Chapter sixteen: End of trial

Freya’s POV

The air felt colder here. I stood at the edge of the old clearing. They called it the Circle of Bone. No trees, no grass. Just white bones sticking up from the ground like claws. This was where my final trial would begin.

Behind me, Finnick stepped close. He didn’t imidiately,  he just laid his hand gently on mine.

“ I've got to do this,” I told him, staring straight ahead. “Alone.”

He didn’t argue. But he didn’t halted nor set me free.

“Come back to me,” he said softly.

I nodded and stepped forward. The moment I crossed into the circle, everything changed.

The forest disappeared.

Now I was standing in a small dark cave. Cold. Wet. I looked down and saw a younger version of me, no more than five years old. I was weeping, hugging my knees and head deeped in between my legs. Then came the scream.

I turned and saw her, my mother. Chained to the cave wall, covered in blood. She was still fighting as a man raised a knife over her. Her voice rang out like thunder.

“Run, Freya! Run and never look back!” The knife came down. I screamed. And the vision vanished. I fell to my knees, shaking, back in the bone circle. Then a voice filled the air—deep, powerful.

“Blood remembers. Blood binds. Blood tests.”

The bones around me began to rise. They twisted and turned until they formed the shape of a large wolf. Glowing eyes stared down at me.

“You are of the Nightfang line,” the spirit said. “Your blood carries power. But to unlock it, you must pass this trial. Are you willing to bleed for it?”

“I’ve bled before,” I shut back, standing firm. “And I’ll do it again.”

The spirit stepped back. Mist rose from the ground. And someone walked out of it, My heart stopped, It was Riven.

He looked older. Stronger. But something was wrong. His eyes were cold. Empty. Like he didn’t know who I was.

“Riven?” I whispered. He growled and attacked.

I barely dodged in time. He moved fast, wild, like a rogue wolf trained to kill.

We fought hard. Every sting bites, not just my skin, but my heart. I didn’t want to harm him. He was my brother. My blood.

“I’m your sister!” I shouted. “Riven, stop!” He didn’t listen.

Not until I pinned him to the ground and placed my hand over his chest.

“You are Riven Kael. You were born under the Moonstone Tree. You used to hum me to sleep. You protected me when the dark scared me. You’re not his. You’re mine.”

For a second, something changed in his eyes, Then he vanished and the spirit appeared again.

“You carry love. You carry loss. But power comes at a cost. Choose what to save.” The ground split open in front of me. On one side, I saw Finnick—bleeding, surrounded by shadows.

On the other, Riven—trapped in a cage, screaming.

“You can only save one,” the spirit said. “Choose.” I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t choose.

“I won’t pick between them!” I yelled. “You can’t make me!”

“Then bleed.” The spirit raised its claws and slashed through me.

Pain tore through my chest. I screamed and dropped to the ground.

But in that moment of pain… I changed.

Light exploded from inside me. A warm, strong light that spread through my body and into the earth.

The bones cracked and the circle split apart. The spirit vanished.

And I stood up—alive, different.

Stronger.

I had passed.

*****************

The forest came back into view. Finnick rushed to me, his eyes wide. “Freya?” I was shaking, but I smiled. “I’m still me. But more.”

He pulled my body into his arms. He shielded me. I felt safe , peace and calm there, for the first time in a long time.

“I saw Riven,” I said. “He’s alive. But he doesn’t remember me.”

Finnick held me tighter. “Then we’ll help him remember.” I looked up at him.

I had hated him once. I had loved him. But now, I saw him for who he was—a man still trying to be better.

I touched his face. “I didn’t let them take you,” I whispered.

His eyes searched mine. “And I’ll never let them take you.” We kissed. Soft and slow. Not rushed. Not burning, Just real.

But the moment broke with a sound that made my blood run cold. A loud howl, then another and another, I turned toward the hills.

Red lights were glowing on the ridge. Fires. Too many. Wolves poured down the slopes, dozens—no, hundreds, I saw them.

Kade at the front, smiling like a monster and beside him…Riven and Alive but Still lost.

In his hand, he held something, Finnick’s broken Alpha pendant.