My muscles ached with a deep, throbbing pain from yesterday's brutal assessment. Sleep had been a cruel tease, broken by nightmares of plummeting into nothingness and eerie whispers about cadets who just disappeared into thin air.
We stood shivering in the gray pre-dawn light, not on the familiar sandy arena, but on a wide stone ledge carved into the jagged cliff of the academy's mountain. Below, a swirling mist hid a deadly drop that seemed to stretch into forever. Above, narrow, worn platforms stuck out from the rock, linked by swaying rope bridges just wide enough for one person to cross.
"The Sky-Walk," Commandant Thorne barked, his voice slicing through the biting wind that tugged at our loose uniforms. "Dragons rule the skies. Before you even think of getting near one, you must show you've got the guts, the balance, and the grit to conquer the heights. Fall, and you prove you're nothing but dead weight."
My blood turned to ice. Heights. Always heights.
A wave of dizziness hit me hard, making my knees buckle. I grabbed at the cold rock behind me, my knuckles turning white. Nausea churned in my stomach.
I couldn't do this. Not after the Gauntlet. Not after the beating in the arena.
Cadets started moving, stepping onto the first shaky platform. Some walked with bold steps, others crept forward, their faces pale with fear.
"What's wrong, Wynter?" Kade Stormborn's mocking voice cut through my panic like a knife. He stood near the first bridge, oozing confidence. "Scared of a little height? Maybe you belong on the ground with the rest of the weaklings."
His stormy eyes raked over me with pure contempt. He hadn't started the trial yet, happy to stand back and watch us struggle. Watch me struggle.
"Ignore him," Seraphina muttered beside me, her own face tight with dread. "Just don't look down."
Easier said than done. The wind howled, pushing against us like a living thing. The platforms ahead looked tiny, the drop below endless.
I took a shaky breath and forced my feet to move. One step onto the first platform. It swayed under me. My heart pounded like a wild animal in my chest.
Other cadets were already crossing the first rope bridge. Focus. Just focus on the next step.
I reached the bridge. The ropes felt thin and worn under my hands. The wooden slats shifted with every move. Below, the mist swirled like a hungry beast.
Then, a sudden, fierce gust of wind slammed into us, stronger than the steady breeze. It felt wrong, almost targeted. Shouts broke out as cadets stumbled, arms waving to keep balance.
Near me, a big, brutish cadet, one of Kade's usual followers, smirked right before the gust hit. Did he do this? Some cadets had raw, wild elemental powers. Could he have caused it? I couldn't tell.
The wind struck me from the side. My foot slipped on the wet wood. My hands lost their hold on the ropes.
Time seemed to freeze. A strangled gasp escaped me as I tipped sideways, off the narrow bridge.
The bottomless void rushed up to swallow me. Raw, pure terror gripped my heart. This was it. The fall I'd always dreaded.
Instinct kicked in. My arms flailed, reaching for anything to stop my descent.
My right hand smashed against cold, hard rock. Pain shot through my arm, but my fingers clamped onto a rough ledge just below the main platform.
The sudden stop almost tore my arm out. I swung wildly, hanging in the open air, the wind screaming past me. Above, chaos erupted on the bridge. Shouts, instructors yelling orders, all muffled by the wind and my racing pulse.
No one had seen me fall. No one was looking down here.
My fingers burned, ready to give out. Panic clawed at my throat. I kicked at the cliff, searching for any foothold. Nothing.
Then I saw it. The rock I clung to wasn't just a random piece. It was loose. And behind it, where it had shifted under my weight, was darkness. A narrow gap in the cliff, hidden from above or below.
A secret cave entrance.
My grip was slipping. The rock shifted more, crumbling under my desperate hold. Below, the mist seemed to whisper my name.
I could let go and fall into the void, or try for that dark opening. Escape, or a final plunge.
With a burst of raw desperation, I swung my body inward, scraping my feet against the rock, pushing toward the black slit.
The loose rock groaned, threatening to break. My fingers slid further.
Just a bit more...
The rock gave way. My hold vanished. For a heart-stopping moment, I was falling again, a scream ripping from my throat.
But instead of the endless drop, I tumbled down and in, into the pitch-black of the hidden opening, the sound of falling stones echoing above as I plunged into the unknown darkness inside the mountain.
