite walls. On the far end was glass in a beehive pattern. Through the glass, Izar could see stairs that were crowned by more granite. And in between, water.

A whole body of clear water stood between Izar and the stairs on the far side. She could see the cave reach into the depths of the water, with sharp spikes of granite. The water was clear enough that no reflections formed on its surface.

Izar slumped to the granite floor, her eyes closed.

Hopeless.

She had to reach the other side, she knew. She shook her head. She couldn't believe it. There were no other ways, she had to swim. The Opening was mocking her, they knew, somehow they had managed to figure out her greatest fear.

Izar knew how to swim.

Her father had made sure of it. The Southern States had no significant water bodies so her father had made a lake. And he made sure all his children knew how to swim.

It's just that Izar couldn't.

Not after an incident. The memory of that, she had clasped in the deepest recesses of her mind. The thought of the memory had frozen her at the river they had to cross and now she was immobilised again. This time, she had no one to distract her.

She was on her own.

For the first time, she missed Oyzal. His presence would have kept her mind off of her darkest thoughts. She thought as she lay slumped, had he finished the trial? A small part of her dared to wonder if he waited for her somewhere? Well, he had helped get her here and it wouldn't be nice on her behalf if she failed now.

She had successfully managed to divert her thoughts, but her eyes were closed. She dared not look at the pond, despite it being clear. Her body started shaking as she thought about what she had to do.

No!

Izars fists curled into balls, her nails bit into her palm. She was sweating and her knees ached due to the granite. These served her well as distractions.

Izar opened her eyes.

She would face whatever stood in her path.

She was a Solerin.

And a Solerin,

Never. Gives. Up.

She would not think. She would let her muscles take over. Yes! That had to be the way.

For the first time since she got separated from Oyzal, Izar did something without thinking.

Izar dived into the water.

The spike at the bottom, yes that, she had to reach that one. She let nothing else cloud her thoughts. Only her goal. The water was cool enough to be comfortable. Nothing less, nothing more. Nothing worth thinking about.

Izars legs propelled her forward, her arms guided her as they moved through the water. Her body had not forgotten, her motions were serene. Of course, she was her parent's daughter.

There! She was almost there.

Did something just tug her robes?

No!

Izar shook her head underwater, she couldn't let dark thoughts enter her mind.

Did something just move?

No!

What was that?

Nothing!

Was the water suddenly colder?

No!

No! No! No!

Izar stopped moving. Her eyes closed. She was motionless for a moment as she wrestled with her thoughts. Her brother had saved her then, who would now?

No one, why?

She did not need anyone to save her.

Izars hands tightened into fists. She was not weak. She would show them. She would become strong. All the fear left her body, determination reigning supreme.

Izar opened her eyes.

She pushed past the spike of granite and now could see the surface on the other side. But the pressure was bubbling inside of her chest. She needed air. Fast.

She moved her legs as fast as she could, mustering every ounce of energy her lungs allowed. The surface was nearing, she was almost there.

Dark... Shadows... Cold...

No!

With a final burst of energy, Izar broke through the surface. She gasped for air now, relieving her stressed lungs.

She had made it!

Her lips were curled into a smile as she now swam to the ledge.

Izar now sat on the ledge, her robes clung to her. The warmth from the torches would dry her. Her legs were outstretched towards the pond. She had conquered it. The fear of water no longer resided supremely inside of her though it was there.

She waited until she felt she was dry enough.

Indeed, she had rightly spotted stairs from the other side. She inspected for any triggers and found none. But the top was sealed off by a layer of granite, rendering the stairs useless.

So Izar walked over and placed a foot on the first step.

A sound and then the layer of granite started moving.