"Trust your shadow, and don't trust the light."
That was Seris's last whisper before they took her away — before she became an S-Class legend, before she vanished into the very light I was taught to fear.
She always knew things. Things no one else dared say aloud. Things I wasn't ready to hear. But maybe, just maybe, today is the day I start to understand.
Entry One: The Weight of a Letter
I woke up this morning with a knot so tight in my chest it felt like swallowing shards of broken glass. Every breath was thick with dread.
Around me, everyone spoke of the maze as if it were a mere obstacle — a rite of passage, the "first trial" toward greatness. They said surviving it was about courage and skill, nothing more.
But to me, it's a nightmare dressed in ritual.
I am an E-Class.
No spark. No magic. No chance.
That's what the Rating Stone marked me with a year ago.
I still remember the cold chamber — the obsidian walls swallowing all light — where I pressed my palm against that cursed stone. Swirling colors danced wildly: reds, blues, golds colliding and twisting, but then faded into a dull, lifeless gray.
One letter remained: E.
No explanation. No mercy. No second chances.
That letter has haunted me ever since. A brand seared onto my file. A sentence from a system that never errs. An echo following me into every dream.
Even this morning, when my mother's eyes met mine — the mother who is an S-Class legend, her name whispered in awe throughout the academy — I saw something darker than anger or frustration: disappointment.
As if sending me here was her last hope, a way to show she still cared but knew deep down it was a lost cause.
But Seris — the woman they took away, the one who walked into legend — she believed in me.
Or maybe she pitied me.
I don't know which cuts deeper.
Her final words haunt me like a curse:
"Trust your shadow, and don't trust the light."
I don't understand yet. But I cling to those words as the heavy gates groan open and swallow me into darkness.
Entry Two: Into the Maze
The maze is alive with ancient magic.
It smells of damp stone and forgotten secrets, like a cold breath on my neck sending chills down my spine.
Every shadow pulses with silent menace — the darkness seems to watch, to wait, to breathe.
The walls groan as if in pain or warning. Maybe they're hiding something worse.
I don't belong here.
I am a ghost. An E-Class nobody.
But I have no choice but to walk forward.
Time warps here. Minutes stretch like hours; hours fold into endless shadows.
Light is a stranger.
Then the first trap finds me.
The floor beneath my feet shifts, transforming into smooth black stone so slick it might as well be liquid obsidian frozen in time.
My foot slips. I fall hard.
Pain explodes in my palm where I brace myself against the cold ground.
And then — something.
A flicker.
A snap.
A spark of power — dark, wild, fierce — crackling just beneath my skin.
For a heartbeat, I feel heat burning in my palm, alive and angry.
Then it's gone.
Magic? Power? I don't know. I thought I'd recognize it if it were.
But the rules are clear: only chosen Second Years get magic.
The Rating Stone never lies.
I am not supposed to be chosen.
I am not supposed to feel.
But I do.
I keep moving — not because I'm brave, but because I have no other choice.
This maze doesn't want the strongest.
It wants those who refuse to die.
I round a corner and find a door carved with glowing runes pulsing like a heartbeat.
I reach out.
Cold stabs into my bones.
I want to pull back. To run. But something pulls me forward.
The door opens.
I have passed the first trial.
But I left a piece of myself behind in that darkness — a piece that may never return.
Entry Three: The Chamber of Judgment
The door slams shut behind me.
Silence hits like a hammer.
No whispers. No groans. Just stillness — too loud, too empty.
I stare at my hand.
The one that burned.
It looks normal.
No marks. No glow. No sign of magic.
But I feel it — a pulse beneath my skin, a secret humming like it wants to escape.
Ahead, the chamber waits.
Filled with others — Second Years with steady eyes and sharp features, power in their bones and confidence in their stance.
They look at me like I'm a mistake.
Like I don't belong here.
Like surviving was an accident.
I am used to their eyes.
Used to being the disappointment.
A cold voice echoes from stone walls:
"E-Class Elara Vayne. Trial One: Passed."
Some snicker.
Whispers like poison swirl around me.
"E-Class."
Like a curse.
But this time, I don't flinch.
Something inside me has woken.
And it's not going anywhere.
Entry Four: Faces in the Crowd
I force myself to look at them — to see who will be ally, who will be enemy.
The academy breeds competition — fierce, relentless, unforgiving.
There's Joren — captain of our class.
Tall, sharp-cheekboned, with storm-cloud eyes.
His dark hair always looks tousled, like he just walked through a windstorm.
He moves with confidence that borders on arrogance.
But sometimes his eyes soften when they find me.
A puzzle I don't yet understand.
Kael — lean, sandy blond hair falling in careless waves.
Ice-blue eyes sharp and watchful.
A blade hidden behind a smile.
Sometimes, that blade softens for me.
I think he's hiding something.
Maybe even protecting me.
Lyra and Senna — my closest friends.
Lyra's fiery curls and quick wit make her impossible to ignore.
She's fiercely loyal and never lets me forget I'm not alone.
Senna is quiet.
Steady.
The anchor when I feel like I'm falling apart.
Around me, whispers swirl — of power, betrayal, and glory.
But I feel like I'm standing on the edge of a storm, waiting for the first lightning strike.
Entry Five: A Shadow Awakens
I don't know what's happening inside me.
That flicker in the maze — the heat beneath my skin — it's still there.
A secret fire I'm afraid to ignite but can't ignore.
I touch my palm, willing it to show again.
Nothing.
No light. No magic.
Just silence.
The others think I'm broken. A flaw.
Maybe I am.
But I'm not disappearing.
I'm waiting.
And when the time comes, I will show them what it means to trust your shadow.
Entry Six: Seris's Words
I hold her words close like a talisman.
"Trust your shadow, and don't trust the light."
Maybe the light is the magic others flaunt.
Maybe the light is the system that judges me before I can fight.
Maybe the shadow is the part of me unbreakable, unseen, dangerous.
I don't know yet.
But I will.
Because I have to.
Entry Seven: The Maze is Just the Beginning
This is only the beginning.
The maze was a test — survival.
But the real battle starts now.
They will watch me.
Judge me.
Underestimate me.
But I won't disappear.
Not this time.
Because shadows don't just hide.
Sometimes, they burn.