The location of their trial turned out to be outside of the camp entirely. A whole entourage of pirates led them alongside the bottom of the canyon. Traveling upstream, they walked for several minutes, until the only part of the camp that was still visible was the airship docked overhead.

There wasn’t much change in scenery — just the same orange rocks and sand and dead-looking plants. Finally, they reached a narrow, jagged ravine that shot off perpendicularly to the rest of the canyon. Filing in, they were forced to climb up a pile of small boulders. Crouching down, Zoe used both hands to steady herself as they continued towards their destination.

After a few minutes of treacherous climbing both up and down, they came to another sharp bend at the same time as they crested another pile. As they came to the top, Zoe saw that there were several crude wooden benches arranged in a semi-circle. There was also a single tent off to the side.

In front of and below all of this, the ground dropped off very sharply, leading down into what could only be described as a sand pit. The ravine ended here, cliff walls rising up on the far side. Looking down, Zoe saw that there was also an iron grate set into the bottom of the far cliff.

“Welcome to the sand pit,” Captain Hart exclaimed as he poked his head out of the little tent to welcome them. The tent was quite small and he was quite tall, so he must have been sitting. “Glad you could make it.”

The rest of the pirates parted as he strode towards the trio. Shaking each of their hands in turn, he patted them each on the shoulder. Zoe did her best to look him dead in the eye and not recoil at his touch.

“I’m not one for showmanship, so let’s go ahead and get this started.” Stepping back, the captain clapped his hands together. “So! Who wants to go first?”

Andric and Lily both started to step forward. Raising his hands to stop them, the captain shook his head. “I do like surprises. But in this particular case I think I’ll let on that you don’t really want to go first.” Pausing, he unbuttoned his coat. “Fucking hot,” he muttered. “So anyway, decide amongst yourselves now.” He pointed at Zoe. “But she’s going last.”

Frowning, Zoe glanced at the other two. Andric had stepped forward, putting his arm out to block Lily from joining him. I wonder why I’m supposed to go last. Shrugging off the thought, Zoe walked over and pulled Andric aside.

“Shouldn’t you go second? You said yourself that you wanted more time to recover, and Lily’s been meditating the whole time.”

Instead of replying, Andric just brushed her off and walked over to where the captain was waiting. Lily shook her head as she moved to Join Zoe. “It’s no use, so don’t bother. I like to call him a pushover and I enjoy taking advantage of it. But when he really does decide on something, he becomes the most stubborn person I’ve ever met.”

Frowning deeper, Zoe crossed her arms. The captain patted Andric on the back, and then gestured down to the sand pit. Walking over to the rim, Andric took a leap off. It was pretty high — higher than Zoe was comfortable jumping from — but he dashed to the ground at the last moment, landing with ease.

Turning around, Zoe saw that the majority of the pirates had taken seats on the wooden benches, filling them all up. Well, most of them. A single bench in the front and center remained unoccupied — at least until the captain sat down in the middle. Craning his head back, he gestured to Lily and Zoe to join them.

After sharing a glance, the two women obliged. Lily took a seat on the right and Zoe on the left.

Andric was looking up at them expectantly. Or rather, up at the captain. “Alright, give the lad his weapons,” the captain called out.

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The black iron gate at the bottom of the cliff swung open, and a small man came out, carrying two medium-length curved blades on a simple cushion. Keeling down, he presented them to Andric, who took them and immediately stashed them in his storage space. Zoe tilted her head. She thought he was going to use throwing knives — but then, she remembered that he probably still had his own stashed away.

The little man left back through the gate, and Andric looked back up at the captain. Leaning forward, the captain steepled his fingers. “Are you ready?”

Andric began to nod, but before he could speak, the captain interrupted. “Good.”

As soon as he spoke, two golden forms leapt down from the top of the far cliff. Andric whirled around to face them, withdrawing two throwing knives in the process. Zoe analyzed them, confirming that they were both scorching lionesses.

At the exact same instant, both lionesses bounded towards him. Andric released both knives without hesitation, striking both of them in the face. While his blades struck true, the beasts continued their charge.

Summoning back the dual blades, Andric dashed forward to meet them.

As he closed in, the two monsters both roared, sending twin gouts of shimmering flames washing towards the assassin. Realizing the danger, Andric reversed course in an instant, dashing backwards and doing a backwards roll up onto his feet.

The lionesses paused, roaring until the flames died down. Then, one right after the other, they charged. It was even faster this time, and they left scorched, burning ground in their wakes. Where they traveled, the ground cracked and glowed with a searing heat.

Andric dodged easily enough, though he did end up in between the two streaks of burning ground. Hopping over one to end up on the left side, he brandished his blades and taunted the two animals.

The rightmost lioness prowled around the perimeter of the other side of the pit, trying to cut him off. Her counterpart, on the other hand, charged straight towards Andric, leaving another streak of burned, glassy sand in her path.

Zoe did note that the first patch of ground faded away at the same time. Perhaps it’s an active magical effect and they can only have one at a time?

In any case, the charging lioness was almost upon Andric. Stepping to the side, he jumped and dashed. Spiraling through the air, he cut two huge gashes against the monster’s flank and then rolled onto his feet to deliver another devastating blow.

The lioness exploded.

The blast kicked up a large spray of sand — and worse, Andric was sent flying towards the cliff wall. Crumpling against it, he remained motionless for just a couple of seconds — enough time for the remaining lioness to zero in on his position.

Andric dashed to his feet and ran just in time to avoid the burst of flame washing over the spot where he had been just been lying. The lioness ran to follow him, sending burst after burst right up to his heels.

Now completely on the defensive, Andric continued to lead her around the pit. She was gaining on him though, and Zoe knew instinctively that he would have to turn things back around quickly.

As Andric ran by the mutilated corpse of the dead lioness, something about it caught Zoe’s eye. The dead lioness was split open and covered in dark blood. She couldn’t even tell which end of it was which — it clearly had to be dead.

And yet bits of it were twitching.

On impulse, Zoe activated {Medicinal Diagnosis}.

{Corpse / ???}

Zoe’s eyes widened and a chill went through her body. Whatever that meant, it couldn’t be good — in fact, something about the three question marks made it quite unnerving. No longer focused on the battle, Zoe watched in morbid fascination as the blood began to curdle and the corpse shifted, flesh rippling and melding back together.

Zoe activated {Manasight}.

Flashes of hazy dark purple and flaming reddish-gold danced in the corner of her vision, but that wasn’t what she cared about. A sinking weight made itself known in her stomach as she saw the murky black mana coiling around the squirming corpse.

A black like the black in the river. Like the black in her own veins.

Another explosion rocked the pit as the hideously mutated corpse rose to its bloodied stumps of feet. Quickly glancing over, Zoe saw that Andric had defeated the other monster. This time, it seemed that he had dashed out of the way of the explosion.

The captain clapped slowly and loudly next to her, but the rest of the audience was eerily quiet. Not seeing the growing, pulsating monstrosity limping towards him, Andric looked up.

Zoe analyzed the corpse.

{Corrupted Lioness - ???}

The captain leaned forward and cupped his hands to his mouth. “Good showing boy, I like it.” He leaned back as the second corpse began to quiver and rise. Looking down at her own mana channels, Zoe suddenly felt nauseous.

“But now the real trial is about to begin.”