The True Trial

Kurai let out a yell as he started falling but a hand found his and abruptly slowed his descent. He looked up to find Hozumi using her wings, but it wasn't enough to hold up both of them and it was clear that she was going to hurt herself if they didn't figure out something soon.

Suddenly there was a tug on his leg and he looked down into the darkness, but what he saw made him shudder as he realized that the shadows seemed to be moving and one of them was clutching his leg.

Before he could warn Hozumi about it, several other shadows grabbed him and yanked him down, making him release Hozumi's hand so that she wouldn't be dragged down with him.

Everything went black, and for a moment, he thought he'd died, but then a small glowing yellow orb appeared out of nowhere and floated toward him before he was gently set down on his feet.

The room around him became lighter and Kurai noticed that it was a large empty chamber before his attention returned to the orb.

He didn't hesitate to hold up his hands and the light landed within them, pulsing warmly before it abruptly stung him.

He quickly pulled his hands back to survey the damage but could find no blood so he looked up to glare at the orb instead, only to find that it was now glowing red.

The orb gave two more pulses before it floated toward the ground and sunk into it causing Kurai's eyes to go wide as ripples formed on the floor and buildings and trees came out of the floor all around him.

It looked like a small town, but the buildings were well-made as if the people took great care of them. In the center, there was a building that was larger than the rest and Kurai's eyes widened in recognition as a small boy came running out.

'That's…me. How the hell does the game know how I looked like when I was small?

Following the smaller version of himself, two more people stepped out of the building and Kurai took a step back in shock.

'Mom…Dad…is the game reading my mind or trying to mess with my memories?'

The thought persisted for a moment, but then he realized that the game could have taken the memories of the people from his mind, but it didn't understand their personalities.

His real parents were always too busy, given that they had to work hard to try and make ends meet, so they never really had time to do anything together, but the scene before him showed the life he could have had if they had lived in a different era altogether.

It was almost too much, so he turned away from it and finally noticed a wall standing by itself.

At first, it was simply a wall, but when he walked closer, letters started forming on it, yet it was a language that he didn't understand.

At least…not at first.

The more he stared though, the more the letters shifted and Kurai felt a shiver run down his spine as the words fully revealed themselves in a shaky script that looked almost like someone had written it in their own blood.

Despite the creepiness of it, he took a step closer to read it, "Answers are hidden within the abyss. The abyss was given human form. For past mistakes to be rewritten, a new type of entity was born."

It made no sense at all, and yet it caused a heavy feeling to form in his chest.

He walked around the wall and found a strange drawing on the other side, but half of it was worn down by time, and someone had tried to remove most of the names in a hurry.

It took a moment for him to realize that he was looking at the remnants of a family tree, but whose?

Something lightly poked his leg and he looked to the side to find the younger version standing next to him, "What are you looking at, mister? Are you ok?"

Kurai nodded, not knowing what to say at first, but seeing that his younger self was still curious, he pointed to the wall, "I'm trying to discover what this picture was."

The boy turned his head to the side, "Mommy says I'm too young to understand it, but I saw it when they took me to the creepy white place. They took some blood and made me sleep, but I was back home when I woke up. Mommy says I was sick and the doctors made me better."

Strange memories that weren't his own flashed through his mind and Kurai resisted the urge to clutch his head as a headache seemed to form.

The boy reached into his pocket and took out a vaguely familiar pendant. It had a strangely luminescent moon at the top with a thin, red rope coming out of the center and a metal plaque engraved with strange words attached to it.

He slowly held it out to Kurai, "You look like you need my lucky pendant more than me. Daddy says that soon I might not get to keep it anymore."

He gently took it, but before he could thank the boy, though, everything seemed to turn to water and collapse into the floor, leaving an empty room once more.

He heard a frantic voice speaking close to his ears, "Kurai! Wake up dammit! What the hell did you do to him?!"

Other faintly familiar voices answered her, but their voices weren't close enough for Kurai to hear what they were saying.

Suddenly the room seemed to fade to black once more and Kurai groaned as he blinked his eyes, only to find a sudden brightness that had him clenching them shut once more.

A gasp sounded out next to him, "Kurai? Hey, it's me, Hozumi. Can you open your eyes? I dimmed the lights."

Kurai didn't dare nod, instead, he groaned, "Why the hell is it always me that ends up waking up in random beds?"

A relieved laugh sounded out next to him and he felt her grab onto his hand, "You do seem to make a habit of it. This is what? I think the third time in the span of the time that I have known you."

He finally managed to open his eyes without experiencing stinging pain and was met with two guilty-looking faces standing behind Hozumi, "You know, maybe throwing someone into a room that eats people isn't such a good idea."

Taya's eyes widened, "I-we-it usually doesn't do that!"

Kurai raised an eyebrow in disbelief, causing Reese to explain, "That chamber is known as the Heart-weighing chamber. It's almost as old as the building itself, but it's never done that before. Usually, it only checks to see if the person we are accepting into the guild has any ill will towards it. We've all gone through it."

The guilt on their faces didn't lessen even after the explanation and Kurai sighed, "I guess then we need to figure out what made the room decide that I was delicious enough to eat."

His sarcasm was met with a chuckle as a tall man stepped into the room. He was built like a true warrior with tanned skin littered with scars, but the wide grin on his face paired with the short brown hair and green eyes made him look like one of those people that you could easily get along with.

A broadsword was strapped to his back and given the state of his clothes, Kurai would assume that the man had been in the middle of training.

Taya and Reese immediately bowed their heads in greeting, "Guildmaster Zane…"

They didn't get further as the man's grin grew wider, causing them to fall silent in confusion, "Don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong. The room acted exactly as it was intended, didn't it, Kurai Tachi?"

Kurai frowned at the mention of his family name, "I thought family names aren't important here."

The man laughed, "They aren't…unless you are directly connected to the founders of Abbysal Apocalypse. I heard rumors of the last heir finally making a move, but I never imagined that you would immediately find your way here. It's more than what I could say for many of the heirs that had come before you."

'What the hell is this guy talking about?'

Zane didn't seem to notice that Kurai hadn't answered him, as he easily continued, "You received something while you were in there, did you not?"

Kurai looked at him in confusion.

'The only thing I received was the pendant, but that had been a dream. Wait a minute!'

He hadn't even noticed that he had been clutching something in his hand the entire time, and when he opened it, he saw the same pendant laying there.

He looked up at the man, "How?"

Zane shrugged, "Only the founders would know, Lee and Rin did send me messages of your existence of course, but-"

His words were cut off as rapid footsteps were heard and a man bowed rapidly as he entered the room and handed a letter to the Guildmaster, whose expression became grim as he read through it before placing it down, "As if the monster attacks weren't bad enough already…"

Zane looked at Kurai, "You aren't ready for this, but we have no other choice. Seradeihn's guilds have been summoned for war and to decline would be seen as an act of treason."

Kurai felt his heartbeat increase as he turned to Hozumi.

'Surely this is just another test, right?'

But her expression was just as grim, "As you may know, the world above, the one that we live in, is called Seradeihn, but there is another world corrected to this one, called Demorotha, which can only be accessed through certain cave systems deep in the mountains."

Taya and Reese shuddered in unison, but Hozumi's troubled eyes were glued to the floor as she spoke, "There has been a strenuous truce between our worlds for the last 60 years, mostly due to their king, but I've heard reports that the king had passed away and if this is true, then one of his ambitious sons now hold the reins and it seems what we dreaded is now happening."

Zane nodded, "They are amassing an army."

Kurai looked between the two with wide eyes, "Why would they do that?"

It was Zane that answered his question, "Because Demorotha had been a barren world to which the criminals of Seradeihn were sent to die. No one truly explored the world so it was only later discovered that, although Demorotha looked barren, it was only because it was different and there were enough water and food sources to help them survive."

Hozumi seemed worried as she took over, "Naturally, they built their own society, and wars between the worlds had been on and off for many years until their newly crowned king ordered the fighting to cease. Both sides experienced many losses so it was accepted and trading towns were even built along the border. But it seems that time of peace is now gone."

Zane looked at the messenger, "Send out the message for everyone to return. It is time to deal with old grudges and to squash them. Permanently."

'What trouble did I land myself in this time?!'