Rodrigo looked at the box. "This looks suspicious enough to warrant concern." He walked up to the box and poked it. Nothing happened.
While he did this Fred just stared off into the distance. His eyes were empty.
"Fred. You want to try poking it." Asked Rodrigo gently. Fred turned his head to him. He nodded.
Without saying a word Fred walked up to the box. And poked it.
He fell onto the ground.
...…
Fred sat on a cloud. He didn't care enough to acknowledge the surroundings around him. All he knew, was that. above him was a blue woman. Her face was covered in wrinkles and her eyes held a piercing intensity to them. "Hello. What have you done to slip into my realm?" Asked the old woman.
Fred looked up at her. "I poked a box." He fell onto his back. ~I'm so weak that beings like her can just step on me whenever they feel like it.~ Fred fell into the cloud and closed his eyes. Preparing for another end.
He waited for about a minute. But no end came. He raised his head to look at the genie. She floated there with the same matronly smile on her face. Although it looked a bit more plastered on. "Aren't you going to kill me?" Asked Fred. She frowned.
"I don't like how you can be so cavalier about tragedy." She said, Fred sighed.
"Ugh. You remind me of Purgy." Said Fred. She rolled her eyes.
"I am going to kill you." She said Fred's head fell back into the cloud. ~Stupid of me for getting my hopes up.~ "But not in the way you would expect." She said, ~Torture?~ Fred tensed. "You will be put through three trials. If you complete all three I willl." She looked at Fred with an all consuming pressure "I will teleport all of Nathaniel's wish stones to you."
Fred sat up. "I'm in." He said. ~I could resurrect Amanda.~
"Don't you want to hear what the trials are first?" Asked the woman,
"Nope. I'm not giving myself a chance to back out." He said. She nodded.
"Okay. If that's what you want." She posed and pointed her finger into the air. Blue fire gathered around it. "Activate trial one! Killers resolve!"
...
Fred appeared in a black void. Luckily the floor was solid underneath him. But the walls and ceiling could not be distinguished,
Sitting on a white chair in the black void was a woman. She had golden hair and energetic eyes.
"Amanda?" Asked Fred. She looked at Fred in desperation, tears falling down her face.
"Please. Don't kill me. My father has power. He can give you anything you desire." Said Amanda. Fred looked at her with fear and confusion
"How are you he-" She froze and a series of words appeared in front of Fred.
Kill the one in the chair. Refuse and you die| Fred sighed. ~So that's how it is.~ A short hunting knife appeared in Fred's hand as time started again. ~I. I don't want to kill her. But…. Wish stones can bring back the dead.~
"I end you so you can begin again." Said Fred.
"WAIT! NO PLEASE DON'T!" Amanda screamed. Fred raised the knife into the air and swung down. It sliced through her throat.
Due to the shortness of the knife blood spilled onto his hands. Fred's throat burned with guilt. ~So weak. That I have to kill you to save you.~ He briefly contemplated turning the knife on himself. ~Won't make a difference.~
Amanda fell limp only the ropes around her body holding her up. Then she vanished. In her place was Rodrigo. He looked at Fred with a savage smile.
"You could have killed me first before tying me up, you know." Said Rodrigo. Fred Grit his teeth. His grip closed around the knife. With all the will in his body. He stood there.
"What. Are you too weak to kill me?" Mocked Rodrigo. Fred couldn't do it. Amanda.... Amanda was a person he'd know for a matter of days. It was easy to justify the decision. But Rodrigo. He'd saved him. In a short month he'd changed Fred from a death-addled coward. To a person with the basic guts to fight. Over and over again he'd pushed Fred to become able to live in this power crazed world.
He was his hero.
"KILL ME RIGHT NOW! YOU'VE WON! THIS IS HOW THE GAME IS PLAYED." Tears fell down Fred's face. He raised the knife into the air.
"I remember something my grandpa used to say." Said Fred, his hand knife shaking as tears fell down his face. "'Your life can be broken down into two choices. Play the game and make your moves. Or die. It's that simple.' He'd tell me that tale over and over again. It drove me crazy." Fred chuckled. Then he screamed,
"AHHH!" He stabbed the knife into Rodrigo's throat. He didn't immediately die like Amanda. Rodrigo stared at Fred as the blood from the knife dripped down his throat and into his lungs. Silently he died. His eyes never leaving Fred's.
~Murderer. Weak.~ If Fred were asked to describe himself in that moment. Those were the two words that would define him. Fred looked up at the sky with pleading eyes.
"Did I pass your test?" Asked Fred.
"Yes. Who would have thought that someone of your apparent age had so few people he wouldn't be willing to kill" Said the voice. "And yes you've passed the test."
....
Fred manifested back on the cloud. Above him was a blue woman. Who almost blended in with the sky. "Funny. You passed. But don't worry. There's no way you will pass the next one." She said reassuringly. Fred looked up at her. His eyes were blank. His face was pale. There was not a hint of life left in Fred. But despite this he breathed. His heart beat.
He had two more trials to go.