The Trial

The experience Ragnar had while getting devoured by the energies of the Rift could be summarized with one word, comforting. 

The feeling it gave was not at all what one would imagine being devoured by black and white energies that will be turning him into a mindless monster would feel like.

It felt more like returning to a mother's embrace, then jumping into the maws of a hungry Rift.

Ragnar could still somehow think clearly after being devoured by the Rift. He could still see the energies swirling around him, moving around and even through him as if either he didn't exist, or the energies didn't.

That was until the energies all of a sudden departed with him as the centre. It formed a sphere around him that was even larger than the hall he was just in. The energies could be seen at the surface of this sphere, pushing and pulling as if trying to enter the sphere, but an invisible wall held them at bay.

And he was somehow floating in the centre of that sphere without any support. In this situation, it felt completely natural.

Then he heard a voice as the subsequent symbols also appeared in the air, also floating, In front of him. 

They were in a language that was believed to be the native language of the EtherShift Realm. Even though it had been centuries since the Rifts appeared on Earth, Humans were still unable to decipher it. 

But Ragnar did not have to worry about it, since the symbols were supposed to somehow be understandable for all humans. Only when the Realm wanted to convey something to them. 

The voice he heard, also in another language that he somehow understood, and the words that appeared in the air conveyed the same thing,

"Get ready for your first trial."

'So… what, it wants me to take the trial as a human. Then turn me into a mindless Shifted abomination once the trial is over, regardless of the result. Heh, that's convenient.' 

Because that was something humans could be sure of. The people who got shifted mutation were going to turn into Shifted Abominations and there was no way to loop around this. 

This was confirmed by performing continuous divinations and countless tests on shifted abominations by people having the subsequent abilities like seeing future or reading minds. 

Humans did this in hopes of uncovering the countless mysteries that the Rift appeared with. But they were unable to find out any useful information that would actually help in any way. Or maybe they just preferred to keep the discoveries to themselves and not share it with the general public.

Ragnar was sure that the second case was closer to the Truth.

That was how far his thoughts could wonder. Before he saw, that only the black energies that were still swirling chaotically at the surface of the sphere, were now all rushing towards him. Then all he could see was dark.

That continued for a few seconds before the darkness departed as if getting devoured by the sunlight that shined brightly in his eyes. It was coming through the window that appeared in front of him. 

The sunlight was soon blocked by a hand that appeared in front of his face, it was his own hand, but he was sure he didn't move it.

His gaze which was staring outside the window, suddenly moved. This helped Ragnar confirm that even though he was seeing through this person's eyes, he was not in control of this body. But then what was the trial, was he supposed to gain control of this body? 

But this thought was very soon washed away by the scene he witnessed in the room he was sent into. It also made him realize where he was.

He was currently in a living room that didn't seem too lavish but also didn't belong to a poor household. This was a perfect depiction of how a living room would look like in a middle-class family. 

But this was not important because Ragnar recognised this room, he recognised it as soon as he saw it. It was his own living room when he still lived with his parents, who were still alive back then.

His parents, yes, they were right there. 

His mother who still looked no more than 30 even though she was well in her 40's, had a bright expression as she was making breakfast for the family. She was humming a song along with the sound system that was fitted into the kitchen counter. 

His mother was like a ray of sunshine for him who always knew how to make him smile. Looking at her now, Ragnar wanted nothing more than to rush and hug her tightly and complain about how unfair life had been after she left him.

But life was still just as unfair since he was unable to move this damned body no matter how much he tried.

His gaze moved again, this time towards his father.

He was sitting at the dining table with a newspaper in his hands that hid his face. He was a kind and hardworking man who tried his best to provide everything his family needed.

He was also a strong man who always believed in resilience, resilience in the face of challenges no matter what they might be. This belief of his father was ingrained into every cell of Ragnar's being which pushed him to not break even after all those hardships. 

And then his gaze moved away from his father and landed on a little boy who had a separate small chair and table set up for him right beside the normal dining table. He was currently sitting with a fork and spoon in his hands. He was banging them lightly against the table trying to match the tune currently playing on the sound system. He was failing miserably at it. 

That was him, or at least the child version of him.

At this point Ragnar had guessed whose eyes they were that helped him relive all these scenes. 

He also realised what was about to happen in this trial. 

How could he forget? 

It was one of the very few memories that were as clear as yesterday in his mind and he probably wouldn't forget it no matter how broken his mind became.

He was seeing the world through his big brother's eyes, who was about to turn into a monster.

What happened with his brother was a rare event, in fact, it was so rare that there should be no more than 10 such cases in history.

After the EtherShift calamity, every year, people who were 18 had the chance of getting affected by the Rift. Resulting in them experiencing symptoms of mutations. These symptoms can appear anytime throughout the year, but they became very apparent as they got closer to the Day of Reckoning. 

By being apparent, it does not mean that they can be observed with the naked eye. No, rather, they became noticeable by the machine that was made specifically for this purpose. Similar to the one Ragnar first got tested by when he reached the stronghold.

This process of testing, started one month before the Day of Reckoning. Being mandatory for all people who were 18 or about to turn 18 within that month, to get themselves tested.

It was very important for the government to find out the people who had the symptoms of mutation. It was to prevent any accidents, like the one that happened in case of Ragnar's big brother from happening. 

To ensure this, the government had set heavy penalties for the people who still somehow didn't get the memo. Getting themselves tested was publicised as a duty towards their planet. 

Beth did not mention these charges to Ragnar because he still had time to prevent any accidents. And, seeing his already battered appearance, she didn't feel like it.

Ragnar's father was of course, not going to miss such an important event. So, he did get Ragnar's big brother tested and the result came out as negative, which was a huge relief for the family. 

But things didn't go as they were supposed to.

Since there were some cases that were rare enough to be considered one in a million. This spoke a lot about its rarity considering there should be no more than 100 million Mutants that existed in all these years after the EtherShift calamity was contained. 

Sometimes, a person might not show any signs of mutation even until the Day of Reckoning. The machine that was supposed to check this had become advanced over the years and so, no such case was reported in the last 40 years. But no machine could ever be 100% precise when it comes to matters of the EtherShift Realm.

His wondering thoughts came to sudden halt at this point as he felt his spine tingle, then hell broke loose…