Divyat took a deep breath and turned to look at the smiling Cao Lin with an annoyed look on his face. Honestly speaking he couldn't get why she was always smiling, the times he had seen a frown on her face had been so quick and fleeting it was akin to an illusion. And normally while it shouldn't matter much that someone was always smiling a lot, the fact of the matter was that her smiles were always so fake.
As with everything about this outpost he has come to find out in his time here, and with the limited interaction he's had with his surroundings, a tunnel was the answer to ever exit and entry question. Unless you were a really good climber or you could fly, there was no way to access the mountain peak the normal way, however there was a network of tunnels that led straight to three different entrances and exits.
But there was still over 10 dozen tunnel entrances that led to abodes or perhaps facilities of the stronghold. Either way, the one Divyat was currently standing in front of, led down into a deep dark hole, and looking at the gathered faces of fierce Demi-humans and demons standing around him, he was not the only one about to take a foray into the dark as Cao Man slithered into view, his coils making sounds as they moved through the snow.
"Many of you have prepared all your lives for this day, some of you have crossed and survived the perils of the Ghadovara mountains and its underworld to be here, to make a difference, to finally actualize your destiny and try to find your own way to make your fame and fortune. This is the way of bandits, this is the way of our ancestors."
Cao Man paused to look at the people gathered, giving Divyat time and chance to pay attention to the people about to go down with or rather the people he was about to face the dark with. Cao Man chuckled, probably reminiscing about something, or getting amused by it. Further that reaction scared Divyat a bit, because in all of the times he has had an interaction with Cao Man, the bloody Naga has never smiled much less chuckled.
"This is the first in a series of trials that would be held within the next three months. Eight trials that would remove the weak ones from amongst you all, those without the fortitude and the luck, because for a bandit luck is quite important, to survive the mountains that has nurtured us, and the world outside. From these eight trials, the next leaders would be chosen, and new bandit bands would be formed, new grunts, and new enforcers…I especially like the enforcers.
There are 300 other groups like this scattered within the Ghadovara South, and each and every single one of them would be led into a tunnel similar to where you all have to face the darkness and what it holds, and make your way to the next arena, for the second trial. If you're unable to make it to the second arena within three days, you would be considered disqualified from the trials, at least for this year.
If you never make your way out of the tunnels, then we all will mourn our losses and move on, because make no mistake, many of you here will die. But you all knew that didn't you? The first trial forbids the use of weapons, talismans, sigils or tools of any kind. You will have to survive whatever gets thrown your way with just the help of your wits and luck. Now step forward all of you, into your destiny. And beware of the shadows, for they shall show you the path always, but swallow you if the shadows is all you seek."
Cao Man moved out of the way, and almost 50 people rushed in, dropping down the hole in the ground into the darkness. Even with all of the light from the noon day sun, not even a smidge of it was enough to cast illumination on the edge and front of the tunnel entrance. They all walked into it as Divyat watched impassively, trying his best to figure out just what in the hell he's gotten himself into. But Cao Lin came up from behind him and said.
"Do not waste time Divy boy! This trial is not meant to be a challenge for you…at least not physically. Father was smiling because he realized what I've been telling all this while." Divyat turned to her and asked.
"And what could that possibly be Cao Lin?" she chuckled and turned her nose up into the air as she walked away.
"If you finally stop teasing and playing around with the darkness in your heart, if you finally are ready to become the warrior you're meant to be, and not the weak sniveling nerdy kid who lost his entire family in a show of human greed… if you're ready to become the killer this past two months of heartache and loss had made you into….then it won't be you and all these trial takers that are trapped in the dark down there…. It will be the dark and them who's trapped in there with you."
Divyat pondered on that as Cao Man moved past him and went further down, leaving Divyat standing alone in front of the tunnel. He didn't think he was as capable as they thought he was, and honesty he has not really been in touch with his feelings lately. From what he could gather, all of his bitterness, hurt and frustrations so far has just been turning into anger, it has been the only way he could actually cope with his pain.
But he had refused to give in to it. In some ways everything that has been happening to him so far has seemed like a dream. And while he knew it was as real as he gets, if he gave in to the anger, then he was going to give in to the hopelessness. Somehow he was still fighting to remain Divyat…but he was scared, even though he was young, he was mature enough to know that if he stopped being Divyat….perhaps he would never be himself again, he would die and what would remain would be worse than the caricature of himself he currently was. But until he is finally faced with that choice, the only thing he could do right now is move forward into the darkness, and so he went and dropped into the tunnel.
The world seemed to shift, and he found himself walking into a wide cave, pockmarked with holes that led outside as a fierce blizzard blew from without. There was a coolness in the air, and he had barely enough to gather his bearing before a lizard man leaped at him, and right behind him almost a dozen other people, murder in their eyes.
"Die filthy Human!"