Trial begins

I shook away the useless thoughts and accepted the fact that I was destined to become a muscle head. Dad was just as big and strong even when he was injured so if I look like that it wouldn't be so bad.

"Ok, so how does this trial thing work?" I asked.

[simple, there is a magic circle in the middle of the hall. The Heat from the surroundings will increase to scorching temperatures no living being can endure, which will temper your body. Achlys here will attack you with his dark powers in order to temper your mind. I will be on standby just in case. Usually, I would be the one attacking your mind but since all three of us have come to an agreement of sorts, I think Achlys deserves a chance to prove the honesty of his words. Plus, since I have gone down the path of light, most of my dark abilities have gone away.] he said.

I was surprised and apparently so was Achlys.

{Wait-wait-wait, you're saying you're going to let me participate?} he asked with astonishment.

[I have let go of the past Achlys. You are now your own person; I must treat you as such. What? you don't want to take up the task? Ok that-]

{WAIT! I never said no, did I? you detestable snake,} he said angrily.

[Tch! Who's the one stuck in a sword you piece of metal!] argued Drak.

{AND WHO WAS THE ONE WHO DID THAT TO ME? HUH!} yelled Achlys as the sword began to vibrate.

[BECAUSE YOU ARE AN EVIL PIECE OF SHIT!] said Drak angrily.

"ENOUGH BOTH OF YOU!" I yelled.

"For god's sake stop it. enough quarrelling, it's already enough with just Drak and now there are two of you." I said while massaging my head.

"You're more like twin siblings rather than the same person," I said, but to my surprise there was silence.

{I guess…}

[he's right…] they finished each other's sentence.

{Whatever, hurry up and let's get started. The faster you get stronger the quicker I can be free of this god-awful cave,} said Achlys with resentment.

[agreed. Tom head towards the magic circle that's right in front of the throne and sit down. We will take care of the rest.]

I nodded and raised my head towards the centre of the room where a massive magical circle was engraved into the ground. Pillars were erected and different shaped dragons were on top of pedestals in between the gaps in the pillars that surrounded the magical circle in its entirety. There was only one entrance. The throne was on the other side of the encirclement. Where the sword rested glowing with an ominous light.

I ignored the sword and walked slowly into the middle as I observed the dragon statues.

"Drak, are these statues representative of something?" I asked. There were only 3 kinds.

[Yes, they are. The lean and majestic one is the image of Sapphire. The dumb looking one is Hezpot. And the rugged and arrogant looking one is Zepher. They're our brothers and sister. Each representing a certain characteristic.] he said with emotion.

"I see. A sort of shrine for them." I guessed.

[correct.]

I nodded and didn't say anymore. I had arrived at the middle of the engravings where an empty circle was. I sat there and closed my eyes.

[The trial will be segmented into two parts that superimpose themselves. The body trial. It consists of exposing the body to extreme heat. The magical circle has three uses. One of them will increase the amount of pain you feel by severalfold. When the pain caused exceeds your bodies threshold, the second part of the magic circle will activate. It will deconstruct your body into atoms. Then the third part will reconstruct it again while making it stronger in the process. You will feel the pain of having your body torn to pieces before being put back together. once put together again, the trial will resume, and the cycle will continue. This will last until the trial no longer has a significant effect on you.] he said calmly. But all I heard were the words of the devil. This was beyond anything I could have imagined. What was the difference between this and hell I wondered?

{you know, every time I have witnessed this trial, I always think to myself, did dad make a mistake? Did he seal the wrong half in this sword?} he said. I could tell he was actually thinking about this seriously.

[Shut it, as I said before, painful but effective.] he said without a care.

[Next is the mind Trial. Achlys will simply do to you what he did before but worse. He will show you your darkest moments and replay them in your head over and over. This will make sure you are able to handle the psychological pressure that comes with the Armour. You must be able to endure the pressure it exerts on the body. The mind affects the body and the body affects the mind, if even one of them is not in balance with the other then you will collapse. I will only ever intervene when your mind and soul are about to break down.] he said seriously.

The more he talked the more sweat began to soak my clothes. What kind of lunacy was this? So, my body would go through constant deconstruction and reconstruction in order to get stronger. And my mind would be raped to the point where I could end up brain dead. Not to mention this had to do with the soul!

"Drak, how can you make people go through with something like this?" I asked.

[it is the fastest and more effective way. Unless you wish to spend decades doing it the slow way sitting on a mountain doing nothing, this is the only way.] he said dismissively. I sighed heavily. This was simply stupid, but it had to be done. In any case, who cared about the repercussions of failing, in the worst-case scenario, I would die. And guess what, I've already done that. It's nothing scary so fuck it. I shrugged.

"Go ahead when you're ready, we're on a time crunch anyway," I said dismissively. I used occlumency to the highest degree in order to resist the evil energy from Achlys and to block out the pain I was going to have to endure for a week and a half.

{HA! The kid's got balls! Let's go Drak, I haven't been this excited in centuries. Stay close I might go overboard frequently.} he said with a mad laugh. My mouth twitched severely at his words. And here I thought he was actually the less sadistic of the two.

[if you know that then reign it in!] Drak spat angrily.

{Nah! That's what you're here for, you nanny!} he mocked.

[You-]

"Gentlemen, please, let's start this already," I said. I was tired of their arguing.

{you heard the boy, hop to it Drak!} Achlys continued to mock.