**Chapter Seven: The Three Trials**
417 Words
The room changed as soon as the child disappeared.
Flames rose in a circle around Awele. They weren't hot, just… watching.
A door appeared with the words etched into it:
> TRIAL ONE: MEMORY.
She stepped inside—and found herself in a market.
It was Umuaka’s market, but it looked younger and cleaner. It was alive with energy.
Women were selling fufu. Men were arguing about palm oil. Kids were chasing chickens.
In the middle, there was a woman—her mother.
Laughing.
Awele froze.
Her mother turned and looked right at her.
> “You left me,” Awele whispered.
> “No,” her mother replied. “You forgot me.”
Then, the world twisted.
Suddenly, her mother was on fire.
Tied to a black tree.
> “Do you remember why I walked into the forest?”
> “I… I don’t know.”
> “Then your blood remembers what your heart fears.”
---
The flames came back.
A second door appeared.
> TRIAL TWO: COURAGE.
She stepped into darkness.
Rain poured down. Thunder boomed.
Before her stood the villagers—holding torches.
“You are cursed!” they screamed. “Witch!”
Toba was among them, his eyes empty.
They rushed towards her.
Awele panicked.
But then she heard Nnenna’s voice in her mind:
> “Power without courage is just fear. Stand still, and let it pass.”
She closed her eyes.
The fire stopped right in front of her.
When she opened them, the crowd had vanished.
Only silence was left.
---
Final door.
> TRIAL THREE: MERCY.
She walked into a clearing.
There, tied to a post, was the spirit child.
Crying.
A voice whispered: “To pass, strike him. He carries the guilt of a thousand souls.”
A blade appeared in her hand.
She hesitated.
“No,” she said. “He’s just a child.”
> “Then you fail.”
> “No,” she said again. “I choose to fail.”
The spirit child looked up, smiling.
“You pass,” he whispered.
And the fire disappeared.
---
She woke up in the temple again.
This time, at the center stood a guardian—a woman of fire and bone, crowned in smoke.
> “You have crossed the veil,” she said. “You have passed the ancient tests.”
> “What happens now?”
> “Now,” she said, “you learn who you truly are.”
- Writer
