Sam’s vision was instantly bombarded by a large battlefield. The large forest, what he assumed to be a place related to the Vital Mender, was demolished. Trees were fallen over, weapons embedded in the greenery, blood spread all over. Bodies lay across it all, with only two figures still standing. The Vital Mender and the Herald of Mortality.

The Herald was battered and bruised, wearing a torn black cloak. Their head was visible, but there was no sign of any flesh or blood. The holes in the cloak allowed Sam to see that the Herald was made of nothing but bone. There was no light in the Herald’s eye sockets, and it looked as if a breeze would make them fall over.

Sam didn’t feel any different, but when he looked down at himself, he realized he was covered in injuries and blood. His stomach sank, as though he didn’t have hemophobia, it still made him feel sick. His body was almost completely stained red, with a major cut visible going across his torso, from the top left to bottom right. He quickly looked back at the Herald in specific, but seeing no movement, he checked around their area of battle.

There were pieces of what Sam could only assume to be metal sitting between them, with the prominent color being pitch black. The grass itself wasn’t all destroyed, but looked almost knitted together. The metal, too, seemed attached to the grass, almost as if sewed into it.

Trying to find some way to supplement his thoughts, Sam once again looked at the illusory rectangle that was still omnipresent in his vision

Sam Scott’s Assessment:

Type: Scenario

Description: You, the Vital Mender have upset the Herald of Mortality due to performing resurrection on a soul destined to Cross. War broke out, and losses were suffered on both sides. Both deities are on their last legs, reduced to the powers of a mortal, and cannot break the stalemate.

Goal: Solve the Conflict

Time Limit: N/A

Upon rereading this, he understood why the black shards of metal had looked like part of a crochet. It must’ve been one of the powers of the Vital Mender. Sam decided that he couldn’t let himself get distracted, despite spending an ungodly amount of time analyzing their surroundings for no good reason. He thought the Herald was doing nothing, but when he looked over, he saw a small flicker of light coming from their eye sockets.

Despite his curiosity around the area and negligence for the “enemy” at hand, even he could tell that meant that the Herald was doing something magical. He didn’t feel or see anything indicating he had any godlike powers in this scenario, so if he had wanted to injure the Herald in an attempt to make them retreat, he had just lost his chance.

Sam now realized that the only thing left to solve the conflict was negotiation. He had seemingly no other soldiers, and he was just a regular guy. But how could he negotiate? He had no idea of anything he could use to bargain. He was stressing out internally, but after a moment of recollection, he decided to probe the Herald with his most domineering voice, “We’ve both been reduced to the level of a mortal. You probably have realized the same. If this fight goes on, it may result in both of our deaths.”

The Herald calmly responded, “I’ve already stated this, but it seems that you cannot understand. There is no mercy to be given to those who revive others in any capacity. Death isn’t something that should be warped for personal pleasure. It is too big a risk to allow you to survive, for I fear you will only disobey once again in the future.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Sam tried to look confident, but he was now stricken with anxiety. Why was the Herald so calm? He was just in the middle of a life or death battle, and now he had been reduced to the power of a mortal. Sam had just arrived, but he was all but about to attempt and run away. Sam worried for his life. He tried to think of something he could say or do to fix this, but suddenly, the Herald attacked.

A strange light emitted from the Herald, and it extended into a piece of the pitch black metal from the ground. The fragment suddenly ripped from the ground, and the Herald retrieved it.

The Herald started to speak once again, “Immortality is a dream.”

The Herald took a step towards Sam, but he couldn’t move. He was frozen in both confusion and fear.

The Herald spoke again, “A coward’s way of resisting the inevitable.”

He took another step. “Death calls for all.”

At this point, Sam could tell this was a chant of some sort. The pieces of metal were probably a weapon of sorts, and he wouldn’t be surprised if this metal fragment had more power than both of them combined. Despite his fear, he decided to run. Run as far away as possible, at least to recuperate. His steps were quick, but despite the lack of pain or exhaustion, he could tell that his body was starting to slow down after only just a few steps. Sam looked down at his leg and saw that he was limping. He darted around, looking at anything that could help him, and finally made a connection that should’ve been obvious.

Goal: Solve the conflict

He didn’t need to win or even survive. He only needed to Solve the Conflict. Despite his fear telling him to continue “running”, he limped back to the Herald, still just a few steps away from his original position. He stood just across from the Herald, and said nervously, “I suppose you are right.”

The Herald, about to speak again, paused for a moment, before taking another step and exclaiming, “Even the Gods.”

The fragment of the weapon suddenly exploded, but immediately after the trigger of the explosion, he was back in the nothingness. The message on the rectangle was gone, replaced by a new one.

Congratulations. You have completed the Goal: Solve the Conflict.

Assessment complete.

Sam was now entirely focused on the message, as it was the only thing different from the nothingness now. There was no cube here to speak to him, just himself and his thoughts.

After just a few seconds, almost as if recognizing that he read it, it switched:

Evaluation of Sam Scott:

Pre-Assessment: Initiate automatically connected scenario to works of fiction from home planet Earth. This assumption could have been detrimental, but the Initiate attempted to test their theory with the 1st question. Despite the logical sense, Initiate’s 1st question was too vague, and could’ve been easily answered in a number of unhelpful ways. Initiate’s 2nd question takes advantage of the knowledge of the System Avatar concept that he assumed. Consequently, his 3rd, 4th and 5th questions are irrelevant for this evaluation, despite following the System Avatar’s instructions. Initiate concluded from the answer given to him by his 3rd question that some questions could possibly bypass this limitation, or could be unanswerable, such as the one thought of in his mind. Initiate made assumptions about the Assessment that were entirely false.

Assessment: Initiate was able to complete the goal of the scenario assessment. Initiate was able to deduce the eventual attack of the Herald. Initiate has an aversion to violence, and didn’t even think of killing the Herald. Initiate failed to kill the Herald, the most popular method of solving the Goal.

Overall:

Initiate made many assumptions and a moderate amount of deductions that allowed him to complete the goal of the scenario, performing the 4,372nd best out of the 1,000,000,000 candidates issued the same Assessment.

Above Average

Archetype: Divine Kinetic

Talent: Quick Thinking

Description: Initiate passively thinks 100% faster.

Despite Quick Thinking’s supposed effect, Sam couldn’t tell a difference in the nothingness he was currently in.

Just like before, a new message appeared a few moments after he read the last one:

Initiate Sam Scott has completed the Assessment and Evaluation, and will now be returned to Earth.

Directly as he reached the end of the message, the nothingness around him swirled once again, and he all but anticipated the new world.