“Experience Death?!” Selene blinked rapidly, as her hands clenched and unclenched repeatedly. “What? But-... What?”

“What’s wrong?” Meelara had noticed Selene’s face turning pale and could see the turmoil in her expression. “What happened, girl?”

“Uhh,” Selene mumbled, struggling to form words. “Uhm… Wh-what kinds of Trials did you say I might face?”

“Usually something related to your Path,” Meelara spoke slowly as her eyes narrowed. “For instance, I had to walk into a fire. What’s your Trial?”

“It’s,” Selene hesitated and licked her lips. “Uhm.. It’s to experience death…”

Meelara’s eyes widened and she drew a sharp breath.

“Oh,” she simply said.

“Yeah,” Selene nodded as she grimaced. “Any ideas? Death is a bit too permanent for my tastes.”

“Heh,” Meelara laughed briefly. “Alright, let’s go talk to Beren and the rest. I’ve got an idea, but it’ll be risky.”

“Alright,” Selene said, though she felt her heart racing. Selene rose, donned her cloak and hat, and followed Meelara through the door. They walked down the stairs and crossed the bar floor.

“Enter,” Beren’s voice came from within, and Meelara opened the door. Inside, Selene saw Beren sitting in the same seat, while Faren sat next to him. The others weren’t there. “Congratulations, Selene. Am I right in assuming that you’re here for aid in advancing?”

Selene nodded and took a breath. Meelara raised her hand and spoke before Selene could.

“It’s a high-risk Trial,” Meelara said. Beren and Faren raised an eyebrow but waited for Meelara to explain. “It’s to experience death.”

“Huh,” Beren’s eyes widened and he rubbed his chin. “That’s a first… Ah, right! You need Darren don’t you?”

“That’s right,” Meelara nodded. “I think that’s the safest option.”

“Hmm,” Beren frowned, before nodding. He then turned to Faren. “Go fetch Darren. Tell him to bring his Draught of Night.”

Faren nodded, stood up, and left the room. Beren gestured for Meelara and Selene.

“Have a seat,” he said. “They should return in a few minutes.”

“What’s the Draught of Night?” Selene asked.

“Poison,” Beren said. Selene’s eyes widened and her breathing hitched. “A quick-acting poison that doesn’t do too much damage to the body. It is also easily cured. Now, let’s discuss what you should expect.”

Selene breathed deeply when she heard Beren’s explanation and nodded.

“The poison will effectively kill you,” Beren said. “At which point, there is a small window to administer the antidote. But, as this is related to your Trial, whether you wake up or not, is mostly up to you.”

“Oh,” Selene frowned and started wringing her hands. “Have you done this before?”

“Personally, no,” Beren shook his head before smiling slightly. “But, I’ve heard about similar things. These kinds of Trials usually involve some more than just experiencing Death. You might have to travel as a free spirit, or perform certain actions.”

“How will I know what to do?” Selene asked.

“I don’t know,” Beren grimaced. “There are always variations and challenges involved. If the task itself is very hard, you might receive an obvious clue, or you’ll have to figure it out on your own. The only thing I know is that the harder the task, the vaguer the clues; the stronger the Stage.”

Selene didn’t say anything, she just nodded. Meelara glanced at her with worry in her eyes and placed a hand on Selene’s shoulder. She squeezed gently.

“You’ll do fine,” she said, smiling. “You’ve shattered all expectations so far. You’ll do great!”

Selene smiled at Meelara and released a breath before she nodded.

“Thanks,” her eyes drifted around the room as thoughts swirled in her head.

Silence spread in the room, as everyone pondered on the situation. This lasted for a full five minutes until someone knocked at the door.

To Selene, the knocks sounded like a death knell, a shiver ran down her spine as her breath hitched.

“Calm down,” she closed her eyes and reined in her breathing. “You got this, Selene! You’ll succeed, and advance to Stage 2. You’ll grow strong, strong enough to enact true change, to improve the situation for the natives of Earth. This is just an obstacle, a single hurdle on the Path.”

With newfound resolve, she opened her eyes and looked at Faren as he entered the room. Following him was a chubby man with dirt clothes. There was a manic look in the man’s eyes, and his greying hair lay matted to his head. He had a scraggly, unkempt beard and deep wrinkles marred his face.

“Good,” Beren said. “Have a seat, and prepare your equipment.”

The man, Darren, nodded and did as he was told. He brought out some flasks, various tubes, and instruments that Selene had never seen. One of the flasks was filled with a black, viscous liquid. Darren looked at her when he’d brought the various objects out.

“This,” he picked up the vial of black liquid. “I the Draught of Night. It will effectively kill you in a few seconds if you drink the entire vial. Immediately after your heart has stopped, we will draw a bit of blood, which I will use to create an effective antidote. You must understand that this is a risky endeavour, and we might fail. Do you accept the risks, and are you willing to take full responsibility?”

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“Uhh,” Selene frowned and looked at Beren and Meelara.

“One side effect of the Draught of Night is a high chance of forming a spectre, or vengeful spirit. If we should fail to bring you back, and if you fail the Trial, you need to accept that we are not responsible,” Beren explained. “It will increase the chances of a peaceful afterlife.”

“Right,” Selene nodded. “I get it. I accept the risks and the responsibility.”

She failed to conceal the tremor in her voice, but the others didn’t react to it, as if they pretended not to notice.

Selene reached out and grabbed the vial, while Darren took out a few tools, one of which was a long syringe. Meelara squeezed Selene’s shoulder and nodded while smiling gently.

Selene took a deep breath and unstoppered the vial.

“Here goes,” she thought as she brought the vial to her lips, tilted back, and downed the syrupy liquid. It travelled down her throat leaving a numbing cold in its wake, and Selene’s vision faded fast.

Her body slumped as the light left her eyes. Meelara grabbed her and supported her while biting her lip, and Darren rushed to draw the blood and begin the process of creating the antidote.

----------------------------------------

A strange sensation jolted Selene to her senses. It felt as if she was being pulled down, through darkness. It felt as if she was falling for hours before a swirling fog appeared around her. In the fog, she could see distorted, indistinct shadows flitting around. Beneath her feet, she could just make out what looked like coarse dirt.

The fog slowly dispersed, but it didn’t disappear completely, leaving the area shrouded, but visible.

The shadows remained indistinct, but Selene could now make out an outline.

“They look human,” she thought, not daring to speak. “Are they ghosts? Spirits? Where am I?”

She looked around, but there weren’t any noticeable landmarks. All around her was a desolate plain, with sparse, withered grass. A dead tree stood to her left.

“They’re all moving in the same direction,” she inspected the shadows or spirits. “I can’t see any other clues, so I guess I’ll follow.”

As she took a step forward, she found herself dashing past the landscape, rapidly approaching a mountain in the distance. She hadn’t seen it before, but in seconds she stopped at its foot.

“This feels familiar,” she frowned and looked around. The shadows moved slowly up the slope of the mountain, while others were still approaching. “The dream! This is the same as in my dream!”

She glanced to the side but saw no sign of the creature along the walls in her dream. She breathed a sigh of relief, shook her head, and started walking.

“All I can do is walk. There’s no way I’m looking for that beast. There has to be something about this mountain.”

The mountain appeared impossibly tall as she ascended, and this time, she didn’t race forward. This time, she moved slowly, like the other shadows.

The higher she got, the colder she became, as if some nefarious energy was drilling into her from the air. Every step became heavier until she struggled to move an inch. She looked up and saw that she wasn’t even a quarter of the way. There were no other spirits around her, all of them having given up and dispersed long before reaching this point.

She pushed and groaned as she kept fighting the pressure and cold until she saw a plateau to her right.

“I didn’t see that before,” she frowned. “It wasn’t there a second ago. What’s going on?”

Having spent all she had to get to that point, Selene scrambled to the side and stepped onto the plateau. The second she did, the pressure abated. It wasn’t gone, but it was nowhere near as heavy. She walked toward the centre of the platform and looked around.

The plateau was perfectly circular, with no other feature. It was perfectly smooth. As she made a full circle, she came face to face with a hideous face. Its skin was gnarled, and greyish-white. Its eyes were empty sockets, and its head was adorned with some thin strands of white hair. Its teeth were rotten, and it wore tattered armour. In its hand was a large sword that gleamed with black ice.

It swung without warning, and Selene barely managed to dodge. The moment she thought about drawing her sword, she felt the familiar hilt land in her hand, and her training took over.

She activated her skills but quickly found that the monster seemed to move faster, contrary to her expectations.

“It’s buffed by cold!” Selene realised and deactivated Chill of the Grave.

She dashed forward while her Shadow-wreathed sword swung horizontally, but the monster stepped back leisurely, avoiding the swing.

It countered with a fist which Selene sidestepped. She tried to attack the arm, but the monster retracted it faster than she could react, and the large sword swung toward her, forcing her to cancel her attack and dive.

She rolled, and regained her footing, but was immediately forced to dodge again, as the creature was hot on her heels.

“My Shadow Strike skill levelled up,” she recalled as she made some distance from her opponent. “What’s new? Oh, right.”

She focused for a second, and the shadows around the sword seemed to come alive, as they started flickering like a fire. They also gained a lighter hue, turning dark grey rather than black. As she recalled this, she also reactivated Chill of the Grave but tried to alter it in a similar fashion.

The area around her turned black, and she could no longer see her surroundings, but she still had her Spirit Echoes.

Spirit Echoes allowed her to see the Spirituality in the air, so the darkness was obscuring her vision slightly, but the monster was like a bright light in a fog. Furthermore, it seemed that the altered Chill of the Grave allowed her to sense what happened in the affected area. It didn’t give her any detailed feedback, but along with Spirit Echoes, she got a pretty decent image of her enemy.

With newfound resolve and vigour, she dashed forward.

While the Chill of the Grave seemed to make the monster faster, it didn’t appear to be able to see through the darkness. It still reacted as she got close, but it missed the swing and didn’t move in the correct way to dodge.

Her sword swung quickly, cutting into the hard flesh of the creature.

“Its skin is tough,” Selene analysed her enemy. “It’s fast, but without an ability to see, it can’t react properly.”

She rolled to backwards as the creature swung wide, before dashing back and stabbing her sword into the monster’s chest. A groan escaped its lips, but nothing more happened, so she pulled the sword back, and dodged the follow-up swing while moving behind the creature before she swung for its neck.

She poured more of her Spirituality into Shadow Strike, and the sword faced only brief resistance before it cut clean through.

The monster toppled over as its head rolled away.

At that moment, Selene’s vision blurred, and she suddenly retched.

Her vision changed, and she found herself back in the bar, surrounded by Beren, Faren, Darren, and Meelara.

She smiled widely before she fell asleep, she just managed to see the notification.

[Advancement successful. You have ascended to Stage 2: FrostShade Reaver.]