Chapter 83: The Call of Tayun (6)
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ Trial of the Mirror Beast°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
Yoa skidded to a stop, and his friends raced ahead, Aiyana leaping into the trees, whooping as she took the lead, and Atia tearing across the jungle floor, growling in frustration as he tried to outrun the Chief’s daughter. Neither of them noticed Yoa falling behind, or stopping altogether.
He had no choice but to stop.
His chest rose and fell with shallow breaths, and he worked to calm them as his eyes settled on the cloaked figure standing in the middle of the path, as if conjured by the jungle itself. The brightness in Yoa’s gaze, sparked by the adrenaline and joy of running with his friends, hardened. He set his jaw and rolled his shoulders back.
Gone was the twelve-year-old, enjoying a rare moment of freedom.
What stood now was the warrior he was becoming.
Without a word, Zahul, the guide from the second trial, beckoned him forward with a bony hand. Yoa stepped in his direction, then he followed silently, his heart rate thumping wildly, and it wasn’t because their little hike was strenuous. Zahul was leading him to his third trial.
He should have known better.
Yoa bit the inside of his cheek, scowling at the ground in frustration at his own foolishness. He felt unprepared. Had he just wasted all his strength and energy messing around with Atia and Aiyana?
But then he realised this was likely a lesson in itself.
Zahul had never spoken much. Since the second trial, he came and went like a shadow, appearing without warning every few moon journeys. Sometimes he simply watched Yoa train from a distance. Other times, he set him with strange tasks with no explanation. They weren’t official trials, but Yoa had to drop everything to appease the guide. Ignoring him wasn’t an option.