I've been walking with a dragging gait for at least 1 hour, I've seen many different insects and plants, the ecosystem of this place has changed more times than I can count, showing the gigantic diversity of this place.
Now I'm near a swamp area, but I didn't enter the water, after my experience with the tree, I'm afraid of everything and get startled by any sound I hear.
'There may be sea monsters or giant insects...' my mind tries to imagine the worst, my complacency in wanting to eat something made me experience a pain I didn't need, this has made me slightly paranoid.
I look at the swamp water, it's dark, I can't see if there's something in it, but I don't get close, I remember that alligators and crocodiles tend to wait near the edge, I don't know if there are such animals in this world, but I'm sure there must be some kind of monster that behaves like the crocodiles.
I move away and walk around without getting close to the water, I notice a slight ripple in the water, something is clearly following me underneath, as if waiting for me to enter, after seeing these ripples I move even further away, now I'm about 100 meters from the water's edge.
I notice that something is slightly surfacing, it just puts its head out, but I can see how big that thing is, it really looks like a crocodile...but much bigger, its size could easily eat 3 of me in one bite, its eyes are yellow with reptilian pupils and its color is somewhat dark, blending in with the swamp water.
I freeze in fear in place, but it just stares at me, we stare at each other for 2 minutes until it goes completely back underwater, I let out a sigh of relief, that thing would clearly catch up to me if it decided to chase me.
I change my path and go to the left, I keep walking, my skin has several small blood streaks due to the small cuts, they may even close, but the blood doesn't go away, to solve this problem, when I have a certain amount of blood on my body, I throw myself in the mud.
Although it is extremely uncomfortable to have mud all over my body, especially in the intimate areas, I still get dirty, because I fear that some predator will chase me because of the smell of blood.
After walking through various ecosystems, I find myself lost, I noticed that the sun never leaves its place, I've been here for hours, but it's always in the center of the sky. Fortunately, this is in a way good, since at night it's harder for me.
During my long walk, I think about how to get out of here, until I come across a strange structure, it is clearly artificial and looks like a temple. I thought about leaving it aside, but what Valac said comes back to my mind.
"What did he say...I think it was..."
"In 1 minute I will teleport you to somewhere in the forest, be careful with the plants, some of them may end up liking you, and since you're so curious, maybe you'll discover something interesting? Hahaha I hope you have fun"
'He wants me to go in here...' I come to this hypothesis for one reason only, no matter how much I walk, this forest has no end, he had said that there are all kinds of plants here. In other words, this place is extremely large to house this variety.
So it's impossible for me, who is weak, to escape from here by walking, so maybe if I find this interesting thing, he'll take me out of here. I decide to enter, but I'm afraid that something will cause me pain right at the entrance.
So I grab a bunch of small stones and start throwing them at the entrance, nothing activates, but I'm more careful than ever, I wait 20 minutes in front of the door while trying to evaluate each brick in the door.
'Looks normal...' I grab several small stones to carry in my hand and enter carefully. My nervousness and paranoia are so great that I even forget to have an inventory where I could store these stones, so I end up carrying them in my hand.
I walk very carefully, looking at all the stone squares drawn on the floor to see if there are no traps. Each step takes more than 10 seconds to be taken.
During this time, I look carefully at the carvings on the temple walls, there are some strange drawings, they depict what appears to be a war, there are several drawings that I judge to be people, these drawings are connected and form an army.
'What are they facing?' I continue to walk now with a little less caution since I have to observe the drawings on the wall, but part of the drawings is destroyed by time, so I didn't see what they were facing.
On the other wall there is the carving of a baby, but it is about to be used as a sacrifice in some kind of ritual. Finally, after some time, I reach a door.
On the door there is something written. So I try to read it slowly and out loud.
"The World is balanced by Eternity, and Eternity exists only for Aurora" I read out loud, causing the door to open.
'This phrase again...' I feel bad in the head, it was all the fault of this damned curiosity that I felt so much pain, but here I am again being curious. There is the saying that says 'Curiosity killed the cat' but I am immortal so it seems that my curiosity only causes me pain.
I enter through the now open door and walk, I continue to look at the carvings, many of them are battles, but they are all destroyed in the area that shows who they were fighting.
The door behind me closes, making me turn around instantly towards it. Soon after, a voice speaks.
"You, the one who was chosen to have the right to the test, will have to answer 9 questions, if you show that you are not worthy, you will be trapped for all eternity in this room" a voice speaks from nowhere, its tone is cold and indifferent, even false like a programmed machine.
'Questions? test? Trapped forever...'
"Do I have a choice to leave..." as I was going to ask, the area behind me collapses while 9 doors appear and open.
"Now chosen, with each question a door will close, if you are not the right person, all 9 doors will close, you must answer the questions with wisdom, and most importantly, answer with your heart" the voice says as a small pedestal rises in the center of the room.
"Question number 1...The wise man who sinks into ruin, chooses his own end, what is his sin?" the voice asks a question and then everything falls silent.
"..."
'HOW THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THE ANSWER TO THAT?' I'm already irritated, now this meaningless question appears, I just feel anger, but I have to be careful with what I say.
'The wise man who sinks into ruin, chooses his own end...what is that supposed to mean... Sin...then this question refers to a capital sin...' I try my best to connect this phrase to some sin.
"The answer is...Pride?" I give my answer, after a moment of silence one of the doors closes.
"Correct answer, the wise man who is too proud of his own knowledge ends up falling into ruin, this being an end caused by his own choice" the voice speaks that it is correct while explaining the meaning of the answer.
"Question number 2... the one who shows undeserved feelings for others ends up falling into sin, the sin that increases sends this person down new paths, in the end this person will sink into sin, what is this person's sin?"
"..."
'HOW ABSTRACT!!!' The question is extremely abstract, what supposedly should be the sin committed by a person like that? I try to think and read between the lines, I'm not very smart but it's obvious that it's another capital sin.
'Wrath and lust...it must be one of the two...' As it talks about undeserved feelings, I deduce that it must be lust.
'Undeserved...I think it's lust...I hope I'm right' I don't know what happens if I fail and I wish to continue not knowing.
"T-The answer...is Lust?" Everything falls silent, the tension is almost palpable.
"Correct answer, the one who shows feelings for someone who does not deserve it ends up sinking into the sin of lust so that this feeling is no longer relevant" he affirms and says other explanations, although I don't know the meaning of this, I'm happy to have got it right. Soon after, another door closes.
"Question number 3...those who succumb to the feeling of the moment, are no different from animals, those who cannot control themselves become slaves to their feelings, what sin does someone like that commit?"
The third question is less abstract. It seems to be a pattern that all the questions involve sin.
"The sin of Wrath" I didn't have to think much about this one, the sin that one feels the most in the moment and loses control is always Wrath.
"Correct answer, those who surrender to momentary wrath end up sinning even without knowing it" another door closes.
'So far I'm doing well...I just need to get 6 more right...'
"Question number 4...the one who does not know what he wants, tends to choose through others, what is the sin of this being?"
'...I DON'T KNOW...this is as abstract as the lust one...' I leave this answer to my heart because my brain doesn't know.
"Maybe it's...Envy..."
'Please be right, please be right'
"Correct, the one who does not know what he wants, covets what others have in an attempt to find what he desires" another door is now closed.
'I don't understand what these questions have to do with this temple...'
"Question number 5...the one who commits horrible acts to satisfy himself, are sinners, what is the sin of this being?"
"..."
"..."
"Gluttony?" When he mentioned satisfaction through horrible acts, it reminded me of Leviathan.
"Correct answer, those who can satisfy their hunger, whether physical or mental, through horrible acts are sinners" again another door is locked, with each question I have one less door.
"Question number 6...The one who covets more than he can have ends up finding horrible ends, being followed by his sin until the day of his death, what is the sin of this person?"
'This one I don't need to think much, it's clearly greed'
"It's Greed"
"Correct, those who covet more than they really need or want end up having bad endings, never taking their material wealth with them after death" again a door closes.
"Question number 7...Those who do not strive to achieve what they want, just let destiny follow a monotonous flow, sink into emptiness, what sin accompanies these people to the void?"
"...Sloth" In a way, these questions seem to be linked to the 7 demon lords, not only because they are linked to the sins they represent, but it's more like something deeper than that.
"Correct, those who don't go after what they want, just stay with the sloth that will accompany them forever"
"Question number 8...The only being who has the right to define everything is God, but does God really want to have that right? Answer yes or no"
"..."
'Does God really want the right to define everything...I've never thought about that...does he want it? Or did he never want it...'
"...No...the answer is no..." I say hoping I haven't made a mistake.
"Correct, God is the only one who has the right to do whatever he wants, but this right is not something God wanted, but rather something that others impose on him" another door closes.
"Question number 9...Since you were born, how many of these sins have you committed?"
"..."
"..."
"..." I bite my lips slightly, then I respond.
"...All of them..."