Chapter 69 - Liora's Trial
Liora stood before the ancient pedestal, the faint glow of the Accord reflecting in her violet eyes. The air around her felt heavy, charged with the weight of the trial that awaited. She glanced briefly at Caledon, who stood silent but visibly shaken after his own confrontation. Whatever he had faced, it had left a mark, a shadow of something deeper.
But Liora had no time to dwell on his pain. Now it was her turn.
"I'm ready," she said, her voice strong though her heart pounded beneath her chest. Steeling herself, she placed her hand on the cool stone surface. The moment her fingers made contact, everything around her vanished.
She was no longer in the cavern.
The world dissolved into a blinding white light, then faded into a cold, eerie mist. As the fog cleared, Liora found herself standing in a forest—a place that was both hauntingly familiar and deeply unsettling. Tall, ancient trees surrounded her, their twisted branches forming a canopy that blotted out the sky. A chill wind whispered through the leaves, carrying with it echoes of voices long forgotten.
Liora's breath caught in her throat. She knew this place.
It was the Darkwood—the forest she had wandered through as a child, lost and alone, after her parents had been taken from her. The memories flooded back with a painful clarity. The fear. The loneliness. The gnawing hunger that had driven her to the brink of despair. It was here, in this very forest, that she had nearly given up hope of ever finding her way back.
A rustle of leaves drew her attention, and she turned to see a figure emerge from the shadows—a girl, no older than ten, with tangled dark hair and wide, frightened eyes. Liora stared at the girl, her heart pounding.
It was her. A younger version of herself.
The girl stepped forward, her expression filled with a mixture of fear and anger. "Why did you leave me?" she demanded, her voice trembling with emotion. "Why did you abandon me?"
Liora felt her throat tighten. "I didn't abandon you," she said softly, though the guilt gnawed at her. "I was just a child. I didn't know how to save us."
The younger Liora's eyes blazed with accusation. "You should have tried harder! You should have fought! You're nothing but a coward!"
Liora flinched at the words, the old wounds reopening. She had spent years blaming herself for her parents' disappearance, for her inability to protect them, to find them. The guilt had followed her, shaped her, driven her to become stronger, harder. But now, faced with this younger version of herself, the raw pain resurfaced.
"I did everything I could," Liora whispered, her voice thick with emotion. "I was scared. I was alone. I—"
"Excuses!" the younger Liora shouted, her small hands clenched into fists. "You've always made excuses! That's why they're gone! That's why you're alone!"
The words cut deep, and for a moment, Liora couldn't breathe. She had always carried this guilt, this belief that if she had been stronger, braver, she could have saved her family. But now, as she stood face to face with her younger self, she realized that this trial wasn't about what she had failed to do in the past.
It was about what she would choose to do now.
Taking a deep breath, Liora straightened her back, her eyes hardening with resolve. "No," she said firmly, her voice steady. "I'm not going to let the past define me anymore."
The younger Liora glared at her, the fire of anger still burning in her eyes. "You can't escape what you are."
"I'm not trying to escape," Liora replied, her voice growing stronger. "I'm accepting it. Yes, I was scared. Yes, I was weak. But that doesn't make me a coward. It makes me human."
The girl's expression faltered, the anger fading into confusion. "But… you failed."
Liora knelt down, her gaze softening as she looked into the eyes of her younger self. "I failed, yes. But I'm not a failure. I've learned from my mistakes. I've grown stronger because of them. And now, I won't run from my past anymore. I'll face it, and I'll keep moving forward."
For a moment, the two stood in silence, the tension hanging in the air. Then, slowly, the younger Liora's form began to waver, the edges of her figure dissolving into the mist.
"You're not alone anymore," the girl whispered, her voice soft and filled with understanding. "You never were."
With those final words, the younger Liora disappeared, leaving only the cold wind and the silent trees behind.
Liora stood alone in the forest once more, but this time, she felt different. Lighter. The weight of her past, of the guilt she had carried for so long, had lifted. She had faced her greatest fear—not the loss of her family, but the belief that she had somehow caused it. And in confronting that fear, she had found her strength.
The world shifted again, the forest fading away into darkness, and Liora found herself back in the cavern, her hand still resting on the pedestal. The others watched her, their faces filled with a mixture of concern and curiosity.
The hooded figure stepped forward. "You have faced your trial," they said quietly. "And you have passed."
Liora nodded, her chest rising and falling with the remnants of the emotions that had surged through her. She had passed, but the journey was far from over. The Accord still held many secrets, and the trials were only the beginning.
Elandor approached the pedestal next, his expression unreadable. "My turn, I suppose," he said, though there was a hint of hesitation in his voice. He had seen the toll the trials had taken on both Caledon and Liora, and he knew that whatever awaited him would be no less challenging.
As Elandor reached out to place his hand on the stone, Liora took a deep breath, her mind still reeling from the intensity of her own trial. She had confronted her past, but now she had to face the future.
The future—and the terrifying power of the Celestial Accord.