The river carried a song of subtle menace as we moved alongside it, shadows stretching longer than the morning sun warranted. Sophia kept the wards shimmering faintly along the banks, weaving them into the dirt and stone, threading her magic like a spider weaving a web delicate enough not to alert the river—but strong enough to mask us.

Sarah led, silent as the mist curling over broken docks, while I followed, listening to the soft gurgle of water and the occasional creak of rope from abandoned boats. Every ripple seemed purposeful, every wave a whispered warning. We weren't moving through a city anymore. We were moving through a living trap.

"Keep your senses sharp," I murmured. "It knows we're here."

Sophia's eyes flicked toward me. "It senses something, but not who we are—not yet. My wards hide more than just presence—they hide intention. For now."

Mona's voice crackled faintly in my mind, riding the echoes of distant hills. "Three bridges upstream. The first will test you. Expect… everything."

I swallowed. That "everything" carried the weight of the river's wrath, of the Empress's mind. She didn't act in rash violence—she acted in calculation. Every trap was a lesson, every wave a question: How far would you go? How much could you endure?

We passed the first bridge, its arches broken and soot-stained. Beneath it, water churned around jagged rocks, more alive than the rest of the river. The current tugged gently at our boots, nudging us toward the edge.

"Do you feel that?" Sarah's voice was low, steady, almost cautious.

I nodded. The water whispered along my ankle. It didn't attack—it studied. Each stone I stepped on was measured, judged. Even the shadows that clung to the bridge seemed to lean toward the river, as if it were drawing strength from everything around it.

"Shield," Sophia whispered. A faint emerald aura enveloped our group, the soft glow wrapping us like a cocoon. The river hesitated, then let us pass, its pulse receding in ripples that lapped along the bridge's broken supports.

I exhaled, a slow hiss of relief, but the tension didn't leave my shoulders.

"Too easy," I muttered.

Sarah's fingers brushed her blade. "It's a warning. The first bridge is always the easiest. The real test is next."

We moved upstream, the city giving way to ruins that had once been mills, warehouses, and small homes now abandoned or half-collapsed. The smell of charred wood and wet stone clung to everything. Above us, gulls wheeled in the gray sky, their cries sharp, urgent.

The second bridge loomed ahead, larger, more intact, its iron girders blackened with age. Unlike the first, this bridge hummed with tension, and the river beneath it rippled in complex patterns, curling around the supports like snakes coiled on a rock.

I crouched low. "I can't tell if it's waiting for something… or someone."

Sophia knelt beside me, tracing symbols into the dirt with her staff. The runes glimmered, twisting and folding into themselves. "It's reading us. Not just where we are—but what we're willing to do. It wants to know if we're afraid."

"Then we show it that we're not," Sarah said. Her grip on her sword tightened, knuckles white.

I nodded, tasting the bitter tang of adrenaline. The moment stretched. The river surged slightly, then receded, drawing the air into tense silence.

Without warning, a wave of water surged upward like a living wall, curling around the bridge supports before crashing down. The spray hit my face, icy, sharp. The river roared in a low, liquid growl, and I realized the truth: it wasn't attacking—it was her. The Empress's mind, folded into every drop, probing, pressing, feeling for weakness.

"Hold!" I shouted. Sophia raised her hands, the green wards flaring, drawing back the water, splitting the wave like it had hit an invisible dam. Sarah ducked low, her blade glinting as the water surged around her.

The wave hissed and thinned, curling back into the river, leaving the bridge intact but trembling under some invisible weight.

"Not enough," I muttered. "It's testing timing now—our reactions."

Sophia's hands trembled slightly, and I realized the wards were straining. "It's learning faster than I can adjust," she admitted quietly.

Sarah's eyes glinted. "Then we force its learning. Hit it where it least expects."

We spread out along the bridge, moving with careful, deliberate steps. The river thrashed below us, testing every plank, every iron girder. It was calculating, watching, aware of our every breath. I noticed small eddies swirling against the supports, forming shapes almost human, almost alive. My stomach tightened—the Empress was here, even if not in flesh, not fully.

"On my mark," I whispered. "We move together. Disrupt it."

We leapt forward, feet pounding on the wooden planks. Sophia traced wards with urgent, sharp motions, embedding pulses in the bridge itself. The water thrashed, lashing at us, coiling around the supports, curling toward our boots—but the wards held, shimmering like a cage.

The river screamed in liquid fury. I could almost hear the Empress laughing, a sound that scraped at the edges of my mind.

And then I saw it: movement upstream. Figures stepping into the shallow edge of the river—three of them, like shadows drawn from the water itself. Their forms were fluid, distorted, faces unreadable, eyes glowing faintly with that same black hue I had seen in Veyra's remnants.

"More pawns," Sarah growled. "Or worse."

"They're not entirely alive," Sophia said, voice tight. "They're constructs. Shaped by the river—by her."

I clenched my fists. "Then we break them. Fast."

The first figure lunged, a blur of wet darkness. Sarah met it with a swing, her blade striking clean—but the form passed through, reforming seconds later with a hiss. The second figure split into two, then three, each moving with impossible speed, circling us like hunting birds.

Sophia's wards flared, forcing the constructs back with bursts of energy. Sparks hissed as they collided with the magic, then recoiled. I darted forward, knife slicing through one, but it reformed instantly, water dripping from its humanoid shape.

"This is her test!" I shouted. "She's not letting us win!"

Sarah growled, spinning to meet another construct. "Then we fight smarter!"

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