Tap Tap Tap
Krivos nervously paced around the room, awaiting the results.
This was an important plan for his future business schemes, he has spent too much resources and pulled far too many strings to be here.
'Should I have not trusted him?' He doubted inwardly.
Though he knew, he never had an option except Rael. He also wants to believe in his past comrade.
Krivos plopped down on Rael's unused bed,
"Ah, gods.... please end this waiting soon and grace me with good results." He muttered a small prayer.
Blink
Krivos saw a eye plastered on the ceiling. Thinking it's a hallucination, he closed and open his eyes again. It still was there,no...there were more this time.
What grounded him though wasn't the eyes on the walls but the mouth that bulged on his right palm.
"Hahahaha" It laughed joyfully, but it sounded eerie to him. The laughter had his voice for some reason.
fighting through the pain that tore through his body,Krivos quickly got up and ran for the exit.
The hallways weren't any better, no....it was more terrifying.
It wasn't the many eyes or the mouths plastered in the hallway that horrified him, it was the bodies of workers that have half fused the hallway itself.
They had the eyes and mouth blooming from their bodies like krivos but in there case, it covered their entire body head to toe, stripped of their will and flesh.
Krivos turned deadly pale, he had to run.
But where?
———————————————
Trial
The ability an darkness incarnate gets in first stage of Throne Rank. It is what setup the entire stage for the Throne seat.
They can be minuture pocket dimension or free reign. They are the symbolic power of an Heretic rank.
They are called trials due to the fact that they test you.
.
Rael and mael were surrounded by 'Defilers' from all sides. Those eerie humanoids laughing loudly at them.
Clank!
"HAHAH-AHAH-HA!" "HAHAHA!"
The closer they got, the louder they became.
They didn't bother fighting them. With their seemgly endless numbers and the suppression, it's a losing battle. Instead....
BlinkBlink
The eyes on their bodies blinked rapidly, more sprouted as time went on.
....they focused on figuring out how to exit the trial or halt the spreading corruption. Both are intertwined.
Every Trial tests you. Every Trial as an hidden condition. There is no Trial that is impossible, you just need to find the clear condition.
Only upon clearance can one exit it or if someone breaks it from the outside but the latter is impossible for that would require atleast an Sanctus.
'what is it, what is it!' Rael kept thinking of possible conditions while weaving and dodging.
'Trial of endurance? No.'
If it's Endurance, then they stand no chance. And it would make no sense for the eyes to be present symbolically.
An endurance trial would be too straightforward.
Clank! Swoosh!
'Trial of self harm?'
It seems possible. Afterall, who would think of harming themselves in this situation. Furthermore, the 'Defiler' they killed specialized in endurance and defence. Opposite could be true.
With that thought process, Rael removed the straps of armour peice covering his palms and digits.
The hand was pale milky white, delicate and without any visible marks, out of place in this scenario.
An eye protruded from the palm. Rael took his sword and stabed the eye. The blade piercing the palm.
Suppressing the screem he looked at the corruption's progress.
It didn't stop, instead - it got faster, as more eyes began to bloom faster, putting him through more agony.
'uhh...that doesn't work....did it consider as harm directed towards entity?'
Perhaps.It would be far too easier if it were just stabing yourself. If so, then most would escape simply by stabing the eye out of fear and disgust.
Rael cut his pinky finger to confirm his hypothesis, it too didn't work.
'Does self harm not work? Do I have to sucide?'
Rael considered killing himself for a few moment, as that is the highest form of self harm and the only out of box idea he could think of.
But in the end, he abandoned the idea. It is too extreme and should be reserved if left with no choice. It very well could be a trap.
Clank! Clank! Thud!
As Rael kept pondering, Mael appeared before him and then proceeded to cut his left fore arm!
Crimson blood gushed out from the stump.The corruption hastened.
'Self harm under witness?'
It seems mael is also thinking the same, he correlated the eyes as witnesses.
'Is is not endurance or self harm?'
They tried with witness and no witness, but the corruption didn't stop but hasten.
Why does it hasten when it hurts?
Suddenly, Rael felt dizzy and dissoranted. He started to see things from different angles.
The eyes have reached his brain and the vision is getting shared!
He could see what the eyes see, putting his entire sensory system off.
Stab!
A 'Defiler' took advantage of this momentary disorientation and punched cleanly through his guts, a hole appeared where his abdomen was.
"Ahhhggh!"
Rael bit his tongue to not let out a screem but it still came out, blood spilling out of his mouth, seeping out of the helmet.
He did not have much time left.
'Think! Think! Think! Think! Think!'
What does the eyes and mouth represent.
Witness? tragedy? Joy? Turning a blind eye?
One of the eyes on Rael witness a miner getting mailed to death. Another witness it's screems turning into laughter.
"Ahhhhh! H-help! Hel-hahaha..ahhh.. HAHAHA!"
A flash of horrifying realisation quickly went through his mind.
The laughter weren't mockery but pleas for help. That's why the 'Defilers' laugh harder near them.
Despair and hopelessness give birth to those mouth. That's why they haven't appeared on Rael's or mael's bodies yet. They haven't given up. Yet.
To laugh while in Despair, that's what it represents.
Clank! Clank!
What about the eyes?
Witness? Turning a blind eye?
Rael saw a young miner kneeling on the ground, clutching his head.
"This isn't Real, this can't be true, I am still too young. Ahhahaha"
Deniel
That's what the young miners was doing, denying reality. A Coping mechanism.
But what caught his fleeting attention was the bad eyes to mouth ratio. It was different from others, the eyes were far less.
'so thats it? Deniel?'
Deny reality? Escapism?
Escapism? The sin of Escapism, related to sloth!
To have eyes wide open but to still dream! To think fantasy as reality!
Somviore!
Stab!
A hand punched through Rael's chest but it didn't matter. His mind was clear than ever.
His hands reached out towards the 'Defiler' and phased right through it, reaching for an imaginary door knob.
Click!
He twisted the knob and the reality shattered.
Mael, the army of 'Defilers', the mountains. Everything disappeared. Only a black void and a door leading to unknown remained.
He stepped through the door.
Shut!
He had completed the 1st stage of the Trial.
He had escaped from one hell, only to end up in another.