SORA

"How do you know Nikita will be willing to help us?" I ask as Sander, Kit, Shae, Isabella, Miroslava, Evory, Darius, Gambit, Sekai, and I head through the jungle, having gotten there thanks to Isabella.

"Nikita has a kind heart and a strong perseverance," Miroslava says. "She'll see our true intentions and where our hearts rest."

"Who exactly is Nikita?" Sander asks.

"Nikita was employed by Aria in a similar sense that I am," Miroslava explains. "She used to work in her own private apothecary as an alchemist and make potions and herbalist mixtures for Aria. She would stop by twice a week to drop off her latest creations, and they would in turn give her one item from Aria of her choosing."

"Anything she wanted?" Isabella asks.

"No," Miroslava shakes her head. "It had to be something within reason, but she was able to get more powerful powders and mixtures that way to help strengthen her potions and such. Over time, Nikita gathered enough to complete her own personal private project, and she stopped visiting Aria because they prohibited her work. The only reason she was never taken into custody was because nobody could ever reach within her domain, so they simply left her be because she never really bothered anyone."

"Taken into custody?" Sander furrows his eyebrows. "What did she do?"

"She found a way to mend life threatening conditions with essence from the nightmare creatures," Miroslava says. "It should be clear to all of us here that not all things that hail from a dark place are actually bad, and that is what Nikita believed as well. She never believed things were so black and white. Light can be good or bad, and darkness can be good or bad. That's the way she always saw things. She always looked to the heart of them, because that's what truly mattered."

"It sounds like she was just trying to help people," Isabella frowns.

"She was," Miroslava nods. "Sadly, Aria didn't recognize that."

"Of course they didn't," Sander grumbles under his breath.

"So, Nikita is the one who healed Reverence, right?" I ask. "Reverence said an alchemist imbued nightmare essence into his heart, and when we met with Nikita, she recognized him."

"I'm assuming so, yes," Miroslava nods.

"But, then..." I trail off with a frown, thinking of Nikita's words towards Reverence.

"What is it, Sora?" Gambit frowns worriedly, glancing over at me.

"Then, why did she act like he wasn't allowed to see her again?" I ask. "She told him she warned him of what would happen if he came back."

"That does seem rather troubling..." Gambit furrows her eyebrows.

"Maybe she'll talk to us about it?" Shae suggests. "If we ask her and she ends up trusting us, we could learn more about what really happened to Reverence. I mean, she was the one who treated him after all. And maybe then we can figure out a way to save him."

"Maybe..." Gambit nods, lost in thought.

"It would be next to impossible to heal Reverence," Evory frowns. "When I treated him, I realized that we would need to gather all of the runestones in order to attempt to heal Reverence. That's why I thought that Carmin wanted them so badly, to heal his brother. Not to..."

Evory trails off and shakes her head while Darius squeezes her shoulder comfortingly, dropping his hand then to take hers in his. As we're walking, Isabella begins to glow a bright white color and she gasps as she looks at her hands and drops to her knees, her eyes wide as she cries out.

"No! No, no, no!" Isabella shouts frantically and begins to sob as she clutches at the sides of her head, her tears falling onto the ground.

"Isabella..." Kit breathes out, her eyes sad.

Shae rushes down beside Isabella to comfort her, the rest of us standing in respectful silence as Isabella inherits the full of her mother's abilities as Chastity as her mother passes on.

"I'm sorry," Shae says quietly, rubbing soothing motions on the small of Isabella's back, Isabella occasionally hiccuping through her tears as she rubs her eyes to wipe away her tears.

"How..." Isabella breathes out brokenly, her eyes sad.

"I don't know," Shae continues to try and comfort Isabella, "but I can promise you that she's in a better place now, and she'll always be in your heart and watching over you. She would want you to pick yourself up and keep moving."

"I know," Isabella breathes out and nods before Shae helps her to her feet. "Let's just...let's keep going."

We all offer our support to Isabella, knowing that she needs it just as much as we need her. After a few more moments, we continue heading to the ravine until we reach the barrier, and that's when Miroslava approaches the barrier that Carmin failed to open, walking around in thought.

"You know, you can't just--" I start.

My words get lost in my mouth whenever Miroslava holds out her hand and touches the barrier, which vibrates and hums at her touch. The barrier slowly lowers as Miroslava stands there, and she looks back to the rest of us with a raised brow.

"Well, go on inside before I allow the barrier back up. What are you waiting for?" Miroslava says.

The nine of us hurry beyond the barrier before Miroslava rushes in before it closes, the barrier going back up behind us. Beyond the barrier, there's a set of stone stairs carved into the side of the cliff that lead from the top of the ravine to the bottom in a back and forth manner.

"It's a long way down," Miroslava says as she goes ahead of us, her long fiery hair blowing behind her. "Try not to fall."

The rest of us exchange glances with each other before we follow after her, heading down the pathway that was laid out for us.

"This seems rather unsafe," Kit says warily as we make our way to the bottom of the ravine.

"Does anything we do seem safe?" Sander muses and Kit smacks him in the shoulder.

"Uh, guys..." I trail off, noticing what appears to be a figure standing in the far distance by the entrance to a large white castle that lies within the ravine. "What are the chances Nikita already knows we're coming?"

"I'd say fairly high," Miroslava says. "She knew when I interrupted her barrier."

"Is that going to be a bad thing?" I ask, laughing nervously.

"Not necessarily," Miroslava says after a few moments, "but maybe."

We eventually reach the bottom of the ravine after about a half hour of walking down the stone stairs. The bottom of the ravine is just like any old regular ravine would appear to be, but in the distance there's a large white castle that resides in the ravine and is most likely Nikita's home. As we get closer to the castle, I notice a shining white barrier around the castle's perimeter, and Nikita herself is standing on a long wooden bridge that stretches to the entrance of the castle. The barrier shimmers and waves as we approach through it seemingly unharmed, and Nikita waits as we approach her.

"I've been expecting someone, but I didn't realize it would be you until you breached my barrier so easily," Nikita says as we come within standing distance.

"Nikita," Miroslava nods.

"Miroslava," Nikita hums, her eyes flickering between all of us. "Come this way."

We somewhat reluctantly follow after Nikita as she heads to the entrance of the castle and pushes open the giant white marble doors.

"You'll have to excuse me if I disappear for a few moments. You're not the only ones to have reached this place recently," Nikita says. "I have company upstairs."

"You do?" The words come out of my mouth before I can process what I've just said, making me flush in embarrassment.

"Yes, contrary to belief, I do have visitors," Nikita says as she glances over her shoulder, raising a brow in an amused manner. "Actually, I believe you may know them quite well."

In a few moments, Clea and Akari come down the stairs and my eyebrows raise in surprise, my lips parting at their presence.

"Clea! Akari!" Evory rushes excitedly towards them and they pull her into a hug. "You're okay!"

"Yeah," Akari smiles. "We're okay."

"What a relief," Evory breathes out in a sigh.

Clea and Akari both seem to look towards a dejected Isabella at the same time before they exchange a sad glance, and it occurs to me that maybe somehow they already know what happened.

"Now, I know why you're all here," Nikita sighs, breaking up our reunion. "I am willing to help you, of course, but only if you do something for me."

"What is it?" I ask, furrowing my eyebrows.

"I will willingly give you the runestone if you prove that you truly deserve it," Nikita says, her eyes flickering around the room to all of our faces. "This evening, I will request that four of you complete a trial for me. If you say no, you may leave freely but never come back. If you say yes, you must prove your worth to obtain the runestone. I am able to see your character and your heart, that is true, but I am not the one whose test you must pass."

"But you're the one who holds the runestone," I frown.

"That is true, however, just like me, none among you are Pride or Gluttony," Nikita says, "and so in order to activate the stone, you must pass its trials of worth."

"I see..." Gambit trails off thoughtfully. "Will you be choosing who completes the trials?"

"No," Nikita shakes her head. "The trials will choose you, should you accept them."

"How do we know if we're chosen?" Evory asks.

"Are you all willing participants?" Nikita asks as she glances around the room. "If a single one of you says no, I cannot proceed and you all must leave."

Upon the room being filled with silence, Nikita nods with a hum before she whirls around and begins to walk down a marble hallway filled with white curved wall sconces, orange flames burning within them.

"Follow me," Nikita says.

Cautiously, we all follow Nikita to the end of the hall to a pair of white marble double-doors with intricate carvings around the edges. Nikita pushes open the doors in one motion, the doors opening to reveal a room with a large white stone fountain filled with crystal clear water and a few hanging plants, shelves of alchemy items resting on the back stone wall.

"Each of you, cup a handful of water in your hands," Nikita instructs. "If the water turns purple, you have been chosen. If it stays blue, you were not chosen."

One by one, we each take water from the fountain, standing around as we watch for it to change colors. The water slowly shifts to purple for Miroslava, Isabella, Evory, and me, making for an interesting team.

"It has been done," Nikita says. "The rest of you may wash up and spend the night. You four may do the same, and you will know when it is time. The trials are about to begin. We will see how worthy you really are."