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HEADS WILL ROLL

CEDRIC

The lake of fire surged as the wyrm’s roar sent a tremor down Cedric’s spine. It wasn’t just the sound—deep, guttural, primal—but the sheer power of it. It rattled through his bones, echoing off the glassy obsidian ground like a physical force.

Stupid. He’d been so stupid. He thought that after the bullshit of the labyrinth itself, the trial’s final challenge had ended when they found a way to get across that stars-forsaken lake. The cooling relief he’d felt as they crossed through the ward, the nearness of the gate...he’d thought it all a sign that they’d made it to the end.

He should have known better. Now, as the huge, snake-like body of the fyre wyrm slithered out of the flames, he realized the Crucible never gave freely. Not the respite from the heat, not that brief moment of hope.

“Solaris save us,” Cyren muttered under his breath, all traces of humor wiped from his face as he stared at the beast.

It was massive, its sinuous body easily spanning the length of the island they stood upon. Glowing orange scales darkened into a deep purple, turning matte as more of the wyrm’s body rose from the lake, almost as if they were cooling—molten metal forging into blackened armor.

A head crowned with jagged horns topped the creature’s monstrous form, eyes like coal burning within its sharp, reptilian face. Cedric swallowed hard, his hand tightening around his sword hilt. He could feel the heat coming off the wyrm in waves, the nearness of it sending a ripple of fear and wonder through him. The great beast was as horrendous as it was mesmerizing, and he found himself unwittingly taking a step closer as the wyrm’s massive head tilted, regarding the group.

“Get ready,” Elyria muttered behind him, her voice tense but steady.

They all moved at once.

“Go!”

With a hiss, the wyrm lunged forward, the speed of its movement startling given its size.

The others were already scrambling, scattering like leaves in a gale, as the lower half of the beast’s body swept across the island. Cedric dove to the side just as its tail whipped past where he’d been standing, shattering the glassy surface, shards of obsidian pelting his skin.

“Hit it with all ye’ve got!” Thraigg yelled, brandishing his hammer. He was the first to charge, smashing the blunt end of his weapon into one of the wyrm’s coiled segments, the ground beneath it cracking under the impact.

The beast reared back, writhing in pain, but it didn’t stop. Its molten breath sizzled in the air, filling Cedric’s nostrils with the acrid stench of sulfur and burning rock. He rolled to his feet, his heartbeat pounding in his ears.

“Eyes up!” Elyria’s voice carried above the din of the wyrm’s hisses and the sound of flames crackling around them. She was a purple blur as she spun away from another swipe of the creature’s tail, then whirled right back around, brandishing her dagger.

Cedric tracked her instinctually, watching the way her body twisted as she fought. Still, she was slower than he thought she should be, the toll of what she’d done to construct and cross the bridge evident. An involuntary gasp left his lips as the side of the wyrm’s head came so close to Elyria that its jagged horns drew blood from her arm.

Then, as if a line had been drawn straight from the fierce fae warrior to Cedric, the wyrm’s head snapped toward him. He barely managed to lift his sword in time to angle his blade and leap out of the path of the beast’s open maw.

Teeth the size of small blades gleamed in the fiery light as Cedric slashed his weapon. A pain-drenched roar shook the air, the creature’s molten scales glowing bright. Dark blood leaked from the gash Cedric had scored into its snout.

“Aim for the face!” Cyren’s voice cut through the chaos, his hair whipping behind him as he leapt into the fray, daggers flashing. He darted in and out of the wyrm’s reach with impressive ease, relentlessly targeting weak spots in the creature’s hide. Each wound was minor, but it was enough to keep the wyrm off balance and allow the other champions to come forward.

“Now!” Any traces of the exhaustion that had overtaken Kit from crossing the lake dissipated as she raised her hands, ice crystals forming in the air above her. A frozen spear shot forward, striking the wyrm in the side. It melted before piercing deep enough to do significant damage, but it managed to force the wyrm back another few feet, the length of its body now lined up at the island’s edge.

Nox charged forward, twin batons raised in front of them as they battered the wyrm. Zephyr dug a dagger into the tip of its thrashing tail before darting back. Thraigg continued slamming his hammer down, landing the occasional hit but meeting the obsidian ground more often than connecting with the wyrm itself. It was moving too fast. Still, Cedric was awestruck by the way their ragtag group worked together to beat the creature back. Even Gael, dazed and struggling as she was, raised a hand and sent a weak burst of flame at the beast, though it seemed to do little more than annoy it.

The wyrm twisted in the air, crashing back toward Elyria, snapping its jaw at her. Cedric shouted in warning, but the realization hit her too slowly, her movements too sluggish. She leapt to the side but there wasn’t enough power behind the move to clear the wyrm’s path .

The panic in her eyes had Cedric’s heart lurching in his chest, and his hand was on his token before he knew what he was doing. He focused his remaining magic into stopping the creature’s charge, feeling the mana drain as he halted the wyrm mid-lunge—just long enough to break its momentum.

He was almost too late.

Elyria scuttled out from between the wyrm’s dripping maw, her eyes wide with shock as they met Cedric’s, her chest heaving. Another second and she would’ve been gone. Another second and she would’ve?—

The wyrm let out a mind-bleeding screech, whirling on Cedric as his magical hold on the creature faltered. But before it could exact its monstrous revenge, Zephyr was at his side, resolve burning in place of her typically quiet demeanor. She hurled a vial at the wyrm, glass shattering on its scales as a burst of silvery mist drifted up toward its head.

The wyrm recoiled, hissing as the mist clung to it. It retreated until it was nearly next to Cedric, its movements erratic and confused, like it had been blinded.

This was their chance.

He didn’t waste it.

Cedric darted forward, slashing deep cuts into the creature. Elyria ran up beside him, her breathing still labored as her wild magic wove shattered shards of obsidian like a wave of tiny daggers, slicing at the wyrm, digging into the soft spots next to and under each scale.

The wyrm struggled but it couldn’t focus, couldn’t fight back—if only for a moment. Its massive tail thrashed as it slipped off the edge of the island and sank partway into the fiery lake, its head bouncing off the ground.

“Now, Cedric!”

His sword was already raised when Elyria’s cry rang in his ears. He poured every ounce of strength into the swing as he brought the blade down. The metal connected with the wyrm’s thick neck—once, twice, three times. Dark blood splattered Cedric’s face as he finally sliced clean through.

The wyrm’s head fell from its body with a revolting thud .

For a moment, there was nothing but stunned silence. The wyrm’s body slumped to the ground, steam rising from the severed stump of its neck. Then, as if the flames were reclaiming it, its coiled, twitching body sank further into the lake until it disappeared beneath the surface. Cedric placed his boot on the dismembered snout of the beast and sent its head rolling in after it.

The champions stood there, gasping for breath, the magnitude of what they had just done settling over them. They had bested a fyre wyrm . They had won. They had actually won.

“By Gaia,” Thraigg breathed, leaning heavily on his hammer.

Cedric wiped sweat and blood from his brow. He looked over at Elyria, bent at the waist, hand on her ribs. She was panting, gasping for air, but she was alive.

Something deep in his chest tightened painfully at the knowledge that she very nearly hadn’t been.

“We did it,” Zephyr whispered, eyes wide. “It’s dead.”

“Didn’t even break a sweat,” Cyren quipped. “Could’ve done that all day.” He exchanged a relieved glance with Kit, though the exhaustion that had already plagued the pair of them seemed to return with a fervor, their faces rapidly paling as the adrenaline left their systems.

Elyria gave him a weary smile. “Let’s not test that theory.”

It took several minutes before their hearts stopped racing and their breathing returned to normal, but eventually, the group began to move toward the thin strip of obsidian connecting the island to the shore—and the gate. One by one, they crossed the rest of the fiery lake, stepping carefully as the obsidian walkway seemed to sway under them.

Nox was the first to reach the opposite shore, followed by Thraigg and a massively relieved-looking Zephyr, tugging Gael along behind her.

The moment her boots touched the rocky sand, Kit’s body visibly relaxed. Her hands dropped to her sides as she turned to cast a weary glance at Cyren, Elyria, and Cedric, still on the walkway. “Well, that was exciting.”

Cyren laughed, the sound both tired and triumphant. “I take back everything I said before. That was absolutely climactic enough to last me the rest of my life.” He flashed a grin, pushing his sweat-drenched hair back from his face. Pointing to the gate, he added, “Looks like we might actually make it out of here in one piece.”

Before either Cedric or Elyria could respond, the ground rumbled beneath their feet again, so violently they stumbled. Cedric grabbed hold of Elyria’s arm as she pitched toward the flames lining the side of the walkway, steadying her as that same deep, bone-rattling sound split the air.

The same, but different. Louder this time. Too loud. Almost like?—

“It can’t be.” Kit spun toward the lake, eyes wide with fear.

Cedric whipped around just in time to see the wyrm burst from the fiery surface—the same, again, but different. Because this time, three ferocious heads snapped and roared with fury, where only one had been before.

“Everyone, run!” Elyria shouted. “Nox, get them out! Get them to the gate!”

Back on rocky sand and no longer restricted by the surrounding obsidian, Nox didn’t balk at the command. With the briefest of nods, the nocterrian grabbed the two nearest champions—Thraigg and Zephyr—and stepped into a shadow. They emerged beside the gate, and with an unceremonious push and against much protestation, they shoved the sylvan and the dwarf through the glowing archway.

And that was all anyone had time to do before the wyrm’s three heads were careening toward Cedric, Elyria, and Cyren.

“Quickly now, get—” Cedric’s words died in his throat as one of the wyrm’s heads lunged forward with blinding speed, its jaws closing around Cyren in one swift motion.

And the fae’s scream was cut off in an instant as, with a sickening crunch, the monster took him from this world.