I stand in front of the person that had called my name and try to seem confident. Am I pulling it off? What does confidence look like? I close my eyes and think of home.
They were all very confident and in control. It was awe inspiring actually but... I don't think that is the kind of confidence that I am needing here. What does an adventurer's confidence look like? Shoulders back, stand up straight, puff out chest, but just a bit. I want to appear confident not conceited. It is unfortunate how many people seem to be unable to differentiate between the two.
"Are you Amaya Moonflower?" a short man with large biceps and a bored look on his face, holding a clipboard asks me.
"I am." I say, keeping my words short and sweet. I don’t want anyone to hear my voice trembling, myself included.
'Alright voice in my head. I am here, testing to see if I am going to make it as an adventurer. I hope you are happy. You are happy, right?' I mentally think at him.
I should really give him a name. It has always just been Voice in my Head, but now that I am following that voice, I should really start thinking of it as a them. A them with a name and personality.
"Very good. Go through those doors, and follow the directions posted around you." the person speaking eyes me up and down. "There are lockers right next to me to keep your belongings in." They say and show me the lockers. I nod and place everything inside of them. They hand me the key and lock it up tight.
"Hold the key and say, 'Keep locked'." they tell me. Ah, vocal sealing magic. Very good. I will worry a lot less knowing that my belongings are safe. I hadn’t been entirely certain what I would have done with them. Well, actually I do know what I would have done. I would have tried testing with my belongings upon my person.
"Keep locked." I say, and then tuck the key away in my chest binding, the safest place I have on me.
"Good luck. And don't trip!"
Loving the vote of confidence, I go through the doors. I look around and take stock of where I am. It doesn’t hurt to have an abundance of caution. I don’t know what is going to happen, so it will be for the best if I prepare for anything and everything.
Nothing jumps out as a hazard so I begin searching for the instructions. I see a board ahead of me with writing upon it. I approach the sign and read the writing.
"Who says tests can't be fun? We are going to have you do a number of challenges! Just do your best, as the only person you are competing against is yourself."
'That is not very helpful' I think to myself, or possibly the voice in my head. It feels nice to pretend that I am talking to someone, especially since I am so nervous. 'Alright, just have keep on moving forward.' I say and take one step forward, then another, and another until I come upon the next sign.
"Adventurers have to be fast. Challenge yourself to see how fast you can run in a straight line. Sprint until the next sign. Ready, steady, GO!"
I dash, keeping my eyes focused ahead of me, but my ears perked up listening for even the smallest sounds. It sounds like a simple test, just run forward and see how fast you can go. They won't randomly pull out something really dangerous when we haven't even become adventurers yet, would they? I really hope not. However, I have indeed been taught to be ever cautious, and ever more so vigilant.
Tension and nerves high, I find another bit of speed and dash forward even faster, feet barely brushing the ground, just enough to keep me moving ahead. I quickly reach the sign and look behind me, and see... Nothing?
It really was a test just to see how fast you can run? Huh. I find this rather peculiar. What is the purpose of such a simple test?
I approach the next sign, feeling a little bit more confident, and read it.
"That wasn't so bad, right? Next, an adventurer needs to know how to sneak. There are little motion and sight runes around here. Try to make it to the next sign with triggering as few as possible. Also, there will be no indication when one of these has been tripped."
No notice? 'Well that's just great. Or, is it actually great? Having something beeping or flashing at me is likely to make me overthink everything, become startled and screw up.'
The area ahead of me had nets to climb, a cat walk, little trenches to crawl through and a great many walls to duck behind. A little something for everyone I suppose?
I make my way over to the closest wall as quietly as I can and hide behind it for a few heartbeats, then slink over to the next one. I do this a few times until I get to a net that goes high enough for me to get onto the catwalk.
Maybe they are also testing to see each person's weakness. I am not afraid of heights, so this should be fine. Also, it seems that most of the things that they can rig up will be on the ground. With this in my head I slink and zip my way over and begin my climb.
Here is where I will be the most exposed, and I am not happy about it. I keep the cloak around me as best I am able and begin my climb. Hand, hand, foot, foot. ‘This test is actually kind of fun’ I think to myself and laugh a bit. Oh no, there are sound runes as well right? I need to be a bit more careful from here on.
I tip toe my way down the catwalk, looking around, up and down, and use this vantage to try to scout ahead. Things like this are also important to an adventurer after all. If you can't know what's ahead, look and think ahead was something that I have heard.
I liked the saying, so I decided to remember it. It is turning out to be rather good advice after all.
Getting to the end of the catwalk I see the next sign. There is one up here, and one on the ground. I wonder if they are the same? Does the next challenge depends upon the choices that I made during this test?
Stolen novel; please report.
"Nice to see that you aren't scared of heights, but maybe you are scared of getting dirty? Oh well, on to the next test. How well can you get down from there, and move on to the next area in total darkness?"
With that I have just enough time to see a bit farther ahead on the catwalk and see a rope leading down before everything goes dark around me. Oh joy. I am ever so excited to be going about in this darkness.
It's not that I am scared of the dark, but more that I don't like the dark. Especially in a place that I don't know, doing a test that I am not prepared for, and not knowing what is coming next. I whimper a little and close my eyes, not that it mattered, and picture what it had looked like ahead of me.
Okay then, let’s go. I run down the catwalk and leap, reaching out for the rope. I feel myself, weightless in the air for a few heartbeats, hoping that I got this jump right, and that this isn't where my story is going to end. It's not, right?
Finally, blessedly I feel the rope in my hands. Never had I feel so grateful to have something in my hands. I almost kissed the rope but decided against it. Because yuck.
'Certainly this must be almost over right?' I think to myself and the voice in my head. That was already a lot of things. Hmm, speed, stealth, fears... What else is there? Swimming? Incantations? I shake my head.
I cannot be sure but I want to know what is next. I keep climbing down the rope until my feet grace the ground. The lights come back up and I am standing in front of a table full of weapons. All manner of weapons. Then I see the sign.
"Next to last test. Fight your way through, rescue the creature in the center of the room and leave into the next room. In that room will be your final test. Good luck!"
'And don't die.' I add. Really, I cannot be certain why that wasn't on the sign to begin with.
I carefully look over the weapons, curious as to what I am able to choose. Bows and arrows, all manner of different swords, axes, and even a slingshot! There were also grimoires, some sort of whistle, gloves and finally. 'Knives.' I think to the voice.
As suddenly as the voice’s words started streaming through my head they stop. Nothing like that has happened before. The voice… responded? It was saying new things? This was as of yet unheard of! And distracting, this is a very distracting time for this to start happening, and I cannot say that I am pleased about it. 'Fight huh? But I haven't learned how to fight yet!' Ugh. I was not screaming. But Mister Voice in my Head did have a point. I just need to walk up and stab it! Whatever it happens to be. And why creature? Was it not a damsel in distress? Isn't that what it usually is? Is this test more gender friendly with its terms because there are so many woman adventurers now? Good for them if that is the case. Hmm, and creature also because some people have issues with other races. Yes, I assume that these might be the reasons. I stifle a laugh. 'Quiet for now. Please. I must concentrate. But don't think we won't talk later.' He seems to quiet down, and I decide to go with it, and finish this section before he starts talking again. Why did his verbal dialog have to increase so much right now? I mean, honestly, why now? I will have to stick a knife in this and come back to it later. And speaking of sticking a knife in this. I need to go save this creature. Now then. I guess I should start making my way over to the room and the enemies will show up? After a few steps I see the first thing pop up. I call it a thing because it looked the misbegotten love child of a rat and a slime. Um, I don’t usually judge pairings, but this… this is just wrong. At least it is clearly just an illusion, though that did mean someone thought it up. What kind of disturbed mind must an individual have to think this up. Oh! Perhaps it simply manifested from their nightmares? I crouch low and silently move towards it, I take a deep breathe, raise my hand high, lunge forward, and plunge the dagger into its face. Putting the thing out of its misery, and mine as well. Moving forward two of them drop from the ceiling, this time it was rats with antlers. ‘Someone has a rat obsession’, I think as I ready my daggers. I grin, starting to get into this test. Two rats, two daggers. I run forward and taking the advice of the voice in my head, scream quietly as I stab them both right between the antlers. Satisfying wisps of light fly away leaving behind a small pile of ash. The closer I go to the center of the room, the more enemies that appear. I don't know what they used to make the enemies, but they are really well crafted. I could feel the daggers sink into them as they turn to smoke and ashes. The same way I hear that normal monsters do when you defeat them. It also shows me just how little I really know about what I am doing. Fight? I have never fought a day in my life! I would better know how to seduce an enemy! I think back to the rat slime, on second thought, stab! I feel little fangs and claws scraping and biting at me, and I marvel again at how realistic this all feels. Crazy. I guess this goes to show people that if they can't handle something like this then they just shouldn't be adventurers. I stop counting, but I think I kill about 15 various rat mutants. It feels like both forever and an instant at the same time, when I finally make it to the center of the room and see an adorable stuffed, thing? It was cute for sure, but I don't even think the stuffed thing knows what it is supposed to be anymore. It looks a bit feline and canine at the same time, and is also long like a ferret. "Cute!" I think, and worry about thinking too loud, lest I become drawn into a mental conversation again. Guess I didn’t think quietly enough. Now that I have the creature I just have to fight our way free. It seems like the enemies become thicker as we get closer to freedom. Six of them try to mob me at once, four rat pigs charge at my torso while the remaining two rat birds lunge at my face. I am slightly tempted to bite them, but I do not know what they are made of. Also, it is most assuredly a bad habit to develop, just to bite monsters that fly too close to me. I cross my arms over my chest and fling them out, daggers extended and shout “Foxfire.” I had never used the skill before, but somehow I can feel my mana instinctively taking shape. Blue swirls snake down my arms and leave the tips of my daggers as floating blue flames. With a thought I command them to enflame my enemies. They swirl around the rats one by one turning each of them to ash as I dash out of the room. Agility is not just for running away. I finally get into the last room. There is a little place to put the stuffed creature down, so I do so. I then see the last sign. "We need a bit blood. Sit there and put your hand into the machine. It won't hurt a bit!" Sure sign, I bet it won't hurt a bit. With a small sigh I walk over and put my hand into the machine. I feel a prick on my index finger and feel something squeeze out a few drops of blood. Once it had my blood the machine started making a lot of noises and several flashes of colored lights. Until finally I hear a ding! and out comes a paper with my stats on it. ‘Huh?!’