The man was completely silent as he continued to stare at Kenric and drew out a long knife, as the boy quickly rolled away, and started running as fast as he could. Due to being half-drow, Kenric could see fairly well in the darkness. Normally, this meant he would have seen that thing's face clearly, but whatever was happening had made it to where his sight couldn't penetrate the darkness of the hood, but light from the storm could. This was all too confusing and scary for him.
Kenric continued to run along the edge of the blackened river, skirting the edge of a forest to his left, only to see that same being only about thirty feet ahead of him. He turned back and found the man was behind him now, too.
'Two of them?' He asked himself, checking both directions just to make sure. 'Woods it is, then.'
With no way of knowing what he was supposed to do, all he could assume was that he was supposed to survive for a while. After hesitating for a second longer, Kenric ran straight into the treeline, hoping to escape whatever was happening in this place. Sadly, after running only around 50 feet into the forest, he saw another two copies of that thing that was following him before. Left and right, he darted through the trees as fast as he could, praying to whatever god would listen that he wouldn't die.
After about an hour of this, Kenric was exhausted. He couldn't help but to collapse to his knees, landing hard on the mud and grass. There was hardly anywhere he ran that he wouldn't come across another one of those clone things. They only walked after him without saying anything, but the menacingly cold stares they gave him sent chills down his spine. He could feel their hate and bloodlust oozing out of every pore on their bodies, seeming to thicken the air he breathed into a sludge that stuck in his throat. It was absolutely terrifying.
Kenric looked up into the storm covered sky, his tears being washed away with every drop that splashed across his face. And that's when it clicked. He knew who it was surrounding him. He knew what he needed to do. Lightning flashed across the sky above him, announcing his roaring voice as he yelled out with all the air left in his lungs. The things around him stopped. All roughly 100 of them were frozen in time, their sickening smiles starting to glow in a white hue as they continued to stare at Kenric with dead eyes.
When he moved again, Kenric shot towards the nearest figure to him, punching directly in the face and using that moment to break it's neck. Kenric continued his rampage against his tormentors, all while they never moved and just smiled at their deaths under his hands. Hit after hit landed on their now bloodied bodies, refusing to strike back at what used to be their prey. Every crack mixed with the thunder, every drop that flew from their busted veins joined the rain on the ground, and smiling light disappeared like the lightning.
Where there used to be stalking creeps, now laid shells, empty of any signs of light they once might have had. All but one, at least. It stood in front of the worn out boy, and finally moved... not to attack, or walk in his direction, but to cross it's arms as it watched Kenric catch his breath. A tired voice came the thin figure, startling Kenric further.
"It is good to see you strong," it said. "But it's only in the sense of what you used to be. After this, you won't be able to run away every time. You won't be able to protect what you want, if you can't defend what you already have. Be ready when the time comes, because you will lose everything if you aren't."
Kenric stared darkly at the being as he yelled out, "I don't even know what you damned things are, but there's no way I would ever trust something so terrible as to take on the form of who killed me before."
He ran toward the figure in anger, striking out, and only managing to miss as it stepped aside and let him fall to the ground. The shadowed man stomped on Kenric's back, before removing it's foot and kicking his side to roll him over. It then stomped a foot on his chest, pinning him in place, despite it's thin frame. It then removed it's hood, showing it's pale white face and hair, sad eyes, and a frown evident across it's lips. One that Kenric recognized easily. After all, he used to see it in every mirror he looked in on Earth. One he had always wanted to be rid of. But the Non-Alex didn't give him time to think as he punched him as hard as it could, breaking skin as it bashed him.
"Quit hitting yourself Alex, beating yourself up over the past isn't healthy!" It yelled out, laughing as it tormented him, all while unseen tears streaking down with the rain.
It's strength wasn't normal compared to Kenric, keeping him on the ground and causing him pain, as he heard his bones start to crack under the pressure. Frantically he reached out to Non-Alex's waist to throw him off, but failed miserably, only to notice something that felt like a handle on it's left side. He suddenly remembered how the first clone pulled out a knife, as he grabbed it, yanking it as hard as he could, and plunged it into the thin man's back.
It howled in pain, reaching to it's back too late as Kenric ripped out the blade and began stabbing all over it's upper body, ironically reenacting almost exactly what happened to him in his last life. Of course, this wasn't what was on his mind at time. Only one thought prevailed; 'Survive'. The word screamed in his mind as he threw out his frustrations into the apparition in front of him, something he had believed he had let go throughout the years he lived in Ancora. He eventually stopped, noticing Non-Alex hadn't moved in a while, excluding when he unsheathed the blade from it's chest.
Kenric's eyes slowly moved up to the copy's face, noticing it's eyes met his own, while that chilling smile remained, blood covering the porcelain skin. He then heard two words, echoing through his surroundings, silencing the rain, wind, and thunder in his area.
"Thank you." It said, before the same portal that brought him here appeared in front of him. Kenric didn't hesitate as he stepped into it, allowing those weird sensations to wash over him in a welcoming embrace.
When Kenric reached the other side, he didn't find himself back in the middle of the coliseum, but in a torchlit space underground, surrounded by at least a hundred of the people that had taken the test. Everyone had slightly confused looks on their faces as they all looked around at each other, not knowing for sure if they passed their trials or not. After another 2 hours or so of waiting and seeing another hundred or more people walk through portals into the wide cavern, a bright yellow light blinded everyone as a large pedestal where three priests stood in a triangle formation.
It was the old Head Priest of the Temple of the Sun, Father Argus, with a young man and middle aged woman on either side and behind him. Each had a tall magic staff in hand, while their with and gold robes seemed to slightly flutter with unseen wind. With their appearance also came a slight warmth, like a warm summer's day. After a minute of waiting for the chatter to stop, the Head Priest stepped forward to the edge of the stage, ensuring all of the people's attention was on him.
"Ladies and gentlemen of Ancora." He began, a slight rattle of age in his voice that still brimmed with power. "You who passed the first of three parts in this year's Awakening Ceremony. And yes, I did say one of three, because this year is going to entail something different from what would happen. Where you would originally have appeared back in the center of the coliseum, you have been allowed passage to a secret dungeon section that only opens every hundred years, on the day where the Holy War ended. Even we who have been set here as guides are only allowed to be here at the designated time. No injuries or deaths in here will be permanent, but consequences will be issued."
Everyone in the chamber, albeit still slightly confused, were majorly intrigued and surprised by this new information. This included Kenric, who would have thought he would be told this by his father at the very least.
"There are now only two hundred and thirteen remaining out of the near thousand that actually passed the first test. They will be given a normal awakening and will remain indifferent to what happens here." The old man continued. "The criteria to enter this place is completely based off of performance and how strenuous it was to complete whatever you faced inside your Soul Realms. This next test happens to be somewhat more picky than the one you faced before. Failure will result in having your memory wiped of this and we will send you back to complete the rest of the normal awakening. The same will happen if you decide to quit. Are there any questions?"
Before any could raise their hands or even spit out a syllable, the Head Priest said, "Good, then we will begin." Before raising his staff high and slamming it on the podium. Another flash of light blinded the crowd yet again, before turning into a magic orange shield that surrounded the stage. "This is a very simple and straight-forward game. The only thing you have to do is climb up here and stand on the podium until the end of the time limit. You will have ten minutes to do this. As of now, I will give you thirty seconds to compose yourselves before we begin. Good luck, future generation."
While everyone else was eyeing their competition or getting ready to run to the pedestal, Kenric just stood back and stared at the shield. To him, it felt so... underwhelming, to say the least. He knew something was wrong with it, but he couldn't tell what exactly. He could see the shield rippling slightly on it's left side, which he took as it being slightly thin there. But he knew if he saw it, others did too. After debating with himself for a bit, he decided to just stand back and watch as others struggled, as he made his way past the crowd and all the way to the back as he climbed up the wall using cracks and small ledges.
Sure enough, from his new vantage point, he could see people fighting and climbing over each other as they force their way to the pedestal. Some broke teeth and noses as they slammed into it with their faces, only to be trampled on and killed underfoot by those who wanted in. Even the spot of disturbance he noticed seemed to actually be striking back at those that attacked it, flames burning their bodies to ash in seconds. Although it slight shocked him, he had vaguely expected that much. Nobody in this world would be dumb enough to show such a glaring weakness without a good reason.
He kept watching over them for two more minutes, waiting for an opportunity to go forward, and still trying to find a way to get inside the magic shield. Through this whole fiasco, all three of the people on the pedestal were watching these people fight like animals, their faces unchangingly bored and wholly uninterested. At least, that was until someone's hand made it's way inside the encirclement. Their eyes brightened, before they scowled when the poor woman's hand disappeared back into the crowd as they died, and were transported away. This wasn't unnoticed by Kenric, as he saw where it had happened. All he could do was wait for the herd to thin out some more before he made his move.
But that was when he felt something hit him. Someone in the crowd had thrown a small stone at his chest, causing him some pain, before bragging his leg in attempt to drag him off the wall. Kenric kicked the boy in the face as he slipped, dislocating his finger and tearing off skin on his way down. Although he didn't yell out like his enemy did, that didn't mean he didn't want to. Just because they had made it to where they would come back without any injuries, didn't mean they wouldn't feel every bit of pain that was wrought on them now.
Kenric made a mad dash towards the thinned spot on the barrier. If someone had noticed him now, he definitely wouldn't have another chance when they beat him to death. He breathed in as deep as he could before rolling under people, and barely making to the edge of them crowd. He was beat some more as he forced his way to where he believed the woman to have almost gotten in. Unfortunately, he had miscalculated by a few feet, which he only realized because he could only now see how the spot was slightly darker in color than the rest of the shielding. He dove at it, rolling in at the cost of having his arm broken under someone's foot.
He breathed in relief, before climbing the rest of the way up onto the stone stage. The priests gave him a cursory glance before nodding and looking back to the panicked people. They had grown more frantic as they noticed someone had gotten inside. Hardly anything could be heard aside from the screaming of men and women in pain. By the end of the ten minutes they were given, only six people in total had made it onto the pedestal, while the rest were either murdered, collapsed, or couldn't make their way up.
When the timer ran out, everyone outside of the magic barrier disappeared along with two that had been laying inside it. 'Where did they go?' Kenric thought to himself. 'They were already inside, so why...?' The rest of this was interrupted as Father Argus, coughed into his hand before saying something that everyone else had forgotten.
"Well, I did say to remain standing, didn't I? I assume they weren't listening well enough." He shrugged it off like he had expected this as he turned and began to walk down a newly open corridor, made from the same roughly cut rock as the rest of the cavern. "Alright then, follow me, and then we'll finish the ceremony for you lucky kiddos. This last part is the most important, after all."
The four promptly walked after them, each hobbling from their own injuries, as the priests moved quickly down the stairway. None of them dared to question them or slow down, just in case they could be left behind somehow and still fail in awakening the magic they wanted. If this thing could give them more power than anyone else, they would all do it. Albeit, each for their own reasons, which were mostly selfish. For Kenric though, he just wanted to protect his own and be as useful as possible. He wanted to be looked up to, not as a god or in reverence, but as a man who earned his keep in the world. Maybe even as King of Anthropos if he ever got it, which he severely doubted would happen.