Chapter fourteen: scary trials

Freya’s POV

The second door glowed faintly in the wall of the ruined dungeon. I knew it wasn’t really there—just like the first trial’s field, it was part of something deeper. Older. Magic that belonged to my bloodline.

But before I could step toward it, something changed.

The air snapped cold.

Finnick went stiff beside me. “Do you hear that?”

Then I heard it too, footsteps. Heavy. Rushed.

Not just one but a dozen. Then the sound of steel—unsheathing blades.

“Down!” Finnick shouted. The wall to our left exploded.

I hit the ground just in time. Dust filled the air. Through it, I saw them—wolves in armor, led by a tall man with dark hair and cruel eyes.

Finnick froze. “No…”

The man smiled like a snake. “Miss me, Alpha?”

It was Theren.

Finnick’s old Beta. His second-in-command. His friend—once.

Now, he was Kade’s.

“Theren,” Finnick growled. “wait, you’re working with him?”

“I lead now,” Theren said. “Your throne is gone. Your pack chose strength. They chose me.”

“They chose a traitor,” I spat.

Theren looked at me with disgust. “And they chose you? A cursed girl with power she can’t control? A broken Luna?”

I stood tall. “I’d rather be broken than a coward who serves a monster.”

He sneered. “Then run, little Luna. Because next time, I won’t miss.”

He snapped his fingers. More wolves charged.

Finnick grabbed my hand. “Come on!” We ran.

Down the broken halls. Through fire and falling stone. Past the ruins of Kade’s fortress.

My heart pounded.

We broke through the last wall into the open night. And then I felt it—that pull again.

A light glowed in the distance through the trees. Calm, soft, silver spirit glade.

“I have to go,” I said, breathless.

Finnick turned to me. “It’s the second trial, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” I said. “Stay here. Please.”

He looked like it tore him apart. But he nodded. “I’ll keep them off your trail." I ran alone toward the light. The glade was quiet.

No wind. No birds. Just stillness. Peaceful. Too peaceful and Then the world twisted but I wasn’t in the glade anymore.

I stood in a throne room. Black stone walls. A crown on my head. Blood on my hands.

Kade knelt at my feet, chains around his neck. Broken and I laughed.

Not out of joy but Out of power. It felt good.

The voice of the trial whispered, “You could have it. All of it. Power. Rule. Fear. No one would ever hurt you again.”

My fingers itched. My magic pulsed like fire in my veins.

I stepped closer to Kade. I could end him. Snap his neck. Watch the last piece of my past burn.

And take his place.

But then—I saw my reflection in the black stone walls.

Cold eyes. Cruel mouth. A crown, yes. But no soul.

I wasn’t Freya anymore.

I was Kade.

“No,” I whispered. “I won’t become you.”

The voice grew sharper. “You’d be strong.”

“I am strong,” I said. “Because I choose not to kill him like this. Not like a monster.” The throne cracked behind me and the vision vanished.

And the glade returned.

I dropped to my knees, gasping. My chest ached like something had been torn from it.

Then I looked down.

A thin black mark stretched along my arm. Like a scar left behind by the shadow of that throne.

Even though I’d passed the second trial... it marked me.

And deep inside, I knew—I would never be the same.

I stumbled back to the edge of the glade. Finnick was waiting, bruised and bloodied but alive.

He ran to me and caught me as I fell into him. “You did it?”

I nodded weakly. “Yes. But not without cost.”

He helped me stand, but before we could speak again—

A howl rose in the distance, Not Theren, Not a wolf but Something else. Ancient.

Finnick’s eyes met mine, full of dread. “That’s not from our world.”

And the trees began to whisper a name.

Riven… Riven… Riven…

The name echoed through the trees like a death knell. It slithered through the branches, whispered in voices that didn’t belong to any creature I knew. Not wolf. Not human. Not even spirit.

Finnick turned toward the sound like it might lunge from the trees. “We have to move.”

But I couldn’t. My legs wouldn’t listen. The glade had taken something from me. More than strength. More than breath. It had tasted my soul.

“Freya,” he said, firmer now. “We can’t stay.”

I blinked up at him. “What is Riven?”

He didn’t answer. Didn’t look at me. Just helped me up with one arm while drawing his blade with the other. “Old magic. Forgotten for a reason.”

The shadows beyond the trees deepened. Like the night itself was folding inward. Every instinct in my body screamed to run, but the mark on my arm burned again—ice and fire laced together. A warning.

We limped away from the glade. Not running. Not hiding. Just trying to survive. But the forest had changed.

It didn’t feel like the same path we took in. The trees leaned too far inward. The moon above flickered like a candle in wind. And the ground… pulsed beneath our feet. Like a heartbeat.

Something was watching.

I could feel it. Not just one presence. Many.

“I don’t think we’re alone,” I whispered.

Finnick's jaw clenched. “We’re not.” A branch snapped to the left. Another to the right. Then silence again. And then—a hiss, Not breath. Not snake. A voice.

“Little Luna…”

It came from nowhere. And everywhere.

I spun around. Nothing.

Then it spoke again, closer. “Do you think the second trial was the end?”

Finnick raised his sword. “Show yourself!”

Laughter. Low and wet and cold. Like something smiling with too many teeth.

“You passed a test of shadow,” the voice said. “But now... you face the source.”

The wind surged and The trees bent outward, Darkness stepped a figure cloaked in smoke.

Not a wolf. Not a man. A thing that shifted with every blink. One moment tall and skeletal. The next, hulking with horns of ash. Its face was always just out of focus—except the eyes.

White_ Burning_Empty. “Riven,” I whispered.

It bowed mockingly. “You summoned me, Luna. You chose power. The scar on your arm is my mark.”

I took a step back. “I didn’t choose you.”