"The blood moon has risen."
—Their faces already gasped out of air now went pale.—
"painting the fifteen towers crimson",
—I felt like they knew right away what these words meant, but never expected to hear them here.—
"a prophecy of destruction for the day to come."
—No one dared to even make a sound—
"Water may stay before you,"
—With every word I muttered, I felt as if years of their lives vanished—
"but will XHEZS allow the blood to spill?"
"…"
The silence stretched so long I started wondering if someone had accidentally hit the pause button on reality. Then—
"SEIZE HER!" The center judge's voice cracked like thunder, making me jump so high I probably qualified for the Olympic high jump team.
Guards rushed toward the woman I'd been staring at, who suddenly didn't look so fragile anymore. Her face transformed from scared to scary in about 0.2 seconds flat.
"YOU FOOL!" she shrieked, but I couldn't tell if she was addressing me or the universe in general. "HOW DID YOU—" Her words cut off as shadows began swirling around her like angry bees. The temperature in the room dropped faster than my dignity during that soul test.
'Oh crud,' I thought. 'Maybe I shouldn't have picked the scary shadow lady as my staring contest opponent.'
But before she could unleash whatever nightmare fuel she was cooking up, three judges simultaneously cast some kind of binding spell. Golden chains of light wrapped around her like a very aggressive Christmas present.
"The Blood Prince!" someone gasped. "She's been right here all along!"
'Blood Prince? But she's clearly a woman... Oh wait, titles probably work differently here. Still better than being called Just Luke, I suppose.'
The center judge turned to me, his expression a mixture of shock and... was that respect? Probably not. More likely indigestion.
"Young man," he said gravely, "you have helped us capture one of our most wanted criminals. The Blood Prince has been infiltrating our ranks for years, waiting for the perfect moment to strike."
"Ah yes, It's nothing" I cheered him up cause he looked like he was about to cry. 'Thank you, Siri, you beautiful phone-named genius.'
"All charges against you are dropped," another judge announced. "In fact, we would like to offer you a position—"
"I would like to very politely decline that offer" "…" They were noticeably shocked and so I explained to them.
"This is the land of the dreamers, where you can become anyone and everyone. I came here not to pick up a good job and live with high status, but to live my life as myself in the circumstances which I create."—'This meaning that I would never acknowledge such a useless boring position as my job prospect, what I need is a bum-like life with siri… no more, no less.'—"So now do you understand why I couldn't possibly take you up on that offer"
He looked at me with such respect and utmost sincirety, "To think that such smart young figures still exist." I smiled back at him. 'Hmmm is this perhaps leading to a bonus reward? I wouldn't mind using this fart's cash.' [So shameless…]
Then he exclaimed—"In contrast to yesterday, when a rude young man interrupted my peaceful toilet session. Come to think of it, your voice sounds…"
"Actually!" I interrupted him because I didn't like where this line of thought was heading. "I think I'd prefer to just... you know... go? Maybe get some ice cream? It's been a long day of accidental heroics."
The center judge actually chuckled. "Very well. But know that you have earned the council's gratitude, know that we shall return the favour by being to your assistence whenever is needed."
'Isn't this like the BEST reward that they could've given to me?'
As I was escorted out, much more politely this time, I heard Siri's voice in my head: "Not bad for a guy who can barely tie his shoes."
'I'm never going to live that down, am I?'
"Nope!" She said and then it sounded as if she slapped Yore again.
*****
The guards led me through the grand halls with such respect and dignity that I almost felt like royalty. Almost—if you ignored the fact that I tripped twice on my own feet and accidentally called one of them "mom" when they caught me.
[Group 170010, please proceed to the first stage of trials. Repeat: Group 170010...]
Looking around, I found myself among 999 other participants, all gathered before what appeared to be the first trial stage. The hologram announcement continued floating above us, spewing information like a gossipy neighbor who'd had too much coffee.
[Current group: 170010. Total participants: 1000. Average survival rate...]
'Maybe I should've paid attention to that last part,' I thought, but was too distracted by the excited chatter around me.
"Did you see her? The announcer?"
"That's the champion from group 170009!"
"She's gorgeous!"
"I heard she cleared all trials in record time!"
The buzz of conversation washed over me like a wave, but one particular snippet caught my attention.
"Hey, isn't that the guy they're talking about? The one with multiple base souls?"
"He's so hot"
"No way, where?"
"There! The one who looks like he's trying not to fall over while standing still."
I couldn't help but grin. 'Finally, some well-deserved recognition!' I struck what I hoped was a mysterious pose, though it probably looked more like I was having a mild seizure.
The whispers grew louder, and I basked in my newfound notoriety. 'Look at me now, old toilet guy! Who's the pretentious one now?'
"Luke." a voice in my head cut through my internal gloating. "Someone's watching you."
The hair on the back of my neck stood up, and I felt an intense gaze boring into my back. Trying to be subtle (and probably failing spectacularly), I glanced behind me.
There, partially hidden in the crowd, stood a figure in a brown-grayish cloak, their face obscured by a hood. Something about their presence made my stomach do backflips—and not the good kind.
[ADVANCE!]
The hologram's command boomed through the chamber, making me jump about three feet in the air. The first trial was about to begin, and I had a feeling my newfound admirer wasn't here just to get an autograph.
The pale 40-metre wall —which I was wondering why we were standing in front of, slowly turned into a blueish-purple portal. Before I new it I saw what seemed to be massive gusts of wind flowing beside me into the portal. 'That was close.'
As time passed more people dissapeared into the strange portal. 'From what it looks like, this is some sort of a race, nevertheless if all are so quick-witted then perhaps I should also advance.'
I took a step forward or that's at least what I intended to do, but my legs wouldn't move.
"Wait! What's happening to me?" I was so confident in myself I couldn't see the obvious… That I was always left behind. With me only the weakest ones were left standing and struggling to move. A fat kid, a girl with a prosthetic leg, and a couple of the oldest souls on this planet—Quite literally, the oldest… they looked as if they had a couple favors owed from jesus or something.
'Fuck! Move.' My timbers shivered.
'What if someone sees me with those scrawny-ah skeletons, or starts comparing me to a fucking cripple' I looked at the nice girl with the prosthetic leg as she turned into a gust of wind and fled to the portal. Welp. 'Does that make me a wimp?'
"Use the your ind" This aroma, this taste and angelic voice. "Siri my saint!"
"…" 'Oh… she is flustered, I like that attitude'
"I new you'd help me but I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."
"I'm Yore you bum"
"Yore? whose that?"
"THE FIRST soul you met in your life, and the only one who was there with you from the beginning!"
"Ohhh what was it… right! Nutjob!"
"…"
"How can I use what I don't know though?"
"I know that you don't, but with your talent and my undisputedly superior teaching, it wont be hard to learn it. While these people trained for months, I will teach you everything you need in a blink of an eye, thank me later."
"I send the highiest regards to my lord and savior" I answered relatively politely
"So do you remember when we first met, that weird place?"
"Yeah."—'I'm still sad it's not Siri'
"Imagine yourself back there, how nothing else existed instead of us and the scale, then remove the scale and solely focus on your own body. That is the general use of Ind"
"Doesn't seem that hard, so if I do that then will I have mastered Ind?"
"Most defiinitely NOT!"
"…"
"You confident-stupid-gremlin-douche, people spend whole eternities trying to master Lit…"
'Lit?'—
"…Not to mention Ind! How would such an imbecile master the art of gods?!"
'Again… right where it hurts the most.'
"Okay, okay I get it, so just shut up already and let me concentrate!" I shouted so loud that the dinosaurs next to me begun whispering.
"Is that young man all right?" "Something must've hit him in the head" "It's better not to assosiate thyself with such people." The old ones whispered amongst each other.
'The place I was when we first met, the place I was where we first met, the place…'
Badump badump…
'It's dark, It's… comfortable' I looked around me, there was nothing but the darkness, no form or shape, not even… my body. But something indeed was there, Because I know that I was there, how could there be nothing if I was there?
'It's so comfortable, I wish I could stay here. Why wouldn't I stay here, hence what was I doing just now? Where is now? Who was I again?'
{"LU##!"}—"What is that?"—{"Th#s i# ba#, ##ke up##ow!"}—"This sound is… annoying actually, where the FUCK am I?"
"Holy fucking shit is this place real? This was so trippy holy fuck." —'A black void, something like that.'
"LUKE!"
'Right! I have to go beat the first stage. Or else this annoying nutjob won't ever shut his face up.'
'I can see my body, now I just have to get out of here.'
I closed my senses and the darkness became lighter, my body parts one by one dissapeared in the smoke and turned into wind itself. I felt lighter, faster and with every step I took I could feel the air flow under me. My head held high, my arms spread wide and my legs preparing to land. My senses got back to me and with that came colors and sounds of wild animals. I stood there on a mossy ground with bare feet, in the middle of what seemed to be a deep, dense jungle. The first stage was here.