The chamber darkened as I uttered those words, and a chilling silence settled over the room. The weight of my decision hung in the air, thick and oppressive. Lienad and Niasuh looked at me with a mixture of regret and hope, their expressions betraying the pain of their failure and the desperate belief that I could succeed where they could not.
The woman with green eyes nodded solemnly, acknowledging my resolve. She waved her hand, and the runes on the platform beneath us flared to life once more. The energy in the room shifted, growing heavier, more foreboding. Whatever awaited me in the final trial, it was clear that this test would push me to the very limits of my strength, both physical and mental.
Lord Vaelios, who had remained silent throughout the previous trials, stepped forward. His gaze pierced through me, intense and unyielding. “The Trial of Mentality is the most challenging of all,” he said, his voice resonating with an authority that left no room for doubt. “It will not test your strength, your magical abilities, or your combat skills. It will test the core of who you are—the strength of your mind and the depth of your will. Many have faced this trial, and many have been broken by it. Do not take it lightly.”
I swallowed hard, trying to steady my racing heart. The gravity of his words was not lost on me. I had faced physical danger, harnessed wild magic, and confronted creatures born of nightmares. But this… this was different. This trial would be internal, a battle fought within the recesses of my mind. And in that space, there would be no weapons to wield, no magic to command—only the strength of my will to guide me.
The platform beneath me began to shift again, the runes rearranging themselves into an intricate, swirling pattern. The air around me thickened, and I felt a strange pressure building in my head, as if the very space around me was closing in. The sensation was disorienting, almost suffocating, but I forced myself to stay calm, to focus on what lay ahead.
The light around me intensified, swallowing the chamber in a blinding flash. For a moment, I felt as though I was being pulled apart, my senses overwhelmed by the sheer intensity of the energy around me. And then, as quickly as it had begun, the light faded, leaving me standing in what appeared to be a completely different place.
I was no longer in the chamber of trials. Instead, I found myself standing in the middle of a vast, desolate landscape. The ground beneath my feet was dry and cracked, like a barren wasteland that had not seen rain in years. The sky above was a swirling mass of dark clouds, churning ominously as if on the verge of unleashing a terrible storm.
There was no sound, no movement—only an eerie stillness that set my nerves on edge. I glanced around, trying to make sense of my surroundings, but there was nothing familiar to anchor myself to. It was as if I had been dropped into a world that existed entirely apart from reality, a place where the rules of the physical world no longer applied.
Then, from the distance, I heard a voice—my voice. It was faint at first, like an echo carried on the wind, but it grew louder, clearer, until it was unmistakable. I turned in the direction of the sound, my heart pounding with a mixture of fear and curiosity.
A figure approached, moving slowly across the cracked earth. As it drew closer, I realized with a shock that I was looking at myself—or rather, a version of myself from a time long forgotten. The figure was identical to me in every way, but it wore the clothes and bore the demeanor of someone from another life, a life I had lived before I was reborn into this world of magic and gods. The figure’s eyes held a cold, knowing glint, as if it carried with it all the secrets and burdens of my past.
The other me stopped a few paces away, its gaze locking onto mine with an intensity that made my skin crawl. “It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?” the figure said, its voice a perfect mirror of my own but laced with a bitterness that was unsettling. “You thought you could bury me, forget everything you once were. But here I am, David—back from the dead, just like you.”
I took a step back, instinctively raising my hands as if to defend myself, but the other me made no move to attack. It simply stood there, watching me with a disdainful smirk. “What is this?” I demanded, my voice trembling with the effort to remain composed. “What kind of trial is this?”
“This is the Trial of Mentality,” the other me replied, its tone mocking. “Here, you will confront the darkest parts of yourself—the doubts, the fears, the regrets that you try so hard to bury. But this time, it’s not just about your fears, David. It’s about who you were, who you really are underneath all those layers of falsehoods and new memories.”
I felt a cold dread settle in the pit of my stomach. This was worse than any physical challenge I could have imagined. How could I fight something that was a part of me, something that knew not just my weaknesses and fears in this life, but all the buried secrets of my past life as well?
The other me began to circle around me slowly, its eyes never leaving mine. “You’ve always doubted yourself, haven’t you?” it said, its voice a low whisper that seemed to resonate within my own thoughts. “Even now, after everything you’ve been through, there’s a part of you that believes you’re not strong enough. That you’re not worthy of the power you’ve been given. That you’ll fail, just like you did before.”
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I clenched my fists, trying to block out the words, but they cut deep, striking at the very heart of my insecurities. It was true—despite everything, a part of me had always feared that I wasn’t enough, that I was simply pretending to be strong, and that sooner or later, I would be exposed as a fraud.
“But it’s more than just doubt, isn’t it?” the other me continued, a cruel smile playing on its lips. “You’re haunted by your past, by the life you lived before this one. The mistakes you made, the people you hurt. Do you remember them, David? Do you remember what you did? What you did to poor little Jordan, having his father lost to him, Clarissa, everyone you've ever loved?"
My breath caught in my throat as memories I had long suppressed began to resurface. Flashes of another life, another world, filled with choices and actions I had buried deep within my subconscious. I saw faces—faces of people I had known, loved, and wronged. I remembered betrayals, regrets, and a darkness that I had thought I had left behind when I was reborn into this new world.
The other me stopped in front of me again, its eyes boring into mine. “You can’t run from your past, David,” it said softly. “No matter how far you’ve come, no matter what you’ve done in this life, the shadows of your past will always follow you. You can’t escape what you were.”
The ground beneath my feet seemed to shift, the cracks widening as if the earth itself was about to swallow me whole. I could feel the weight of those words pressing down on me, crushing my spirit, my resolve. Was this how it would end? Would I be defeated not by some external enemy, but by the ghosts of a life I had tried so hard to forget?
But then, amidst the despair, a small voice spoke up in the back of my mind—a voice that was quiet but unyielding, a voice that refused to be silenced.
“No,” I whispered, my voice barely audible at first. “No, I’m not going to give in.”
The other me raised an eyebrow, a look of mild surprise crossing its face. “What did you say?”
“I said no,” I repeated, more firmly this time. I straightened, lifting my head to meet its gaze. “I’m not going to let you—let myself—win this way.”
The other me narrowed its eyes, its expression darkening. “You think you can resist? You think you can deny the truth of what you were?”
“It’s not about denying the truth,” I shot back, feeling a surge of defiance welling up within me. “It’s about accepting it. Yes, I made mistakes in my past life. Yes, I hurt people, and I carry those regrets with me. But that’s not all I am. I’ve been given a second chance, and I’ve made a choice to be better, to do better. I’m not defined by the mistakes of my past—I’m defined by what I choose to do now.”
I could see the other me’s expression waver, the confidence it had projected starting to crack. “You can’t just erase what you did,” it said, a hint of desperation creeping into its voice. “You can’t pretend it doesn’t matter.”
“I’m not erasing anything,” I replied, my voice growing stronger. “I’m owning it. I know what I’ve done, and I’m not proud of it. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to let it control me. I’m more than my past—I’m the sum of all my experiences, the good and the bad. And I’m choosing to move forward, to be someone better than I was.”
The other me seemed to flicker for a moment, as if its very existence was being threatened. “No… this can’t be…”
“Yes, it can,” I said, feeling a strange sense of peace settle over me. “This trial isn’t about overcoming my past—it’s about accepting it,
“…and not letting it define my future.”
The other me recoiled as if struck, its form wavering as though it were being pulled apart by some unseen force. The confidence and malice that had once oozed from its every word began to crumble, revealing the fear and uncertainty that lay beneath. It was as if my acknowledgment of my past—of the person I once was—had stripped away the power it held over me.
“You can’t just ignore what you’ve done!” it shouted, desperation clear in its voice now. “You’ll never be free of it!”
“I’m not ignoring anything,” I replied, calm but resolute. “I’m acknowledging it. But I’m also acknowledging that I’ve changed. I’m not the person I used to be, and I won’t be held captive by the mistakes of my past.”
The cracks in the ground around us began to widen, the earth shaking as the entire landscape seemed to react to my words. The other me stumbled, struggling to maintain its footing as the ground split open beneath it. Its form flickered again, and I could see the fear in its eyes—my own eyes—growing stronger with each passing moment.
“This isn’t over, David!” it screamed, its voice filled with a mixture of anger and fear. “You’ll never be free of me!”
But I knew, deep down, that it was over. The trial had forced me to confront the darkest parts of myself, to face the mistakes and regrets that I had tried so hard to bury. But instead of being crushed by the weight of my past, I had found the strength to accept it and move forward. This was the true test of the Trial of Mentality—not defeating an enemy, but reconciling with the parts of myself that I had long feared.
“I know I’ll never be free of you,” I said softly, almost pitying the figure before me. “But I don’t have to be. I’ll carry you with me, but I won’t let you control me. You’re a part of me, but you don’t define me.”
The other me’s form flickered one final time, its image distorting as it let out a cry of rage and despair. Then, in a flash of light, it shattered into a thousand pieces, the fragments dissolving into the air like dust in the wind.
The ground beneath me steadied, the cracks closing as the desolate landscape around me began to fade. The oppressive weight that had pressed down on me lifted, replaced by a sense of clarity and peace that I hadn’t felt in a long time. The trial was over, and I had emerged victorious—not by destroying my past, but by accepting it.
The light around me brightened once more, and when it faded, I found myself back in the Chamber of Trials, standing once again on the platform. Lienad and Niasuh were there, their expressions a mixture of concern and relief as they saw me reappear.
“You did it,” Lienad said, his voice tinged with awe. “You passed the Trial of Mentality.”
I nodded, feeling a sense of calm settle over me. “Yeah,” I replied, a small smile forming on my lips. “I did.”
The woman with the piercing green eyes stepped forward, her gaze sharp and thoughtful as she regarded me. There was no need for her to say anything; the look in her eyes told me everything I needed to know. I had passed the final trial, and I had earned my place among those who had completed the Chamber of Trials.