At the very least, the trails taught us... we know nothing about each other.
We're entrusting our lives to complete strangers and now it was clear. Everyone has a past, whether its sunshine and rainbows or cloudy skies. We all have a history.
I didn't know what to expect when Isaac's trial began.
But I didn't expect screaming. At least... not the kind that looked like torture.
His body never left the circle but it was clear his mind did.
His face was still half-buried in ash when I reached him. Blue light flickered across his body, as light radiated from knightly armor I've never seen before.
That was the issue. His robes were soaked, clinging to him, but there hadn't been any rain. Not here. Not that I've felt or seen in this fiery ruin.
His body shivered, lying in the ash... motionless.
Silent. Is he dead? Is this light what happens when a summoned dies?
No...
His chest barely lifted, struggling to breathe as if a pressure was coiling around his ribs.
He's alive. I felt an eerie tension lift from my shoulders as a slight exhale escaped my bruised lungs.
My hand gripped his shoulder instinctively, shaking him just once.
"Isaac?"
A cough sputtered off lips... wet and weak.
Then another.
Laef stumbled over beside me, muttering,
"What the hell was that?"
"I think…" I looked down at Isaac again. "The system chose to summon people with heavy pasts. That was him… facing whatever he's been running from."
Dagger Girl crouched nearby, blood running down her face, completely silent as always. But her eyes were locked on Isaac... not only with caution. But, recognition and understanding.
Like he was one of us. Not the muttering psycho talking to water.
The armor he wore was unlike anything I'd seen, liquid but radiant. It had scripture forged from light and seafoam. Holy, but violent.
Whatever happened... it nearly killed him.
But he was still here.Barely breathing. Barely conscious. But alive.
Laef and I began to lift him when the clearing rumbled.
[ALL SOURCES EXTINGUISHED]
[TRAIL COMPLETE]
[TRANSPORTING...]
"System open," I coughed. [6 Minutes]
A low groan echoed from the center square, where the monster consumed his embers.
"Please tell me we don't have to fight him," sighed Melissa, flicking five fragments to life.
"If we do, we're done for. We're out of time," I replied, our eyes locking.
It spasmed.
Twitched as the ground rumbled. Not gentle or low.
It shook.
Suddenly...
The monster's body, made of lava and scorched wood, suddenly writhed. It's hardened, melted face splitting open as one final screech tore through the ash-covered clearing.
Then...
It exploded.
A pillar of blue light surged towards the sky like a geyser, blinding everything in sight.
I dove over Isaac, shielding him from fallen wood and embers as the ground split beneath us. Wind roared, trees groaned. Molten lava flew through the wind like a tornado.
"It's a portal..." Melissa shouted. "The painting."
I lifted my head to see the painting we'd entered through split open across the pillar, ripping open with a vortex of holy fire and warping blue light.
It was pulling us back.
Laef cursed. "Of course there's more! There's always more!"
Dagger Girl slid across the ground, her daggers digging into the dirt before she was yanked back by an invisible force and vanished into the mural.
Laef followed, clawing at the dirt with both hands before his boots lifted off the ground. "You'd think one trial would give us a break—!"
He vanished into the rift mid-sentence.
The pull got stronger.
I tightened my grip on Isaac, bracing my feet in the earth.
Then... flashes.
Images flooded my vision, like a slideshow slamming into my skull:
A king and queen on a throne. Glass trees in a forest. A burning village.
My breathed hitched when I saw it...
The last image, the LunLufu tribe demi-human warrior.
A piercing ringing struck my ears.
[WARNING: ENTER THE PAINTING WITHIN 30 SECONDS]
Or what?
No response.
I clutched Isaac's unconscious body.
"You're not getting left behind," I whispered to him. "Not after that."
I threw him over my shoulder an jumped, letting the mural's pull take us.
And we fell.
Rays of light. Staticy noise. Even wind.
Then...
We landed in the throne room.
The hall had changed. Not physically but spiritually as the three teams glared with eerie cold expressions.
What happened to everyone?
Laef hit the marble first, arms flailing, cursing as he grasped his ankle. Probably rolled it.
I don't know when Melissa entered but she was holding her stomach like she might puke beside him.
Dagger Girl didn't fall... she slid, blades drawn and eyes ready until she recognized the room.
And me?
I hit my knees.
Isaac's weight shifted on my back as I lowered him down as gently as I could. His robes were soaked. Still wet and shivering.
But... unconscious.
That worried me.
For a moment, I just knelt there, chest heaving. The marble was warm, but not hellfire-hot like the trial. The air didn't smell like ash, my lungs didn't burn. There were no screams, no bells, no monsters to worry about.
No illusions in the flames. Just silence.
And... their glares.
The other three squads stood across the throne room, beneath the gold banners and shadowed murals. They looked like they'd been waiting a while.
Linebacker's team stood in formation, most smug with gleaming glares. They had new weapons, new equipment. Yet, Linebacker remained cool and composed like always.
"Took them long enough," spat an adventurer.
"We got here over an hour ago," laughed a support standing beside Linebacker, holding a blackened staff.
My blood boiled. My body shook, not from anger or fear but something else...
"Get us a doctor. He hasn't moved in a while," I spat, struggling to catch my breathe.
"Must have been nice..." My eyes met the supports.
"What?!" she replied, stunned.
My voice slowed as I stood, my ribs aching. "I don't know what you went through. But, it must have been nice."
Linebacker stepped forward, putting an arm in front of the support. His voice was low, warning.
"Enough Sarah."
Then to me, smirking as they walked away.
"I don't know what you went through either, but something's different about you."
That's an understatement.
To the side, I spotted Scrub Girl's team. She stood slightly behind a tall swordswoman with a bandaged eye, but her gaze wasn't on the throne or the adventurers. It was on us.
Her eyes flicked to Isaac, and for a brief second... her expression softened. She understood, nodding to me. Maybe their trial was just as bad.
Then there was the fourth group... the adventurers. They didn't talk, didn't look in our direction They just... talked amongst themselves. Some laughing, others eyes darted across the room. Like they faced whatever they saw thousands of times before.
One of them, a man with silver tattoos down his neck, eyed Isaac.
"He's marked," he muttered to the woman beside him. "'The bracers."
"Marked?" Laef shouted behind me. "Great. That sounds bad."
"What does marked mean? That sound like some demon cult crap."
The silver-tattooed guy just smiled. "It usually is."
I didn't reply, just stared. The king spoke first, his voice booming.
I turned back to Isaac. His skin was pale, cold, but not the kind that screamed death. More like… aftershocks. Whatever he faced in that trial, it changed him. I didn't know how yet. But I'd seen it before. In trauma patients. Fire survivors. People who came back from something they shouldn't have.
He was fighting something we couldn't see and for a while. Now he's cursed? Marked?
"Well done!" The voice boomed from one of the thrones. I hadn't noticed him until now. "No causalities, that might be a first.
He leaned sideways on the armrest, one leg hooked casually over the other, sipping from a goblet as though he'd just returned from a feast rather than summoned dozens into near-death.
The king...
"Well, well, well. The s... crap squad returns." He stood, his shoulder resting on a guard as his voice boomed with theatrical delight.
"Late. Bloodied. Wet. And very, very dramatic!"
He stomped down the steps, cape trailing behind him like a war banner.
One of the Linebackers chuckled behind me.
The King reached us and clapped Laef on the shoulder so hard he nearly fell.
"That portal throw looked painful, son. You alright?"
"No," Laef muttered.
"Excellent!" The King beamed. "Pain means you're learning."
He turned to me next.
"You... Disappoint me, Vanguard." He pointed towards me, his words slurring slightly.
I flinched. What happened to the "Get ready or Die..." king?
"You had to rely on others to finish your trial. Not very leader of you."
"I never asked to be here. Or be a leader," I spat without thinking.
He barked a laugh, getting dead-serious
"But. Here. You. Are."
His glare didn't let up. He just stared until he noticed Isaac.
"Even better!" The King barked a laugh. "I was starting to think this batch would bore me to death. But this? This is entertaining!"
His eyes gleamed as he crouched beside Isaac, one finger tapping the glowing scripture woven through the robe.
"Holy scripture," he murmured. "Didn't think that path could be awakened. Haven't seen it before."
He glanced up,
"You lot were supposed to break. Not evolve."
His smile remained. But tone tightened, threatening.
Then he stood and raised both arms to address the room.
"Let it be known! The first trial is complete. No deaths. Impressive... though some of you were clearly carried." His gaze slid to the Scrub Girls, who averted her eyes. "Still. I expected fewer survivors."
He gave a lazy shrug. "Ah well. We'll fix that next round."
Next round?
Uneasy murmurs spread throughout the groups.
"Now then," he said, turning away. "You'll have two days to recover. Eat. Sleep. Cry if you must but do it quietly."
He shouted, his voice echoing behind him,
"One more chance Vanguard. Impress me or next time I'll let the paintings keep you."
Someone clipped my shoulder.
"Looks like someone has a crush," joked Melissa, still clutching her stomach.
"I don't even know what I did," I scoffed. Why is he interested in me?
Then the king suddenly turned and pointed at Isaac.
"And someone keep that one alive. I like his look."
"I think he's drunk..." muttered Laef. "He's wobbling."
The silver tattoo adventurer stepped forward, his voice high and smooth.
"That's the king for you. Can't go a day without his intoxicants." He paused, smiling. "I can heal you guys if you'd like...
But, for a price."