“I can’t say much about what you’ll find inside the First Trial, of course—and I wouldn’t tell you if I could. The main purpose of the Trials is to find their solutions yourselves. Your success rests entirely upon your shoulders and those of your partner.
“As eager as you all are to begin, I’m tasked by those above to remind you of the gravity of your candidacy.” Her friendly tone faded to reveal something firmer and far more somber. "You’ve taken the Oath. You’re an official candidate of the Trials. You now not only represent yourselves but all of Sanctuary. Remember that when you step forward among the gods.
“Move forward as far as you can, as best you can. You’ll be disqualified either when you fail a Trial, when you turn twenty five, or…when you die.”
Despite her hushed and reverent tone at the end, those at the back of the line muttered amongst themselves and those at the front became wide eyed in silent panic.
“Per the Stone, that is all I’m permitted to tell you. So please, keep to your orderly lines and march on inside. We’re all rooting for you!”
She clapped, and some families and other attendants joined in, but none of the candidates applauded. The mention of our potential untimely deaths seemed to sour the mood.
I followed the line of women in front of me into the tunnel awaiting us. It was the same as the one which housed the Oathstone. I could see absolutely nothing, not even the person directly in front of me, and I completely lost the line of men to our left. For a moment, all sound vanished as though sucked out of the air. Then, from somewhere far in front of me, there wasa faint whooshing and the synchronized stepping of a thousand feet at once.
Including my own.
I frowned and looked down at my feet but could not see anything in the darkness. I hadn’t consciously decided to step forward, yet I matched the pace of the other participants, my legs moving of their own volition.
My stomach turned queasy. There’d always been an aura of mystery surrounding the Trials. A sense of the unknown that could never be nullified since we weren’t permitted to speak of them. But this wasn’t the tedious bureaucratic testing I’d expected. This was something new. This was…magic.
Another whoosh and another step forward.
I peered around frantically, hoping to discover that I wasn’t the only one having second thoughts, but it was pointless in the dark. I could only rely on the sense that the others were still there.
Whoosh. Step.
It continued like that for some time. Every whoosh was followed by the mass of us moving forward in unison. I began to worry about whatever was at the front of the line. Perhaps this wouldn’t be the quick and painless failure that I was expecting.
The attendant’s words echoed in my mind as I slowly but steadily stepped through the darkness .
Die. Die. Die.
The next whoosh was louder, closer, and I moved forward again, but this time I stepped down on metal instead of stone. I’d barely registered the clanging under my feet when the whooshing enveloped me and I was spinning, hurtling through the void in some sort of tube.
My gut twisted, breath fleeing my lungs as I was sucked forward into nothingness. Disoriented, I squirmed and bumped against the metal enclosure, hissing when my foreheadconnected with the side of the tube. I pressed my eyes shut and tried to drag air through my nose.
My feet hit the ground and I gasped.
The first Trial began.
Chapter Five
“A Bond, unbreakable and brazen, pulling at your core, penetrating your mind. If I did not know that it had come from the Geist, I should call it unholy.”
—Words of Amara Rose, Last of the Great Heroes, in regards to the First Trial; 499 Genesis Age
Ithrew my hands out to catch myself against the side of the tube. My palms stung as they slammed against the cold metal, and I bit down hard.
A dim light restored some of my vision and I glanced around until something pricked me. I hissed and jerked my left hand back, shaking it to clear the stinging sensation. A needle retracted from a miniature door in the tube. I looked down at my index finger. A tiny blot of red bloomed at the tip. I wiped the blood away and tried to peer out of the tube.
A million questions flitted through my mind. Where was I? Why had they taken my blood? And what was I supposed to do now?
I kept blinking to adjust to the dim light of the room. I started running my fingers along the metal walls, but the floor beneathmy feet dropped, and I collapsed onto the scratchy carpet about six feet below. Spikes of pain rattled my knee as it collided with the ground.
Grunting and clutching my leg, I stood. It was brighter down here but not by much. Had I come from outside in the middle of the day, I wouldn’t have been able to see a thing. But since I’d already spent so long in the complete darkness of the tunnel, my eyes were greedy for whatever light my surroundings could offer.
On either side of me, only a foot or so away, were walls so tall, I couldn’t see where they met the ceiling above, assuming there was one. The lack of a draft or the waning sunlight told me I must’ve been in an enclosed chamber. There was nothing else to see. Just me, the carpet, and the walls.
The walls were made of a smooth, solid material I couldn’t identify. It was pale white and so smooth and polished that, even in the dim light, I could trace the movement of what must have been my own reflection. They emitted a faint glow and seemed to be the only source of light around.
