Repetition

Strings of runes glowed faintly on a rocky wall, the letters pristine despite the weathered condition of the rock.

Quill blinked a drop of water dripped on to his nose, turning his face skyward.

He seemed to be in a cavern of sorts, with stone walls forming a room around him. 

Quill's mind was in a turmoil; his emotions confused and haphazard. Where was he? What happened to the Citadel?

'Have I...died?

Quill shook his head, desperately trying to escape the utterly useless amount of memories that his brain was feeding him. He wasn't particularly religious, but he couldn't remember a single scripture that described the day of judgement as a rocky cavern with water dripping on him.

As if on cue, a drop of water fell again, but this time Quill caught it with his tongue. 

'Freshwater... Some sort of mountainous cavern?'

His mind was slowly calming down. Forgetting the mysteries of how he came here, he needed to figure out where he was, before doing anything else.

Finding himself at a lack of other options, Quill decided to start by deciphering the runes. His knowledge was painfully limited but not utterly useless. If they didn't provide any clue, he would search around the cavern. There had to be some type of exit right?

However, his ideas all changed once he translated the first rune. 

'Firt- The rune depicting welcome.'

There was only one type of message that could begin with Firt as welcome. Common runes used Myre, the rune depicting warm welcome.

Firt was only used to welcome Lost souls, or mundane humans in the common term, to their first Torchbearer's trial.

Meaning, he was utterly doomed.

---

Quill stared at the string of ruins, shocked out of his wildest dreams.

A torchbearer's trial was perhaps the most mysterious term in all of history. It was a forbidden topic that only a few could learn in depth about.

And those few had to first pass a torchbearer's trial.

It was a cruel cycle that ensured fear, but as far as Quill knew, that fear was needed for the trial. Going in with a bloated head full of enthusiasm was a quick way to death.

However, from childhood, each and every child was forced to learn the runes that corresponded to the opening message of the first trial. How the selection process for the Torchbearer's trial worked, Quill had no clue.

The Torchbearer's trial itself, however was described to be extremely simple.

The title was self explanatory. The basic knowledge bout it provided from the system was clear. The challenger, known as a Torchbearer, would have to find an empty torch. Then, they had to light the torch, and find the Pit of Will. One had to throw the lit torch in the Pit of Will, and the trial would be over.

However, the actual process was strictly confidential, and the locations of the torch, the Pit of Will and the instructions for lighting the torch were all unknown. 

But, Quill did remember a passing comment from his... brother? sister? Who was it?

'Doesn't matter, I remember that each course was personally customized. No one had the same course. But what are these courses? Where are they taken from?'

Too many questions, and as usual, not a single answer from his useless stack of memories... Quill grimaced.

The runes were still glowing, their appearances unchanging.

Quill sighed, before taking off his coat. The jacket was only for looks, it would only hinder his movement. The same went for his tie. His shoes were office boots, which wasn't very practical but it would have to do. 

He was about to check his pocket for anything useful, but instead, he thumbed across something soft and wet.

Furrowing his eyebrows, he pulled out a damp flower.

The flower was a pale orange and rather oddly shaped. Despite it's damp appearance, the flower was beautiful. It looked rather familiar, perhaps his sister grew it in their backyard?

He turned the flower in his fingers for a few seconds more, before letting it fall to the damp floor.

Straightening himself properly, Quill finally walked over to the line of runes. No matter what, there had to be an entrance for the trial right? 

'Perhaps the runes will provide some clue...'

However, despite reading the message over and over again, it didn't change, glowing in its pristine light.

[ Welcome, Torchbearer. Your first trial will test your potential to walk on the Path of Purity. Please prepare yourself. ]

Quill blinked in confusion. The message he had memorized had read that the first trial will simply test his potential, never saying anything about some Path of Purity nonsense.

Suddenly, a secondary realization came over him. He had never seen the runes depicting Path of Purity before, so how had he translated it?

'What in the name of the midday Sun is going on!?'

---

If Quill was confused before, He was utterly at a loss now. 

Subconsciously, Quill touched the runes depicting the Path of Purity, but instead, the runes grew dim altogether at his touch.

For a second, there was pure silence. Quill hadn't realized it at first, but the runes were emitting some sort of faint noise that he had dismissed. But now that they were dim, the noise stopped.

A drip of water fell on to his hand, and a second later, the noise started again. 

This time, it was coming from behind him. 

When Quill turned back, he saw another string of runes glowing. 

These were runes that he knew well, as they were also mandatory runes that were taught to every child.

[ Torchbearer, please pick up your first trial's gift ]

'First gift...'

Gifts, depicted by the rune Dorey here, weren't an average present, but rather, translated to 'something that is given to help.'

While one could argue that was the meaning of gift, the torchbearer's gifts were much more complex. They were basic utilities or items that would help one survive the torchbearer's trial. The harder the trial, the more complex the gifts.

For now, he would most likely receive something simple. Perhaps a weapon or some tool.

But... where was it?

Just then he noticed something shining below the runes on the other side.

Walking over quickly, he bent down, and his brows furrowed.

It was certainly his gift... but how exactly was a flower supposed to help him?

As he stared at the orange flower, utterly flabbergasted, he suddenly saw something else on the ground.

Quill reached for it, only to come up with...

"Dice?"

Quill didn't know which one was worse, the dice or the flower.

However, he didn't have time to process anything, as the runes suddenly dimmed again.

This time, the runes appeared almost instantly, but on the other side, where the first message was written.

Another memorized message. Quite easy to translate.

[ The trial will soon commence. Prepare yourself, torchbearer. ]

Quill's eyes narrowed as he caught the secondary line of text.

[ Time remaining : 4 : 57 ]

As Quill watched, the 7 faded, only to be replaced by 6 in the blink of an eye.

Taking a deep breath, Quill walked over and slipped the dice into his pocket.

'Get it over with, fast. I need to figure out why I was brought here so suddenly...'

Something was nagging him. A doubt at the back of his mind, but he couldn't figure it out.

The dreaded trial would soon begin.