The Trials - Part 1

She had finally made it.

After a long arduous journey full of hardship and pitfalls, she had finally reached the lamia village.

…

She may be embellishing the truth there, but after all that had happened to her, it felt like it.

"I really hope I find some answers here."

As she passes through the last of the tress to the outskirt of the village it fully comes into view.

*gasp* "What happened here?"

Of all that she could see, only one word really described what she saw.

Wasteland.

The area was completely devoid of life and destroyed as far as the eye could see.

Moving into the village she passes the ruins of multiple buildings, with hardly anything left to tell that it was one.

"This is horrible."

What appears to be farmland, had been destroyed beyond recovery, charred and blackened all around. The ruins nearest the farmland consisted of just small sections of stone wall jutting out of the ground. The roof and majority of the surrounding walls had collapsed, flattening and destroying the area around it.

Leaving the outskirts of the village, she nears what she imagines is the centre of the village. It is here that the buildings being more structurally sound, are not as demolished as at the edge of the village.

Searching these buildings, she is able to vaguely tell what they may have been. She was able to see the remnants of an anvil meaning it was the blacksmith and counters in what may have been a shop. In one such building, larger than the rest, possibly that of a town hall or something similar, the flooring had deteriorated and all that remained was dirt. The centre of which, had a spherical depression in the dirt.

"Wait a minute, is this where my egg was?"

While not the only possibility, this seems likely, given the size and shape.

While interesting, with her egg gone there isn't much more to the building so she leaves it. She decides to store and cover the wolves in this building as it was starting to get annoying carrying them around all the time, given that she may be exploring the area for a while.

Exiting the ruins of the building, she freezes on the spot, stunned at the vision she saw.

"Wha-! Where did that come from!"

Just past the houses, now stood a majestic building, looking like a cross between a castle and a church. It was almost untouched by the destruction around it, the only damage affecting being weathering from time and the elements. The strangest thing being that it wasn't there when she arrived in the village.

"How did this get here! There is no way I would have just missed seeing it!"

Circling around the ruins, trying to get a better look around the whole structure, suddenly it disappears.

"What?"

Blinking a few times and rubbing her eyes the same scene presents itself.

As she moves towards where it was, one blink later and it reappears.

"Wow. This magic thing it going to take some getting used to. Is it just missing from my view when I'm far away from it, or is it disappearing completely? Anyway, I think I know my next destination now."

Reaching the castle church thing, she pushes on the massive oak doors at the front. After a bit of struggle, they give way and reveal the stone interior, albeit covered in darkness.

"Spooky. But I need to see what's in here."

She takes her first slither inside, then all of a sudden, the door slams closed.

"Damn, I should have seen that coming. Such a cliché."

It is at this point, that the wall sconces burst into flame, illuminating the area.

"Ohh" Before her was a grand hall. The stone walls contained many sconces along with tapestries and stone pillars. A long green carpet ran from the door all the way to the back of the hall, meeting a magnificent status of a giant snake, its tail curled around at the base and its head looking over the area.

"Beautiful. The people who made that must have been amazing sculptors."

On either side of the snake, two doors can be seen. With nothing left to see in this room, she makes her way over to the left one, which she enters.

This leads to a massive staircase leading down, which evidently the other door from the hall, also exits to.

"Stairs. The one true test of mobility for a snake."

With the ominous scene, she takes the machete out and makes her way down, navigating the chain of steps as best she can with her tail, where at the bottom she enters through another door.

"Greetings initiate. The first stage of your pilgrimage begins here with your first trail." A booming voice rings out all around her.

"Who said that, where are you?" she asks looking around panicked, not being able to find the speaker.

"This is the first of several trials, all of which represent your right of passage into adulthood. You shall be tested by the first and second trial within these walls. The remaining trails are located in other villages which you shall reach in in your pilgrimage. Upon completion of these trials, this building shall become inaccessible to you. Now venture forth to your first trail. The trial of balance."

Speechless at all she had heard, she continues onward, following what the voice had said.

"Well, I did want to find out more about being a Lamia. Taking this trial is probably the only way I am going to do that."

Down the hall, dimly lit by sconces, she comes to a doorway, where the voice pipes up again.

"The Trial of Balance. As a Lamia, balance is a necessity in life, present in many different forms. The tail of a lamia is key for achieving balance when in motion. Survival requires balance between knowing when to hunt, what to eat, when to sleep, when to fight and when to flee. Emotions need balance, as anger can overwhelm, and sadness can destroy. Your actions need balance, knowing when to sacrifice is needed, when to help and when to hinder. "

"That was very profound, disembodied voice. Thank you for the seminar" As she walks away, she can't help but wonder if she has started to be influenced by Prisma given the tone of her voice.

Moving onwards, she comes to what can only be described as an obstacle course.

What she saw were poles of varying lengths sticking out of a deep pit, all just wide enough for her to stand on, leading to a narrow beam that zigzags. This then ends with a narrow tunnel which looks like there will be barely any room to move in. Looking into the pit, while dark, it doesn't look like there are any dangers at the bottom. Also, on the side there appear to be some steps leading up from the bottom of the pit.

"I was expecting it to be more death defying than this. Not that I'm complaining mind you. I am very happy that a slip won't kill me. Now how can I jump with a snake tail?"

Thinking for a few moments, she decides to just go for it, given that there is no real penalty for failure here. Nearing the edge of the pit, she coils her tail, similar to that of a compressed spring, and pushes off the ground with all her might.

"Ahh" flying through the air, she realises that she focused on strength rather than accuracy, leading to her missing the first poll, plummeting into the pit.

*bang*

"Ouch, damn that hurts. How did I think there was no penalty just because there were no spikes at the bottom? Ahh." She cries out holding the arm she ended up falling on to. "Right let's try this again."

She climbs up the stairs and prepares herself for another jump.

Aiming in the right direction, as best as she can, she springs forward right to the pole.

…

More so at the pole than on top of it.

"Ahh." Hitting it, she quickly grabs it, but ends up sliding down. "What?"

Hitting the bottom, she gets a better look at the pole. "I don't know what it is, but it feels like that anti-climb paint from Earth. Makes sense, they wouldn't want anyone cheating at the trial."

Round three, putting the knowledge from both attempts together, she manages to reach the top of the poll, almost overshooting, she wobbles near the edge.

"Ahh, Ohhh, almost, almost." Through some balancing, apt based on the test, she is able to pull herself back with her tail, to stay firmly in the centre of the pole.

"That was a close one. One down only…six…to…go. Great" she sighs looking up at the rest of the course.

Getting back into position, she springs forward to the next pole.

..

Through several attempts and falling down to the pit a few times, she makes it to the last pole, where she now faces the beam.

"Finally. While its great I now know how to jump, I really hope I don't have to do it anytime soon after this. Ok, so the beam. Should be easy enough. I would have thought this would be before the poles in terms of difficulty."

How wrong she was in her assumption. As soon as she starts to move on the beam, she realises that the tail movement of curling and uncurling, making S shapes, does not work well for a narrow straight beam.

"Ahh, not again!"

Hitting the bottom, she is thankful that each section of the course is split, meaning the stairs here lead to the last pole she was just on. Realising that her usual method of walking isn't going to cut it, she tries out a few different forced movements with her tail, trying to figure out how best to move reliably and carefully in a straight line. She finds she is able to bunch up her tail in a line, where contracting and expanding the muscles, pushes her forward. A movement, while very well suited for the beam, with its speed it is very impractical for anything else.

Making her way back up, she heads onto the beam. The new way of moving works, and she slowly makes her way to the corner. Taking her time, and carefully manoeuvring around, she turns the corner and continues.

…

She finally reaches the last part of the course. The narrow tunnel. No pit either side, given that its not necessary here, she makes her way inside, using the same movements as before.

"Ok, while narrow, it's not really difficult. Why was this at the end of the trial?"

Just a small way into the course, she notices that the stone tiles on the floor appear darker than everywhere else. Not sure what that means, she heads into the tunnel.

Travelling several meters in the tunnel, she reaches a dead end.

"What do I do here?"

Looking around, she manages to see a stone tile sticking further out that the others.

"Well, that is obviously a switch or button, possibly to open the way… but there is something wrong here. Its too easy. All that balancing on the poles and beam, and now its slowly crawl through a tunnel, hit a button and be done with it."

Realising, there isn't anything else she can do she goes to hit the button. As she does, the darker tiles come to mind, and she realises why this is at the end.

*Whoosh**Slice*

Stunned, she tries to comprehend what happened. When she does, the only thing that hits her is shear pain.

"Ahhhhhhh." Tears fall from her eyes at the pain she can feel. With how narrow the path is, she is unable to see down to the rest of her body very well. But she knows that something happened to her tail.

It is at this point, the way forward opens. Grimacing through the pain, she quickly tries to get out the tunnel wit the movement she has been using so far, but sharp pain floods through her body.

"Grrrrrr. Damn it all."

Whatever happened has effectively stopped her from being able use her tail. Knowing she needs to get out and see what happened, she reaches forward and drags her body out of the tunnel. As her tail is pulled along the floor, more pain follows.

She eventually makes her way out, covered in dust and dirt and wracked with pain. She roles over to finally see what happened to her tail.

…

And screams.

"What the hell! How did that happen!"

Looking down her body at the tail, only half of it remained.

Panicking, she looks down at the tunnel and sees the rest of it. What followed was a blood trial, leading all the way to where she was now.

"Why would you put something like that in a trail about balance! This is absolute bulls-!" While screaming out profanity at the walls, she is cut off by the disembodied voice.

"Well done initiate. You have completed your first trial. You managed to achieve balance in your movement, a small example of some balance you may face in life. This test also lets you understand sacrifice. Helping and hurting others both may involve sacrifice, but not many people know what they are sacrificing until they do. This test gives you a, example of what the sacrifice may feel like, needing to lose your tail to reach the end, hopefully helping you with your decisions later in life, and being ready for the pain it may bring."

"Well, that's great and all, but how does that help me when I'm a lamia without a damn tail!" She cries out. Thankfully the bleeding appears to have slowed down, but the pain was still very much present.

"As a Lamia, you know that your tail shall grow back with time. With this being a trial, you shall not have to wait."

A bright light enveloped the area blinding Octavia, but the pain in her tail dulled and once she could see again, it was fully healed.

"Oh, thank you, thank you. The pain was just unbearable. While I'm still mad that you cut it off in the first place, I'm so glad its back" she calls out to the voice. "Why am I talking to this voice, its obvious it can't talk back. I need to meet some people fast before I go crazy."

Getting back onto her tail, she gives it a few wiggles and if feels as good as new. Looking around she sees a path heading to another room.

"One more trial to go. Let's just hope this one won't be as painful."

She didn't know it yet, but her hope would be shattered.