'Perhaps the snake was a fitting representative animal for .' She—Bai Lian— was thinking guiltily. 'A spineless reptile that sheds its skin to escape and survive on its own.'
Before entering this relic, she'd been seen as the weak link. And yet… she had survived. Alone.
Lady Zhao. Fang Lei. The weight of their deaths would follow her ho. Assuming she survived. Assuming her own people didn't tear her apart for being the only one to return.
Lady Zhao had been one of the potential heirs to the Eastern throne. The Emperor's favoured daughter from his favourite consort.
Fang Lei had been from a noble line, their family deeply entrenched in military and political influence.
But, Bai Lian?
Her family, while noble, was minor by comparison. High in title, perhaps. But not possessing any real power or influence.
And now she was the only one left.
The weight of what that ant was written all over her face.
She has to go back alone. Alone and without the bodies. Without a suitable explanation. And she'll be expected to answer for the deaths of people far more important than herself.
She wasn't even sure if she wanted to return alive anymore.
Serena must have noticed her strange state, too. She glanced at the girl, then at Kain. "She might break."
"Yeah," he said softly. "She might."
Kain slowly stepped toward one of the still unselected boxes—there were three.
They all looked the sa, so he simply selected the one the furthest from the white-eyed girl.
'Are these boxes a gift?' he thought. 'Or a trap?'
Eventually, Bai Lian, on the verge of tears, also ca over and stood behind the remaining box.
No prompt ca from the relic. No ssage. No instructions.
Just silence.
As if waiting.
Eventually, Cassian—growing visibly impatient—called out, "What now? Are we supposed to open them?"
Kain looked around. No one responded. But it was obvious they were all thinking the sa thing.
With a slow breath, Serena nodded toward the box. "Let's just lift them. Together."
And so they did.
Six boxes. Six participants. Six simultaneous lifts.
A sharp click echoed through the chamber as so kind of lock automatically released and the tops ca off.
Kain stared down at what was beneath his own.
Inside was a single object—resting atop black velvet like a ceremonial treasure.
It was a dagger. A curved blade of glassy obsidian etched with tiny dragon-scale patterns along its spine, the hilt wrapped in crimson leather, and a miniature dragon head sculpted into the poml. Ornate. Beautiful. Balanced. It looked more ceremonial than functional—but it was undoubtedly sharp.
He heard confused murmurs from the others.
Cassian's voice rang out: "What is this?! A cheap-looking bow? That's it?! I nearly died for this?"
Kain's gaze swept around the room.
Located the furthest away from him, the white-eyed girl held sothing slender and black—a sheathe made of volcanic glass, inlaid with the sa dragon-scale motif as Kain's dagger. The blade fit her scabbard. Perfectly.
Serena, on the other hand, was holding sothing that, at first, looked like a silver-threaded bracelet, delicate and ornantal. But as Kain watched her rotate it in her hand, it unravelled into a woven loop—a band designed to sling a flute across the body, the clasps matching the snake-tongue motif at the end of Bai Lian's wooden flute.
The Holy Son held a crooked-looking old wooden arrow, but its shaft was wrapped with golden twine that ford the silhouette of a dragon coiled down its length. The fletching was black, glistening with so oil-like finish.
Cassian, beside him, stared down at a short, bone-carved bow. The upper and lower limbs of the bow were shaped like curved dragon wings, arcing inward toward the grip.
And then it clicked.
Pairs.
Each item had a match.
A weapon with its projectile. An instrunt with its sling. A blade with its sheath.
The relic's voice returned, calm and emotionless.
Kain's pulse quickened.
[You will proceed in pairs. Your partners are determined by the nature of your selections.]
Eyes snapped across the room.
Cassian's jaw clenched in a barely concealed distaste. "You an I'm with…?"
"," the Holy Son confird, glancing back and forth between his own arrow and Cassian's bow.
Cassian groaned under his breath.
[Contestants Cassian Lysander and Seraphius Lazaran D'Orien are a pairing]
'Oh. Seraphius is that his birth na?'
Serena looked down at the flute in Bai Lian's trembling hands, then at her own silver-threaded sling. The match was undeniable.
[Contestants Serena Storm and Bai Lian are a pairing]
And…
Kain didn't even need to hear the words. He already knew. Not that he was happy about it…
His dagger. And her sheath.
A perfect match…
[Contestants Kain Newman and Soreia Eyeris]
Kain's chest tightened and his apprehension only went up upon hearing her full na for the first ti. It didn't at all help that he recognized that surna:
Eyeris.
A na wrapped in old weight. Old power. A na descended—not by blood, but by legacy—from one of the Empire's most mythic figures.
Calista Eyera. One of the Five Founders of the Empire.
The woman whose visions helped to establish the Empire, overco disaster-level threats, and steer an entire dynasty before she vanished.
She never married. Had no children of her own. But during the height of her influence, she adopted a girl—an orphan with a gift similar to her own, but greatly diluted in power.
She could not see the future in detailed visions like Calista, but she could sense intentions, glimpse fleeting probabilities, and get an overall sense for major future events. And if an important event was near enough to happening, she could even receive the odd vague vision.
Calista gave her a na. Eyeris. A na derived from her own, but separate. A second eye.
That child's descendants—now called the Eyeris clan—had carried fragnts of that gift ever since. So stronger than others.
Even if they weren't as powerful as Calista herself, their words still held weight and they still wielded significant political influence.
And soone from that prominent clan had attempted to drive him to his death.
He looked at her.
The white-eyed girl was already looking at him.
Her expression was as unreadable as ever.
Kain already knew that if trust or teamwork were involved in the next trial, he was already dood to fail.
Because he didn't trust her at all.
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