I was about halfway across the bridge when I noticed it. A small glowing white orb in the distance. "This has to be my soul right?" I thought. "Obviously it's going to be a white ball of light?" I questioned continuing across the bridge.

A large gust of wind suddenly started shaking the bridge and I held onto both edges for dear life. That was when I noticed a large creature fly above my head and land over to where the bright orb was.

This creature was different than the one I had fought. It was larger, twice as large as me. It was dressed in all black robes with half of a skull for a face and one large glowing red eye. He held a large scythe in both hands.

"Magic?" I thought, remembering the other man's words about how color only resides here if it was magical. I looked down at my sabre again and noticed the blue gem again. I heard a noise from behind me. The bridge had been sliced down the middle and was barely hanging on by a thread.

My eyes widened and my body seemed to override my brain as I immediately sprinted towards the large creature, trying to save myself from the bridge collapsing. However, the bridge fell, and I too fell with it.

I was barely able to catch onto the bridge as it was hanging vertically off of the side of the cliff. Making my way up the bridge was not very tough as I was already quite athletic at home. Surprisingly enough, I had not run out of breath at all by the time I pulled myself up top. I was quite confused by this as normally climbing from that distance would have tired me out.

"It's the ring!" I thought to myself again. "I'm an idiot!" I rolled my eyes at myself. I stood to my feet, staring down this large creature. There was a mountain behind him, reaching up into the sky. This specific island was much much larger than the other two islands. He had picked up what I had thought to be my soul, tilted his half of a skull head back and completely swallowed it.

"Well shit." I said out loud without thinking. "Hey! I'm gonna need that back!" I shouted, filled with confidence from the previous fight. It was almost getting to my head. The power from just putting on the rings really made me feel invincible.

The creature let out a loud bellow, it was high and pierced my ear drums. A high amount of energy radiated from the creature as well. He raised his scythe as if he was preparing to strike me. I needed to think quick, and react quicker.

"Even if he hits me, I'll be able to use the mountain at his back to not fall off the edge of the island." I thought to myself, running around to his backside, instinctively rolling out of the way from a strike he made towards me. I got to my feet, sliding to a stop behind him. I pushed myself off the ground, using my previous momentum to change my direction. I drew my sabre and stabbed at the creatures long cloak.

He didn't even flinch. My ring made a clicking noise, and seemed to vibrate. I was unsure what that had meant but soon learned that the shield was done recharging. As the large Grim Reaper looking creature had hit me with his large scythe horizontal in the stomach, completely obliterating my armor and shirt in that area but again it didn't pierce the skin.

However the force of the hit had completely blown me back into the mountain wall. I crashed into the rocks. Pain filled my back, neck, and skull. The place where he would have hit me now ached with a searing pain. I looked down to see a large bruise where he would have struck me.

"Fuck." I muttered as I was able to get to my feet. My sabre had been released from my hand as I was hit. I touched my chin, and blood had fallen from my mouth. It was nothing I wasn't used to.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

I took martial arts and would get hit over and over, but this was quite a different hit. I fell on my hands and knees. I struggled to breathe as the wind had been knocked out of me. The reaper-like creature lifted it's scythe up to finish me off when I had a brilliant idea.

"Magic." I said allowed. ""Magic, can only be combated with Magic." I restated the words that the man had told me. I was breathing heavily. "I just hope this idea works." I thought to myself, thinking that I couldn't give up my chance to be sent home again.

I got to my feet. I was injured, but I could still move. I was able to just barely dodge an attack from his scythe again as it slammed down into the ground next to me as I rolled away. I got to my sabre and tore the blue gem out from the hand guard. The two dragons that made up the hand guards eyes faded away.

The gem rejuvenated me, filling me with a blue aura. It crawled up my skin and caused my veins to glow a blue color all around my body. Snow and Ice appeared at my feet and my breath was now showing in the air even though I didn't feel any colder.

The pain was incredible, it felt so hot but so cold at the same time. Almost like my body was burning with a frozen energy. I almost couldn't bear it. My body was being overheated. Energy was expelled outwards as I fell to my knees screaming at the energy.

I clutched the gem tighter out of instinct and it completely broke in my hand, causing all my symptoms to triple in stature. The reaper attacked me again but a bubble formed around me almost like an energy shield just for a moment to counteract this attack. I felt like my whole body was going to burst. It was like all my airways were closed and my entire self was being erased by this bright blue energy.

"I need to get home." I said out loud, as if my will to live was combatting my own body, keeping it together. I slowly stood up. The reaper came at me again with another horizontal swipe but I back stepped away, much further than I intended.

I collided with the wall, using my hand and foot to stop me at the edge of the mountain. I noticed my left hand, the hand which I had clutched the gem in, was throbbing and completely glowing with a bright blue energy. It looked as if my hand was completely frozen and icicles were starting to form on it. However the blue aura continued flowing with snow and ice just like before.

"This must be ... magic." I thought to myself looking at my hand. It had completely torn away at my skin and blood dripped from the inside of my palm. The pain was unbearable. It almost took me over again but I kept my mind strong.

"Magic.. Combats .. Magic" I said out loud, as I threw myself up into the air, expelling a ton of ice energy from where I was. I was higher than the grim reaper's head. I repeated the phrase to myself again as I fell down onto the reapers head and plunged my left hand into his bright red eye.

He cried out in agony, using one of his bony hands he tried to push me off but I stood my ground. I used my body like a conduit to pulse the energy from the crystal into the reapers eye.

A wave of blue light filled with ice and snow expelled from his eye outwards, going way past my shoulder. The large ice structure just stayed put as the reaper howled in pain. It flailed around multiple times before dropping it's scythe and crumbling into dust below me.

Its long cloak was the last thing to disappear. The mound of Ice I had left imbedded in its skull had also disappeared. The excess of energy I had throughout my body had dissipated completely. I was tired, out of breath, and burning with adrenaline and physical discomfort.

I collapsed under my own weight, falling face first onto the ground and just lying there unmoving. I wasn't dead. I was just tired. I had passed out? Maybe? I have no idea. I opened my eyes to a bright white light.

The small white orb that I thought had been my soul was lying in front of me. I reached out to touch it. The orb disappeared, travelling throughout my entire body in a small wave of energy. I was too worn out to even move as the energy started to carry me up.

I was lifted up off the ground and was floating out of the cemetery. The color in my body came back as I got higher and higher. I could only see the cemetery as a mere dot. I turned up to look at the sky, it was pure white. I was afraid of falling back down, but I couldn't even stay conscious enough to worry about falling. I floated so far away from that cemetery, back to life.

I had passed the test, and now I'd return home to my family.

At least, that was what I had hoped...