Chapter 25:

Ability Crystal Detected. Applying Upgrades. Body Attribute Increases: [Wood 3 0/7] > [Wood 4 0/9].

Ability Crystal Detected. Applying Upgrades. Body Ability: Shards of Midnight Increases: [Wood 2 4 /5] > [Wood 3 0/7]

Ability Crystal Detected. Applying Upgrades. Body Attribute Increases: [Wood 4 0/9] > [Wood 5 0/11]

Body Attribute has reached Wood level 5. Body Attribute has reached the 1st Gate. You have unlocked the Body Ability: Shaped Shadows.

[WARNING] Body Attribute has reached the 1st Threshold. Attribute has met the conditions for Attribute Evolution. You must choose your 1st Focus for the Attribute. A focus must be chosen before Attribute can level further.

* Strength

* Dexterity

* Constitution

Shaped Shadows: [Wood 1]

* Shadows within your line of sight respond to your will, whether summoned shadows of your own abilities, or those found around you. You may change the shape of shadows to your will, and may create sharpened, simple shadows that strike at range. Included, your Shards of Midnight may be shaped into any weapon you can imagine and have a thorough understanding of.

The tirade of information ended, and Mia stood stunned by the sheer amount of information that came with it and was downloaded into her mind. Mia knew she must have looked like a fool staring into space, slack jawed, slack winged, and vacant eyed, but her body and mind were being literally flooded with Essence, super powering her body beyond anything she could have hoped for with years of training. She was currently stronger than her mother and father, if she counted purely on the attributes - her immature body would limit that total for a number of years yet.

She was so amazed that she nearly missed Arcadia asking her a question, but when she did process it, she eagerly declared that she had reached her first Attribute Evolution. It wasn't something her parents talked about much, but her and Arcadia had seen it happen over the last couple of years, and the whole family made a big deal of celebrating it. Attribute and Ability Evolution was how you turned a basic ability into a whole spell-casting system or a signature Ability that would leave you world famous. If her parents could see her now they'd be amazed - an Attribute evolution before the age of ten wasn't just in the realm of geniuses and prodigies, it was unprecedented in this time and era as far as her history lessons had taught her.

The rush came to an end when Mia realised that she couldn't celebrate with her parents. They were a long way away and thoroughly out of reach right now. By her own hand, she was trapped in this dungeon that had nearly killed all three of them over and again. That killed a lot of her excitement, but apparently not Arcadias’.

“What did you get? What are your options? What are you going to pick?” Mia hadn't even had a chance to think about it. Specialising in an Attribute changed how it developed from then on. At levels 5, 10, 15 and 20, you could choose one aspect to improve above others. You could choose to choose a different one each time, and end up slightly better in each area and a bit more in one, but her parents had always cautioned against it - they said while you may be stronger than some, you would more often be weaker than any other Ability User.

Mia agreed with them, of course, her parents had never led her wrong, but the problem was, what should she choose? Increasing Strength would make her physically stronger, but she'd be slower and less able to stand up to damage. Picking Dexterity would make her faster and more accurate with ranged weapons, but her blows wouldn't strike as hard - and choosing Constitution would make her tougher but slower.

“Mia?” Arcadia asked, and Mia shook herself out of her thoughts. There was only really one choice, wasn't there? Mia had always trained to be as mobile as possible, and her Papa was a dexterity focused fighter. She wouldn't feel right choosing anything else. Mia made the decision and found the Essence in her body begin to move differently. Her muscles all cramped at the same time and she grunted with pain - though not as much as she though she would have felt even a day ago. Muscle cramps weren't really a massive strain when your Body stat was 5x what you started with.

You have selected Dexterity as your first Attribute Focus for your Body Attribute. Your ability to flex, balance, and run will now increase faster than the other aspects of your Body Attribute.

After a few minutes in which every fibre in her muscles twitched uncontrollably with Essence, but she was held utterly in place and fully experiencing the situation, Mia was released and felt…better. There was a feeling of grace in her limbs that hadn't been there before. She felt lighter on her feet, more than she ever had before, and she felt like she could move faster than ever.

Mia explained the feeling to an amazed Boone and a jealous Arcadia while they quickly scrambled into their clothing and armor, before they turned to the door of the waiting room. The gate was slowly creaking open to reveal the Colosseum. Only…it was different now. Much different to the sand covered arena they had fought and nearly died in.

“I don’t think Kintsuji has the same idea of a trial of Brawn as Minos does,” Mia said, looking out at the vast array of leveled platforms that stretched off into the distance.

The round Colosseum had been replaced with a wide and extremely long corridor, with the tiered seating still on either side, but it stretched off into the distance for at least a mile before the walls closed in again. Between where they were and the other end, the floor rose and fell, dropped away, narrowed and widened in a long series of platforms. Some rose in climbing walls, or floated in the air with ropes dangling down. Some were connected with wires or rope bridges, or seemed to be connected with floating stepping stones. Others moved up and down or side to side. There seemed to even be parts with swinging axe blades, or sections that were patrolled by skeletons, or watched over from archer nests. At the very far end, Mia could just about see a huge, Brass door set into a rounded wall.

“They made a Ninja Warrior course…” Arcadia muttered. Since her sister had revealed the true origins of her weirdness, the fact she occasionally slipped in phrases into her speech that made absolutely no sense to the situation made, well, a little more sense now. They were likely references to something from her old world, her last life. Like this one: Mia had absolutely no concept what a Ninja was, or why they would require something as contrived as this in her world of glass towers and flying metal boxes. The very idea that there were other worlds out there, that souls lived and died and passed between them, never to remember who they were…it was not something Mia was equipped to handle. So, she didn't…Mia had always been very good at focusing on the here and now - sometimes too good, as the courage trial had proven. She didn't need to deal with this problem yet, so she wouldn't. Arcadia was still her little sister. That would never change.

…Although she did wonder whether calling her Grandma would be a funny dig or not. She'd have to wait for the perfect moment…

“Aspirants! This Trial has been long, but it nears its end. At the end of this course lies your final reward, and your final proving ground. Capture your final Constellation, and kill the Chimera of this temple, and reveal yourselves to the world as true Champions of the gods. The first in this world for Eons longer than the kingdoms of Axis.” Minos’ voice boomed from above Mia, and the trio of tired and jumpy children leapt at the sound, only to look up and see not just Minos, but the Feathered Serpent and the Lion sitting in the repositioned royal box, as well as the Goddess that had tricked them all in here in the first place.

This was only Mias’ second time seeing the woman..god…statue…thing, and she couldn't help but think she was elegant, but mismatched. A womans’ body, a foxes’ head, eagle wings and long flowing hair, all carved from gold veined white stone. She looked inhuman, odd, and unnerving. Mia would never understand why Arcadia continued to speak of her with kindness and gratitude in her voice, when she had been responsible for all of this.

“Is this it, then? Do we get to leave after this?” Arcadia shouted up at the box, and the marble statue stared back with a twitch of narrowed eyes, the Mia saw were quickly smothered by a look of motherly compassion.

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“You do, Child. By completing this Trial Dungeon, you will do more for this world than toppling entire countries in wars. As long as one of you strikes the killing blow on the Chimera, you will have completed a god trial. Your status as an Anchor point will be cemented into this world, and I will be able to do my work of saving this benighted planet.” The goddess summoned a shadow that took the form of a glass of wine and tipped it towards us. “You have my thanks, little flowers. The situation in this world is dire, but you are going to help me save it. You will be heroes, one day. I promise you that.”

Arcadia looked rather off put by the statement. Mia could understand why. The Goddess basically said that if they failed here, or if they hadn't have gone through this ordeal, then she would have been forced to cause a lot of people to kill each other - and even if they hadn't have done that, Arcadia being in this world was still the thing that let her do that openly. Mia swallowed a lump in her throat as she looked at her sister and really saw her, as she stood up to a goddess. Mia loves her, always would. But she couldn't deny that at that moment she scared her a little. A lot was going to change because Arcadia had been born, and a lot of that wouldn't be good - even Mia could see that.

“And what about our Parents? Mia told me she saw them arguing but our parents would never do that in front of us. You said you'd talk to them. What did you do?” The Goddess actually looked vaguely uncomfortable at the statement, before realising she was supposed to look regal and straightened her shoulders.

“Your parents are safe. They are in a form of Stasis, asleep and held frozen perfectly in time. They will barely realise time has passed when you emerge, and your lives can go back to exactly how they were before, if the five of you wish for it.”

“Kintsuji, don't think I'm not grateful for this life you gave me. I love my family, my sister, and Boone. You gave me that, and even though I know I've been a tool for you, you didn't have to place me with a family as nice as you did. But please, don't lie to me. We both know I won't be able to go back to being a little girl travelling the divide with her family after this. You've spent too many resources and too much personal time setting this up despite,” she laughed, bitterly, looking at the human forms of the three Great Spirits standing beside her, “despite literally everything that could go wrong in this trial, going wrong. Is this how it will be for anyone else who takes this trial? Hand holding and back doors and mid Trial changes? You've handicapped your children at every turn, and saved us at every opportunity. This all feels so fake that you can't possibly believe it will work if we just go back to being a family. You're too smart for that. You've done this too many times.” Her sister had gradually straightened up, her shoulders squaring and her new tail lashing behind her angrily. Her voice had raised until she was practically shouting, and the goddess actually looked shocked at the apparent temerity of a mortal speaking up to her. “And what about Mia? She was never a part of our deal. I let you choose what constellations to give me. I've let you give me abilities that have warped my body.” She said this with tail and claws raise, even though Mia knew she could dismiss them, if she wanted to be able to use them to their full potential, Arcadia would have to keep a distinctly inhuman look for long periods of time, every time. “I went into this knowing that I was being moulded in your image, and I don't care about any of these,” she held her hands In Front of her face, and extended and retreated the claws. With the tiger skin armour formed around her hands and arms, she seemed to have a large cats’ front legs instead of human hands. “...Mutations. They don't matter - but you told me you wouldn’t approach Mia till she went for her Quickening. Forcing her into a Quickening and damn near breaking her to your will is not what we agreed to!” She yelled, and something that had been building in both Arcadia and the Goddess snapped. Mia stumbled back as energy seemed to pour from Arcadia, and her eyes actually started to glow. A shadow formed over her and it was much bigger than her. A giant, hunched Beast in shape that fire seemed to roll off of in the shadows of the essence leaking from her sisters' skin. Her beautiful pink hair, that they’d cut so short in the Recovery Room, seemed to write and twist, and started to grow at a visible rate, pouring down her back in a wave. The essence shadow over her grew a similar Mane, thick and shaggy and bright pink tinted with bloody red streaks.

In the royal box, Kintsuji had stood, and gripped the railing with both hands, where the stone cracked and crumbled under her grip. “You want to lecture me, Child!? I have spent aeons doing this, saving worlds, and you think you know my work better than me!?” Power began to build in the Goddess, and it was blinding. Mia was so scared suddenly that her blood froze in her veins and she would have sworn her heart stopped beating. Mia wasn't the smartest person, she knew that, but even she knew angering a goddess who could warp a dungeon like this in minutes was a bad idea for someone as comparatively weak as Arcadia. Mia rushed to her and got in her eye line, running straight through the building cloud of energy and dissipating it with her body. The essence flashed across her skin like static electricity and bee stings, but though it hurt, she didn't let it stop her as she grabbed Arcadias' shoulders and forced her younger sister to look at her. The burning light in her eyes faded, and her beautiful green eyes reemerged, the anger fading into shock and surprise in her gaze. “Mia?”

“It's okay, Arcadia. I chose to be here. I wanted to be the big sister and save you. I asked the goddess to put me here. It wasn't all on her.”

“But you're nine! She shouldn't have given in to the request of a child, even one as deadly as you!” Arcadia said, her eyes pin points as the essence crash began to hit from whatever had begun to manifest. Mia didn't know what it was and frankly didn't want to know - she just didn't want an angry goddess to decide smiting them would be easier than dealing with them.

“And you're eight. At least to me. Let me be the big sister here. Let me protect you.”

The energy from the balcony built in a sudden flash, and then, just disappeared. Mia looked at the box to find that the feathered serpent had placed a hand on the goddesses’ shoulder and was speaking to her in a low voice. The white marble goddess seemed to seethe, but then took a deep breath, and smiled at the serpent, touching her cheek. The Goddess and the spirits turned back to the sisters, and even Mia could see that Kintsuji was controlling herself. Barely, but she was at least trying to be civil.

“It has been a long time since I dealt with Mortals so directly. It has been a…strange experience. One I'm not entirely sure I'm equipped to handle anymore. There is much I cannot explain as to what is happening in this world, but I can say it is important you finish this Trial. Like a pebble in a pond it really will begin the ripples that help me fix what is wrong with this planet. But it has been a…slapdash ritual, born of spur of the moment decisions and my inattention while you have risked your lives on my behalf. There will be rewards, for yourselves and your family, you can count on that, but in order for any of it to work, the story must be completed by your own hand. As all true magic is a blend of essence and intention, so is this ritual. I can provide the essence, but mortals need to tell the story.”

“What will it do, when we do succeed in this place? Why is it so important? Why do you have to put childrens’ lives at risk when you are so powerful already?” Boone spoke up for the first time, the Fox seeming to have faded into the background, rather than face the ire of those who claimed him as family. Mias’ heart went out to the spirit. She had only known him truly a few days, but she understood he had always been there for her. That he had always been right there beside her, with Arcadia, just out of sight, and his presence felt so familiar to her soul that she couldn't help but love him as much as she did her sister. He was family, and Mia decided in that moment that she would defend the fox the same way she tried to do with Arcadia. If Arcadia was her true sister even with all her knowledge of another world, then Boone couldn't be any less than her brother, after all.

The goddess took a moment to consider, before finally sighing and sitting back again, looking at the three mortals below with something as close as she was able to come to true affection for creatures that were basically mayflies to her, a flicker of life for a moment and then gone. It had been centuries since she had taken a mortal into her confidence, but what had started as a curiosity with Arcadia the lost soul, had turned into something more in the last few years. A small kernel of feeling in her marble heart wanted to see this little family thrive and grow in power far beyond the confines of this one small world. “Worlds have Cores, just like people and Monsters, but on a much larger scale. Worlds even have classes, though they do not work in the same way yours will. Each person, plant, animal or elemental on a world forms a receptacle for Essence. So as each person grows stronger, so does the world as a whole. But to stop this world becoming stagnant - effectively dying - it needs to be made stronger very quickly. A Grand Achievement will do that. It is an act recognised by the System as marking the development of a world. A Grand general winning a war and raising up his country. A new god ascending the pantheon. A child completing a seemingly impossible quest. It will start a wave of changes that will allow this world to Rank Up. It will go from a stone rank world, to a Tin rank world practically overnight - and it's strongest will be able to ascend that far, and further. All the blockages stopping your world from raising last the most basic levels will be removed in the overhaul the achievement will bring behind It. It will open the floodgates for everyone on this planet, and like dominoes falling, each achievement after that in this Age will raise the planet further.”

The two girls and the fox looked at the Goddess with similarly stunned expressions. Not because of the statements she had made - it was honestly too big and all consuming for them to really take it in. No, they looked shocked because everyone in the room felt that she was actually being honest - possibly for the first time that any of them had heard since meeting her. The siblings shared a look between the three of them, Boone an equal part in the decision, and nodded, communication as instant and as understood as it can only be with people who had spent their lives in each others pockets. She had been honest, and it made sense. There was still anger and resentment - but it at least wasn't blind anymore. The girls actually knew what they were risking their lives for, and now that the curtain was drawn back slightly, the three could perhaps accept their situation.

“We’d better get to it then,” Mia declared, finally, with a tremulous smile at Arcadia and Boone. She clasped a hand with her Sisters’, pinkie to pinkie - Always, Anywhere - and laid her other on Boones’ head. Together, the three moved to complete the final part of their ordeal, and hopefully find a way home.