Somewhere, lost in the darkness, a dog was running frantically.

'Where have I ended up? I went to sleep next to master, and when I opened my eyes, I was in this strange space.'

Sirius thought, trying to find a way out.

'Master... Where are you?'

His pace slowly dropped, until he completely stopped moving. He had no idea where to go, as everything looked similar wherever his eyes looked at.

"A dog?"

The voice of a dignified man echoed in the darkness.

"Isn't that... the famous white dog that child tamed?"

A calm and relaxing woman's voice, just like the previous voice, echoed from everywhere.

'Huh?'

Looking in front of him, then above, and finally on his right, Sirius barked.

(Woof.)

The bark could not leave his throat.

"What is it doing here?"

"I have no idea. But he's a cute dog."

"He's lacking a little something, though. Maybe..."

With a hesitating tone, the man thought.

"What's on your mind?"

"Let's do something for Orion. I'm sure he wouldn't mind. And in a way, we're also saving the dog, as this place is purgatory for anything not part of the trials."

"Oh..."

Silence returned to the void, while Sirius tilted his head, confused beyond belief.

'What were they saying? Purgatory?'

While he tried to make sense of what he had heard, he felt his body become heavier.

'Eh?! What is happening?!'

His body slowly sunk into the darkness under him. Thrashing around, he tried to free himself, but in vain. Moments later, Sirius drowned into the void.

Or so he thought.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself in a white expanse that looked very similar to Horizon in its beginning.

"Dog."

A dark shadow formed on the ground.

'Is that... me?'

It had the exact shape and form of Sirius, with bright white eyes.

(Who are you!)

Feeling threatened, Sirius growled at the shadow, and instantly took a defensive stance. His instincts were warning him that the 'thing' in front of him wasn't normal.

"Dog. Are you worthy of standing next to a Hero?"

(A Hero?)

"Prove your worth."

A robotic voice entered his ears, confusing the poor dog even more.

(Trials? What is happening?)

But before he could get the answer to his question, the shadow howled, stunning Sirius on the spot.

Terrified, Sirius trembled in front of the shadow, which approached slowly, with an intimidating aura.

"Show your worth, or suffer eternal pain."

"Show your worth, and share the burden of the Hero."

"Show your worth, as this is your only fate."

"Right. Your worth."

"Who are you?"

Sirius' fate changed that day, where he inadvertently laid next to his resting master. A trial so horrifying would end up being etched in his soul, one he would never forget.

~

(This is the next trial?)

Orion stood still in front of the side of a mountain.

The landscape looked like the one Orion was used to while traveling through Triazils. Trees everywhere around him, grass sprouting under his feet, and a calm breeze flowing through his hair.

When he turned around, he noticed immediately that it wasn't going to be a simple trial.

(The darkness...)

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

Behind him, extending as far as his eyes could see, the void that chased him during his first trial returned.

It wasn't moving yet, but Orion knew. The same chase was about to happen once again.

The only difference worth mentioning was that Orion had full control over his emotions this time. He felt no need to approach the edge between the darkness and the normal path, nor was he feeling panicked.

He inhaled a long breath of air, and looked upward.

Standing in front of him was a high mountain, even higher than the highest peak of the Talviera Mountain Range. The summit of the mountain was hidden by the clouds, making Orion shudder at the idea of climbing it.

Its sides were steep, with no real footing available to climb safely.

'Are you telling me to climb this thing? This is madness...'

When he took his first step forward, the darkness suddenly rushed toward him, not letting him time to prepare.

(Kh!)

Unprepared, Orion ran toward the steep incline of the mountain, and grabbed one protruding rock on the wall. He jumped from one rock to another, carefully choosing his path.

Twenty meters above the ground, he looked down.

'These trials, they are no joke.'

The void seemed to only cover the ground he was previously standing on, while slowly rising upward.

'It's telling me to hurry climbing, while leaving me enough time to do it. What a pain.'

He looked above him, before grabbing another rock.

'I just have to climb, right? I'll show you, trials or not, I have the stamina to do anything.'

But what Orion wasn't prepared for, was that the trial wasn't testing his stamina, but his willpower.

...

Climbing the side of the mountain, he felt like a few hours passed, while making very little progress.

Fewer and fewer rocks appeared to help him ascend upward, while their spacing increased exponentially.

'I still can't see the peak...'

Orion took a break, wrapping his arms around the large rock he was holding. His feet kept sliding on the rocky wall, which made it very difficult to not use energy to counter it.

He was also getting winded. The more he climbed, the less air was available. There was the void pursuing him, and a threat he knew to be careful of: altitude sickness.

Even Orion wasn't exempt from altitude sickness. Even if his body could counteract the effect naturally, in this situation, where all of his innate and learned abilities were sealed, anything could happen to him.

He was but a powerless agathion, with no way to mitigate the dizziness and exhaustion.

But here was the problem. The more he climbed, the faster the void followed. He had no time to rest, as taking just five minutes could shorten the distance between the darkness and him, pressuring his mind to move faster, creating more opportunities to fail a critical jump.

Although the climb was taxing on his stamina, he managed to find a pattern. If he only jumped twice, and rested for thirty seconds, he could keep the pace relatively fast.

While doing that, he could also manage to repress the altitude sickness as much as possible, and retain a slow and steady breathing.

The peak was still unreachable, but the clouds were getting closer to him. He felt that this trial was, in fact, rather easy.

If he kept focusing on what his body reacted on, he could avoid failing this trial.

Yet, he was unable to follow this mentality for long. His cautious nature came back faster and impossible to ignore.

'Something's off. It's far too easy.'

'Compared to the first trial, this is nothing. There is definitely something else.'

'If I have to guess when...'

He looked at the clouds.

'It's above these clouds.'

He climbed, and climbed, higher and higher, until finally, Orion jumped past the clouds.

Grabbing a small piece of rock, he looked upward, and opened his eyes wide.

'I knew it.'

Above the clouds, many frozen bodies holding a stone anchored in the wall, were standing in his path.

The sun was exactly staying behind the summit, and radiated a dangerous light that threatened to blind him.

In fact, Orion felt strange looking at that sun.

'Why does this sun feel so unnatural?'

He looked for a few seconds, before his eyes looked around to find the next stone to jump at.

A sudden sound, akin to a pulse of energy, caught his attention.

(!)

He frantically looked for a stone, before looking at one of the frozen corpses.

(Sorry!)

Orion jumped, and kicked the ice, shattering it into shards that fell down the mountain, before a massive ray of light traveled where he was resting previously.

It grazed the walls of the mountain, and burned it to a crisp.

'So that's where the real trial starts. Bring it on!'

Immediately, Orion found the next stepping stone. He was about to jump, but changed his mind.

He looked at the sun, and waited until the very last second. The pulse happened once again, and erased everything on its path, be it frozen corpses, or parts of the mountain.

This destruction caused more problems for him, as numerous falling rocks fell toward the bottom of the mountain.

Avoiding the sun's death ray, Orion grabbed the stone and began to count in his head. He waited, until the very last second, once again.

'Thirty seconds.'

That was the time it took for the sun to fire at him. Knowing that, what he had to do now was simple in theory.

He had to climb higher while carefully managing the altitude sickness, even more than before as air became sparse.

The stones he had to grab were getting more difficult to attain, which meant that the rest of his ascension relied on jumping long distance, which could put him in danger in a single failed jump.

All of this, while counting thirty seconds in his head, and avoid the sun's destructive ray of light.

(...)

Orion glanced under him and looked at the void devouring the clouds. Lastly, he had to watch out for the rapidly ascending darkness that threatened to swallow him whole if he took too long.

'I'm going to die.'

With a smile on his face, he lifted his mood with a joke, and jumped toward another frozen statue. He destroyed it, and looked at the shards fall into the void.

His ascension continued, progressively picking up the pace, as the darkness relentlessly climbed faster.

With determination filling his being, Orion kept his gaze on the path in front of him. He carefully picked the next stone, and jumped.

*Crack*

The moment Orion touched the stone, it broke in half. Orion barely had time to understand what was happening, as his body dived toward the vast darkness under him.

Not only that, but the sun's ray was about to be fired. Time seemed to flow slowly, as his mind focused on one thing.

'I'm not done yet!'

Orion glared at the sun, before looking at the wall rapidly moving in front of him.

He slammed his arms and feet on the wall, and rapidly slowed down thanks to the friction, while frantically looking on both sides.

Suddenly, a rock he previously grabbed while climbing entered his sight. Without hesitation, Orion jumped toward it.

The ray of light fired at that exact moment, rapidly closing on him. The light illuminated his body, as a bead of sweat dropped from his forehead.

Lady Luck was on his side. He looked at his right foot after grabbing the stone. The back of it had barely made contact with the heat ray, melting a part of it in the process.

(...)

Ignoring everything else at this point, he stopped thinking. With the void so close behind him, there were no mistakes possible.

Climbing was his only option.

He held his breath as long as possible, and only inhaled when necessary. Fatigue was starting to bother his movements, but he ignored it too.

Only the goal in front of him became important.

Until, at last, Orion grabbed the edge of the summit. A large rocky platform that overlooked everything.

His hands trembled as he pulled himself up, and with emotions so overwhelming, Orion sighed from relief.

(Aaaaah! I'm done!)

Back on solid ground, he threw his tired body toward the ground, and laid there, unable to move for a minute.

The sun stopped its attacks, and fell toward the Horizon, until a beautiful orange sunset replaced the blue sky.

As Orion rested, he realized that the void wasn't climbing anymore. He forced his legs to stand up, and approached the edge carefully.

From his spot, he could see that the darkness had stopped ascending.

'I made it. I completed the third trial.'

Thinking that everything was done, Orion sat on the edge and looked in the distance.

'After I've recovered, I'll jump.'

He knew what had to be done.

All that was left now, was to jump in the void, similar to the first trial.