Chapter 6.
Lysaria felt a burning desire to grow stronger, with every essence she collected the feeling of strength filled her body. Turning she looked over her grinning friends, Hectar however was laying on the ground clutching his previously wounded leg with closed eyes.
Lysaria ran over and looked him over, liquid essence covered the floor making her confused. She asked, What happened? Hectar said"when I gained that large amount of essence my leg wound reopened, pushed out some corrupted essence and closed."
Dakar said," I'm sorry I must not have healed it properly." Lysaria said," we need to be careful, we will be in serious trouble if one of us gets a bad infection down here.Other than stained pants you are going to be fine gaining essence fixed your wound." Lysaria checked over the wound making sure her teammate was ready to go.
Helping Hectar to his feet she walked over to read the next door challenge. Looking from Hectar to Dekar she had a sense that their confidence had risen, Hactars jaw was clenched in a firm expression showing his resolve. his shoulders were straighter and he walked forward with more confidence.
Dekar was carrying his spear and looked like he intended to use it, His long white hair swished around him while he walked rustling with his tight-fitting cotton clothes. Thana was already waiting at the door, her tall athletic frame and long golden hair outlined by a glowing blue light from the new doorway.
Lysaria felt something warm rising in her chest, what was this feeling? she felt a strong desire to protect her newfound friends, they may not be the best angels out there but they were still her team.
Thana sounded excited," She said," Here is another cryptic message, Here lies a key to your path you have chosen your route knowledge or wrath." Lysaria said," well from the sound of it when we open this door we will be challenged with a test depending on what path we have chosen."
Lysaria felt a cold sweat break out, clutching her stick that was more of a club than a spear she anxiously waited for what was about to happen. Walking into the open hall she strolled down the straight hallway before exiting into a small room. Lysaria stopped facing 4 doors shimmering barriers of essence covering the doorways. Overall of the doorways was a symbol carved into the stone.
Lysarias heart raced, she could see a book on the left door, the marking carved into the book was of the scholars, a long feather quill floating over the open book. whatever was behind that door would increase her knowledge immensely.
The second door had another book, carved above the door was a book with a long wooden wand that has a globe at the end. The book depicted on one page showing a man laying on the ground with Essence leaking from his body and on the second page the man was walking upright completely healed clearly a book of healing.
She thought that one was pretty straight forward, getting more nervous she could see a door that had a book with a hammer over it, the hammer was emblazoned and glowed showing the potential of this path.
With dawning horror, she realized there was only one more door, over the door lay the image of a long curved sword drenched in a red substance that was dripping over the emblazoned handle. A pedestal lay in the center of the room with four objects, when The group approached each object that matched the entrance they wanted to enter.
Lysaria said," are these The rewards for completing the puzzle, or the key to open each of the doors.?" Hectar said," the hammer suites me I want to become the greatest crafter in all the worlds,"
Dakar said," that's the spirit, I'm choosing the book of healing I have always wanted to heal the injured and maybe even help the dead back to life."
Thana said," A book of knowledge, To think of all the things forgotten or waiting to be discovered, new magic old magic or even ancient civilizations."
Lysaria could tell by the dreamy expression on her friend's face that she couldn't take that from her.
They all turned to Lysaria, Each of her new friends picked up their keys and held them, with only one key remaining, a plain metal sword with a wooden red cloth wrapped handle apart from the rest laying in the same stand but somehow so far apart from the rest.
She stepped forward and picked up the sword, The weapon somehow felt wrong, Like she should put it down and run away. looking up she could see her friends looking at her with assurance, Dakar said," It's not going to bite, And the sword certainly looks better than that crappy spear you were using."
Thana said," I think you look strong and confident holding the weapon, it fits you somehow." Dakar said," show that challenge who is boss." Hectar said," don't get yourself hurt." Lysaria said," go on I want to see if it allows more than one person to enter the same door."
watching as the first Thana who took her key from the pedestal and walked to the shimmering doorway, the doorway flickered opening around her in a sphere. the essence stayed perfectly solid not breaking the entire time.
Lysaria approached right after Thana entered she poked her stick into the wall of essence and pulled back a shorter and smoking stick. With the smell of smoke in her nose she returned and watched as both Hectar and finally Dakar stepped through their doors.
The pedestal sat mostly empty, the only Key left was a sword, Lysaria contemplated leaving the weapon and ringing her bell. The cold metal around her neck would be soo easy to ring, Pushing those thoughts aside she firmed her resolve Only after gaining enough power would she be able to ascend and become a powerful defender for the arbitrator.
Picking up the short metal sword she swung it around for a moment, not getting any inspiration from the basic weapon she walked through the shimmering barrier. She winced preparing herself for pain and screaming to her death but was surprised to exit the waterfall of the essence and enter into a large room.
She felt the faint rumbling of stone and knew without looking that her exit was closed, whatever was controlling this place didn't want her to leave until she had completed the test. Inside the room was a wall of what appeared to be 10 figures in long dark robes.
The figures each were wielding a different weapon, from right to left each of the figures looked more terrifying than the last. Lysaria could see the figure on the far left, the hulking figure had a two-handed axe and was covered head to toe in essence covered glittering plate armour.
In stark contrast was the furthest figure to the right who was holding what appeared to be a simple stick that even had smaller branches sticking out along the length. Lysarias mind couldn't grasp the sheer scale of difference between the figure in tattered black robes with a stick to the hulking figure in glittering armour with a giant axe.
She wanted to step forward but her heart raced in her chest and her hands shook for a few long second, above the figures was a placard that read, challenge your foe, do your best, Challenge to high and you might be sent to rest. Lysaria wasn't sure if the arbitrator was the one making these messages but she wished they would be more straight forward.
The dusty room smelled of old cloth, the room was 30 yards across and the only thing in the room was all of the beings against the wall who were shuffling slightly as though alive. To test her theory she held her sword tightly and approached the being that was shorter than her by a head he must have been just over 5 feet tall. When she approached in range of the figure it held out its stick in a solute as though gesturing her to salute it back.
She copied the salute watching the others who were still mostly motionless, the first being with shabby clothes and a stick walked from against the wall in a stumbling gate to the center of the room and turned lifeless eyes on her. She looked into black pits for eyes, the being smiled a rotten toothed smile before attacking her with a clumsy strike.
doing her best to dodge Lysaria leaned back, the hooded figure with a stick missed her body entirely, She thrust her essence charged sword into the first hooded figure. The figure was far to slow and was impaled on the sword. After a long moment the figure fell apart into dust standing back she collected herself.
That had been sudden, she now had the general idea of what was going on. Her vessel didn't appear, the cloaked figure was easy for her to kill so she wasn't too upset. The arbitrator only awarded essence when she challenged a difficult enemy for her to kill.
On the wall a second enemy was standing on a pedestal, The cloaked figure was straight-backed and held a straight staff with well-kept clothes. Walking over she took a deep breath holding her sword out challenging the next foe.