Chapter 124
Ella
The third trial came like a whisper—soft, sudden, and heavy with dread.
I stepped into a wide valley. It was eerily quiet. No wind stirred the grass beneath my feet, no birds sang overhead, and the sky was completely black, as if the stars themselves had abandoned this place. A strange coldness settled on my skin, but it wasn’t from the air—it was the kind that seeped deep into your chest, chilling you from the inside.
In the very center of the valley stood a single figure cloaked in white. My steps faltered the moment I saw her face.
It was my mother.
I froze.
Her soft eyes. Her warm smile. The gentle way her hands were folded before her. Everything looked… exactly right. But I knew better.
This wasn’t my mother. She was gone. Lost in one of the raids long before
