Powerless

The third and final Trial begins in the Bowl the next day. When the contestants arrive, they are faced with a huge maze created and controlled by Blooms, Elites who can grow supernaturally strong plants. The king announces to the crowd that the person who reaches the center of the maze and kills the criminal waiting there first will win the Trial, thus ensuring some amount of bloodshed for the eager audience to enjoy. Before the contestants enter the maze, Kai and Paedyn exchange an encouraging look.

Paedyn, whose only goal is to survive the day, enters the maze. She soon realizes that the Blooms keep rearranging the walls to confuse the contestants and finds herself in a quickly narrowing path. She narrowly avoids being crushed, but her foot gets stuck between the hedges. Paedyn pulls it out but is injured in the process. She keeps running through the maze until all the paths start narrowing at the same time. This time, they do not crush her, but the maze is now narrow enough that if contestants meet, they will have to fight to get past one another. Soon after, Blair finds Paedyn.