The sensation of falling didn't let up as the light faded. When my vision cleared, I found that I WAS falling, plummeting really, through a massive and expansive caverns. A huge cylindrical shaft of stone rimmed with overgrown flora and beautiful waterfalls. They all gathered at the bottom, so far below it was hard to see, and the splashback created an impenetrable bank of mist.

Along the descent were beautiful islands full of lush greenery, linked together by rainbow bridges, and spread out like a wide staircase. My friends were nearby, but they seemed to be falling at different speeds. Abel was shooting downward faster than anyone else, I was falling the second fastest. As I fell, information was shoved into my mind, telling me exactly what was happening.

This was the trial of perseverance. I smirked internally because the powerful souls of the faction elite weren't going to help much with this. This trail pushed all of us to the bottom of the chute, and we all had to climb. The stronger your soul, the heavier the pressure weighing you down. Soul strain would press down on each of us at all times, making the journey all the more difficult for the strong.

For the moment, we were all just freefalling, though it was taking a while to get to the bottom. "Whoooo!" Squealed a familiar voice. I turned to see Bethy using a shawl she'd pulled from nowhere to catch the wind like a flying squirrel. "This is so much fun!" I remembered what she said about forms of items staying the same. I grabbed at my jacket, trying to do the same.

It...sort of worked. I looked around, trying to glide towards Callie. When I got close enough I was able to grab her hand, and was delighted to see that when I did the weight on me reduced. Of course, the weight on HER increased, but between the two of us it kind of evened out.

Despite the fact that items didn't work though, Skills still should. I reached for my overlay, looking for possible ways out of this. I noticed a few golden arrows, and grinned as I confirmed my Path had a way out. I triggered State of Grace and Ripple Running. Stepping on the air, I followed the golden arrows, and the power of my Path shielded Callie and I from the pressure as I pushed off.

While there might be Masters here, there was no one else with a Solid Path that I was aware of. I had a unique advantage. Stepping off the air, I charged forward, heading for the nearest island, determined to start further up than everyone else. I wanted to bring my friends, but I couldn't reach them, I just had to trust they'd be ok. We could meet up later.

To my shock though, when my foot hit the air, I felt the weight return, slamming me down on the Ripple Running step. I gritted my teeth and took another, and the weight redoubled. I stared in desperation at the island. I had ten steps, but as far as I could tell, those steps would each double in difficulty at least. Callie had swung up onto my back, squeezing me tight, and I felt her lift some of the burden, letting me know she was with me.

I took a third step, then a fourth. My soul groaned, even with the training, but I was determined. One more step and I was halfway there. Ten steps to freedom, and I'd finished five. I pushed forward another step, and almost collapsed from the air with a scream. I refused though. This was training, good training too, my soul would improve here. I stepped again, seven down.

By the time I made the tenth step, my soul was cracking, it was about to break, but to my shock, as soon as my foot hit the island, not only did the pressure vanish, but a rush of cooling power flooded me, repairing the damage and elevating my soul strength by a level.

I slumped down on the grass, panting and shuddering, but I was still thrilled. Callie looked a little let down. Since the majority of the damage had been to me, I'd had more room to absorb the cleansing energy.

"Ok." I said with a gasp as I sat up. "I get it now. The walk along the rainbow bridges or trying to fly damages the soul. The stronger your soul is the more damage it does. When you reach the islands the energy there heals you, but there's a finite amount here. I can feel it depleting. So if you take too long to climb you lose out. The system rewards people willing to push through adversity to advance."

Callie grinned. "It's also a net loss for the stronger elites. The ones whose souls have already achieved perfection as the Azure Soul Body. Since they can't advance any more, the healing will just top their souls up to their original limits. How much did yours improve?"

"Five percent." I laughed. "But it was a fluke. The ability I used was something the trial didn't approve of, the damage redoubled and stacked. It meant I was under way more pressure than I should have been. I was pretty close to permanent damage, though I don't think I'd die if my soul broke here. I'm pretty sure this is just a portion of our souls, so even shattering would just kick us out."

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She sat up next to me. "Alright. Then we need to rest a bit. How high up are we exactly?" I leaned out over the edge to look, trying to gauge the distance.

"I'd say three or four islands up." I said with a grimace. "Probably best I didn't try that higher up. I don't think I'd have managed at a higher island." I squinted through the mist. "I think someone landed on one of the lower islands though. We can take a minute, but we don't have too much time."

She nodded, giving me a minute to decompress and process. While we'd both been healed by the power of the island, I'd still just been functionally tortured for a few minutes. Mentally I needed to realign. Once my brain was working better, we headed across the small island and made it to the rainbow bridge. I held out my hand, but Callie shook her head.

"No. It might help, but we should make the most of this opportunity." She cracked her neck. "I'm way behind in terms of soul power, and I want to catch up."

"Works for me." I said with a smile. "Just be careful." Each of us took a long, slow breath, then we stepped out onto the rainbow. The first step was pretty easy, the second a bit harder. Taking the path laid out made the strain more gradual than fudging it to reach the island. Callie seemed to be under the same amount of strain despite out different levels of soul refinement, which proved what we'd suspected about the adjustable difficulty.

By the time we reached the other side of the bridge, we were both in agony, pouring sweat and panting. We thumped down on the island, letting the power flow into us and heal our spirits. "So." I wheezed. "This seems like it's aimed at weaker people, right? Or is that just me?"

She shook her head. "Nope. But that makes sense. The Ruined Soul Temple was created to help people refine their souls. The trials might admit ringers, but why would they reward them?"

"I hadn't thought of it like that." I mused. "But you're right. Hell, by that logic, I'd imagine that the benefit for people with lower ranked souls would be bigger too. You see any bump in yours? After those first ten steps, not to mention that walk, you probably shot up quite a bit."

"Four percent." She said with a grin. "You?"

I checked my soul again. "Two percent for the bridge on top of the five from the first ten steps. I think I got most of the refinement from that first bit because I was taking the steps."

After a few minutes of rest, we got back to it. This was a race, and were damned if we were going to lose. As we walked, we were able to see some of the lower rainbow bridges, and I could make out small forms stepping purposefully across them. The others were on the way. I felt kind of bad I couldn't catch them too, but they would be fine. I just wanted to make it to the top before the ringers.

When we reached the next island though, I realized quickly that might not be as easy as I'd expected. Someone had beat us there. Looking closely, I realized there were multiple islands on each layer and multiple bridges connecting them. Our view had just been bad from where we were falling.

"Hello neighbor." Chirped the small, pale man with a black mask tied around his head. The mask came down over his eyes and covered his hair, with two eyeholes cut out. The rest of his outfit was light dark armor. There was a sword on his hip, and his eyes were sharp and predatory. "You made good time. I didn't think anyone else would be up this high yet."

Despite his focus and clear animosity, he wasn't moving. I was assuming he'd been pushing hard to get up here this fast and hadn't let himself fully heal yet. The longer he waited the better shape he was going to be in, but we were recovering too, and there were two of us, so I let him stall.

"Same here." I said casually. "I'm guessing you've been sprinting through the islands, figuring you would heal on the last legs once you'd already won. Why go through the trouble though. What does an individual win matter. There's a bunch of these trials right?"

He nodded. "There is. But each trial awards the winner a piece of a key. First place is a gold key, second place is silver, and third place is bronze. You manage to get a whole key and you can unlock one of the treasure rooms at the end. That's what all the Azure Souls are here for."

"I had heard there were prizes." I admitted. "But I'm just here to improve myself. I'd never dream of aiming for such valuable winnings."

He snorted. "And the Emperor's my dad. If you're going to lie to my face at least make it convincing. That's just insulting."

"Sorry." I shrugged. "Thought it was worth a try. After all, you're only having this conversation so you can heal up and try to recover before we fight."

That got a grin. "Yeah, but you're only letting me because you don't think it matters. Not a great bet, by the way." His hand blurred to his hip, rapier clearing its sheath in a fluid movement as he flashed forward to attack.

My staff came up and around smoothly, smacking the spot on the blade where all the force was collecting and knocking his hand back. I stepped forward as Callie fell into her shadow, the F-ranked replica of my Stygian Branch whipping up and around to smash into the guy's jaw.

He took the hit and went flying, and I felt pretty proud of myself until I realized he'd just rolled with the blow and thrown himself out of reach. His hands slapped the ground and he bounced up into a handspring, avoiding the scything pair of dark blades Callie had manifested when she emerged from the dark.

Grinning, he swung his rapier in a quick series of cuts, limbering up most likely. "Ok, that wasn't bad, but I'm just getting started here. Neither of you is leaving this island alive." I just grinned and spun up my staff. No risk of death here (for either party) meant I didn't have to hold back. I wanted to try out the new staff art I'd been working on.