Kapitel 131: The Abyssal Cave.
The Abyssal Cave.
It is one out of the seventy trials that is built within the island of the crow talon clan. It is one that challenges a man with his fears, his despair, his trauma, or any known form of terror that lives within his heart.
No one knows the complete details of what happens inside the cave, but for every man that once went inside, they are put into a vow of silence by the very cave itself. No information is given nor taken, as simply put, the cave is said to be so fearful in its manner that no man is made to ever want to come across it for a second time.
But out of everything unknown that happens inside will ultimately challenge a man to become one that will either come out as a stronger minded person, or a one that is broken beyond repair.
Made by the very hands of the clans saint, St. Gara himself. He crafted this cave with the image of his very father…Vexus Embratyl, the Dark Elemental King who defined the very word of darkness.
Since its creation, the cave has never been in touch with light , instead, it swallows light that passes into the cave like a Blackhole, sucking it up and leading it into a place existence is known to be futile. None can escape its horrid nature and none can leave as long as it doesn't permit one to leave.
It is a test, a test to see just how much can man go forth with the efforts of his courage leading forth. For every man has fear, for every fear has its darkest moments, and those darkest moments will be encased and evolve into the very definition of fear.
Only one thing is needed for this trial to succeed.
Walk and never stop walking.
As inside the cave, a thousand steps are needed for man to exit the other side. In those thousand steps, each step accumulates a fear inside a man and turns those fears into its evolving manner of true fear.
From the simple fear of a knife, it will evolve to an experience where your fear is put into a painful sensation of a hundred stab wounds throughout your body. And although it is one that manifest only in imagination, fear and pain will forever be intact to one's mind as he steps further and further into the darkest pits of the cave.
The cave is a tool to evolve one's fear and turns its experience into one that feels almost too realistic.
Men who have set into the caves have come out crying, some have come out brain-dead, others simply went and tried to kill themselves in the earliest moments that they could. But to some who came out changed in a manner that strengthened their minds, they simply live life as any other. And their faith towards the clan only grew ever more so.
This was the trial of the Abyssal Cave.
One that should never be taken lightly by all accounts.
So as Hamil stood in front of the Abyssal cave, he was simply looking into the cave with an admiring expression. Something that Rin didn't expect that he would make.
"You do understand what I meant by what I said, right? So please don't take this test lightly." said Rin as she wanted to try to warn Hamil.
"I won't. Question, how long do people usually stay in that cave?" asked Hamil as he turned to Rin with a curious brow.
"Hmm, the longest record made to stay in the cave was about three years and four months. A total of around 1200+ days. By then, the person who lasted that long simply hanged himself the moment he got home." said Rin lightly.
"Yikes…Hmm, what about the earliest time?" asked Hamil.
"Well, for a master, it usually takes them about 10 to 15 minutes." said Rin
"Hmm, that's…fast." seeing as how surprised Hamil was, Rin to him with a sneer.
"What did you expect? They are masters. People who overwhelm the very emotion of fear." said Rin.
"Yeah…I guess."
"Now, once you start, you can't just turn back and do it over again. You can't leave or turn to the side, it's a straight path. You understand?" she asked.
"...Yeah,"
As Hamil said those words, he made his step forward closer to the cave, there, he looked into the abyss of its darkness, and he smirked.
"Fuck…its going back to the dark all over again." he said as a certain memory fills his head. The memory of a certain Ruler's trial.
And with that memory, a smile creeps within his face and he turned to Rin with a confident smile.
"Well, wish me luck." as he said so, he steps in to the very cave enveloped in darkness.
By then, Rin could only watch as Hamil's body was being devoured by the cave and its void-like manner.
To this second, she had started counting and with that, she moved to the exit of the cave. There, as she landed, she was greeted by a single person who was wearing a masters uniform.
A person whose hair was the indicating quality of his outlook. A person who had an afro.
There was only one person who had this hairstyle who lived in the island.
His name was Alkali, Master Alkali. The strongest swordsman in this island. One who sits as the 2nd most strongest master of the clan.
"M-master Alkali? Why are you here?" asked Rin as she bows in respect to him.
"Hmm, I'm here to wait for the boy. He caught my eye so I was curious as to the shape of his soul." said Master Alkali.
"...I see, Well, I'm sure it will take him a long time, so why don't I bring you a set of tea and snacks while you wait." said Rin as she tries to offer the master comfort by tea.
"No need, I've brought my own. Khe." as Master Alkali replied, he brought out a silver bottle that had the writings of unknown origin. Knowing his reputation throughout the clan, he was known as a mean drunkard. So Rin could only assume that on his hands was a bottle of Alcohol.
"I see…"
"..."
"Master Alkali, why are you interested in Hamil? Do you intend to take him as your disciple?" asked Rin.
"Khe. Its nothing as grand as that, I'm just interested in his character. Nothing more and nothing less."
"Huh…is he really that interesting?"
"Hmph! You should have seen him when he went against the elders in their judgement. Even as a master, I didn't feel a tinge of fear from him at all. With all the other masters looking down on him from all sides, he stood his ground with no hesitation to say his needs and wants. If it was anyone else in that position of his, they would have passed out. He's a strong one I'll tell you that. Khekhe." he said as a smirk appeared on his face.
"Is that so? Hmm…if he's as brave as you say he is, do you think he'll come out of the cave well?" asked Rin.
"Khe. Who's to say…Fear has a variety of characteristics…an emotional fear, a physical fear, mental fear…fear is always present in one's heart, It'll crawl up at you in moments of your weakness. It is a constant that never goes away. Even for us masters, we have our own sense of fear as well. No one can ever escape that logic that is fear, not even the Gods themselves can escape fear."
"...Is the cave really that powerful?" asked Rin.
"Hmm, some even say that this cave tells of the future. As long as one's fear is intact, fear is always present. Always Past…and always in its tamed future. The cave is a monster of its own. Its alive."
"That's more horrifying than I could have known." said Rin as a sweat of nervousness, drips from her forehead.
"But seeing his eyes that day…KheKhe. Well, lets just see how it goes." he raised his bottle and chugged down like it was simply water.
***Hamil's POV***
Damn, its dark.
Compared to when I underwent the trials of the Intrepid Ruler, this cave is more than just dark, it completely blinds me of my senses in seeing what is in front of me. Even when I try to enhance the eyes with magic, it never goes beyond anything. It remains dark as usual. All I could do at this moment was to rely on the information that I walk forward…and nothing else.
I haven't made a first step yet because if I did, that is when the curse of this cave will start.
I feel nervous, knowing the context of this trial, they want me to come out of the cave with a stronger mind. That way, I will live with the heart of an assassin. Strong and unmoving to the notion of fear.
A lot of the assassins in this clan tend to be as emotionless as possible. Some even went and kill the people who they have worked with in missions in long periods of time simply because of an order given by the clan. Its one way to achieve one's goal without any sense of loose ends.
Although I do admire the idea that being an emotionless character is cool, it only ever works in the sense that you're in a novel. It looks cool there, but in reality, its just plain psychotic. These kinds of behaviors comes from people who goes to war, who has seen blood from friends and relatives, those who have been abused in their childhoods. Those kinds of people are the ones to truly gain the characteristics of a emotionless character like in some certain novels back on earth. But it is simply psychotic, and I don't admire the idea of it.
If I want to surpass this trial, I'll have to go through the fears that I have experience and will experience in the upcoming future.
Thankfully, I already underwent something similar of this challenge.
One given by the Elemental Earth King himself.
To test my will…
To improve my will…
Even if mountains of demons stand before me, I will never have doubts of my strength, my will…for my will, it is but the height of the highest peak. My Summit's Will per say.
So with the winding confidence brewing in my heart, I took my step. And with it, a blowing air capable of toppling buildings blew my way, struggling to stand on my own two feet, I could hear the screams coming from the abyss.
It has started.
I heard the screams of the people who I was familiar with.
And with it, my eyes began to see red.
And the cave who I thought to be narrow, enlarged itself and became a burning chasm of death and decay.
Bodies of giants slept dead on the mountains.
An Elthen tree rotting beyond the distance.
The sight of Merlin, beheaded and thrown into a chalice made of gold.
Iris pierced by sword of a man who holds the the power of decay.
The scene Evangeline, hanged and burned to her death.
Arthur, ripped apart from his wings and letting him fall from the sky.
Liam, turned ice crystal from his heart to his skin.
Martha, overburned by her own power.
Licia, pierce by the scene of the raining ivory arrows.
The crying echoes of my friends as they undergo a torturous motion of pain and suffering in the hands of a man who wears a crown on his head. A man who's horn stood the highest of them all.
The demon king.
In just one step, the cave showed the unimaginable tortures of a future that I found to be very believable. After all, some of these were true in the novel to the characters themselves involved in the Mystic Royal Life.
The sight in front of me was simply hell…and nothing else.
But it didn't fueled my fears…
It fueled something else entirely.
My rage towards the Demons.
~~Fool..~~
And in it, a voice whispered into my ear.
"What are you trying to tell me…?"
~~Rot…Suffer…oh silent ruined Ruler~~
Said a voice that passes down my ear.
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
"...Oy, don't fucking mess with me."
In that moment of insult, I turned to my Shadow Skin form…
In that moment, my emotions mellowed into something more handled. I didn't want to turn to violence as the answer and with it, I moved forward.
"..." Despite the scene in front of me playing at my first step into this cave, it was already horrid. But I could not do anything but watch as horrors played before my eyes.
No wonder some went insane as they watched these events happen.
The cave is controlling the very emotion of your fear and turning it into the most horrid sequence possible.
As I took my second step forward, a different scene was created within the cave.
Nothing happened.
Black.
Black and devoid of sound.
Devoid of the sensation of having a ground to step on…I was simply floating in midspace.
This form of pain was reminiscent to what I experienced back when I was devoured into the hero's gate…where I waited for days for something to happen. It was a time I didn't have anything special in my arms so I was completely helpless
The pain of waiting…not knowing what and when something might change…
I waited in that void for fifty hours…
And again…today…I might just have to wait…I just wonder, to how long can I ever wait again?
***
5000 hours passed.
***
"..."
Hamil had finally taken his first step.
But by this step, only five minutes has passed since his last step.
The cave had trapped him in his own mind…a curse that spans his will to an eternal 5000 hour wait. Simply looking at the void with no sense of emotion whatsoever. But he had the sense of time.
He could not do anything nor could he could go anywhere.
By there, the moment he made his third step, he couldn't feel…
*Sigh*….
But he sighed.
'That was a long time…and because of that excruciatingly long time, you gave me the space to think.'
'what you are…what you are as fear-defined, you as the abyssal cave…you've made an enemy out of a Ruler.'
'I will overcome you…And once I do…may God pray mercy as you are the creation of St. Gara's hand. May he forgive me for what I am about to do…to you.'
As he spoke those words, he turned his head in this black abyss of a cave and enveloped his hand in the power of Genesis. he reached out his hand to where he for some reason felt right and was able to grab hold of a neck.
The neck and soul of the cave itself.
"St. Gara must have made you using Genesis…what do you think will happen if I were to break the very creation that he made…will he come to my call of invitation?"
"Answer me…Abyssal Cave."
~~…Please…do not involve the saint into your pain…~~
"And why shouldn't I?"
In that moment, Hamil turned to his Shadow scale form…
A form that made him devoid of most of his emotions.
He stared at the neck of the abyssal cave and tightened his grip.
~~…Khk!! Please…let go…~~
"For a trial, you sure are rather fragile."
~~You may pass…no more….~~
"No, lets continue on with the trial." as Hamil spoke, he lets go of the Abyssal cave's neck and proceeded forth. Feeling as emotionless in his own form.
One would question how it was possible for a man to catch the neck of a trial…
Well enough, the answer lies beyond what happened in that 5,000 hour wait.
There, he grew in the comfort of his own mind.
[CHARACTER PROFILE]
:Stats:
Name: Hamil Crux
Occupation: Ruler in Training
Age:17
God's followed: The Rulers (4/4)
Mana: 487/500
Strength: 183.1
Luck: 5.1
Agility: 165.11
Stamina: 160.56
Intelligence: 120.12 > 250.89
+++++++++++++++
Bow Proficiency: 51%
Spear Proficiency: 74%
Sword Proficiency: [Basic swordsmanship] 100%
Shield Proficiency: 55%
+++++++++++++++
SKILL-ARTS:
*Sword Ability - Swordsman's Apparel (E)
==Swordsmanship Owned: 1/100
-Basic Swordsmanship - Enlightened
*My Bow Ability - Light Reflection (C)
*Spear Ability - Impossible Accuracy (B)
*Shield Ability - Shield's Copy (B)
SKILLS :
*Shadow Skin (B)-(0%)
*Shadow Scale (A)
*Genesis (-)
*Summit's Will (A ) > (S+)
+++++++++++++++
+Ruler's Domain (A)+
*Sovereign Call-
*Ruler's Conjure-
His intelligence had evolved makign his use on genesis more flexible and manageable and his ability…well, simply put, the Summit's will evolved as well.
Simply putting a man into a world where none could bother him for 208 days really makes one wonder a lot. And by wondering a lot, he had an awakening in his mind. And through this awakening, his will evolved.
Just as how Buddha or Gandhi came to a sense of awakening in their fasting and meditation, Hamil's mind in the thoughts that was influenced of being a Ruler turned his emotions into a form of self vengeance towards the cave.
AUTORENGEDANKEN 
Simple_Thought
Simple_Thought If you guys have any thoughts to the plot of this chapter, please comment.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
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