Riley was determined.

At least, he had been determined right up until he left his dragon with those heartfelt promises and poetic parting words. But if he were being honest, that entire bravado only survived for about three meters before shriveling up and dying like a bug on a hot sidewalk.

The apparently sealed human did not dare look back. If he looked back, even for a fraction of a second, he was ninety percent sure he would sprint straight into Kael’s arms and demand a refund for this entire experience.

Because this was not the easiest sight to swallow.

Riley Hale, the twiggiest twig who ever twigged, was walking behind, beside, or honestly just within the gravitational pull of a giant serpent whose tail he had never once seen the end of. And as if that wasn’t horrifying enough, he was also being escorted by other guardians of various shapes and sizes, like they were on their way to either his coronation or his execution.

They stared at him with those unblinking eyes. And he thought that even those destined to go to the maximum penitentiary likely didn’t get the same looks.

Riley could physically feel every hair on his flimsy mortal body trying to stand up on end.

Because the whole thing was unnerving.

And it was a sharp reminder of his earlier fear that maybe he had once been so awful, so catastrophically terrible, that he needed to be sealed, supervised, and followed around like a high-level prisoner with escape tendencies.

But despite the terror gnawing at his spine, the same frightened chicken kept putting one shaky foot in front of the other as he moved down what felt like a never-ending hallway.

See, Riley firmly believed he had excellent self-preservation skills. On most occasions, he would choose the path that let him live another day.

He was curious, yes.

Nosy, sometimes. Okay, most of the time.

Occasionally reckless, absolutely.

But still, he believed that when push came to shove, he would fight for survival.

At least, that was what he used to believe.

Because at this point, Riley understood every horror movie protagonist he had judged so aggressively.

He now understood why idiots walked into basements.

He now understood why people said "Hello?" when they heard a sound in a dark room.

Because he, Riley Hale, was now one of those idiots marching willingly toward certain damnation.

Forget about clowns hiding in the sewage or trucks offering free candy, cookies, or ice cream. Riley had not only walked straight into the basement without a weapon, but he had also left his strongest companion behind and chosen to follow a giant telepathic snake into what looked exactly like the kind of attic that ate people.

And eat it did.

Because when Thyrran sent a quiet mental command telling him to push the door open... Riley, the suicidal idiot, actually reached out and pushed it.

"Fuck me," he whispered, voice cracking in fear and disbelief as darkness actually ate him.

__

"AHHH!"

Riley screamed so loudly it echoed back at him, bouncing around the darkness like a terrified banshee. His foot shot backward, arms flailed, and his soul nearly escaped through the top of his head.

Then he froze.

"Oh. Wait. I’m... okay?" he whispered as his heartbeat tried to punch its way out of his chest.

He blinked rapidly into the pitch-black void. He could not see anything. Not one thing. But his foot was still planted on solid ground, so clearly he had overreacted.

Relief flooded him.

For exactly three seconds.

Because right as he exhaled—

"AAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

The ground vanished.

Completely.

One moment it was there, the next it betrayed him like a cheap folding chair. Riley plummeted into nothingness, flailing uselessly as he dropped into the abyss.

The fall was so long he could not even maintain his scream. His voice cracked halfway down and died out, leaving him free-falling silently with nothing but the sound of his own terror-filled breathing.

Eventually, he ran out of air and braced for the impact that never came.

"?!"

Okay. So he hadn’t hit anything yet.

But that didn’t mean he was safe.

The problem was that he couldn’t see the end of the fall. He could not see anything at all. If he kept falling, he would die. If there were still water at the bottom, it would kill him, too. And if it was anything else, well... splat.

He needed a plan.

His fear-frazzled brain scrambled uselessly.

Then one thought surfaced.

Maybe he could minimize the chances of dying?

He could not solve the problem, but he could prepare for impact scenarios. Like still water. Or rock. Or horrifying, unknown things.

His hand shot to his pocket, rummaging frantically. He felt the familiar smoothness of the breath mint tin he always carried.

Too light. Too small. If it drags, he might even hit the ground long before the tin would get there, telling him nothing.

Then his fingers brushed something more promising.

His phone.

It would be a shame to lose it. A genuine, gut-wrenching tragedy. But it would be even more shameful to die because he chose frugality over survival.

He pulled it out and used his forearm to throw it downward as hard as he could. If he could listen to the sound, he could maybe estimate how far the ground was.

And it worked.

Only the sound came so much earlier than expected.

Like immediately.

"TCHHK!"

"!!!"

Like it was directly beneath him.

Riley did not even have time to scream. His mouth opened, but the fear punched so fast he could not release a sound. That impact was going to happen right now.

Yep.

He was going to die.

Because even the repaired Guardian’s Heartstone wasn’t activating.

He squeezed his eyes shut, hands clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white. His jaw locked so hard his teeth were in genuine danger. Every muscle in his body tensed, bracing for the moment he turned into floor paste.

Except...

Nothing happened.

Not splattering.

Not bones breaking.

Not even the mild sting of landing.

He simply... stopped.

Stopped falling.

Suspended an inch above the ground.

He opened one eye. Then both.

"What the actual—" he whispered, voice trembling violently.

Scientifically impossible.

But then again, nothing about his life had been scientific since day one. And especially not now.

Riley nearly cried.

Actually, more than wanting to cry, he was actually that close to wetting himself in utter fear and relief.

His lungs were seizing, and his heart was beating far too fast, but he forced himself to inhale, then exhale. Slowly. Very slowly.

The vibrating human lowered his head and spotted the faint glint of his phone lying on the floor beneath him. Somehow, it had survived the drop he nearly died from.

Riley bent down, legs still shaking hard enough to punch out Morse code, but still picked it up.

It was intact.

Of course it was. The thing had survived Kael, his job, and himself, so why would it die now?

He clutched it to his chest and stared into the void because, for some unthinkable reason, that voice once again slipped through his mind.

Follow me.

"Uhm... Okay," he whispered shakily. "But... where are you? I can’t exactly see you right now."

See, Thyrran’s command was easier said than done, and right now he really wanted to follow him, too.

But the problem was that Riley could not see anything. Just endless black.

Frankly, he wanted to say it was heavy and suffocating, but in truth, it mostly felt alarming because he personally felt like even his own hand would vanish right in front of his face.

And yet...

He was supposed to follow someone in here?

Apparently so, because the guardian just left a very helpful response.

Then find me.

Riley’s breath hitched.

Seriously.

__

However, it seemed this was a serious endeavor.

Serious enough that the other guardians, who usually stood like lifeless statues, began conversing in a sudden flurry of low, ancient voices that hissed and rumbled through the unseen hall.

"Thyrran, is this necessary?"

"Yes, passing through the trials like that. Even you know it would be impossible," another guardian murmured, tone heavy with concern.

Thyrran remained silent.

Silent, still, and frighteningly intent as he observed the mortal stumbling behind the veil of darkness.

Then, with a slow, deliberate flick of his tongue, he finally spoke.

"Impossible?"

"Wasn’t that the same thing everyone said about the seal when it was made, and even after it has taken effect?"

The other guardians fell silent.

All heads turned toward him. Their stone-etched bodies remained cold and motionless, but something shifted in the atmosphere. Something eerie. Something contemplative.

Thyrran did not falter.

"Have you forgotten that there was never a way to break it? And yet look at where we all are?"

The weight of his words settled over them like an ancient shroud.

A heavy silence.

Then, one of the guardians finally asked, "Then, Thyrran... are you saying that if he manages to survive it, then he would be able to do it?"

"If he does not survive it," Thyrran replied calmly, "then you already know what would happen. But if he manages, even barely, then it proves there is enough resolve to see him through it."

"But how? In his state, how would he even survive the first tri—"

However, the words spoken in the ancient tongue didn’t finish because the observing guardians were similarly surprised and scandalized.

Because from where they were watching, an unexpected scenario occurred.

The trembling mortal’s face actually lit up with actual light.

"???"