Contents
Chapter 8
Overview
Aris claims a blazing Starside sword, triggering chaos as challengers and oryx stampede. She survives by climbing, then reaches the opening gates where colossal beasts surge out. Using quick thinking, Aris kills one and camouflages herself and Kira in its blood. As Raker clears a path and Valen slips through, Zane ejects a rival to save Aris, and Aris, Kira, and Zane pass the gates among the Fifty.
Summary
Aris draws an ancient Starside sword whose blinding flare halts fighters and even stuns Harlan Raker. The display paints a target on her, but before challengers can swarm, a thunderous oryx stampede tears through the graveyard-forest. Overburdened by the heavy sword, Aris barely climbs a tree and clings through the onslaught while many are trampled or gored.
When the forest stills, arrows from Valen resume the culling. Aris sprints to the colossal Starside gates across a side-less stone bridge. As the gates open, the bridge lurches and the first challengers charge—only for titanic, eyeless beasts to pour out and devour them. Raker advances with serene precision, his blade felling beasts and opening a path as a dozen follow him through.
Cut off and hunted, Aris refuses to retreat. She gambles: at the last instant she drops and lifts her new sword, splitting a charging beast from belly to throat. Drenched in gore, she realizes the creatures hunt by scent, not sight. She smears Kira with the blood to mask them, diverting more beasts while they crawl forward through the carnage.
Counts of those passing climb; Valen makes it through. With only a few spots left, Aris, Kira, and Zane reach the threshold. A rival yanks Aris back by her braid, poised to claim the final place. Zane turns back, shoves the man off the bridge, then hauls Aris up.
Together, Zane and Aris step through after Kira. Blood-slick and breathless, they cross the threshold as part of the Fifty, while Raker’s prowess and Aris’s improvisation redefine the balance of power going into whatever lies beyond the gates.
Who Appears
- ArisProtagonist; claims a Starside sword, survives stampedes, kills a beast, camouflages in gore, helps Kira, and crosses the gates.
- ZaneAlly; provides counts, retrieves Aris at the gates, and throws a rival off the bridge to secure her passage.
- KiraAlly; injured and crawling; trusts Aris to mask her with beast blood and reaches the gates first among them.
- Harlan RakerRenowned warrior; cuts down gate beasts with blinding speed, leading a group safely through first.
- ValenArcher challenger; snipes from the trees and later slips through the gates ahead of Aris.
- CadocAntagonist; disarmed by Aris’s new sword’s power and flees as chaos erupts.
- Cadoc’s allyUnnamed challenger; drags Aris by her braid and is thrown off the bridge by Zane.