Chapter 2 The trial of Pandora

You breath in the air outside of Analand, taking in the outside world in all of it's glory. Suddenly you begin choking and coughing. You try to cover your nose and mouth, but the polluted air has seeped deep into your lungs. You can't breath and continue coughing until you fall on your knee and can't stand up anymore. Your stamina decreases to 10/10 and your physical power decreases to 7. your total power is 13.

You feel like this is just a temporary effect and will heal over time. It now makes sense to you why sorceress Anne created a PRT grimalkin in the center of Analand. It was to cast a huge shield on top of Analand and protect it from exposure to this harmful air as well as enemy attacks. It is still a huge mystery how the Archmage managed to get one of his Harpy homunculus inside Analand to steal the Staff Of King's

You look to your left and see a wheat field. You decide to go and see if there are any magical seeds. Magical seeds are a material needed to cast GRW spell. If you can get them, you will have another weapon in your arsenal.

You go towards the wheat field and look around. There is no way to distinguish a magical seed from a normal seed. You suddenly remembered something and check the stars. You feel the stellar energy of Chikam, Harlor and Kunlun. You realize you can cast CHK and weave the stellar energy of these three stars into a spell.

A spherical aura of magic radiates from you and it reflects off of 3 things and bounces back towards you. One signal was from your left, one from the right and one from above. "Why do I feel something from above?" You look up and decide to ignore this matter after seeing there is nothing up there.

You go to your left and collect the Magical seed there. +1 magical seed. You suddenly hear a screech and look up. You are horrified as a creature with a human torso and arms with giant vulture like wings, legs and head defends op on you. A vulture harpy is diving towards you with all of its strength. You are amazed at this creatures speed.

Combat engaged.

Vulture harpy has 11/11 stamina and 9/9 power. You have 10/10 stamina and 13/13 power. You use an 11 power strong attack to counter the vulture harpy's 9 power strong attack. Your attack collided with the diving vulture and you slash it chest very deeply. The power difference of 2 to boosts your attack. Vulture harpy takes 5 damage. Vulture harpy has 6/11 stamina and 4.5/9 power left. You have 10/10 stamina and 7.5/13 power left.

The vulture harpy starts swinging its wings and looks like he is about to fly. You rush up and use a 4.1 power skillful attack. The vulture Harpy flies up to the sky and you only waste your power swinging at air. Vulture harpy has 6/11 stamina and 4.5/9 power left. You have 10/10 stamina and 5.4/13 power left.

The harpy flies down and pulls up before the ground. He is rushing super fast towards you. You use 4.1 power to counter the vulture harpy. Your 4.1 skillful attack overpowered the vultures 1.3 power jab. Your sword slashes the vulture harpy's left leg. The leg was cut off and the vulture harpy took 3 damage. Vulture harpy has 3/11 stamina and 5.8/9 power. You have 10/10 stamina and 3.4/13 power left.

The vulture harpy screeches at you and tries to fly up. You use all of your strength and managed to catch the vulture harpy before it flew away. You chopped it's left wing off and then decapitated it. Vulture harpy dies. You have lost 0 stamina, perfect fight.

"Puh, the Archmage's guard dogs. To think he actually thought one vulture harpy would be enough to take me down. Fighting this mindless harpy was too easy. Even in my weakened state, I defeated it without taking any damage."

You go to the direction of the second magical seed and pick it up and put it in your bag. +1 magical seed. You currently have 2 magical seeds. The wheat field has nothing more of interest and you continue on your way. You leave the wheat field

After a few minutes of walking, you remember a special place not to far away from Analand and You decide to go and check out a legendary sight. You remember your master, Anne, telling you about a legend related to the Shamutanti Hills. You decide to go to the cliff and check out if the legend is true of not.

The legend states "A once powerful sorcerer went to the beach of Shamutanti hills and achieved enlightenment. He discovered a completely foreign star alignment. The three stars who have never aligned before were aligned in this spot and the sorcerer cast a powerful spell, a spell that has never been cast before and could bend reality itself. He managed to ascend all the way from the beach to the top of the cliff. The wizard engraved the magic on the cliff itself and only the truly talented and blessed sorcerers can master it!" You decide to take a look and find out if the legend is true.

You arrive at the cliffside in a few hours and look down. All you see is a wast ocean and a beach at the bottom of the cliff. You look at the cliff and don't see any markings the wizard left. Should you give up and go back?

You choose not to give up and continue to search. You still find nothing unusual. It is a normal cliffside. There aren't even any caves to go into. Maybe the Legend is fake after all?

You decide to give up and look up in despair from wasting so many hours of your journey getting here. You suddenly feel stellar energy come towards you and come to a realization. "This is a trial for sorcerers! If you could enter the trial without magic, then what's stopping a normal person from going in and being killed by the magic trial?"

You look up at the stars and see the Harlor, Osiris and Wakina stars have aligned. You quickly weave the stellar energy of these three into a HOW spell and hear a male voice, that sounds like a hardened and wise elder tell you "You have passed the first trial. All you need to do is jump."

You are confused. What does this voice mean by jump? Jump down the cliff? You look down once again and see no caves or entrances. Jumping down would guarantee death. You look up at the stars again and see no new constellation. You can only see HOW and POP, which are the only spells that can be casted and won't help you survive such a massive fall.

Should you trust the voice and jump down? It is extremely risky. "HOW spell is the voice of the world. It tells you what you need to do next in order to complete a task given to you. It cannot be mistake. I can trust it and jump."

You decide to have trust in your own magic and jumped off the cliff. You start falling down. You fall for a few seconds and feel yourself pass through a barrier of magic. You suddenly look downwards and see a cave entrance. You are amazed. "An illusion spell? I haven't studied this type of spell before. Maybe I can learn it after I complete the trial." After the initial excitement you realize you are falling and not slowing down.

Even if you have found out the secret of the cliffside that won't do you any good if you are dead. You look up into the stars and rejoice as you see a saving grace. The stars Fiona, Arson and Lapis have aligned. You weave the stellar energies into a spell and cast FAL.

Your body's weight decreases to that of a feather and the speed at which you fall cam to a halt. You float to the cave and land there safely. You are unharmed and have 8/10 stamina left. "I can't believe how bad this air is. Just from casting 2 weak spells like HOW and FAL I am without breath. I should rest for a while and regain some stamina."

You decided to rest for a bit. You look towards the sun and realize it is already around 12 am. You can't afford to take a break. If you take a break now, you won't have enough time to get to get to Cantopani and you can't use a teleportation spell to arrive there.

You pick yourself up and stop wasting time. You look into the cave. It is pitch black and you have no idea what the third trial might be. You look around for clues and you can only see the flat rock you were sitting on a few minutes ago.

"Is this rock the hint?" You inspect the stone cube and find a heap of moss that is growing on it. You scrape off the moss and see some carvings on the stone cube. You roll it back so the symbols are on the top. The Rock is extremely heavy for its size and material. You lose 2 stamina.

You now see the symbols well. It reads Sirius. Your are confused by this and notice another carving on the side you just flipped the stone over to. "I must be missing something? I am incredibly strong even by Analand's standards. Even if I am a bit weakened, I am still a lot stronger than most sorcerers. How is a normal sorcerer supposed to lift it?"

You come to a realization. This is a sorcerers trial. Physical strength should be of secondary importance here. You look up into the stars and see the stars Pandora, Elina and Procious have aligned. This are the stars used to cast the spell PEP, a spell that grants you temporary strength equal to 4 stamina. This must be the solution.

You don't have red chilly powder and can't cast the PEP spell. You look up and see the stars for the spell FAL are still aligned as well as the stars for TEL. "Are there multiple ways to complete the trials? How would the spell of reading minds help me move the rock? And how would the spell of making oneself lighter help?"

You decide to not waste your energy on trying out the spells in hopes of randomly guessing it and waste 2 more stamina rolling over the stone once more. You can now read the three sides with symbols. The three sides have the words Sirius, Utlana and Snape inscribed on them. You look up into the stars and manage to see the new alignment. Sirius, Utlana and Snape have aligned with each other at this spot. You weave the stellar energy and create a spell.

You suddenly feel a rush of information coming towards you and a voice tells you "The cave is a trap. Only death awaits you unless you can bring light to the dead." The weird voice suddenly disappears. You panic for a second and take out your spellbook. Another page has been filled in and your spellbook now has 22 spells.

"SUS, the spell of suspicion. Requires 1 stamina. Danger awaits at every corner and the only way to avoid it is to know in advance. Use stellar energy to scout the for any dangers around you, so you can prepare in advance."

"Quite the useful spell. I wonder if it was lost to Analand and that's why I didn't learn it before? I have my silver ring and can use it to cast LIV. That will let me deal with the zombies, but I can't see all that well. I won't be able to exert my full strength in there. I could try using FLM, but the constellation isn't here. It is quite fascinating how sorcerers can still see the stars and constellations, even during the day and when they are indoors."

Your body is a bit tired from all the spells you had to cast. You decide to take out one provision and eat it. You recover 4 stamina and lose 1 provision. You feel a sudden rush of strength coming towards you. Your body has recovered from the effects of the polluted air a little bit and your maximum stamina increases by 1. You currently have 8/11 stamina and 1 provision left.

You go into the cave and hold your sword tightly. A few seconds later, you hear the sounds of something heavy hitting the ground. You look forwards and see the silhouette of a human. The human looks wavy and weak. You call out to him "Are you okey, friend? You don't look so good. Do you need my help?"

The human silhouette keep waddling about and ignores your existence entirely. Your eyes begin to get used to the darkness a bit and you realize the thing you were talking to was a ghoul, not a human. The ghoul starts sniffing the air and rushes toward you. You look up into the stars and weave the stellar energy of Libra, Irina and Vlad into the LIV spell and cast it over your sword. You lose 1 stamina. Your sword has the ability to strike down the dead and the astral.

The ghoul arrives in front of you while you were chanting. Combat engaged. Ghoul has 9/9 stamina 10/10 power. The low visibility of this cave decreases your fighting potential. Your maximum power decreases by 2. You have 7/11 stamina and 11/11 power.

You go all out and use a 10.1 power strong attack to counter the ghoul. The ghoul used a 6 power skillful attack. You managed to cut the ghoul's chest. The ghoul screamed in pain as he takes 4 damage. Ghoul has 5/9 stamina and 7/10 power. You have7/11 stamina and 5.9/11 power left.

The ghoul jumps back and stands on four legs. It is wary of your sword and is to scared to get close to you. You leap towards the ghoul and swing your sword at it's head with a 3 power jab. The ghoul is wary of you and defends by jumping away. You manage to cut its leg and do 1 damage. The ghoul has 4/9 stamina and 10/10 power left. Your eyes adjust to the darkness a bit more. You can now use more power. You have 7/11 stamina and 7.4/12 power left.

The ghoul looks like it is going to go into a blind rage. You are wary as the ghoul has more power than you and choose to defend the next attack. The ghoul goes for a 3 power jab. You manage to counter the ghoul's right hand, but its left claw managed to cut your right shoulder. The claw marks caused you intense pain and you took 1 damage. Ghoul has 4/9 stamina and 10/10 power left. You have 6/11 stamina and 12/12 power left.

The ghoul doesn't back off and goes for an all out attack. You smile as you have more power than it. The ghoul uses a 10 power strong attack. You also go all out and use a 12 power strong attack. You manage to overpower the ghoul. You cut through its right hand and cut its entire body into two halves from top to bottom. The ghoul takes 5 damage and dies. You have lost 1 stamina, amazing fight.

With the ghoul now dead, you put your sword back in its sheath and continue walking forward. Your eyes adjust well and you see some carvings on the wall next to you. You can't read because of the dark, so you try to feel out the carvings. You feel a capital letter H outline and wonder what it means. The rest are small marks and you can't make out what they are. You try to connect it with your knowledge of astrology and deduct it says Harlor.

You have figured out the first star of the constellation and passed the 3rd test. You can now continue looking for the rest of the stars of the constellation or leave the cave through the the way you came in from.

You decide to continue and learn the other 2 stars needed for the constellation. You walk through the cave. A few minutes later you take one step forward and you feel nothing under your feet. You begin to fall down. You quickly take out you sword from your bag and stab it into the ground and look up. Lady Luck has smiled at you. You weave the stellar energy into the FAL spell and become much lighter. You easily pull yourself out and stand up at the edge of the pit. You have lost 1 stamina. You have 5/11 stamina left.

You look down and see a huge pit bellow you. You can make out a slight silhouette of some kind of a ledge on the other side. It is too big of a distance to jump. Even if you slow your fall with FAL you will still not make it, as you will be stopped halfway and will have no way of advancing forward and will just float down into the abysmal pit.

You look up and check the other constellation. You figured out this is a sorcerer's test. You need to get creative with your usage of magic to complete the trial. You can seek the constellations for the spells FAL, DOZ and DOP.

You think about the DOZ spell. It is a spell that decreases any things movement speed, but the strength used in the movement will be a lot grater. The strength will be increased at the expense of making something slower. You wonder if you can use that extra bit of power to leap over the pit. You weave the stellar energy of Davo, Osiris and Zero into the spell DOZ. You lose 1 stamina.

You punch the ground to test out the effects and you notice that your strength has indeed increased. You get a running head start and jump the gap. The huge force generated by your mighty legs made you jump the huge distance of 10 meters.

You barely managed to stop your momentum when you landed on the other side of the huge pit and fall to the ground. You calm your nerves down and cancel the spell. You think to yourself "I probably could have jumped that on my own if I hadn't been weakened. I should go and loot for the second star name. I need to figure out the second star and then the third."

You feel around the walls and feel a small carving reading out the word Osiris. You are confused. The connection of these stars is very weak. Why would these stars be together in one spell? It makes no sense to you. What kind of spell did this sorcerer create that requires knowledge, movement and another thing?

You ignore the confusion this spell is causing you and continue on your way. You walk for a few more minutes and suddenly see some light. You come out of the cave and you see the ocean. You are stepping on sand. You have arrived at the bottom of the cliffside and are confused.

You look around for the 3rd star, but see no carvings or any hint on what the third star is. "What is going on?" You look around you and see a woman sitting on the beach, she is painting the beautiful view of the sea. You are startled as you notice it is already 1 pm. You have spent an entire hour in the cave and didn't even notice. You walk up to the young lady and stop in your tacks as you notice her enchanting and beautiful smile.

Your heart skips a beat. She is the most beautiful woman you have ever seen. You have never in your life been charmed by a woman before, but her elegance and calm beauty is too stunning. You stop in your tacks and admire her beauty for a couple of minutes. The beautiful woman doesn't even acknowledge that you are watching her and continues painting.

You snap out of your daze and walk up to her. No desire or lust were left in your heart. You don't have time for love and romance, you need to save the world from the Archmage's tyranny and retrieve the Staff of Kings. "Excuse me, miss. Do you know how I can get back up there? I fell down and went through a cave to get down here, but i don't know the way back up."

The woman turns towards you. You manage to get a good look at her and she turned out to be even more beautiful than you thought. Her body was of a small stature, but she looked like a pure lily with a gentle outlook and a calming aura. You try to calm yourself down and focus, but fail as you hear her beautiful voice ask you "When you have to make a choice between charging ahead and fighting or running back in order to save yourself, which will you choose?"

You are confused and perplexed by this. You still can't organize your thoughts and for some reason feel responsible to answer her question. Why is this unknown woman asking you such questions and why do you feel the need to answer it? You for some reason feel compelled to answer and say "I will charge ahead and fight! I am confident in my skills and will not run away!" You answer with resolution in your heart and fire burning in your eyes.

The beautiful woman smiles and says "That's good to hear, Analander. Don't forget my name. I hope we meet once again when you arrive at the ungodly place of Mampang. I'll be going now!"

The canvas the beautiful woman was painting on suddenly disappears and you see the beautiful woman sailing away on a small ship. You look at her with a stunned expression. You don't even know when she got on that boat or where it even came from. You chase after the boat and scream "Wait! How do you know me and who are you?"

The woman looks back at you with her charming smile. She no longer looks like a normal human. You know she is beautiful, but you can't remember her facial features or why you perceive her as beautiful. She says "You know me Analander. Your name changes throughout history, but you always are called the Analander. Remember and you will understand."

"Pandora." You suddenly find yourself saying the word Pandora for some reason. Pandora is the goddess of mystery and innovation. Was that woman the goddess you were told of when you were a child? You open your spell book and find that the 22nd page has a new spell on it.

"HOP, the spell of transportation. Requires 2 stamina. You sometimes need to overcome great distances and the best way to do that is by jumping. You use the stellar energy of the HOP constellation to shorten the distance between two locations in space and jump from the first one to the other."

"Amazing! A spell that uses Harlor's knowledge movement, Osiris's movement and Pandora's instability to jump from one location in space to another. It is almost like ZIP, but you need to physical jump the distance and no medium. Quite an amazing spell."

You look up at the stars and see the HOP constellation has aligned. You weave the stellar energy into the HOP spell and the distance between the the TOP of the cliffside and the beach seems to have shortened to 2 meters. You jump up from your current location and land on the top of the cliffside. You look down and see the distance you have jumped.

The total distance you have now jumped is around 400-500 meters. You are quite amazed by the power of this spell. Your stamina has decreased by 2. You have 3/11 stamina left. It is time to get back on your way.