The next morning I woke up feeling strangely exhilarated. I had another trial today, but after almost a week of sifting through random paperwork and nothing else, the pain didn’t seem so overwhelming a prospect. The first thing I did was get my wishes stockpiled and check in on Elena and Simon.
The kid was looking much better today, and Elena beamed at me as I came into the kitchen. “Mephistopheles! Lovely to see you! You’re heading in to the trial today?”
“Yup, you want to make the trip together?” She seemed as energized as I was, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that I wasn’t the only one who had apparently had a catastrophic failure in the part of their brain that could recognize when things were a good idea.
Her smile never abated though as she shook her head. “Sorry to say I won’t. I’ve already contacted Sister Bernadette and withdrawn from the trials. Now that Simon’s condition has been managed, I’ve decided to withdraw. No offense to you, but without the overwhelming time pressure I lack the motivation to undergo such gruelling endeavors.”
“That’s…honestly probably really smart,” I admitted. “If anything, it says something about me that I never considered that you might back out. I’d probably be worried about that if I was more introspective, but I’m trying to work on living in the moment.” Weirdly, the Lamentation trials helped with that. Pain kind of forced you to live in the moment. “In any case, you two have a great day then. I should be back later tonight.”
I was obviously going to use the Heart as my recovery spot after my next trial. It would be insane not to take advantage of ambient healing and purification.
After saying my goodbyes I headed out, meeting up with Bernadette in a clearing where she had arranged to pick us up. This time, she brought a shuttle, and she’d already picked up Harper and Mnemosyne. The mohawk wearing girl nodded laconically when I dropped into the seat. “Poser mom isn’t coming?”
“Nah, I think she suddenly got sane,” I said wryly. “Can you imagine giving up on being ritualistically tortured for no apparent reason?”
She snorted. “Torture? I haven’t been through any of that. If anything, we’ve been enduring a brisk tickling up to this point. I barely even remember any pain. I hope the next trial is a little bit more extreme.”
Bernadette lit up in excitement. “Oh, it IS! It’s several times worse! Most candidates drop out before the seventh trial because the sixth is so mindnumbingly gruelling. I won’t spoil the surprise, but it’s definitely going to be memorable. Unrelated question, how do you feel about being stabbed in the joints?”
I glared at my fellow potential initiate. “Did we learn NOTHING from the beetles?”
“Oh, come on! It’s not like I made that happen! We would have gotten the same test either way. Besides, she might just be messing with us. I figure it’s about fifty fifty at this point.”
Bernadette didn’t even bother commenting on that, humming happily to herself as she removed something from a spatial ring that I realized was some kind of plant fiber she was weaving together with a pair of long needles. Whatever she was doing to it, it made my head hurt to try to follow the pattern, so I suspected it wasn’t exactly mundane. Some kind of formation, I was pretty sure.
Didn’t take us long to arrive at the clearing where all the other candidates were gathered. Only about fifty remained, a surprising number of us having dropped out of their own volition before this point. I was a little surprised, since even losing wouldn’t get you disqualified, I wasn’t sure why anyone would just fold after so much effort.
“Sunk cost only gets you so far,” said Bernadette cheerfully without looking up. She was focused on her weaving as we landed, but seemed to just know what I was thinking. “Plus after Darian let the points system slip, a lot of them realized they wouldn’t be making the cut anyway.”
That hadn’t actually occurred to me. I guess because I was doing well, but knowing that there was a point value might make some people rethink their possibility of winning, even without knowing what the requirements were. In fact, leaving it open ended was even worse, because people were always more critical of themselves than anyone else could be. Judging their actions by the imaginary impossible standards of a god would make anyone self conscious.
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It made my suspicion that he’d leaked that tidbit on purpose all the more likely. As we disembarked and joined the crowd, I saw that a surprising amount of the big tough looking Ascendants were gone. The mix of sizes and eclectic styles had deepened. Once more the universe tended to trend towards randomness and variety when it came to us.
There was a flash of white fire, and Darian appeared in front of us. Unlike the last few times, I didn’t see Chad and the other emissaries right away. Looking around, I noticed some forms up on the cliffs surrounding the small valley we’d landed in.
We were standing at the mouth of a large cave, the floor worn away by time or tide, but festooned with symbols I didn’t recognize. Darian waved excitedly as he appeared. “Welcome back!” he chirped excitedly. “Good to see so many of you made it to round six. Only one more after this, but this one is a doozie. A lot of you won’t make it past this point.”
“Behind me,” he continued. “Is the Cavern of the Shining Wind! It is a fiendish and diabolical location, designed to test you in ways unique to these trials. As with all Lamentation trials, there will be pain, but there will also be hardships beyond mere agony. This is a trial of endurance, in all senses.”
Strolling over to the entrance, he took a step inside. There was a flash of light, and suddenly, I noticed a shining silver needle lodged in Darian’s leg. Wincing, he stepped back, then reached down and plucked the needle out.
“Behold,” the said with a bloodthirsty grin. “The ghost wind needle. They bypass armor and defenses like they aren’t even there. These needles are made of C-rank ghost metal, coated with a painful soul poison. It won’t do long term damage, but the compound causes indescribable torment to the soul when it comes in contact with it. The design of the cavern is simple. Each step will bring you deeper inside, and as you move closer to the prize at the other end, a new needle will pierce your flesh.”
Stabbing it into his hand, he demonstrated how effortlessly it went in. “The needles will target joints, nerve clusters, the most painful and debilitating places possible. In order to resist, you will be forced to use all your power, all your Skill. The use of Paths, techniques, or abilities, as you know, requires the soul. The more you resist the damage to push yourself forward, the more the poison will ignite, and the more pain you will endure.”
I felt a bone deep sense of nausea from inside me. Soul pain was…awful. I’d been training to resist pain of the body and mind. I even had some experience with soul pain, but the difference between those three things wasn’t anything mere training could overcome, and I was limited in how much soul training I could do by the fact that soul pain traditionally came with damage. Permanent soul injury could cripple an Ascendant, so not only COULD I not just push through, I SHOULDN’T in most cases.
This stuff would test us past limits we’d established for good reason. I’d considered there might be a soul component to this, but I hadn’t expected it to be quite this bad.
“What’s the prize this time?” called Mnemosyne, seemingly unfazed. I had to hand it to her, she was tough as nails. I was pretty shaken by his description, but she just seemed to shrug it off.
Darian gave her a respectful nod. “The reward for completing this trial is a bit special. It’s called a Reincarnation Baptism. Up to this point, many of you may have utilized pills and elixirs. You have a ten percent allotment before it weakens your soul too much to withstand your rank up, but even when you withstand that, there ARE still weaknesses. These remnants can cause problems later in your journey, lowering the quality of your Chronicle and making further progress more difficult.”
I frowned at that. No one had mentioned anything along those lines. Of course, I knew that there was another mechanic to the soul beyond strength. Maybe this had to do with polishing. I’d tried to start that process, but had only gotten so far with it.
“The Reincarnation Rebirth will purify the soul, burning away the weakened spots and saving you years of work later in your lives.” Darian’s voice was uncharacteristically somber. “The remnant elixir taint will even push some of your stats higher in the process. It is a procedure that very few beings, even divine entities, can perform. Our lady’s Domain being related to purification through pain makes it possible for her, but it is taxing. As you know, the soul isn’t so easily affected. This is a precious chance, and I recommend you fight hard for the privilege. It will, of course, be indescribably painful.”
It sounded amazing. Not the agonizing pain, but the results. My soul was already much tougher than most. It wasn’t unique or anything, but I’d pushed further than a lot of people my level, and it had given me plenty of advantage. The higher I got, though, the less I stood out. By this point, more and more people who had broken their shackles and reach Azure Soul Body in time were popping up.
My technique talent was great, but it depended heavily on the soul. With this new purification strengthening mine, I was sure I could push further, do more. It was possible this might allow me to use my mask for longer, making my domains more accessible. The mask used my own soul as a foundation, even if I offloaded the strain to it, so fundamentally changing myself would be a game changer.
Out of all the rewards, this one was easily the most tempting. Archie was great, and a single defensive item from a god was a big deal, but this…I had a feeling getting this done before I created my Chronicle would pay dividends. I needed to talk to Zeke about it.
Everyone else seemed as entranced by the possibilities as I was. Darian had continued talking, though I had mostly ignored it. Apparently the Rebirth made training the soul easier for anyone who hadn’t reached their limits, which was sadly useless to me. Still, I took my place at the entrance of the cave like everyone else, ready to fight for this one.
I triggered Mornax. Nothing else. Gluttony and Abomination Engine would engage the soul more than I’d have liked. I’d need them later, I was sure, but I’d get as far as I could with only the physical protections. Mornax itself was soul use, but it shouldn’t be too bad to start out.
“Well, I can see you’re all fired up!” Darian cheered as we arrived at the entrance. “Nice to see some motivation. Everyone ready? Make sure you’re as prepared as you can be, because if you want to make it to the other side and claim the tablet that entitles you to the Rebirth, you’ll need to stay ahead.”
Ahead of us, the cavern yawned, empty and dark, resembling nothing more than an open maw of some great beast waiting for us to deliver ourselves down its gullet. “You may now…begin!” shouted the Kitsune. And so, with that one last prompting, we all took our first steps into the dark.