The silence stretched. Long. Uncomfortable.
Bai Lian didn't speak. She wasn't sure she could.
Soreia's white, pupilless eyes bore into her eerily, stark against her bruised and bloodied face. Her clothes were barely hanging together—ripped, lted and seared in multiple places. Her shoulder was twisted unnaturally, and her breathing ca in hoarse, ragged bursts. Black veins still pulsed faintly under her skin where the inheritance had tried—and failed—to root itself in her.
And yet, her gaze was sharp. Unyielding. Not the look of soone defeated.
Not exactly.
"You're staring," Soreia said finally, her voice low and rough. It was the kind of horseness one would expect after having their throat burned from bile due to throwing up.
"I—sorry," Bai Lian said, imdiately straightening. "You just… looked like…"
"Like I crawled out of hell?" A faint smirk tugged at Soreia's cracked lips. "I did."
Bai Lian's lips parted but no sound ca out. Her eyes flicked instinctively to the closed archway behind Soreia. The once radiant fra was now dull stone, completely sealed off from the outside world.
That relic was done.
Finished.
And Serena… hadn't returned.
"…So you didn't win?" Bai Lian asked softly, instantly regretting it the mont the words left her mouth.
Soreia's eyes narrowed.
"No," she said, "Sothing went wrong. The trial was flawed. Perhaps rigged, even."
Bai Lian blinked. "Rigged?"
"There were interruptions," Soreia said, her voice gaining strength as if indignation was more healing than any dicine. "The trial had an unfair elent of interference. It wasn't a proper trial. It was just pure chaos."
"But… Serena did pass? Despite this 'unfairness'" Bai Lian asked cautiously.
Soreia's jaw clenched. She didn't respond right away.
"No. I don't think she did," she said at last, voice tight. "There's absolutely no way that she passed. We both must have failed. As I said, the relic was faulty."
Bai Lian hesitated. "Then why… why didn't she co out?"
"I don't know," Soreia snapped, more sharply than intended. "Maybe she's still trapped in there. Maybe the relic just decided to eliminate her. Maybe she died. Maybe the relic consud her because it realized she wasn't worthy either. OKAY! Who knows? WHO CARES?!. In the end, it will reject both of us, mark my words."
She looked down for a mont. Her hand curled at her side, fingers trembling.
Bai Lian watched her quietly. The flicker in Soreia's voice. The deflection. The cracks.
Bai Lian could tell that Soreia believed she was the rightful winner. Whether that belief was valid or grounded in reality was up for debate though...
Nevertheless, she clearly thinks she should have won. That she needs to believe that. But…
Her eyes wandered back to the sealed gate for a second ti Just like the other entrance to the one that the Holy Son had completed. Based on past experience (although there is only one instance to draw on) that only happens when soone succeeds.
Bai Lian swallowed. "So… what will you do now?"
Soreia's gaze returned to her, harder now.
"I'll do what I ca here to do," she said. "Gain power."
She gestured dismissively to the closed archway behind her. "That one was defective. Broken. Maybe it once held real strength, but what I saw in there was just a relic of the past—too unstable to function properly anymore. Not to ntion that the civilization that trial is based on is clearly inferior to our own. I don't know what I could possibly hope to learn from them, they lost to the Abyss for a reason. I'll find sothing else. Sothing better."
Bai Lian blinked. "You're going to attempt another?"
"Of course. Should I wait here to die like you?" Soreia said. "Especially when there are only 5 of us and you've practically eliminated yourself from the running. I'm still more than worthy of an inheritance. One faulty relic isn't going to change that."
She took a step forward—wincing as her injured leg buckled slightly—and then stopped, turning her full attention on Bai Lian.
"You've been waiting out here, haven't you?" she said. "While the rest of us were inside."
"…Yes," Bai Lian said cautiously.
"Then you've seen who's gone where. Who's succeeded? Who's failed? I assu you've gathered so information."
Bai Lian shifted uncomfortably. "A little."
Soreia's eyes narrowed slightly. "I want to know about the other relics. The ones still unclaid."
"I don't know if I should—"
"I wasn't asking if you should," Soreia interrupted. "I'm demanding that you tell ."
'Why do people keep threatening ?!' Bai Lian thought with tears in her eyes.
Her tone wasn't threatening. Not quite. But it was firm. Implacable. The voice of soone used to having leverage.
"Tell what you know. I want to know which relics remain. I want to know if any of them haven't been claid yet. And if anyone has already exited and entered another relic."
Bai Lian's breath caught.
Soreia's gaze sharpened at her reaction. "So soone has?"
"I—I'm not sure I should be saying—"
She stepped closer. Her tone cooled again, but her eyes were sharp.
"Don't test my patience," Soreia said quietly while stepping close to her. "I don't want to hurt you. But if I have to—"
Bai Lian didn't move. She just stared at Soreia wide-eyed. And likely seeing Bai Lian, Soreia realized that intimidation wasn't always the best thod of obtaining the information you want.
Her tone softened:
"Look…I know you don't owe anything," Soreia continued. "But I'm just trying to survive. So… help . Just a little. That's all I need."
Then, Bai Lian nodded. Slowly. Cautiously.
"There are two relics still unclaid," she said. "One for a planet called Verdara, run by sentient plantlife… and the other one—no one knows what it is still... Prince Cassian already entered the forr"
Without another word—or even a THANK YOU—Soreia turned.
She moved slowly, carefully, past the dormant relic she'd just left behind. Her limp pronounced, but her posture steady.
She paused at one of the remaining archways.
For a long mont, she stood motionless. Silent.
Then she stepped through the trial she'd selected.
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