Chapter 3 – Fail to Prepare, Prepare to Fail

Terror washes over Rain at the quantification of his remaining lifespan. 

'That soon...seriously!?'

His mind immediately goes into overdrive, frantically scrambling to steel himself for his quickly approaching personal hell. 

'For fucks' sake, of course I don't have any time to prepare! Okay, I need to calm down...what do I know, and what do I still need to know...?'

All Rain knows about the Trial is what he's heard through casual explanations from the caretakers at the orphanage. For a while, one of them had a Marked boyfriend who she liked to brag about. During the Trial, Rain's body will go into a kind of hibernation mode while his mind or spirit or whatever is moved to the Labyrinth. While he's there, time will move differently – a month in the Labyrinth is only about a day in the real world. 

Upon arrival, he'll be greeted by a disembodied voice called the Echo and tasked with finding...something...in the maze. The Labyrinth is mind-bogglingly massive and complex, and changes its layout from person-to-person. It's also filled with all kinds of lethal booby traps, and populated with Fel. All he has to do to pass his Trial is make it where the Echo tells him to alive. 

Of course, that's easier said than done. There's probably no way to entirely avoid fighting Fel in the Labyrinth, and while the Marking restored him to perfect health, he's still very much a normal human. Plus, whatever astral body he's inhabiting in the Labyrinth will take damage and heal slowly like his current one, and if he dies in it...he's dead for real.

The one saving grace is that the Echo is supposed to grant him his first Relic at the beginning of his Trial. Relics are powerful, physics-defying objects that can only be used by a Marked, and they are much more effective against the Fel than human tools. They might be a weapon, armor, or some other mystical tool. They're also intrinsically bound to the Marked in question, who can summon them from nothing and dismiss them into nothing at will. Used properly, they at least provide one with a fighting chance in the Labyrinth. 

Still, that leaves a number of other things he should be worried about. Food, water, shelter, sufficiently warm clothing...he has no idea what the environment will be like there, what he'll have access to, and what he'll need to bring to compensate for it. 

'Wait...is it even possible for me to bring anything with me?'

Rain turns his eyes apprehensively towards the one-way glass, and realizes he never responded to Aron's harrowing timeline of doom. He clears his throat nervously. 

"Uhm, Ar-....Chosen Aron...do you guys have any food or water to spare that I can take into the Trial with me? From what little I've heard about the Labyrinth, I might be there for days, weeks, or even months." 

There's a long silence after Rain poses his question, then the speaker crackles and the end of a string of quiet swear words can be heard from Aron. 

"About that, Rain...I'm sorry, but that won't be possible. It didn't occur to me that someone with your...background...might not know. It's only your soul that's going to the Labyrinth, so you can't take anything with you. In fact, the clothes you're wearing right now will be replaced with something else when you arrive. I think that's all by design – it wouldn't be a very fair Trial if other people could start with advantages. Even Legacies are in the same boat. Relics may be bound to your soul, but new Marked aren't capable of acquiring them from other Marked until they've finished their trial and become Champions." 

Rain involuntarily grits his teeth as the severity of that limitation sets in, then calmly responds to Aron. 

"I didn't know...that's unfortunate for me. What about the environment of the Labyrinth? How do I find food and water, and am I in danger of freezing to death or overheating in it?" 

Aron is quick to respond this time, and there's a trace of empathy in his voice. 

"No, you don't have to worry about the weather. That, at least, will be pleasant. As for water, you'll be in a chamber with a waterfall when you arrive, and that will feed a system of aqueducts that run the length of the Labyrinth. The water is safe to drink, so you shouldn't die of thirst. It's important to remember that the Labyrinth is trying to test you, not kill you. Things may seem utterly inhumane, brutal, and unfair at times, but they're never supposed to be impossible. Not during your Trial anyway..."

Rain widens his eyes in surprise. That's definitely news to him, and nothing short of a monumental relief. Even if the food situation is bad, he can survive a hell of a lot longer without it than water. He's a little anxious about Aron's implication that something after the Trial may be impossible, but he sees little point in worrying about that yet. Plus, there's a question that Aron failed to answer...which makes Rain nervous. 

"That's good to know, but what about food?" 

After a brief pause, Aron responds in a flat, matter-of-fact tone. 

"The Fel of the Labyrinth are your food." 

'Yeah...I thought he was going to say something like that.'

Rain lets out a deep sigh. 

"Figures. So, how do I cook Fel meat? Any seasoning advice?"

This time, Aron's voice is lacking its prior severity. Instead, he responds with a hearty chuckle at first. 

"Fufufufu...how do you cook it? There's no natural heat sources in the Labyrinth for cooking, nor any resources to make a fire with. So, unless you're lucky enough to obtain a Relic that can substitute as a campfire or oven....you'll be eating raw Fel meat, Rain." 

Rain can't keep the disgust and fear out of his voice.

"Raw Fel meat!? Won't that kill me!?" 

Aron's tone as he responds teeters between cheerful and amused. 

"Nope, but the taste will make you wish it could! Seriously, though...until you pass your Trial, you're still human, more or less. However, you'll find that your Mark already makes it almost impossible for you to get sick or infected; you're even immune to most mundane poisons. Without that much help, nobody would survive the Labyrinth, and it wouldn't be a very useful Trial. However, you still take damage, bleed, and heal like a normie, so don't get too cocky."

Rain feels dread settle in his heart at the thought of his impending culinary tour, but the dire panic of sure doom has subsided. 

'Well, I guess that takes care of my basic needs. That's far from the only life-saving information I'd like to learn, though.' 

"Is there anything else you can tell me that might save my life? For example, tips on how to navigate the Labyrinth." 

There's a long silence following Rain's question, as Aron ponders what he wants to say. 

"Not really.....sorry. The nature of the Labyrinth makes it impossible to give advice on how to surely navigate it. The layout is wildly different for everyone, and there are no resources to make a map. Similarly, there's something strange about the walls there...they're too hard to scratch, and you can't leave topical markings on them either. If you try to mark where you've been, they'll just be gone when you return."

Rain feels a pang of disappointment as Aron falls silent, but it seems it's only temporary.

"I can tell you what not to do, though. There's no way for you to systematically explore the thing, so don't rely on tricks like the right hand rule. That only works if the entrance and exit are both on the borders of the maze. Honestly, I'm not sure if the Labyrinth even has a finite size and border...logic kind of falls apart in there. All you can do is keep heading towards your destination, and try to remember where you've already been when you hit a dead end. If you do that and survive long enough, hopefully you'll make it out eventually."

A wave of morbid relief washes over Rain. He was absolutely considering just making nothing but right or left turns, assuming that he'd inevitably end up where he needed to be. But if what Aron says is true, then he could have just doomed himself to fruitlessly wandering the maze with no hope of getting out. If he hadn't bothered to ask...Rain shudders at the thought. 

'That other thing he said, though....strange...'

"What do you mean keep heading towards my destination? How would I know where my destination is? Isn't the whole point that I don't know where it is?" 

"Ah...well, the Echo would have told you as much, but basically your Mark will act as a very vague guide. Your destination is a Temple that's bound to your soul through your Mark. So, your Mark will get warmer when you're heading toward the Temple, and colder when you're distancing yourself from it. The right path won't always point in the right direction, but you'll know if you're making progress on the average. If nothing else, the metric keeps you sane. When the heat of the Mark is almost painful, that's when you know that you're in the home stretch." 

Rain clicks his tongue in frustration. There's so much important information about this that everyone else seems to take for granted, but he's completely in the dark. 

'I'm starting to see why I don't know of any orphans or Rim kids that survive the first year of being Marked.' 

As Rain mulls over what other details he may need to know, he's painfully aware of his time ticking down. If Aron's twenty minutes estimate was right, he's only got a few minutes left. 

"What about dealing with the Fel? Any advice?" 

The speaker is silent for a moment before Aron's voice crackles over it again. His tone is terse this time.

"You'll have to be crafty, Rain. First, it's best to avoid them when possible, unless you need food. Second, only attack them individually, and try to sneak up on them and get a clean, lethal strike the first time. Third, it's almost exclusively runts, but they are still faster and stronger than you, and they don't give up, so don't even think about running once they've spotted you – it's a fight to the death. It's possible to get some of them to fight each other, but they'll strongly prefer hunting a human if you're around. Finally, if you have to kill one, take what you need quick and get moving. The corpse will attract other Fel. On that note, never sleep between a recent corpse and an unexplored path of the Labyrinth, unless you want to wake up half eaten." 

Rain takes a moment to digest that information, trying to internalize it as best he can. As he's deciding what to ask next, he feels his Mark starting to heat up again. Not painful, but definitely noticeable. 

'Shit...please no...'

"Uhm, hey...Chosen Aron...my Mark is starting to feel kind of warm." 

Aron gives a regretful sigh before responding evenly. 

"Yeah, it's been almost twenty minutes. If your Mark's getting warm, you'll be sent to the Labyrinth in a couple of minutes. Sorry I couldn't help you more beforehand, Rain. Best of luck...seriously. I hope you make it, and not just because I don't want to fight whatever comes out of your corpse if you don't."

Panic quickly drowns out any concerns Rain has about Aron's tactless mention of him dying. 

"Wait, no! I still have questions! What about combat!? I've never even held a sword before! How do I defend myself in there!?" 

There's several moments of silence from Aron before he responds. When his voice escapes from the speaker this time, it's lacking any of the warmth or humor it had before. His words are somber, and his tone is as cold as ice. 

"The key to prevailing in combat, regardless of foe or weapon, is straightforward Rain.....it's absolute violence. Pure and simple. Everything else is just noise. Every thought you have and every action you take should revolve around bringing your enemy closer to death, or pushing you further from it. There's no room for fear, doubt, hope, or ethics...just unrestrained, singleminded murder..."

A heavy silence descends following Aron's words, and Rain feels a deep cold run through his body despite the increasing warmth from his Mark. As he sits there, taking in the intensity of those sentiments, the warmth of his Mark suddenly spikes, and his vision goes dark.