บท 22: The Trial - Part 2
When Lan Wei opened his eyes, he found himself in a pitch black room.
He flourished his sword, setting the area around him with an electric green glow. However, the light wasn't enough, and he could barely see a metre ahead of him.
As soon as he took a step, there was a click. The room lit up, row after row, with fiery torches on the sides of the stone walls. It stretched on far into the distance, where Lan Wei could just make out the end, where there was a blur of colour.
There was no mythical beast to be seen.
He looked above him.
The roof of the room was still swathed in darkness, and Lan Wei unease stirred in his heart. If there was a mythical beast in this room, the chances were that it was above him, waiting for him to drop his defense, before swooping in for the kill.
He took a deep breath, and walked onwards. He listened attentively, for any sound that was out of the ordinary. Apart from the occasional crackle of the torches, and the sound of his heartbeat thudding in his chest, there was silence.
Emptiness.
So silent, that it was almost if his own shallow breath was abnormally loud.
He gripped his sword tighter.
As he moved closer to the splash of colour at the end of the room, he realised that it was actually a massive piece of stained glass - shaped like a thunderous dragon, its wings spread proudly and mouth open, asserting its dominance over the mortal world.
Sunlight streamed through, igniting the scene with a passionate touch.
The rest of the room was empty, except for a single note under the stained window. Lan Wei picked it up, and read:
{Do not forget who you truly are}
He flipped the note over to see if there were any more clues. Except for a drop of blood, there was nothing else. He shrugged and tucked the note into his bag.
Lan Wei stared at the dragon. Well, it technically did count as slaughtering a mythical beast if he "slaughtered" this glass version.
Well, what else was he supposed to do? There was no beast to be seen!
Raising his sword high, he leapt up to the centre of the window - an easy feat for a red 1st level - and smashed through the window with a singular strike. Glass fell like rain around him, as he flew out of the room and into a sunny meadow.
Dotted with wildflowers and rolling hills, it was a beautiful paradise. The sun was warm on his skin, and he could smell a faint bitter salt of the ocean on the wind which cradled his long hair. So realistic. So calming.
But dangerous. There was something off about this meadow.
This must be an illusion.
Was he already in the grasp of the mythical beast?
A male voice spoke out from behind him.
"We will carry you through this stage of the trial. But for the next part, do not expect us to help you."
His voice was deep and seductive, with a hard edge to it that suggested that he had been through countless battles.
Lan Wei whipped around, trying to find the source of the voice.
There, stood a masked man dressed in red. Lan Wei couldn't sense his cultivation, which put him on alert. There was a quiet ruthlessness about the man, and Lan Wei felt that if he wanted to, the man could squish him with a single finger.
On the other hand, what was up with these people? Why did all of them seem to get addicted to wearing a mask? First the not-toddler, now this red guy...
The man scoffed and muttered something which Lan Wei didn't catch.
"Who… are you? Why are you helping me?" Lan Wei asked tentatively, his voice unintentionally turning hard at the end, his hand still gripped tight on his sword.
The man refused to answer, and left with a cryptic remark, "Remember that note."
Lan Wei's hand immediately went to his pocket where he stashed the note.
The man in red disappeared, fading into obscurity. As if he was never there in the first place.
And the meadow was peaceful once more, but only for a single moment.
The ground beneath Lan Wei rumbled and shook violently, knocking him off balance. For a brief second, the world stayed still. Then, it shattered like stained glass, breaking into massive pieces that showed the void underneath.
Lan Wei's heart leapt inside his chest.
Falling.
Falling.
Falling.
Wind rushed past his ears.
Fear pooled in the pit of his stomach as he fell through the endless void, watching the shards shatter into miniscule pieces. His sword fell alongside him, and a stray thought crossed his mind - it would be hilarious if he had died due to his own sword impaling him.
An oddly morbid thought to have whilst falling to your probably impending doom, but whatever.
Luckily for him, he managed to get a firm grip on the hilt, and stared at the faint, pulsing light from the sword.
The pieces of the world had now completely disappeared, yet he was still falling. Sound seemed to fade away. If he didn't feel the endless void beneath him, it was like he wasn't falling.
Was this the end?
No, it couldn't be the end. That man in red said so - if he was to be believed - that "they" were going to help him.
But why? What was so mysterious about this body of Lan Wei's that drew attention from unknown powers? Could it be because of his parents?
He wanted to desperately go to see Jia Xinyue. However, he felt as if someone - or something - was watching him, and he didn't know whether they could sense the space and Jia Xinyue's soul inside that system of hers.
Lan Wei couldn't risk exposing her. These people would find her as interesting as a lab rat; forcibly remove her away. She was his big sister. He lost his group who he considered as close as family once, but not again. Not again, not with Jia Xinyue.
They may not be related by blood, but she treated him much better than his blood-related family.
The lull of the gentle, green blade made his eyelids heavy.
His vision turned blurry and he saw dark spots. Slowly, he closed his eyes, and hoped for the best.
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