A whip cracked and echoed around the enclosed space, bones broke and flesh rent just outside my vision. It was close by behind me, a promise of my future. Through the open center of the office, the ghosts of people, hobbled and connected by a black iron chain, marched towards the door. Young, old, weak, strong, man, woman, it didn’t matter who you were; everyone has their place in the line.

  As each ghost passed through the door, the smell of blood and offal rushed in from the gaps in the frame, a small prophecy of the charnel house beyond.

  I took deep calming breaths and forced my head to move through the Elder’s aura to look at my party. Everyone but Maggie struggled to deal with the violence and cruelty Tia promised in her aura.

  Laced with pride, there was no compromise, no remorse. The elder’s aura forced you to accept – to understand – that you were hunted, that you’d be caught, and that there’d be consequences for making her hunt you.

  Nora brought her feet onto the couch and curled forward with her head between her knees and her hands on the back of her neck. Mika sat as still as his golems, but tears flowed freely down his cheeks. Ellen was the best off out of the three, but she had a white knuckled grip on her knees and her shoulder shook with suppressed sobs.

  I held onto composure better, but it was a close thing. Memories wanted to force their way up, but it was the weeks and weeks being subjected to the auras of my Order’s [Paladins] that allowed me to keep them where I placed them.

  Tia let us stew in her aura for what felt like hours. The damned screamed and begged for freedom and death after some lost time. I could do nothing to help them and Tia would not heed the cries. It took another effort of will to move my eyes to Maggie’s.

  She sat rigid on the couch, one hand still on the armrest to push herself up. Her jaw clenched and veins stood out against the side of her neck as she took each of us in. She’d expected this test then.

  When Tia dropped her aura, it felt like a warm reunion with family. Like she gave the warmth of the sun back to me and I could once more breath with my entire chest. When Tia turned her gaze from the wood grain of her door to Ellen, I knew we were in the shit.

  Ellen collapsed. Her chin snapped to her chest as her body lost all tension. All the aura Tia held back fully unleashed. Mika’s quiet tears turned to sobs, and then wails once the Elder released him. Nora’s composure fully broke as she passed out after a choked off scream.

  I tried to calm my rapid breaths and relax, my palms sweaty against my knees and my stomach turned. This entire time the elder had subjected us to her aura, Maggie did nothing but grind her teeth. Clearly, Tia held not only a position of power within the Guild but Maggie’s own family, too.

  I needed to pass this test. Not for my benefit. But because I could not shame the reputation of the Cult of Weeping Grace. I knew eye contact was required if I was going to live up to my duty. It took every piece of will I had to close my eyes and breathe. To steel myself against what I knew was coming.

  Just the thought of meeting Elder Tia’s eyes made my hands shake, but I held them in iron grips around my knees. It took several long breaths to calm myself down. Part of me hoped she would just crush me with her aura while I calmed myself, but the Elder waited. She knew what I was doing and was content to wait for me to prepare before testing me. Small mercies.

  I opened my eyes and raised my gaze to meet the steel-blue eyes of Elder Tia and knew I’d made a mistake.

  Polished chains snaked and coiled their way up from the floor as if alive to wrap around my legs, torso, neck, then head to force me to stillness. Tight enough to cut flesh, every link that passed carved groves of agonizing fire into my flesh.

  I was no longer in Elder Tia’s office. I was in a stone tomb, the air damp and old. Blood dripped through the cracks in the stonework to pool in a small layer of black coagulated blood on the floor. Tools, blades, and torture devices lined the walls in meticulously cared for racks. Each tool a shrine to pain, the blades and hooks shone with a mirror finish so bright I saw myself writhing as the chains continued to tighten and cut.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  Between one blink and the next, Elder Tia was crouched down in front of me, inspecting the chains that bound me.

  Grace Mother.

  Even in my own head, my prayer came out in a pained whine.

  See my plight. Grant me the courage I need to be strong, grace me with calm so that I might shoulder the burdens placed upon me. Protect me from those who seek my Stagnation.

  Elder Tia’s eyes took their time inspecting me. When the blue stones met my own again, I was in a new place.

  A log cabin no bigger than my room at the Widow’s Mark boxed me in on all sides. Once fine tapestries of flowers and mushroom circles decayed on the walls. Their once glorious artistry did nothing to hide the rotted gaps in the walls. Chains no longer wrapped and flayed my body and instead, I hung from the ceiling.

  A thorned vine, already brown from Decay, grew from the central ceiling post into my wrists where tendrils explored down my veins and arteries. Barbed thorns anchored it as it squirmed and hoisted me into the air.

  Three tools replaced the meticulous racks of torture devices. A scalpel, a hammer, and plyers. Each of them coated with my blood and left to rust.

  Healing magic more potent than anything I’d ever known, then or since, rampaged through me and kept me alive and lucid enough to answer questions.

  Elder Tia no longer looked up at me, her aged face replaced by one of immortal beauty. Steel-blue eyes replaced by amber depths framed with golden curls.

  The being before me cupped my chin, her touch gentle as time. So soft as to be unnoticeable but so all-encompassing as to be inescapable.

  My heart was beating through my chest, and sad amber eyes drilled into my own. A blade of aura peeled away the layers of my soul to dissect and reveal all I ever was or knew.

  No no no no no no no! Grace Mother Please! You must believe me! I didn’t say anything! I told them nothing! Please not this, anything but this! You promised no more! You said I’d be free! You promised me!

  With a violent snap, I was back in Elder Tia’s office. Maggie’s aura filled the room and fought with her aunt for control. Maggie’s aura was one of vigilance. It was the feeling of the material plane herself welcoming you. Guiding you to what you sought. It was the joy of finding potential in even the most mundane things.

  I stared uncomprehendingly at the space around me until it finally clicked. That had not been real. I was not back in that place. I tried to calm myself down, to walk through what had just happened. Elder Tia imposed her aura on me and memory imposed itself on her aura.

  I was safe; I was free. Deep breaths led into a meditation technique taught to me by my mom when I first started having nightmares. I focused on where my feet were in the room, focused on the electric tingling in them. Focused on my arms and sought the same sensation. Slowly, as I honed in on each portion of my body, the room came back into focus and the memories faded to the background. Elder Tia’s aura was gone, but Maggie’s remained.

  I had not been the only one to suffer. Mika sniffled, Nora was just opening her eyes from passing out, and Ellen was hesitantly raising her head. Maggie, for her part, glared daggers at her aunt while the other woman said something. If looks could kill, the woman would have been paste on the back wall.

  I took some solace in seeing my party mates in similar states, but nothing could hide the fact I’d failed.

  Elder Tia laid a test at my feet, a test I’d trained to endure for years. A test I failed because of – No. It was not the fault of others; Elder Tia issued a test, and I failed. Gracelessly at that. Free from her aura, I could see there was no malice in her actions. She’d clearly lived a life of violence and now, in an administrative role, she used her hard-won aura to test children.

  I had failed because I couldn’t look her in the eyes without remembering. It was graceless. I was graceless.

  Child.

  Like a blizzard, Ylena’s attention swept through our bond and flooded into me. The goddess turned her entire attention to me and it filled my being.

  There is no shame in this. You have failed nothing. You have shamed no one. Your deeds have been witnessed; your actions judged. I saw you steel yourself for this test, even though you knew the likely outcome. You have performed your duty as my Chosen with grace. I am proud of you, my child.

  Ylena withdrew, and our bond faded back into the haze of my soul. Only then did I notice Maggie shouting at her aunt.

  “ – were you thinking! They’re children! Bran’s had his class for what? A month? Ellen’s barely eighteen! You had no reason to do that!”

  Elder Tia turned her eyes from her niece to the rest of us. She didn’t project her aura, but sighed. None of us had fully recovered yet, but we’d all started to calm down. Mika blushed, but wiped his eyes with his sleeves. Nora still had her arms wrapped around her legs as she looked at the Elder from above her knees.

  “Kids, aunt Tia! They’re fucking kids!”

  “I know, Margret, but I had to see if they’re good enough for you.”

  “You didn’t have to do shit! Was my judgement not enough for you?”

  Maggie looked like she wanted to continue, but held herself back. The elder’s eyes bored into Maggie’s for a long moment before they found something.

  Tia sighed again and brought her hand up to her face to rub her eyes. In one gesture, all the authority leaked from the woman and she was suddenly just an elderly woman, tired and concerned.

  “I’m sorry, you’re right Maggie. I shouldn’t have done that.”

  “Don’t apologize to me, apologize to my fucking party!”

  Tia nodded and looked at each of us. I watched her eyes trace from Ellen’s towards me and tried to keep steady, but I was helpless to stop from dropping my eyes to the floor.

  “I’m sorry kids. I wanted to make sure you were good enough for my niece. But that is no excuse for what I put you through. I should have known better.”

  “Did we pass?” Nora asked, voice muffled from behind her knees.

  “You did.” Tia confirmed with a sad smile.