Dan looked around, to his right side he had Abyzou, and still hanging on his back he had a certain goddess that had agreed to tag along.  He was currently standing in a deep forest, trees of twisted black oak covered the skies, allowing for no light to pass through.  A deep grey fog covered the entire area, allowing him to only see for a short distance in front of him. The only sound he heard was the breathing and movement of the three of them.

With one arm still wrapped around his neck Apate lifted her lantern, casting the fog around them to shimmer blue, but it only seemed to cause it to be harder to see as the ghostly light bounced off the clouds and back at them.

“Turn the lantern off.”  he said, and with one hand he gripped the Khopesh he had attached to his waist, pulling the curved blade free of its bindings.  The blade gleamed a warm brass, it might seem odd that that was the metal they used to make it seeing as it would have been much more effective as steel or even iron, but Amani had assured him that brass was the correct metal to use seeing as it was the only metal that could truly take on magic.

Iron and Steel both resisted magic, they were ore that repelled it, and this was fine in most cases, but should the blade need to be enchanted like this one, well that just wouldn’t do.  Focusing he sent his will into the blade, and all along the sickle shaped sword blue Akkadian runes formed.

It was an ancient Akkadian spell for banishment and sealing, a spell most effective against anything that was magical in nature, and if the creature he would be fighting was not magical, well then it was still a sword after all.  He reached out his other hand and grabbed ahold of Abyzou’s, with a fog this thick getting separated seemed like a really bad idea.

“So what trial is this?”  he asked Apate, taking a step forward and peering around carefully. With every step he could feel the plants crush under his boots as he walked forward, it was like he was stepping on something alive, something more alive than mere plants, he could almost feel the life drain out of each blade of grass as it folded under his boots.

“I don’t know,” she answered softly, almost as though she was afraid of disturbing the fog, or whatever was in the fog.

“You don’t know?”  he asked looking at her.

“I have never been out of my realm, this all is new to me, I have only ever seen the world through others eyes and memories,”  she continued to whisper, “People twist things in there heads, lie to themselves to make something seem better, what I viewed were those, I know not what is truth and what is lies someone has told themselves.” that was quite the narrow world she had there, or perhaps it was much broader than his own he had no way of gaging the two as he didn't know enough about her to make that decision.

“Aby?”  he asked glancing over at her, hoping she could shed some light on their current predicament.

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“I know not which this is, but there are five trials.” her golden eyes blazed as she looked at him. “There is the trial of the mind,”  she glanced at the woman that was hanging off of Dan’s back.  “In which you must show that you have a clear mind to make choices that need to be made.”  she looked back at Dan.  “Then there is the trial of strength, you must simply survive that one.”

“Seems pretty self explanatory,” Dan nodded.

“Indeed, then there is the trial of the Heart, where compassion is key, then there is the trial of the soul, not much is know about that one, and the last is the trial of resolution.”  she looked at him deeply in the eyes and took note of the gold that had started to streak there, washing away the normal blue.  Was he awakening again? Would she finally see what he was truly?  She didn't care what he was a demigod of, he was her Dan, and nothing could ever change that.

nothing .

“That last one also sounds pretty self explanatory,” Dan said nodding, trudging forward, crushing the grass under his foot.  Out of the fog arose a tablet, or rather they saw it as it was already in the fog and they had simply walked towards it, on it was ancient cuneiform. Dan really had to learn how to read that some day, seeing as it was so crucial to his everyday life. “What does it say Aby?”  she looked at it and opened her mouth reciting what was written on it.

The wicked Utukku who slays man alive on the plain.

The wicked Alû who covers man like a garment.

The wicked Etimmu, the wicked Gallû, who bind the body.

The Lamme,Lamashtu, the Lammea, Labasu, who cause disease in the body.

The Lilû who wanders in the plain.

They have come nigh unto a suffering man on the outside.

They have brought about a painful malady in his body.

The curse of evil has come into his body.

An evil goblin they have placed in his body.

An evil bane has come into his body.

Evil poison they have placed in his body.

An evil malediction has come into his parts.

Evil and trouble they have placed in his body.

Poison and taint have come into his body.

They have produced evil.

Evil being, evil face, evil mouth, evil tongue.

Sorcery, venom, slaver, wicked machinations,

Which are produced in the body of the sick man.

O woe for the sick man whom thy cause to moan like a šąharrat.

She looked over at Dan, worry in her eyes. “It is signed Langdon, the lost soul.”

Dan looked at her, and at her, “The only word I really recognized in all of that was Gallu, please tell me we don't have to do that again, because that was what got us into all of this mess...”  she looked over at him and was about to speak when something moved in the fog just beyond the stone tablet.  He pushed Abyzou behind himself and used both hands to hold the Khopesh.  Four long spindly and sickly grey hands wrapped around the stone and a monstrous head swam into view through the fog.  It had a head shaped like that of a man’s though it was much larger, and was covered in a grey skin that seemed to look like it was roughting even as it sat on the creature’s face.  Long greasy hair hung down from its head obscuring most of it from view, but it couldn't block the most disturbing features.

Or rather it was the lack of features that made it disturbing. It had no mouth lips or ears, and its soulless eyes stared at him, a strange sort of sorrow and repulsion welled up in Dan as he looked at the thing.

Welcome to my realm.

It spoke, or didn't speak, the sound bounced around in his head, causing everything to lose focus, causing everything to swim in his eyes.  He fell to his knees, his eyes falling shut as he heard the sounds swimming, worming burrowing into his mind. With sheer force of will he opened his eyes, even though it felt like a thousand pounds was dragging each of the lids down.

Struggle if you wish, but know this, I am Alû. when they speak of me, it is always in fear: Whom in his bed the wicked Alû covered,Whom the wicked ghost by night overwhelmed...