Chapter Nine: The trial of Strength and stone

Thalia’s POV

Aglaya took me in that night. She led me to a small room where I'll be sleeping.

"Rest young one for your strength would soon be needed" she said before leaving my room.

I sat down on the bed, and went through everything that had happened the past month. I thought about the betrayal, the rejection, the death sentence and even my dead mother. I was about to rest my head when a young beautiful girl walked in. She wore a blue dress with curled wave tattooed on her shoulder. She dressed like a warrior and was about my sister's age.

"You must be hungry" she said as she handed me a plate.

"Thank you" I replied as I took the food and started gulping down.

"My name is Azure. Aglaya is my mother. Are you nervous?"

"I am. I don't know what to expect"

"well, you shouldn't be. I'll give you one hack for your next test. Be confident about who you are." she said with a smile.

"I really hope you pass the trials so we can be friends" she said as she stood up and left the room.

I didn't stay up much longer. few minutes after eating I fell into a deep sleep. I haven't slept for long when I felt it. Like a heavy weight was placed on me. It was crushing, and unbearable weighing on my chest. The air was suddenly heavy. I gasped and stumbled forward, opening my eyes as I fell. What I saw was different. It was as if the world had changed. I couldn't tell if it was a dream or reality but it felt real.

Towering cliffs surrounded me on all sides, brown and golden with streaks of black. The sky above was the color of ancient dust, and the ground beneath me vibrated with a slow, deliberate pulse. Like I could hear the earth breathe.

“Where... Where am I? What is this place? ” I whispered.

Then i heard it. A rumble, deeper than thunder, echoed through the canyon walls. Stones fell from ledges high above. The ground trembled as something emerged from the shadows of the rock. It was a wolf. Not an ordinary wolf. Its body was carved from dark stone, like living rock, veins of green light were glowing through its form. And moss clung to its sides like a decorative garment. Its eyes were like twin emeralds, ageless and knowing.

“You stand in the Trial of Strength, fire-born."

It didn't speak. At least not to me. It spoke in my mind, in my bones, as if the earth itself was speaking.

“You’re one of them,” I said, standing despite the crush of the weight pressing on me. “The Earth Wolves.”

“We are the keepers of resilience. You who carry fire must prove you can endure stone.”

I didn’t flinch. “What do I have to do?”

The massive wolf lowered its head. “The tree, the dust and the rock are the children of earth. You must bear the weight of your past. Then save what was once lost. And finally, face what cannot be conquered. Only then will the earth name you worthy.”

The ground split open behind me, revealing a wide stone path leading deeper into the canyon.

I walked forward, feeling fire in my bones. Ready to take on the challenge. The first test was at the base of a mountain. Massive stone boulders, each as large as a man, appeared before me. I stared at them, wondering what my task was, then I saw twigs of woods that formed a circle around a green patch of moss on the rock like that of a mirror.

I jumped when I looked into the first one. It was my mother's face. We were walking hand in hand along the forest on the day she was killed. Then I saw the defeated look on her face as they killed her. I looked away immediately.

On the second boulder was my father’s cold eyes. The way he would look at me with disgust as he walked passed me. And also the day he ruthlessly sentenced me to die.

I turned to the third rock. It was the moment I was rejected at the mating ceremony. My wolf growled angrily at the site of it and I calmed her down. It brought back painful memories.

The fourth rock showed my sister's evil smile. How she mocked me while they praised her. How she smiled when she was pampered while I served as a servant.

The last rock showed the members of my pack. It showed them calling my names. Cursed, worthless, good for nothing omega. It showed them blaming me for my mother's death.

That was when I broke down in tears. I promised myself never to cry about my past but these memories where just too painful to behold.

“Take them. Carry them and climb.” I turned to find the Earth Wolf standing behind me again.

“These... are my memories. The things that broke me in the past. They are too heavy”

“They are the burdens you carry. You must prove that you can bear them. If you fail, you will be buried under them forever.”

I swallowed the knot in my throat and walked up to the first boulder. The moment I touched it, it fell into my arms. It was far heavier than it looked. I staggered, and nearly lost my balance. I carried each of them carefully. I don't know where the strength came from but I lifted all five of them.

The climb wasn't an easy task. Each step was filled with pain and agony. With every inch, I felt my past rise within me. My mother’s screams as she died, the whispers of the pack calling me worthless, my father’s cruel words. They were driving me crazy, making me distracted.

My foot slipped and I fell down the mountains, the stones tumbling beside me.

“Just stop,” a voice whispered in my head.

“You’ll never be more than the omega. You’ll never be a Luna.”

I gritted my teeth, face pressed against the cold stone. “You’re wrong.”

I picked the boulders back up. My knees bled, my shoulders felt like they were being torn from their sockets. But I climbed.

And when I reached the top, something strange happened. The boulders vanished. It turned into dust and disappeared with the wind.

I fell to my knees, chest heaving. The wind whispered around me. “Strength is not in the burden, but in the one who rises while carrying it.”

The earth shifted again. I found myself on a land filled with snow. Just ahead of me the earth was breaking. A ravine cracked the earth open like a scar and from somewhere far below, I could hear a pup crying.

I rushed forward and saw a small wolf pup, trembling on a crumbling rock at the edge of the pit. It wasn’t just any pup.

It was my wolf, Angel. She was starving, scared, her fur matted with blood and dirt, eyes wide with despair.

“Help me,” she whimpered.

The Earth Wolf’s voice echoed again. “Will you save what was once lost? Will you save who you used to be. Your self esteem, your worth or will you turn away?”

That wasn't a question for me. I didn't want to see my wolf in that state. I wanted to help her. I want to see the happy wolf that was birthed in the fire. The one that came alive after my rebirth.

“I won’t leave her.”

I didn’t hesitate. I leapt down into the ravine to save her from falling. Rocks shifted underfoot and the ledge holding the pup began to break apart.

I lunged, catching her just as the stone fell beneath us. With her clutched in my arms, I dug my claws into the snows and pulled myself up, inch by inch.

The ground fought me, crumbling beneath my grip. My muscles were weak but I wouldn’t let go. Finally, I threw us over the edge, and we collapsed on the snow. When I looked into my hands, she was gone.

In her place was a glowing seedling, rooted in the ground beside me.

“You have honored your pain. You have not abandoned the child you were. You embraced her. You made her feel loved. No matter what mistake you make in the future, Never hate yourself. Instead learn from your past.”

Then the sky darkened, the air thickened and the ground shook violently as something massive crawled from the side of the mountain.

It was the earth wolf. But this time, he was no longer a majestic wolf. He had become something monstrous. A beast of stone and root and bone, with eyes like molten lava and a roar that cracked the sky. Each step he took shattered the ground.

“Now face what cannot be broken. The earth does not yield. Neither can you.”

I shifted. Fire exploded through my limbs as my wolf emerged, muscles stretching, fur igniting at the tips. The beast charged. I dodged, barely escaping the crushing blow of his paw but the shockwave sent me flying into a cliff wall.

The pain seared through me, but I stood. He came again, but this time I met him head-on. I fought like the wolf I was born to be. I became who I wanted to be. Fast, sharp, burning bright with flame and fury. I struck with claws, bit with teeth and burned with my fire but the Earth Wolf endured everything.

No matter how hard I hit, he remained unbroken and with each blow he landed, I was reminded why. Strength wasn’t just power. It was resistance. Endurance.

I fell again, blood gushing out of my wolf. He approached me and loomed over me but instead of rising to fight, I lowered my head and bowed.

“I don’t need to defeat you,” I whispered. “I only need to learn from you. I choose wisdom. Not glory.”

There was silence.

The beast stopped and his form began to shif. Crumbling, fading until only the original Earth Wolf remained, calm and still, his eyes glowing like forest light.

“You have done well daughter of fire. The wind is with you. The earth be with you too.”

He stepped closer, and pressed his paws into my hands. When he stepped back, I looked into my hands and saw his gift.

It was a beautiful knife. Its blade was carved from stone and its handles were wooden. It looked normal but it was a very extraordinary blade.

“You have passed this test. Arise, Thalia of Flame and of Stone. I leave you my gift”

"I shall value it with my life" I replied as I woke up

It was long past morning when I woke up. The sun was in the sky but I was lying in a dark room in Aglaya house. Azura walked in just then and sighted the knife in my hand.

"I see you chose wisdom. Very well then, tomorrow you shall be tried by water and wisdom. but for now you should rest"