Chapter 10 – Undead Nightmare

  Victor entered the Trial right as Teresa left. He tried asking her what to expect going in, but she only laughed and said that she wished she could watch him take it. That was a little ominous, but he already entered and couldn’t turn back now. Not knowing what to expect, Victor walked into the room with his new spiked mace slung across his shoulder.

  Looking around the room, Victor immediately got a bad feeling about this Trial. Five dead bodies were strewn across the floor. They must have been there for a long time, as the only thing left of them were the bones and armor they were wearing.

  “I swear, if this turns out to be an undead dungeon and no one told me…” Victor muttered. “I didn’t sign up for a nightmare experience.”

  Keeping his mace between him and the skeletons on the ground, Victor navigated around the edge of the room. He wasn’t going to walk between those bodies. It was so clearly a trap. Slowly, he made his way over to the door on the far side of the room.

  Keeping one eye on the skeletons, Victor positioned himself to better see the runes glowing on the door. Like Teresa, Victor gained some of the runic language knowledge. Teresa mentioned that the experience felt like a burning tickling sensation creeping across her skin, but to Victor it mostly just created a crazy itching sensation. But thanks to that, he was able to read the message on the door well enough to translate a portion of it.

  “What is the truest aspect of fear?” Victor muttered out loud.

  *Quest Received (Mandatory): Keeper’s Trials – Candidate*

  -Complete the four trials of the Akashic Keeper Trials – Candidate (0/4)

  Time Limit: 1 Month

  Rewards:

  -Grants Candidate access level to facilities in the city of Kharzast and advance trials

  -Support class (Rare)

  -access to future class options

  Failure: Death

  *Quest Received (Mandatory): Akashic Keeper Trial - Trial of Fear*

  -Complete the Trial of Fear

  Reward: Akashic Keeper Skill

  Failure: Death

  Instantly, the light in the room dimmed and a fog-like mist filled the air. Victor heard bones creaking and armor scraping across the floor.

  “Ah hell no!” Victor yelled out. “I’m not dealing with this today.”

  Without waiting to confirm, Victor ran into the mist swinging his giant mace as fast as he could. “No! No! No! And No!” Victor called out with every wild strike. Most of his swings cut through the air without hitting anything, but every time he did connect, he could feel the skeleton break apart from the strike.

  Victor kept up swinging, even after he shattered five bodies. He wasn’t sure if these skeletons could reassemble themselves, and he wasn’t about to risk it. It wasn’t until a few minutes after smashing the last skeleton, with nothing else appearing and everything went back to being quiet again, that he finally let himself come to a stop.

  “There better not be anymore,” Victor huffed. It hadn’t been long, but he held nothing back from the moment it started, and his Stamina took most of the punishment. On the bright side, bones littered the ground, and none of them appeared to be reassembling themselves. Victor let out a small sigh of relief at that.

  “Just get through this and then I’ll get Teresa back for not giving me some kind of warning,” Victor muttered. He didn’t blame Jack, but Teresa knew about his aversion to undead things, and he was certain she could have given him some kind of warning. It was probably why she laughed, now that he thought about it. “We need to have a code word for something like this.”

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Victor went over to the door again, looking it over more carefully this time. That was when he noticed the small opening in the door. Just wide enough to fit something like an envelope through. It didn’t take him long to make the connection. There was a limited number of things in the room and the five swords the skeletons used were just the right size to fit the opening. That, and they were glowing with a runic script.

  Looking through the different swords, Victor chose the one with the rune for death on it. “Has to be it,” Victor said. “What‘s scarier than death?”

  He slid the sword through until he heard a click, and the sword disappeared, along with the other four swords. The door remained closed, still asking the same message, but Victor heard the skeletons start to rise again.

  “Oh, you got to be kidding me,” Victor complained, readying his mace again. “I hate this place.”

  *~*

  “Three times!” Victor complained. Jack was in his room once again, but this time he was joined by Teresa and Victor. Victor came out of the Trial a couple days later, and they found that so long as they were away from the others with the door closed, they were able to talk about the Trial without having their words blocked.

  “So that is what happens,” Jack said. “I always wondered what the cost of failing that was.”

  “Had to do it twice,” Teresa admitted. “What was your least favorite Trial? Had to be that Trial of Reason for me.”

  “Fear,” Victor said. “For obvious reasons.”

  “Trial of Perseverance,” Jack said. “Being surrounded by all those Slimes and barely able to keep up was nerve wracking.”

  “Right, you had barely any real combat experience when you attempted that,” Victor said.

  “How did you two handle that Trial of Determination?” Jack asked.

  “Wasn’t too bad,” Teresa said. “Just had to stay ahead of everything.”

  “Smashed the obstacles out of the way if they started becoming a nuisance to navigate around,” Victor said.

  “Who is in there now?” Jack asked.

  “Zajowle went in,” Teresa said. “I think Daniel was considering trying it next.”

  “Do you think he can handle it?” Jack asked. They all knew that Daniel was a powerful Wizard, but all his spells took a long time to charge up, and he always had an issue with running out of Stamina quickly.

  “I’m not sure,” Victor said. “Wish we could give them a hint before they go in. Speaking of, why didn’t either of you tell me about those monsters in the first Trial?”

  “You just said we couldn’t give a hint,” Teresa said.

  “Could have tried a little harder,” Victor grumbled.

  “So, is it only going to be us humans and Zajowle that will do the Trials?” Jack asked, changing the subject.

  “Not sure,” Teresa said. “I’m not even sure Elaine is going to. At least she hasn’t mentioned wanting to. I think Sia and Rayne might be interested, but the others haven’t brought it up at all. But only one person can go at a time, so maybe they are just waiting. We aren’t in any rush. I had a talk with Elizabeth, by the way.”

  “Yeah,” Jack said. “I told her we would help her reach a point that she might be able to complete the Trial, but I am worried.”

  Teresa sighed. “I would have preferred her to wait until Reuf finished regrowing her hand, but I don’t think she will wait that long, and this Regenerate passive skill might even help her recover faster, but you’re right. It can be dangerous.”

  “Yeah,” Jack said. “It would be better if she was willing to wait, but I think she is looking for anything that might make her feel strong. Not sure any of us have a right to stop her either.”

  “It’s a dangerous world,” Victor sighed. “And risk is a part of growth here. We all know that. The best thing we can do is just try and give her the best chance.”

  “You been spending too much time with Sylvian,” Jack said.

  “Not as much as I would like,” Victor admitted. “I think I might have a shot with her eventually. At least she seems receptive. Hands off.”

  Victor said the last part to Teresa who waved away his concerns. “Not my type,” Teresa said. “Rayne, on the other hand… but I think she is into someone else.”

  “Who?” Jack asked.

  “Dunno,” Teresa said. “Probably someone in her sect. Either that or she hasn’t picked up on any of my hints.”

  “Could try being more direct,” Victor said. “Works for me, most of the time.”

  “Let me handle my business,” Teresa brushed off his concern.

  “Well, in any event,” Jack said, bringing the conversation back. “Elizabeth is going to need more practice fighting if she is going to attempt the Trial.”

  “I’ll keep working with her,” Teresa said. “She is picking up fencing pretty quickly.”

  “You’re teaching her fencing?” Jack asked.

  Teresa nodded. “Seems appropriate, and the skills can be adapted to other styles later on.”

  “Oh,” Victor said interrupting suddenly. “We should probably try to avoid Savgar from taking the Trial.”

  “I didn’t know he was thinking of doing it,” Teresa said.

  “Why?” Jack asked.

  “Arbour,” Victor said. “Savgar already thinks trees are abnormal creatures that can’t be trusted. What do you think he might do if one starts talking to him?”

  “Right,” Jack said. “But how would we stop him?”

  “We could make him promise not to attack anything plant-like in the trial,” Teresa suggested. “I think only Arbour counts in that.”

  “Pretty sure that will make him more suspicious,” Victor said.

  “Wish we could at least warn him,” Jack muttered. “I think the shock is more dangerous than if we could just tell him about it ahead of time.”

  “I’m sure it will be fine,” Teresa said. “Arbour might act like a everything is brand new to it, but based on what it told me, it’s been around for possibly thousands of years. And plants get stronger with time. I’m not sure Savgar could do anything to it if he wanted to.”