The test (1)

He saw a tavern on his way back to the city, he was slightly upset that another quest turned out fruitless and decided to walk in. The tavern wasn't constructed of wooden walls, instead the dirt went aloft in a circe and had been hardened, the roof seemed to be made out of pine cones.

There was dirty small windows on the dirt walls, they had been tainted and didn't show a great view of the inside. There was a sign illuminated by the lanterns hanging off the wall, Noah couldn't read, but the picture showed a wildly curved dagger, it looked like his own except more twisted. When he was a few meters away from the tavern he heard chattering inside, there was a calm tempo.

The bell attached to the door rang when he entered, for a sudden moment he was everyone's focus, but they quickly forgot about him and returned to chatting. The bartender had a rough face, nowadays, Noah would be suspicious if anyone didn't have a rough face. It was a bit hypocritical since he didn't have one, his was untouched like that of a baby.

The look on the inside was completely different from the outside, almost everything was made out of wood. It was brightly lit, it felt warm and cozy; there was a comfortable aura inside. He walked up to the bartender and ordered a light beverage.

They got into a conversation, the bartender asked simple questions and Noah answered. The questions hovered around his past day, by the end the bartender remarked "Oh, so you're an adventurer?", Noah confirmed his suspicious and everyone in the bar heard him.

Beside Noah, a man sat alone with multiple glasses in front of him, "listen to me kid". You're not an adventurer", "Of course I'm an adventurer". A scornful laugh, he turned to look at Noah, "You are weak, nothing else". Noah didn't know why he felt such rage at that moment, he reached for his daggers, but before he could grab them, a dagger was already pointed at his neck.

He slowly lowered his hands, signalling that he'd given up. The second the mans daggers went back into its sheath, Noah punched him with everything he had. He froze in the middle of it, the dagger once again pointed at his neck. "Pathetic. Do not call yourself an adventurer again".

"But I am an adventurer, I have gone on countless quests. I even have a dagger", he took his dagger out swung it around. I've risked my life continuously. Everyone thinks of me as an adventurer, and I've been in the adventure hall for as long as ever.

'The adventure god face palms'

"I thought you were on my side, the fuck" Noah thought.

"There are four things that make an adventurer, the four traits Theó called them. Firstly strength, if you aren't strong, boy. Then you are weak and nothing else. Luck is the second one, an adventurer without luck is like a fish in a puddle. The third one is a strong gut, because that is the most useful tool an adventurer has. Fourth, a lot of courage, the ability to face danger even though you are scared, quite poetic might I say. And maybe most importantly, A TRUE ADVENTURER HAS THEÓS SIGN TATTOOED ON HIS BACK, because"

A deep breath in. "Once an adventurer", the entire bar cheered "always an adventurer".

He turned back to his drink, not wanting to look at Noah anymore. Noah felt ridiculed and muttured, "If I had the money to tattoo myself, I would off a long time ago", "Oh really?" the man said. Swiftly he stood up and walked towards the exit, "follow me, boy". Noah had no choice but to abandon his drink and run after him, he had asked for this after all.

Everyone inside the tavern collectively looked at eachother, it had become a tradition by now. Jackson would take a boy to the hole, for him to never return again, integrity he called it. But it was actually bloody murder! However, beer and relaxing was better than starting a pointless fight with an old man.

Outside Jackson had already mounted a horse, "jump on". Noah climbed on top of the horse. It was a white horse wearing leather armour, there was black runes scattered all over the horse. "hold on", the man said before he whipped the horse.

The air slapped his face. The horse had galloped faster than anything Noah had ever experienced before. To stop himself from falling off he grabbed Jackson, he seemed to be stable on the horse. "Where are we going?", Noah asked, "To get you a tattoo of course", Jackson lied through his teeth.

Something felt slightly wrong with this, the horse was travelling quickly towards the forest. "Am I going to be killed, ridiculous, if he'd wanted to kill me I'd be dead". He sat silently and waited, the feeling of your life being in someone's hands was discomforting, a feeling he'd gotten too much lately.

The man effortlessly jumped off his horse, Noah had to climb down. "Follow me", the man said as he marched deeper into the forest. Noah saw a cottage in the distance, his gut had been relieved of the tension.

Suddenly the man stopped, maybe ten meters away from the cottage. We have reached or goal, Noah was confused. The man walked to Noah's left and pushed him powerfully. Noah flew back and thought he would hit the floor, but he didn't.

But there was no floor, he flew down and into a deep dark cave, the wind whistled. "Backtrack", he appeared in front of the man once again. "Shouldn't of wasted it, boy", the man pushed him back into the hole.

'The adventure god laughs'

"..."

Noahs back hit the dirt floor, it felt liked his heart dropped to his back and bounced back. After the initial nausea, he looked around. The room in front of him filled with strange monuments and chiseled stone. The was a large stone door at the front, in the middle an open hand had been carved in.

Noah cursed himself for being gullible enough to trust the man, he knew where he had found himself. A dungeon.