7 Paths of Life

Four was moved by One's speech, he felt a rush of adrenaline in his veins.

'Ultimate power!!'

'Power above all!!!'

'This is my destiny!!!'

"Why is this place empty?" Four asked "isn't this supposed to be a palace?"

His eyes surveyed his surroundings. There were a lot of Manors and golden statues, but no people.

One was impressed, most people who came here would be captivated by the beauty of the palace and miss such an important detail.

"This is my Manor and I prefer peace and silence." One explained

" But....."Four was saying before realizing his voice had been 'stolen'.... again.

One conjured a key from God knows where and stabbed it into thin air.

Four felt the air turn heavy and then, a door made of light appeared.

"Open it" One ordered.

Four looked at the door in bewilderment and hesitantly pulled the door handle. When he opened it, he saw a long passageway.

On each side of the passageway, portraits were hanged on the wall and large torches between them.

"Good" One said and stepped into the passageway. Fran walked in after him, the door closing in his wake.

One then turned abruptly and his face became cold and stiff.

"Condolences to you, we didn't expect a new candidate to show up so we closed down the test room. So, in replacement of that, you have walk through the 7 passages of life.

I understand that this test may be a little too much but you have to prove that you're worthy of claiming the throne."

'What is going on?' Four was confused but he didn't have his voice so he could not ask any question.

"I want you to know that the last and final candidate entered twenty years ago and the first entered over a hundred years ago."

'So I have a lot of competition...hmmm...nice..Have been here for a hundred years... training for a hundred years...that old fool must be really strong!'

"Each of them are really strong and good looking..hehe..so you have a lot of catching up to do"

'Don't tell me looks are part of the ... No... Maybe there's a way to... What... Is... No...'

Four found out he couldn't complete a thought, his face became blank and slowly contorted in a futile effort to make an expression.

One noticed this and said "I guess the test has begun then"

Then he disappeared.

'Wait... Where... Did....'

One appeared again and said apologetically "I forgot to tell you, to break out of this state, you need to hold the handle of the next door"

Then he disappeared... again.

'The door... Get to the door...Move!!'a complete thought finally formed.

He lifted his leg with great difficulty and took a heavy step.

BOOM!

An explosion resounded in his mind and it felt like a chain had been shattered.

In the period of time the explosion resounded, his thoughts became free.

'Phew... Finally'

Then he tried moving again but...

'Not ...again.... wasted ...too ... much ... time'

His face contorted in pain and fury.

He could recall this feeling of blurry thoughts... This feeling of your body disobeying you... He only experienced it once but he hated it.

It was the feeling of death.

'I CANNOT DIE!'

'I MUST MOVE!!'

"ARRRGGHH!!!!!"

A loud roar burst from his lungs.

BOOM!!!BOOM!!!

WHOOSH!!

Gust of wind were emitted from his body tearing apart his clothes and explosions kept ringing in his mind.

'it's time. Move!'

He lifted his legs and began to walk slowly then he became faster to the point of reaching a jog...

"HAHAHAHA!"

Then...

POOF!

The mighty aura around dissipated like a fog.

"Huh?!"

He opened his eyes and realized he was between the third set of portraits.

On the right hand was the portrait of a smiling old man holding a plaque that read

"THE BEST MAN CRIES BUT THE SERVANT BROKE HIS WILL LEAVING FOREVER"

The words were written in golden letters and exuded an aura of spirituality.

When he looked at the portrait on the left side, he felt his eyes glue to it.

In the portrait, many man were dancing with beautiful women in their arms. Their eyes looked glazed like they were intoxicated.

But the more he looked at it, the more he felt like they were actually moving....like a very slow movie.

'i can think clearly now, that is okay. But this portrait...weird... It's quite interesting. Ifeel like I can stare at it all day... Like forever.'

As this line of thought crossed his mind, he Jolted and realized he had involuntarily moving closer to the portrait and was about to touch it.

"No, I cannot touch it" he said out loud

***

In a room with golden walls and ceilings, was a golden bed. On the golden bed was an old Giant, about ten feet tall. Beside the bed stood One and 7 other gigantic men.

"Isn't this test a little too hard for a mortal" One asked.

" Yeah! Even I am not confident in passing the test."

All of them spoke in affirmation of One's question.

Cough!

The Old Giant coughed.

"Fate chose this for him, it's his test"

" Then I guess his fate is to die Young" One murmured then he spoke louder " Lord Euthymir, only four people have ever passed this and they were all Sovereign Giants, powerful and strong.None of them was a mortal.

The mortals who have been unlucky enough to enter the 7 paths all died!

Considering the rarity of finding a possesor, I propose drawing him out of the 7 paths.

He is too weak...!"

" A possesor of the supreme will is not weak!" Lord Euthymir yelled