Thain and Silver listened to the host carefully as he explained that the second challenge was the Challenge of Courage and would be more difficult than the first challenge. "I once again would like to congratulate our contestants and offer my apologies to those who didn't advance. You all have fought valiantly. The second challenge will take place in the Ancient Temple of Forgotten Dreams. All of the contestants will be blindfolded as this is a sacred location only known to the Elite, Elves and Eladrin. Upon arrival the blindfolds will be removed, and the rules shall be explained." With that said the contestants were blindfolded and led to the Temple. As they walked Silver started to become paranoid, her mind going to her deepest fears. She knew this was bound to happen, but it didn't help alleviate her fears. Silver could smell the aroma of the plants and trees; they gave off a sweet scent that seemed soothing but in actuality was what was sending the fears to her brain. They were plants specifically planted to release pheromones that brought out people's fears and helped keep outsiders away from the temple, and those who did get by were stopped by the Elite soldiers guarding the Temple.
Silver instantly knew when they reached the temple, the whole atmosphere changed for her. The air became stale and it felt humid from the heat of the day. When the blindfolds came off everyone was in awe. As she looked around, mouth agape, her eyes took in the sight yet couldn't believe what she was actually seeing. They were all standing in a large square room, the walls were made of stone, vines were hanging from the ceiling and crawled across the walls. Broken and cracked pillars filled the room giving the temple the appearance of being an ancient ruin. The temple had multiple levels that used to be used for who knows what. In the middle of the room were four short sets of stairs that sat around a small square dais. Everything in the room was ancient as far as Silver could tell except for on the small dais sat several mirrors whose surfaces shimmered so brightly they seemed to move in a wave-like motion.
"Hello contestants!" The host said startling everyone out of their reverie, "Welcome to the temple of Dreams, this is where we will hold the second contest, the Challenge of Courage, well ... in a way that is." his smile said that he knew something everyone else didn't. "As you can all see there are Forty mirrors within this room. Ten on each side of the middle dais of the room. Here to explain how the second challenge will proceed is the man behind the mirrors, Dr. Majalo Peno. Dr. Peno is an expert in magical items and advances."
Dr. Peno walked up, and shook the hosts hand, thanking him for the introduction. He then turned his attention to the contestants, smiling proudly as he proceeded to explain the challenge, "Hello everyone there are going to be two rounds to the challenge, and it is my pleasure to introduce you all to, The Mirrors Of Thought. These mirrors operate off of the ancient magic that this temple resonates with. They may look like just fancy mirrors at first glance, but I assure you these are the most advanced and one of the most powerful magical items around today. You see these mirrors take your innermost thoughts, dreams and fears and teleport you into a world where they become reality!" Dr. Peno had the look of a mad scientist as he proclaimed this to the crowd but quickly regained his composure as he cleared his throat and said, "This is a challenge of courage to overcome your fears and obstacles that would stand in the way of greatness! What you will do is each of you will face a mirror and upon my signal the mirrors will begin to warp, and you will step through and face whatever lies on the other side. The first one back will be the winner and be exempt from disqualification from the one of Third challenges parts as Thain is exempt if he does not succeed in one of the parts in this challenge."
Everyone looked at each other and approached a mirror, as Silver looked at herself in the mirror, she saw that her hands had started to shake. She wanted to run the other way because she knew what her fear was, and she didn't want to face it even though she knew it wasn't going to be real. She glanced over at Thain and his expression was grim, but he seemed calm and determined to face whatever was on the other side, he even seemed to know exactly what he was going to face.
If he can do it so can, she thought idly her hands clenched and her body stopped shaking as she took a deep breath and faced the mirror with the same grim determination she saw on Thain, but little did she know he was actually petrified of what faced him on the other side of the mirror and as Thain glanced back at Silver he saw the grim determination and smirked slightly to himself as he thought, At least she's more confident than she was a second ago...good luck Silver, not realizing that her courage came from her misconception of his fear. Dr. Peno looked at the contestants and seeing the fear all being displayed on their faces smiled widely and said "GO!"
Silver leaped through the mirror and blinked for a second as realized she was no longer looking at the mirror and as she whipped around the mirror was nowhere to be seen and the only thing she saw was open terrain. Even though Dr. Peno had warned her what would happen she still couldn't help but say, "What in the ...." she just shook her head, "That's...strange..." "What's strange ?" Thain's voice had her whipping back around again but who she saw wasn't the Thain she knew. The Thain she knew had emerald green eyes and was several years younger but the man who stood before he had Golden Violet eyes that made her breath catch and his raven black hair was tinged with violet but the thing that made her body shake slightly was the tattoo that covered his eye, "Warborn...." she said in a gasp and Thain raised an eyebrow as he said "Yes I am but you've known that for years now Silver..ever since .." Thain paused as his jaw clenched and silver realized the mirror was showing her something else besides her fears and that made he even more scared, there was rumor that her family was once blessed or cursed by the Goddess of Death, that every ten generation that on child would be the Goddesses Vessel or reincarnation, because one her ancestors sacrificed themselves to save the Goddess of Death from being consumed during the War of the Gods granting her a second life and that was why her family all bared white hair the sign of those touched by Death itself. She wasn't sure how accurate or true it was, but it was said that the host would be able to see past present and future events especially more so if Death was involved. Silver swallowed hard as she looked at the man, she knew had to be Thain and her heart felt as if it were breaking because she knew within her very soul when this day passed Thain would be at The doors of Death, though she didn't know that he would die just that he would come close to it. The man before was at least 20 years Thains senior so she didn't have to worry about this any time soon, Good that means I have time to prepare and maybe prevent this ... "Thain" she breathed finally, and he chuckled as he shook his head "Of course who else would I be? Unless you were expecting someone else out here?" he raised an eyebrow. "No, no, no it's just ..." her body launched at him and she hugged him tightly, his body stiffened slightly but soon relaxed as he hugged her back and asked, "Are you well Silver you don't seem like yourself?"
Silver laughed lightly and shook her head "I'm just processing a lot of stuff right now that's just a tad overwhelming, don't worry I'll be fine Thain" He looked at her skeptically but just nodded his head and that was when she noticed that he was wearing armor and not just any armor he was an Elite! "Captain?!" she exclaimed she couldn't believe her eyes Thain was already a captain of the Elites 20 years later that was quite an accomplishment, Than had to be a mastermind behind tactics and brutal on the battlefield to reach where he was today and by the look in his eye's seconds ago, she could only guess something had nearly broken him and was now the fuel burned inside his soul. What happened to you Thain…she thought sadly.
Thain looked down at his uniform and chuckled slightly as he said "I wasn't expecting you to notice the promotion that fast, but I guess I shouldn't be so surprised you always were perceptive. Come,there is something that I want to show you." Silver was torn between going with him and staying there to interrogate him about the war as she was very interested and concerned about the prior events. In the end she decided to spend time with him and get to know the man that Thain would become.
As they left the Valley of Aranara, Silver felt as if she were in a trance. The wonderful smells of the valley filled her nose and it was as if she was really there and not in some mirror that was supposed to bring her darkest fears to light. Yet even though her body seemed to be at peace she couldn't help but feel like it was just the calm before the storm, and it brought back the crushing reality that this was in fact a challenge and that she needed to get it together and figure out how to get out of here as soon as possible.
As Silver's mind went into overdrive, she already knew a few possibilities of what her biggest fear could be, but how did one overcome something that scared you to the marrow of your bones? She started to run several scenarios through her mind of what could possibly happen and then tried to come up with solutions for each one.
"Are you okay Silver?" Thain's voice interrupted her thoughts as he continued, "You definitely seem to be distracted even more than usual today, it's really not like you to be so quiet." "Um..yeah I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me.' She quickly glanced around and noticed they had made it completely out of the valley and were on their way to the Mountain of Ignis as the Elves and Eladrin called it, but better known in the common tongue the Mountain of Flame.
Silver began to wonder where Thain was leading them, as the path they were on seemed to end at the bottom of the mountain. 'He must be losing his mind.. First he joins the Elite out of a misplaced sense of duty, not only that but he must have specifically asked to be put on the frontlines that is the only way he could have reached Captain at his age so quickly and now he's leading us to a dead end next to one of the most dangerous mountain... ' her thoughts were cut short as Thain looked back at her and smirked, seeming to know she was thinking he was crazy before he quickly pulled her by the arm and ducked behind a boulder that seemed to have been there for ages. She was about to say something when he quickly covered her mouth with his hand and held a finger to his lips signaling for her to be quiet and that's when she heard whispers that seemed to be coming from the mountain. Thain quietly moved to the edge of the boulder and peeked around the side. Silver's heart began to race as he slid back over towards her and whispered into her ear "Rebels."....