-ster...
Master!!
I sprung back the ground in ragged breath, sweat profusely dripping from my orifices. My face was pale, and my hands were trembling.
I gasped for air. I looked to my side and saw Neph with a worried face.
"I-Im fine." I inspected my body and saw that it looked fine and well, then set my sights on my surroundings. It was the familiar brick-walled room.
My eyes halted on a certain figure of an unknown man right in front of a few meters away.
"Who are you?" I snarled, stood up and conjured lightning blade. It crackled in my hands and shone with dangerous light.
The man was short, around 5'6 ", and he looked to be around his late thirties - with wild brown hair and focused eyes. He wore a robe adorned in beautiful designs.
He released a very tranquil and harmless stature, but I was not fooled. My senses were telling me that there was something incredibly wrong with this man.
A cautious glint passed my eyes as I gripped the sword tight, I couldn't assess the man very well — whether he was stronger than me or weaker, I couldn't determine.
"Ohh boy, you sure are distrustful. But that is what it takes for a man to survive in this world." The unknown stranger opened his mouth and said, a slight smile forming on his lips.
I glared at him, inspecting his every move, but the man didn't have any intention of doing anything, it seemed.
He threw his head to the side and sighed, "Haah, you're gonna kill me with those glares, you know? Well, answering your question — the one who you are bringing that sword out against is the one who made this Labyrinth."
I was silent for a moment, countless questions swirled in my mind. I was incredulous to say the less.
"You're alive?" I asked, still keeping the sword in my hand. Just because he answered by question, it didn't mean that what he said was true and that he was trust-worthy.
"Well, not exactly. This body of mine isn't physical, it's a spiritual body formed by the remnant power I left in the Labyrinth." He explained.
"When you passed all the trials I set up, I was awakened." He added.
'So it was indeed the fourth trial.' I thought.
"The fourth trial, can you explain it for me?" I asked.
"Very well, since you indeed passed all of them. Let's begin with the first trial - the first trial serves to test one's abilities and skills. The second trial tests one's will and determination. The third trial — well, tests someones mind and heart. The fourth and last trial, tests the spirit and one's self."
"Even though I do not know what went through your last trial as that happens only in your mind and even I dont have access with it, you must have faced some very conflicting situations where you could easily lose your very self. Am I right?" He asked in the end of his lengthy explanation.
It was indeed as he had said. But what I was puzzled by was what happened after I started doubting everything — when I appeared in the dark space with countless hands trying to drag me down the abyss and most of all, the appearance of the unknown stranger who had some sort of connection with me.
"If you had failed to break out of that trial, you would have lost yourself, and your physical body would be without a spirit, it would become a soulless vessel."
That was right, I was about to give up and die, letting the hands drag me down the abyss, but the unknown man appeared and reminded me of my name. From the way he worded it, it seemed like it was him who gave me my name.
Just who was he?
Was he a part of the trial or...was he a memory that resurfaced when I was on the brink of death?
Questions swirled in my mind.
I was clueless as a bat. I didn't even know what his name was, when I asked him for it, everything went blurr and I remembered waking up here.
I also wasn't able to take a look at his face because of the blinding light.
I had no clues about his existence at all.
I shook my head, I was more determined to uncover my past.
But it seemed that my goal had many mysteries blocking my path, I needed power to unearth them obviously.
And that chance to obtain power lied in front of me. I had passed all the trials, a reward equal of my performance should come.