As I passed through the door, I found myself floating high up in the air, the ground under covered by dense white clouds.
A small cloud nearby curled unto itself and formed a transparent ball before floating towards me.
"Welcome to the the fourth trial challenger. The Trial by Air. Difficulty: Eternal."
"Before you explain the rules, can I ask you a question?"
"Sure. What do you want to ask?"
"I wanted to know how many points I got in the last trial."
"The guide of the trial should have told you at the end."
"The thing is that I think I might have destroyed the guide's core."
"Oh. You have a total of 30 points right now, which means you must have received the maximum amount of points."
"Thank you. Can you tell me what those cores I receive at the end of each trial are?"
"They are your token of proof that you passed the trial. They will show their use as you progress further through the trials."
"All right, thank you. You can proceed with the explanation for the air trial."
"As you can see, we are high above the clouds. The fourth trial is quite easy. All you have to do is remain floating and not fall to your death. If you fall under the clouds your progress will be lost and you will have to start again from the beginning. You will receive a point per day and will have to remain afloat for five days to pass the trial. After five days you can choose to give up or try and go for maximum points. To achieve maximum points you will need to last for a total of ten days. Any questions?"
"But, I can't fly.." I blurted out, startled by the absurdity of the trial.
"Then you will fall to your death. Any other questions?"
'Ai, can I even use air magic to fly?'
[Yes, you can propel yourself upwards using mana continuously and stay afloat, but your mana will not last for an entire day, not even speaking about the total of five days to pass or ten days to receive maximum points.]
'Hmm.. Can I manipulate gravity somehow?'
[That might be possible, but I don't think the guide will give you enough time to study about gravity.]
As I was struggling to find a solution for the current situation, the guide's voice sounded again: "Any other questions?"
Wishing to gain some more time for myself to come up with a solution, I started asking random questions like how many trials are there, what do I get as a reward and so on. I didn't really listen to his answers as I was busy trying to come up with a solution.
After a little bit of deliberation with Ai, we came up with a crazy plan that might just work so I asked the guide.
"Let me get this right, all I have to do is stay above the clouds."
"Affirmative."
Nodding, I said: "I'm ready. Let's start the trial."
The guide sunk into the clouds below and his voice sounded: "Let the air trial, begin!"
As soon as his voice ended, my body started falling downwards. I immediately channeled wind magic towards the ground and started floating upwards as fast as possible. I also made sure to create a pocked of oxygen inside my mouth to facilitate breathing.
'Can I make it, Ai?'
[Yes. You only need about two kilometers to reach the orbit.]
A couple of minutes later, I felt the gravitation pull of the planet below end, so I stopped propelling myself upwards and created a thin membrane around my body to give myself some atmospheric pressure.
'How is it, Ai? Can I last here for ten days?'
[Your mana will only last for four days with this consumption rate. Also, you won't be able to sleep and recover.]
'Damn, and I'll soon have to start using mana to heat up my body as well…'
[I included the mana necessary for heating up your body in my calculations as well. That is the reason the calculations were incorrect. It's a lot colder here than on earth.]
'Is there really no way for me to recover mana except for sleeping?'
[Negative. That is the way mana is recovered in this world.]
'In this rhythm I will have no choice but to ask Senna for help again.'
[That is too dangerous. ]
'What other option do I have? You went over almost everything in your database and couldn't come up with a solution. I don't have any idea either. She's might be my only option right now.'
[..]
'Wake her up. I want to speak to her first and see if she has any idea.'
After a few seconds, Senna's voice sounded in my head.
[*You really can't do anything without me. What have you gotten yourself into this time?*]
I asked Ai to share everything that happened since we entered the trial and Senna said:
[*You know that not all solutions can be found on your home world, don't you? This is so easy, all you had to do was consider a solution from a magician's standpoint.*]
'You have an idea?'
[*Of course. What would a magician do if he needed to fly and couldn't do it using a spell? Summon a contracted beast that can fly and just ride it.*]
I was suddenly excited before I remembered something and I asked:
'Don't I need a sacrifice for that? And where am I supposed to create a magic circle? I'm flying in space…'
[*For an easy task like flying you around for a couple of days, just using half of your current spirit as payment is enough to summon a spirit beast. As for the magic circle, carve it on your body. You don't have to create a city size circle to summon a spirit beast.*]
After saying her piece, a magic circle appeared in my vision, with a simple incantation, and she went back to slumber before I could even thank her. Not willing to waste any more time, I carved the circle on my chest using a blade created out of ice and started heading downwards again. Once I reached the location of the start of the trial, I infused mana inside the magic circle and started reading the incantation out loud. After the incantation, I waited for a couple of minutes before a small eagle appeared on my chest and started screeching at me.
'Ai, isn't this bird too small?'
[It's a spirit eagle. It can increase it's size at will. Just make your contract with it.]
Hearing Ai's words, I said towards the eagle: "Hello little guy. I just need you to fly me at this height for ten days and I'll give you half of my spirit as payment."
The eagle screeched again as it opened it's beak. Once I placed a drop of my blood inside, I could feel half of my spirit being drained as the eagle slowly increased it's size, becoming a giant white eagle with a wingspan of at least ten meters.
After taking a seat on it's back, I patted it twice and said: "You can fly around, but I need you to keep above the clouds for ten days."
With that, I closed my eyes and said to Ai:
'How come we didn't think of this? This is now a vacation instead of a trial.'
[I did, but I didn't have enough data to create a suitable magic circle. Senna's knowledge is a lot more expansive than mine. I apologize.]
'Don't. We tried our best.' I prepared to rest for a while to recover my lost mana and spirit. After waking up, I started looking throughout gravity theories and stuff about space and time. Like this, time slowly passed and it was soon the end of the trial.
The guide raised up form the clouds below and said : "Congratulations challenger, in passing the fourth trial. You have earned a total of ten points. You will now be sent back to the trial grounds and you can enter the door to the fifth trial any time you please."
After it's words ended, I woke up back inside my body, but this time, besides the transparent ball in my hand there was also a small eagle besides me. The eagle screeched a couple of times before slowly fading away, disappearing completely.
"I liked this guy." I mumbled as I placed the ball I gained from the air trial inside my robe with the others and, since I was not tired at all, I continued walking through the corridor towards the fifth trial's door.
Once I reached the door with the number five written on it, I gently pressed the handle, opened the door and walked inside. After passing through the door, I felt dizzy for a moment before finding myself tied up to the wall of a cave. Seeing that I couldn't free myself, I gave up on struggling and waited for the guide to explain, figuring it was part of the fifth trial.
[Ethan, your entire body was teleported this time and I can't tell where you are exactly.]
'It doesn't matter. If I die it's the same result anyway regardless if I die just in spirit or in both avatar and spirit..' Saying that, I kept waiting for the guide to appear, but nothing happened for almost an hour.
'Are they trying to test my patience?'
[It is a possibility.]
I kept waiting for a couple of hours, and since nothing happened, I said to Ai: 'This is so boring. I'm going to sleep for a while. Wake me up if anything happens.'
[All right.]
After closing my eyes, I fell asleep almost instantly. After who know how long, I woke up and opened my eyes only to see that it was now a cell surrounding me. There were also other cells created next to mine with prisoners tied up to the walls in the same way I was.
'Ai, what happened here? Didn't I tell you to wake me up if anything happens?'
[..]
'Ai?'
[..]
Seeing that Ai was not answering, I finally started to panic. Ever since I started this quest, the only constant I had was Ai. Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I looked at the other prisoners and asked out loud:
"Hey! Can any of you guys understand me?"
The prisoners from the surrounding cells all turned towards me and started grinning through blooded teeth.
"Why are you looking at me like this?" an uneasy feeling welled up inside my chest.
All of the sudden, a loud voice was heard throughout the whole prison: "Who dears to speak inside my prison? Guards! Bring him to the pleasure room!"
As soon as the voice ended, two buffed guards opened my cell door, undid my bindings and started dragging me by my arms towards the deep end of the prison under the silent laughs of the other prisoners. I tried using my mana, but I felt a sharp pain in my chest as soon as I started channeling, so I had to stop trying.
With Ai not responding and my magic not working, I could only wait to see where they will take me. After being dragged over a few corners, I was brought to a room covered in blood and tied to a table in the center. After they finished tying me up, the guards simply left, leaving me alone in the room.
I tried calling out to Ai and Senna again, but still no sign of any of them. After being left alone in the room for a few minutes, the door opened and an aged man entered. I immediately said to him:
"Sir, can you tell me what is going on? Why am I here? Who are you?"
The man chuckled and said: "Haha I think you are the first person who asked me a question inside this room." He sat down on the table next to me and continued while playing with a switchblade: "Here, I am the one who asks questions and not the other way around. I'll like you so I'll ignore that and simply start with the first question. Who are you?""
I gulped before I focused my eyes on the switchblade and something ticked in my mind: 'Is this earth?'. With this thought in mind, I started looking around the room and noticed that it was illuminated by a bulb.
'Electricity? How the hell did I end up in prison back on earth? Could the trial be playing with my mind? And why isn't Ai answering my calls?'
The man with the knife, pissed that I was not answering his question, plunged the knife straight through my hand and said with a dark look: "I liked you before, but you should know that I don't like people who refuse to answer my questions. Let's see how long can you hold your tongue for."
I bit my lip as I endured the pain and replied: "I'll tell you everything you want. Please remove the knife."
The man seemed pleased with my answer and asked me again without removing the knife from my hand: "So, who are you?"
"My name is Ethan Knott, sir."
"Mhmm" the man nodded and twisted the knife in my palm before continuing: "Do you think you can lie to my face like that?"
'What the hell is he talking about?' I thought as I grit my teeth to try to endure the pain that was coming form my hand.
He kept asking me basic questions like: "Where I was from?", "Who are my parents?", "What did I do to end up in prison?" and so on, but no matter what answer I gave he kept torturing me, saying that I was lying. After six hours of constant torture and questioning, the man left and I was brought back to my cell and tied to the wall again.
The guards threw some alcohol on my wounds and left right after. The pain was too much for me and I eventually passed out.
After I woke up, all my wounds were gone and I was back to the cave I was tied the first time I passed through the door. Just to make sure, I asked:
'Ai, can you hear me now?'
[Affirmative. Nothing happened during the time you were asleep so I didn't wake you up.]
"Was it just a dream? But it felt so real…" I thought out loud.
[You didn't dream of anything the entire time you were asleep.]
'Huh? You can see my dreams?'
[Affirmative. I can watch them the same way I can watch everything else you see.]
'Are you saying that you didn't see anything regarding…'
A bright flash of light appeared in my vision before I could finish my question and I appeared inside the prison cell again. Looking down, I noticed that my body was not wounded anymore. Checking the other cells, I saw all the guards grinning towards me again, the same way they were grinning just before I was taken away to get interrogated and tortured.
'What the hell is going on? I didn't make any sound this time. Ai, can you hear me?' I asked in my mind, but no answer came. As I was trying to make some sense of the whole situation, the door to my prison cell opened and the guards came to unlock my bindings again.
I tried to struggle, knowing exactly where this whole thing was going, but it was all pointless. After subduing me, I was taken to the same room as before and tied to the table in the center.
A few minutes later, the aged man from before came inside and started playing with his dagger. I closed my eyes as tears started to slowly fall from both of them. I knew this sadistic old man is going to torture me again.
Seeing me crying, he chuckled and said:
"Oh, don't cry. I'm not going to do anything to you. I just want to ask you some questions and if you answer truthfully I'll let you go. I'll start with the first question:"
"Who are you?"