บท 4: The Trial Begins
Outside the door was a solid platform made of metal. The winds there were strong, the strongest Arne had ever felt. He had been outside the sanctuary only one time before, with his father to pick up some crystal fragments. That was near the base of the mountain but this, however, was at the highest level of the sanctuary.
"Line up over here, folks." The man leading them told, "By the way, I haven't introduced myself. I am Major Randyl Vansonne and I conduct the Trial of Initiation here at the Peak of Thuraiz. Does anyone have any questions?"
"Is it true that only one out of ten survive the Trial to be a Venator?" a boy with mahogany hair asked.
"Good question," Randyl replied, "But the answer is no. That statistics was true for about a hundred years ago. Now, it's near six or seven out of ten. Sometimes even eight survive. So, does anyone want to back off?"
None of the conscripts budged.
"Splendid," Randyl smiled, "Bring them the Blood."
A team of soldiers carrying trays filled with bowls marched out of the door beside the one from which the conscripts had entered. A man wearing a white coat, which was not of the military design, handed each one of them a bowl. Arne looked down into his, and found a slimy glowing fluid that emitted a greenish blue light. Had the Major called it 'Blood' earlier? Arne wondered.
"The concoction you hold in your hands is the latest rendition of the elixir we call Dragon's Blood. It is one of the three elixirs used to create Surgeshapers, this one being the source of Venators." Randyl explained, "And don't worry it's not actually blood extracted from a dragon. You can drink it."
Arne brought up the bowl to his mouth and gulped down the entire thing in one sip. It didn't taste bad, actually it didn't have a taste at all. The fluid was flavourless and odourless.
"Nothing happened." Arne noted, "What now?"
Major Randyl and the others had retreated back to the doors. He turned behind to look at Arne, "Now, you must find a way out."
Then he walked inside and the door shut. A way out, Arne thought, what does that mean?
The platform beneath his feet rumbled and split open. Arne's heart froze, and a knot formed in his stomach. Before he could evaluate the situation, he found himself falling in a chasm that was somehow inside the sanctuary. Something snapped inside of him and his vision blacked out.
Arne woke up to the sound of legs cracking, and cracking back into position that was. He rose from the ground and found himself at the bottom of the chasm, surrounded by crystal pillars. Arne was shocked to find out that they cultivated crystal pillars inside Sanctuary, but the Surgeshapers had always said to be a secretive lot and the governor general allowed them an unusual amount of autonomy.
He got to his feet and was surprised to know that they didn't hurt anymore. He was sure that he had felt the bones of his leg and hips break on the impact. On looking down, he found that his skin glowed like that of a...a surgeshaper. Something hit his mind. The fact that it was happening all too quickly. This morning he had left home thinking that it was just a regular day of work but now he found himself conscripted to be surgeshaper whose specific purpose was to survive on the outside and hunt dragons. He retreated to the ground, curling into a ball. It was too much to take at once.
"Hey...give me a hand." a voice creaked from behind him. Arne jumped up and found a boy's head jutting out of a giant chunk of broken crystal. The boy seemed to have used his body's whole strength to keep the crystal from crushing him. Arne rushed to his side, pushing aside the crystal. Surprisingly the crystal rolled after a single push from him. Arne knew that he was stronger than the average person but he was shocked to see this strength in him. What was even more surprising that the boy's body was stuck to the chunk, rolling along with it.
"What...what the hell?" the boy said, trying to pull away.
Arne got closer, "Should I help?"
"Be my guest." the boy grunted, forcing himself to move away from the crystal but they appeared to be stuck together by some kind of adhesive. Arne tried to pull him away but instead ended up pulling the entire crystal.
"This doesn't seem to be working." Arne told the boy, "How in the world did you get stuck here by the way?"
"I tried to latch on to something to break the fall and a crystal pillar was the first thing I found." the boy told, "I didn't know the piece of junk would be too fragile to bear my weight and break off like this."
Arne ignored the second part and focused on the first. He knew that the Dragon Surge had many strange properties, like healing and enhanced senses and strength, but one fact that was commonly known was that the Surge expressed polarity, like a magnet. He raised his hand, which glowed with Surge, and felt the energy right beneath the surface of his skin. He concentrated and tried to distinguish between the two polarities, but nothing seemed to be happening.
"Stop staring at your hand, you weirdo!" the boy yelled.
At that moment something stirred beneath Arne's skin and he could feel the surge separating, the blue light splitting apart from the green one. He took a breath and allowed the green light to surface over his skin. A strong push struck him from the crystal and sent him flying backwards. He hit the ground on his back, but the pain vanished almost as immediately as it appeared. This must be the repulsive polarity, he decided, as he still felt a slight push from the direction of the crystal.
"What just happened?" the boy asked, "How did you get there?"
Arne rose to his feet and looked at his hand, trying to revert back the Surge. With a little focus, the green light receded inside and merged with the blue one to return to its distinct greenish blue color.
"Revert the Surge." Arne told the boy, walking closer to the crystal now that the repulsion had faded, "That should negate the pull to the crystal."
"Revert? Negate?" the boy said irritatedly, "Speak in simple terms."
"Try to relax and calm down," Arne told him, "Take deep breaths."
The boy didn't say anything and tried to follow. After about thirty or forty seconds, Arne noted, the Surge inside him depolarized and he began slipping from the crystal. The boy let out a cry of joy after hitting the ground, then immediately rose to his feet.
"Thanks a lot, man!" the boy grinned, "Your advice was helpful, Mr..."
"Karlsonne," Arne told, "Arne Karlsonne."
"A pleasure meeting you, Arne." the boy told. "I am Evor by the way, Evor Jomsonne."
<msreadoutspan class="msreadout-line-highlight msreadout-inactive-highlight">"Well then, Evor," Arne said, "Let's find a way out <msreadoutspan class="msreadout-word-highlight">now</msreadoutspan>."</msreadoutspan>
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