Einar reached into his world eater pouch and pulled out his drinking horn. Seeing the three tiny glowing stones on its bronze rim made him let out a sigh of relief. ‘I’m glad I decided to feed it some herbs back in Wolfhold.’ He thought as he willed the drinking horn to fill itself with a deep greenish liquid that had a faint golden glow to it and was releasing a scent reminding him of the medicines he was given as a child.
The giant drank it out in two gulps, a dense herbal taste flowing down his throat as a soothing cool feeling spread across his body. The pain in his back and chest let up while the bleeding puncture marks on his arm closed themselves at a pace clearly visible to the eye. In a minute or so he was left with a few faint pink marks on his skin that rapidly darkened into regular skin. Looking around he noticed the faint golden mist wafting between the bushes, steaming out from the glowing blood that was dimming fast.
The pool of blood beneath the beheaded beast spewed out the most golden mist that kept tugging on Einar’s soul. He raised his drinking horn toward the mist and it began to churn, floating toward the horn from all around him. It then condensed into a fist-sized golden cloud that filled the horn with a shimmering dew before dissipating. ‘Even killing a strong beast seems to bear rewards.’ He thought to himself while drinking the golden dew.
With the most important prize claimed, he looked at the wolf’s corpse, noticing that it shrank down somewhat from its blood forcefully drained from it. Glowing greenish lines ran along its body like mystical tattoos formed by nature itself. The giant silently cleaned his sword on the wolf’s tail before sheathing it. He went back to where we dropped his seax to retrieve it before returning to the headless corpse.
‘Although wolf meat is stringy, leaving it here just like that would be a waste. Especially that glowing fur. Maybe Rúna will be able to craft something with it.’ Einar decided to take the carcass with him. Although Helga told him that his world eater pouch could fit and store a lot of things it was the first time he tried to push something so large in it. Much to his surprise, the corpse of the wolf began to shrink down when he tried to push one of its powers into the pouch.
Then, it shrank down to the size of his fist before it disappeared into the thick mist that covered the mouth of the pouch. ‘That was weird.’ He mused while he decided to return to the overgrown path to continue his journey. Life seemed to have returned to the forest with both birds and crickets making noises again now that the predators were gone. A good hour later the path led him to the foot of a small mountain that rose a couple hundred yards toward the sky.
There, the path split into two, both leading around the mountain. Not having too much choice, he decided to follow the path leading to the left, thinking that he would likely circle the small mountain and come back on the other path if he didn’t find anything of interest. Not long after, the path split again, this time leading sharply upward the cliff. It was a path that was too steep to walk on with its dark and sharp rocky surface making even climbing it a challenge.
There were barely any spots to grab on the lower part as if something ground off the climbing holds. Taking note of the spot, the youth continued his journey around the mountain, finding two more such places where the path would lead him upward. Sadly, none of the three paths up the rocks seemed to be good. He tried to grab onto a few of the small cracks on the stone wall but his large fingers failed him. His frustration only grew in the following minutes until he recalled his father’s tale about how he and his companions climbed a mountain to hunt down the fire dragon that terrorised the people of Northrend Isle.
‘He told me that they used... climbing picks.’ The young giant recalled the name of the strange tool that his father described as a pickaxe made to be the size of a hatchet. Although he didn’t have such a tool, he did have a pair of axes with a pick on their back. He pulled his twin axes out of his world eater pouch and slipped their leather loops around his wrists before swinging one of the picks at a crack not far above his head. The finger-long pick went in almost completely and he could feel that it held well enough.
He pulled himself upward, aiming his other axe at the next spot he chose. A slow climb began as he swung, pulled, released and repeated, making his way upward the mountain. A good five minutes later he finally reached the part where the rocks became rough enough for him to grab it with his bare hands, finding plenty of hand and footholds. The axes soon found their way back into his pouch while he rested in a small alcove on the mountain’s side. After catching his breath, Einar continued to climb upward, almost an hour rushing by before he finally reached the top of the jagged rock.
The top of the mountain looked like a basin, its edge a few feet thick before it began to lean inward. The path led downward from there through roughly carved steps that snaked toward what he recognised to be an arena filled with broken rocks just like the first trial ground. ‘Looks like I’ve found the second one.’ Einar mused as he turned around for a moment to look back at the forest beneath him. The crowns of the large trees that previously towered over him were now at least a good two hundred feet below him, the path he came through disappearing beneath the green canopy.
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He could see two more such mountains in the other direction, each taller than the one before it. The overgrown path was barely visible as it led forward, the trees slowly opening up in the distance. He could faintly make out signs of ruins scattered around in the distance, too many to be the locations of the remaining seven trials. Especially if two of those were on top of the mountains ahead of him. ‘No wonder they gave us three months.’ Einar sighed as he turned around and made his way downstairs to the flattened stone circle. Just as before, there were broken rocks thrown about at the edge of the clearing and an altar at the side of it. When the young giant reached the middle of the proving ground, the rocks came to life and began to roll together, reforming themselves into ancient pillars.
“No matter where they go, warriors need luck on their side or they shall meet mortal peril. For Aeons past, it was the thing that helped sway the odds of fate being on their side. The trial of luck shall see if you can live without it or not. Step on the glowing square to start the challenge and reach the other end of the field where the golden circle awaits you.”
As those words were said, a grey-coloured circle appeared on one end of the proving ground and Einar walked over to step on it. When he did, a golden light appeared at the far end ahead of him.
“On your way, a bronze and a silver circle will await your decision. Stepping on either will stop the trial and you will earn a fraction of the world’s blessing. Pass by them and you will have to continue without looking back. Step carefully, for each one could be your last, but who knows which one will it be?”
The voice went silent and the young giant found himself looking at the floor beneath his feet. A small gale swept through the arena, revealing that it was split into two-feet by two-feet sized squares. ‘What kind of challenge is this?’ He asked himself as he looked at the chequered ground that had two more glowing circles now. There was no further explanation and there were no clues either. Did he really just have to walk forward? Was that it? Not receiving any answers to his inner questions, Einar let out a sigh and stepped forward.
The moment his weight pressed down on his first leg, the stone square beneath it crumbled apart, making him fall. He reached out to grab onto something, the stone on his left crumbling beneath his touch while the right one held firm. The youth managed to grab hold of it with one hand, hanging above a hole that was filled with darkness. He pulled himself up with a bit of effort, taking in short breaths as he tried to process just how close he got to falling to his death. Or... did he? Einar summoned a spear made of fire and threw it straight down the hole.
He watched as it flew downwards for a good hundred feet before hitting the bottom of the hole. Or to be more precise, it struck a large stone spike and exploded, lighting up its surroundings. The pit was filled with stone spikes, making it deadly for anyone who’d fall inside. ‘This is madness! How is anyone supposed to pass this trial? There’s no way to tell which block will crumble and which won’t.’ The giant screamed inside he looked at the squares on the stone floor, then back at the hole. There had to be a trick to this trial. People relied on more than luck to survive.
He too had to rely on more than his luck. But what was he going to do? Stepping on the squares would make them crumble and there was a chance that whatever he grabbed would also fall apart beneath his touch. The seeker kept staring at the floor for a good minute while his frustration kept growing. Then it struck him. ‘Will the squares crumble under anything that touches them?’ He mused as he drew his sword from its sheath. Einar pointed the blade’s tip toward the square in front of him and he stabbed downward. The tip hit the stone, but nothing happened.
Einar repeated it with the other stones around him as well, but none of them reacted. Could it be that he needed to touch them? Following that thought he gently stepped on the stone ahead of him, leaving most of his weight on his other leg. Again, nothing happened, so he slowly increased the weight on his front leg. Just when it seemed that the stone was fine, it cracked and crumbled apart, the young giant barely managing to throw himself back onto the square he originally stood on. ‘Damn it!’ He cussed as he looked at the hole.
Trying it with the other two squares that connected with the one he was on, the stone behind him proved to be stable as well. ‘Is there any difference between the stone plates?’ Einar asked from no one in particular as he lay down on his stomach, trying to get a glimpse at the underside of the squares. ‘There you are, you bastard.’ He let out a victorious chuckle when he noticed that out of the few squares around the holes, some were an inch or so thicker than the others. Sheathing his sword, the youth aimed at the square stone that seemed the thickest and leapt toward it.
It held his weight for about a second before crumbling apart, the giant reaching out to both sides to grab hold of anything that could save him. This time, it was the square on his left that held. After pulling himself up and cursing at his terrible luck and plan, Einar looked around once again. He was at least twenty feet from the glowing bronze circle. With the strength of his legs, he might be able to leap two-thirds of the way or further toward it, but he couldn’t risk it. Should he try to make a run for it?
Thanks to his increased deftness he was quite fast for his size and the stone plates seemed to be able to hold his weight for a moment, so he might make it if he tried his hardest. The plan was good in his head, but something tugged at his mind, whispering to him that it wouldn’t be so simple. Looking back between the holes and the stone plates that floated in the air by who knows what divine magic, Einar noticed a pattern of sorts. The holes were mostly two squares forward and one toward either the left or the right side. This pattern seemed to have repeated itself twice now and it made him wonder if it would for a third time as well. Could it be that the third stone plate ahead of him would be safe?
Letting out a sigh, the giant braced himself for what was about to happen and hopped forward with just enough strength to pass the two squares, landing on the third one. The moment he landed, the plate shattered beneath his feet and he was falling too straight down to grab onto anything. He was almost neck deep in the hole when, out of some foolish instinct, he summoned an ice spear in hopes that it would be able to hold his weight. The spear’s tips sprung to both sides from his grasp, drilling themselves into the top layer of the plates on the sides.
Einar came to a grinding halt, but the force of his fall made the ice spear begin to crack. ‘Damn it!’ He thought as he pulled himself up with one hand, the other reaching for the plate on his left to grab hold of it. His spear held together just long enough for him to grab the stone tile and he pulled himself up with a wheezing breath. Einar sat down on the stone square, frowning and growling as his frustration grew.