A Falling World: Chapter 3 Part 4: The Trial

Virtus waited for Adam to finish before retorting “Diana? Diana. This girl wouldn’t happen to have hair of several different colors? A girl with barely any understanding of the fae, or of magic, or even the gods? Someone so isolated they’d cling to even the most despicable of people just so they wouldn’t be alone? I must say I am so happy I didn’t find the door until after she was gone. Can you imagine how unjust it would be to thrust her into all this? Anyone who’d want that I’d have to say is just the worst. Can you imagine how awful someone would have to be to try and put someone so naïve through all this – Adam?”

“It’s not like that. We were being chased by a fucking grimm.” Adam’s mood was only souring at Virtus’s mockery.

Virtus was having fun, the joy was evident in her voice “So you are the type who would bring someone desperate and alone into the fae – have them participate in a series of trials that kills thousands every day. Have them cling to you knowing that if they left they’d surely die. Perhaps you’d use them to accomplish your goals and discard them when you got bored. You are the worst aren’t you.”

“No, that’s not it. You’re just twisting everything!” Adam shouted.

Again Virtus waited. She didn’t respond right away “Oh? Well the door is still there. If you want to run to her you can. Is that what you want?”

Sarah interjected “We can’t go that way, they’re still there on the other side.”

“Yes, they are and they’ll remain there until the door closes which won’t happen until you’re both gone. These people you’re running away from, they aren’t the kind you run into accidentally. Your reason for learning magic is what brought you into contact with them. Was that reason worth it?”

Virtus waited as Sarah thought for a moment about the people she wanted to bring back. Eventually she asked “That depends, this trial, I need magic. I need someway to learn it on my own or at least not have it taken away.”

Virtus answered “Everything the two of you want is waiting for you at the end of the trials. Nothing will be beyond you as gods.“

In a magnanimous gesture the guardian displayed the trial. The ground shook and the space began to take shape. Within the immense void that composed this room there was a glass panel with a ledge on the other side extending out twenty feet composed of dirt and stone. Beyond that ledge there were countless branching paths twisting, splitting, and rejoining over an abyss. All the paths led to a singular open walled building no larger than thirty feet by thirty feet and in the middle of that building there was a rectangular stone object holding a pyramidal diamond as large as Sarah’s waist. However, also strewn throughout the paths there were countless statues each facing the entrance. Some were in pain, others looked horrified. The closest one was only a few meters off the ledge and was looking up and to the side. The figure Sarah could see looked like it might have scales but it also looked sad and defeated.

The guardian continued ” This trial is called The Gem. The rules are simple. Just chose a path. Follow it to its end. Grab a gem and bring it back while avoiding the dragon.”