Her eyes fixed on the shimmering hourglass on the wall, its sands slowly dripping. Fifteen minutes. Kael had warned her. Fifteen minutes until the trial began, and then there would be no turning back. No escaping.

  Lira stood in the void, her feet on the familiar ground of her square. Her blue walls were replaced with a golden light. Overwhelming. Oppressive.

  Her eyes flicked to the small, glittering figure of Twinkle, the little wisp that had been her connection to Kae. But now, the creature hung frozen in the air, the light from its form suspended in an unnatural moment, mid-pulse.

  Her gaze dropped to the Ring of Link on her clawed hand.

  "Kael," she whispered softly.

  There was no answer.

  The Ascension Trial had done its work, cutting the links between her and Kael. She was on her own now, standing at the precipice of something she wasn’t sure she was ready for. And she hated that feeling. She hated the doubt.

  Lira’s mind drifted back to that Sunday meeting, a memory that seemed so distant now. The sound of laughter in the quiet corner, away from the chaos of the gathering of Masters.

  Kael, always so serious, always so focused. He had done the strategizing, the planning, the thinking while Lira had just laughed.

  Lira could see it now: Kael sitting across from her, his brow furrowed in concentration as he thought. The way his fingers scratched his little horn absentmindedly was a gesture so small that it had disarmed her completely. She had laughed and Kael, ever so serious, hadn’t even noticed the effect he had on her.

  "Well, I don’t have Kael by my side," she said. Her fingers flexed, as if willing the link to return, but it didn’t. It was gone.

  "I’ll just have to wing it," Lira decided aloud.

  She wasn’t a planner, wasn’t a strategist—she never had been. Her instincts, her gut, that was what she trusted. That was how she’d survived.

  But even now, she wondered. Wondered if she could do it alone.

  She had Avaris’s help at first. Kael’s guidance, then. The thought lingered in the air like a stone in her chest. Could she succeed on her own?

  Lira shook her head. There was no time for hesitation.

  Kael’s voice rang in her mind. The last words he said before the trial. “You can do it. I know you can.”

  “I can do this,” she whispered to herself.

  Lira’s square was a steppe, its rugged landscape sloping gently on one side, higher than the other, creating a natural advantage. From the high point, she could see everything, every move of the enemy, every shift in the battle line.

  The enemy square had spawned on the lower ground, a little to the east. Lira was lucky with that. They would be coming up toward her, charging the high ground without realizing what awaited them.

  Her spiders moved with purpose, weaving their webs into the shadows where the enemy would least expect them. The webs were thick and strong, a barrier that was needed in a rugged square like hers.

  Her gaze flicked upward, to the caves nestled into the high ground, the same caves where her spiders would retreat to when the fighting started. Her zombies were already moving into position along the wall that separated her square from the approaching enemy.

  Lira’s hand hovered over her belt, feeling the familiar weight of the sword Kael had given her. As she wrapped her fingers around the hilt, she felt a moment of calm. She wasn’t just Lira, the hesitant, unsure Introductory Master.

  She was ready.

  And the fifteen minutes were up.

  Lira could feel the shift in the air as the barrier between her square and the enemy's dissolved. Her square stretched out before her. Rugged terrain, cracked earth, and loose stones. One that didn’t offer much in the way of cover or advantage.

  Across from her, the enemy square was no better. It stretched out before her in an expanse of sand, a desert that seemed to swallow everything in sight, barren and unforgiving. The landscape was harsh, hot, and unforgiving. No cover, no places to retreat or hide. Just sand, rocks, and the open air.

  Kael had talked about finding the best spot, about using the terrain to your advantage. But Lira could see that both squares had little to offer in terms of hiding. There was no forest to hide in, no concealment in the shadows.

  Lira waited. Her mind raced through the possibilities: slimes or spiders. Spiders were the obvious choice and they could grow either to massive giant proportions or evolving into something venomous. Lira obviously went with the giant evolution.

  But then there were the slimes.

  Kael had told her all about them. The green slimes that could either grow larger or evolve into something more acidic, capable of dissolving anything in their path.

  As soon as Lira had that thought, she saw it. A small slime.

  A single green blob that hopped into her square, its slick, gelatinous body sliding over the rocks, dissolving them in its wake.

  Acid slimes.

  There were twenty more following behind the lead slime, all of them small but rapidly advancing, spreading out and hissing with green liquid dripping from their bodies. They were all capable of dissolving stone, rock, metal. Anything in their path.

  Her zombies moved without hesitation. They were always ready, the swords they carried gleaming as they took their places along the battle line.

  “Acid slimes are the worst matchup for you,” Kael had said. “Acid slimes can hurt your spiders and zombies when they attack it.”

  But then Kael, ever the planner, had followed it up with his usual pragmatism, always thinking a step ahead.

  “I’ll give you some stuff I crafted. They aren’t great, but they’ll help.”

  At the time, she hadn’t fully understood just how important those items were. The swords, the leather armor. Each was instrumental in this trial.

  The leather armor was holding. The acid splashed onto the armor but spared the skin of her zombies. The swords were cutting cleanly through the slimes, instead of relying on merely their hands to attack.

  The zombies were pushing forward, their swords cutting through the slime easily. Acid slimes fell one by one beneath her forces.

  But then, something changed.

  Lira’s eyes snapped to the sky as she heard an unnatural screech. A shadow swept across her battlefield, swift and large. She barely had time to register what was happening before the creature swooped down. It was massive, its bat-like wings beating the air with powerful, swift strokes. She could see its purplish leathery skin glistening in the sunlight.

  The Master.

  She saw the creature carry a hammer in one hand, its flat edge shining dangerously. The hammer swung in a wide arc, and just as it passed, she saw her zombie’s head explode in a sickening spray of acid and blood. The shock of it was almost too much to process in the moment, but Kael’s voice echoed in her mind: "You can do it."

  The decapitated body fell to the ground, but Lira’s mind was already shifting. A Master was charging at her, and it wasn’t playing by the same rules. They were both Introductory, but it had wings, fully grown wings. Fully grown wings with speed.

  The creature kept to a straight line as it made a dash towards her, its wings cutting through the air. Lira’s instincts screamed at her to act.

  Move.

  Her own small wings, barely the size of her hand, twitched on her back. With a burst of adrenaline, she spun to her right, her body twisting in midair. She could hear the whistle of the hammer slicing through the air, missing her by inches.

  She landed lightly on her feet but the Master above her didn’t give her any time to celebrate the small victory. It banked upwards, soaring to great heights, the void outside their squares its backdrop.

  Her zombies were beating the slimes but this flying Master was enough to turn the tables. She didn’t have time to hesitate. She didn’t have the luxury of fear anymore.

  She reached out with a telepathic command. Her spiders scurried out from their darkened shelter, skittering around her square. Their jaws held daggers, another gift from Kael. The strategy Kael had shown her. It was time.

  Daggers of Fog, she thought.

  Gray smoky tendrils escaped from the daggers and a fog began to rise in thick waves. The fog expanded, spreading outwards, curling up and over the square, swallowing the terrain until there was nothing left but the dense haze. Through the mist, she could feel the winged Master’s presence above, the faintest shift in the air as it hovered. It was disoriented, unsure of where to strike.

  The winged Master dived suddenly, its speed terrifying as it tore through the fog with a vicious scream. Lira didn’t have to see it. She could feel its movement. Thrashing, the Master fought against the webs that now laced the air. The spiders had trapped it, their webs catching the creature like an invisible net, its body twisting, struggling to escape.

  Lira raised her sword, feeling the hilt settle into her palm. She felt the webs, the thrashing by the Master and stabbed at the place where she felt the Master’s presence.

  The Master screamed, a high-pitched wail of pain that rang in the air. The fog swirled, thickening with the sound of the creature’s desperate movements, its wings flailing.

  With a final flap of wings, the Master pushed itself upwards, rising into the sky once more. Blood dripped from the wound Lira inflicted. It was flying again, though it was weakened. Injured.

  The Master, still reeling from the pain, studied the fog.

  But Lira, her confidence swelling with the knowledge that she had landed a hit, couldn’t resist the temptation.

  "Ha! I got you!" Lira shouted.

  The Master’s head snapped toward the sound, its eyes flaring with fury. In a blinding flash, the winged Master dove toward the source of the taunt, its hammer raised high.

  Lira didn’t have time to react. The taunt, the opening she had created, had drawn the Master in too quickly. It was a trap of her own making. She had underestimated the Master’s resolve, its quick thinking, its refusal to be outwitted again. She wasn’t facing a mindless brute. She was facing a Master that had learned from its mistakes.

  But the Master was deceived.

  Instead of Lira, the zombie stood at the center of the square, holding an old lantern. Kael’s Lantern of Lingering Voices flickered dimly, its light casting strange shadows.

  The voice, Lira’s voice, echoed from the lantern: "Ha! I got you!"

  The Master swung its hammer downward, with a force that would have crushed anything in its path. The zombie’s skull splintered, gore exploding outward in a shower of blood and bone.

  But even as the zombie’s head shattered, it managed to swing its sword with what little force it had left. The blade slashed across the Master’s chest, leaving a gash that spread across its purple skin, the blood spilling out in thick, viscous waves.

  Lira watched the Master stumble back, the wound significant but not fatal. It was still dangerous, still alive, still willing to fight.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  She raised her sword, her hand tight around the hilt, her eyes burning with determination. “Ha, I got you,” Lira said aloud.

  She wanted to bait it, to make it attack recklessly, just as she had. But this time, the Master didn’t fall for it.

  The fog in Lira’s square began to thin, the swirling mist receding as she commanded half of her summons to deactivate the Daggers of Fog. The air grew clearer, but vision was still poor. Shadows began to emerge from the thinning fog looming in the distance. Lira’s zombies, their bodies still, formed dark silhouettes against the backdrop of the thinning mist. The Winged Master, meanwhile, loomed over them, its bat-like wings creating a large silhouette.

  The zombies charged at the winged silhouette, their blades cutting through the air, seeking to strike at the Master. But the Master was relentless, swinging its hammer at the zombies. It swung once, twice, and as the hammer began to descend, ready to decimate the zombie nearest to it, Lira saw the perfect opening.

  The zombie’s head barely missed the hammer, but it was pulled back, saved at the last moment.

  Webs flew from the edges, as if summoned by an unseen hand. The spiders had been waiting in the shadows. Their webs were strong enough to catch and pull the zombie back just as the hammer swung with all its weight.

  Lira couldn’t help but smile inwardly. Kael was a genius. He had prepared her for this, had taught her how to control the battlefield. All had been planned in unison.

  But even with all of that, it still wasn’t enough.

  The Master, though grounded, was still a formidable opponent. Lira’s hands tightened around the hilt of her sword.

  She needed to do something.

  She crouched low, making her silhouette as small as possible. The zombies moved once more, charging in and pulled out, the creature’s attention divided between their strike and the webs.

  The hammer swung, and for the briefest of moments, Lira saw the faintest glimmer of uncertainty in its attack.

  She didn’t hesitate.

  She pushed off the ground with unbelievable speed. Her small wings, not large enough to carry her, fluttered with urgency. Her small wings didn’t give her the advantage of flight, but they gave her agility.

  Lira was already at its side, her sword raised. She struck, aiming for the bleeding spot on the side. Her sword met its mark. The steel sank deep, and the Master’s scream rang out, high-pitched and torn.

  The Master’s purple skin was slick with blood. Despite that, the hammer was raised once more, aimed straight at Lira.

  But Lira was already moving.

  Her small wings twitched again. She shot between the Master’s legs, twisting in one fluid motion, propelling herself with all the force her wings could muster.

  As she stood facing the Master’s back, her focus sharpened. There was no hesitation, no room for failure. This was the final moment.

  Lira’s sword plunged deep, cutting through the creature's back and into its chest with a sickening crunch.

  The Winged Master went still. Not a sound, no final thrash, no desperate scream. Its body merely slumped forward.

  The Master was dead.

  But the square didn’t change.

  The golden walls remained intact, their shimmering surface glowing a faint, unnatural light. The trial wasn’t over.

  She drew her sword from the body and plunged it deep again. She stared at the golden walls, unchanged.

  She had killed the Master, she was sure of it. The body of the winged creature lay on the ground, still, and lifeless.

  Kael had told her that killing the Master would be the end of the trial. So why?

  Unless, this isn’t the Master?

  Lira stood there for a moment, unsure of her next move, her eyes drifting across the battlefield. The acid slimes had been cleared by her zombies and the winged creature lay dead at her feet.

  What would Kael do? She thought.

  A thought flickered in her mind, an impulse. Could she? Could she bring it back, bring back the winged creature as a zombie?

  Could it be done?

  She placed her hand on the creature’s still-warm body, her fingers pressing lightly against the muscles and skin. For a long moment, nothing happened.

  But then, a shift. A groan, a low, guttural sound that sent a jolt through her chest.

  The creature stirred again. Its large wings fluttered, weak at first, then more forcefully, and with a shuddering moan, it lifted itself from the ground, hovering a foot above the earth.

  She had done it. Her zombie summon had worked.

  She moved quickly, grabbing the hammer from where it had dropped. With a practiced motion, she handed the hammer to the winged zombie.

  “Go,” she commanded. “Search the square.”

  The zombie moved then, its wings flapping harder, more steadily now, as it hovered higher into the air. The zombie circled once before flying off toward the desert, searching the vast, empty terrain.

  But it was futile. Nothing moved, no shadows shifted, no new threats emerged. Only sand.

  One hour turned to two. Then to three. No movement. No sound. No sign of the Master or its remaining forces. It had been a battle at first, wild and frantic, and then… nothing.

  She knew she couldn’t wait forever. Kael’s words echoed in her mind like the clang of a bell. Remember, Lira, if no one wins in 24 hours, both of you die.

  Twelve hours had already passed. And yet, the squares both remained bright as day.

  Lira ground her teeth, Kael would never simply sit and wait. He would make a move. She knew him well enough to know that much. He wouldn’t waste the chance to strike first, to change the game in his favor.

  The more she thought about it, the more it became clear. Kael wouldn’t wait.

  So neither would she.

  She looked over at her zombies, standing in formation, their swords held tight in their hands.

  “Gather up,” she commanded. Her zombies began to march and the spiders followed closely behind.

  Lira stood at the threshold of her square, where the rocky steppes met the barren desert, staring into the vast expanse of nothingness before her. Lira stepped across the line, her shoes sinking into the sand. The air was dry, the scent of sand thick in her nose.

  She wasn’t stepping into an enemy’s square, she was conquering it. With zombies and spiders.

  But as she moved further into the desert, the silence only deepened. There was nothing. No sign of life, no movement in the air. The sand drifted lazily in the wind, but there was no hint of the enemy. No sign of any threat. The desert was an empty wasteland.

  Then the wind began to stir.

  A sandstorm erupted out of nowhere. Sand whipped at her face, scraping her skin, clouding her vision. The gusts came suddenly, almost as if the desert had decided to fight back, and Lira instinctively lifted her arm to shield her eyes.

  Lira felt the ground quiver beneath her, slithering and stirring like a living thing. In an instant, one of her zombies was struck, a flash of movement that turned the creature into nothing more than a mass of shredded flesh and bone.

  "No!" Lira shouted, but the zombie had died. Again.

  Before she could fully react, she felt the sand move again. A figure shifted through the sand like it was part of it, seamless. There was no sound, no disturbance, just the figure suddenly taking shape. A dagger held in its hand.

  Lira’s instincts kicked in before she even had time to think. Her small wings fluttered, carrying her sideways in a sudden spin. Her body spun with speed, a blur in the sandstorm as the figure lunged.

  The dagger slashed at her, aiming for her heart. But her spin gave her enough time to raise her sword. She swung it with all her strength, cutting through the sandstorm.

  But it was a ghost.

  The blade of her sword cut clean through sand. The figure she thought she was attacking wasn’t real. It wasn’t a solid shape at all. It was just sand, a humanoid shape formed from the very ground beneath her.

  The sandstorm raged, tearing at her skin, but Lira ignored it. The sand was alive, and it was her enemy.

  She felt it before she saw it. The sand stirring. And then it appeared, cutting through the air, aimed straight at the nearest zombie. With one slash, the figure eviscerated the zombie in front of her. Her zombie was cleaved down the middle, the two halves of its body falling lifelessly to the ground.

  For a brief moment, the logical part of her mind screamed at her to retreat. That was what Kael would have done. He would have pulled back, strategized, and given himself room to think. But Lira, stubborn, impulsive and always driven by her gut, wasn’t going to run.

  The figure reappeared and the dagger struck again, aimed at Lira’s neck. But she stood her ground, and she deflected the strike with her blade. The sand that clouded her vision made it harder to see, but she didn’t flinch.

  Lira moved in a flash. Her sword swung downwards and she cleaved through the figure’s neck. She heard the slicing sound she’d been waiting for.

  But then the head, the severed head, fell to the ground with a soft thud, a pile of sand collapsing beneath it. The body fell apart, the sand slipping away as if the figure had never been real at all.

  The realization hit her. There was no body. No matter what she did, the figure was just a shape of sand, a construct, an illusion that fell apart with each strike. No weakness, no physical heart, no vital points.

  There has to be a weakness, Lira thought to herself.

  The figure was too quick and Lira couldn’t afford to waste time. She needed a weakness, a crack in the creature's movements, but it was too fluid, too shifting, the form constantly changing like a mirage. It was the sand. It was as if the creature was the sand itself, able to flow and shift at will, no more solid than the desert beneath her feet.

  Then, in a fleeting moment of clarity, Lira discovered its weakness.

  Just as the figure lunged, something shifted in the air. Her winged zombie crashed down from the sky, its massive form barrelling into the sand creature, breaking it apart with a resounding thud.

  The sand that made up the figure’s body exploded outward, scattering in all directions as the zombie’s strength and weight crushed the form. The dagger, its sharp edge still gleaming, flew from the creature’s grasp and landed in the sand near her feet.

  The sand began to stir around the dagger, the figure rising again, its body reforming.

  Lira didn’t pause. She moved quickly and without a second thought, she snatched the dagger. It was heavier than she expected, an energy she couldn’t place. But there was no time to contemplate it.

  The moment Lira gripped the dagger, the sandstorm began to subside and the figure dissipated into the air completely.

  But Lira’s gaze shifted to the golden walls around her. The trial still wasn’t over.

  Lira’s frustration bubbled over. The trial had become an endless waiting game.

  "Come out!" Lira shouted, her voice hoarse with frustration, the sound carrying far into the emptiness of the desert. "You can't hide forever!"

  But, of course, there was no response. No movement.

  Her fingers tightened around the dagger she had retrieved and a sandstorm began to swirl around her. But this wasn’t a wild, chaotic force. It was pleasant even.

  The sand continued to whip around her, gathering and solidifying into a humanoid shape. The figure rose from the swirling sands, tall and silent, its face missing, its body made entirely of shifting, fluid sand. The figure knelt before her, a silent gesture of respect.

  "What is this?" Lira whispered to herself.

  The figure’s head tilted slightly and then, to Lira’s surprise, it pointed toward the far corner of her square, towards the distant horizon of the desert.

  “Is that where the Master is hidden?”

  The figure didn’t speak. Of course, it didn’t. Instead, it nodded again, more slowly this time, its movement deliberate

  “Alright,” Lira said. She had no choice but to follow the lead of the sand creature. Without hesitation, she began to walk toward the distant corner of the square, her feet sinking into the sand with each step.

  But as she moved, the sand beneath her feet began to shift again. The sand below her rose up, forming a dune beneath her. And then, the dune began to move beneath her, carrying her across the desert. She felt the wind in her face as the dune sped forward.

  The dune Lira was riding eventually slowed on approach. The sand beneath her feet dispersed and a tall and silent figure reformed beside her with fluidity.

  She saw it, barely visible, a small burrow, half buried in the sand. It was so unremarkable, so insignificant, that Lira almost missed it. But she knew, deep in her gut, that this was where the Master had been hiding.

  Lira didn’t hesitate. She stepped forward, only to freeze.

  A voice, faint but distinct, rang out from the hole. "Wait."

  Two small hands, twisted and small, reached out from the burrow, grasping at the air.

  The Master emerged.

  It wasn’t what Lira had expected. Short, stout, with dark grey skin, the creature stood before her, clad in tattered robes.

  "Wait, wait," it whimpered. "You win."

  "Make it quick," the Master said. "You took my Succubus, my Sand Elemental... made my square a joke... and I can’t believe this is how I was de—"

  The sentence was cut short. The small Master’s head hit the sand before the rest of its body could react.

  Lira had no time for monologues.

  Lira didn’t even flinch. Her eyes were cold, her movements swift and decisive. The dagger in her hand gleamed with the blood of her opponent, but she barely acknowledged it.

  She was here to finish the trial. Here to win.

  ******

  "Kael!"

  Her voice hit Kael like a wave, reverberating through the connection they shared. The Ring of Link pulsed with warmth. He felt her presence immediately, even before the words came.

  He had been worried. The trial had been long, and the uncertainty of it had gnawed at him, even though he knew she was strong. But hearing her voice again, bright and free, washed away all his concern in an instant. It was as if the distance between them had dissolved, and he was with her again, hearing her laughter, feeling the excitement in her words.

  “Kael!”

  The voice came again, clearer this time, with an exhilaration that Kael couldn’t help but feel. His heart quickened at the joy in her tone.

  “I did it,” Lira’s voice echoed in his mind. “I’m a bronze.”

  “I knew you could do it, Lira,” Kael said telepathically.

  They were the truth, but they also carried something more. Pride, maybe affection. He cared for her, not just as an ally, but as someone who had become a constant in his life.

  Lira’s excitement spilled out, her stories and details tumbling over each other as she shared every part of the battle with him. She told him about the acid slimes, how his equipment helped her to defeat them. She laughed about the winged succubus, how she killed it and turned it into a flying zombie. She even described the sand elemental, her new ally that almost killed her.

  Kael laughed and gasped in places where her stories had him on the edge of his seat. The vividness of her words brought the trial to life even though he wasn’t there.

  It was easy, almost too easy, to get lost in her story, to forget the distance that lay between them. The walls of their squares were just barriers in the physical sense, but in this shared moment, the distance felt inconsequential.

  The words slipped out before Kael could catch them, unfiltered. The Ring of Link acted like a bridge, carrying the thought straight to Lira’s mind, almost too quickly for him to stop it.

  “I can’t wait to see you again soon.”

  Kael’s heart stopped for a moment after the words left his mind. He hadn’t meant to be so forward, to let that thought spill out before he could gather his emotions. Was it too much? Too soon? Would it make things awkward between them?

  But the response came quickly. She didn’t hesitate.

  “I can’t wait to see you too,” she replied.

  Sunday can’t come soon enough.

  ******