Chapter 104-Blood trial

Chapter 104: 104-Blood trial

The transition from the academy to the trial grounds happened without warning.

One moment, Maisa was standing beneath the cold stone arches of the garden of the hotel, surrounded by students whose whispers followed her like shadows; the next, the world folded into darkness, and the ground seemed to vanish beneath her feet.

A strange pressure swept through her body, not painful but powerful enough to make every muscle tense.

When her boots touched stone again, she found herself standing beneath an open sky high above the vampire kingdom.

The trial grounds looked nothing like the grand courtrooms she had imagined. They were common ruins. "Is this that trial grounds that Zolani mentioned?" She wondered aloud.

Before her were ancient ruins, weathered by centuries of wind and rain, with broken walls surrounding a vast circular platform.

Seven enormous pillars rose from the edges of the grounds, each carved with symbols so old that even the sharpest vampire eyes could barely make out their meaning.

The pillars were unevenly spaced, forming an almost perfect ring around the platform. There were no walls protecting the grounds from the endless drop beyond them. Far below, clouds drifted through the mountains, making the entire place seem suspended between heaven and earth.

At the center was the trial circle. It had been carved directly into the stone with lines resembling veins stretched from its edges toward the center, where an ancient symbol had been engraved into the floor. The markings were dull now and almost lifeless.

Around the ruins, elevated stone stands had been prepared for the members of the academy and the professors. At the highest point sat the royal seats and upon one of them sat Varitreya with Kayden by her side.

The princess wore white, her expression unreadable as she looked down upon the accused. ’I pray the blood proves you innocent, Maisa. The bond won’t allow me to see you in pain,’ she thought inwardly.

Maisa’s chest tightened. She had never seen Varitreya look so distant before, atheist not towards her and at such a moment.

"I’ll prove my innocence and then you’ll have to be kind to me again, right?" She encouraged herself and stayed positive.

Maisa lowered her gaze. She, Kriza, Sophia, Jane, Lumi, and Zolani had been dressed in identical plain white robes. There were no bloodline colors, no jewelry, and no family crests.

The robes fell loosely around their bodies and dragged slightly against the ancient stone as they stood outside the circle.

For once, there was no difference between them. There was no redblood, blackblood, blueblood or mixedblood. It was only six accused vampires waiting for judgment.

Maisa swallowed. She had already learned what the trial grounds meant. Zolani and Lumi had explained it to her before they had been transported here.

One, only members of the royal family or the Blood Council could activate the ancient grounds. Once activated, the trial could not simply be stopped because someone changed their mind. The grounds and the blood themselves became the judge and the blood rain never lied.

Maisa drew a slow breath. "I didn’t do anything wrong," She repeated it silently. "I didn’t hurt anyone and I made no mistakes so I have nothing to worry about. The blood will see it and I will be free."

She had entered the Dark Forest because she had been tricked. She had not known the place was forbidden, she had not deliberately crossed the border and she had not attacked anyone and the blood will see that and prove her innocence.

It will see that she had only been trying to find Lumi. Everything that happened after that wasn’t her doing and she was free of the sin she was accused of.

Her fingers trembled slightly. She curled them into the fabric of her robe.

"The blood will know," she repeated to reassure herself. That thought gave her a small measure of comfort. She had nothing to fear, at least, she thought so.

BOOM!

A deep sound suddenly rolled through the ruins as the seven pillars ignited with blood-red light.

Ancient symbols carved into their surfaces awakened one after another, glowing like molten veins beneath the stone. The lines engraved into the trial circle responded immediately, spreading crimson light across the ground.

The entire platform trembled. A murmur swept through the spectators. It wasn’t a new sight to them since most of them had attended blood trials before but it still carried the same anticipation every time.

Then the sky changed and dark clouds began gathering above the circle. They weren’t ordinary storm clouds, they were red like blood.

Deep, dark red, almost black at their center, swirling slowly above the ruins as though something enormous were moving inside them. Lightning flashed within their depths, but instead of white or blue, the lightning was crimson.

Thunder shook the mountain. The students went silent but kept their eyes open, they couldn’t afford to miss out of the trial.

Maisa instinctively looked upward. "That has to be the creepiest clouds I have ever seen."

A cold droplet landed on her cheek. Maisa froze, but before that droplet could dry, another struck her shoulder and then another.

The blood rain had begun. For a moment, nothing happened as the rain hit the trial circle, touching nowhere else on the grounds.

Above them, in the stands, Varitreya’s voice carried across the grounds. "Enter the sacred circle."

The six girls exchanged glances. Kriza looked nervous, Sophia’s face had lost most of its colour and Jane looked as though she desperately wanted to run for her dear life.

Maisa stood frozen for a heartbeat. ’The blood won’t punishment the innocent, Maisa. You’ve got this!’

Then she felt warmth on both sides of her. Zolani reached for her right hand and Lumi took her left. Their fingers closed firmly around hers.

"Don’t worry," Zolani whispered. "We are with you and together, we will get through this."

Lumi gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "We are with you. You have nothing to worry about."

"You won’t face anything alone," Zolani added. "And after this trial, our bond will be stronger than ever. We will be inseparable!"

Maisa looked between them. In that moment, she couldn’t find the words to express herself.

Zolani stood firmly at her side, her expression unwavering despite knowing exactly what she had volunteered herself for. Lumi was there too, her gaze fixed on Maisa with quiet determination.

Neither of them had been forced into taking the trial with her. They could have stepped back, lowered their heads, and allowed the trial to proceed without them but they hadn’t.

Maisa’s chest softened. The tightness that had been suffocating her only moments ago loosened, if only slightly. Her heart still hurt. The fading white petal above it still terrified her, and Varitreya’s refusal to look at her still felt like a wound she couldn’t understand.

But beneath all that fear, a warmer feeling began to grow. The zing had given her many things she had never asked for but perhaps it had given her one good thing too and that was the mates who would stand beside her when they didn’t have to.

Maisa swallowed hard. She looked at Zolani again, then at Lumi. She found that neither of them was looking at her with pity. They were simply standing with her, to support and protect her.

For all the fear surrounding the blood trial, she suddenly realized something important, she wasn’t alone.

Zolani and Lumi were willing to walk into something terrifying simply because they refused to let her walk into it by herself. She felt touched.

"I am most thankful for the two of you, truly," she said. "And yes, inseparable... that’s sounds perfect."