Axel had no idea how far they had gone as the only thing he was aware of was the sense of motion. Axel looked over at Salmar, who was no longer looking the most relaxed as the ride went on.

“So, Salmar, you have done trials before? What are we expecting down there? All the lessons state to explore, and when you want to leave, follow the orange line to a safe zone,” Axel asked to break the ice.

“The Novice trial area is a twisting maze of corridors that lead into rooms where the crimson tends to stay. That is not to say that you won’t find any in the hallways, but it is rare,” Salmar explained. “Whatever the Goddess does to draw them here, it seems to condense in those rooms.”

“Since we are all working on completing a cycle, I will start first. I am looking for a Zone Walker. It has a movement ability that I think will complement my abilities well.” As Salmar explained to everyone, a shiver went through the group as the elevator passed some barrier.

“That took longer than normal,” Salmar commented, “but that is not unusual.”

“Why is the time to the Trial area taking longer not unusual?” Lyra asked.

“Time can work a little strange in the Trial,” Salmar explained as the elevator stopped. “Only the Goddess would know why; it just is how it always has been.”

The group went through the right door. The hallway was not lit, and everyone pulled out a light gem as they moved through a corridor that could only fit two people side by side. Axel and Salmar took the lead with Aria and Lyra in the middle, and Sky took the tail end as she was just wide enough that it made anyone trying to walk side by side with her difficult.

The hallway was empty with no sound but their feet falling on the floor. Salmar led the group through several turns until they arrived near a smaller room. In the room was a Crimson Entity that had six legs, a large body about nine feet in length from a large eyeless head to its three-foot whipping tail. This entity had four long tendrils with mouths on them, eating another Entity it seemed to have killed.

It seemed to be feeding on the orb that was left behind from its kill and was distracted by its meal. As the Entity fed, its body changed from a crimson red color to a shifting purple. Salmar made hand signals common to Storm training, pointing to a range they could sneak to and spread out a bit. When everyone was in position, Salmar motioned for Aria to fire an arrow at the entity.

Aria’s arrow ripped right through one of the tentacle stalks and nailed the Energy Fiend in the head as she made a small jump shot to get the angle. This angered the thing as it turned and ran to where the shot came from. This allowed both Axel and Salmar to pin it between their halberd and spear, though even with his strength, this caused both of them to skid back several feet.

Lyra moved in and dodged the remaining tentacle stalk while a flat, sharp metal disc filled the space where her head was, slicing the mouth on the end right off. With that done, Axel pushed his strength to the max, feeling his body ache as Lyra rushed to land a finishing blow, only to sidestep as a beam of energy blasted out of the Fiend’s open maw.

The color drained and returned to normal as the beam hit the back wall while Axel and Salmar kept it from turning its head. Lyra finished her strike as the Fiend’s energy beam flickered and faded. With a clean strike, the sword cleaved halfway through the neck. It took another two blows from Lyra to fully remove the head. The Fiend broke up in motes of light, leaving an orb behind which Lyra picked up and pocketed.

It would not be able to leave unless added to a gem, but they needed to keep up the front for Salmar as the news of Lyra’s split-core could be leaked otherwise.

“Not the cleanest kill on a Fiend I’ve had,” Salmar laughed and shook his arms and legs, trying to get the chemicals in his body to move on. “I don’t recommend moving into the front of one after it just fed, but they have great hearing and I did not want to tip it off to us being here.”

“Well, now I know, but thanks for the delayed warning,” Lyra replied, sounding tired.

Axel guessed that she used a lot of her core power for her enhanced reflex to dodge. Salmar looked the group over, seeing no injuries, and started leading everyone down another hallway that was off to the right of the room. No one talked as they went deeper into the trial, the only sound was mostly the soft clicking of Sky’s legs as everyone was moving as quietly as possible.

Axel was not sure how much time passed when Aria tapped both his and Salmar’s shoulders, halting them and motioning for them to back up. When everyone moved back to a junction point in the trial, Axel heard the sound of thudding feet. Everyone shut off their gems, leaving the hallway in a murky gloom but not full darkness like Axel expected. The light level seemed to be about the level of light when the moons were just past the new cycle, leaving everything in near but not total darkness.

Coming through the junction that the group would have made about that time was a large group of Entities made of stone, shaped roughly like humanoids, eight feet tall, and leaving ground dirt behind. This was followed by a pair of disfigured children with misshapen wings. A pair of Umbral Dolls that were bigger than the ones that Axel and Lyra had fought during their first trial.

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Aria also pointed to a small humanoid that was green-skinned, two feet tall, and covered in rock dust coming off the group of large entities around him. This was a Rock Herder from what Axel had studied, but it must be on the verge of changing to the next tier of the creature as having six rocks as its party or flock, as they were known, was a sign of its power. Everyone held their breath while the group went down another section away from them.

“What is a Stone Herder doing in this part of the trial?” Axel asked Salmar. “I thought you said they would be way off in another part of the trial?”

“This is very uncommon,” Salmar looked a little worried. “I hope we didn’t get caught in a shift.”

“Shift?” Aria took up the question before anyone else.

“Every few years, as Crimson survives, some get to the point of upgrading their life and the rooms shuffle what is in them,” Salmar explained. “This would be a shitty time, and we need to hurry up as we will likely not find what we are hunting if they have already pushed or were pushed to a location of their liking.”

“This is also the most dangerous time to be in the trial as there are more everywhere moving from their known homes,” Salmar finished. “If it was not for a confirmed sighting of the Zone Walker, I would say we get out now, but I don’t want to give up this chance.”

“Do we take out that Stone Herder then?” Lyra asked.

“That is risky as it is on the end scale of Lesser Entities. It also has that pair of Umbral Dolls to heal it and its minions, but I don’t see any other way as it is heading in the direction we need to go for a better shot at finding a Zone Walker or the ones needed for Lyra’s gems,” Salmar said while thinking about the fight ahead.

“We will need to ambush them. Lyra, Sky, and Aria will take the Umbral Dolls,” Salmar began giving assignments after seeming to make up his mind. “Axel, I assume you have taken a strength cycle, so I will need you to hold the flock and push them away.”

“The flock that a Stone Herder has had a great defense but are very clumsy, so hit them with a running push to clear the field for me to kill the Herder,” Salmar finished and had everyone start moving so that they would not lose their new prey.

----

The group moved swiftly through the now-dark hallway as they kept their gems shut off to avoid lighting the way for them. Axel could see a sickly green glow coming from ahead as the Umbral Dolls were letting off a light, seeming to be healing after a scuffle with other Entities as there were over a dozen orbs laying on the ground on the other side of them from Axel’s group.

Axel also noticed that the flock was down two of its members and the Stone Herder was getting ready to resummon more. Axel felt a hand slap him on the back twice to signal his charge. Axel pulled up Berserker and kicked off the ground, going full tilt in a straight line. Axel then shifted his halberd to fill the hall and before he knew it, he was past the now startled Umbral Dolls, feeling the impact from arm to shoulder to his back.

While Axel’s momentum slowed a bit on the impact and now dragging the flock with him, he still managed to cover another twenty feet before the weight bled all his momentum. Axel could not feel the pain, but he was seeing warnings all over his body as the hulking stone men reassembled back to a standing position. Axel then needed to dodge back from four fists slamming down on him, trying to crush him to paste.

When the fists hit, they left small cracks, but the air pressure belied the perception that there was no weight or strength behind those swings. Axel used the time that they were off balance from the swings to let go of his halberd and made a leap at the stone men. Axel then grabbed both of their faces and slammed them together with a resounding crack.

Both “heads” had large chunks broken off and each staggered back from the blow, but a green glow started on each only to cut off the next moment with childlike shrieks of pain. Axel had no time to look as he was now dodging between all four, trying to tangle them all up in each other to give himself more time. Axel could see that his available energy was already down to half and the fight had only gone on for a short time.

Axel was still finding the way his perception changed into such a more focused way strange. It also must have sped up some as things seemed more floaty for lack of a better word, but Axel had a harder time keeping track of what was happening outside his fight and hoped that his friends had their part covered. As Axel received a warning that he needed to shut down Berserking, the stone men crumbled into piles of dirt and then vanished.

Axel forced his system to shut down Berserking mode and all the pain rushed in. Axel noticed all the damage warnings he had ignored to this point in glaring red. He also must have been glanced at by the stone men as his right rib section was destroyed. Regeneration was working, but it was still long minutes before he would be out of pain. Axel just kneeled there, trying to focus on breathing in and out, pushing out the pain when a hand landed on the side of his neck to send a wash of relief, helping his body heal quicker.

“You messed yourself up there Axel,” Lyra commented while using her gift to help shift the damage making Axel’s gift and regeneration more effective.

“Ya, but this is what I knew would happen when I chose regeneration as my power,” Axel replied unsteadily and rose to his feet.

“You ok there Axel,” Salmar asked in a worried tone.

“Ya they just got in a glancing blow but my blessing will have me back going here soon.” Axel gave him a thumbs up and walked slowly back to the group.

Sky was looking over the pulsing orb and stored it in a pouch she along her side. She carried many pouches and even a pack that opened on the top for her gear. When Axel arrived everyone rested for a good while letting cores recharge and wounds heal. As everyone was recovering Salmar tossed Axel an orb.

“It's always good to see if you are compatible with healing,” Salmar said as Axel fumbled to catch it.

Axel received a warning from his journal when he held the orb

Caution user is not advised to add this to their core. Due to the following reasons:

* Incompatibility

* Safe use of that type of ability type has been used

Seeing the warning Axel shook his head to Salmar and tossed it back. Several others held it and all shook their heads and Salmar added both to a beast gem each.

“Well, we at least have some emergency healing. With the potency, these can heal about ten times before expended.” Salmar said and put them into a pouch. “We have rest enough, we need to get a move on.”

Salmar then blinked a few times considered his map and chose the next route. Everyone got up and Axel noticed that his core was at about eighty percent and took his position in the group.