The path to the Trialbeast's hollow was not a trail, but a test.
Ayira led them beneath the living roots of Thornspire, into tunnels where light breathed like lungs and walls pulsed with ancient magic. No maps. No runes. Only instinct.
Ashra walked beside Caelum, silent but alert. Lira stayed close behind, her expression tight. Ayira, barefoot and calm, seemed to float as she moved her bond with the forest deeper than sight.
"The Trialbeast doesn't guard gold," she said. "It guards truth. You won't fight it with fire. You'll face it… with your self."
Caelum frowned. "And if I fail?"
Ayira glanced back, her golden eyes soft. "Then it consumes you. Gently."
They reached a chamber where roots hung like tendrils of starlight, suspended above a dark pool.
The moment Caelum stepped forward, the surface of the water shimmered then pulled him in without touch.
He fell.
Through fire. Through memory.
He saw himself as a child, hands bloody from a beast's wounds he couldn't save.
He saw the Sanctum priest branding his chest.
He saw Ashra turning away, her wings folding, saying "You're not ready."
Then
He stood in a grey version of Thornspire. Silent. Frozen. And in front of him stood…
Ashra.
Not the real Ashra.
A version of her.
Her voice echoed like wind on flame.
"Why do you need me?"
Caelum hesitated.
"Because you've fought for me when I couldn't fight for myself."
She stepped closer. Her fire flickered.
"Why haven't you chosen me?"
He flinched. "I… I don't know."
She touched his chest. "You fear what loving a beast means. That it makes you less human."
He clenched his fists. "No. I fear what loving you means… because I might burn."
Then the vision shifted.
Lira stood where Ashra had been, bow in hand, eyes shining with pain.
"You trust me," she said. "But do you see me?"
"I see your strength."
"Do you see the way I look at you when I think you're asleep?"
His throat tightened.
"I see you more clearly than I see myself."
She stepped closer almost kissing him then turned to mist.
Ayira appeared last, bare, glowing, her image woven of memory and light.
"You think you must choose one path."
"But Wildbinders didn't choose between heartbeats."
"They listened to them all."
She pressed her palm to his.
"And still chose their own."
Caelum gasped emerging from the pool like it had stolen his lungs.
Ashra grabbed him. "Caelum!"
He clutched her hand, blinking, breathless. "I saw… all of you."
Lira moved beside them. "Did the Trialbeast speak?"
Ayira stepped to the edge of the pool, smiling.
And from the roots above, it descended.
A creature the size of a cathedral, its body shaped of threads and scale, root and spirit, horned like a wyrm and eyed like a human. Its body changed as it moved, shifting between forms bird, beast, woman, flame.
It spoke directly into Caelum's soul.
"You carry flame. And fear. And love unspoken."
"You have failed as a Binder."
"But you may yet rise as a Sovereign of Threads."
It stretched its head toward Caelum, touching his chest with a single tendril.
A new sigil ignited ,this one not etched by gods or Sanctum.
It was grown.
And when it burned, the fourth thread screamed.
But the Trialbeast roared louder.
"You are chosen."
"You are loved."
"You are dangerous."
When it vanished back into the roots, Caelum collapsed.
Ayira caught him this time.
Lira helped pull him to his feet.
Ashra stood just far enough to see… and doubt.
Ayira's voice was low. "You carry the Trialmark now. The next time the Sanctum meets you, they'll see it. And they'll fear it."
Caelum stood, breath steadying.
"They should."
He turned to all three women.
"No more hesitating."
"I won't choose between love and strength. Because both are mine."
Ashra's eyes widened.
Lira blinked.
And Ayira simply smiled.
That night, Caelum stood alone near the glowing roots.
Ashra came to him. Not armored. Not winged.
Just herself.
"You're changing," she said.
He looked at her. "So are you."
She reached out.
Their hands touched.
And for once…
She didn't pull away.
End of Chapter 12.