IV

Dylan walked towards the entrance of the tunnel.

As soon as he surpassed the threshold of the wide opening made of dirt, small mushroom-like fungi began to sprout along the ground, creating a make-shift path.

The fungi illuminated the tunnel with a fluorescent, green light. With his newfound visibility, he could see the walls of the tunnel, were made of the glass-like rock.

The fluorescent fungi lead down the tunnel, and at an un-known distance away, a warm, orange light marked the end of the tunnel.

'Fuck, my whole body hurts,' he complained in his head. 'I'm not even sure i can make it to the end of the tunnel, let alone deal with whatever's down there.'

Dylan had never been this wore out before. So far, he hadn't had to deal with the after math of such a traumatic event. Now he found himself covered in deep cuts and bruises, and his left arm was useless.

Dark purple bruising surrounded the area where his arm met his torso. The bruising was much worse than the rest of his body and he could tell something was really wrong. 

He had seen movies and shows, depicting what to do with a dislocated shoulder, but he wasn't convinced that was where the problems ended.

Theoretically he could try and slam his shoulder against the wall to readjust it, but depending on how severe the muscle damage was, it wouldn't give him much control over his arm anyways.

He opted to just leave his arm in the make-shift sling, and hope once he completed the trial, he would be healed.

-

After following the tunnel for what seemed like hours, Dylan began to worry.

No matter how far he had walked the light never grew brighter, and the path never changed. There had been a few times where he just sat down and rested.

During his momentary respite, he contemplated the situation and only grew more furious. At this point, he had grown numb to the pain he felt throughout his body, so he chose to continue. The only reason he managed to keep moving was sheer willpower.

The fuel that fed this willpower the most, was spite. He couldn't let them have their way. For too long he was a push-over and only took what scraps were flung his way. 

Dylan had managed to make his dream-like reality into more of a lucid dream. He chose to imagine the pain he felt wasn't real, and after countless steps he wasn't sure it was.

In his teenage years he would often read books, and watch videos about lucid dreaming. He though that it was mainly a lie, used by people and media companies to sell products. Just like zodiac signs, and all the other 'hocus pocus' back on Earth. 

Maybe it was the exhaustion, maybe it was the never-ending tunnel, but at some point Dylan lost connection with reality.

If he was even still in reality.

He began to imagine his body healing on its own.

He closed his eyes and pictured the orange light growing brighter and brighter, as he finally managed to make progress down the path of fluorescent mushrooms, and walls that reflected their green light.

He didn't feel his feet connect to the ground, but he could feel his body moving forward. It was almost like, he was floating towards the ever increasing warmth, that was the orange light.

Eventually the temperature began to rise, as Dylan could feel drops of sweat, pooling on his body. Just like the pain, he imagined the heat didn't affect him, and suddenly he no longer felt any perspirations.

The light had grown so bright that he could feel it brushing his face, like a warm soft blanket. Before he could open his eyes, he began to fall again.

The change in altitude shocked him, but with some thought, he willed his eyes to open.

He himself, couldn't muster the strength to open them, but just like with the pain and sweat, his will forced his eyelids apart.

He was surrounded by flames, he was falling through a pit similar to the first, but this one was completely engulfed in flames.

Luckily, Dylan seemed to be un-affected by the fire.

His mind was all over the place, but due to him having a bit of experience falling at this point, he managed to gather himself.

'How the hell did I end up here?' he wondered. 'Before I zoned out, I wasn't even close to the light and now I find out its a fucking pit of fire!'

He wasn't sure why the fire wasn't hurting him, but he had a feeling that it had to do with why, after examination, he found no trace of injury on his body. It was just like both times he woke up in front of the God's!

Almost as if that realization was the key, a metaphorical lock opened in his soul, and the flames began to immediately burn his skin. 

The lucid state he was in had fully dispersed, and along with it came the pain of his body being scorched by the surrounding fire. His flesh and muscles began to turn into liquid and peeled away from his body.

Before the insane torture he currently endured Dylan could still form thoughts, but with the pain he currently felt, that was not the case.

The sudden change in temperature shocked his nerves to the point, that he felt an unbearable cold instead of the heat produced by the flames. It was like someone was peeling away parts of his body with a frozen blade.

The pain didn't come from the heat, so much as his flesh and organs falling from his skeleton. The pain was so unreal that he became disoriented and his consciousness began to fade.

-

An unknown amount of time passed, Dylan's body had been almost entirely reduced to ash. Only parts of his skull housing boiling chunks of brain matter remained. His mental state could be compared to a coma.

Somehow, even after all the destruction, his thoughts remained. Instead of experiencing the loss of his body, he began to spiral into his emotions.

Just like when walking the path, he detached himself from his current reality, both times doing so instinctually. This time however instead of just falling into a zoned out state, he was actually cursing the God's for making him go through this. 

'Why am I just being thrown into these insane situations?' he begged. 'I just wanted to get through this so I can start working my way towards Lila.'

'At this point, I'm not even sure its worth it. Yeah it would be nice to see her again, but it wouldn't be the same.'

'Who knows if she really, would stay forever. What's the point if she would just leave me eventually too.'

'These dumbass Gods are just playing with me. I'm just a tool for their amusement. Why would they ever give someone like me, a chance to live a better life. Shoulda' known it was too good to be true.'

-

These thoughts lasted for eons in Dylan's mind, time was no longer real to him.

After all, you sort of need a physical being to experience it and he had long lost that.

All that remained was his sorrow and anger.

He begged and begged, for the pain to stop. He didn't want to keep going through these emotions! It was like reliving the worst parts of his life over and over again. He kept replaying scenes of his mother when she was young, only to degrade into the monster she became.

On top of those images, was his longing for Lila. 

Slowly his feelings began to morph. His anger grew, into understanding for why his mother became who she was. If she hadn't he wouldn't have met Lila. That felt like a logical solution.

'It all made sense!'

Then he thought about his love for Lila.

Similar to how, his disdain for his mother bred love for her, his love for Lila began to change in to resentment.

He hated that he wouldn't get to grow old with her.

He hated that she showed up so late in his life.

These feelings uncovered resentment he held prior to his death as well. 

It wasn't a secrete Lila had been with a lot of guys. One could even say that she really 'slept-around' in her younger years. Dylan had manage to bury his jealousy, by convincing himself that since he was with her now, so 'it was all okay.'

It couldn't be overlooked that even though he was happy to have her in his life, he felt like a last resort. It was strange how quickly and abruptly they grew close. Almost like it wasn't just a coincidence they met on that night.

He believed she really cared about him, but he couldn't get passed the idea, that she really didn't give him a glance until after she had exhausted her other options.

Up until her untimely death she mainly stayed with Dylan at his moms and would go to her own parents for help sometimes.

She realistically wasn't any better off than he was. Yes, she was an unforeseen blessing in his life but that doesn't mean she hadn't gained from their relationship either. 

Shortly before their star-crossed meeting, she was had been kicked out of her Ex's place. He had broken up with her once he found out, she was still seeing a boyfriend she had a few years ago. Dylan was aware of this and had heard Lila's side of the story.

To him her just telling him it was lies, was enough. He had his doubts but he purposely never looked too deep. Until now he never truly doubted her, this made him feel a way he hadn't felt before.

'Maybe, she was just using me as a rebound. I was prolly just a safety net for her to fall into.'

It's not like he didn't think they were in a genuine relationship, he just couldn't shake this feeling that she was just settling for him.

That made him feel small, and ugly.

Made him feel like, if he didn't offer her money or a place to stay when her parents stressed her out, he wouldn't be with her.

He felt disrespected.

He felt like everyone was just lying to him, or out right putting him down.

The God's!

His mother!

And...

Lila!

By now the morphed sense of reality had changed Dylan's way of thinking. He was so incredibly angry, that he had twisted his mind to believe that everyone was now his enemy.

'If Lila and everyone else, wants to treat me like I'm nothing. Ill leave them with nothing!'

"Ill fucking kill you!' he screamed.

-

One might wonder how just a will managed to scream.

Well when he finally accepted everyone as his enemy, the flames dissipated and his entire soul was reformed.

Completely out of his rage, Dylan's will used the fire surrounding him to 're-ignite' his soulflame. The soulflame is like the heart of the soul and once it goes out you're done for.

Luckily for out fiery protagonist, the will of the surrounding flames resonated with his feelings of anger and want for destruction.

When he finally came to terms with what he wanted, the fire deemed him worthy and used its life to reignite his soulflame. 

The orange flames were actually the 'flames of want'.

Most Gears that enter the trial would never find the fire, because most would venture out into the forest. There, they would be met with beasts of unimaginable strength. Of course they would die and fail the trial.

However there were around 10% of Gears who managed to survive the hidden fall, and make it past the 'tunnel of dreams'.

The tunnel would then spit you into the flames of want. Usually the soul of the GateGear cant be harmed by the fire. The body gets broken down and the soul is then re-forged and strengthened. 

Most Gears are hundreds of years old when attempting this trial, so their desires are fairly concrete.

In Dylan's case however, he was so unsure of what he wanted and who he was that the flames ate his soul. Luckily he had managed to develop a 'Will', right as the last of his soul was being consumed.

A will and a Will are very different. Someone's will, is just a synonym for their wants or desires, but a Will is a physical manifestation of the persons soul.

These Wills are essentially the core of a GateGear. A Gear will develop a Will throughout their first Gate. That's why most trials above the minor-God level require a Will, and also why, Melvina knew Dylan had no chance.

Even if he managed to find the flames of want, he would never survive them with his lack of a Will and weak soul.

But to her surprise, the boy reappeared in front of her, rather quickly at that. Gears could spend up to fifty years in a trial.

Due to the time dilation, that fifty years at GodGate would be hundreds of years for the Gear in the trial. 

Dylan however, returned in only 10 months.

That wasn't even a whole year!

If he returned, that means he managed to make it through the tunnel, and then managed to develop a Will to avoid being overwhelmed by the flames of want. All in less than ten years. 

That was insane!

Most Gears didn't develop a Will until they were over a hundred years old, and Dylan basically did it in less than forty. Nearly thirty years of which, he lived as a regular human.

All of this shocked Melvina to her core, but what really surprised her, was him suddenly jumping up and screaming.

"I'll fucking kill you!"