An empty crate stood in the middle of the circular cavern. Plates and bowls were scattered all around.
Torrin stood looking at the mess, investigating the carnage of his two month long "vacation".
'If only I had more food...' He thought wistfully.
Every meal had been delicious, warm, home cooked food prepared by Uncle Roland and Bell, but now they were gone... And with them, his procrastination.
"Just open up!" Torrin shouted at the glowing door, sending a mana infused fist hurling towards it. There was a meaty thunk, but no damage was done to the door nor his fist. There was no telltale click, no whooshing of air, no open door.
"Why won't you just open..." His head bowed, Torrin knelt on the ground, attempting to beg the door open. "Please... Just open up..."
He sat glaring at the door as if it had wronged him. Over the last two months, he'd tried various things to open the door, but found no method that worked. This hadn't bothered him at the time as he was enjoying his time relaxing and eating.
Now that the food had run out, he had no other choice. He needed to find a way out of this dungeon. He stood up once more, eyes squinting at the golden runes, trying to understand anything about them.
His attempts were in vain, though. Without knowing the purpose of the runes, he had no reference to begin his investigation. The only reason he had made any progress on the six runes Grams had given him in the first place, was because he knew what they were for. They were meant for enchanting his core, for manipulating mana to produce an effect.
The runes on the door however, could be anything. Hell, they could even be fake. He'd never seen runes glowing gold like this before, and they could just be decorative for all he knew.
His mana sight was still obscured by the dense mana and didn't help him any. He'd even tried bashing the door with his chunk of meteoric Star Heart Bronze, to no avail. Thinking on the hunk of metal, he looked to the corner of the door where he'd allowed it to sit out. It glowed brilliantly in the golden light, still having the effect of reflecting light more intensely than it should have. He still hadn't figured out what was up with the metal, either.
Thinking on his failures, he began to grow frustrated. His eyes slowly looked away from the ore, slowly rising back to the door in front of him.
'I will make you open!' he shouted in his mind, face contorting into a semblance of rage.
Mana seeped into his flesh, muscles, and bones, strengthening them by a significant degree. He launched himself at the door once more, pounding away, letting his rage and frustration fuel his onslaught.
The door stood valiantly, guarding the way forward, seemingly undaunted by the now 8 year old's temper tantrum.
*CHINK*
A metallic sound rang out as his now bloodied fists met the door. The blood from his hands tainted the silver surface, coating the golden runes in crimson. The blood seemed to soak into the door, slowly spreading over every rune, changing them one by one from a shining gold, to a bloody crimson sheen.
He stood dumbfounded, looking down at his wrecked hands, as his body was covered in the red glow of the crimson runes.
'Blood? That's all I needed? A little bit of fucking blood?!' Torrin was slightly peeved at the simplicity of it as he watched the doors unlatch themselves, and slowly swing inwards.
Torrin took deep breathes to steady himself. Mana wrapped around his hands, providing healing for his tattered skin and fractured bones.
Looking around the cavern, he quickly gathered up his few belongings and trudged ahead into the darkness, using his will to scout into the dark.
A few hours passed. Torrin was focused completely on maintaining a steady pace, eyes closed with his legs and arms pumping, propelling him forward. Clanking footsteps could be heard as he traversed the metallic hallway.
After a while he felt his will brushing against something. It was another wall, a dead end in the tunnel.
Summoning fire mana, he made a light orb. He stood with his hands covering his night-adjusted eyes, slowly squinting to analyze the wall once he could see again. It was a sleek metallic surface, adorned with four circles, equidistant apart, connected by lines flowing from one to the other.
Text could be seen scrawled in the middle of the wall, some language Torrin had never seen before. As he scratched his tilted head, wondering what it said, the text slowly began to swirl, moving and rearranging itself across the metal surface.
Soon enough, the letters began to form words that he could understand.
'Your blood has allowed you to approach my sanctuary, but blood alone does not prove your worthiness.'
Torrin read and reread the words, waiting for further instructions. He waited a long time, staring at the phrase, reading it over and over.
"Eh?! That's it?!" Torrin cried out as he realized the wall wasn't going to change again. He unconsciously drew mana into his body once more, ready to pummel the damn wall, before allowing it to return to the ring.
'I don't think beating this wall up will allow me passage...' Torrin thought, rubbing his face with his hands.
'Okay, so what do I need to do? Blood alone does not prove worthiness... Blood alone...'
He had an idea, stepping back from the wall, he coaxed the mana around him into a fire ball and sent it hurtling towards the door. As the ball exploded across its surface, one of the circles lit up briefly, its light spreading down one of the connections towards another circle before dissipating completely.
Torrin walked back and forth between the metal walls of the hallway, thinking on what had happened.
He repeated the fire ball act once more and watched as the same light appeared, following the same path, before petering out. He increased the mana used and the light shone brighter and reached farther.
As he thought further, he wanted to slap himself, 'Four circles? Could it be more obvious?'
Torrin raised his hands, instead of forcing the mana to Change into a fire ball, he allowed it to remain fire mana, leading it towards the previously glowing circle. The circle glowed once more, its light traveling towards another circle.
Now that he knew he didn't need to use an actual spell, he allowed the mana to go on its way and coaxed each of the three other base elements in turn, watching as each lit up a different circle.
The circle of fire sat in the bottom left corner, as the circle lit up, it flowed upwards towards the circle representing wind, which ran to the right, leading to water. Water flowed down to earth, which finished the circuit by leading back to fire.
As he lit the fire circle, he also controlled wind mana to light up the wind circle. The two shone brightly, but when he let go of his control over the fire mana to light up water's circle, the fire circle became dim once more.
'Looks like I have to keep them fueled the entire time...' Torrin thought.
Torrin was highly skilled in mana manipulation by this point, even without his own core, as his ring granted him immense control. But even at his level, having spent a year focusing on elemental control, he could only control two elements at a time; whereas the door required him to use all four in tandem.
Having a goal fresh in his mind, Torrin was thoroughly motivated. He had figured out what needed to be done, and he sat down to get to work.
None of the books he'd purchased mentioned controlling multiple elements at the same time, as most people had a dominant affinity they were born with. It was rare for someone to be able to control multiple elements, much less all of them, so Torrin was on his own with how to proceed.
After a day of contemplating the issue, Torrin thought he had an idea. Looking at his light orb, he nodded, firming his resolve. The simplicity of his solution nagged at him, unsure if it would work, but he went on anyway.
Instead of controlling all four elements simultaneously, he decided to make mana bombs. Once he gathered the mana, instead of a roiling mass of wild mana with various elements, he would force them to change to one specific element. He'd make four of them and feed them into the door at the same time.
"Let's do this..." He mumbled to himself.
Putting action to words, he gathered a small ball of pure mana the size of his marble in his hand. He used the flow and gather runes to begin generating a larger ball, quickly becoming the size of his head. He cut the two runes from the mana, forcing it to change into fire mana.
The plan was a success, he soon had a roiling ball of flaming mana floating in the air. He wrapped a tendril of his will around the ball, allowing it to float alongside his light source.
The next three orbs were only slightly more troublesome, but in the end he stood in front of the wall with four writhing masses of elemental mana. He moved them carefully towards the door, allowing them to lightly touch their respective circles.
The mana was instantly sucked into the circles, spinning around the edges, sending light towards the next circle in line. The text on the door lit up once all four were connected, and with a hiss the wall split in half, slowly sinking into the sides of the tunnel.
Torrin ignored his nagging thoughts of how easy this test would have been with four people of different affinities, walking through the door as his will guided the way.
His footsteps echoed through the metallic hall as he walked forward.
'What the hell even is this place? Blood and mana control tests? Creepy ass, disgusting ghouls guarding the entrance? There has to be something good at the end of all this...'
He allowed himself to walk at a sedate pace, with the quick success of the last test, he was feeling happy. Torrin hummed along as he traversed the hall, hands behind his head, feeling nice and relaxed.
A yawn gave him pause. Thinking about it, he decided to take a nap before continuing forward.
'I should have bought a pillow...' Torrin grumbled internally, laying his head on the worn backpack.
As always, a door greeted him in his sleep, behind which was the love of his life.
Waking to the darkness in the metallic hall, Torrin lay there, head resting on the backpack as he tried clearing the vivid dream from his muddled mind.
A short while later, he was back to walking. He wasn't sure if he was lucky or not, but the mana density hadn't increased since he came to the first door that required his blood to open, so he no longer had to pause to become accustomed to the mana.
The miles of dark tunnel were eaten up quickly, and Torrin eventually arrived in a small square chamber. As he walked forward, golden runes lit up across the floor in a circular pattern. Five concentric rings stood around a plinth in the middle of the room, upon which sat a small orb.
The walls of the room were completely barren, no sign of a door leading to a new area that he could see at first glance. He looked to the small column in the middle of the room, curious as to what the orb's purpose was.
The orb looked like it would fit perfectly into a man's hand and was attached to the plinth by a base. Upon further inspection, Torrin saw that the glowing runes around the plinth seemed to be connected to the orb by thin lines that ran up the side of the plinth.
As he got closer, stepping within the rings on the ground, golden runes shone on the orb's surface, covering almost every inch. He scrutinized the orb closely, the runes were just as small and intricate as the ones on his ring. It was truly a master-level artifact, if not a level above.
Curiously, he sent a tendril of his will out to the orb, seeing if he could get any further understanding by analyzing the orb.
*THUNK*
Torrin's body crumpled to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut, as his will entered the orb, his consciousness draining from his body.
Torrin found himself standing in a large circular arena. The ground was covered in a thin layer of sand. 15 foot tall walls stood as the barrier to the arena, separating it from the raised benches that would be used as seating for a crowd.
Four closed gates were set equidistant around the arena, one at each point of a compass. Torrin looked down at himself, making sure he was really there, patting his chest softly.
As he did, he noticed that his ring was missing as well as his storage pouch. The only thing he had were the simple clothes he wore, a light cotton shirt and comfortable brown trousers, with sturdy but slightly flexible boots laced on his feet.
As he looked at himself for the first time in a while, he realized his body was taller than when he first arrived in the tunnel, his body had grown almost an entire foot, and the bottom of his pants sat a couple inches above his boots.
'Huh... Didn't notice!' he thought wryly.
A hooded man suddenly appeared in the arena before him, startling Torrin. The man's aura was menacing and he almost took a step back, but forced himself to remain still. The last time he'd retreated in fear, he'd ended up in this hellhole.
A raspy voice rang in Torrin's mind as the hooded man nodded and moved his hands along with the voice's words.
"Your blood is of my master's blood. Your control of the elements is worthy of this honor... But one final test must be passed. A test of your will and body both. This test is not about your proficiency with mana, and as such no mana may be used here."
A chill ran down Torrin's spine hearing the voice and cold sweat began to form along his brow.
'My blood is of your master's blood? Huh?' Torrin thought, wondering just who Little Lark was to be a descendant of such a powerful person.
Torrin tried asking a question, but the hooded man just stood still, without a single response. At the lack of response, he just shrugged, waiting for the "final test" to begin. He stood in silence, looking around the arena, studying the grand design on the marble that ringed the walls. Great beasts and powerful people were carved into its surface, locked in battle with each other, adding to the grandiose feel of the arena.
The circular, sandy arena had a diameter of about 500 feet and the stands rose high into the air. There was no sky above, but a domed roof sealing the arena in along which were hundreds of bright lights that lit up the sandy floor below. From the roof hung some type of large but thin wall, displaying Torrin and the hooded man for the nonexistent spectators.
Eventually, the voice rang in his mind once more of its own volition.
"Your body is not actually here, but if you perish here, your soul will be destroyed. Good luck..." the voice rasped in his mind, disappearing from the arena.
'Oh, well that's great...' as Torrin thought this, a rack of exquisite weapons seemed to materialize from nowhere. He had a choice of double-headed greataxe or spear, a halberd shone in the bright lighting from above. He ignored the daggers and pike, and walked past the shield and mace.
He reached out his hand and grabbed the only available sword. The blade was a thin piece of shiny metal that ran two and a half feet from the guard, with both sides sharpened, the thin blade widening slightly near the point. The guard was a stylized pair of wings, fully extended, each feather intricately represented.
The hilt had a leathery material on its grip that felt comfortable in his right hand. The pommel was a bead of metal, in the shape of an open eye. He tested the swords balance. The balance was perfect for his style of sword fighting, a few inches above the guard.
Torrin swung the sword experimentally and it whistled through the air. He smiled softly, impressed with the weapon.
*CLANK*
A sound rang out from across the arena, causing Torrin to look up. He noticed the rack of weapons was gone and one of the gates was opening slowly, rising from the floor.
From behind the gate came several of the ghouls he had faced along his trip. Before the gate even finished rising, Torrin was already rushing forward, sword energy coalescing along his blade.
He swiped out, dispatching the four ghouls in a second. Even without cycling mana, his body had been thoroughly transformed from absorbing the dense ambient mana in the tunnel, he was naturally many times faster and stronger than even an adult now.
As the bodies hit the floor, they puffed away in a trail of smoke.
*CLANK*
Another gate opened, and Torrin ran towards it.
A large ghoul came from behind the gate, one of the six foot specimens with dense, corded muscle.
The ghoul reacted much quicker than its lesser brethren, dodging his sword light by bending its knees and pressing its back to the floor. It squiggled back to an upright position instantly, rushing at Torrin with its distended jaws.
Torrin did not panic, he waited patiently for the charge, stepping sideways slightly and slashing at the outstretched arms as they passed through the spot he was a moment before.
Pivoting his feet, he slashed at the creature as a shriek rang from its mouth, cut short as its detached head hit the floor. The only reason he had struggled with the bigger creatures in the tunnels was because there was nowhere to dodge, he had to fight them straight on.
Another clanking sound sounded out as another gate opened. He dashed towards it, but stopped as he saw what emerged. A giant of a man stood in the gate's opening, rippling muscles covering his entire frame. His face was covered by a thick beard and his eyes were bloodshot as they stared at Torrin.
He held the shield and spiked mace that Torrin had passed up from the weapons rack. A roar tore from the man's throat as he looked to the ceiling, banging his mace on his shield noisily. The man wasn't nearly as quick as Torrin as he began charging at the boy.
Torrin sent an arc of sword light at the man's head, causing the man to raise his shield higher to block it, cutting off his vision of Torrin. The ground between them disappeared quickly as Torrin dashed forward, sending another sword light arcing towards the man's leg.
The man roared once more, this time in pain, as a deep cut appeared on his leg. Had Torrin been hit by the same attack, his legs would have been completely removed from his body. This guys body was no joke.
The man swung down vertically with his mace as Torrin arrived before the man. He dodged the swinging mace, but made the mistake of stepping to his right. The man's shield arm shot forward far faster than Torrin had imagined the man could move, bashing Torrin's face with the shield.
Torrin flew back and landed on his back with a heavy thump. His ears were ringing and blood dripped from his shattered nose. He rose to his feet quickly, shaking the black spots from his eyes.
The man was already before him once more, swinging the mace down the same as before. This time Torrin dodged to his left, leaving a shallow cut on the man's mace arm as he retreated.
Without hesitation, sword light coalesced along the blade once more, far more than before. The man was foaming at the mouth, turning sharply while sending his mace zipping through the air with a horizontal strike.
Torrin stepped back quickly, swinging his own sword in retaliation, the light slicing towards the man's other leg. Torrin's eyes widened as the man's shield appeared there almost instantly, blocking the sword light easily.
'This guy can't approach quickly, but the speed of his arms is unreal!' Torrin thought, exasperatedly.
Without mana to heal his nose or exhaustion, the battle slowly wore Torrin down. Both him and the giant were breathing raggedly, chests heaving like bellows.
The giant had accumulated many wounds on his legs and arms, his bone could be seen through a bleeding gash on his left thigh. Torrin was doing much better, his nose the only damage he'd sustained so far.
Torrin dashed forward, dodging the man's diagonal mace swing and retaliating with a slice towards the man's neck. The shield appeared instantly in his way, but Torrin stopped his attack before it hit, shifting the entirety of his weight to his left leg and using the momentum to kick out his right foot fiercely, slamming directly into the bleeding wound on the man's thigh.
The kick didn't break any bones, but it caused the man's leg to buckle. The man landed on his left knee with his other leg bent down, his mace dropped to the floor and his shield held to the side as he grabbed at the damaged leg. Torrin took the opportunity to slice the man's neck, ending the fight.
Torrin collapsed on the ground, shaking, as he stared up at the lights above. His nose hurt terribly, clotted blood forcing him to breathe through his mouth. Dried blood covered the entire lower half of his face. He was tired and wanted to sleep, but he forced the thought away, slowing his ragged breathing as he lay on his back. A few minutes passed as he lay there, restoring his energy reserves.
*CLANK*
The final gate in the arena began to rise.