The Second Trial (1)

*huff huff*

The struggled breathing of a man resounded through the dark wood as he ran. His cloth clothes cling tightly to his body with sweat as he moved. He held a strange stone in one hand, it flowed a soft amber...

He wasn't sure why he was there.. he had been lying in his bed in his small village.. when he opened his eyes the world was dark, grey, and there were trees all around..

From there the long grueling survival began.. and he passed the first trial.. whatever the hell a trial was anyway.. the bard didn't tell him anything either.. and now..

Now... there was a zombie chasing him... well, he thought it was a zombie.. the talisman did nothing, and it only served to piss it off..

It was fast...

But he wasn't going to stop running..

He wasn't going to die...

"Crunch!"

All at once the man thought to himself, 'what hqppened?? I can't feel anything...'

Then it all faded...

From the outside it was clear what happened: a giant plant, nestled among the trees, had bit his head off.. his body slumped to the ground. The plant crunched on his head for a minute before swallowing, then proceeded to devour the rest of him...

...

The smell of blood filled the air...

Ward tried to ignore it... rather, he just really didn't want it to mean what he thought it did.. It wasn't over.. people were dying somewhere.. and he was part of it..

This made him slow his stride to the fire. The warm glow in the distance turned from a safe haven into a band of killers.. or a group of goblins huddled around a fire, devouring someone... whatever it was he didn't want to go strolling straight into it only to face something like that turtle monster.

Ten minutes later he stood behind a tree, looking directly into the small camp. There was no one, only a roaring fire and what looked to be food cooking.. the smell drifted his way, and he longed for whatever it was..

He began to inch forward then, and kept his eyes on the dark around the camp.. maybe it was a trap, maybe he was going to be put into the massive pot and boiled alive, maybe he could get some food and rest before whoever set up the camp came back...

But he never made it..

A voice rung out from a small wooded area nearby, "don't go into the camp!".. it was a girl's voice. She sounded young, maybe a teenager, and he quickly turned to spot her outline standing at the edge of the forest.

He quickly guarded himself, ready to run away in a moments notice. The girl approached, and it was when she came about 50 feet away that a haunting blue light erupted from something in her hand.

He recoiled slightly at the light, then saw her: she was dressed much the same as he, but she had some extra leather on top of the ragged cloth. Her skin was brown, and her hair black. Her eyes the same color as her hair.. all in all she was quite beautiful, he thought. But that wasn't what he was concerned about:

Was she friend or foe? A monster in disguise??

And what was the strange lantern she held out as she approached him, with its blue light??

She stopped about ten feet away and it was then he noticed her height: she was at least a foot taller than him.

"Are you an idiot?? Do you want the fades to get you?" She asked pointedly.

He blinked twice and said simply, "what are the fades? Sorry, who are you? What is this place??"

She tilted her head as if she didn't understand, "you are joking right? The fade? The night spirits?? You've never heard of them before?? Where are you from then?"

"I don't know." He said honestly,

"What do you mean you don't know?" She was getting angrier and angrier as the conversation went on.. and so was he, but he kept it in check..

"I don't have any memories.. I just woke up to this world.." he gestured to the bleak hellscape all around.

"O...k..." she said slowly, clearly not believing him. "Well, anyway, you almost died.. so you can thank me for that you idiot.. so good luck..."

She turned to leave, but then a younger voice rung out from the trees, "Liza! Where are you?!"

She stopped and rubbed her eyes, annoyed, "I'm coming!"

There was a rustling near the tree line and a young boy popped out. He was around the same age as Ward, and had bright red hair, shoulder length, that was pulled into a ponytail. He had bright blue eyes and wore a permanent smile on his face, as if he couldn't be bothered to be upset or sad.

"Liza!" He began to say before he spotted Ward. A look of confusion swept across his face then he broke into a smile and a run at the same time, sprinting up to Ward. He was about his height, and Ward had to step back as the boy got right up in his face.

"Hey! What's your name?? You are the same age as me!" His attitude was very juvenile, and something about it set Ward at ease. He smiled back and said,

"Ward. What's yours?"

"Dane! I'm 11! How old are you?"

"I'm 11 too.."

Dane brightened even more, if that was possible, and wrung Ward's hand as he said, "let's be friends!"

Ward couldn't help but smile. The boy in front of him was genuine, kind, and bright.. his smile reflected all of that on his copper toned face. It was in stark contrast to the way the bard's smile had struck him..

"Yeah let's be friends" Ward said and smiled back.

"Awesome!" Dane said, "You can come with me and Liza.. We have a hideout. We've been getting by for about a week now! We are pretty strong you see!" He said boastfully, placing his hands on his hips and puffing out his chest.

Liza laughed at this and said, "Alright, alright... I know I can't dissuade you when you e made up your mind.. But I'm not doing the extra hunting for food for him. You gotta take care of yourself... and you..." she put Dane in a headlock and rubbed his head vigorously with her knuckles.

He fought to escape, with no success, "you are the weakest.. what do you mean 'we are strong'.. IM the strong one.."

Ward laughed at them.. a genuine laugh.. it felt odd to feel anything but fear and pain, but with them he began to feel warmth and kindness..

Eventually she let Dane go and he tried to get back at her. She just held him at bay with a stiff arm. The young kid struggled to hit the older girl, who laughed at him all the while.. He stopped trying after a while and said, "I'll get you back.." and crossed his arms, pouting.

Ward held back his own laugh then, and asked simply, "Can you two tell me where this is? And what's going on?"

Liza spoke up before Dane could, who seemed more concerned with his young bruised ego, "Right.. you lost your memories yeah? Hmm.. well what do you know?"

That is when Ward told them everything he remembered, and all the events leading up to that point. Dane listened intently, and Liza nodded along, showing no hint of emotion at his story until he came to how he beat the turtle monster.

"I can't believe you beat a floor Guardian... you are lucky" she said.

Dane interjected then and said, "more like he's a badass! I knew you were as powerful as me when I saw you." He smiled sheepishly.

"Right.. we can talk more as we walk.. we should get back to our hideout. There are too many monsters out for us to just stand in the open.. let alone near the fade fire.." she gestured to the campfire he had nearly walked into.

Ward nodded and Dane strode up next to him and began to listen to Liza as she spoke. Ward learned a lot on the trip, and he took it all in on the 30 minute or so walk through the dark woods...

"The Fain is the Fain... it is the in between, the nowhere land.. to be honest no one really knows. It is probably known best for being the trials:

The trials left by the ancients to get power.. wealth.. Whatever you want.. But you can't just enter the Fain...

For instance, I'm from the western plains. We are nomads mostly. We travel and trade from city to city, country to country.. so we learn a lot...

And we hear a lot of stories.. some true some not.. but anyway, one story tells of a king who passed the trials. Well, he wasn't a king UNTIL he passed the trials I should say...

He reached the mouth of the Fain and asked for power, to rule over others so he could liberate his people.. and so he got it.. that's the story anyway.

Who knows if it's true or not. Hell, I didn't even fully believe in the Fain until I got here..

Anyway, I went to sleep in my family's tent, and woke up on the first floor. The bard, the same one that everyone seems to have met, greeted me and sent me on to the next floor here..

I've been here for about six months or so. I've met people, seen people die, and generally just have had a horrible time...

I saved Dane there from a few undead. This lantern wards off undead and spirits.. it was a treasure for my family and it was next to me when I woke up..

But yeah, we both have been trying to survive together. You can pass a trial by 1: killing the floor guardian or 2: passing the test.. this floors test is to survive until there are ten remaining... At least, that's what I've heard the ravagers say...

Honestly who knows how low it's gotten... You don't have to worry about monsters as much here as other people. Which is why I was wary of you to begin with..

I wasn't sure if you were working with them, the Ravagers... as they call themselves..."

At that point the forest gave way and the three entered a small clearing with a large boulder in the middle of it. The grey stone seemed very out of place, but otherwise had no remarkable features.

It wasn't until Dane dashed forward and said, "Watch Ward! This is cool!" That he took notice.

The young flame haired boy put his hand on the smooth surface of the boulder and pushed hard. He struggle for a second but eventually something gave way and he pushed open a small hidden door on the rock face.

"Wait.. this is your hideout?" Ward asked.

Dane said, "Yeah isn't it cool?!.. we found it about a month ago. You should see inside!"

Ward stepped forward and peered through the small doorway. A dim light was coming from within and he could see a living area down a narrow hallway. The floors, ceiling, everything was stone.. someone had carved this hideout into the rock itself.

"Wow!" He said honestly, "this is cool.."

Dane said, "i told you.. come on, I'll show you around!" He dashed inside and gestured for Ward to follow. Ward took a look over his shoulder at Liza who was shaking her head, far too mature for such childishness..

Dane stood just inside the first room. It was a large circular living area with a hearth, a roaring fire, a table, chairs, and remarkably a book case. There was even a rug on the floor and a scant few paintings in the walls.

"Who made this?" Ward asked as he looked around. He hadn't seen any houses before, but he knew that this was bizarre.. To even have books and furnishing in the middle of the hell they lived in...

"We don't know" Liza said as she stepped inside. She pushed the hidden door shut behind her before continuing, "Someone that may have wanted to just live peacefully here instead of complete the trials.. as for the stuff.."

She reached out a hand to the bookcase and felt one of the ancient tomes, "I have no idea how this all got here.. it's not like you can get paper or fabric anywhere around here... I do wish we could read these.."

She said, looking over the words on the covers of the books. Ward glanced around a large blue one with a label on the spine: "Flora and Faun of the lower levels.."

The other two stopped to look at him, and he noticed he had said it what he had read out loud,

"Oh sorry.. that's what that blue book is titled.." he said. Liza was shocked, and said slowly,

"You can read this?... I don't even know what language it is.. it's not common, or barrotongue, or umbranian..."

"I don't know either.." Ward said defensively, "but that's what it says..."

"Nice!" Dane said, "you can read them to us! But first dinner!"

Ward noticed his own hunger then, and Liza seemed to approve (for once) of Dane's shifting of the conversation.

"Alright.." she said, stepping over to the hearth. There was a large iron pot hung over the top which she removed the lid from. Immediately the smell of stew filled the small room.

"Alright you two, grab some bowls and spoons and let's dig in..."

Ward and Dane very much obliged, and got themselves, and their stomachs, ready for a meal...