3 The Trial of Heaven.

The realm tree is calling her children, both within and outward, to come and partake in blood and glory within The Tower of Heaven. The trial of heaven breaks people or makes them great. They only have to gamble with their life. 

When Dylganihl was a weak little sovereign throwing his weight around, he also went to the tower. That experience knocked the smugness out of him, and he became more mature.

Now he is all grown up. He isn't going to the realm of High Heaven to participate in the trial. He is going to attend the meeting with the realm lord which starts with every trial and represent the interests of his father in this meeting. 

Dylganihl doesn't have anything to prove or anything to gain by risking his life in the trial of heaven. But this is not so for everyone. For a lot of beings, the trial of heaven is their chance at immortality. 

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When the light started shining from the realm tree, those outside the realm could see it from the void of space. But within the realm tree, a Realm-wide vibration occurred. From within the vibration, a message was sent to every transcendent up to the level of a sovereign in each of its 100,000 active planes of existence.

This message is from the Realm tree, from Mother High Heaven herself. It is a short, succinct message, just like her personality. You can also find the blinking message at the bottom of every status. She said to them, "In 800 years, the Trial of Heaven shall start."

Short as it may be, this message set off a storm within every active plane. Plans were made and discarded, and truces were called or broken. Different emotions abounded in the hearts of every transcendent organism and above within High Heaven. There was dread, expectation, worry, delight, intent to battle, and also sorrow.

The Trial of Heaven occurs 800 years after every Origin cycle for about 200 years. As soon as the call went out, every one of the children of High Heaven who was willing would go to the ancient battlefield, specifically at its center, began their journey to it. 

Even if they might die, they would go. Even if the records showed a one in five chance of surviving, they would still go. Because within the tower are wondrous treasures, artifacts, and spells that can change the life of anyone. From divinity to divine shards, from lord crystals to godheads.

The rewards also include the rare Origin essence. An object that sovereigns and Grand gods fight for. Even Origin gods don't have enough of origin essence. It is for these rewards that men of power and dreams come to fight for and lose their lives for.

You see, a sovereign is nigh immortal, but thousands of them die every Origin cycle within the trial of Heaven. What is it about the trial that makes such exalted beings perish? They die for the chance to become true immortals. There is a huge difference between nigh immortality and true immortality.

The opportunity to make the transformation from nigh immortality to true immortality is apparently enough to die for. The trial makes you or breaks you. As long as you can survive, you will have something to show for it, either good or bad. In the case of Sovereigns, they get to become eternal.

So the journey began. For some, it would take a year at most to make it to the tower from anywhere they are in High Heaven, and for others, it could take 100 years. One will need to traverse their plane and reach the ancient battlefield through the plane portal. Then one will have to reach the tower of heaven at the center of the ancient battlefield. That can take a lot of time because of the distance.

The distance from a planar portal to the center of the ancient battlefield isn't a jogging distance by any means. The ancient battlefield is a large space, more than 1000 times the size of a plane. So it is understandable why 800 years is given to those who want to participate in the trial of heaven to make their way to the tower.

A lot of trials of heaven have taken place in the history of the existence of the realm of high heaven. But this trial of heaven is special because Gehaldirah Oakstein will be participating in it.

Across the sky of the ancient battlefield streaks a figure at extreme speed. The speed of sound means nothing to this person at his level of strength. He is currently moving at 50 times the speed of sound and making good time on his journey to the tower of heaven. 

In fact, he is one of the few who can make the trip to it from any plane in High Heaven in under a year.

He is a sovereign, a High elf sovereign from the High Life plane, of the name Sovereign Gehaldirah( Elven tongue ), which means Sharp Arrow. So we will call him Gehald from now on. 

A sovereign is the highest power that the realm tree allows. So it is not a wonder that Gehald doesn't need 800 years to reach the tower of heaven. Gehald is also the main character of this story.

He is a high elf, but he looks different when compared to other high elves because of his height and buffed body, which is odd for an elf. But apart from that, you can't tell much about what makes him different from other high elves. 

High elves look generally similar to each other with their pale green complexions, and they look like replicas of perfect people. This is due to their divine ability and their affinity with the law of life. 

So it is not a surprise that Gehald became a sovereign by mastering the laws of life. 

High elves have a very high affinity with life, just like fire dragons have a high affinity with fire.

What is surprising though, is that he seems to be too young to be a sovereign. He is not as young as the then Monarch High Heaven, the most respected ancestral figure of his home plane, but still pretty young for a sovereign of law. So one might wonder why a young Sovereign is going to risk his life in the trial of heaven.