Sophie

“You seek to aid the Champions, knowing your role must be played for them to be successful. You seek power. You seek understanding. And most of all, you seek connection. Only through connection can each be made whole.”

The silence that followed was the loudest Sophie had ever heard.

The words were cryptic. Subtle. As difficult to untangle as her own Insight, which so often gave her glimpses of reality without context, truth without foundation, and explanation without direction. This fact did not matter here. The moment Serenya spoke, Sophie knew it was true. This wasn’t a guess or some vague uninspired hope. Sophie knew what she said to be true. As surely as she knew her own name—her own identity.

“Yes,” she said simply, her voice steady. “We seek understanding. We seek knowledge, we seek connection. But even more than that we seek a path forward—one that keeps us from doom.”

The words tumbled out like water over a falls. She didn’t even know where they were coming from, just that they were like the words Serenya spoke these words too were true.

“I seek the Divine Moon Steel and will to take whatever trials are required to obtain it. Please allow us to do that.”

To her surprise, Serenya’s expression softened, and she looked at each of them in turn. “It will require sacrifice. Testing. Trials. Are all of you ready to take part—and to accept the consequences?”

Her eyes moved across the circle.

Anmei grin was manic. “I will burn everything in my way.”

Vivian, violet eyes cool as glass, though her knuckles were pale on her teacup. “I wouldn’t have come if I weren’t ready to face the conseqences.

The twins, who glanced first at each other, then at Sophie and back Serenya, “We don’t understand but this seems right. Allow us to help.”

Marissa, who squared her shoulders, fan closed like a weapon. “I will do anything for Ethan.”

Even Elizabeth, faintly amused, her eyes sharp with calculation. “Well, this quite the turn of events. I am in.”

One by one, each nodded.

Sophie spoke for them all. “We will do what it takes. But in return, we ask for explanation, for direction and for guidance. I don’t know divinity. I don’t know the Divine Moon Goddess. But clearly you’re here for a reason and I assume that reason is her. IF we take your trial can you give us what we ask for?”

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Serenya shook her head, white hair spilling across her shoulders. “The Goddess provides. I can make no promise before the divine element of which you speak. The Divine Moon Steel shall be yours should you pass our trial. You must accept the trials, the teachings, the shaping. All else will be revealed in the time the Fates allow. Can you accept this?”

Sophie paused. Narrowed her eyes. Then asked the only question that mattered.

“Will it help me accomplish my goal?”

Serenya’s smile was small, but real. “Nothing is written in the stars. No outcome is foregone. But if you truly seek what you say you seek—then yes. This is a step toward those desires.”

Sophie looked around the circle of women, then back at Serenya. “Then I accept your terms.”

Vivian spoke next. “I accept.”

“Hell yes lets do this,” Anmei chimed, her grin almost defiant.

Marissa raised her chin. “I accept.”

The twins answered together, their voices soft but firm. “We accept.”

Elizabeth leaned back, lips quirking. “Very well. I accept.”

“Then let us begin,” Serenya said, her voice suddenly bright, almost playful again. “Drink your tea. Eat your fruit. You’ll need it.”

Sophie raised her cup, the steam curling against her lips. The tea was warm. Fragrant. Strange. She drank, and in her chest, her pulse quickened.

A door open and Serenya moved. The woman follwed.

Six pathways unfurled from the center dais, spiraling outward like branches from a trunk. Each glowed with its own resonance:

* One glittered with frost, ice-runes flickering faintly across its surface.

* Another burned with flame that gave no heat, sparks leaping and vanishing.

* A third gleamed like quicksilver, a mirror-polished corridor that reflected more than faces.

* A fourth pulsed faintly, rhythm steady, like the beat of a living heart.

* Another twisted with invisible currents, wind curling and breaking against nothing.

* And the last was veined in roots glowing blood-red, throbbing as though alive.

They pulsed, faint and patient, as though waiting.

The sisters drew closer to one another. Sophie’s shoulders stiffened. Vivian could feel the magic pressing down, the choice pressing down.

“Six doors,” Anmei whispered, eyes bright. “Six of us. I feel like we should have a bard documenting this. He should spend most of his time waxing poetic about my backside.”

Serenya’s eyes danced with amusement. “Each of you will walk your path. There shall be no interference from the outside and no counsel. You will be weighed—not by me, but by the goddess whose echo lingers in this place.”

Sophie’s throat tightened. A trial. Not chosen, not explained, but demanded.

“Wait,” Vivian said, voice sharper than she intended. “What happens if we had refused?”

Serenya’s smile was sunlight through frost. “Refusal is still a measure. Everything weighs.”

Her words fell into the silence like stones into water, rippling outward, impossible to ignore.

Six doors of light. Six women.

And Sophie realized, with a cold certainty, that they had walked into something far larger than they understood.

It didn’t matter because she knew what had to be done.

She didn’t even have to think. She walked towards her door.