Above him the sky stretched endlesslyz seeming like a canvas painted with distinct colours—crimson turning into emerald, while violet shifting into gold. Strange stars pulsed faintly, even in the daylight, without being supreesed by sun.
Among them the floating islands floated lazily in the vast horizon, their rocks and roots dangled downwards gripping each other, swaying gently as though the sky was ocean for them and these being ships.
Each island looked unique in itself— some had verdant groves, while the some appeared as the silvery water dripping out of them.
Kaios the glanced down and realized the truth, that he was not standing on firm ground, but on an island suspended in this endless dreamscape. His boots pressed against moss beneath, it was so soft it felt almost unreal to him.
Before him stretched a pathway of hovering stones, while surrounding him was wall half of his height. It was aligned yet shifting constantly, forming a bridge that connected to another island farther away. This could be seen in another islands, above or below him, creating intricate mode of path.
This sudden dreamlike scene overwhelmed Kaios, he stood there for a brief second as he observed this.
"So, will this the place I take the second trial?"
As the question slipped from Kaios's lips, a blinding light burst infront of him, so bright that he instinctively shielded his eyes.
But the light didn't explode outward—instead, it began to shrink in on—condensing, until it took form, transforming into a warm yellow orb of light, no larger than his palm, hovering just before his face.
A curiousity filled within Kaios, and without hesitation, he stretched out his finger.
"What are you, then?"
The moment he poked the orb, its surface rippled began to shimmer slightly. Two tiny legs sprouted first, followed by a delicate arms, then finally transforming into a small body. In a second the orb reshaped itself into a tiny curled-up girl, adorning in a yellow suit, her hair the same shade as light from the sun— bright golden. From her back fluttered a pair of shimmering wings, shielding her tiny body.
Kaios blinked. "Ohh… Is it a fairy? How fitting for a place like this?"
Before he could poke her again out of curiosity, the little figure stirred. She stretched her body, raising her arms, and let out a long, squeaky yawn.
"Yaaawn… mmm…"
Her eyes fluttered open, still blurry with drowsiness—only to immediately land on the face of Kaios. She froze for a second, then suddenly gasped.
"Ohh! A human!" she squealed, hovering in the air while her wings hummed. "I haven't seen one of you in… hmm... How many years has it been!"
She sat in the air, with thoughtful expression. Her chin rested upon his palm, while her face bore a deep thought, like she unravelling the secret of the universe.
Kaios followed her flight lazily with his gaze, bearing an amusing smirk.
"Ehh... Whatever, my head will hurt." She gave up as fast as a second.
Then she circled him, wings humming leaving a trail of golden dust behind.
"So who are you?" Kaios asked after seeing the fairy finished circling him.
"Ohh...that," she said while slight turning her head, her snow white face reddening like a tomato. "I...forgot."
As Kaios heard it he face palmed himself, at the attics of this tiny forgetful fairy. "So what now?" He asked to her.
"Ehh… sorry, I'm really trying hard to remember." She said, while pressimg her tiny fingers to her head, cheeks puffed like she was squeezing the thoughts out from her tiny brain.
As some moments passed, a sudden bubly sound filled the air, "I remembered, I remembered." She said, as flying excitedly all around Kaios.
"Calm down, calm down." Kaios who saw her like this tried calm her down.
After some second, she calmed down, her cheeks puffing with heavy breathing.
"Hah.. I... I finally hah.. remembered." She said while taking breath in between.
"Okay, then what is your name.." Kaios asked her, after seeing she calmed down.
"That i don't know."
Kaios again face palmed himself as heard the reply.
"But what I remembered is, what is this place for and why are you here."
"Ohh... So what is the name of place?" Kaios asked, being intrigued after hearing it.
"That I can't tell you, but what I can is the purpose of this place." The fairy said to him.
As Kaios heard it, he became little disappointed, but then he asked, "So what is this place for?"
The fairy nodded then explained, "From what I know it is called the place of ever-changing, it is a place to test the resilience of mind and body of a person."
Hmm...so this is the second trial, Trial of Resilience.
Then he asked again to the fairy, "So how this test will be, battle royale, leading army, or deciphering codes..."
As Kaios listed the trial one by one like this, the fairy just stared at him with stupor, pondering what this human kid blabbering about.
"Stop, stop.. what are you saying?" Then fairy stopped him from his rambling. "Why are you talking about all these? It will be just games."
Kaios stopped from his rambling, before a confusing expression appeared on his face. "Games...?" He asked.
"Obviously games, you dummy." She scolded him, "Why will I want blood in this beautiful plain."
"Ohh..okay", Kaios nodded. "So what games will be?"
As fairy heard it a smile beamed on her face, like a student had been asked one question by the teacher that she read previously.
"There will be three level in this trial, each consisting a minigame." She began to explain her previously bubly personality transforming into that of a teacher.
"Each of this minigame will test different aspect of yours." She explained like she is teaching her students.
"So what is the first level, teacher fairy." Kaios asked jokingly.
As the fairy heard it he blushed slightly, before answering the question, "The first level is called Shifting Gauntlet. As for the other level I will tell you about those after you crossed this one."
Kaios nodded to her as he heard it. "So where is the place for it."
The fairy who was again circling him after her explaination, stopped and gazes at Kaios.
"Here" she then snapped her tiny fingers.
As the snapping sound echoed across the floating islands, Kaios felt something from beneath.
Suddenly the island, he stood upon started to quake, started to move. When his eye moved to upward he could also seen them moving.
These islands were shifting, some to forward, some to backwards. Some were descending from the above while others were ascending from below.
Before long, this phenomenon slowed, and the floating islands clicked into place.
From Kaios's view point, they no longer scattered wildly like previous, but aligned into a single streching staircase looking, like a road to heaven.
Each island hung like a step in staircase, connected by the hovering stones with each other.
"This the first level challenger....?" The fairy stopped his sentence, still not knowing the name of Kaios, as she asked in embarassment.
"It is Kaios." Kaios anwered not shocked by her attics anymore.
"Yes, yes. Challenger Kaios this is first level of this glorious trial you have to pass." She announced grandly.
"And I great great...ahem will be your judge of yours." She said, with her chest puffed and heads up. Adding it with her chibi looks, she looks cute enough to be patted.
Nice save there. Kaios praised her internally, knowing she herself didn't know her name.
"And now the rules before we start..."