Need To Get Stronger

It really surprised me that Dovacath wasn't so far away that I couldn't walk there. It still took some time but I didn't feel like I was going to fall over and die from walking that far. I still couldn't believe that a town like this existed not far from where I lived. When I got there I found Ron and we went inside. It didn't take us that long to run into Jon and Cerise.

"What are you doing here!?" exclaimed Jon.

"We wanted to come back." I answered, "Is that a problem?"

"No," he said, "this is just earlier than I expected."

"Earlier?" said Jason, "What do you mean?"

"Hey," said Cerise, whacking her cousin on the head, "you're telling them too much."

"Actually," I said, "there are some things that have been bothering us since we left Dovacath."

"You're probably just imagining things." said Jon.

"No, there are some things that don't make sense." added Jason.

"Don't forget." I said, "Both of us spent time as defenders in court. We can pick up on these kinds of things."

"Aren't you usually the type to not notice the little details?" asked Jason.

"Sh-shut up!" I said.

Jon and Cerise looked at each other and it was clear they were unsure of what to do. They were definitely hiding something from us.

"They came all the way here." said a familiar voice, "Do you really think it's fair to leave them in the dark?"

Lilith suddenly appeared next to Jon and Cerise.

"Lilith?" responded Jon, "When did you get here?"

"So you were hiding something from us?" I asked.

Lilith took a deep breath before she continued talking.

"That is true." she said, "We were going to wait until we were done reviewing the reports to tell you guys."

"So we're telling them now?" said Jon.

"Fine," said Cerise, "before you all left, I said that this was a test."

"A test?" asked Jason, "What for?"

"It was a test to see which of you would be worthy heroes." said Jon, "A wise blind woman had us set this all up."

"She would give you guys your powers." added Lilith, "There weren't actually any special effects."

"However," added Cerise, "since this is your world, we did have to fake your deaths."

"We were able to make your deaths seems real by altering your memories," continued Lilith, "we didn't use technology to do that. We used magic."

"So... our powers were real this whole time?" I responded.

"That's correct." said Jon, "We were told to select heroes and they would be given powers. We would then observe them."

"After reviewing the results, we'll select who comes back." said Cerise, "The next time we call on you guys, not all of your allies will be the same."

"So that means some of us failed, huh?" said Jason.

"You two probably don't have to worry." said Cerise, "You both did pretty well."

"So, will our team be smaller or will we have new allies?" I asked.

"Who your allies will be will be decided by the people around you." said Cerise, "Or the people the blind woman knows will be around you."

"This blind woman," said Jason, "who is she?"

"She's a magical being who I'm sure you'll encounter some time soon." said Cerise.

"So... is she like, able to see the future?" I asked.

"To some extent." said Cerise, "Any more questions?"

I couldn't say I fully understood everything, but this made a hell of a lot more sense. There was no way any of this stuff was faked. It was way too high quality.

"About the trials," I said, "what was the purpose?"

"Those were part of the test," said Jon, "to see if you were willing to fight for your friends."

"And I guess in your case, we were able to figure out if you cared for the truth." added Lilith, "Would you save your friend because he was your friend, or would you fight for the truth?"

"What a weird ass adventure this has been." I said.

"So... you're gonna call us again?" asked Jason, "That means this isn't over?"

"That's correct." said Jon, "We'll have more for you guys to do."

"Anything else you'd like to know about?" asked Lilith.

"Ah," I said, "one more thing."

"What is it?" she asked.

"It's about what I saw when I got home." I answered, "That kid that kept saying 'I like trains'... I saw him outside my bedroom window."

"This isn't good." said Lilith.

"Huh?" I said.

"They might think you're too strong." replied Lilith.

"Yeah, but I 'died' though?" I responded.

"You've yet to reach the full potential of your ability, Ron." said Jon.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You'll see at some point in the future." he said.

So that creepy kid was spying on me because I was actually powerful? Was that actually true?

"I think that's all." said Jason.

"I see." said Cerise, "Since you're here and all, would you like to practice using your powers?"

"Oh, ah, sure." I said.

In about a few minutes, Jason suddenly had armor and a sword. Cerise led us away form Dovacath and we found ourselves by a cave.

"Use your powers to escape from here." she said.

"Escape?" I said, "Don't tell me you're-!"

The next thing I knew, the hooded figure appeared and with a strike of what looked like a scythe, our entrance was blocked.

"Crap." I said, "What now?"

"We just need to focus on finding our way out of here." he said.

"So, why don't you try your sword?" I suggested.

"I'll try." he said.

He ran toward the blocked entrance, but it wouldn't budge.

"Let me try," I said, "I like cats!"

A bunch of cats appeared and ran toward where the entrance was but it unfortunately didn't work.

"Well, that didn't work either." I said.

"Let's walk around and find another way out." suggested Jason.

As we walked through the cave, I thought about what Jon had said. What did he mean when he said my power hadn't reached its true potential? My mind went back even further after that and for some reason, I felt like I had met Jon and Lilith somewhere before, but I figured I was just imagining it. They were probably just similar to people that I already knew.

"I never expected this kind of test." said Jason.

"I didn't either." I replied.

"I'm still not seeing any exit." said Jason.

"I'm more surprised that we're able to see in here." I replied.

"Well, there's magic here." he said, "Plus, it looks like the walls are lined with something that's creating light."

"That reminds me of all those cartoons where the characters would be in an area they technically shouldn't be able to see in." I added.

We truly were in a bizarre situation. The fact that such things like this existed in my own world completely blew my mind. And now here I was being tested with Jason because it seemed like we had been chosen to become heroes. My ordinary life became anything but ordinary! My mind was full of thoughts about how weird everything was, instead of focusing on finding a way out.

"Still not seeing anything." said Jason.

"Hmm... what do you think about what Jon said?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" replied Jason.

"Well, he said my power hasn't reached its full potential." I answered.

"We're all new to this," he said, "so it's probably like that for all of us."

"You're probably right." I said.

Some more walking and eventually we reached a dead end. The two of us were at a loss of what to do. When I was about to bang my fist against the wall of the cave, a bunch of cats shot out and made and opening. We could see the outside world.

"How did you do that?" asked Jason.

"I... don't know." I said.

When we made it, we found Cerise and her hooded apprentice.

"So, you made it." she said.

"Thanks for locking us in." I said, "That was kind of rude."

"This was just part of your training." she said, "But it looks like you guys still have a lot to learn."