Hours had passed since Jelani began his ascent, and the strain was beginning to show. His muscles ached, his stomach growled with increasing regularity, and fatigue tugged at the edges of his consciousness. But he pressed on, driven by the allure of power.
In his inventory, five spectral cores glowed with otherworldly energy – trophies from his encounters thus far. He'd learned to be strategic, luring lone specters with well-aimed rocks before ambushing them. It wasn't honorable, perhaps, but honor wouldn't get him to the top of this mountain.
Jelani paused, leaning against a gnarled tree to catch his breath. The silver spire atop the mountain seemed marginally closer, but the distance still felt insurmountable. He shook his head, dispelling the doubt. "I've got this," he muttered to himself. "Just gotta keep moving."
As he scanned the twisted forest around him, a flicker of movement caught his eye. Another spectral squire, its form shimmering with an eerie, translucent glow. This one wore tattered clothing and sea-faring armor missing one shoulder. A short sword gleamed in its grip, and its form seemed to ripple like water. A bandana was tied around its head, giving it an almost jaunty appearance despite its ghostly nature.
Jelani's lips curled into a grim smile. One more core for the collection. He reached down, fingers closing around a fist-sized rock. With practiced ease, he hurled it past the specter, the stone clattering against a tree trunk just beyond.
The specter turned, its hollow eyes fixed on the source of the noise. Jelani tensed, ready to spring his trap. But as he moved to attack, two more spectral forms materialized from the shadows.
To his left appeared a small warrior, barely reaching Jelani's chest. A large helm adorned its head, pointed ears jutting out at odd angles. Its armor was a strange, metallic construct reminiscent of an armadillo's scales. In its hand, a curved blade caught the eerie light.
On his right stood a figure of stark contrasts. Its right side boasted impressive musculature, while the left was emaciated, almost skeletal. Dark paladin armor, missing plates and aged by centuries, hung from its frame. Long, flowing hair obscured its face, and in its grip, a broken blade promised death.
Jelani's heart raced, adrenaline flooding his system. He'd walked right into a trap of his own making. "Shit," he hissed through clenched teeth. His mind raced, assessing his options. Three against one – not great odds, but dudes had attempted to jump him before.
"Nothing I can't handle," he thought, trying to bolster his confidence. "Just gotta track their patterns, find the openings."
But as the specters closed in, moving with an eerie synchronicity, Jelani tensed up with a primal unease. These were warriors, their skills honed by lifetimes of battle. And he was a regular guy with only a few mock battles under his belt – talented and determined, yes, but unawakened and very much mortal.
Steel met spectral steel as Jelani parried a strike from the sea-faring specter. He ducked under a swing from the small warrior, feeling the ghostly blade whisper past his head. The broken blade of the third specter whistled by, missing his ear by inches.
Jelani's arms burned with the effort of fending off the relentless assault. He was holding his own, but just barely. His feet danced across the forest floor, seeking stable ground. But fate, it seemed, had other plans.
His heel caught on an exposed tree root, sending him stumbling backward. In that moment of imbalance, the sea-faring specter struck. Its spectral blade passed through Jelani's left leg, leaving no physical mark but sending a wave of bone-deep cold through his body.
Jelani cried out, more in shock at first than pain. He dropped to one knee, his sword arm trembling with the effort of keeping his guard up. But as the specters closed in, the world around him blurred, reality giving way to a dreamlike vision...
Waves crashed against a ghostly ship, the taste of salt heavy on the air. Through a haze of emerald mist, Jelani saw a man with stark white hair, vibrant blue eyes and amphibious gills on his neck. Thrax, a leader born of the sea, watched his people celebrate on the beach in the wake of devastating storms. Their laughter echoed strangely, as if heard underwater.
The scene shifted, fragments of memory swirling like seafoam. Thrax awakening to power as the vortexes formed, his crusade to guide his people. The rise of Thraxism, a movement built on discipline and foresight. But as his influence grew, so did his pride.
In a dizzying montage, Jelani felt Thrax's paranoia set in, saw supporters turn away, and heard the whisper of betrayal in every shadow. The final image burned bright: a knife in the night, wielded by one Thrax had sought to save. The visionary died in his sleep, his grand dreams crumbling like sand castles before the tide.
The vision faded, leaving Jelani gasping on the forest floor. He blinked, disoriented, only to feel another spectral blade pass through his right arm. Icy tendrils of pain shot through his limb, causing him to drop his sword. As it clattered to the ground, another vision swept over him...
A world of apex predators and their pray materialized in fragments. Tuhkala, small in stature but great in heart, watched her Rashidi people suffer under the yoke of towering oppressors. the Varanu, A humanoid lizard species with incredible durability and the Aveans, a winged people with red hair. Flashes of cruelty and despair swirled in a kaleidoscope of pain.
Then, a burst of light. Vortexes forming,Tuhkala awakening, years spent clearing vortexes, and power beyond imagination flowing through her diminutive frame. Victory after victory played out in rapid succession, hope blooming like flowers in spring.
But the petals fell away, revealing the thorns beneath. Tuhkala's triumphs bred overconfidence, her legend outgrowing her abilities. The rashidi still feared the apex races. Despite her progress and amazing feats she wasn't given the respect she desired. In a final, vivid tableau, she challenged two colossal figures on her own, A powerful awakened Varanu and Avean. The clash was chaotic, brutal. Tuhkala held her own for hours fueled by the ego driven desire to be her people's champion but in the end Tuhkala fell, and with her, the dreams of her people shifting their place in the hierarchy, shattered.
Jelani came back to himself, panic rising in his throat. He didn't want to experience another vision, didn't want to feel the crushing weight of another's failures. The last moments of anguish in each spectre's heart paired with the realization that success was out of reach for them was starting to embed itself somewhere within him. So many people throughout the cosmos were prone to failure it seemed. A voice in the back of his mind asked him “How will you be any different?”
He saw the third specter, the one with the broken blade, preparing to strike at his right leg. In that moment, survival instinct took over. Using his left arm and right leg, Jelani pushed himself up, stumbling backward with gritted teeth, fighting through the shadow pain that lanced through his body. He took a few steps backwards in quick succession to get out of range of an immediate follow up attack.
As his mind cleared, Jelani found himself staring at the three specters, their ethereal forms shimmering in the strange light of this twisted forest. He re-summoned his blade, the familiar weight offering a small comfort in this nightmare scenario.
"They think they can gang up on me?" Jelani thought, a mixture of fear and fury rising within him. He raised his sword, pointing it at the specters, and began a series of wild, horizontal swings. It wasn't technique – it was desperation, an attempt to keep them at bay.
But with each step backward, Jelani felt his options dwindling. His back pressed against rough bark – he'd backed himself into a tree. Cornered. The realization hit him like a physical blow. He was trapped, outnumbered, and rapidly running out of options.
In that moment of desperation, a new strategy formed in Jelani's mind. If he couldn't outfight them, maybe he could create an opening for himself using the ingrained knowledge of them they’d force into his psyche. He focused on the sea-faring specter, Thrax, and let loose a torrent of taunts.
"All you had to do was work with the high council," Jelani spat, his voice dripping with contempt. "But you got too arrogant, didn't you? You thought you were the only one with a movement worth following. But in the end you learned you were never really that guy."
The specter's face remained impassive, its features too vague to read. But its body tensed, and Jelani knew his words had struck home.
"Killed in your sleep," he pressed on, his voice rising. "Fucking shame, ain't it? And you were supposed to be Thrax the Conqueror? What happened bruh?"
With an otherworldly shriek, the specter charged. Jelani tensed, waiting for the right moment. As the spectral blade swung towards him, he parried viciously, the force of the blow sending shockwaves up his arm. But he didn't stop there. In one fluid motion, he spun, bringing his sword around in a diagonal slash that cleaved through the specter's neck.
Thrax's form wavered, then burst into mist, leaving behind a glowing core. One down, two to go.
Jelani pressed his back against the tree, his sword raised. The remaining specters hesitated, then began to spread out, forcing Jelani to divide his attention. He knew he couldn't keep both in view – one would always be at his back.
Desperation fueled his next move. He turned to the small warrior, Tuhkala, his mind racing for another taunt.
"Did you really think the Rashidi would gain freedom just because you were strong?" he sneered. "You got a little strength and thought you could handle two of the most powerful awakened on your world on your own? Sad part is you might've had a chance with more time if you hadnt been arrogant."
The specter flinched, its grip tightening on its curved blade. But before it could act, Jelani saw the third specter in the dark paladin armor preparing to strike from his peripheral vision. In that instant, he made a choice.
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Jelani burst forward, attacking the dark paladin. The sudden aggression caught it off guard, forcing it back a step. Jelani lunged forward and his blade clashed against the defending specters broken blade. At that moment, Jelani activated his threat radar, deliberately leaving his back exposed. He was making a risky play but if he timed it right he could make it out of this position. As soon as he felt and saw the flashing yellow ping of an incoming attack, he ducked and spun.
His blade caught Tuhkala mid-lunge, slicing across the specters stomach, cleaving her in half. Without pausing, Jelani pivoted off of his right foot into another spin, bringing his sword around to parry the final specter's attack. Their blades met with a clash that sent sparks flying.
The last specter pressed its attack, a flurry of strikes that Jelani barely managed to parry. This specter favored powerful heavy handed horizontal slashes followed by a quick jab and a diagonal slash up to the right. Jelani held on for more flurry of its predictable combo. One, two – but on the third, Jelani saw his opening. He stepped inside the specter's guard, his blade flashing into a stab of his own through the specters chest..
For a moment, all was still. Then, like a shadow dispersed by the light, the final specter dissolved into nothingness and its core coalesced on the ground.
Jelani slumped against the tree, exhaustion and residual pain washing over him. His mind reeled from the visions he'd experienced, the cautionary tales of power and ambition gone awry. He looked up at the distant spire, understanding now the test this patron had set before him.
"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity," Jelani muttered to himself, his voice hoarse. "And the only other option is death. I ain't going down the same path of being blinded by early wins. I won't make the same mistakes as them. I’ll grow to the undeniable peak of power before thinking I'm invincible."
With trembling hands, he collected the three cores, adding them to his inventory. As he straightened, a sudden thud nearby made him jump. A massive cone had fallen, smashing into the ground mere feet from where he stood.
Jelani let out a bitter laugh. "I'm talking big shit about getting to the top when I could just as easily end up dead to a cone any second now."
He pushed himself away from the tree, wincing as phantom pains shot through his body. The shadow of the spectral attacks lingered, like scars that refused to fade. But he could push through. He had to.
Checking his timer, Jelani saw he had [20:52:12] left. He'd made progress, but the mountain still loomed large before him. This wasn't like the hikes he'd done on Stone Mountain or in the Carolinas. This was something else entirely.
As he set off again, Jelani's mind raced. He needed to get through this first phase, but he had no idea what that even meant. Would there be a sign? A change in the landscape? He had no answers, only more questions.
But one thing was certain. He couldn't afford to exhaust himself further. He'd push on, avoiding combat where he could, taking on single targets when necessary. The visions had shaken him, yes, but they'd also steeled his resolve.
"I'm not them," he repeated as he walked, a mantra against the doubts that plagued him. "I won't fail. I can't."
For the next half hour, Jelani moved cautiously through the forest, giving a wide berth to any lone specters he spotted. His earlier bravado had been tempered by the harsh reality of his limitations. He was still just a man, for now, and he couldn't afford to forget that again.
As he climbed, the forest began to thin, giving way to rockier terrain. Ahead, Jelani spotted what looked like a game trail – a narrow path winding its way up the mountain. It seemed too convenient, almost suspicious, but it was the most direct route he'd seen so far.
Jelani hesitated, then started up the trail. He'd only gone a few hundred yards when he came to an abrupt halt. Ahead, blocking the path, stood a group of six specters. Their ethereal forms shimmered in the strange light, weapons at the ready.
For a moment, Jelani's earlier confidence surged. He could take them, prove his worth...
But then the visions flashed through his mind – Thrax, Tuhkala, their ambitions turned to ash. Jelani gritted his teeth, forcing down his pride. "I'm still a regular human," he reminded himself. "Bruised egos make for hard lessons."
Silently, careful not to draw attention, Jelani backtracked. He found a less direct path, one that wound down and around, losing him several hundred feet of elevation. But it was safer, and right now, that mattered more than speed.
The new trail led him to a small clearing, and Jelani's breath caught in his throat. Before him stood the ruins of an ancient altar, its stone weathered by countless years. A robed figure, its features long since eroded away, stood proud, a great sword plunged into the ground before it.
Jelani approached cautiously, wondering if this place held some clue that could aid his climb. As he neared the altar, movement caught his eye. He tensed, hand going to his sword, only to freeze at the sight before him.
A young woman with golden brown skin, a hooked nose, and her black hair tied back in a neat bun was sitting on the ground on the opposite side of the altar. She wore a yellow dress with south asian patterns , stained with blood and claw marks. Jelani couldn't help but notice her striking eyes, they were a vivid light brown and she had long lashes. Her sword was raised, trembling slightly in her grip.
"Whoa, I'm not gonna hurt you," Jelani said, raising his hands in a placating gesture. "Just finding an alternate route up."
The woman's eyes darted around, assessing potential threats before lowering her weapon. "Sorry... can't be too cautious."
"I get it," Jelani nodded. "I'm Jelani."
"Raveena," she replied tersely.
Jelani noticed her nervous glances and shaky grip. "How many have you taken down so far?" he asked, trying to gauge her experience.
Raveena's shoulders tensed. "Two. It was... intense. You?"
"About 10," Jelani lied, figuring it would make him look better to her. Forced habitual flexing that got him in trouble with women more than helped. “It's not like 8 would've been so far off” he thought.
Raveena's eyes widened. "I would say impressive, but I have no idea what the current average is among us trial takers. How many times have you been attacked?"
Jelani flinched, memories of close calls flashing through his mind. "A few times," he said vaguely.
Raveena studied him closely. "What's driving you to take this power? What's your endgame?"
Jelani leaned against the altar, his expression growing serious. He knew part of him was only compelled to speak because she was attractive, but he decided to respond honestly.
"Power is the only way to be in control of my life and potentially do some good in the world. I'm no hero," he added quickly. "I'm not the type to sacrifice myself for everybody, but if I can make an impact by killing all the sinister shit that crawls out of vortexes and save a few lives in the process, then I'll do it."
Raveena nodded thoughtfully. "It's admirable that your desire for power isn't completely driven by self-interest. I can't say the same for myself... my reasons are personal. I tell myself I can help change the world, but I just want to feel competent. Our world has changed so much, and the knowledge I have isn't enough
"Being powerful would allow you to become competent enough to make an impact," Jelani argued. "The awakened are becoming a class above even the wealthy elites. We may not be there yet, but when a single person can be strong enough to wipe a city off the map, you get more access across the board by force. I'm not saying that being a super terrorist is the way to solve your problems, just that being powerful may allow you to find the answers you want."
Raveena's brow furrowed. "But don't you see the danger in that? Superpowered authoritarian figures are a recipe for disaster. I'm afraid of what happens when we get more individuals who think like you do but have less of an altruistic attitude towards the people they reign over."
Jelani shrugged. "Ehh, It's already been that way for centuries. We just have a ‘benevolent’ system granting magical abilities on top of it. I refuse to be controlled and live my life waiting to be threatened, so my only choice is to become strong enough not to be challenged."
"You're trying to reach a goal that many individuals, elite groups, and entire nations have failed at," Raveena countered. "What makes you think you'll be any different? History is littered with examples of power corrupting even the most well-intentioned individuals."
Jelani looked up at the spire, a determined glint in his eye. "A feeling in my gut."
Raveena studied him with an inquisitive expression. "You're pretty self-confident, but I guess you wouldn't be here otherwise." She paused, then suddenly her eyes lit up with a fervent intensity. "But do you realize the implications of this constant pursuit of power? The toll it takes on one's psyche?"
She began fidgeting and her eyes seemed to wander, her words tumbling out faster. "History is full of men just like you. Self-confident, ambitious, believing they could wield power for good. But power has a way of corrupting even the best intentions."
Raveena's voice rose as she continued her impassioned rant. "Look at Julius Caesar, who started as a populist reformer but ended up dismantling the very republic he claimed to serve. Or Robespierre during the French Revolution, championing liberty and equality until he became the architect of the Reign of Terror. There's also Napoleon after the battle of waterloo. Or Mir Jafar becoming a puppet for imperialists. Even now, we're seeing leaders start with promises of bringing transformative change only to end up becoming authoritarian rulers."
She turned to face Jelani, her eyes blazing. "What about the psychological impact on those around you? The stress and fear that comes from living under someone with unchecked power? And what about you? The paranoia, the constant need to maintain your position – it's a recipe for mental instability!"
Jelani listened half heartedly as she continued to ramble on, his jaw clenching tighter with each example. She sure knew how to talk, and her general idea about power being corruptible wasnt falling on deaf ears, but he had this. At least that's what he needed to tell himself.
And to be honest he didn't know half the names she mentioned other than a few history lessons he could vaguely recall on Julius Caesar and Napoleon. When Raveena finally paused for breath, he spoke, his voice low and controlled. "I hear you. And I agree to a certain extent. Our history is filled with leaders who didn’t deliver on their promises to the people they were supposed to serve, but I'm not any of them. I know myself, and I know what I'm capable of. "
Raveena took a deep breath, seeming to come back to herself. "I... I apologize. I rant when I'm uneasy.” she responded with a forced laugh. “This situation, it's just so...hard to adjust to. I was just fleeing a vortex break and thought I made it to safety" she trailed off, then straightened her shoulders. "Maybe we could team up? Two heads are better than one, after all."
Jelani's expression hardened. "Thanks for the offer, but no. I'm aiming to make it to the top first, and I can't afford to be slowed down."
Raveena's face flushed with indignation. "Slowed down? Strategic thinking and caution are just as valuable as brute force.” She took another assessing glance at Jelani and now seemed dissatisfied. “In fact, I'll be fine on my own. Good luck with your... quest for dominance."
“Same to you and your quest for.. understanding” he responded sharply
Without another word, Jelani turned and continued up the path. As he walked away, a twinge of guilt nagged at him for his harsh dismissal. But then the memories of the specters' visions flashed through his mind – visions of corrupt leaders drunk on power. Raveena's words had hit closer to home than he cared to admit.
"I'm not them," he muttered to himself, quickening his pace. "I'll prove it. To everyone... and to myself."
Behind him, Raveena watched him go, a mix of frustration and concern etched on her face. She glanced at the path ahead, took a deep breath, and prepared herself to keep moving.
As Jelani pushed on, the encounter with Raveena echoed in his mind. Her warnings about the corrupting nature of power weren't new – he'd seen it firsthand in local dudes who started gaining motion in the city and felt untouchable until they were caught up in some drama that got them killed. But hearing it from someone minutes after being backed into a corner and forced to see visions of how you could end up was making it harder to process.
He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. He couldn't afford to doubt himself now. The path ahead grew steeper, the terrain more treacherous. Loose rocks skittered under his feet, and the air grew thinner with each step. But Jelani pressed on, driven by a mixture of ambition and fear – fear of weakness, fear of returning to the powerless existence he'd left behind.