It was late, I was 18 and I was enjoying a drink at a bar. Since my mom died I had gone down in my life, I dropped school and started working at an illegal factory. A year after I started there was a robbery while I was working and I beat the shit out of the robbers, so my boss hired me as a guard and raised my pay. Once every few months there would be some robbery attempt but nothing I couldn’t handle. I loved Vikings and so I started cutting my hair like Ragnar, quite the character if I must say it.
Four drunkards entered the bar laughing and almost falling on the floor, stupid bastards…
“Hey pretty lady, come serve us, maybe you could ‘serve’ us more than just a few drinks, hahahaha.” – The one in the front said while looking lecherously to the young waitress.
“I-I’ll be right there with your drinks now, sirs.” – For someone working in such a place, she’s shy as hell.
“Hey, I told you to come here… Don’t ignore me you b***!” – It seems he had a few too many drinks.
*Clank!* – I hit the table I was sit on with my cup.
“Guys, you should leave Nina alone, she doesn’t want anything with any of you.”
“L-Lyon, it’s ok, no need to w-worry.” – She trembled, I couldn’t help but remember how weak I thought was my mother for not killing that guy, I’m sure she could’ve done it.
“No! It’s not OK! - I shouted with all my might. – You don’t deserve to be treated like a peace of meat, and they shouldn’t do so, less in my presence.”
“Yo brat! What did ya say?! I’m gonna break that nose of yours if you don’t apologize right now, bastard!” – He knocked the chair on the floor as he got up.
“Hmph. Come if you dare, bastard.”
And then it started. He jumped at me with a jar in his hand and tried to hit me with it, but I just sidestepped to the left, went a little at front and put my feet in front of his, and like that, he fell to the floor. So sad of him.
Two of his friends came over full of fury, but that’s all they got, no technique. They tried to punch me but I just kept dodging and stepping back. After a few punches I took the hand of the leftmost and taking his force against him I launched him over me and onto the floor, and that’s the second one unconscious.
The third then did the unimaginable; he took a knife from his pocket and tried to stab me. The memories and the fury invaded me and I couldn’t control myself. With the movements I had so many times practiced I snatched his hand, bended over his wrist so that he would feel pain and drop the knife. I took the knife and before I got time to analyze my actions, I stabbed him in the shoulder. The scream he made woke me up like a bucked of freezing water. The fourth one of them was trembling on the floor and the waitress was looking at me as if I was a monster.
I took my coat and rapidly left the bar. Strangely enough, no cops were coming, but I still ran with all my might. When I arrived home I slammed the door, and blackness came.
--- --- --- ---
I woke up thinking about the dream and the weeks that came after the accident, but then I realized I wasn’t home. The ceiling above my head was unfamiliar, it was full of carvings, gods, mythical creatures and humans, but also other things that weren’t human, then I remembered, I remembered Kronos, or as he calls himself in his body, Chronos, and I remember his story about other worlds, it all sounded crazy, but maybe it was true?
“Of course it’s true, who do you take me for, brat?”
“Ah!” – I shouted surprised by such voice, it sounded different to what I remembered but it was the same, and I still couldn’t see him, I guess it’s that thing he said about being invisible, but still it’s weird. – “Sorry Chronos…”
“Stop apologizing, you’ll be my champion from now on, you can’t be this weak willed. Well, let’s explain this through; the test you are about to be put through is not a test I designed, in fact, the one who did was way more powerful than I was even in my Titan body. The test will put you through different trials, which you will have to pass to the best of your capability. This ancient cave is known as the Patronage of the Divines. It feeds on the power of a god, then fuses that energy with the power of the cave itself and gives the tested, if he or she was able to pass such test, a power that is the most suitable for him. Such power will be uncontrolled by me, I can’t even help you more than give you some advises. First advice, don’t die, second advice, don’t you dare to die, or I will be angry as f*** and I will torture your soul over a hundred years.”
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“Ok…” – For someone who was trying to make me help him, he didn’t seem to try so hard.
“I’m not trying anything, you will help me, whether you like it or not, as we will swear a lifeblood oath.”
“What’s that? It sounds awful…”
“Hahaha, you’re funny kiddo. A lifeblood oath is something that can't be broken. Once you've made it, there's nothing you can do to escape the oath, you either complete it, or you die trying not to. Oaths sworn upon your life will kill you the moment that you try to avoid the deal, the universe itself will kill you. That oath will make sure that you participate in the tournament and, that in case you win, your wish will be my new body, and in my case, it will guaranty that even after you do such things, I won’t kill you.”
“Mmm… Power, long life and not killing me? Seems fair to me. So when do we start?”
“HAHAHAHA, such liveliness, ok let’s start. Last word, I have no control over the trials at all, so even if you’re in danger I won’t be able to help you, so be careful. But before going in, you’ll swear the oath.”
As he was saying that, a stone entered my vision. The stone was white with carvings of symbols, those had a purplish hue which hypnotized me, until he said: “Chaos father of all, be witness of this oath”. Then the purplish hue transformed into a blackish light, which opposes all I know about light but I don’t know how else to describe it, and then some kind of ash grey papyri appeared out of thin air.
“Ok, now we’ll write the contract.” – He seemed anxious to do it, as if a second or two would matter when he would have to wait four hundred years to have his body back.
The papyri started filling itself with words which were as he had said, he would not harm me and I would wish for his body was I to win the tournament. Then when the words, which definitely were a lot more than I have said, were in the papyri, two squares appeared in the papyri.
“Come Lyon, put your thumb in the right square.” – He was almost kind, which put me on the edge, but it wasn’t as if I had a choice, so I did it. Then my thumb was pierced by something, and though I sensed it, it didn’t hurt, so I didn’t take my thumb out until he said so; then he did the same thing on the other square. And when we both had done so, in the squares appeared symbols made with blood. On the right square where I had put my thumb there was a spiked drop of blood. On the left square where he had put his thumb there was a scythe connected with a chain to a clock.
“Well, oath done, we’re now chained won’t be able to break the oath, so that’s it.” – He said it with an impervious voice as the stone emitted a strong light and swallowed de papyri. – “Now let’s go to the trials.”
…
“Ok, that’s the door, once you go through it the trials will start.”
I encountered myself in front of a giant door full of strange symbols and carvings; it was at least 30 feet tall and was made of a strange wood. The wood was reddish and besides the carvings fully smooth, as if was metallic. The carvings were enormous and full of references to mythology from home, but also full of other things that didn’t exist in Earth, or at least not that I remember. With so many carvings and symbols, not even in 6 hours would I finish seeing them all, let alone understand them, but there were a few symbols which drew my attention.
The first one was a symbol similar to an X, but covered in flames, lightning and icicles, and emanated an aura of many, as if that symbol was composed by thousands.
The second was a helmet, pierced by a sword. The helmet was bleeding, but the blood went up, as if such blood belonged to the heavens.
There were other carvings and symbols which were beautiful or terrifying but none that called me as much as those two.
“Go, little Ironblood, the trials await you, and I’m excited to know what kind of powers will you receive.” – Kronos whispered me with bloodlust.
I turned around surprised by the change in his voice and different from before, now that we were in front of the door I could faintly see his silhouette. He was tall. Hell he was, he was 9 feet tall and though all I saw was a shadowy silhouette, I could see the spikes all around his body, and those eyes… they were injected in blood and full of hate, and I felt fear, a deep and unconscious fear towards such being.
After a few seconds I turned around while trembling and stepped towards the door. When I was almost there, the door started to open itself, so as to let me through. On the other side of the door there was darkness, much more dark than even the soul of Kronos, as if to indicate that whoever built this trials was a being all-powerful. I walked forwards, and I could see the carvings in the door move around and look at me, and I felt as if they were looking into my soul, then as the door closed I felt my body disappear, and all my needs go away. After that there was blackness.
After what could’ve been a second, an hour, a day, a week, or even a year or a decade, light entered my field of vision.
The light expanded until it covered everything, and then I found myself in a room. The room was big, probably 25 m each side, about 625 square meters. The room was empty except for a pitch black desk and an equally black chair. I felt impeded to sit down, so I did. Then a light shone on the desk and something appeared.
On the desk was now some kind of paper, thought it looked different to every paper I had ever seen. Strangely enough I could read some words in it, though the strangeness came from the unknown language in which it was written. I had never heard or seen such language, yet I could understand perfectly it’s meaning: “Thou who wish to acquire power beyond imagination, will face the trials of Sha Mon, if thou succeed thou shall receive a great power. If not, however, thou shall perish and rest in the trials for all eternity. To start the trials think the following words: Kha Num Alur.”
I flinched at the words perish and eternity, but I had come so far and I had signed an oath, so I had to do it.
[Kha Num Alur] – I whispered in my head as the paper indicated and then the paper burned with green fire which did nothing but erase the words. Then the fire appeared again, but on a much smaller scale, writing new letters on the paper.