The dark was total and complete. It was all consuming and the kind of dark which causes the observer to lose all perception of what light is, even though they have seen it their entire lives. He stood still, but there were no traces of light. Nothing seemed to be coming. Just emptiness in place of environment.

“Dariea!?” Jano called out.

He felt panic rise within him.

“Dariea!? Robin?” Nerves slaked through his intonation.

He tried to reach out for the others using his spirit. He meditated and reflected on it, but nothing came to him. If the others were nearby, he could not feel them. What he could feel however, was the immense power of the chaos around him. He thought for a second he could channel it into his spirit and somehow use it against itself. He thought better of it, for it was powerful and even he could tell that it was just as likely to flood into his spirit and cause him serious harm if he did so.

He walked. Or at least, that is what he thought he was doing. He raised his arm before him in the hope that it would detect any obstacles before him. The darkness was suffocating. He stumbled on for a few more paces. Or a few hundred, he could not be sure. Every step was laced with fear and trepidation that he may meet something.

“Dariea!?” He shouted again. His voice was trembling now. He thought he heard something scurry in the distance. He strained to hear more, but nothing came. There was silence once more.

After what seemed an endless time, the darkness began to change. Small specks of light began to permeate it. He didn’t move so much as the environment shifted around him. A small tear in the fabric of his reality appeared before him as if from nowhere. He saw some clothing briefly on the other side. It seemed as though he could pass through it and he moved to touch it with his finger. The light was pulled from him and it moved higher than he could possibly reach. Then it disappeared once more and Jano was plunged back into darkness.

He grasped out in anger and desperation. He started to walk. He had to do something. He buried the fear of walking into something or falling deep down. The more he walked, the heavier he felt the presence of the chaos around him. The essence around him was creating a relentless pressure on his spirit. He felt it pushing and pulling on him. Begging to be allowed in.

Jano stopped dead as he crashed into something solid.

“Open your eyes.” A voice whispered. His skin pricked. He did not recognise the voice; but it spoke in such a familiar tone that he felt he should.

“Hello?” He said.

“Open your eyes Jano.”

He looked around him frantically. He was confused. “My eyes are open! Who are you? What is going on?”

He bent over double. The pressure on his spirit was intense and it felt as though his organs might buckle.It seemed that the ground below him might split and swallow him. Nothing could resist this pressure. He was forced to his hands and knees. He felt sick. He began to retch.“Could you please tell me what you want!?” He screamed, forcing the words from him.

“Open your eyes.”

The words were softer now. The pressure was overwhelming. He reached out and upward and felt the solid structure he had bumped into. Something guided his hand to a handle. He turned the handle and the structure opened. It was a heavy door. Violet light flooded in and Jano found himself temporarily blind.

He staggered through. It took a few moments to be able to see anything at all. A violent and destructive landscape lay before him. He was standing on a small gravel path which lay just above a sea of boiling purple liquid. On either side, jets of fizzing water sprang up high in the sky. Heat was everywhere and it seemed as though his skin was ablaze. He watched the jets and noticed a sheer cliff on the left hand side. A group of people stood watching, though they were so far away that Jano had no hope of making out their individual features. They seemed to watch him, out of interest or entertainment he couldn’t tell.

The spiritual pressure was gone, but something still tugged at him. He looked higher up, and noticed three moons dotted in the sky. They looked menacing in the deep violet sky. They were all different. One was almost fully green and close enough for him to notice it was forested. Perhaps others lived there and strode as confidently around the stars as he did on his home. It came to him then that he was somewhere far away. He was no longer in his own world.

He stood up as tall as his posture would allow and attempted to hide any show of anxiety as he strode forward. The pressure on his spirit responded as he did so. He dared for the first time to scan using his spirit. The temptation to let it in was still there however. He couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that to let it in would be to lose everything.

The path was straight for almost one hundred paces, before it began to twist and turn like a snake. It was all still very visible to those observing high on the cliff, but Jano couldn’t see what was around each bend and he prepared himself each time for some horrible shock. In and of itself, the preparation was exhausting. He felt his heart rate steadily climb as he approached each bend. His hearing narrowed desperately searching for any noise or hint of one.

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The purple rock face was narrow now. He couldn’t see those watching him as the face of it was sloped slightly against him. He could no longer see those high on the cliffs, but he was beginning to feel their presence. There was so much chaos essence around him and yet, he could make out the difference between the pure essence and whatever was watching him. He only allowed himself a peremptory attempt of a scan of his environment. Terror gripped him. It felt as though whatever was around him would force its way inside his spirit. It seemed inevitable.

Something screamed in the distance. The ground began to shake. Jano readied his weapons, though he suspected they would be no use. The pressure was heavy again now and pulled him down. He fought to keep himself on one knee, but his body trembled against it. It threatened to betray him and he knew it.

A monstrous creature rounded the bend. It had several large arms protruding from its back and resembled a spider in that regard, but its head resembled a wolf, though not one he had seen before. The pressure held him in place and grew heavier like some form of spiritual anchor. All the while it begged to be let in.

Voices tore at his consciousness. The monster was almost upon him. The voices grew louder.

“We will help you defeat the demon. Let us in.” They cried.

Jano readied himself with his scythes and attempted to search for any stone nearby. There was no hint of essence other than chaos as far as his spirit could reach. He dared not draw on it. The creature towered above him and roared. The pressure lightened once more and Jano struck as hard as he could with Eradin’s old scythe. The swing cut through the creature, though no blood came forth. Instead, violent violet essence spilled all over Jano. He watched as the world began to spin once more.

He shut his eyes and couldn’t hold the scream which had been building in any longer. He was disoriented, scared and upset. In that moment he was furious and filled with a rage so intense that he almost tossed his misgivings to the wind. He wanted it to let whatever was begging to be let in have its way with him and take his chances. Perhaps he would die. Perhaps he would sever his spirit so severely that he would suffer irreparable harm. Or maybe, he would channel it all. He would become its puppet certainly, but he would gain an almighty strength. Intrinsically he knew the bargain it sought to strike and he reached out with his spirit as though to take it. His rage and fatigue wanted nothing more than the power it promised. Whatever had promised it.

Something somewhere gave him the strength to pull back. A steely determination formed in his mind. He wouldn’t relent. These were tests, they were designed to push masters to their limit. He was not even close to that. He decided to face the insurmountable strength of this kind of chaos or die trying.

An almighty roar filled his ears and he thought they might burst. He began to fall. His body was limp and almost without life. He knew that whatever waited for him at the bottom of the fall would kill him. So he let himself fall. He gave himself to the momentum. Deadly though it almost certainly was.

The pressure returned and caused him to flip like a fish out of water. Like a fish, desperate to return and running quickly out of life. He drew inside himself. He refused each bite of the chaos which sought to draw more and more of his strength so that it might have him. He shut his eyes and fought with what little strength he had left.

Violet and black streaked weapons materialised and they sliced and hacked away at him as he fell. The pain was searing as he watched clumps of flesh fall from him. His arm was almost slashed clean off at one stage, though enough of it had already been cut away to render him useless.

“Let me in!” The voice snarled.

Images flashed before him as he fell. He saw Alsace leading an army during the day, she was striding towards his position ready to attack. Time passed and she was in her bed chamber, but she was not alone. He watched as Alsace was groped by a woman lying next to her while others pleasured themselves. Naked bodies were strewn on luxurious pillows and crumpled sheets. Eradin was at the head of the bedchamber. He was smiling. They all proceeded to take turns and they cried out in ecstasy. Jano felt his heart wrench. It’s just part of the test, he told himself. He repeated it. Over and over again he said it. He wasn’t sure if he believed it. Whatever it was, it was in his head. It knew his worst fears and it was trying to manipulate him.

Next he was on a planet not unlike his own, but certainly not the same; surrounded by people with purple tinged skin. He instantly knew that these were those who had watched from atop the cliff. They summoned many intricate techniques of chaos, many of which ripped into Jano’s skin and set it afire with pain.

He curled into a ball as he fell. He knew it to be an illusion of some kind, but the pain felt significant. He became aware of everyone watching him and now he was able to distinguish between those skilled with essence and those without much power at all. It overwhelmed him and he forced his eyes open. The pain still seared in him, but there was nothing on his skin. Is it in my spirit? He began to panic until he felt the pressure bouncing off him once more.

Then it was over. He was surrounded by lush green gardens again. Both of his companions were nearby but Jano could not uncurl himself. He suddenly realised he was soaked in sweat and who knew what else. It was not until much later he realised he had been weeping.

Robin rushed over to touch him but Dariea’s arm held her in place.

“Don’t. He’s not yet ready.”

He recognised the severity in her voice. The formality she reserved for only the most exclusive of situations. It did not make Jano feel better. He felt his breathing for the first time in a long while. It was too fast. Realising that fact made him panic far more than he had thought possible. He was going to die now. He was sure of it. He had come through it all to die in the safety of his friends. That thought gave him small comfort, but that was all that was needed. It let Dariea’s voice in.

“You are safe now. I promise, nothing can harm you here.” Jano could still not get his breathing under control, he knew he must but he could not. He would die here, in the safety of his master.

“Reach out. There is no pressure here. Feel it. It is the world as we know it. Nothing will harm you here.” Dariea’s words were a light in the darkness. A thick filled mat under his fall. He nestled against her, with no shame in the action. The repetition was comforting, regardless as to whether the words even reached him.

“Breathe. Breathe. It’s all okay. You passed whatever test they gave you. You will forever now be able to master the chaos, rather than it dictating to you in the name of power. You are your own master; you proved that today.”

Jano felt the comforting warmth of her words and her hand on his head. He was not going to die. He knew that now. And so sleep, which was a terrifying prospect until a moment ago, now came easily.