Back in the chamber with eight thrones, Asterios groaned in pain as he woke up, rubbing his head. After he opened his eyes, he realized that he was on the ground in front of the throne he had sat on. A quick glance around revealed that the others were still present on them, seemingly asleep or unconscious.

The only other seating that was empty belonged to Umbra. Asterios thought at first that he just couldn’t see his familiar’s form from his level but a shadow began gathering by his side a moment later and the big, ominous raven materialized out of it.

~Are you alright, Master?~

Asterios took a deep breath and shook his head a few times in quick succession to sober up a little.

“Yeah. I think, at least. What happened?” he asked, looking at the six figures with hung heads.

~It seems that these thrones are part of a bigger formation, with its core at the magic circle in the middle. It tried to scan our memories and influence them. I do not know to what extent because I was able to easily repel its effects after a few seconds. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem to be a strong, malicious spell.~

“That explains why I felt a burst of pain and the current headache.” Asterios rubbed his forehead. “I guess whatever it was, it bounced off the seal in my mind and got canceled out. I wish it didn’t hurt so much but I shouldn’t complain. Do you know what’s happening to the others?”

~I can tell the nature of the spell from fighting against it but I do not know what exactly it's meant to do and how it affects them. It clearly targets the person’s memories, for some reason, and applies a strong suggestion in the meanwhile. I couldn’t gather any more information without letting it break through my defenses. My apologies.~

Asterios shook his head. “No, don’t apologize. It’s only natural you chose safety first. Do you think we can do anything about their state?”

Umbra took off from the floor and landed on the top of the dark stone backrest behind Radir.

~I tried to carefully prod their minds but there’s a barrier preventing me from intervening and I’m afraid of breaching it. There could be some additional mechanism triggered by trying to push through.~

Asterios glanced at Selene and Miria a bit anxiously. “Right.”

~Do not fret, Master. As I said, the spell didn’t feel malevolent. I bet it’s just another trial like the one before. I don’t think they are in any immediate danger. You were lucky to possess much stronger magic wrapped around your mind than what this formation could exude.~

“This cursed seal does come useful at times. What an irony.” Asterios chuckled wryly.

~While I stopped attempting to break in, I’m still trying out various approaches to gather as much about our friends’ state as possible. If I find out something crucial, I’ll share it at once.~

“So, we can’t do anything else but wait, huh?”

Asterios finally stood up and walked to Miria’s spot. He kneeled in front of the throne and took a look at his mate’s face, hung down as she sat on the geometrical chair with her forearms resting on the hard armrests.

“What are you going through to make you cry?”

Noticing a single tear flowing down Miria’s cheek, he gently brushed it away. He kept tenderly caressing her skin while looking at Miria’s seemingly calm face which completely didn’t show what she was experiencing in the depths of her mind.

Then, Miria’s eyes squinted a little bit and she groaned quietly. Her head gradually rose up and she lifted her eyelids. Blinking slowly, she stared right at Asterios with a slightly absent gaze until her eyes finally stopped moving.

After regaining focus, her pupils instantly dilated and Miria’s lower lip trembled as her whole face contorted in a sorrowful expression. Tears soon began rolling down her cheeks as she sobbed softly.

“Hey, hey, hey. It’s okay. Everything is fine. I’m here.”

Asterios quickly leaned his forehead against hers and kept lovingly stroking Miria’s face. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug. For a few long seconds, they remained in that position while Miria sniffled quietly, trying to hold Asterios as if he was going to disappear at any moment.

When she finally calmed down a little, she pulled back a bit. They looked at each other from up close while Asterios brushed away all the traces of tears from Miria’s face. He then slowly leaned in and placed a tame, reassuring peck on her lips.

“You okay? Did something happen?” he asked, moving his fingers to her fluffy ear.

“Are you… the real Master?” Miria stared at him a little hesitant.

“What?”

“If I wanted to… shave that patch of fur down there for you… what would you say, Master?”

Asterios frowned in confusion, repeating that question in his mind.

“Can you answer… honestly?” Miria urged him.

He knew she was serious from the anxious look on her face and the tone of her timid voice so Asterios quickly responded to ease some of Miria’s worries, even if he wasn’t sure what exactly they were.

“I would of course say that you should do whatever you want and whatever you think would make you feel better about yourself but you don’t ever have to try and appeal to me because you are already one of the most beautiful girls in my life,” he answered, leaning in again to rub his cheek into hers.

Miria hugged him again and exhaled in relief. After a short while, she withdrew herself and brought a small smile to her adorable lips.

“I’m sorry for asking silly questions, Master, ehehe~”

“Don’t be. You know that I will always answer any of your questions. But, what brought it up?”

Miria looked around for the first time since waking up and noticed everyone else besides them was still sitting on their respective thrones while unconscious. She turned back to Asterios and blushed faintly.

“I think I had a very happy dream… until it got really scary. I… Ummm… I was at home with you and… ummm… our kids…”

Ast’s eyebrows shot up as more crimson covered Miria’s fair skin.

“I nursed our daughter… Then you took her to our son and let me go shopping… And it was all very real and I thought it really was my life until I felt something off. You weren’t like yourself. You were… ummm… much more aggressive and bold… I then realized it couldn’t really be you and attacked the fake you but the kids showed up and I just couldn’t bring myself to hurt you or them and… I kind of panicked… and stabbed myself in the heart…”

“Miria!” Asterios pushed himself forward to embrace the anxious panthergirl, whose ears flopped down as she retold her story. “Don’t ever think about trying something like that again. What if it was just an illusion and you weren’t incapacitated?”

She hugged him back, starting to sob a little again. “I’m sorry. My head was a mess. I was angry, and sad, and happy earlier, and… and…”

“Alright, alright. I know. I’m sorry for raising my voice. I know how powerful emotions can be.” Asterios combed through her soft hair dearly. “Just promise me that you won’t do such things in the future.”

“I promise.”

“Good.”

They stayed in each other’s embrace for a minute and stood up together. Asterios let Miria cling to him, seeing that she was still partially afraid to let him go. Umbra flew around and perched on his shoulder.

~Looks like the spell trapped everyone in a dream-like reality, most likely aiming to test their will and conviction,~ the shadowy raven said.

“What if someone doesn’t realize that it’s not real? Are they going to remain in that fake world forever?” Miria wondered.

~That I do not know. But, since it seems to be a trial, I think they would be released at some point, perhaps after everyone failed or the people who succeeded reached the end of these tests.~

“I wouldn’t be surprised if there were more powerful arrays or formations meant to kick people out of this place just as easily as they bring them in. But, it’s not like we saw any safety mechanisms in the first room, where the challenger had to fight monsters depending on their luck, so we can’t be sure,” Asterios added.

They heard a gasp and turned around. Svertaniel was the second person to wake up after Miria and he jerked in his seat so hard he almost fell off it. Catching his suddenly ragged breath, he stared at the duo standing in the middle with a confused expression.

“Where? How? What?”

He muttered countless questions under his breath as his eyes jumped around until they locked on Umbra, causing the demon man to sigh in relief and relax.

“Oh, thank Lord, it’s the real one this time. Praise be thy eternal shadows.”

Asterios and Miria looked at each other awkwardly and then at Umbra, who remained unmoving in his uncomfortable uneasiness. They chuckled while glancing at the spread-out Svertaniel, looking like he just sat down after running a full marathon.

“Looks like he is well,” Miria commented with a small smile.

“Indeed,” Asterios replied with a smirk too.

But, just to be sure, they both approached the demon man and asked if he had experienced something similar to Miria, confirming that he too had spent a bit of time in a dream-like reality where he had lived quite a successful life.

The next person to escape from it was Selene. The fox lady suddenly took a deep breath and silently opened her eyes. She found Asterios and Miria walking toward her and smiled.

“Looks like I’m not the first one to wake up, fufufu~”

Asterios reached out and helped her stand up. Selene immediately pressed her lips into his and joined them in a passionate kiss. After a moment, she backed away with another soft chuckle.

“Seems like I’m back to reality. I’m sorry for taking so long, my Lord.”

“And how can you tell that with just a kiss?” he asked, raising a brow at the mischievous lady.

Selene smiled sweetly. “I can feel it. No matter what, I would never be able to mistake my Soul Mate for a different person.”

“I’ll remember that for when we stumble on a spell that will clone me.”

They all chuckled together and entered a group hug. Albeit slightly embarrassed, Miria shared her story with Selene first before listening to the dream of her sister-mate. They were starting to pick up more and more little details about it.

Soon enough, Silvia joined them, without any sudden movements. She just raised her head and looked around, capturing everyone’s attention. After consulting her vision with them and listening to their own versions, she had the most input into the whole event.

Miria blushed fiercely when Silvia suggested that those dreams were based on their subconscious desires while using their memories to build a seemingly perfect world for them to get lost in, also partially clouding their actual memories and pushing an altered version, fitting the new life.

They exchanged their thoughts on the trial while waiting for the remaining two to overcome the challenge. None of them knew Bryn and Radir well enough yet to judge their chances to succeed or fail so they hoped everyone would be able to pass without an issue.

And, their pondering seemed to be answered when the last pair stirred together around the same time. Radir opened his eyes first and swiped down his face, taking a deep breath, sneakily covering the tears that threatened to escape the corners of his eyes.

“Cursed memory-based illusions of a perfect world… They are the worst possib—umph!”

Bryn’s wings suddenly unfolded themselves and spread wide, slapping Radir right in the face and almost knocking him off the chair over the armrest. Everyone chuckled at the Valkyrie as she came to her senses, a little confused about why they were laughing.

At least until she noticed the state of her wings and the demon researcher on the side. She quickly brought them back with a faint trace of rosiness covering her cheeks.

“Alright. Everyone seems to have passed. Unless I and Umbra aren’t considered to be victors in this test which the two of us hadn’t taken,” Asterios began after everyone was back on their feet. “What now? There are no exi—”

The raised platform rumbled, causing everyone to lose balance for a brief moment. They all grabbed a nearby throne and looked around. The eight stone chairs began to retreat to the floor and soon disappeared, leaving only the full, glowing formation on top of the flat surface under their feet.

A few seconds later, the circular structure started to descend and soon lowered itself to the ground, with just the light coming from the magical array illuminating the vertical tunnel they were descending through. Ready for any additional traps or ambushes, everyone waited in suspense for their ride to end.

After about two minutes, the shape of an arched entrance began showing up and soon the platform hit the bottom of the lift. Right in front of them, stood a tall and wide, single golden gate. Before anyone could do anything, it shook and gradually slid into the ground, revealing a passage leading into a spacious chamber with a tall statue in the center.

Warily, they got into a simple formation and walked forward, watching all possible angles. The corridor was again made of dark brown stone, with golden details around the carved parts this time. The torches of three colors were still present, illuminating the whole place with a mysterious rainbow.

They spotted countless draconic themes over the walls of the passage leading to the middle. Finally reaching the main chamber, they noticed just how tall and wide it was. Three exits were present in the spacious room beside the one they had walked in, closed with a normal, wooden door.

“Master… This statue… Doesn’t it seem… familiar?” Miria asked, staring at the front of the big figure made of shiny gold.

Asterios had the same thought. The sculpture depicted a huge humanoid with a thick lizard-like tail, sporadic scaly patterns over its body, and sinister horns sprouting from the sides of its head.

After just a moment, it clicked in Miria’s, Selene’s, and Asterios’ minds almost at the same time.

“Get back!” Asterios shouted as the three of them retreated from the statue, pulling the others with them

Just like the premonition he had, the golden sculpture suddenly began moving. It slowly stepped off its sizable pedestal and landed on the ground with a thud.

“Get ready to fight! It’s a Golem!” Selene warned the others.

They quickly set themselves back in a proper formation, putting Radir at the very back with Bryn by his side, who was able to focus both on supporting her companions and protecting the demon man.

Asterios activated his Draconic Sight and scanned the Golem with it, looking for any possible hints about its weakness. If this one was as tenacious as the one they had fought in Teira, things were going to get a little hectic in this underground chamber, no matter how big it was. Judging by the design, they did look very similar.

He located the puppet’s core on its forehead, just like he had expected. There was no scale in it this time, though, but a dark red crystal.

“Whatever you do, try to get that scarlet gem in its forehead,” he instructed the others and began drawing various runes in mid-air.

“Let’s not waste any time then.” Silvia quickly spun her staff, creating a blazing ring in front of her, and she hit the floor with its butt.

Two crossing lines ran through the space inside of the flaming circle and she shoved the tip of her staff into the point where they connected. Drawing them back like two perpendicular bowstrings, she created a sharp-looking javelin of fire and launched it right at the statue’s head, shaking the air near the party with the spiritual wave left by its release.

Asterios passed the artifact sword to Selene. She would make much better use of it than him, and he wasn’t going to take chances with this type of enemy. The fox lady received it with a nod and immediately entered the highest stage of her Awakening. Miria had already drawn on her bloodline too.

The flaming projectile hit the target perfectly and engulfed the top part of the Golem in a violent inferno. Unfortunately, there was no sign of any damage after the fire disappeared.

“We’ll need something much stronger than that if this is another challenge,” Svertaniel commented.

“At least it doesn’t have—”

“Oh gods, please no.” Asterios sighed.

“—a weapon.”

Just as Radir finished his sentence, the large statue raised its arm and plunged its hand into its chest, which somehow turned less solid than it should have been. In a flash, it pulled its fist out, creating an arc of liquid gold in front of itself. The metal hardened and made the shape of a powerful greatsword.

Everyone looked at the demon man, who smiled wryly. Quickly refocusing back on their opponent, they jumped straight into the action.

“Lock him down for just a moment. I’ve melted things much tougher than gold. And I’m much stronger now,” Silvia suggested.

No one objected and they all decided to give the princess a chance since she seemed pretty confident.

Miria instantly appeared behind the enemy with the use of her favorite Haste and slashed at its calves with her sharpened blades to check their durability. Just as she had expected, her attack didn’t leave even a scratch. This Golem was much stronger than the earth one.

The golden giant swung at her, turning around, but Miria ignored it and prepared herself to lunge forward the moment she saw the core. Its sword slammed into a cerulean barrier with a mighty impact, stopping completely.

Waiting exactly for that opportunity, Miria shot forward with all she had in her legs and tried to stab the crystal with her shortsword, enhanced to her utmost abilities at its tip. But, it slid off the gem and went past the Golem’s face.

She made a few somersaults and arrived back by Asterios.

“I’m sorry, Master. I won’t be able to do much here without that fire of yours.”

He gave her ear a quick ruffle. “I know. I have it ready. But first…”

They turned their faces to the side and watched how Svertaniel just finished casting a massive orb of violet darkness. He pushed it towards their enemy and it flew through the air much faster than they assumed it could.

Sensing the danger in that attack, the Golem moved quickly too and jumped away from the sinister projectile. Unfortunately for it, the sphere caught its arm and popped like a soap bubble. A soap bubble filled with endless darkness that spilled out of it in the accompaniment of soul-shaking wails.

The dark violet mist eroded most of its arm and clung to the remaining stump, somehow pulling it to the ground as the smoke descended towards the floor. Umbra joined in and wrapped his shadows around the other arm, pinning it down too.

“This is going to be hot! Put some barrier up!” Silvia shouted.

Selene appeared in front of Asterios with a blue flash and brought up a multi-layered formation in an instant. Miria grabbed Svertaniel and jumped behind them while Bryn cast her own dome of protection outside of Selene’s technique.

“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in the dawn of ages, this world was nothing but molten crust. Dawn of Creation!”

Finishing a complex dance, Silvia slammed her staff into the floor and a single wave of ferocious heat spread through the chamber. After it hit the walls, the room fell silent.

“Is that it?” Miria asked, slightly confused.

“You better hold onto something…” Asterios muttered, being able to see the unimaginable condensation of blinding amber mana under the Golem.

A small flame appeared between their opponent’s feet and everyone locked onto it. It trembled adorably and suddenly blew up with enormous force and heat, creating an almost solid pillar of infernal fire.

Bryn’s protection shattered in an instant and Selene’s barrier lost three out of seven layers the moment the heatwave crashed into them. A loud hum filled the chamber as the insanely hot flames caused the golden parts of the room to gradually heat up until they turned liquid.

The walls, the ceiling, the floor, everything melted, starting from the point where the magical pillar stood, with the Golem inside. If it could survive heat so strong to rival an active volcano. Perhaps even stronger.

After thirty seconds, Silvia withdrew the spell and dropped onto one knee, panting heavily. Selene had to create spiritual platforms for Asterios to reach her and check if she was okay because the floor was still glowing red and partially liquid.

On the good side, there was no Golem in their sight.

“That was amazing,” he complimented Silvia, lending her a hand.

“Thanks. I’m pretty sure it was stronger than I remember. I’m also sure it’s because of your help,” she replied with a soft smile.

“Ummm…”

They both glanced back at Miria, who pointed at something in front of them.

“I don’t think it’s the end…”

Facing the front again, they saw the scarlet gem float into the air with some of the molten gold still dripping off it. The yellow liquid began swirling and formed a small cyclone, quickly gathering back into the shape the statue had before getting melted into a puddle.

The crystal slotted itself into the Golem’s forehead and glowed brightly. Two draconic wings of pure gold grew from its back to match the thick tail and the statue’s limbs gained more scaly patterns, covering almost its whole body now, excluding the face and shoulders.

“Curses. The gem survived.” Silvia clicked her tongue.

Asterios sighed. “Time for round two.”