A not so very Goddess

As amazing as I thought it was... teleportation is NOT FUN. Honestly, they tell us at school that you might feel a little compression or get shaken around a little. It felt like I was in a blender.

After a few minutes of being thrown about, my feet touched somethung soft and I fell to the ground. My stomach rumbled as it struggled to keep itself calm. While the dizziness made it impossible to open my eyes, not to speak of standing.

Some time later I was able to open my eyes and look around only to be left with my mouth dangling. The sandy ground glowed a soft orange as it stretched for thousands of meters, only stopped by four towering walls. Each wall was more then a 100 meters tall but the crumbling and ancient look made one think thay they couldve been even taller at somepoint.

The only sign of vegetation being the vines clinging to the cracks and crevices linening the stone like material it was made of. The sun was still out but its location was unknown due to the walls blocking it.

When I turned around I noticed a person standing there quietly, a look of amusement on her face as she watched my head snap back and forth to take in all the sights.

"I've met a lot of people, but none of them seemed quite as awed by this place as you are," She waved me over with her hand. "Here, sit." two blankets appeared out of nowhere.

"Um...I'm sorry but where is this," I can't help asking as the dissonance between the surroundings and the "picnic" atmosphere the lady is giving off was confusing.

"Don't worry, the test will begin soon. I am merely your guide to aid you in the trials. You may call me Nike. If you have any questions before I begin please ask now." She waved her hand again and a basket of fruits appeared between us.

"Are you the only guide or are there other people I will meet?" I couldn't get the image of 50 Nikes, each wearing different clothes but all having the same blond hair tied up in a pony tail, and shining blue eyes.

"I will be the only guide for you. I'll explain the guides to you along with everything else. Do you have any other questions?" She patiently smiled at me.

"Are you...really Nike?" I hesitated a little because that question came off a little rude, but seeing how calm she is it made me struggle to see her as the same goddess as the stories.

"You're asking because I'm not running around, acting all arrogant huh?" She laughed at me while my face flushed a little.

"We gods live for a long time. Longer then any of you might think or know, our personalities reflect that. Maybe at one point I was like that but I am merely a minor goddess. It's a humbling moment to be the goddess of victory and still end up losing to someone stronger then you." A small smile hung on her lips as her eyes clouded over.

"Now," She clapped her hands together. and then pulled out a notebook with what looked like notes written in them. "As much as I would like to talk about my past that is not why I am here. I'll answer more questions for you at the end but I should start with the explanation for your test.

The first thing you should keep in mind is that this first test is different for everyone."

"But didn't-"

"Please wait until I'm done for the questions. To answer the question you were planning to ask, yes they are also the same for everyone as your principle told you.

The premise will remain while each test will be tailored to each person. That is the job of us guides. We each pick a person or even a few who interest us and help them in various ways for their journey.

Depending on the person, we the guides may even hand out our blessings or gift them artefacts, of course within reason. The trials themselves will measure the artefact and adjust, so I can't just give you something to blow through each one.

For this test you will be given 5 days and all you have to do is survive. There are various other things you can do here, but I can't tell you without ruining the test. Anything more then this you'll have to find out yourself.

I won't explain about the trials until after you finish this test. It would be pointless if you failed after all. I believe thats everything so, what do you want to know." She set her notebook down with an excited expression.

I glanced at the notebook with my eyes narrowed and then paused to think. She said that I had to survive 5 days but what is there for me to do.

I can guess theres probably going to be enemies since just camping out wouldn't make this much of a test, but what kind of enemies?

I looked around with a thoughtful expression before looking back at the "goddess," her actions make me question if she really is one.

"Can I read the notebook?" I glance again at the ground and notice that its gone.

"NO! I prepared extensivly for this trial so I can't have you reading it. If you did, the trial itself will change and all my preperations would be worthless," She grit her teeth and added: "I 400 years, so don't. mess. this. up." for a second she actually looked like how the goddess Nike was depicted.

"400 yea-"

"Stop talking and ask something else." Her expression turned dangerous.

*Cough* "What happens to people without guides?" I quickly changed the subject, I guess even amongst goddesses age is a touchy subject.

"They still get a guide, buy the guides are then assigned from the various demigods available. Gods being a guide are actually quite rare, usually only about 10-20 people per year get chosen by a god." She stated with a smug look on her face, as if saying I should be happy with her as my guide.

Honestly if I had to say, as more time goes on she feels less and less like a goddess.

"What do you think I should do for the next 5 days?" This was the last question I had for now since she said she would explain the rest of trials after the test.

"Good, you've already grasped a part of the trials" The smile on her face grew wide. "Whether it was by chance or not, the fact that you asked me that question is good. Many people forget that we guides are here to help.

As for what you should do for the next 5 days. I would reccomend hunting. I can't tell you much due to the restrictions, but if you head south and hunt you'll probably understand by day 3 or 4." She nodded her head excitedly as if comfirming her own words before pausing and pulling out the notebook again and checking. "Ah, and also, don't move a lot at night." Her face turned grave for a second before it went back to her usual smile.

"I think thats all of the questions I have." I said while going over everything I needed to pay attention to in my mind.

"Very well then, the test will begin in 5 minutes." We got up and she waved her hand at the ground. The blankets were gone, leaving the fruit basket and a bracelet.

"I can't give you much, but you can at least take this. The bracelet has about 64 meters of space in it and will allow you to store most things in the trial. It's ineffective outside though. The fruit basket has 1 days worth of food and water, its given to every particapent."

"Thank you very much!" As much as she didn't seem like a goddess, her gift made her look like one now.

Storage spaces ard incredibly rare outside the trial due to the materials needed for them, and even though it only works inside the trial it will save me a lot of time and effort throughout it. Even now I can use it to hol my bow, arrows, and food.

"May the gods bless you," She waved at me and dissappeared.

I looked inside the fruitbasket while putting on the bracelet and realized that it only had only half the amount she said it would. Thinking back the goddess seemed to be eating something when she was explaining.

"Damn Goddess!!!" I shouted into the air when the realization hit.