As Amaterasu was leaving the Colosseum, she took a moment to think about the Priestess’s words that were spoken about her appearance and the way she dresses. Her confidence in the way she looked was always something her followers admired and she was proud of that.
She thought for a moment:
‘Maybe Gaël doesn’t want me to be seen like this in front of other people.’
‘Amat, is that your voice?’ Gaël sent his concerned feelings over immediately as her downtrodden emotions were conveyed through her thoughts.
‘Gaël! How can we reach each other now?’
‘Sophie and I cleared our first trial, when Ruby and Yuna completed theirs, our thoughts were reconnected again. I'm so glad to hear your beautiful voice again.’ Gaël immediately sent over his warm aura of love to her. Amaterasu felt so happy and immediately decided that yes, she doesn’t want anyone to see her dressed this way, only Gaël gets to see her like this. She enveloped herself in flames and as they died down she was covered in a beautiful white robe with Orange trims over her dress, on her left breast were Gaël’s and her brand. It covered her arms, chest and legs with small flames reaching upwards. On her back was an enlarged brand that was on her left breast and it had rays of light that reached out to her shoulders, neck and down to the bottom of the robe.
‘You know, you make me so happy with how much you care about me.’ Amaterasu immediately conveyed the same emotions she was sent. ‘I just finished my trial as well, meaning in the second trial they might want us all working together to overcome it.’
‘It’s possible they might want us working together, if not they may be allowing us all to talk together as a reward system they have in place?’
‘If it’s a reward, they’ve given us a great reward then. Could you tell me about the trials that you went through?’ All four of us took turns talking about the trials we went through, and even Takemikazuchi introduced himself as well. After exchanging greetings Sophie was the final one to tell Amaterasu about her not being allowed to talk about what she saw which was the condition of her passing the trial.
‘I see’ Amaterasu was in deep thought about Sophie’s trial. ‘It’s possible that it was just a scare tactic for you, if I hadn’t just gone through something similar for my trial I would have just thought that.’ Amaterasu gave a brief recap on what her trial was about to emphasise her point and Gaël immediately sent over his feelings of love and affection in a form of a cuddle. Everyone including myself sent over our feelings as well as they recognised how difficult it was for her.
‘Right everyone’ I took control of the situation, let’s get moving, we’ll either meet each other in the next trial or at the end. One or the other, the sooner we get there, the better.’ Everyone accepted my orders and we all got a move on.
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Sophie and I left the room the first trial was in and we began moving forward through the hallways, there were, a lot of them.
“I think we’re in a maze now, stay close to me and don’t wander off.” I conveyed it to Sophie and she took my hand after nodding to me. Walking through the hallways took time, the time I just honestly didn’t have.
‘Amat, I have an idea and I want to ask you first.’ No response at all.
“Damn it.” I cursed under my breath. They gave us hope that we could maintain contact with each other and as soon as we left they cut off all contact with each other again.
“Hey Sophie I have an idea, stay behind me.”
“Hmm.” The confirmation was short but it was enough. I pointed my finger and focused an orb of fire into my fingertip, maintaining the constant pressure and tension of the condensed power and imagined a laser from my world firing from the tip of my finger. I released by breathing out and I fired an incredibly dense stream of flame, hitting the wall with sparks. After a moment, I let up on the laser and looked at the damage I did to the wall. There was nothing there, it was completely smooth from the impact.
“Right, no cheating allowed. This priestess of Benzaiten is ridiculously strict and observant it seems.” I looked at Sophie and she stared at me with stars in her eyes.
“What did you do there Gaël!?” She pointed to the wall. I sheepishly scratched the back of my head and provided a nervous laugh before answering.
“Back in the world I came from, we have these tools that fire out a stream of fire, used to melt two pieces of metal together, they stick together when they cool down. They can also be used on the joints of said metal, melting them apart when they hit a certain temperature. What I tried to do there was cut a doorway for us to get around this maze quicker.” Sophie was gleaming at the thought of being able to do this herself. So she took the time to practise condensing her power as we got back to walking around the hallways again.
Some time went by, and we hit what I thought would be a central point because when we got there, there was a giant hole in the ground. It was incredibly smooth around the edges, I looked up and there was another hole in the ceiling in this incredibly circular room. There were 8 doors including the door Sophie and I walked out of, around the circumference of the room.
“Which door do we go through?” Sophie questioned. I honestly had no idea as I was asking the very same question in my head, I tried using my divine eyesight this time. That was a bad idea, I was immediately blinded by the malice that filled the area, so I stopped using it.
We heard a hissing sound immediately afterwards as we made our way over to one of the exits to the room. Frozen in place, we turned our attention to the hole in the centre of the room.
“Trying to leave, are we?” the voice was concerning to my ears, it slithered its way to us causing our skin to crawl. We turned around and we stood there, silent. “No need to be so afraid, this is only your second trial that will be hosted by myself. I’d rather wait until the end before I kill you off. The reward for passing this trial is information on passing through the rest of this maze.”
“What’s the penalty for failing the trial?” I hesitatingly asked.
“Death.” Sophie stepped forward with a confidence I didn’t know she had in her.
“Bring it on, we’ll take your trial!” She confidently shouted at the faceless being. The voice’s laugh was husky but hearty.
“I like you little one, you’ll be the last I kill”
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Ruby and Yuna passed through the door at the end of the room. They were met with stairs that went up when they got to the top of the steps. What they saw was another room with five pedestals that rose from the ground. On the right-hand side wall was another message that stated.
‘One’s safe passage depends on the other,
united they pass, separated they falter.
In fuse, your mana into thy alter,
The second Trial starts for the other.’
Ruby and Yuna looked at each other and then at the pedestals that rose from the ground. Ruby took a step forward towards the pedestals when the door to the entrance closed.
They both turned to the door out of shock, when they turned around they saw a bright light shine and then change into words.
“The second trial will start once Gaël and Sophie reach the destination. Please wait until then” Yuna read out loud.
“So we’re stuck here until then.” Ruby sat down as she spoke. Yuna didn’t sit down with her, instead, she got curious about the pedestals but when she went to take a look there was nothing odd or impressive with them, it didn’t give her any hints or clues as to which one to choose to help them get through the second trial the easiest.
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“I’m starting to hate this place,” Yuna complained.
“That makes the two of us dear Sister. What the hell is this place anyway? I’ve always thought of dungeons being more conventional with monsters you fight and work your way through floors, pick up treasure chests and so on. Then finally you fight a boss at the end.”
“This is no ordinary dungeon, by the sounds of what the others have gone through, the Goddess Benzaiten and her priestess have it out for Amaterasu, and they want to make her suffer.” Ruby was confused further though and asked:
“Isn’t Benzaiten a goddess of fortune that focuses on love and family though? With what you described that happened to Izanami back in Esta, the same thing is happening here, right?”
“Yes you’re right so far, Clearly something or someone has corrupted Benzaiten into creating this place. Wishing for her husband to come back and kill off the civilians, only for Amaterasu to come back and fix this place personally.” Yuna responded with her hypothesis.
“Do you think it’s that priestess they have been talking to that’s behind all of this?” Yuna asked this time round.
“It’s possible if she is behind it. Then we will deal with it together.” Ruby weighed in.
Some time went by, with nothing happening, so to keep themselves entertained, Yuna and Ruby did some simple drill exercises with their swords, then did some sparring with each other. After a while, Ruby decided to do some meditation to practise her magic. Now at 3%, she could comfortably meditate with two orbs of fire spinning around her, expanding and shrinking. This went on until the pedestals on the ground finally lit up.
“Ruby, stop meditating, look. They made it to the second trial room.” Ruby opened her eyes and sure enough, all the pedestals were lit up. She got up and walked over and what she saw from left to right were five symbols.
“This is an endurance test,” Yuna stated. “These symbols are all the heads of monsters Gaël and Sophie will have to fight.” A soft laugh flowed into their minds.
‘You’re certainly as bright as you are beautiful miss Kitsune, oh sorry. Mrs Brand is it now?’ Yuna’s face blushed from that but she didn’t let it get to her. ‘The room they are in has 7 exits, once you infuse your mana into one of your choices the doors will close, the easiest 2 from the left, will close 1 door, the next set of 2 will close 2 doors but the last one on the far right which is the most difficult option. That option will close 6 doors leaving the exit to the room and their trial will be successfully passed.’
Yuna and Ruby both looked at the final option and it had the image of a Snake’s head.
‘Bear in mind you two, if you pick any of the 4 previous options, you cannot pick the last option as even if they successfully pass and survive the endurance test. All doors will be closed and they will be locked in there forever. The final and most important note you have to take is that you are only allowed a maximum of 3 of the prior choices. I will leave you now to make your choices, choose well ladies.’ The priestess laughed as she removed herself from their telepathic connection.
The girls stood there for a moment, they looked at each of the pedestals.
“So what do we do then? Do we give the most difficult way out but the quickest? Or do we try subtlety and try to lead them the way out and hope they figure it out?” Yuna pondered.
“Let’s have a close look at the monsters first and decide from there.” Yuna nodded, and they looked at the symbol on the far left.
“A goblin’s head, the pair of them would wipe goblins out in an instant,” Yuna confirmed and Ruby nodded. “The next one is a wolf? After that are Salamanders and the last are Snowmen.”
“What do you think we pick?” Ruby questioned nervously, she didn’t want to straight for the last option.
“Gaël’s strong enough to just annihilate all these monsters, I think we should go for the last one.”
“What about Sophie though? She’s with him.” Clear concern was evident throughout Yuna’s face when Ruby questioned her decision but Yuna resolved herself. There was no way she would choose such a weak husband.
“Sophie will be fine, he’s strong enough to protect her and like Gaël said earlier. The sooner we get through these trials and meet up the better.” Yuna stated confidently, she then walked up to the final pedestal and infused her mana into it. The pedestal lit up, and Yuna’s Silver eyes brightened beautifully.
Ruby was scared but endured, closing her eyes and waiting. Magic began to form from the pedestal and floated up into the air, it formed a square and what appeared on that square was an image of Gaël and Sophie facing a pit in a large circular room. 6 doors closed and a magical barrier appeared on the 7th that remained open.
What appeared from the pit was a giant snake’s head.
_________________________________________
A bellowing laughter could be heard from the pit below. Sophie and I took a few steps backwards, the room shook and vibrated.
“It appears I’m not going to be fighting you both later on. I don’t know whether your companions are smart or they want you dead. Maybe they have confidence in your strength.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. There was some movement that happened below and what appeared from the pit was a huge snake. The snake was easily as big as a couple of houses in a row. The eyes glowed purple, the fangs were twice the size of elephant trunks and the tongue hissing out felt like it was whipping the air. The scales were black and smooth with tinges of purple here and there as they reflected from the light of the room.
“What I mean is that this Trial and their success depends on your success. For them to pass, you need to fight and defeat me.”
_________________________________________
Amaterasu left the colosseum and found herself back in the ruined village. Looking around, with the mist gone completely now, she found where she needed to go next and that place was the mansion that was untouched straight ahead.
The path was empty, she only saw skeletons of the deceased as she walked by, offering her prayers to pass on. The spirits in the air were purified and the malice in the area was reduced further and further as she walked onwards.
When she got to the entrance of the mansion, she put her hand on the door.
“You’re not going to be able to enter any time soon.” Amaterasu spun around and saw the priestess standing there. “Oh, I see you have covered yourself, how very modest of you.”
“Just who are you anyway?” Amaterasu spat back with disdain.
“No one you should be concerned with as you have more pressing matters.”
“The second trial I assume?”
“Yes indeed, you’ve already started on it. Your second trial is going to take place right here in the village of Lothian.” Amaterasu thought for a moment.
“My second trial is to help all the poor souls here pass on.” The priestess smiled.
“Indeed, You’ll gain entryway into the mansion to meet Benzaiten once your trial has been completed.” With her final statement, she disappeared in a cloud of malice. Amaterasu looked around and saw the size of the entire dome.
“This is going to take a while.”