❂ Chapter 30: The Trial of the First Fairie
They did not fall.
They were placed.
One blink—and snow was replaced by stone. Silence replaced by riotous echo. The divine chill of Approcajjot's chamber dissolved into the thick air of incense, blood, and banners.
Their feet now pressed against the marble of a Byzantine palace.
Outside—war drums. Inside—curtains of crimson and gold. Priests whispering. Soldiers clashing. Eunuchs shouting orders. Murals alive with firelight. The very walls hummed with the weight of impending collapse.
A new voice, softer but piercing through everything, spoke:
"The trial of the First Fairie begins."
It was her again—Approcajjot—but through the air, like the sky had remembered her.
"You will each face your own weight. Do not look for fairness. Look for meaning."
The room split—not physically, but in truth. Each of them now stood alone. In their own time, in their own illusion—or reality.
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✧ Havella — The Test of General Belisarius
A battlefield. Crows circling. Roman armor bloodied and broken in the mud. But Havella didn't wear any of it. She stood beside… Belisarius.
The man, tall and robust, wore armor gilded with celestial patterns. His eyes were cold as he gazed at Havella.
"You," he said to Havella, not even glancing. "You're supposed to stop this war."
Havella stared at him.
"What war?"
"The one that my king began. And the one you must end. Not by blade. Not by force. But by conviction."
Belisarius turned then, not looking at her anymore.
"he built this empire with blood. I stained marble with purpose. If you want to end the war—convince me."
Havella blinked, heart pounding. Convince a man like this? Her hands twitched, instinct begging to reach for steel, but there was none. This test was not one of weapons.
She had to be sharper than any sword.
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✧ Jio — The Test of Seduction
He stood in a silken room—gold-framed mirrors, scrolls of art from every continent, perfume lingering in the shadows.
And before him, wrapped in light and pride, was Theodora Justinian herself—divine, immortalized in the fabric of history by her own will.
"You," she said, reclining, "are to seduce me."
Jio swallowed.
"…what?"
"Win me. Convince me that you are worth rewriting my passion for."
"But—I'm not even—"
"You were sent. You're here. That is enough."
She rose, walking with a sway that held a thousand empires hostage. Jio tried to speak, but his mouth felt numb.
"Let me be clear," she continued, voice sharp as sunlight. "You are not being tested for lust. You are being tested for fire. For will. For boldness. So show me something worthy of a goddess."
Jio had only his Bright Call—and words he didn't yet know how to use. But he stood straighter.
"Then let me try."
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✧ Vexi — The Test of Rewriting
She sat at a desk.
A single candle. A quill. Thousands of scrolls.
Paper after paper—maps, decrees, letters, sermons, marriage records, trade reports, war chronicles, letters from Theodora herself to long-forgotten mystics.
A voice whispered behind her.
"You must remember everything. Then change one thing. And see if the world still stands."
Vexi's eye twitched.
One thing?
Change history?
She saw scrolls that hadn't existed. She remembered truths no one had taught her. She flipped through them—battle movements, secret meetings, betrayals hidden by centuries.
Her hand hovered over the page.
One change.
One lie.
One truth revealed.
And the world could collapse or be reborn.
The choice wasn't heavy because it was large—it was heavy because it was permanent.
Vexi closed her eyes. Then opened them. And chose.
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❂
The three of them did not return with answers. Not yet.
They still stood in their trials. Words yet to be spoken. Seductions yet to fail or succeed. Histories yet to be written.
But above it all… Approcajjot waited.
Watching.
And smiling.
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End of Chapter 30
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