The sky errupted in blazing light that burned—literally burned. The fields of wheat were dead, scorched brown and bent. Dead turtle shells the size of the Shrine of Veela littered the fields.
Kaden and Trella sprinted for the nearest shell and discovered a nasty surprise. Under the shell lurked humanoid creatures covered in yellow slime. Long fingers on each hand ended in suckers that dripped slime, and as Kaden swung Remembrance at the first, it didn’t even react. The hammer blow threw the monster out of the shell and into the deadly sunlight.
It caught fire, exploding in a wave of heat that singed Kaden’s hair.
But it didn’t die. Now, it circled the shell. Then lobbed flaming balls of slime straight at Trella. She dove to the side, and Kaden lunged to deflect it with the Eldritch Shield.
“There’s four more here,” Trella said. “They’re not attacking. Yet.”
Kaden drew Thorn Caster and shot the flaming one in the head, then followed it up again and again until it collapsed in a blaze of heat. “Ok. So, we bash the next one and repeat.”
“Kaden. The shell is burning.” Trella looked upward. “Eclipse can’t come out, this will kill her.”
Trinity and Vip would die as well. But now Kaden had an idea. He summoned Rocky. The [Rock Gobbler] was no longer dull gray. His shell had slowly transformed to glistening black.
“Hit one in the dark with [Shadow Chains].” Kaden drew Thorn Caster.
The moment the chains hit, the creature scrambled toward the sunlight, straining to reach it.
Rocky barked out a challenge and swung his tail in a [Landslide Smash], crushing the creature. He wasn’t the kind to willingly go to battle, but a battle right in front of him was the least objectionable type.
The shell groaned and a shaft of light burned through in one place.
Trella shoved him toward the sunlight. “When the shell goes, they’re all going to catch fire. The explosion alone might kill us.”
Kaden turned and sprinted toward another shell, ignoring the sizzle as the burning sun turned his skin red. This shell, too, held five more of the creatures. [Identify] kept trying—and failing
This ENTITY is not compatible with current System requirements.
To [Identify] this ENTITY, approach [@#%&^1] for upgrades.
“They’re coming,” Trella said.
The four creatures had in fact caught fire. Kaden shot them as they came with Thorn Caster and downed two, leaving two. The shell he stood under was already smoking.
Trella, too, loosed arrows, concentrating on one creature at a time. “We’ve got to run. This one’s not lasting as long.”
Again, they sprinted to another shell. Again, Kaden and Trella rained down death, but this time, there were still three when burning sun began blazing in. The Eldritch Shield blocked the sun for mere seconds before collapsing. “This isn’t working. We’re going to run out of shells before we run out of monsters.”
Rocky’s short bray said they were running too fast, and too much. In other words, at all. Kaden pulled Rocky into his soul—and had an idea. He summoned the Rock Gobbler, forcing it into existence right in front of him. “You’re going to have to do the damage. Use Thorn Caster.”
Trella accepted his bow, as Kaden lifted Rocky, heaving him onto his shoulders. It was like carrying the earth. Kaden stepped out into the sunlight, and didn’t burn. With Trella right beside him, they backed away from the shelter.
“One down,” Trella said.
Kaden kneeled to tilt Rocky, turning him into the world’s least enthusiastic shield. It let Trella take shots, while the flaming slime was the only part of this Rocky enjoyed. He was moving, which the Rock Gobbler didn’t like, and someone else was moving him, which was another thing Rocky didn’t like.
“Two!” Trella shifted to her next target. “Get me closer, I’ll use EverCut.”
She lobbed the weapon like a mana bomb. “Now, move. Keep them exposed and us protected, I’ll help. Actually, he’s too damned heavy. I’ll keep shooting. I have dozens of regular arrows.”
Strained didn’t describe the weight on Kaden. His arms trembled, but hadn’t Sara told him his body was more an expression of his will? And he willed them to hold on. Back and forth they moved, until at last Trella put a hand on him. “Stay right here.”
In a flash she was gone, shouting, slicing—then back. The skin on her face blistered. “That’s all of them. Set Rocky down, mostly.”
Kaden put Rocky’s hind legs down and kept the Rock Gobbler lifted up just enough to grant them shade. Trella used [Create Water] over and over to slake their thirst. “All right. Next shell.”
Kaden lifted Rocky again to give her space to shoot.
She loosed an arrow, and another, and another, five in a row, then tossed out EverCut. “Let the poison work. Just keep them blocked and anything that flanks, I shoot.”
The key thing Kaden could do was use [Mana Well] to keep Trella topped up. “Keep shooting. I can’t hold Rocky forever.”
“They’re all going to die at basically the same time.” Trella leaned out to release an arrow, then pivoted past him to repeat from the other side.
“Almost.” Trella hurled a potion.
Rocky grunted as a blast wave hit—and Trella was already in battle again, slashing and smashing. “Get under the shell,” she called as the last one fell.
Kaden set down Rocky and ran to take blessed shelter. He moved in a circle. “I have a theory. The burning light is focused on us. If we move and distribute it, the shell should last longer.”
“Every minute counts.” Trella sipped a potion, which caused the blisters on her skin to burst. The clear liquid dried in moments, and the blistered skin fell in flakes that drifted into the sun and turned to ash. After twenty minutes, the turtle shell didn’t just smoke, it caught fire. And they repeated, shell after shell, monster after monster, until the last one fell.
Like the torch of the world had been snuffed out, the sun went dark.
Stars shone overhead, and a chill wind kicked up, rustling dead wheat like a thousand whispers.
You have completed: Trial of Summer.
Yarrow waits in his cathedral.
Yielding the trial now will grant a normal blessing.
Kaden pulled Rocking into his soul. His arms ached. His hands were burned from where he’d clung to Rocky. Trella’s face and arms sported blisters and strings of skin hung down where blisters had burst under blisters.
Trella took out another healing potion and shared it. “That was rough. Odds are we’re not up to the next challenge.”
Kaden listened to what wasn’t said, and sat at the threshold of the cathedral, letting her sit beside him as her health ticked up. “You will always wonder.”
Trella blew hair out of her face as Eclipse bumped her face. “I will. We barely managed that. I can make more potions. I don’t know I can make them strong enough or drink them fast enough for whatever’s coming.”
Kaden stood and pulled her up. “We’ll make smart decisions. If the Trial of Fall is too bad, we take what we get and leave.”
“Good.”
When Kaden looked up, he couldn’t help being shocked. The cathedral’s interior had grown. Before, he could have crossed it in twenty steps. Now, he’d need to sprint. “Large, open space. That spells boss battle to me.”
Trella took one step inside—then back. “I really thought it would trigger once I stepped in.”
Together, they crossed the cathedral to where the statue still kneeled.
You may choose to face the third trial (Trial of Fall).
You wil be reaped.
Choosing to abandon the trial at any point will still grant the earned blessing.
Trella hesitated. “What if this is the mistake we don’t see coming?”
“Then we go on to Mortis’s Court together. I choose the third trial.” Kaden smiled as she squeezed his hand. “You know that stupid statue is going to attack us.”
“Totally going to attack us.” Kaden turned and headed toward the acorn display. “Since the giant statue is just a statue and not going to do anything like, say, charge or blast or stomp, I’ll just take one of these acorns.”
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“And I’m taking some grain. And corn. And eww, there’s flies on the grapes. They can stay. Always wanted a deer skull, thank you very much.” Trella looked to Kaden. “Maybe it’s better he can’t animate the statue. It’s kind of trite—”
THAT IS ENOUGH! The voice boomed out across the temple as stone cracked and the statue rose, with a weight heavier than a thousand Demon Lords. ITS A CLASSIC METHOD. ALL THE GREAT GODS USE IT.
Kaden shrugged. “You’re a literal deity and all you can think of for your last trial is to reanimate the huge, scary statue? The only huge scary statue in your cathedral? No wonder you’re forgotten. If you want to be remembered, you have to do things worth being remembered for.”
LIKE YOU WOULD KNOW.
“Look, there was this orphan at the Saint’s Hall, Rober—”
“Biscuit-Ber!” Trella shouted. “He ate five [Preserved Biscuits] in one go, washed it down with a cup of rain water, then stood up, looked the head priest in the eye, and said ‘Please sir, I want some more.’”
“Choked to death five minutes after the Priests left the mess hall,” Kaden added. “But you know who’s not forgotten? Biscuit-Ber. Because he did something worth remembering. And what’s with moving your trial all around?”
Trella shook her head. “Of course you’re forgotten. Adventureres who find you go running back to tell all their friends about the amazing trial. The amazing trial they can’t prove, because you’re gone.”
THERE ARE RULES FOR FORGOTTEN DEITIES. I HAVE NO PRIESTS OR PRIESTESSES. EITHER OF YOU LOOKING TO DUAL CLASS?
Kaden swore. “I’m looking to kill some priests. Saint’s Hall priests, not yours. Not looking to kill yours.”
MINE ARE ALL DEAD. THANKS FOR REMINDING ME.
“Sorry, that was insensitive,” Trella said. “Look, if you really want followers, you’re going to have to stay in a general area. Like FangWood. I’m not saying you have to stay in the same set of trees, but if I could point to a location, and say ‘I heard a rumor there’s a trial to a cool harvest god in there’ you’d have a better chance finding someone.”
I WILL THINK ON IT. AND FOR THE RECORD, THE STATUE IS THE FINAL PART OF THE TRIAL. FIRST, YOU ARE ATTACKED BY SOMETHING FROM EVERY OFFERING TO WEAR YOU DOWN.
“Oh, no. Rotten grapes, they’re staining my uniform. Acorns. They’re…rolling?” Trella said. “Stick to the statue. At least it’s moderately impressive.”
IT IS, ISN’T IT?
“Or.” Kaden said. He’d been thinking on what Yarrow said. What the system text had warned him. “The trial isn’t about the battle, is it?”
The statue leaned in close, looking at him with eyes that contained stars. YOU BELIEVE YOU UNDERSTAND?
“You will be reaped. You said yourself, this was the final form—”
THIS ISN’T EVEN MY FINAL FORM. BUT ITS ENOUGH FOR NOW.
Kaden fought for his composue. “After everything else. After the corn squirts corn juice at us. After the acorns roll menacingly. After that dead deer reanimates—ok, that part probably would have been cool. The point is, you attack then. Because it’s inevitable.”
Trella’s hand found his. “You’re going to kill us, aren’t you?”
A HARVEST AWAITS ALL. CENTURION OR COMMONER, YOU WILL BE REAPED.
Trella nodded. “The Sisters taught me not to fear death. I’ll go first. I’ve got nothing to lose, I’m only level twenty five.”
Kaden had a great deal to lose. “I’ll pass.”
THE TRIAL HAS ALREADY BEGUN. Yarrow’s statue rose, looming high above them. Kaden had never appreciated just how tall it was, but being that close to a marble monstrosity gave him a new perspective.
*Trust me?* Trella asked in code.
Kaden did. *Always.*
She stepped forward, unarmed, head bowed. “I’m ready.”
The statue raised a giant foot—and slammed down—on stone.
Trella was halfway up its cloak, clinging to the beetle hem. “You seriously didn’t think I’d just lay down and die, did you? Take his ankles out!”
Kaden used [Moment of Speed] to drive forward, slamming Remembrance down on the statue’s big toe. The hammer sang, and cracks spread. It looked alive, but the statue was still marble. “It’s vulnerable. Use Evercut!”
Trella dodged as Yarrow grasp, trying to smash her. “Gotta be faster than that.”
Kaden dodged a stomp and shattered another toe. Remembrance shone with black fire, and the head became a perfect mirror.
YOU ARROGANT LITTLE SHITS. FINE. HAVE IT YOUR WAY. The Statue leaped into the air. As it landed, a shockwave hit Kaden, throwing him back into the harvest corn. Tongues errupted from every kernel of corn, with hooks on the end of them, and the cob husks bent into feet to let them skitter forward.
“Look out!” Kaden shouted, as [Split Second] let him dodge and smash a cob. Another leaped onto his back, lacerating the back of his head until Kaden dropped and rolled, smashing it.
The damned deer stood on two legs and held bone swords as it teetered back and forth headlessly. “Up!” Trella shouted. “Get up.”
Kaden activated Portal and leaped through, coming up behind the skeleton, and with the Levicon Blade, began to dig his way up the statue’s back.
Trella had Evercut buried behind the statue’s ear. “Carve his eyes out. Then we’ll use him to kill all the offering monsters. Then, we’re going to harvest a few thousand stone chips from Yarrow.”
YOU WOULD NOT DARE.
Kaden would totally dare. “I get one eye, you get the other?”
I CAN HEAR YOU. YOU ARE STANDING BY MY EARS.
“Yeah, that’s the point. I want you to know.” Trella withdrew EverCut. “On three.”
The statue bent. Another leap, another shockwave, Kaden was sure.
Trella looked to him, panicked. “Jump! Jump now!”
Kaden didn’t hesitate, because the statue had bent over so his harvest monsters could climb up its arms, a flood of monsters who poured out of the offering alcoves, covering the cathedral floor.
Trella dove with him, flipping through the air. “We wish to end the—”
A stone fist struck her in mid-air.
Bones crunched like dry leaves as Trella’s body hit the cathedral wall and hung from a gargoyle. Kaden saw the punch coming and met it with Remembrance.
The shockwave stripped two thousand health, but this time, he was ready as the world turned black. And this time, he unleashed his beasts, all of them. And never, ever would he look on Trinity the same way. She stood so tall her head reached the statue of Yarrow’s knee, with five heads and three tails.
Rocky was twice his size with sharp points at the edges of his shell, while the [FalCrow] had become the size of a storm condor. Vip was small, gray, and furry. She crackled with lightning with a resolve that said *I will nip ankles to the death.*
Kaden landed among frozen monstrosities and lashed out, swinging Remembrance in wide arcs that exploded harvest monsters. Like a hurricane they swept the cathedral floor, leaving only death in his wake, racing his mana to zero.
He knew the numbers.
Understood simple math said they couldn’t possibly kill them all, but that didn’t stop the onslaught.
Your mana is critically low.
You have mana shock!
The world snapped back into motion. Trinity stumbled and collapsed, while Rocky simply groaned and lay down, napping.
Kaden pulled them all into his soul. Two of the offering alcoves hadn’t been smashed in the rampage, and harvest monsters began to spawn. Ignoring the weakness and pain, Kaden slammed Remembrance into the nearest display one. Boots and shields, he bashed.
Every movement, every moment came slower.
NOW, THERE WILL BE AN END.
The statue slapped down a hand on Kaden.
Resilient Constitution blocks 10,923 points of damage.
Your health is critically low.
Kaden laughed and pushed back aganst the palm, forcing himself to his kees. “Gotta do better than that. I had a wraith lord who learned the hard way.”
The hand crushed down again.
His health dropped to zero.
You have successfully resisted Death.
It stayed at zero. A moment later, ticked up to one.
THIS IS ANNOYING. The statue picked up Kaden and slammed him into the floor.
“Suck it!” Kaden whispered with broken lungs. “Resillient—” He hit the floor again.
And died.
###
The world was cold and dark and smelled of wet earth and rotting wood. But it wasn’t black or empty, and Kaden’s breath came in easy sighs.
You have passed the Trial of Fall.
Yarrow’s Blessing awaits.
You must collect the blessing and leave the cathedral.
Kaden sat up and looked over at Trella, who lay snoring softly in a mound of wet leaves. They were in the cathedral, though now it was broken and ruined, with sunlight shining in through the roof in patches. The harvest offerings displays were empty, though cracked pieces of shell betrayed where the acorn mound had sat.
Trella startled, then looked over to him. And smiled. “That was…changing. Did you dream?”
Kaden shook his head. “I unleashed Trinity, Rocky and Vip. And I came close. But the trial wasn’t to win. It was to understand and accept.”
Trella looked to where the remains of the statue stood. The broken hands still grasped the cup, and from it, a glowing golden light poured out. “I want to see what this blessing is.”
Together they approached.
Reach into the cup to receive as your offering provides.
Kaden reached with Trella.
You have received Yarrow’s Blessing: Harvest Wind.
[Harvest Wind]
The Harvest Wind heralds the end of the growing season. Enemy healing and mana regeneration will be greatly reduced in your presence.
Kaden whistled. That was one hell of a blessing. “What did you get?”
“[Blood Harvest]. Every bit of damage I do provides at least a point of healing to me. You would be damn near immortal with this.” Trella shared the logs.
You have received Yarrow’s Blessing: Blood Harvest.
[Blood Harvest]
You were the first to recognize the true desire of Yarrow, the first to offer your own lifeblood. You heal from the damage you inflict, harvesting your enemy’s life to feed your own. Damaging an enemy will grant you at least one point of health.
“Is there any way to trade?” Kaden asked. One point of healing wouldn’t be life changing among thousands, but when battles came down to the narrowest edge, he wanted Trella to have the edge.
Together they left the cathedral, and when Kaden stepped out, it was into a mix of rain and snow. He changed the [Needful Cloak] into a thick, heavy waterproof cloak and wrapped it around him and Trella.
Kaden tried to summon the Falcrow. It appeared, resting on the log wagon. Patches skin showed, and as it settled, feathers fell out. “What happened to you?”
“Leave nothing in your wake,” it replied in Ashi’s voice.
A hunch had Kaden checking. Trinity. Rocky. Even Vip, the soul bond was still present, but the Beasts weren’t ready. It was like pulling them into his rampage had injured them. Something he wouldn’t repeat. “My beasts are all reforming. Falcrow, go heal.”
It didnt’ even fly off, just faded away.
“How is Eclipse?”
Trella shuddered. “She got killed. The acorns rolled. And exploded. I can feel her, but I can’t summon her. Are you going to be able to pull the wagon?”
“One way to find out.” Kaden took both ropes and tied them together. It took him and Trella together to drag the leading wagon through the fields and back onto the road, which were muddy and covered in melting slush.
“I sent an update to Sara telling her we’re out of the Trial and asking how long we were gone. I’m not hungry yet, but when you are, we’ll stop and eat.” Trella stood still atop the highest log in the stack, scanning the road ahead.
Soon, the trial ruins were a speck in the distance. Though the road east looked winding, in practice, Kaden barely noticed because the curves that looked winding were so far away that each became gradual. As darkness aproached, Trella leaped of the wagon. “As we go down toward the coast there’s hills right up by the road. If I were a bandit looking to make a bad decision and damage a tree branch with my neck, that’s where I’d be. I’d rather do that in the light.”
Kaden halted the wagon and worked with Trella to hang the tent.
“I brought a charm of Veela. This far out there won’t be many night spawns, but it’s not worth taking a risk,” Trella said. She hung the charm from the logs, where it glowed pink.
Soon, soup boiled on a heatstone. A heat stone helped by a [Match Lizard] the size of kaden’s finger. The [Match Lizard] concentrated, glowing bright as it used [Burn] to apply three points of damage—or heat—to the pot.
“Where did you get that?” Trella asked. “Wasn’t he in the fireplace?”
“Burny is tiny. I didn’t bring him out during the rampage because—he’s better at heating pots.” Also absolutely useless. “Awww, I hurt his feelings. You’re the King [Match Lizard].”
The lizard glowed even brighter. Possibly four points of damage brighter.
Not long after dinner, Kaden curled up in his bedroll and fell fast asleep. But the moon was still up when he woke. Trella’s grip on his shoulder sent coded messages.
*We’ve got a lurker stalking us.*
*Night Spawn?* Kaden sat up and prepared.
*A Demon.* She shared system logs.
Congratulations! You are being Hunted by Demons!