6 Trial of Sanity

Orion stood in the middle of a small hill.

He looked to the right. Red grass spread across the ground while puddles of boiling metal lighted up the scenery around him. Bubbles of scorching hot liquid popped, threatening to burn him. 

He then looked up. A massive cloud of black smoke covered the sky. Sometimes, gaps would open, letting Orion see the sunlight for a split second before more smoke covered it.

Looking around him again, he spotted several detached parts of metallic giants. Heads, arms, legs. All of them growing rust and red grass. Forgotten by everyone, tainted by time.

He looked in front of him and took a deep breath. A steel giant looked down at him. It could height at least fifteen meters, making Orion feel as tiny as an ant. 

Metallic cogs clacked. Motors rotated. And its eyes were glowing a light pink.

A Heart Wraith.

'Hearts… This could be the hardest trial yet. Let's stay calm and see how to get out of here.'

This time, Orion wasn't on an active battlefield where danger lurked around him. Where the slightest mistake would be the end of his life.

Nor had he stolen anything, forcing him to pay up his consequences by an enraged Wraith. No. This time, there was simply nothing happening.

The environment around him was relatively calm. No other Wraiths around other than the massive giant in front of him. The bubbles popped, and heavy air caressed his face.

'That's what it wants me to think. Do you think I'm not sensing it already?'

Deep inside Orion's mind, an unknown force was trying to get hold of him. 

As a growing tornado, the sensation only grew stronger with time.

'The trial it's to withstand the mind attack?'

This time, Orion's vocal cords seemed to burn.

His larynx felt more sensitive, but at the same time, Orion could control it more… precisely. He faked a groan of pain to test his voice and noticed the difference.

It wasn't a shift in tone or pitch. Nor was it feeling more confident or anything similar. His voice simply was different. The increasing weight in his mind seemed to soothe a bit, and it was Orion's turn to speak.

"Who dares to deceive me?"

Orion cringed as he said that. 

He wished to have worded it in a better, less narcissistic way. But for some reason, his own voice felt foreign. The tone, the wording, the emphasis. He felt detached from his words. Just like in the two previous trials.

His whole being felt alien to him.

But alas, it seemed like the giant took them as a challenge and upped its strength.

The Wraith didn't want to lose against someone like him. Orion closed an eye as his head throbbed. The world around him seemed to shift slightly, appearing more distorted than it was.

He spoke again, letting his words flow.

"Do you call that a mind attack? Altering my own reality? Is that the best you can do?"

The Wraith continued as Orion's world seemed to twist. He wasn't feeling nauseated as he concentrated on his center of gravity — which remained unchanged.

However, the red grass was turning greener. The puddles of boiling iron were changing into desirable potable water. The clouds were gone. A beautiful sky was slowly appearing.

"Do you not realize how pathetic your attempts are, Wraith of Hearts?"

Orion took a deep breath and prepared himself for what he was going to say.

"I have lived through hell for as long as I have existed. I have seen uncountable perfect realities which this one can not get even a billionth close to them."

The reality stopped shifting as it finished.

A new world appeared in Orion's eyes. It was pleasant. The air wasn't heavy anymore. The lakes of fresh crystalline water were attractive. Charming even.

Everything around him was perfect. Then, the giant changed, becoming smaller.

"I've seen realities that showed my true desire and not a desperate attempt to prove who is better than who."

The Wraith's entire being transformed as it adopted the same height as Orion. Her form — simply put — was the best he had ever seen.

On Earth, he had seen charming women and men left and right as a result of the Vows — which purified one's skin and body.

Yet, this Wraith could easily win against all of them.

Her skin seemed to be composed of radiant stardust. A blend of pinks and purples that danced around her body — akin to a distant nebula.

An effect both mesmerizing and hypnotic. Long hair cascaded down the Wraith's back, carrying a glow that set them apart from the original body.

Her eyes were shining pink with the intensity of a Heart Wraith. 

She had elegant features. High cheekbones, delicate nose, lips tinted with a shade of magenta. Her body had the form of a perfect hourglass, with perfect proportions in her chest, waist, and hips.

It was simply a sight powerful enough to make any living being faint. In this form, Orion felt the effects of the attack intensified. 

Naturally, he struck back while intensifying his own.

"Carnal desire. A powerful venom that few people have the antidote against. I admire that you have opted for this tactic, but there is a slight problem."

Orion took a step forward, making the Wraith take half back in shock.

The boy chuckled and continued walking while saying,

"Those tricks work on the complacent. The people who have not tasted danger and misfortune. Those who have lived a peaceful life, drowning in the pleasures it provides. People who do not know what survival is.

But I'm not like them."

Orion stopped in front of the Wraith and looked straight into her eyes. This was enough to make her attack as powerful as it could become.

And somehow, Orion was resisting it as he curved his lips up.

"Have you felt hunger? True hunger. The type of hunger that would drive even the calmest of animals wild. The kind where you would settle with pebbles from the ground.

The one where eating your own body doesn't sound like a bad idea. When hallucinations of the tastiest of foods appear in front of you, only to vanish the next second.

That hunger."

Orion touched her forehead, making the effect stronger.

He was already seeing things that shouldn't be there.

His finger was melting as it slowly made its way inside the Wraith's forehead. The pain signal was at its highest, and he couldn't resist wincing.

Sounds echoed around him. Voices from people that he used to know. The same ones that pushed him into the Wraith Realm.

And yet, the boy laughed,

"Or perhaps insatiable thirst. The kind that would make you drink from a puddle of dirty, infected mud just to feel some wetness on your tongue.

The moment where you don't care about the consequences and drink anything as long as it wets your insides.

That thirst."

He grabbed the Wraith by the neck with his bones — the flesh disappearing — and pulled her closer.

With an insane look in his eyes, the boy said,

"I spent nearly two years feeling like that every day. And yet, here I am. Alive. Undergoing far worse hallucinations from the hunger and thirst alone than any Hearts Wraith will ever make me feel.

So, I'll ask you again."

Pulling her even closer, Orion said,

"Who dares to deceive me?"

The boy remained still and slowly let go of the Wraith.

His arm was in his bones. In fact, his entire body was. There were no nerves, no muscles, no blood. He was a walking skeleton.

The star still shined radiantly above him.

As he took a step back, the form of the Wraith instantly changed again. This time, it wasn't the charming woman he recalled talking to.

Instead, it was him.

Orion was speaking to himself. Although a younger version of it.

It wore ragged clothing and dry lips. The skin of his fingers was bit off and covered in a dirty liquid. 

There were some wounds, showing how inexperienced he was in the first year of the Wraith Realm, especially on his knuckles and palm.

In retrospect, Orion had no idea how he didn't die of an infection back then. There were medical supplies, but they were very rudimentary.

He occasionally used Essence to heal himself. A property all Wraiths' blood has.

A bit painful and toxic if used in large quantities. But extremely beneficial if controlling the dosage.

Perhaps he focused too much on his physical condition that he completely neglected his mental one.

Maybe that's why he could pull all kinds of crazy stunts without thinking twice.

Maybe sanity was far more important than he thought to survive in the Wraith Realm.

The younger Orion walked past the current one, not even glancing at him. When the current Orion turned around, he didn't see the kid.

Instead, he was back at the apocalyptic landscape of before.

Red grass.

Clouds of smoke.

Puddles of boiling metal.

And a giant walking away. 

Orion kept staring at it, the flesh and tissue of his body having returned. He was out of that hallucination, the phantom pain vanishing moments after.

Somebody spoke,

"We'll meet again."

…

And Orion's surroundings changed.

He was slowly getting used to being suddenly pulled off the trail and into the throne room. There wasn't much to be said.

Luckily, there was just one trial left.

The small pink female playfully walked back — having let a massive crack in Orion's vocal cords. Tilting her head, she said,

"Uncanny. Your sanity is far worse than I expected."

Orion held back the urge to chuckle.

"Using raw willpower to sustain a mental attack is impressive nonetheless. I have seen few accomplishments such as that. So far, so good."

Now, the tall green male acted. He cracked his knuckles and took a step forward as he grabbed its hammer. Grasping it tightly, he swung it to Orion's chest. 

And hit him right in the middle.

A voice spoke,

"Trial of Clubs."