Thunder answered.
I smiled.
There you are.
The troll burst through the last of the stone pillars, both massive arms still crossed over its chest, shielding the crystal hidden beneath layers of living obsidian.
It wasn't trying to kill us anymore.
It was trying to survive.
That realization changed everything.
I wasn't looking for Raiden.
I didn't need to.
I knew where he was.
Just as he knew where I was.
The mountain trembled beneath another heavy step.
The guardian lunged.
I launched myself toward it.
Not away.
Toward.
Its enormous hand swept through the air.
I folded one wing, letting the blow pass inches above my head before twisting beneath its arm.
The obsidian covering its chest shifted.
Only slightly.
Enough.
Fire erupted from my palms.
Not in a wide blast.
A single concentrated stream.
White-hot.
Focused entirely on the center of its chest.
The obsidian glowed.
Dark black became crimson.
Crimson became brilliant orange.
The guardian roared and instinctively tried to shield the heated stone.
Too late.
Ice answered before the flames had fully disappeared.
The sudden change sent a violent shudder through the guardian's body.
Steam exploded around us.
The sound came instantly.
CRACK!
Not one fracture.
Hundreds.
They raced outward from the center of its chest like rivers branching across frozen glass.
The guardian staggered.
Water rushed from beneath my fingertips.
It poured into every fracture, every hairline weakness we'd created.
The troll swung wildly.
I didn't even look.
A wall of shadows intercepted the blow.
Stone collided with darkness.
The impact echoed through the cavern.
I smiled despite myself.
He was exactly where I expected him to be.
The water disappeared into the fractures.
I closed my fist.
"Freeze."
Ice expanded from within.
The cracks widened.
The emerald crystal pulsed.
Brighter.
The obsidian began crawling toward it again.
Faster than before.
The mountain was trying desperately to repair its guardian.
No.
Not this time.
The guardian tore free of Raiden's shadows with a deafening roar.
It abandoned every attempt to strike us.
Instead, it wrapped both arms around its own chest.
Protecting the crystal.
Protecting the trial.
I understood.
It wasn't afraid of dying.
It was afraid of failing.
"Raiden!" I called.
His answer wasn't words.
It was movement.
Shadows wrapped around the troll's ankles, then climbed upward, locking around one arm.
Not enough to stop it.
Enough to pull it open.
Just enough.
I was already moving.
My wings drove me upward before I consciously decided to fly.
The guardian followed me with its glowing eyes.
Good.
Keep looking at me.
It swung its free arm.
I twisted around the strike, landing against its shoulder before sprinting across its obsidian body.
The stone was almost too hot to touch.
The crystal glowed beneath the thinning armor.
The obsidian continued to crawl toward it.
Slowly.
Relentlessly.
Trying to close the final opening.
There wasn't time.
One heartbeat.
Maybe two.
I drove both hands onto the fractured stone.
Fire.
The cracks widened.
Ice.
The obsidian shrieked.
Water flooded every opening.
I didn't wait to freeze it.
I didn't have to.
A bolt of lightning tore past my shoulder before the thought had even formed.
Raiden.
The lightning plunged into the crystal through the path we'd carved together.
For one endless heartbeat...
everything stopped.
The troll froze.
The mountain fell silent.
Even the emerald light seemed to pause.
Then the crystal fractured.
A single brilliant line appeared across its surface.
Another.
Then another.
Until the entire crystal resembled shattered glass held together by light.
The guardian looked at me.
Not with anger.
Not with hatred.
Recognition.
Almost...
gratitude.
The crystal shattered.
Emerald light washed across the cavern in complete silence.
Not an explosion.
A release.
A breath finally exhaled after thousands of years.
The obsidian stopped moving.
The pieces scattered across the cavern floor became ordinary stone once more.
The guardian remained standing.
Perfectly still.
Its molten eyes dimmed slowly, the fierce emerald fading into a soft golden sage.
I stepped backward.
Raiden appeared beside me.
Neither of us raised a weapon.
Neither of us spoke.
The guardian looked from me...
to him...
then back again.
Slowly...
it lowered one enormous fist to the ground.
Then the other.
Its head bowed.
One knee touched the stone.
The entire cavern seemed to hold its breath.
A voice rumbled from deep within the guardian.
Ancient.
Weathered.
Like mountains grinding together beneath the earth.
"The first trial..."
Its head lowered another fraction.
"...is complete."
The last traces of emerald light faded from its eyes.
Cracks spread naturally across its body.
Not wounds.
Age.
Centuries caught up with it all at once.
Stone weathered.
Dust drifted from its shoulders.
Moss crept through tiny fractures.
The guardian never moved again.
It simply became what it had always appeared to be.
A silent stone statue.
Watching over the chamber.
Its duty...
finally fulfilled.
For several long moments, neither Raiden nor I spoke.
The only sound was our breathing.
Then my gaze drifted to the place where the crystal had shattered.
Nestled among fragments of ordinary stone...
something still glowed.
A small shard of polished emerald crystal.
No larger than a plum.
I stepped toward it slowly.
Something told me...
the battle had never truly been about defeating the guardian.
It had been about earning the right...
to pick this up.