Aldric, still kneeling, blinked as what might have been either confusion or relief washed over his entire body. Somehow, he had managed to break the loop, unintentionally at that. Aldric watched as the screens continued to flood his vision.
[Core memory saved]
[Marking attribute: Core memory has been upgraded]
[You have received a title: Saviour of Nothing]
[The Gods of the Expanse have noted this event]
[You have been rewarded: Checkpoint]
Aldric's gaze intermittently averted from the screens to glance at the Knight with uncertainty. Even though all its previous hostility seemed lost, Aldric's memory of it killing him had become so strong that he was unable to be at ease around it.
He turned from the still Knight back to the notifications, of which half of them he didn't understand. However, what felt most important to him was the checkpoint. In fact, when he had first seen it, he almost used it immediately. After all, the last thing he'd want was to go back to the loop.
However, Aldric knew that saving a checkpoint here could still end up being a frying pan to fire situation. He was still in the temple and before the killer Knight. If he used the checkpoint, it needed to be at a safe place. Even if he were to somehow die without using it and go back to the previous checkpoint, he already knew the answer to the Knights question, which is most likely a core memory since it is of importance.
However, Aldric's plans were shattered by the new notification appearing before him.
[Forced Checkpoint will be set soon.]
'What the hell?'
Aldric grimaced in confusion that was very swiftly dissolving into annoyance. If he guessed, what this meant was his checkpoint would be used forcefully in this terrible place again? So what was the point of even getting one? Even worse, he wasn't given a choice on whether he wanted to use it.
'What just happened?'
Then, almost as if in response to Aldric's thought, a screen materialized before him.
[Forced Checkpoints (influence): When you complete a bid for the Firsts, there is no going back. Checkpoints will be set after every completed order or just before the start of a new one.]
'These Firsts or whatever are really starting to piss me off.'
Aldric turned to the other notification and with a thought, demanded a description for it as well.
[Title: Saviour of Nothing
(A man who saves a future yet to exist saves nothing.)]
'Okay? What do I do with that?... Is this just mocking me?'
Aldric looked away from the screen and glanced at the Knight, who remained still and unmoving. Then he turned back to look behind him at the door, only to find it tightly shut.
"Damn it," Aldric cursed under his breath.
He turned from the door back to the Knight and, with an audible gulp of saliva, spoke.
"Hey, I've answered your question and passed the First's test or whatever, so can you open up the door?" Aldric asked politely.
"The Main Trial is yet to begin. Are you prepared?" The voice of the Knight, loud and suffocating, cut through the space like sharpened glass.
"Prepared to go home? I already was about two hundred deaths ago... As for the main trial you are talking about, it's a hard pass from me, unfortunately." Aldric stood from where he knelt, his clothes stained with the blood of the other Awakened whose corpses were littered across the floor.
"You have no choice since you were chosen as a candidate. You must see it through till the end, or die in the process."
Aldric let out a sigh of exhaustion, both physical and mental.
"What's the trial, another question, or riddle perhaps?" Aldric asked, his fear of the Knight, of death, replaced by something else...
'If I'm lucky, it could be a tongue twister.'
The Knight slammed its sword on the floor, and along with its resounding echo, a golden glow formed. At first, a small spinning circle, then it began to expand and float higher in the air as it formed a pyramid. It looked very similar to the gateways spread across the world, except on a smaller scale and different in color.
"All final candidates are ready. Step through and begin the trial," the Knight instructed.
Aldric glanced at the armored figure, then turned his gaze back to the mini gateway. He was about to open his mouth in protest but ultimately saw the futility in it. He wouldn't be allowed to leave here.
Aldric hesitantly approached the gateway, his breath heavy with fear and anticipation. He was once again going into the unknown, and from his experience, being borderline immortal was no comfort.
'Wait, maybe I can see the number of deaths I have left now.'
Then, with a thought, his status window materialized before him:
======
[ Aldric Voss ]
[Saviour of Nothing ]
======
Markings: [The Remainder] [A False Existence]
Affinity: [Null]
Rank: [Warrior(0)]
Xai Energy (XE) Reserve: 10/10
Returns: (0/7)
----------
'Huh?'
It had reset, but what was terrifying was he had only seven returns. Although normally one would be elated at seven chances at life, Aldric knew better. It took him over two hundred returns to pass what wasn't even the main trial. How the hell would seven be sufficient? Who decides this?
'I swear if it's those Firsts again...'
"Please, go in, or I will have to force you," the Knight's dry voice drew Aldric out of his contemplation.
Aldric's response was a scoff as he began to approach the gateway again.
"I'll advise you take the blade," the Knight added before Aldric entered, stretching its hand. As if with telekinesis, the blade of the Black Star which Mia had dropped after her death shot towards the knight's large hand, making it look like a small stick.
He then handed it to Aldric, who, with slight reluctance, took it from him.
'What do I need a sword for? I can't use one, I can't even fight in general.'
The best fighting experience Aldric had was his constant scuffle with his upstairs neighbor, who Aldric swears hosts a summer festival in his apartment with all the noise he makes in the dead of night.
"Spill your blood on the blade to make it yours," the Knight instructed.
Aldric looked up at the Knight with skepticism, which quickly turned to resignation as he swiped his finger at the sharp end of the sword, allowing it to drop over the blade.
[You have bonded with Artifact.]
Upon the notification, with nothing but silence and a wisp, the sword seemingly disappeared.
"What the...?" Aldric voiced out in confusion.
"Go now." The Knight slammed its sword on the floor again, causing Aldric to jolt.
Then, with a beating heart and grim determination to survive, Aldric walked through the gateway.