Page 477 of Axis of Fire

"Well, look who it is," Pria purred. "I'm impressed you made it this far on your own. Especially with only two trials left."

She spoke in that usual tone of hers, making it impossible to tell whether she was being sarcastic... or genuinely impressed.

"I honestly didn't think I'd run into anyone," I admitted.

Then her words caught up with me.

"What do you mean, only two trials left?"

My gaze bounced from Pria to Kaeron, then down to the remaining letters scattered across my map.

"Kaeron figured out the Light Realm's pattern during the third trial, after we'd passed two empty checkpoints," Pria explained.

Judging by my expression, it was obvious I still had no idea what she was talking about.

"The order of the trials," Kaeron said, "is hidden in the word ABIKOZ, which translates from Urpis as the beginning of the path."

I blinked.

"Good thing I ran into him during the second trial." Pria shrugged. "Otherwise, I would've gone through every single letter."

She rolled her eyes.

"No one ever bothered teaching me Urpis."

I nodded.

Fair enough.

Then my attention shifted to her map.

"Damn... You cleared every trial correctly?"

Not a single scorch mark.

Not a single tear.

Her map looked flawless.

"They were too easy for me," she said dismissively, turning back toward the glowing dome. "Besides, I'd been preparing for this mentally for years."

"What is that?" I asked, stopping beside them.

"The Death Realm's trial," Kaeron replied flatly.

I swallowed.

This...

This was exactly what I'd been dreading ever since I'd first heard about this trial.

I was terrified of becoming a laughingstock before all twelve worlds.

But even more than that...

I was afraid of exposing my friends.

Of revealing things they were never supposed to know.