Prove Your Resolve

Sinking deep into the glaciating lake Altair is unable to feel his entire body as he was both being rendered immobilized and slowly drowning deeper into the cold body of water, helpless and shivering. He wanted to struggle but do not want to meaninglessly expend his energy as it was very limited in this situation, and after being exhausted due to the arduous journey he doesn't have that much stamina and energy in store, and therefore must conserve it as much as humanly possible.

'What in the actual shit is this kind of training?!'

Oculo threw him off the ledge while his guard was completely down, he knew not to trust the mighty individual in the beginning but he tried and hoped for the best. That decision ended up dragging him into this sudden predicament of life and death. The melodies of the aquatic plants still echoed underwater, it produced a pulsating vibration which forced Altair's body to tense up making him drown deeper slowly and use his remaining energy unconsciously.

The chill that bit through his body pierced through his flesh, every second intensifying the numbing and sharp pain of the burning frostbite. Every second is precious, but his plunging body was constantly getting pulled deeper and closer into the abyss that awaits him below.

'Fuck, Fuck, Fuck...'

Threading calmly, chaotic and vulgar thoughts can only fill his mind now, creating a mess inside it. But still Altair held to his breath and stayed as calm as he can.

It was very hard to perceive anything underwater but the blurry silhouettes of the plants that grew in this frigid lake can still be perceived, though almost impossible. This was Altair's salvation, his chance to ascending from underwater.

Not rushing any action, Altair swam towards the thin stem of the aquatic flowers and upon reaching it carefully traced where the stems meets with its floating flower petals. Thorn of the stems punctured Altair's hands and made some tiny bleeding scratches on his body as he continued his struggling attempt to ascend from the glacial water that continued to freeze his body intensely. Bit by bit he gripped on the thorny stems tightly to avoid being washed away by the raging current that bizarrely existed below the still and calm lake. He can only tighten his grip even more making the thorn fully puncture the flesh of his weakened gripping hand on multiple places. Wave of unbearable pain flooded his mind, emptiness remained in it as it endured the severity of both the burning pain of the frostbite and the piercing pain of his deeply pricked hand. Nonetheless he endured and continued his slow and painful ascend to the surface.

Altair held off the continuous clamores of pain that his body beggingly wanted him to scream, his mental fortitude slowly deteriorating in this jeopardy.

Somehow in some way, Altair was able to trace the stems perfectly and his head ascended from underwater, a desperate look and clear bleeding sharp grazes painted all over his face. Greeding for air he excessively inhaled the icy wind of the lake like there is no tomorrow, it was difficult and a pain but he managed.

Shivering on both the biting frigidity of the lake and the intense glacial wind that constantly met him he looked at the small figure of Oculo in the distance who was standing near the edge of the ledge, wrath burning with clarity in both Altair's eyes.

"OI!!! ALTAIR YOU OKAY THERE?!" Oculo shouted.

Altair did not respond.

"YOUNG LAD! DON'T LET ME DOWN! PROVE TO ME YOUR BURNING RESOLVE! IF THE LIGHT IS TOO DIM YOU WILL DROWN AND BECOME A FOOD TO THE SHARKS BELOW, GET IT?! IF YOU SURVIVE I WILL HONE YOU TO BECOME A STRONGER VERSION OF YOURSELF!" Oculo explained.

"AGAIN ALTAIR! DO NOT LET ME DOWN!" he added as he started to loudly whistle which overshadowed the harmony that the plants were producing. Then an eerie silence fell upon the lake.

Thereafter Altair started to notice sudden movement in the water that came straight down from the depths of the deep icy lake.

It was the kings of this lake, the sharks.

All of the melodic and blooming flowers sinked into the endless abyss, seemingly frightened by the presence of the aquatic predators, devoiding the lake's surface of any plant life, only the cloud white mists remained levitating above the calm surface of it.

Altair stayed stationary, cautiously threading the water around him to stay afloat, and then appeared out of nowhere 4 set of huge fins circulated Altair in the distance like a ritual before the sacrifice, which is in this situation a feast.

'Alright..what to do, what to do..." Altair thought with panic setting into his body, still shuddering his breathing slowed down due to the cold, at this point he can only last for 2 more minutes maximum.

'What am I supposed to do against these sharks? Wrestle them? Bite them to death? Such an absurd scenario to think about.' he ridiculed to himself letting out a gentle yet genuine laugh.

This is a joke.

A joke that he can't possibly comprehend or laugh at, he did not know what to do at all, he cannot do anything even.

'Fuck you Oculo, F-fuck you...'

He can only continue threading the water as the sharks still are surrounding the perimeter of the calm lake, their movements creating a ripple on the lake's still surface. They still weren't attacking him, however he was certain that at any moment now they will approach him in a greedied frenzy ripping him to shreds as if he were just paper, as they will then continue to go on an even more hungered berserk in the intoxication of his stained and forsakened blood.

And then Altair pondered and came to think of it, won't they all die if they were to eat him? I mean as Oculo explained it, one will be inflicted the pain that they brought to their brothers. In other words the pain will return to the one who inflicted the pain if they were to harm a fellow forsakened. He did not explain what would happen to yourself if you were to kill a forsaken though which begged a lot of question.

'What could even happen?'

'How do the beasts feed and evolve if they are unable to kill each other?'

So many pestering questions bugged him off like a fly in this dire state but he still continued to thread the water as carefully as possible not wanting to agitate the sharks that are circling him.

That one thought which is currently unanswered was something that Altair wanted to know the answer of, he is sure that this answer will lead to his successful escape in this hell on the long run. But for now? He has to pass the trial that Oculo presented to him.

'Would someone like Oculo give a challenge that can be deemed as an execution? An unwinnable test of prowess and resolve? I don't think so. I still despise him though, this is still a death sentence.'

An even more excruciating pain that dwarfed the suffering earlier bit deeper into Altair's inner flesh, the frostbite was now biting even more hungrily and more mortal, his skin now turning gray pale of severe hypothermia. Like the gray sunless skies he now looked lifeless, the skin from his pricked wound turned gloom and yellowish as it slowly became infected in such a short amount of time, gangrene seemed to have finally settled in it as pus slowly started building up in the wound.

Float and thread, is the only course of action that Altair took as he really don't have any option, with the freezing cold that is piercing Altair's body like a storm of huge cold needles and him being powerless and weak to begin with he can only float for his life, literally.

He floated for a minute, for another one and for another one, and then his consciousness drifted away. The sharks approached him in a frenzy before he completely became unconscious.

A loud yet harmonious melody of the chirping birds woke Altair up, his eyes were wide as he completely thought that he was dead, he was surprised to see that he was laying down on a comfortable wooden bed all healed up. The bed was fixated on a wooden intricate room, which was filled with simple yet skillfully woven curtains that were constantly swaying on the dance of the wind on its open windows. A smokey aroma of a burnt firewood pleasantly woke Altair's spirit up, a silent crackle of the charcoals filled up the silence that the shelter has.

This was an ideal home for a person such as him.

He did not take any time to take precautions and walked slowly towards the living room surprised to see Oculo sitting down on a couch, cradling a warm cup of coffee in his hands as he savored the sweet aroma of the drink while staring at the aesthetic view outside the window.

Numerous amount of different blades were being displayed on the back side of the wooden living room, ranging from a dagger to a one-handed battleaxe with a rather hieroglyphic shape. Armors of the same numbers were also exhibited in the frontmost part of the living room, one a silver armor that Oculo used earlier, another a stoneplate armor that seemed unusable for any human due to its size and weight, another a platinum armor that shone brightly even without the radiance of the sun, and so much more.

Oculo took a sip of his coffee and turned his head to notice that Altair was now awake. With the usual enthusiasm in his voice gone it was now only raspy and deep when he called out Altair's name.

"Altair.."

Altair who was betrayed by the stoic warrior cannot help but stare at him in contempt and grimaced.

"What happened Oculo?" he asked with a clear hint of anger in his voice.

Sipping his coffee like how a gentleman does it, Oculo simply smiled in satisfaction.

"Oh you just passed the simple test my boy, congratulations."

Altair then changed his expression to a confused frown.

"In return, I shall give you my fair share of the trade." Oculo added and grinned.