A white door appeared in front of the boy out of thin air.
The door seemed to be carved out of the same bone as the white tower.
Criiick!
The door opened, pale light emanated from within.
The voice boomed once more.
"Entrant, if you wish to challenge your first trial, step through the door."
The boy shrugged.
Without hesitation, he walked through the pale light.
______________________________________
Deep in a forest.
In the dead of the night.
A symphony of crickets and frogs reached his ears.
The boy looked around but the only thing he could see was trees.
"Hello?"
His voice echoed throughout the forest.
The boy rubbed his hands against each other as the coldness of the night assaulted his bare skin.
He then chose a random direction and started walking.
For how long did he walk? The boy did not know.
He just walked until his legs could take it no more.
He then found a tree to lean on and slept with his arms wrapped around his knees.
_____________________________________
It was evil, it was horrifying, it was insidious and it was menacing.
It chased me everywhere, it hunted me everywhere.
I tried to hide but it was omnipresent, I tried to deceive it but it was the devil himself.
I struggled, I pleaded but I was a mortal in making and thus I shall remain a mortal in death.
I hid till there was nowhere to hide, I ran till there was nowhere to run and I searched till there was nowhere to search.
I was left stranded and tired as I awaited the coming of doom.
In crimson eyes, it encroached my being.
__________________________________
The boy shot up on his feet as cold sweat poured across his face.
He tried to calm his racing heart.
"What a haunting dream!"
The boy sighed and looked around.
The darkness of the night still embraced the forest.
Crack!
The sound of a branch breaking reached the boy's ears.
The boy flinched and looked around but saw no one.
He gulped.
"Anyone out there?"
The boy did not receive any reply.
A chill ran down his spine for the boy could not shake off the feeling that he was being watched.
Crack!
A sound of another branch being broken reached his ears, this time the sound seemed to originate from a closer position than before.
The boy did not wait any longer, he sprinted away in a direction opposite to where the sound came from.
But his unknown watcher seemed to be persistent for wherever the boy ran to, the feeling of being watched seemed to follow.
The boy suddenly stopped.
"Why am I even running? Didn't I want to put an end to my miserable existence?"
With a shake of his head, the boy turned.
"Hi there. I was just wondering if you would like to kill me."
There was a stretch of silence and then a rustling of leaves came from somewhere in front of the boy.
A tall figure slowly came into view.
The figure was about 7 feet in height with long arms.
Each arm had a hand with five fingers that ended with deadly claws.
It was thin with a skin that was black in color.
A piece of brown fur was wrapped around its lower body.
It was bare footed with reverse-jointed legs.
Its head was small with a large part of it being occupied by it mouth.
It was bold with long pointed ears.
Sharp and menacing teeth protruded from its mouth.
The most haunting characteristic of the figure was its small eyes that shone in crimson light.
The boy could not shake off the feeling that the crimson eyes before him were the ones that he saw in his haunting dream.
Its eyes, its crimson eyes were fixed on the boy with a smile playing on its lips.
"Is thy human offering thy sacrifice?"
Its voice was no different from a growl as it was barely understandable.
The boy shuddered.
"While I may not have said anything about sacrifice, I might as well be one."
A sinister laugh came out of the figure's mouth.
"Thy human is quite generous."
The boy shrugged.
"You are welcome."
SWOOSH!
The figure did not give the boy a chance to say anymore because in a blink of an eye it was standing before the boy.
It then stretched its hand and gripped the boy's neck in such a fluid manner that left no room for the boy to react.
The boy grunted as he was lifted off the ground.
The figure easily brought the boy to its eye level.
"Thy Salzati shall accept thy offering."
It then opened its mouth.
Rows of teeth came into view, each of this teeth was yellow and triangular in shape.
Its tongue bloomed like a flower as it divided into six parts each covered in mucus.
Its jaws widened to an abnormal size as the figure seemed determined to consume the boy in one fell swoop.
The figure's mouth slowly descended on the boy.
The boy gazed in horror at the scene happening before his eyes.
"Wait!"
The figure paused.
The boy sighed in relief.
"I just wanted to say that you look...…handsome."
The figure blinked a couple of times, it then resumed its actions.
The boy became unsettled.
"Wait!"
The figure paused again.
Cold sweat poured across the boy's face.
"I know that I wanted to die but I think I will take a pass at being eaten alive."
The figure looked at the boy for long time, it then closed its mouth.
The boy drew in a shaky breath.
A smile more sinister than the one it showed earlier appeared on the figure's face.
"Looks like thy human fears thy Salzati."
The boy nodded wildly.
"Yes, I fear the great Salzati. Now, can you please let me go? I think I need to find another way to die"
The figure laughed.
It then glared at the boy."
Thy human is impudent for thy does not understand thy greatness of thy Salzati."
The boy struggled but the grip on his neck was ironclad.
He tried biting onto the figures hand but its skin seemed like an impenetrable armor.
He tried kicking the figure but it seemed like it was an immovable wall.
The figure's smile turned eerie as it seemed to enjoy the boy's fatal struggles.
The boy looked around for anything that could help him out of his predicament, his predicament of his own making.
That was when the eyes of the boy landed on the figure's crimson eyes.
Without wasting any more time, the boy pocked the figure's eyes.
GROOOWL!
The figure let out a loud growl as it released the boy.
The boy sprinted away the moment he touched the ground.
A voice boomed across the forest.
"Run! Run! Little human but thy can't hide for thy Salzati shall find you."