Xior was checking the skill he got from absorbing the rune, suddenly his system screen glitched. The blue turned red, and a new message popped up.
[Trial Of The End - #1]
'The End' cannot be stopped, everything has to come to an end, be it be mortals or even gods. This trial too has an end, find that before your end comes.
Xior looked at the system notification, his surrounding changed. Instead of the bloodied land he was now inside a silver labyrinth, it's walls were crumbling and withered. He looked behind and saw an endless void.
He looks down from the edge, he sees the same old black hole now under him. He grits his teeth, his hate for The Abyss was so intense that the floating island shook because of him.
He turns around, and with a sigh looks up. There was nothing, just darkness. He walked forward and activated his fire rune. As soon as the light from the fireball fell on the walls he saw murals on them.
A civilization worshiping a huge dragon. In the next one, the dragon turned into his humanoid form.
He walked forward and saw other murals and then saw the dragon burning a whole castle. There was always the dragon in the murals along with one other thing, a black hole in the sky.
Xior's hand traced the black hole drawn on the wall, he who had spent five years of his life trying to survive in the hell that was The Abyss wanted to know more about it.
He wanted to know more about the man who saved him, who was he? But he couldn't just stay here and try to decipher these murals and so he walked into the labyrinth.
The walls on both sides were covered by more murals but he didn't stop to look, he walked, turned, found a dead end and then started again.
And eventually he found the right way, the narrow passage lead to a grand hall. On both sides were doors. There were doors as far as he could see. The trial message came back to his mind as he muttered, "Find the end..."
To clear the trial he had to find the right door, he left out the first door as there won't be any point in checking it. No one would have it at the first one.
He walked ahead and entered the fourth door, the room was empty but then a dizziness hit him. The world around him bent and when he opened his eyes he found himself at the start again.
'So, i'll be sent back here if I go inside the wrong door. This is annoying, it means I'll have to open every door there is.'
He thought as he walked to the fifth door, once again he was thrown back at the start. He went through the other ten doors only to return to the start once again.
But there was something wrong, his hands they had started to wrinkle. Every time he went to a wrong room he would be sent to the back and he would age.
*****
It was difficult for him to even walk now. How many days, months or years had it been? He had no idea, Xior was now hunched, his silver long hair was gone and his beard had grown long enough to reach his waist.
He was thin and had no strength left in him. First the Abyss and now this dammed trial. Why was he the one to suffer through this.
He reached the 97,845th door. He had a hard time to breathe, but even so he wasn't going to give up. He reached for the door knob and turned it. The door opened with a creak and he entered it. But once again, it was empty.
He feel down upon seeing that, the world once again threw him back at the very start. He lay on the ground, unmoving. Tears streamed out of his eyes as he sobbed hard. He had lost so many things dear to him.
His memories of his past, the people he wanted to protect. Only one thing kept him moving forward. It was Becca.
"My memory has all but faded completely...but I will always remember how much she too loved these flowers." He said before getting up, a memory of Becca playing in a field of roses played in his mind.
He had spent so many time in this place that he knew where he had to go and what awaited him at the end. He had opened countless doors except for one.
The very first door, he walked slowly towards the door and inspected it. He was betting it all on this chance. His withered hand grabbed the door knob and turned it. The door opened smoothly and he entered it.
Inside the light was so bright that he had to cover his eyes, as he removed his hand he saw a table in front of him. A rune lay on top of it along with a box.
The system screen popped up again.
[Trial of the End - #1 - Completed]
You found the end and barely evaded your own end. You have cleared the first trial. You will be teleported back in two minutes.
He sighed as his body recovered, he went from an old senile hunched man to his normal self. He picked up the rune and the box.
Light enveloped him and he was transported back to the lobby. He saw Becca standing there stretching.
"Becca, how long did you wait here?" Xior asked.
"Not long, about five minutes." She replied.
They talked about their trials as the goblin appeared again.
"Both of you are now eligible to climb the tower. You'll be teleported to the human base on the ninth floor."
A bright light enveloped them again and they were teleported to the base formed by the humans on the ninth floor.
It looked a lot like New Federation, there was a market in the middle with buildings surrounding on all sides. People walked without a care, some carrying weapons while some monster hides or food.
On the right they saw a building, slightly taller than the others, a dragon coiled around it just like the Dragon Guilds main building.
This was their tower outpost, Becca grabbed Xior's hand and ran towards the building. She was excited to finally climb the tower.