As if the gods themselves wanted to punish me, Lillian didn't let up.
Every so often, she'd glance back at me with that knowing smirk, her fingers brushing just barely against mine as we walked. I swore she was doing it on purpose.
I was not going to survive this woman.
By the time we reached the next checkpoint, my heart rate had yet to return to normal. Camille and Claire were already there, looking far too entertained for my liking.
Claire, leaning lazily against the stone archway, lifted a brow. "You look like you've been through something."
Camille, ever the opportunist, stepped closer, inspecting me with an amused grin. "More importantly… why do you look flustered?"
"I am not flustered," I snapped, crossing my arms tightly over my chest.
Camille hummed thoughtfully, then suddenly turned to Lillian. "What did you do to her?"
Lillian, without missing a beat, clasped her hands behind her back and gave a polite, completely innocent smile. "Why, Camille, whatever do you mean?"
I nearly choked.
Camille's eyes flicked between us, her smirk widening. "Ahhh, I see. You're one of those."
Lillian tilted her head, all too pleased. "One of what?"
"A menace," Claire deadpanned. "An absolute menace."
Lillian laughed—soft, lilting, and very, very dangerous.
"I prefer the term effective."
I buried my face in my hands.
Why. Why me.
Before anyone could continue torturing me, Ms. Liora's voice rang out from above, amplified by magic.
"Congratulations on reaching the second checkpoint! You've done well, but the next trial will test something much more important than your combat abilities."
I forced myself to focus, ignoring the way Camille and Claire were still whispering to each other and clearly gossiping about me.
Lillian, to my despair, was still standing a little too close for comfort.
Ms. Liora continued, "The next trial will test your ability to work with others—not just your partner, but as a team. Survival is not about strength alone. You must trust, strategize, and adapt. If you cannot, you fail."
A heavy silence followed.
Then, the stone beneath us began to shift. The ground rumbled as a large structure rose before us, forming a vast ruin-like labyrinth filled with corridors, shifting walls, and glowing glyphs that pulsed with arcane energy.
Ms. Liora's voice echoed one last time.
"Welcome to the Trial of Strategy."
--
A gust of wind swept through the ruins, carrying the weight of expectation. The Trial of Strategy had begun.
I exhaled, steadying myself as I took in the labyrinth before us—twisting corridors, towering archways, glowing glyphs that pulsed with magic.
This was going to be a nightmare.
Claire stretched her arms above her head, grinning. "So, what's the plan, fearless leader?"
I squinted at her. "Fearless leader? Who decided that?"
Camille leaned in with a smirk. "Oh, we all did. Unanimously."
Lillian chuckled, brushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "You're the best at keeping a level head, Sera. And besides…"
She reached out, lightly trailing a finger under my chin, tilting my face up to hers.
"I like following your lead."
Oh. Oh no.
My heart stuttered in my chest.
Claire whistled. "Damn, that was smooth."
Camille grinned. "Sera, you're looking a little red—"
I stepped away so fast I almost tripped. "Alright, enough. Let's actually focus on surviving this thing."
Diana, who had been entirely too quiet, finally spoke. "The labyrinth is shifting."
We all turned as one.
Sure enough, the walls were moving, rearranging themselves into new paths and blocking others. This wasn't just a maze—it was alive.
Lillian's expression turned serious. "If we don't move quickly, we'll get separated."
Camille clicked her tongue. "Figures. They wouldn't just let us waltz through."
I inhaled, forcing myself to focus. Think.
"Alright," I said, scanning the area. "We need to assume that the path behind us will close soon. Our priority is to find an exit before the maze completely rearranges itself."
Diana nodded. "Agreed. But let's be prepared for traps as well. The academy wouldn't make this easy."
"And what about enemies?" Claire asked, already gripping her weapon. "No way they'll just let us wander without throwing something at us."
A low rumble answered her question.
From the depths of the labyrinth, a shadow stirred—then another.
Eyes glowed in the dim corridors.
The sound of stone grinding against stone filled the air as figures emerged from the shifting walls.
Not monsters.
Not students.
Sentinels.
Constructs made of arcane stone and pure, ancient magic.
Lillian unsheathed her rapier, eyes gleaming. "Looks like we have our answer."
Camille grinned, spinning an icicle between her fingers. "Sera, oh mighty leader, what's the plan?"
I swallowed.
This. Was. Hell.
"Don't die," I said. "That's the plan."
Claire laughed. "Simple. I like it."
And then, the sentinels attacked.
The first sentinel lunged.
A blur of stone and magic, its movements were too fluid for something that looked like it weighed half a ton. I barely managed to leap back before a massive fist slammed into the ground where I had been standing.
The impact shook the entire corridor.
"They're fast!" Claire shouted, already flipping backward to dodge another strike.
Camille clicked her tongue, summoning a sharp pillar of ice to skewer the nearest sentinel. But instead of piercing through, the ice shattered on impact, barely leaving a scratch.
"Great," she muttered. "They're resistant."
Lillian parried a stone fist with her rapier, the sheer force of the impact sending vibrations up her arm. "Then we'll need to find another way."
I could already see the problem—they weren't just strong, they were intelligent. Their movements weren't random, they were calculated, adaptive, as if they were studying us just as much as we were studying them.
And worse?
The maze was still shifting.
If we wasted too much time, we'd end up trapped between moving walls with no way out.
I forced myself to think. Analyze.
We couldn't rely on brute force.We couldn't stay in one place too long.We needed a way to immobilize or disable them.
Something clicked in my mind.
"Camille! Freeze the ground beneath them!" I yelled.
Without hesitation, she stomped her foot, and a sheet of frost spread instantly, covering the entire floor in a thin layer of ice. The sentinels, mid-charge, suddenly slipped, their enormous frames crashing against each other in a heavy thud.
"Good!" I said, already moving. "Lillian—pressure points! If they're magically constructed, their cores should be weak points!"
She nodded, already dashing forward. With graceful precision, she weaved between the fallen sentinels, her rapier slicing cleanly into the glowing glyphs embedded in their chests. Sparks of arcane energy flared from the wounds.
A sentinel convulsed, its limbs spasming before collapsing into dust.
Claire whistled. "Damn, Lillian."
Lillian simply flipped her hair. "Told you to trust me."
Another sentinel regained its footing and lunged at me.
I dodged just in time, but not before its massive fist grazed my shoulder, sending a sharp pain down my arm.
Tsk. That was going to leave a bruise.
"Diana! Can you disrupt their magic?!"
Diana was already moving, hands glowing with light magic as she chanted. A second later, golden sigils flared to life, wrapping around the remaining sentinels.
The moment her magic touched them, they faltered—slower, sluggish, like their magic was being drained.
Bingo.
"They're enchanted constructs," Diana panted. "If I suppress their magic, they can't function properly!"
"Then let's finish them while we can!" Claire grinned, already leaping forward. She twisted mid-air, bringing her weapon down in a powerful strike, shattering the nearest sentinel's core.
One by one, the sentinels fell.
Until—finally—there was nothing left but silence.
I exhaled, wiping sweat from my brow.
That had been too close.
Lillian sheathed her rapier, turning to me with a smirk. "You're getting better at leading, you know?"
I rolled my eyes. "You can stop flirting for five seconds, Lillian."
She chuckled, stepping closer—too close—until I could feel the warmth of her breath against my cheek.
"You don't actually want me to stop, though," she murmured.
Oh. Oh no.
My brain short-circuited.
Claire, ever the menace, snickered. "Should we give you two a moment?"
Camille leaned against a wall, smirking. "Please, continue. This is fun to watch."
I groaned, shoving Lillian away. "Can we just get out of this maze?!"
Lillian only laughed, grabbing my hand before I could protest.
"Alright then," she said, voice amused. "Shall we?"
Still flustered, I muttered a grumbled curse—but didn't let go.
Together, we moved forward.
And beyond the ruins, the next trial awaited.
As we stepped forward, the air shifted—a strange mix of magic and tension, like we had crossed an unseen threshold. The landscape ahead was different: a vast open field, lined with stone pillars and an eerie, violet mist swirling around the edges.
And then, the voice came.
"Welcome to the second trial."
It wasn't Ms. Liora this time.
It was something else.
I turned, but there was no one there.
Claire muttered under her breath, "Why do I feel like we just walked into something really bad?"
"Because we probably did," Camille replied, her usual smirk replaced with sharp alertness.
Before I could ask what she meant, the mist thickened—then solidified.
Figures began to form from the shadows. Human-shaped figures.
And when they stepped forward… I felt my blood run cold.
They looked exactly like us.
Doppelgängers.
Each one an identical copy of someone in our group—except for their eyes, which gleamed with an unnatural purple hue.
Lillian's copy tilted its head, smiling with eerie familiarity.
Diana's copy rolled her shoulders, golden magic crackling at her fingertips like her own.
Claire's double stretched its arms, grinning wildly.
Camille's twin summoned ice, mirroring her every move.
And then… there was me.
My doppelgänger stood directly across from me, expression unreadable. But when I locked eyes with it, I felt something… wrong.
Like I was staring into something much deeper than a simple reflection.
Then—they attacked.
Lillian parried her double's blade in an instant, sparks flying between them. Their movements were uncannily perfect, like they had fought each other a thousand times before.
Diana's clone casted light barriers around itself, mirroring her every defensive stance.
Claire's twin matched her speed, the two of them darting across the battlefield in a rapid, unpredictable blur.
Camille's double was just as coldly precise as she was, launching a wave of frost that forced the real Camille to counter with a barrier of her own.
And me?
I barely dodged my copy's first strike, an explosion of fire magic blazing past my shoulder.
It was my magic. My spells. My movements.
How the hell was I supposed to fight myself?
A blur of motion—Lillian had already pushed her clone back, pivoting to fight more aggressively. "Sera! Don't hesitate!"
"But—!"
"No buts!" Claire shouted, barely dodging her own twin's incoming kick. "They're literally trying to kill us! Fight back, now!"
I clenched my jaw.
They were right.
Hesitating would only get me killed.
My clone smirked, fire magic crackling to life in its palms.
I matched it, summoning flames of my own.
And just like that—the battle truly began.
The fight was chaos.
Camille's duel was a flurry of ice, two masters of frost weaving intricate formations, shattering them just as quickly. I had never seen Camille so serious before, her usual playful arrogance replaced by cold, methodical precision.
"You're good," her doppelgänger sneered.
Camille grinned, breathless. "Oh, sweetheart—" she shattered a spike of ice aimed at her heart, pivoting with a sharp twist of her blade—"I'm better."
Diana, on the other hand, was locked in a battle of endurance.
Her clone played defensively, casting barriers over barriers, trying to outlast her. But Diana was tenacious.
If her double wanted a war of attrition, Diana was going to outlast it.
With a flare of golden light, she threw out a powerful pulse, cracking through the clone's defenses, forcing it back.
She didn't stop.
Diana rushed forward, closing the distance, forcing her twin to fight up close.
"If you're really me," she murmured, fingers glowing with light magic—before she slammed her palm against its chest, sending it flying back—"then you should know I never lose."
Lillian's battle, however, was graceful yet terrifying.
Her clone fought dirty.
It mimicked her every move, but with an added layer of unpredictability. Faking out attacks, switching stances mid-strike, going for weak points instead of fair duels.
But Lillian?
She adapted.
With every strike, every dodge, she countered, measured, and took back control.
And when her doppelgänger lunged, she simply sidestepped—grabbing it by the collar of its uniform and whispering, "Not good enough."
With a precise twist, she flipped her clone onto the ground, pinning it beneath her rapier.
I was losing my mind.
And Claire?
Claire was grinning.
Unlike the rest of us, she wasn't stressed—she was thrilled.
Her clone was fast, chaotic, unpredictable—exactly like her.
And Claire was having the time of her life.
"Oh, come on," she taunted, flipping backward mid-air. "Is that all you've got?"
Her double growled, lunging forward too fast for me to follow.
But Claire? She dropped low, spun behind her clone, and kicked its legs out from under it.
She caught it by the collar mid-fall, her violet eyes gleaming.
"Not fast enough, dummy."
She punched it in the stomach.
Her clone hit the ground with a thud.
And then—there was me.
My clone was relentless.
It had my flames.My ice.My thoughts.
Every spell I cast, it countered.Every feint I threw, it anticipated.
We were completely even.
No weaknesses. No gaps.
Lillian suddenly called out, "Sera—switch things up!"
She was right.
This thing had all of my habits memorized.
But…
What if I used Sera Vandren's habits instead?
I took a deep breath.
And then—I let go.
Stopped thinking like me.Started thinking like her.
I dashed forward aggressively, fire and ice converging in my hands—unpredictable, powerful.
My clone stumbled for the first time.
It hesitated.
And that was all I needed.
A final burst of magic.A strike to the core.
And just like that—the clone shattered.
Leaving me breathless.
I stood there, chest rising and falling, the remnants of magic crackling around me. The battlefield was quiet now, save for the sound of our breathing, the weight of victory pressing down on our shoulders.
And yet, in the back of my head—I heard her.
A smooth, knowing voice. A familiar presence.
"Told you so."
I felt it—her smirk.The original Sera Vandren, lounging in the depths of my mind like she had all the time in the world, amusement dripping from her tone.
"You're becoming like me."
My fingers twitched.
For a second, I almost turned around, half-expecting to see her sitting lazily in a chair, legs crossed, that infuriatingly smug grin stretched across her face.
But she wasn't there.
No—she was inside me.
I swallowed hard, clenching my fists.
Was that true?
Had I really fought like her just now?
The reckless aggression, the unpredictability, the sheer dominance in the way I took down my clone—it wasn't something I would have done before.
But it was something she would have done.
Lillian stepped closer, her presence grounding me.
"You did well," she murmured, and there was something… warm in her voice.
I exhaled, willing my hands to stop shaking.
Before I could spiral any further, a pair of warm hands cupped my face, forcing me to look up.
Lillian's emerald eyes searched mine, something unreadable flickering within them. "You're thinking too much again," she murmured.
I blinked, startled by her sudden closeness. "I—"
"Shhh." She traced her thumbs lightly over my cheekbones. "You did well, Sera. Don't diminish that by overanalyzing everything."
I opened my mouth to argue, but the way she looked at me—so firm, so sure—made my throat tighten.
Instead, I swallowed and nodded. "Right. You're right."
She smiled, satisfied, before finally releasing me.
And that's when they arrived.
"Looks like you two got done first, huh?" Claire's voice rang out as she and Camille strode toward us, looking completely untouched.
Not a hair out of place. Not a single speck of dirt on them.
"You didn't even break a sweat, did you?" I deadpanned.
Camille grinned, lazily spinning a strand of her platinum-white hair around her finger. "Did you expect anything less?"
Lillian chuckled beside me, crossing her arms. "It would've been humbling if you struggled a little."
"Humbling? That's rich, coming from you," Claire shot back, raising an eyebrow. "You two finished first, didn't you?"
Before Lillian could respond, another voice cut in.
"She's right, you know."
Diana.
She emerged from the corridor leading into the next section of the Trials, her expression unreadable as she approached. "You two must've been working well together." Her emerald gaze flickered toward me, a smirk playing on her lips. "How interesting."
I was about to respond when another presence appeared beside her.
Tessa.
Unlike the rest of us, she actually looked a bit tired, brushing a stray strand of hair from her face as she sighed. "What she means to say is that we got here second, so don't get too comfortable with first place."
I let out a breath of relief at the familiar exasperation in her voice. "Finally, someone normal."
Tessa scoffed. "Don't get used to it."
Diana glanced at her, amused. "Oh, come now, Tessa. Aren't you happy to see our dear Sera again?"
Tessa side-eyed her before turning to me. "Not when you all are acting weird."
Camille hummed, crossing her arms. "You know, now that you mention it, she does seem different."
Claire's violet eyes sparkled mischievously as she tapped her chin. "I was thinking the same thing! Could it be because of all that training she did during break?"
I knew where this was going.
But before I could shut it down, Diana took another step closer, reaching up to play with a strand of my hair.
Her voice dropped, teasing, dangerous.
"Or maybe…" Her fingers trailed down my jaw, lingering at my chin. "It's because of something else that happened during break."
The air shifted.
I froze.
Lillian's arm immediately wrapped around my waist, pulling me away from Diana's touch. "Enough," she said smoothly, but there was something sharp in her tone.
Diana just smirked, stepping back. "Touched a nerve, did I?"
Claire cackled. "Ohhhh, this is getting good."
Camille just shook her head, sighing. "Can't take you all anywhere, huh?"
Tessa, the only reasonable one, pinched the bridge of her nose. "Are we done with the flirting?"
"No," Claire, Camille, and Diana said in unison.
Lillian sighed deeply beside me.
And I—
I was so not prepared for the chaos that would follow this group for the rest of the Trials.