The maze groaned around us, its stone walls shifting, reforming, breathing. The passage ahead twisted, splitting into two new paths, both shrouded in eerie shadows.
I wiped the sweat from my brow. "Great. More nightmare fuel."
Lillian sheathed her rapier with a practiced grace, stepping closer to me. "You're handling it well, partner."
I shot her a look. "You're enjoying this too much."
She hummed, unbothered. "Perhaps."
I sighed, glancing at our two choices. "Okay, so which way do we—?"
Warm fingers curled around my wrist.
I froze.
Lillian was watching me, her gaze gentle in a way that caught me completely off guard. She took a step closer, her touch soft but firm, thumb brushing against my pulse.
"Before we move on," she murmured, "I'd like an answer."
My throat went dry. "An answer?"
Her lips curled slightly. Patient. Expectant.
Then, I understood.
The garden.
The shooting star.
Her confession.
Heat rushed to my face. "You're seriously bringing this up now?"
Lillian tilted her head. "Why not? It's just the two of us, and I think I've been very patient, don't you?"
I hated how calmly devastating she was.
"I—" I swallowed, forcing myself to look at her. "I never said no, did I?"
Her gaze flickered with something dangerously close to satisfaction. "No, you didn't."
The weight of her words settled over me, warm and unrelenting.
I had known this was coming. Lillian wasn't the type to let things go unresolved. And maybe… maybe I didn't want to avoid it anymore.
She lifted my hand to her lips, pressing a kiss to my knuckles.
Soft. Unrushed. Claiming.
I inhaled sharply.
"Lillian—"
Her free hand brushed against my cheek, fingers curling beneath my chin, tilting my head just enough to make me meet her gaze.
"Do you want to say yes?" she asked.
I was losing my mind.
The way she looked at me, touched me, spoke to me—it was all so Lillian. Confident, effortless, as if she had all the time in the world to wait for my answer.
My heart pounded.
Her lips quirked. "I won't push you. But I won't let you run either."
I swallowed, gripping the fabric of her sleeve, steadying myself.
And then, somehow, I found my voice. "I—I don't want to run."
Lillian's breath hitched.
Before I could second-guess myself, I reached up, fingers curling into the front of her uniform, tugging her down just slightly.
Her smile was immediate—soft, but triumphant.
But before she could lean in any further—
The maze shuddered violently.
Lillian sighed, clearly unimpressed with reality interrupting us. "It seems the world is against me today."
I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. "We should—we should go."
She chuckled, finally releasing me—though not before pressing another fleeting kiss to my knuckles.
"Lead the way, partner."
And despite the dangers ahead… my heart was still beating for something else entirely.
The maze rumbled again, forcing us apart as dust and loose stones tumbled from above. I quickly stepped back, trying to compose myself while Lillian—utterly unbothered by the fact that we almost just died—brushed some imaginary dust off her sleeve.
I glared at her. "Are you seriously not concerned that this entire place is trying to kill us?"
She smirked. "I have more important things to focus on."
My face burned.
"Come on," I muttered, turning toward the new passage that had formed ahead. Anything to move on from whatever just happened. "We need to figure out what the next part of this trial is."
Lillian didn't argue, but she did fall into step beside me—closer than before. And she didn't let go of my hand.
I tried not to think about it.
But that was difficult when her fingers fit so perfectly between mine.
As we moved forward, the air grew heavier. The stone walls were colder here, the dim lighting flickering like we were being watched. The silence was the worst part—not even our footsteps echoed properly.
Lillian suddenly tugged me to a stop. "Something isn't right."
I nodded, whispering, "It feels... different."
She glanced down at our hands, then at me, before slowly drawing her rapier. "Stay close."
I nearly rolled my eyes. As if she wasn't already attached to my side.
But I didn't argue. Because the further we walked, the stronger the feeling became.
Something was here.
And then—
The air shifted.
A whisper—not a voice, but something ancient, something unnatural— echoed through the corridor, skimming against my mind like a phantom touch.
I stiffened, my breath hitching.
Lillian's grip on my hand tightened immediately. "Sera?"
I opened my mouth to answer—but before I could, the world around us changed.
In the blink of an eye, we were somewhere else.
The maze was gone.
Instead, we were standing in an expansive marble hall. Tall, arched windows lined the walls, but outside was nothing but endless blackness. The chandeliers above flickered weakly, their flames barely clinging to life.
And at the far end of the hall—
A single throne.
Empty.
Waiting.
I swallowed. This wasn't part of the trial, was it?
"Lillian—"
"I know," she said immediately, voice sharp, alert. She was already scanning the room, her stance shifting into something more defensive.
Then, the throne stirred.
A dark shape began to form, rising from the shadows like a figure stepping out of a dream.
I took a slow step back.
It was hard to tell if it was human—or if it had ever been. It was tall, unnaturally so, its entire body shrouded in black mist. But its eyes—
They were watching us.
Cold. Hollow.
And for the first time since the trials began, I felt something I never expected.
A deep, crawling fear.
Lillian's voice was steady. "Who are you?"
The entity didn't answer.
Instead—
It smiled.
The entity's smile stretched—too wide, too unnatural. The air grew heavier, pressing against my chest like unseen hands. Every instinct in me screamed to run.
But I didn't.
I couldn't.
Lillian shifted closer, her presence grounding me. Her rapier was steady, her grip firm, but I knew—she felt it too. This was different. This wasn't just a part of the trial anymore.
This was something else. Something wrong.
The figure finally spoke, its voice a whisper of many, layered upon one another.
"You should not be here."
The words crawled under my skin, seeping into my thoughts, twisting through my mind like vines. A cold sweat broke out along the back of my neck.
Then, it took a single step forward.
I took a shaky breath. We needed to move. We needed to do something.
I turned to Lillian, about to say as much—but the look on her face stopped me cold.
Her eyes were locked onto mine, searching. And then—
She smiled.
Not the smirk she always wore when teasing me.
Not the polite, composed smile she gave in public.
But something gentler. Something softer.
And she whispered, "I remember."
I barely had time to process what she meant before she moved.
In a single, elegant motion, she turned to me fully, cupped my face with both hands— and kissed me.
My brain completely short-circuited.
The world around us faded.
All I could feel was her.
Her warmth, her lips pressing firmly against mine, her hands cradling my face like I was something precious.
And for one fleeting second—I forgot where we were.
Forgot the shadow watching us. Forgot the suffocating fear creeping through my veins.
I only knew her.
When she finally pulled back, her emerald eyes met mine, and I realized—she had done that on purpose.
"Lillian," I whispered, voice weak. "W-What—?"
She smirked, running her thumb across my lower lip, her voice barely above a murmur.
"You're always thinking too much, my dear."
Then, she turned back to the shadowed entity and raised her rapier, her entire presence shifting.
Cold. Regal. Unshakable.
Like she had just claimed something.
And then, without missing a beat, she said—
"Now, tell me. What are you?"
The entity's form shimmered like a distorted reflection on rippling water—then settled.
And what stood before us… was Lillian.
I stiffened. My grip on my weapon tightened. I didn't like this. At all.
Lillian, however, didn't even flinch. Her emerald eyes locked onto the entity's own—**her own—**analyzing, calculating, but unreadable.
"You can call me a reflection," it said, its voice eerily identical to Lillian's. "A being meant to help you perceive differently. A trial born from this facility's magic, designed to test the way you view the world."
Lillian's gaze remained impassive. "And what, exactly, am I meant to perceive?"
The reflection tilted its head, a perfect mimicry of Lillian's usual inquisitive expression. It smiled—a hauntingly familiar curve of the lips.
"Let me ask you something," it began, stepping forward, its movements fluid. "What do you think a monster is?"
I felt a shiver run down my spine.
Lillian remained composed, her voice even. "I assume you're referring to the creatures we fight—goblins, ogres, beasts that roam the land."
The reflection hummed in amusement, as if it already knew she would say that.
"And if I told you that you were a monster, would you believe me?"
My stomach dropped.
"What?" I blurted out, stepping in front of Lillian instinctively. "What kind of nonsense—"
The reflection lifted a finger to its lips, silencing me effortlessly, like it knew I wouldn't like what it had to say next.
"Exactly," it mused, eyes glinting. "You assume monsters are the cold, vile creatures you fight. But what if I told you that sometimes, the true monsters… are human?"
A thick silence settled over the space.
I swallowed.
I didn't like where this was going. Not one bit.
Lillian, however, remained eerily calm. Her grip on her rapier didn't waver, her posture still as regal as ever.
"I assume you have a point," she said smoothly.
The reflection's smile widened—it was an unnatural thing, too sharp, too knowing.
"Yes," it agreed. "Because one day, you won't be fighting mindless creatures with claws and fangs. One day, you will be forced to fight something worse."
The air felt heavier.
"What do you mean?" Lillian asked.
The reflection stepped closer—too close.
And for the first time, I saw something shift in its eyes.
Something like pity.
"What will you do," it murmured, "when the enemy standing before you… has a human face?"
A lump formed in my throat.
Lillian remained composed, but her grip on her weapon tightened.
The reflection's gaze softened—an eerie imitation of sympathy. "Think carefully," it continued, "because the moment is coming. And when it does, you won't be able to tell who the real monsters are."
Then, it smiled again.
And just like that—it shattered into mist.
Leaving behind only the chilling weight of its words.
Everything around us shimmered—the illusion dissolving into fragments of light before vanishing entirely. The air shifted, the stone beneath our feet trembled, and before we could even catch our breath, the walls of the maze moved—groaning as they twisted and rearranged themselves.
And then—just like that—we were no longer alone.
Standing before us, arms folded, an easy smile gracing her lips, was Ms. Liora.
"Congratulations," she said, her serene voice cutting through the heavy silence. "You two are the first ones to complete the first part of the trials."
I barely had time to process her words before Lillian let out an amused hum beside me. "First ones, you say?" she mused, brushing off her uniform as if she hadn't just faced a terrifying existential reflection of herself. "I suppose I should've expected as much."
I blinked.
"Wait." I turned to Ms. Liora, my brain catching up to the key part of her sentence. "First part?"
Ms. Liora's easy smile didn't waver.
"Yes," she said. "That was only the first segment."
I gawked.
"You mean to tell me," I started, pointing aggressively at the spot where that nightmare-inducing reflection had stood just moments ago, "that whole thing—that mind-bending psychological torture—was only the first part?!"
Lillian chuckled, clearly enjoying my suffering. "Sera, dear, you should know by now—things are never that easy."
I turned to Ms. Liora, desperate for mercy. "What the hell else could possibly be left? We fought through the maze, solved the puzzles, and just had a full-on philosophical debate with an entity wearing Lillian's face! What more do you want from us?!"
Ms. Liora tilted her head, amused. "Oh, I wouldn't worry too much," she said pleasantly. "The next trial will be a bit different."
That didn't make me feel better.
Lillian's lips curled into a smirk. "Do tell, Professor."
Ms. Liora nodded, stepping aside.
Beyond her, a new path stretched forward—a bridge leading toward a looming tower, bathed in the golden glow of what looked like an artificial sun. Unlike the eerie maze, this new area felt grand, open, and unnervingly quiet. The air buzzed with magic, something ancient, something waiting.
Ms. Liora turned back to us. "Your next trial," she said, "is a battle."
Lillian and I exchanged glances.
A battle?
Against what?
And then, as if answering my question, the ground rumbled.
Loudly.
My stomach dropped.
Because whatever was waiting for us beyond that bridge?
It had just woken up.