The court fell silent once more as Kael stood alone in the center of the arena. His clothes were torn from the previous trials, his muscles aching, but he held his head high.
High Warden Selyra's voice cut through the heavy air."The final trial is not of might or mind. It is of the heart."
A murmur rippled through the crowd. Even Commander Darius leaned forward, his expression unreadable.
Selyra continued, "You must make a choice, Kael of Black Hollow. One that will reveal your true nature."
She gestured, and two stormguards approached, dragging between them two figures both hooded and bound.
Kael's heart dropped into his stomach.
The guards yanked off the hoods.
Lysara stood to the left, her face bruised but defiant.
To the right knelt Merek, battered but alive.
"One shall fall. One shall live," Selyra said coldly. "Choose who survives."
Kael's hand went to the shard around his neck instinctively."This is madness," he spat. "I will not murder one of my own!"
Selyra's eyes glinted. "And yet, a king must make impossible choices. You would sacrifice a kingdom for sentiment?"
Kael's mind raced. This had to be a trick, a test of loyalty, of values.
Merek, even gagged, managed to shake his head urgently, mouthing a single word: fight.
Kael's hands trembled not from fear, but from fury.He turned to Selyra, his voice ringing through the arena.
"I choose neither," he said. "I will not be your pawn. True honor does not come from choosing who dies it comes from fighting to save them both!"
Selyra raised an eyebrow."And how will you do that?"
Kael drew his blade.
"With everything I have."
He plunged the sword into the ground. A shockwave erupted from the shard embedded within him, hurling the stormguards backward.Chains of wind and light shattered.
Kael rushed forward, cutting Lysara and Merek free as stormguards closed in from all sides.
The crowd gasped. Elders leaned forward, intrigued rather than outraged.
Lysara grabbed a fallen spear; Merek swung a chain like a whip.Together, the three of them stood back to back against the encroaching guards.
"Stand down!" Commander Darius bellowed suddenly, his voice amplified by magic.
The stormguards froze.
Slowly, Darius descended the stairs of the terrace, approaching Kael.
He studied the young man—the defiance in his stance, the fierce protectiveness in his eyes.
"You chose correctly," Darius said at last.
Kael blinked.
"The Trial of Honor was never about sacrifice. It was about defiance refusing to accept cruelty as necessity. In Aerlyn, we fight for all our people, or we fight for none."
Relief flooded Kael, but he remained standing tall.
Selyra gave a rare, faint smile. "You have passed, Kael of Black Hollow."
The court erupted in cheers, not just of approval, but of genuine welcome.
High above, the banners of the Skyhold unfurled, revealing a new sigil alongside their own a crown shattered, yet burning with rebirth.
Aerlyn would stand with him.
But as the celebrations began, Kael could not shake the feeling that the true war was only just beginning.
And Malagar, dark king of the north, would not sit idle much longer.