Arson pulled back three arrows all at once, and fired. The sound of the arrows knocking into place and piercing forward like that of a sonic boom, echoing prominently for each arrow sent forward.
Even before Arson could see what had occurred, he drew another three arrows all at once, and fired again. The powerful arrows not only knocked back the targets he tried to aim at, but also took more of the monster-like citizens to either side of his struck foes cleanly off their feet and over the edge. Realizing that the multi-shots weren’t killing his foes, but still keeping them away, Arson left the precision firing to Master Acu, and continued to use a far more shotgun style of attack.
The more he fired, the more accurate he became with his shots; quickly able to determine the spread of the trinity of arrows, and how fast they would fly before they struck their targets. This allowed Arson to again make head shots, taking out more targets in a single volley of arrows, rather than his original single shot method.
“That’s it, my boy, fire!”
…
Credence and his party were ejected from the dungeon, lasting only what felt like mere moments after being teleported from the testing sight, which had been Origin city itself, and into a half sunken palace of a strange land.
His group was forced to fight drakes that formed from sand and water that overwhelmed his four friends and him in no time flat, making him glad that he’d paid the extra money for an evacuation runic array. All he had to do was place a mana stone to the rune placed on his and his party's hands, and in an instant they were all returned to the building the Stealth Guild built to house the entrance for their new dungeon.
He sighed, knowing that the wealth in gold they’d spent to enter, wasn’t going to be easy to get back. Luckily for him, they’d bought a package deal that gave them seven attempts. Unluckily for them, the dungeon and test would change with every time they entered.
Credence had half a mind to let whatever enemy was selected for their next test to achieve first blood without a struggle of any kind to see if that would make their dungeon option easier, but worried that even that may result in a failure.
The enemies they’d faced both during the test and the dungeon they’d been taken to were vastly more difficult to overcome than anything he’d faced previously, and by the looks on his friends' faces, it was likely they would agree with him. What he overheard from a few members of the Stealth Guild nearby however shook him, their attempts at whispers not able to keep back the shock held in their excited voices.
“What do you think they are going to come out with, they’ve been in there all morning?”
“Who knows, it is probably going to be incredible, I mean Master Acu is undoubtedly one of our city's most powerful masters, but GuildMaster Breaker’s newest student is also training inside the dungeon with him.”
“You don’t think they died or something crazy like that? This is supposed to be the most dangerous dungeon found in our city’s history?”
“No, their array is the only one left lit after this morning's early admissions, they're definitely still in there, and since the array hasn’t shifted from red, Master Breaker believes they are still being tested even now…”
Credence looked away from the two Stealth Guild members and toward the shocked faces of his own party. His best friend mouthing "no way" at the words they’d all just heard as plain as day. The pair they listened to noticed their stares and moved away, continuing their conversation in a more private section of the room.
“Did any of you know that Master Breaker had a new student?”
His friends all shook their heads, none speaking in an astonished silence that permeated through them all as their thoughts took them away. None there truly able to believe what they’d heard.
Finally, Credence snapped out of his own daze as an attendant nudged him, letting them know that they needed to either reenter, or make way for any other parties that may exit the dungeon through the emergency access pad set up for the dungeon divers.
“Come on, guys, it's time to become Tested once more, and if a party of two can last an entire morning, so can we.”
His group looked around at one another. Doubt apparent on all of their faces. Yet Credence ignored the mood of his friends and rose valiantly to his feet, dismissing the lingering pains of the battle they’d just lost both mentally and physically, staring down the portal they would soon enter once more.
“Come on, get up, I got a plan to—"
Credence was cut off by a brilliant flash of light that consumed his entire party. The light died down and then he realized he and his party were no longer the only ones on the platform, Credence falling over in alarm at the sudden surprise.
“Ma ma ma, Master Acu,” muttered his best friend, her eyes wide as she stared up at the man. The man then speaking, slowly lowering his bow as he did so.
“Breathe Arson, it is over now, you must pull yourself from the embrace of warfare.”
Credence turned his head to see three arrow tips leveled perfectly across a bow, no more than an inch from his face.
Though he feared being shot, it was the fearsome gaze of the young man holding the bow that caused terror to run the length of his spine. Though his eyes were closed, Credence somehow felt that he was still being looked at.
At first he’d thought he’d been looking into two suns, dazzling in their movements, tendrils of light flowing across the face of the young man, only for him to open his eyelids and reveal Twin galaxies held within irises that froze him in place, the young man’s slow exhale releasing steam. Even more steam released from his pores as he stood from the crouching position he’d been in.
The young man looked around, seemingly confused at first, but after a few slow blinks and even more deep breaths, consciousness seemed to enter the young man’s star filled eyes.
“Sorry, Master Acu, I wasn’t able to move any faster…”
The young man wiped his neck, a drop of golden blood trickling down near his Adam’s apple.
“You are fine, next time we will just have to enter the dungeon before the Test takes us to non manageable levels.”
“I almost got my head cut off, I’m going to say that we were there a long time ago Master, just because it was easy for you, doesn't mean I can handle it…”
“You did well, but we will be back tomorrow, for now, we have an appointment with Osiris and by the look of things we are already late.”
The young man sighed, stretching; his guild tabard billowing as mana thrummed outward from his pores. He cracked his neck and threaded his arm through the bow he held, dropping the three arrows in his other hand, the projectiles disappearing as if they were made of sand and consumed by water.
“Was there a way that I could have increased my speed that I am missing, I really wanted to eclipse ten thousand kills, and I’m pretty sure I was close,” asked the young man; Master Acu nodding at his student as they walked off.
“Of course, many ways, but most of them come with practice and efficiency when lining up shots, one arrow being used to take down multiple enemies when lined up, that sort of thing, enemies in front or beside one another are..."
The man continued to speak casually to his student, but they were out of hearing range for Credence and his party after a moment. The party left looking around at one another. The level of awe shared at the words shared between master and student, enough to make them all want to give up and never return.
“Yeah, you sure about that Creed, seems like there is a tad bit more of a gap between us and that guy,” said his best friend. Credence couldn’t even take his eyes off the man striding beside Master Acu, shaking his head at the deluge of thoughts telling him that he would never measure up to such a monster.
“We’ll never know unless we try…”
…
Arson had never pushed himself as far he just had. No training sessions with Jade, no trial in the orphanage, nor anything he’d faced while in the trials of Endless were as difficult.
He had to admit that he was absolutely exhilarated by the experience, but also wondered if that made him crazy.
Think I might be exactly like Almarine. Uncle Winter did say if I stayed around her too long that I would take on some of her more unreasonable traits…
“What’s wrong, boy, your thoughts seem to be weighing you down again”
Arson glanced over to Acu.
“It's nothing, just confused by my own thoughts. On one hand, I want to become stronger, but on the other hand I don’t want to become some battle-crazed junkie that lives for combat and combat alone.”
“And what exactly makes you feel like that is something you will face?”
Arson took a moment to think, the pit of his stomach roiling with uncertainty, and an undertone of disgust at his own actions.
“They looked like people, yet still I was able to kill them without struggling or any sort of remorse, just makes me wonder if I am broken in some way.”
Acu shook his head slowly, not looking back at Arson as he responded, seemingly hesitant to speak up.
“Every warrior feels this to various degrees, and if they don’t they lack what makes the truly powerful rise. Sooner or later you will realize that there is no such thing as good and evil, just perspective. Even those taught to kill for reasons beyond self defense feel righteous in their actions. To be separated from villainy is only to be loved by those you fight for, lifted up by those you defend. Don’t fret, boy, peace will come with time, don’t let simple things rob you of calm.”
Arson silently contemplated the words. His emotions wild as he tried not to make excuses for his choices, trying to settle himself within reason and logic, while respecting what he felt boiling within.
“Thank you Master Acu.”
The man looked back at Arson and smiled, gesturing toward their destination in the distance. A large warehouse of a structure sat plainly at the end of the street they were on, looking out of place with the grand architecture found everywhere else in Origin.
A giant symbol of a tower shield with a series of intricate gears sat on one of two massive doors, while on the second door was a pattern of intertwined runes that formed the same image on the first door only magically aspected.
Arson watched his trial counter rise, and began to worry about the series of trials Endless currently put him through. Not because he was completing the trials, but how there was no indication that he was finishing them was bothering him more than ever.
The trials had a knack for simply displacing him once he’d gathered what he’d been sent wherever in the realms to learn, but for the first time since he’d started, he didn’t want to be pulled away from his destination before he was ready, which he had a feeling was going to happen at the most inopportune time.
What if with every trial I complete while being here I’m furthering the countdown to my expulsion from Origin?
Before he could delve any further, they arrived and the nearly two story tall doors opened, giving Arson a breathtaking look of the workshop inside. His eyes bulged at the cavernous space revealed, knowing about spatial magic not diminishing the grandeur of what fit inside the small warehouse in the slightest.
Within was a fusion of magic and science unlike any he’d ever seen before. Even the gold sector of Maelstrom could benefit from the marvels being developed within. The interior scaling from primitive to advanced beyond Arson’s own understanding.
“Bloody embers… what is this place?”
Arson’s eyes flitted about taking in oddities that he couldn’t entirely fathom. A waterfall moving against the natural flow of gravity, moving boats filled with various containers of unknown objects into the distance. A tree whose limbs seemed to be furiously building a mechanized suit of armor. Even a platform made of light that supported a manor that spit portals out of its entryways, items throughout the workshop collected by the gateways before they returned to the platform.
“What do you want, Acu?”
Arson’s head snapped toward the speaker to see two identical women. One statuesque and upright, giving an outgoing presence through a fierce gaze, while the other was more reserved and hunched as she slightly hid behind her apparently more dominant sister.
Both had very youthful expressions, while their hair was long and grey, giving both the twins an air of distinguished authority that couldn’t be ignored. Both their eyes filled with an ever changing light that shifted colors constantly.
“Hello Magnus,” said Acu, responding to the speaker.
“Hello Merlin,” continued Acu with a slight bow toward the other woman.
“What do you want, Acu? I’m not fixing another bow for you without you bringing me what I requested before your last repair,” said Magnus.
“We have a meeting with your Ma—“
“Don’t you dare say it, Acu, Magnus is in a mood and will cause more issues than even you can handle,” spoke Merlin in a near whisper. Arson looked between the two woman, incapable of looking away from their clothing momentarily, noting the differences in style and attributes.
Magnus wore a suit like garnet that held runes that lined the interior. The network of symbols flashing in Arson’s vision with every blink he took while looking at the pair. While Merlin’s robes were decorated with runes outwardly, the intricate pattern a complete contrast to her more docile aura.
Arson closed his eyes, taking in the patterns of the clothes, noting the arrays of runes were structured for completely different uses. One giving his senses an impression of runes being used like the lines found in computer code, while the other felt explosive and dangerous like artwork. The suit designed for the creation of tools and gadgetry, while the robes fit a more boundless magical functionality.
Arson opened his eyes to see both woman staring at him, making him feel as if he’d been doing something he shouldn’t by using his Closed Eye Dominion to take a look at the runes in full.
“Brave for a youngster, isn’t he?” said Magnus looking back at her sister who nodded, not taking her eyes off Arson.
“Well, we have a meeting with Osiris. Can we know where he is? He should be expecting us.”
Magnus looked to her sister again, Merlin not looking away from Arson until Magnus sucked her teeth in annoyance. The reserved woman, nodded once more before returning her gaze to Arson, who felt his skin crawl at the stare being placed upon him until Magnus spoke up once more.
“Follow me…”