First Trial

A tiny twinkle of light appeared in the distance. Gradually it grew bigger as though it was being summoned by its maker to embrace its purpose.

The light grew brighter and brighter but still Alex kept his composure not affected by the glare or anything else for that matter. In the distance, a pair of blue eyes appeared beside a pair of green eyes watching as the Temple of Origins was summoned and the trial began.Five massive gates could be seen clearly in five different directions within the temple that seemed to be made of condensed stars. The five gates stood at equal distances in a strange formation as Alex stood in the middle of the temple observing each of the legendary gates closely."Is it necessary to seal his memories away during the trial?" A meek feminine voice asked."Yes, the trials are measures for the unadulterated soul, not just based on personality because even the challenger's current personality may not be the final form of the soul. Memories, relationships, enemies, goals and ambitions may change the result of the test making it void and inaccurate," Felix replied."Which test do you think he will choose as his first?" The voice inquired."That doesn't matter, cause should he fail any of the tests it would disprove the prophecy and then we would all be doomed," Felix said solemnly as silence descended once again into infinite space.Alex calmly watched the gateways. Each had a massive scope of influence as though competing with the others for a prominent position. All five of them glowed softly as though white flames danced within them. A voice appeared in his mind carrying authority that could not be denied"Approach any doorway to begin the trial."Alex calmly did so and walked directly into the door directly before him. As he stepped into the formation, that gateway seemed to dominate the others and its aura was released washing over the temple sending tremors down Alex's spine and even out towards the two spectators who seemed to further diminish their aura in the presence of the gateway. Alex was subsequently washed by the gateway and stood still before it, his soul flowing into the trial realm."So it's the Gate of Determination." Felix said and thought- 'At least that trial has been passed before.'"The trial of determination is usually brutal on the soul. Can he make it?" The voice asked doubtfully."No matter how poor the soul of a keeper is, the odds of them failing this trial is 1 in 100,000. Those are even among a population with the weakest genes, much less a prime grand descendant of the first keeper. He'll be fine only if he doesn't try to ace the trial though." Felix said with a hint of worry flashing in his eyes."Ace it how?""Well, this trial has two phases. One is the baseline, a basic test of determination. And the second is a challenge, to know the soul's true limits. In the second phase from what I've observed, the soul's memories are unsealed and refabricated to test the soul further. Some trial takers are irreparably damaged. Having disordered memories after failing phase 2 is considered a light punishment. Most are stuck in an unending dream their souls lost to the trial realm." he explained as he watched the human figure standing before the imposing gateway.******************************************************************************'WOOSH' 'CRASH' Alex opened his eyes surprised to find himself underwater floating upwards. He noticed he was in the ocean in the middle of nowhere, but he knew clearly that he had to reach the safety of the land, and he could not continue floating aimlessly. He needed to get on land. Looking ahead in all directions he saw a silhouette in the distance."Land!" he thought and then began the long and arduous swim towards the shore. To his benefit, he seemed unable to drown as he swam towards the shore shore. Luckily as well the sea was calm and even somewhat relaxing to swim in. He had made considerable progress and the shore seemed even closer after hours of restless swimming in the calm sea.But as he grew closer the sea grew rougher and storm clouds gathered in the nearby sky. However, Alex forged ahead regardless aiming to get to land as soon as possible. But he was making less and less progress when the sea began to storm. Massive waves crashed down on him further delaying his progress by sending him miles and miles off, as though telling him he was not permitted to leave the sea.However, these were of no consequence as no matter how many times the waves sent him back or the lightning flashed in rage at his defiance he pressed on returning to swimming towards his target without hesitation over and over again with a frightening single-mindedness.Alex battled for what seemed like days or weeks and despite the storms and the tempests the shore drew closer and closer. Despite the hurdles with his single goal in mind, Alex finally set his feet on the shore. Panting and gasping for air, he crashed onto the sandy beach to recover his strength and the storm clouds let the sun shine through drying him off. However, the temperature became too hot too fast and all his strength seemed to be sucked away by the sand underneath him. Shocked he opened his eyes and to his dismay he was now in a sand-filled desert dunes of red sand pilling up high like mini mountains with heat waves streaming down from the peaks as though they were clouds of fog descending the mountains. Walking up towards the highest dune around and looking around Alex to his dismay could not see anything else on the horizon save for the unending stretch of dunes, with heat bending the light around the surface and casting a myriad of mirages everywhere. The whole scene seemed utterly hopeless.The sun was mercilessly beating down on the air and the sand, heating them to alarmingly high temperatures. Alex scooped up some of the sand in his hand but it felt like undying flame embers. Even as the sand streamed down not a lick of wind was blowing in any direction. With no landmarks no wind and unending dunes of sand in all directions, there was no lead on how to escape this desert.Stumped Alex walked into the shadow of a nearby dune and sat for hours observing the desert around him and thinking. What was going through his mind? No one knew. Not even the smallest desert mice could be seen. Hours passed and the sun had crossed towards him so he needed to move away."Sigh," he said as he ascended the dune once again. Looking into the bright blue sky above him. In the distance, he caught sight of a tiny figure in the air, flying in the direction of what would be its home.Alex on sighting this figure had his vigour reignited and began following in the same direction He could not be bothered by the sun or the heat as he controlled his moisture loss by covering his mouth with the neck of his t-shirt he pursed the bird tenaciously, hours went by and night fell but with the aid of the rising moon the chase didn't end the stars filled the night sky like fans within a stadium observing their favourite athlete as Alex continued to walk with completely inhuman resilience and tenacity no matter how the stumbled him and hindered his movements Alex pressed on even as the sun returned as merciless as ever.In the heat of the evening sun, a hazy figure appeared in the distance as though it was a mirage. Alex could not trust what his eyes said.Just as the sun was disappearing over the horizon a cluster of trees came into view.An oasis.With all his energy he marched to the oasis in excitement."There may be fresh water here," Alex said to himself the notion of a shade seemed to unlock greater vigour within him.Finally, just as daylight vanished and darkness descended Alex escaped from the burning sand and entered the strange oasis. The moon rose to bring its light as he saw many trees scattered around a small lake, with a total area of not more than a square kilometre. It was indeed a small oasis not capable of supporting a full ecosystem with only an abundance of desert mice that fed off the juicy peach-like fruits from the trees.Using his limbs adeptly Alex climbed the trees which were a unique species of palms. He retrieved the fruits and examined them breaking out the flesh and feeding them to a group of desert mice. Noticing no adverse effects he began to consume these fruits voraciously.As he did so he felt his skin tighten and his strength rise. He could feel his body growing stronger. It seemed as though an electric current was passing through him. The tightening did not subside and grew agonizing. However, Alex did not seem to mind the pain as he relentlessly gouged down the fruits in a beastial manner. Feeling the growth of his strength intoxicated him as the fruits were all he could think of. No matter the pain he simply pushed them aside and continued to consume the fruits until the feeling of increasing strength began to fade until it vanished altogether as though it had never existed.However, the pain of his skin tightening was like his skin wanted to compress his whole body into a single point. The tightening spread along to his muscles and into his internal organs the pain unbearable to the normal man, but Alex did not stop eating more fruits as long as the pain continued. Even in the pain, until he could not move even the least muscle from his lungs to his eyelid. It was so painful as though each individual muscle was threatening to snap in two is heart rate had shot through the roof.Frozen in this agonizing state for hours under the direct shine of moonlight. After a long while the pain began to subside and even though he ate more of the fruits, the pain did not increase. As the moon began to give way to the sun and in the darkness just before dawn he regained motion in his body.Alex stretched and took a deep breath feeling the changes in his body. He ran several laps around the oasis at an unrealistic speed of 60km/h."Haha, this is wonderful." Alex laughed aloud as the sun peeked out from above the dunes and shining towards the north at the very end of the horizon was what seemed to be a mountain peak.Staring at it for a while, he turned to look at the oasis noticing its bare nature. He knew what he had to do. Confidently he marched towards the peak in the distance.Hours passed but the peak never seemed to draw any closer. The midday sun hammered down with all its might. However, Alex seemed to be fixated on the peak in the distance not sweating at all as though all the pores in his skin had been sealed walking steadily towards the peak.Suddenly a hint of wind appeared in the hitherto still desert, not as much cooling as it felt like the air escaping a preheated oven.The wind began to pick up rapidly, as a massive sandstorm appeared.