Chapter 2: The Forest
Bon looked around, at the grand pavilion he had arrived in separate from the newbies. It was a grand hall, filled with a ring of high seats, each containing an individual. A cold voice rang out from behind him. "So, anyone promising so far, imp?"
Bon forced a grin as he responded to the speaker, a massive middle aged woman with dirt brown skin and a singular emerald eye that looked at him with an impatient gaze. The woman, a cyclops, loosely held on to a monstrosity of a hammer, with a 7 foot long handle, and a head that was bigger than Bon himself.
"Of course, Mistress Brunhild, I have noticed a few outstanding physical specimens, but nothing that could be considered unique. I have confidence that I will soon have a better chance to see with the next few trials."
Brunhild snorted at this, but said no more as a strange floating creature asked Bon a question. It was a Beholder, similar to a floating ball, with a single massive eye, and many eye stalks sprouting from its head. It spoke in a garbly language, before clearing its throat, addressing Bon in the common tongue.
"Mister Bon, since you are one of the administrators, surely you know how to deal with that heathen in the Deep Nor-". The Beholder was interrupted by a tall man who stood against a pillar of the hall, in the very back.
"Come now, Xerxes, no need to bring such ugly issues here to poor Mr. Bon. He's already burdened enough giving us the inside scoop on new arrivals all these years. That issue will have no impact on the Trials this year, that I swear on my order."
Dressed in black robes, the man's pale skin and yellow eyes contrasted interestly. His black hair was messy, exploding in every which way. He tapped a crooked finger on a medallion hanging around his next, depicting a blood red waning moon on a black background.
"Back to the topic of the new arrivals, what is planned this year for the final event? I'm curious as to how many will be left at the end. We don't want a repeat of last year's fiasco with the infernal, do we?"
Everyone's complexion darkened, seemingly recalling a particularly displeasing memory. As the man laughed to himself, Bon fell silent. Feeling the pressure of everyone's gazes, he finally spoke.
"From what I've heard from other administrators, this year will be a visit to the pit." The hall fell silent, not even a whisper escaping the lips of the many people in attendance. After a short spell of silence, a weak laugh broke the silence.
A gargantuan man with two pairs of heavily muscled arms chuckled. "Bon, I didn't think you one to tell jokes, but what you said must be one, right? Right?" Bon remained silently, calmly looking at the man.
The man's eyes widened, and his 4 hands tightened on the armrests of his chair. Similar reactions rippled through the occupants of the room, each shocked by the confirmation Bon's silence presented them.
"The pit seems a bit over the top to test them though, don't you think?" The black robed man seemed to recover from his shock first, turning his piercing gaze to Bon. His body tensed, but his eyes held a laughing light as he regarded the imp with an inquiring glance.
The rest of the group didn't seem to share his calm attitude as they all displayed various reactions of outrage, horror, and dread. Amongst the gasps, yelling, and worried murmuring, Bon remained steadfast, calmly waiting for the room to achieve a semblance of calm.
"I understand your concerns, but be assured that I will do my utmost to ensure everyone worthy survives. I just hope nothing out of the ordinary happens." The last part of the sentence wasn't missed, as everyone fixed their gazes on Bon intently. Bon tittered at the serious air filling the room, before disappearing in a flash of red smoke.
Silence filled the room, before a bang resounded from the four armed man. "That damned mongrel! How dare he! He's nothing more than a pet of the infernal realm!" His thundering voice filled the hall, as his face twisted in a rictus of rage.
His anger was shared by many, as the hall was filled with displeased occupants. Some remained more calm, as the man in black flashed a rare smile. One man even burst out laughing, to the consternation of the others.
"What in the name of the gods do you find so funny, you old fool!" The four armed man seemed particularly volatile, as he immediately reprimanded the old man who was beside himself with laughter, but it did little good.
The man, dressed in pale gold robes, continued to chuckle to himself as he stood up. He was very tall, standing at a height of at least 8 feet. His white hair was pulled back into a tight top knot, and his piercing gold eyes looked around the room.
"Don't you think this is exactly what we need? Not coddled weaklings, but fresh blood tempered in adversity. No effective weapon was forged in luxury and ease, but in harsh conditions. Especially now, we must get some promising younglings, or we may not be at the top of the food chain for much longer."
Contrary to his previously good humored demeanor, the man's solemn observation seemed to cool even the hottest heads in the room, as they stopped giving him murderous looks. "How do you know that this will produce anyone worthy, though? Who's to say the pit won't kill them all, or produce another walking disaster?"
The black robed man chimed in, ready to stir the pot. However, the man didn't rise to the bait, but another did. The four armed man redirected his remaining anger at the man. "Save your petty machinations for someone else, shade. I know well of your kind and what you bring. No one here is in the mood to exchange words, but if it is a fight you want, I welcome it."
"Oh, I welcome a good battle, Lord Glacias. Please, let us exchange pointers." The black robed man retorted, glad to have gotten under his skin.
Glacias scowled, as a spike of ice formed in his hands, ending in a sharp point, filling the room with a tense air. The black robed man bared his teeth in a predatory grin, as the shadows around the halls began to squirm.
Before anything could happen, a wave of golden energy emanated from the old man, dissipating the energy of both. The air that had grown freezing around Glacias warmed back up, as the shadows died back down from the seething mess they had become.
"Enough, Glacias, Nocht. That is enough for today. This meeting is convened for now. We will meet again before they enter the Pit. Farewell till then." The old man turned into a beam of golden light that shot into the distance, and many soon followed his lead.
The hall emptied out rapidly, until only Nocht and Glacias remained. Their scowls faded, as they shared a conspiratorial look. "That old fool's senses must be waning, I see. A few hundred years ago he would've noticed our hesitation immediately. His mana has weakened considerably as well. Tch!"
Glacias's gloating voice filled the hall, before he disappeared in a cloud of snowflakes, leaving Nocht alone. He glanced up at the robust pillars of the hall, marble monstrosities that seemed to reach for the heavens themselves.
He ran a hand over the rune inscribed stone, his fingers gently running over the smooth, unblemished stone. His hand suddenly closed into a claw-like grip, and a crack emerged in the eternal stone.
"Oh, how the mighty do fall. Soon, the gate will open once again, and the fun will begin." His figure disappeared as a sinister laugh filled the hall. The only thing left was a black hand print embedded in the pale stone.
一一一一一一
Cato floated in nothingness, neither conscious nor unconscious. The utter black seemed to stretch out in every direction, as he floated weightlessly in oblivion. The memories of his first encounter in this new world flashed through his mind on repeat, images of blood and steal and pain.
In this endless repeat of his admittedly short time in Gehenna, he saw his fights over and over, from every possible angle. He saw how clumsily he fought, how lucky he had been to survive. He saw other fights, the barest hint of skill present in some, the burning potential like a star seering his vision in others.
He saw the unbridled terror in the faces of the losers, the sadistic joy in the faces of the winners, and the emptiness in the eyes of all. He felt omniscient in whatever state he was, experiencing the events that had unfolded from every possible point of view.
Gradually, his consciousness melded, as he became a little boy, a weak old woman, a defiant young girl, a cowering middle aged man. Just as it felt like he couldn't take it anymore, everything stopped.
His mind returned back to a blissful emptiness, until a searing purple circle appeared in the oblivion he lay trapped in. It seemed endlessly far, blurry and indistinct. He tried to move towards it, but got nowhere. He was trapped in place, as the purple light grew brighter and brighter until it engulfed his vision entirely.
Cato opened his eyes, finding himself on a marble floor. He blinked rapidly, realizing he was no longer in that horribly empty space anymore. The cool stone quickly brought him to his senses, as he shakily got to his feet.
His foot brushed against cool metal, and he was greeted with the sight of the blood splattered trident at his feet, still slick with blood. The unnervingly warm blood trickled on to his foot, shaking him from his reverie.
Cato grasped the comfortable handle, and slung it over his shoulders, finally looking closer at his surroundings. Compared to the previously open area, he now stood in a tunnel of stone arches, pale yellow and ancient looking.
No one was around him, as it seemed he'd been separated from the other participants. He began to walk down the tunnel, with nothing but a dead end at his back. Torches lined the walls, lit with pale orange fire that licked the ceiling.
Strange characters decorated the walls, accompanied by crude illustrations of humanoids fighting giant monsters, titanic wolves, armored dragons, and other gruesome abominations. The characters resembled no language Cato could remember, although those were admittedly few.
He continued down the never ending tunnel, his sandals slapping against the stone. He nervously fingered the bracelet on his wrist, ill at ease in the echoey, empty tunnel. As if arriving in Gehenna wasn't enough, he now had to walk down an unknown tunnel to God knows where.
Cato felt like perhaps new experiences weren't his thing, as the last had almost gotten him killed, and he dreaded to know what the present one held. As the earthy smell of the tunnel pervaded his nostrils, his eyes caught a glimmer from the bracer.
The previously clear stone now held an amethyst hue, glowing gently in the dim spaces between torches. He poked a finger against the stone, and felt a warm feeling caress his finger. Startled, he quickly withdrew his hand.
The feeling was unlike normal heat, as it seemed to seep into his finger, sending a warm current through his body. It felt right. As he looked at it, the purple seemed to be slowly moving, as if contained by the previously clear stone.
He put pressure on the stone, but it remained firmly secured in the bracer. The bracer seemed to react to his prodding, as it seemingly tightened, biting into the skin of his wrist. He quickly let go, giving the bracer a gloomy look.
'Oh my. I just pouted at a bracelet. I must be losing it.' Cato thought the solitude in the tunnel must be getting to his head, as he began a faster pace, eager to escape this monotonous hell.
After what seemed like hours, the surroundings finally started to change, although if for the better, Cato had no clue. The stone grew more weathered, the carvings more faint, and faint signs of vegetation appeared.
Moss sprouted along the walls, and grass and weeds sprouted out of the cracked stone. Somehow, everything seemed older the farther he walked, as the torches slowly decreased in number.
However, a welcome surprise came, as faint light shone through fastly multiplying cracks in the ceiling and walls. It seemed to be the light of day, although Cato could barely see through them, given the height at which they appeared.
Cato noticed his throat was noticeably dry, and his stomach growled, but he persisted, finally being greeted with an opening out of the tunnel. He stepped out, and almost jumped out of his skin.
Scrambling backwards, he narrowly avoided walking off the edge of the tunnel into empty air. He mustered his courage and peered over the edge, and was greeted with a beautiful, but daunting sight.
A vast rainforest stretched out in front of him, a maze of towering trees, vibrant plants, and scurrying wildlife. He saw a tree that must've stretched hundreds of feet tall, scraping the sky. He saw a roaring waterfall, plunging over the edge into a cluster of menacing looking rocks.
A shadow fell over his head, and he looked up to see a massive bird gliding overhead, its vivid pink feathers holding it aloft. With a fresh breeze in his face, and an awe inspiring sight before him, Cato was finally free from the tunnel.
However, just as that problem was solved, many more arose. First of hell, where the fuck was he?! How was he supposed to get down? Hungry? So many questions flooded through his head, none of which Cato had the answer to.
He looked around, and spotted a curtain of vine spanning down the cliff face the end of the tunnel was situated on. It didn't look very sturdy, more likely to snap, promising certain death, than a safe descent, but beggars couldn't be choosers.
He cut off a thick piece of vine to make a temporary harness for the trident, tightly securing it to his back. The cool metal helped him focus, and he sat on the edge of the tunnel end, feet dangling over thin air.
Cato carefully lowered himself until he was partially hanging off the edge of the stone, and reached out towards the vine. He missed at first, but finally managed to snag a stray vine that had been swept up by the wind.
He gave it a strong tug, and felt a firm resistance. After making sure it would support him, he did a sideways hop, grabbing on for dear life, half expecting to plummet to his death. Thankfully, the vine held strong, and he slowly began to lower himself down the cliff.
As he dangled over the cliff face, the sunlight streaming through the trees, his muscles began to burn. He painstakingly made his way down the cliff, occasionally making little slips here and there, getting his heart racing more than it already was.
The trident kept bumping against his back, but he knew that it would likely prove invaluable in this unknown forest. Every now and again he'd hear rustling in the nearby trees, growls and roars and other terrifying noises. The forest seemed teeming with a wide variety of creatures, plenty of which made Cato want to crawl back up to the dubious safety of the cave.
In one stretch of the wall, he'd noticed many burrowing holes through the vines. He'd ignored it till he felt something crawl up his leg, and saw a 2 foot long bright red centipede crawling up his leg. He nearly lost his hold on the wall, as he instinctively swatted the bug, sending it flying.
However, he had also fallen, as he'd lost hold of the vines. Cato just barely managed to grab an out hanging vine, only to realize what he was gripping was the thick tail of a monstrous snake that peered at him from the deep recesses of the burrow it lay in.
Its baleful yellow eyes caused Cato to freeze, and then it was pouncing forward, fixing its jaws around his shoulder. Unfortunately, its forward momentum sent both of them away from the wall, and Cato was once again in a free fall.
The snake seemed unconcerned, more fixated on tearing Cato's shoulder off, but he kept squirming in its grasp. While this caused more damage to the bite, increasing his blood loss, Cato couldn't help but want to get the hell away from the snake from hell.
Its thick torso began to coil around his waist, squeezing with a fatal strength. Cato could've sworn he'd felt a rib or two crack, but as much as it hurt, he didn't want to become a pancake.
Finally, mercifully, his outstretched hand caught a vine, a real one this time. Unfortunately, his arm was almost wrenched out of its socket with the downward momentum, and he began to swing with a dangerous momentum towards the cliff.
The snake was still fang deep into his shoulder, but Cato began to angle his body, and the slippery bastard cushioned his impact against the cliff face. He felt another crack in his shoulder, but the snake ceased biting as the back of its head was smashed against the rock. Served the fucker right.
The snake was now limp, but its fangs were still sunk deep into Cato's left shoulder, and he had no free hands to free himself from it. The one good thing from this hellish experience was that he had almost arrived at the bottom of the cliff.
He slowly scaled down the last 100ish feet, before tumbling to the ground with the snake in tow. He let out a sigh of relief, then a groan of pain, finished off with a grumble of his stomach. What a fantastic day this had been.
Cato struggled to his feet, finally wrenching the snake off his shoulder. With a crack, the snake fell off, but its 2 fangs remained in his shoulder. He was about to remove them, but the shoulder was already heavily bleeding, and removing them would increase the flow.
Thankfully, it didn't seem to be a venomous snake, as his shoulder felt fine aside from the almost unbearable pain from the bite. He looked around, examining his surroundings for any more snake sneak attacks, but saw no other animals in the immediate vicinity.
As he was distracted, the pesky centipede that started the whole incident crawled over Cato's sandal. In a fit of rage, Cato stomped the thing to a paste, a small recompense for his shoulder. For good measure, he kicked the snake's corpse, but this only resulted in him hopping around, clutching his foot in pain.
With one more glare at the snake, he began to walk, as he'd found himself in a sea of yellow flowers taller than him. He wove through the stalks, headed toward the gentle incline ahead that led up a hill, hopefully to a higher vantage point where he could scout his surroundings better.
His sandals seemed particularly ill suited for the environment, as the dirt he inevitably kicked up kept getting between his toes. Finally, Cato gave up trying to get it out and trekked forward. His stomach still grumbled, bringing finding food to the top of his list of things to do, right above finding shelter.
He spotted a few juicy bugs sticking to the flowers, but he hadn't fallen that low yet. The sun had begun to dim as it slipped behind the horizon, and the flowers began to close in the absence of light.
As night gradually fell, the forest lit up. The flowers beside him, although closed, glowed through the stems, providing a golden glow that filled the field. After the highly stressful day, the calming scenery helped Cato relax a bit, although he was still on the lookout for centipedes.
Before he knew it, Cato's eyes grew heavy. He tried to stay awake but stumbled forward, landing face first in the dirt. Amazingly enough, this seemed to enhance the drowsiness he felt, as his eyelids grew heavier and heavier, slowly closing. Finally, he fell asleep, his vision darkening.
一一一一一一
From a vantage point in a tree, a woman lay still, covered in a primitive dirt camouflage. Her face was grimy, her hair caked with dirt and blood. She crouched on a branch, staring intently at the collapsed young man in the field of flowers.
She was on the fence over helping the man, as she could use all the help she could get. However, she knew well enough the company here could be just as helpful as it could be disastrous. She wordlessly fingered the jagged scar that ran down her neck, ending near her hip.
She saw the flowers open up, and sniff around. One seemed to lock on to the man, as it opened wide, revealing a ring of serrated teeth usually obscured during the day by its petals. It widened and began to slowly approach the man.
She finally gave in, hopping down quickly from her perch and racing towards him. Small pink circles of energy appeared before her, which she ran over, vastly accelerating. She reached the man in a flash and scooped him up, just as one of the predatory flowers pounced.
She loaded the man onto her shoulder as if he were weightless, before tearing off into the woods, accompanied by occasional flashes of pink. After a short while, she ended up at the bottom of a massive tree.
It easily towered over the rest, even the one Cato had spotted earlier. The trunk was so thick that the woman couldn't see the other end in her line of sight. She shot up the tree, rapidly climbing up along a series of engraved footholds that traced a spiraling path up the titanic tree.
She eventually reached a hollow, and entered. It opened up to a massive space, filled with many different gadgets and bundles of resources, obtained from animals and plants in the forest.
She unceremoniously dumped Cato onto a small makeshift bed, and waited for her new companion to wake up.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone