Girik scanned his surroundings as he walked, looking for any markings or signs but found nothing. The tiles on the ground and the pillars along the sides appeared to be made from the same material. Was it really stone? He wasn't sure.
He kept walking, but no matter how far he went, the corridor seemed endless. At one point, he began to wonder if he was walking in circles. Despite that doubt, instead of turning back, he kept moving forward.
After what felt like a lifetime, he arrived at a fork. Both paths looked identical to the corridor he had been walking through.
Without giving it much thought, he randomly decided to take the left path. But as he took his first step in that direction, he felt a familiar yet unfamiliar tugging sensation coming from the right.
He paused, pulled his leg back, and stepped toward the right. As soon as he did, the feeling vanished again.
Girik sighed and decided to continue walking in the right direction. Once again, the surroundings were unchanged, and the corridor stretched endlessly ahead.
Several times, Girik thought about turning back, but each time, that tugging sensation returned, compelling him to stay on his current path. He encountered more forking passages, but by following the tugging sensation, he continued onward.
Eventually, he emerged into an open area with four giant stone doors standing closed before him.
Each door had unique markings etched onto its surface. Girik inspected them closely, but he couldn't decipher what they meant.
Determined to rely on the mysterious tugging sensation, Girik approached the doors. Yet, when he touched them one by one, the sensation didn't return. He tried to open one of the doors, pulling and pushing with all his strength, but it didn't budge.
After struggling with the doors for a while, Girik decided to examine them more thoroughly.
First, he inspected each door for any mechanisms that might allow them to open, but he found none. Then, he turned his attention to the markings. At first glance, they appeared to be haphazard carvings, but the more he studied them, the more he felt there was something significant about them.
And then it clicked. These weren't just random markings, they were runes. They very much resembled the runes etched onto runestones that contained skills.
But so what if they were runes? It wasn't like he could read or understand what they meant. And it wasn't just him; to his knowledge, no one on Earth had managed to decipher the meaning of runes.
Armed with this newfound knowledge, Girik returned to the runes with renewed determination. His eyes scanned each line and curve, searching for a pattern or hidden meaning. Yet, as the minutes dragged on, frustration began to gnaw at him.
The thought of turning back lingered in the corners of his mind, but he dismissed it. He knew what awaited him if he did, it would just make that annoying tugging feeling resurface.
"What am I missing?" he muttered under his breath, as he stood before one of the doors, looking at the carvings intently.
Just then, a faint tremor rippled through the floor which startled Girik. The vibrations grew stronger, reverberating through the chamber like a distant drumbeat. Before his eyes, the tiles at the centre of the room began to shift, folding outward as if a flower was blooming.
A soft, blue light seeped through the opening, casting eerie, shifting shadows along the walls. Slowly, a translucent orb emerged, rising slowly from the middle of the floor which was blooming like a flower.
It hovered about two feet above the ground, glowing with a steady, otherworldly brilliance. The floor beneath it returned to its original state, smooth and unbroken, leaving no trace of the transformation.
Girik stood still as if in a daze. The orb's light reflected in his wide eyes as he took an involuntary step back. For a long moment, the room was silent save for the faint hum emanating from the orb.
"What... is that?" he whispered, a mix of awe and unease in his voice.
But there was no response.
The orb simply floated in its place, serene and enigmatic.
Cautiously, Girik circled it, his boots echoing faintly against the stone floor. He studied every angle, hoping for some clue to its purpose. Its surface was unnervingly smooth, without cracks, seams, or markings. It seemed impossibly perfect, almost unnatural.
Turning his attention back to the doors, he searched the runes for any changes. Perhaps the orb was connected to them somehow. But they were exactly as he'd left them, cryptic and unyielding.
Frustration mingled with curiosity as Girik returned to the orb. He hovered near it, debating his next move.
"It has to mean something," he murmured. Taking a deep breath, he reached out to touch the orb.
As his fingers brushed the orb, he braced himself for it to just go through it. Instead, his palm met a solid and smooth surface as polished glass.
He could feel a cool sensation on his palm and finger that was resting on the orb even though the leather gloves he was wearing. The unexpected sensation sent a shiver up his spine.
Then, as if in response to the touch, glowing text materialized before him:
[Welcome to the trial area of the Temple of the Forgotten One.]
[Choose one of the four instances to begin your trial.]
[Be warned: failure in any trial will result in your permanent demise.]
[Choose wisely, for the order in which you face these trials may determine your success.]
The messages hung in the air briefly before fading, replaced by four luminous options:
[Maze of Insight]
[Hall of Echoes]
[Arena of Dominion]
[Abyss of Will]
Girik withdrew his palm from the glowing orb while his brow furrowed as he stared at the options, his mind racing. Each name was cryptic, giving no hint of what lay ahead.
He focused on the Maze of Insight, hoping for some hidden explanation to reveal itself.
Nothing happened.
"Figures," Girik muttered bitterly. He tried the same with the other options; Hall of Echoes, Arena of Dominion, and Abyss of Will.
Still, nothing.
An uneasy silence filled the chamber.
The orb floated patiently, its glow unwavering, as though mocking his indecision.
Girik clenched his fists, frustration bubbling in his heart.
After a moment's hesitation, he touched the first option. But instead of more information which he secretly hoped for, a prompt appeared before him indicating to confirm his choice:
[Enter Maze of Insight?]
[Yes]
[No]
"Fuck," Girik cursed loudly, the sound echoing through the empty chamber. Frustration boiled over as he glared at the glowing prompt before him.
What was he supposed to do? Enter an unknown trial blindly, without a shred of information, or stand here indefinitely, hoping for a solution to fall into his lap? He knew the answer, there was no other choice. But that didn't make the decision any easier.
He clenched his fists, his knuckles whitening as anger warred with a gnawing sense of helplessness. "This is bullshit," he muttered under his breath.
Yet, deep down, he knew there was no turning back. Whatever lay ahead, he'd face it, or die trying. Gritting his teeth, he reached out, his finger hovering over the glowing "Yes" for a moment longer than he intended. With a sharp intake of breath, he pressed it.
Instantly, a brilliant flash of blue light enveloped him, its intensity forcing him to squeeze his eyes shut. The light wasn't warm or cold, it was just... overwhelming. He felt his body grow weightless, as though he were being pulled apart and reassembled all at once.
The sensation wasn't painful, but it was deeply unsettling. His stomach churned as the world around him seemed to twist and collapse. Then, as abruptly as it began, it was over.
When Girik dared to open his eyes, he was no longer in the chamber. Instead, he found himself standing in a narrow corridor with walls that shimmered faintly in the dim light, as though they were alive. The air felt heavy, carrying the faint smell of an old attic, damp and stale.
Disoriented, Girik swayed on his feet, placing a hand on the wall to steady himself. His head throbbed slightly, and his vision swam as he tried to regain his bearings.
Then, breaking the silence, came the familiar monotone voice of the system.
[You have entered the Maze of Insight.]
[Find the exit to complete the trial.]
The words hung in the air like a challenge, simple yet ominous.
Girik exhaled sharply and straightened his posture. "Find the exit, huh?" he muttered. "Easier said than done."
The corridor stretched endlessly in both directions, with small, dimly glowing pyres spaced at intervals along the walls. The alternating placement of the pyres cast long, shifting shadows, leaving large sections of the path ahead cloaked in partial darkness.
Clenching his jaw, Girik took a cautious step forward, his footsteps echoing faintly despite his efforts to move stealthily. He wielded his kukri in his right hand and held the dagger tightly in his left.
As he walked, a subtle, unsettling feeling of being watched crept over him. He paused, scanning the area carefully, but there was nothing, no movement, no sound other than the faint crackle of the distant pyres.
The corridor was unremarkable, seemingly carved from cut and polished stone. Ahead of him, the passage split into two identical paths, one veering left and the other right. There was no sign of anything, or anyone, hiding in the shadows.
Despite the absence of an immediate threat, Girik couldn't shake his unease. The warning he'd seen earlier, now etched in his memory that failure in here meant certain death. This forced him to heighten his vigilance even further.
He reached the split and turned left. The new corridor looked just like the one he'd just traversed. After a moment, he turned to inspect the right path, it was identical, down to the placement of the pyres.
Deciding not to overthink it, Girik turned back to the left and began walking.
The path seemed endless, but eventually, he reached another fork. Again, he chose the left path, only to find himself at a dead end.
"Damn it," he hissed, turning to head back. But as he spun around, his expression shifted to one of utter confusion and bewilderment.
***********
Author's Note:
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