On the day of the initiation, we were up early and Liza had prepared breakfast for us. My armor was packed up and ready to go, but I was getting nervous now that the day had finally arrived. I opted for a conservative hakama-style robe and soon we were on our way to the guild once again.

Both Isabel and Lyra were quiet on the way there, and I realized I wasn't the only one feeling nervous. The guild hall was quiet in the early morning, but Malik was there to greet us with his trademark smile. I couldn't help but marvel at his teeth, wondering how he kept them so white.

The guild master, whose name I still didn't know, since everyone just called him by his title, was waiting at the foot of the stairs, flanked by two other people. One was a tall, skinny man with an air of authority, his well-maintained brown hair starting to gray at the sides. He wore round glasses and had a serious expression on his face, as if he were there to oversee a business deal. The other person was a smaller, plump woman with a gentle smile and long blonde hair that cascaded down her back. Her eyes were twinkling as if she found something amusing, but she quickly composed herself when she noticed us approaching. She wore a long green dress that complemented her eyes, and her skin was fair and almost glowing.

As we came closer, the guild master stepped forward and spoke in an official tone, "Welcome and good morning to all of you. Today we have arrived at the initiation of Isabel's student David, I expect you have prepared well?"

Isabel gave a small bow and replied, "We have." The guild master nodded and continued, "The initiation is split into two parts - first, a test of wits and judgment, and second, one of martial prowess. David has been assigned the maze as his first test, and it has been decided based on Isabel's information. Do you agree to this Isabel?"

Isabel bowed again and replied, "We do, guild master." The guild master nodded once more and said, "For this test, you will need no weapons or armor, and there will be nothing lethal in the maze. The time limit for the test is five hours, and it will begin shortly." He then gestured to a large stone door at one end of the room and said, "Through that door is the maze initiate. Once the door closes behind you, make your way down the stairs to the bottom. There you will find another door, and behind it, the maze will begin. Your assignment is simple - make your way through the maze as quickly as possible."

I bowed to the guild master and the two administrators, who bowed in return, before turning to my friends and giving them a quick nod and a grin. Then, I headed towards the maze.

I pushed open the large door to reveal a dark, stone stairwell illuminated by torches. The door quietly closed behind me, and all sounds except for my footsteps and breathing were cut off. The stairwell went down quite a ways before abruptly ending at a stone door. Carvings of fantastical beings woven into each other in strange patterns adorned the door, but I had no time to marvel at it. I pushed it open and stepped through.

Once I was through, the door closed behind me on its own, and I found myself in a hallway. The smooth, unadorned stone walls lacked any recognizable features. I looked one way, then the other before summoning my mask over my face. "Harlequin, I have a job for you buddy," I said. Harlequin's laughter bubbled in my mind. "I suspected you would, oh partner of mine. This is quite the interesting place you have brought us to."

I summoned phantom images and gestured to one of them. "Take that one and scout ahead if you would. I suspect there might be traps, so look out for those as you go along." Harlequin took over the image I had indicated and began moving down the right corridor. "This will be an easy task, partner. I can map out this place in no-- What?" I had begun following Harlequin but froze. "What is wrong?" Harlequin cackled. "The walls are brimming with ether. I cannot pass through them! This might take a little longer than I first anticipated."

"I had suspected as much. Still, the assignment is the same. Let's move," I said. Harlequin sprinted down the corridor and reached a junction with three ways to choose from. He chose a random direction, the left, and sped down that corridor. After a few moments, he said, "This one is a dead end." Harlequin took over one of the other images following behind me, and I recalled the one he had previously taken over.

Again, Harlequin sped off, and this time it wasn't a dead end. He continued down that path until it was beginning to strain my limits before he took the third image and explored the third path. This too just kept going, which meant I had to make a decision. I went straight. With two images walking behind me and Harlequin constantly exploring passageways, I began to make my way through the maze. So far, Harlequin had spotted no traps, but I was certain they were there.

After walking for about 30 minutes, taking turns without any change in the scenery, Harlequin and I reached a dead end. I changed direction, and that's when I noticed something odd. The temperature began to drop, and frost started to coat the walls around me. "Are the walls icing over where you are?" I asked Harlequin. "No frost here, I will return!" Harlequin replied. As he took over another image, I started feeling cold and noticed the slippery footing. "Shit... I think we need to speed up," I said, and Harlequin agreed.

I started sprinting down the corridor as real ice began to form on the walls, making it difficult to run. Harlequin and my images were surefooted, but I wasn't. So, I had an idea. "Harlequin, pull me along!" I said. Harlequin cackled as I took my outer robe off, leaving me in just a shirt. The cold was getting pretty intense, and my teeth were clattering. I threw one end of the robe to Harlequin and ordered the other images to push and support me from behind.

Then we were off at a fast pace, with Harlequin laughing the whole time. I was using images of myself as an impromptu dog sleigh, and we were moving really fast. "Perhaps a little slower, buddy!" I grunted in pain after I smashed into the wall during a sharp turn. Harlequin slowed down, but not much. We continued for a while until the cold began to subside, and the ice retreated, only to be replaced by something arguably worse. Darts started flying at me from all directions. "Holy shit!" I exclaimed and rolled out of the way. "I thought there weren't supposed to be anything lethal in here."

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Harlequin stopped laughing and said, "Not lethal, partner, but poisoned!" He showed me a small dart with something smeared on it. It was probably not a lethal toxin, but likely something to knock me out or paralyze me, ending my trial. "Bloody initiation, how do we get through this?" I asked Harlequin. He seemed to think for a bit but then said, "I have no idea!"

Groaning, I knew I had to find a way through the maze. Suddenly, an idea struck me, and I conjured two shield illusions resembling those from Roman documentaries. With a grin, I activated my title, and the shields became semi-physical. With a shield on each arm, I charged forward. Darts whizzed past me, pinging harmlessly off my shields. I felt my ether draining, but my levels had improved, and I could handle more before tipping over.

I finally made it through the second trap, and the darts stopped coming. I dismissed my conjuration and looked around, only to see two paths diverging to each side at the next junction. I conjured another set of images since the first had been destroyed due to their semi-physical nature. Harlequin informed me that the right path was blocked, so we took the left one. I had been in the maze for at least an hour and a half, and I was getting tired of it. I just wanted to be out. But with Harlequin scouting ahead, I moved forward cautiously.

I was getting tired after a while, and I found a nice corner to rest and sat down, feeling exhausted. "This place... it messes with you," I whispered to myself, only to be met with a response from Harlequin. "Really? I think it's great! Danger always around the corner, running through endless corridors, prime fuel for a bit of claustrophobia! How can you not love it?" I couldn't help but laugh. "You are pretty twisted, you know that?" Harlequin cackled, "Where's the fun in being normal? Life without excitement is a life wasted!" I shook my head. "You might have been locked with only yourself for company a bit too long, I reckon."

Harlequin's giggles lowered in volume, but took a quick turn to the creepy side. "Oh dear partner, I am the best company one could ever have! I will do my utmost to make your life exciting too!" My grin faded a little at that. "Um... yeah. Don't go pulling me into more trouble than I can handle, though!" Harlequin's tone turned sarcastic. "Oh yeah, because you don't find trouble enough by yourself." I shrugged. "Exactly, so let's not kick too many beehives."

After resting for a while longer, I got to my feet. "It's time to finish this trial."

For the next hour or so, I followed Harlequin's instructions until he called back with a message: he had found something.

As I reached the location Harlequin mentioned, I was taken aback by the sudden change in environment. I found myself in a sort of forest, but the walls were still present with gaps here and there, and the whole area was overgrown with vines and plants. I frowned at the vines but had no other option but to move forward. As I took a tentative step, a vine suddenly came at me, and I jumped out of the way.

The whole place was now moving, and I had to sprint forward. My fighting style proved useful as I dodged and weaved through the vines, feeling like I was in an old adventure movie with Indiana Jones vibes. Just as I thought that, rumbling came from behind me, and of course, there were rolling boulders. I cursed at Harlequin, who was finding this all very entertaining.

As I increased my speed, several times I was almost tripped, and a ball almost crushed me. "This place is plenty fucking lethal!" I snarled and jumped out of the way of more vines trying to grab me. Then, unexpectedly, the floor began to separate, and I found myself on a square platform surrounded by water, still having to dodge vines sprouting from the floor. I had a bad feeling about the water, so I sent an image to jump the gap to the next platform, and water burst up to catch it mid-flight. "Shit!" Harlequin's laughter was constant, but he gave some advice, "You will need to run at full speed, partner!"

Reluctantly, I gritted my teeth and sprinted forward, jumping at full speed and landing on the next platform with no time to spare. Water burst from beneath me just as I cleared it, and I continued on to the next platform and the next after that, until I reached one where the gap was too large.

As I stood on the platform, my mind raced for a solution to get to the other side of the gap. Looking down at my boots, an idea struck me. "Hell yes, that is definitely happening!" I exclaimed with a grin, activating the blink ability on the boots with a thought. However, nothing happened. "What the hell?" I muttered, frustrated that they weren't working. Suddenly, a large boulder hurled towards me, forcing me to dodge it and it plunged into the water below. A minor tidal wave flooded the platform, and the vines seemed to grow, ‘’damnit!’’

I remembered what Ygda had said about the boots, and scowled at the thought that I needed to remain unseen for them to work. "Some asshole is watching me fend for my life," I muttered to myself. But I was determined not to fail this trial, so I conjured a cocoon of stone around myself. It was just an illusion but no one would be able to look in, unless they had some skill that I wasn't aware of.

I tried to stay calm as I counted the seconds, waiting for the right moment to open a small hole in the illusion and activate the boots. This time, they worked perfectly, and everything blurred around me as I teleported to the far side of the gap. Ecstatic with victory, I pumped my fist in the air, but almost lost my balance as a dizzy spell hit me. "Okay... That is really uncomfortable," I grumbled, and began running again. I could feel that I was getting close to the end of the trial, as the vines chasing me seemed to be slowing down.

Finally, I found myself standing in front of a door that appeared out of nowhere. With no chance to stop, I smacked into it hard, and slowly it opened away from me. As I fell flat on the other side of the door, I heard loud voices and someone shouting.

I slowly began to stand when I felt someone next to me helping me up. "You okay?" Lyra asked, and I looked at her in confusion. Then I looked around and was surprised to find myself in a large room. It looked like a cellar, but it had comfortable chairs and tables with drinks. I glanced at Lyra. "So I'm done then?"

Lyra smiled. "You are. That was pretty impressive, but utterly too difficult. Isabel is furious."

I looked to find Isabel indeed looking like she wanted to rip into the guildmaster, who was standing in front of her calm as you like. "We test as we deem fit, Isabel. You are in no position to question us!" he said in a stern tone, and the administrators were nodding along behind him.

Isabel clenched and unclenched her fists. "I have never even heard of an initiate having to go through something like that! What are you trying to do here?"

The guildmaster waved her off with a dismissive gesture. "We are trying to ascertain the young man's potential, as we do with all initiates."

Isabel almost screamed then. "He almost died in there!"

The guildmaster raised his voice as well. "Enough, Isabel. It is done! He completed the maze, and we will move on to the next test. No! No more from you!" Isabel had looked like she wanted to protest, but the guildmaster's words and Malik's calming hand on her shoulder silenced her.

The guildmaster turned to me, and he looked at me with disapproval. I had a feeling he wasn't done stacking the odds against me.