The First Trial
After that battle that never came to be—a clash of forces that neither Sally nor Percy could truly comprehend—Miraak vanished once again without offering any explanation, leaving Percy more confused than he could bear. The storm that had roared above them slowly unraveled, forcing mother and son to retreat into the cabin.
Despite everything, the old construction remained intact. The surroundings were scorched, burned by fire and marked by lightning strikes, yet not a single splinter of the cabin had been harmed. That in itself was a mystery: as if someone had deliberately ensured its preservation for decades… and Percy knew this time it hadn't been Miraak.
Percy remained tense, replaying in his head what he had just witnessed. Sally, quieter than ever, seemed to accept something as she watched her son.
"Percy, get some rest. Tomorrow… we need to talk about something important," she said firmly before retreating to her room.
The boy looked at her in silence and went to his own. It took him a long time to fall asleep, but when he finally did, a strange dream consumed him.
An enormous eagle and a massive white horse fought on the beach, surrounded by the storm. The eagle swooped down with talons and beak, while the horse countered with kicks and charges. They wounded each other endlessly, locked in savage combat. Percy trembled with fear, desperate for them to stop. But when he tried to shout, he noticed another presence on the shore, watching with interest.
Black scales. Golden eyes. A silhouette that needed no introduction. A dragon. And it looked ready to intervene, which could only mean even greater destruction.
"No!" Percy screamed, bolting upright. His breath came in gasps. He glanced toward the window and saw the storm raging on the beach—but no eagle, no horse, no dragon.
That was when he heard frantic knocks at the door and a desperate voice.
"Please, open up!"
Sally stepped out in her nightgown, tired but alert, and opened the door. Grover stumbled inside, drenched, trembling with fear. The satyr had clearly seen the devastation around the cabin, and his face betrayed all his panic.
Seeing Sally and Percy safe, he released a long sigh of relief.
Percy stared at him, eyes wide.
"I've been searching for you all night! What were you thinking, running off without me?" Grover scolded.
But Percy didn't answer. His eyes dropped slowly to Grover's legs… where there were no feet, only hooves. He clutched his head with both hands, incredulous, and muttered:
"So that's… that's why Master kept calling you 'the goat boy'…"
Grover had no time to react. His eyes bulged with fear, his voice breaking. "They're coming… they're coming. So many. Far too many."
A chill ran down Sally's spine. Even if she trusted that Miraak had destroyed a number of them, she understood now that what they had faced before had only been the beginning. They couldn't wait any longer.
"Percy, let's go," she ordered firmly, running toward the car. Grover rushed after her, his hooves clattering against the ground. Percy followed, still confused, though inside he carried a certainty that soothed him: as long as his master was there, nothing could harm him.
That calm, trusting gaze did not go unnoticed by Miraak. From the shoreline, the Nord stood with arms crossed, his aura pressing down like an invisible wall. He watched them leave the cabin, his brow furrowing ever so slightly, as if something about the situation displeased him.
…
The car rolled down the road without obstacles. Grover, anxious, couldn't understand why they weren't being attacked. He had seen hordes approaching—but now they had vanished without a trace. Percy, on the other hand, wore a faint smile, confident that everything was under control.
When they reached a certain point in the forest, Grover turned to explain something to Sally. But mid-sentence, he collapsed unconscious, hitting the ground with a thud.
Percy whipped his head around and saw him. Miraak was there, standing among the trees, his gaze fixed and merciless.
"Master, why did you attack Grover?" Percy asked, startled.
"He is noisy," Miraak replied with chilling calm. Then he extended his hand and tossed something.
Percy caught it—a different sword this time. Short, dark-bladed, light in weight, with a slender hilt etched with runes he didn't recognize. The weapon felt comfortable, as though it had been forged just for him.
"It seems you're relying too much on me always being there to protect you. Perhaps that is my mistake," Miraak said seriously, his eyes gleaming in the shadows.
Sally took a step forward, alarm written on her face, about to protest.
"Muuuu…" A deep bellow echoed in the distance, accompanied by the cracking of trees as something massive forced its way through.
"You are mistaken about something," Miraak continued firmly, his gaze never leaving the boy. "I do not train someone so they depend on me. I train them so they learn to save their own life."
Percy turned toward the sound. From between the trees emerged a monstrous silhouette: a bipedal beast with colossal muscles and dark fur. Two enormous horns jutted from its skull, and half its body was still scarred with fresh burns. Percy recognized it instantly. It was the sole creature that had survived Miraak's ring of fire.
The Nord stepped back, and his voice rang out like a sentence carved into stone:
"From now on… your life depends on you."
And then he vanished like mist at dawn, leaving Percy standing alone before the beast.
The boy's nerves surged all over again. The minotaur fixed its empty eyes on him, exhaling foul breath as it stomped the ground with brute force.
"Fuuu…" the creature snorted before charging forward like a raging bull.
"Percy!" Sally screamed in panic, desperate to throw herself in front of her son.
But Percy, driven by an instinct he couldn't explain, shoved his mother aside and rolled in the opposite direction. Everything seemed slower, as if his body had acted before his mind.
The minotaur thundered past, missing both of them. It skidded to a halt, snorting, then turned its burning gaze toward Percy. The boy was drenched in cold sweat, trembling, yet he still raised the dark sword his master had given him.
Sally tried to rise from the ground, but Percy shouted with a seriousness she had never seen in him before:
"Don't interfere, Mom. The master is right… I'm his student. I've trained until now. I can do this!"
The words were not only for her—they were for himself as well.
The minotaur charged again, this time raising a massive fist to crush him. Percy rolled once more, and the blow struck the earth with such force that the ground shook and deep cracks split open beneath it.
Percy did not hesitate. He leapt—higher than any normal human could ever hope to—and with both hands gripping the sword above his head, he brought it down with all his strength.
The blade sliced through the minotaur from skull to chest as though it were cutting through hot butter. One strike. One clean, devastating movement.
The beast's body dissolved into black dust, and its horn rolled across the earth.
Percy stood frozen, motionless, his mouth slightly agape. He couldn't believe how easy it had been. His eyes dropped to his hands and the sword still clutched in one of them.
Sally, just as astonished, understood instantly. Miraak had forced Percy to face the monster alone because he knew his student was far stronger than he realized. Percy had never noticed—after all, his only sparring partner had been Miraak, someone so overwhelmingly powerful and skilled that hurting him was impossible. But now, against a true enemy, Percy's growth was undeniable.
From the wind came a voice, deep and unyielding, echoing through the forest like a command carved in stone:
"From now on… I will not fight for you. You can do it yourself. At dawn… prepare for the next phase of training."
Percy searched around, looking for his master, but found only silence. Even so, a new pride burned in his chest, a flame he couldn't put out. Sally, meanwhile, dropped to the ground, smiling through tears. Her son… he now had the strength to protect himself.
"Ugh… what happened?" Grover murmured, waking with a pain in his neck, dazed and confused.
Percy bent to pick up the fallen horn of the minotaur, holding it firmly as he glanced calmly at his friend. "Looks like a branch fell and hit you," he said with a simple smile.
Grover's eyes widened. He noticed the horn in Percy's hand, the sword, and then the ground beside them, where the imprint of a massive fist still scarred the earth. It was as if all the pieces were falling into place.
…
The time for farewell came. Percy hugged his mother tightly, promising that once he finished at camp, he would return to her. Sally, her eyes wet with tears, clung to him as if she wanted to engrave the moment into eternity. Parting hurt, but she was proud: her little boy was ready to take his next step.
With a heavy heart, she got into the car and began the drive back. Sadness mingled with relief—Percy was in a safe place now, under the watch of his master.
As she drove along the dark road, she was startled to see an older woman standing by the side, hitchhiking. Compassion moved her, and Sally slowed down, stopping the car.
The woman approached with a grateful smile. She had graying hair, a stern gaze, and a noble bearing beneath a dark overcoat.
"Thank you… I thought no one would stop," she said in a grave tone.
"Don't worry. I wouldn't want something bad to happen to you in the middle of the night," Sally replied kindly, inviting her to take the passenger seat.
The woman smiled faintly, though there was something strange in the curve of her lips.
"Sally Jackson," Sally introduced herself politely.
"You can call me Mrs. Dodds," the woman replied.
If Percy had been there, he would have recognized her instantly. To him, she was no stranger: she was his old math teacher. Or rather… the first monster that had ever attacked him—the very harpy Miraak had driven to the edge of despair, forcing her to flee by nearly taking her own life.