The next morning I woke up and got my wishes converted to scrolls before heading to the meeting place where I was told to wait for Bernadette. This next trial was going to be my first with the other potential selection candidates, and I was kind of curious how they were planning to do this one.
Obviously it was competitive, but how did you compete on who could handle the most pain? See how many times each of us could handle being stabbed? I felt my gut clench at the thought and immediately regretted even putting it out there into the ether. I knocked on a nearby tree as I passed, a weird little ritual I’d read about that was supposed to diffuse bad luck.
When I arrived at the spot where Bernadette had directed me, I was surprised to see several other people there. A dour looking girl with a shaved head occupied only by a single spiked up strip of green hair, a tall man with a craggy face and a pair of extremely oversized gauntlets, and a motherly woman with long black hair and a kind smile.
When they saw me, the reactions were varied. The older woman smiled and nodded to me in welcome, glove guy looked away, and the green haired girl sneered at me in what I assume was meant to be menace. “Great,” she snorted. “First it’s poser mommy and captain oven mitts, and now frankenposer. What’s next? A clown?”
“Seems like that position is filled.” I snapped reflexively. “At least I assume the circus is where they trained you to wear that much makeup.”
She froze, staring at me in outrage for a second, before bursting out laughing. “Well, at least you’re not as boring as you look, tin man. Do you have a name, or should I just keep calling you ‘can o’ dark’ in my head? I’m Mnemosyne.”
“Mephistopheles,” I responded slowly. “People around here just call me Fist. You’re not…offended?”
She shrugged. “The fuck do I care if you like my makeup. Not like I wore it for you. Besides, with that hideous fucking mask on your face you’re not exactly in a position to throw stones. More like the opposite really, bet if we stuck you in the middle of town in a stockade you’de have all the local kids reaching for some rocks.”
“Honestly,” said the older woman. “There’s no need to be so…gauche. We’re all competitors here, but we can still behave civilly.”
Mnemosyne nodded to her. “That’s why I call her poser mommy. She keeps saying shit like that.” She glared at the woman. “You’re not my mom, lady. Stop trying to tell me what to do, or I’ll get annoyed.”
“I wonder what THAT would be like?” I said sarcastically. I turned to the older woman, ignoring the green haired girl’s diatribe. “As I mentioned to Mnemosyne, I’m Mephistopheles.”
She smiled warmly. “Elena. It’s lovely to meet you. Just because we’ll be at odds in the trial doesn’t mean we should abandon our manners. My daughter is the same age as she is, so I’m somewhat used to the sass.”
I admit…I was kind of thrown. This woman didn’t strike me as being some hardened warrior, or alternatively as being nuts. That fucking ego fire had almost broken me, and probably would have without Callie. How had these three all gotten through it.
But, of course the answer was the same way I had. They had tricks. Talents that lent themselves to this series of trials. Methods to manage or divert the pain. Underestimating someone because they seemed like somebody’s mom, or because they had a foul mouth, was a recipe for another knife in my back. Travis might be dead, but the lessons he’d taught me were alive and well.
“Oh, lovely.” Said the cheerful voice of Bernadette as she arrived with another entrant. This one was a dark skinned guy about my age, though much smaller than me. He was probably five foot ten, with amber eyes and sharp cheekbones. His eyes were cold and flat, scanning the rest of us with interest, though without any malice.
“Bernadette.” I nodded to her. “Who’s your friend?”
She beamed. “This is Harper. He’s one of your competitors. I see you’ve met Mnemosyne, Elena, and Ajax. They were all the closest entrants that made it through. This is a large planet, so each of my brothers and sisters were given a wide area to oversee. That’s why some of you had our trial on the first day of the second week, some the second, etcetera. Before we leave for the testing ground, does anyone have any questions?”
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
“Yeah,” said Mnemosyne. “Where the fuck are you taking us? What is this trial.”
Chuckling, Bernadette just shook her head. “Don’t be silly, new sister. If I told you that it would spoil the surprise. That said, I AM allowed to tell you that there’s a prize for this particular task. Incentives become a possibility once we enter the competitive phase. I can hardly wait to see what the mistress has gifted us for your reward.”
She sounded so perfectly happy it was easy to forget we were probably about to be tortured in some horrible way. “Ok.” I chimed in. “Well how do we get there?”
Smiling, she raised her fingers to her lips, letting out an ear splitting whistle. There was a rustle, and the trees parted, revealing a silver coach, flying through the air and pulled by…otters? Yeah, they were flying otters.
They slid to a stop in the middle of the clearing, and Bernadette gestured for us to enter. I stepped up first, pulling open the coach door and climbing inside, followed closely by the other candidates. Harper was the next one in, then Mnesmosyne, then Elena. Ajax, aka captain oven mitts, was the last to enter, his craggy face looking dour and serious as he scanned the area for threats. Or I suppose other threats, since we would all probably count.
We didn’t talk much on the ride over. This sense of almost universal tension had come over us, like the world was holding its breath. We were all about to willingly torture ourselves for the approval of a goddess of torment and an as yet undisclosed ‘prize’. I was sure we all had our reasons, but still, I think it was just sinking in for some of us. Or maybe they were all trying to come up with a new muffin recipe, I didn’t fucking know these people.
Luckily, it was a short trip, at least as far as these things go. Twenty minutes and we stopped. “Alright, is everyone ready?” Bernadette asked eagerly. She didn’t seem upset like the last time, so I was pretty sure that meant THIS task was just going to be physical agony, instead of soul breaking flames of hopedeath.
At our affirmations, she grinned and threw open the door. We were hanging in midair, not that it mattered to any of us. Even on a B-rank planet a twenty foot drop wasn’t enough to ruffle any of us.
Below us was a small lake with a smaller island in the middle. The water in the lake was blood red and boiling, and seemed to darken as it approached the middle where that one single spire of rock sat untouched. “Welcome,” crowed Bernadette excitedly. “To the lake of judgement! We had it moved here from a dreadworld in the Acteon cluster. I’m so jealous you all get to undergo such an amazing trial!”
“Um…” I said cautiously. “What IS that shit? And what does it do, other than apparently hurt a lot. Or I mean, I’m assuming.”
“Oh, no, it definitely hurts a lot,” she confirmed. “But it’s not JUST pain, it’s also a test. You’ll all enter at the bank, which is equidistant from that island in the middle. Each step will not only increase the pain, but will increase the pressure on you. The further you walk, the deeper your suffering, and the harder it is to take even another step.”
Mnemosyne blanched. “Wait, we’re going to be going UNDER that lake? Like submerged? How the fuck do we survive that? Whatever that shit is, I doubt it’s supposed to be in a person’s lungs. Are we supposed to hold our breath?”
“Not at all,” chirped Bernadette. “Breathe freely. The water is highly oxygenated. You won’t drown.” She paused. “Well, you won’t drown ALL THE WAY. Fluid will enter your lungs and it will be agonizing, and it’ll get worse as you go on, but that’s part of the trial. You’ll even be given a special rock to crush in case of emergency. After all, it’s not a competition if you can’t forfeit.”
Around us, other people were arriving, or some were already here. There was a huge cross section of humanity surrounding the lake, and some other things too. I saw some fae, a devil or two, and I think at least one demon. There were easily a hundred people there, and I was shocked so many could handle the trials before. “So, what happens if we use the rock?” I asked as I scanned the forming crowd. “Are we out of the trials?”
“Not at all,” she said serenely. “We’ve passed the point of expulsion. It’s unnecessary in any case. The first two rounds are meant to weed out those too fragile to survive the trials. They’re a mercy from Our Lady to prevent the unnecessary breaking of her possible supplicants. From this point, you’re trusted to know your own limits. You won’t be expelled, but you can drop out of the trials at any time if it becomes too much.”
That was surprisingly cuddly for a torture goddess, but then, the order of mercy seemed to be the nice side of the Lady of Lamentation’s worshippers, for some values of the word. I wasn’t going to complain that they weren’t sadistic enough.
“Well, come along new brothers and sisters,” Bernadette said energetically. “We need to get you all in position to begin the trials once everyone arrives. Oh, and of course, as I mentioned, there is a prize. The first one to make it to the center will receive…” She squinted at the island. “I feel like that’s some kind of egg?” She shrugged. “Guess we’ll find out soon! How exciting.”
She led us to the shore of the lake, lining us all up, and some of the others took positions at our sides. A single line of candidates ringing the entire lake, side by side and all the same distance from victory.
“So, the rest of you as terrified about this as I am?” I asked the others in my group.
Mnemosyne snorted. “Hell no, I’m way more terrified than you. You can’t even come close to how pantshittingly terrified I am right now. Get on my level.”
I burst out laughing. “Is everything a competition with you? Wait, no, don’t answer that, you’ll probably tell me it’s more of a competition for you than it is for me.” At her sulky glare, I snickered loudly. “I totally nailed your reaction, didn’t I?”
Elena rolled her eyes. “Children,” she said chidingly. “Can we focus please?” As she spoke, her skin started to shift, red metal rolling across the surface of her body as her eyes started to glow a deep crimson. “It’s time to be serious now. Because I’m certainly not going to hold back just because you amuse me.”
Snickering, I let Gluttony pour forth, my body turning stony as the pit of black flame swallowed my gut. “Feel free not to hold back at all.” I boomed in my demon voice. “It won’t make a difference.”
Across the shore I saw figures shifting and changing. Some becoming powerful hulking brutes, some shifting to forms like humanoid slimes, and some just manifesting small signs of energy use. All of them looked confident though, readying for battle, and I hoped my advantages were enough. I had a feeling this wouldn’t be easy.