Rain had started to pour down, first in drips, then heavily. The announcing voice of the trial had ceased, but its words still echoed in his mind, gentle yet gut-wrenching. Because he had blood on his hands now. Even if this individual was a conjured thing by the trial, the blood and the struggle felt utterly real. He sighed, a half-choked sound, almost as if he was mourning the person.
"Lucid, you have to understand... it was either him or you... and I cannot let such a precious soul as yours slip away from me."
The voice inside his head was compassionate and gentle, a stark contrast to the atrocity it had committed.
"Reading your thoughts, I know these people are not real... the trial is meant to conclude an event, not solve the matter at hand. So please, hide. There is very little time remaining. One minute." She sounded desperate and urgent. Lucid couldn't ignore her, even though he wanted to. He heard her loud and clear.
He sighed, wiping away a mix of blood and tears on his face, thinking only one thing.
'One minute...'
With Alice's powers now entirely used up, he only had himself, an ordinary human, fragile, almost at the brink of death. He scrambled to his feet, holding his left shoulder, limping.
"I... need to go. Fast, fast," he uttered under his breath. The entire altercation had only taken a minute; the past two minutes showed how deadly close combat was and how quickly everything could end. Had it not been for Alice, Lucid would probably not have come out of it. And now, not much time remained.
"Lucid! Listen to me!" the voice pleaded. She whispered compassionately, "Hide... it's okay."
He continued, pain pulsing with each step, until he reached a massive tree. He looked up and had a single, desperate thought: 'Please work.' Taking a single wood plank from his pocket, he started to make a fire using the guard's dagger. His hands pulsed with pain from the deep stab wound, but he kept going.
"Argh!! Please... work!!!!!" he yelled through his teeth, desperation now clawing at his insides.
An ember started to come out, fragile and slight. He scrambled forward onto his knees, blowing on it gently, covering it with dry purple grass.
"Lucid..." the voice called again, unsure, confused, and worried.
Fire started to consume the grass, wrapping around the base of the tree. He quickly hid himself within the hollow at its roots.
"Please come out..." he waited and waited, the flames starting to reach up and around the trunk.
In the distance, the rebels were charging at the army, while the army maintained a unified march, their spears held at regular intervals. They were now less than fifty meters from meeting each other.
"Do not yield!" the rebel leader yelled.
Smoke started to rise from the forest, noticeable but of little concern to the armies. But after a moment, a ground-shaking crack could be heard, as if something massive was protuding from the ground, rising up like a boulder hitting the earth.
Both sides stopped in their tracks, looking toward the forest where smoke billowed up and out.
"What is going on..." one of the men said.
A massive, blood-curdling screech echoed from within the forest, so loud it made some people fall to their knees while others held their ears.
"What is that!"
A massive leg shot out, followed by two, three, four more, all attached to a single body in the center. It was a gigantic spider, something that seemed to have been in a deep slumber, now awakened. Its multiple eyes scanned the area, fixing on the open grass field.
A Fallen usually followed a concentration of Fate Essence, and what better source than two armed groups of hundreds of people in the same place? The area practically reeked of it. The ground shook, rattling bones as the creature started to move toward where the two armies were. Everyone was frozen fast, the rebel army, the empire's army. Some started to run, breaking their formations.
"That... is... a monster!!! Everyone, run!!!" the general, the commander of the army, called out.
"Everyone, retreat!!!!" he shouted.
Both groups ran in opposite directions, minutes from killing each other, minutes from spilling blood. The giant spider broke into the open grass field, leaving behind a trail of overturned trees. It looked to its left and right, deciding whom to follow. Since the imperial army was larger in number, it followed them.
The rebel group of Demi-humans stopped and looked behind them, shouting happily, shouting as if they had won.
"Victory!!!" the rebel leader yelled.
"Mother Alisia has answered our prayers!!" he yelled triumphantly.
As others started to hug and gesture their arms in victory, for it was a victory, given how disadvantaged they had seemed.
Just outside the forest, at the edge of the open grass field, Lucid sat down on the ground, looking over the scene. He had managed to avoid one of the worst events in history and had crafted something else entirely. Though this was a trial, who was to say they wouldn't return? But by then, they would be ready, at least, that's what seemed to happen in the future. A minute had passed, more like fifty seconds, and he was utterly tired, blood loss, sweat, and wounds too deep to heal. It was a miracle he was standing.
"Lucid, you... you did it.." the voice chimed in, sounding quite unsure of itself.
He looked down at his hands, which were glowing bright white as white motes of light flew up into the air. The trial had concluded... but he felt mad.
"Alice.."
"Yes, Lucid? What is it?"
"Why did you move my body like that?"
"I was trying to ensure your survival..."
"You killed that man with my hands."
"I didn't give you consent..."
"As I read your mind, I recalled what was asked of us: 'Conclude the event.' By staying still, even though it would have been a selfish measure, you could have let them clash, and one side would have made it out. That is a conclusion in itself, Lucid..."
"Alice... there are ways to clear a trial. Ways that are efficient and ways that are not. By doing that, we would have ensured our survival and concluded it. But we would have gained nothing form it... I am trying to get home, I'm also trying to awaken as an enlightened as well... and you almost screwed it up."
As he looked up, a screen of white shadow with black letters formed before him.
***
Trial has concluded.
Participant: Alice, The Divine Maiden.
Rank: Primordial.
Fate Essence: ∞
Trait: ███████▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒
Description: Lost in time and space... Error... Error... This message cannot be revealed further.
***
It faded, its white, shadowy form carried away like flames on the wind. A cold, indifferent voice resounded in his head, announcing what he had done.
Trial concluded.
Objective: Conclude the event.
Trial rank: B
Time: 24 hours.
***
Performance: Stellar.
Vanquished foe: 1.
Duration: 4 minutes.
Reward: 50,000 Fate Essence.
Ascension: Error. Cannot awaken nor ascend.
May your journey lead you toward enlightenment.
***
'Lucid... you did a splendid job,' Alice sounded impressed.
Thinking about it, he hadn't done too badly. He had gotten a Stellar performance. He recalled the performance ranks for a trial: 'Unremarkable, Average, Outstanding, Stellar, Miraculous.' There were more beyond that, but during his time with his previous group, those were the only ones he had heard of, and he had gotten the next best rank. The rank depended on the objective. The objective was to conclude the event, and the more differently the event unfolded from what happened in the past, the better the rank performance. These ranks also provided a generous amount of Fate Essence and more. If Lucid had stayed in the forest and done nothing, ultimately letting the army kill the rebels, he would have probably gotten an 'Unremarkable.' So, in a sense, he didn't do it for the rebel group; he did it for himself, so he could grow stronger, so could awaken and prove that he could do it too.
The world collapsed on itself, replaced by blackness. Lucid's mind splintered, and he fell down into the depths of unconsciousness as the voice finally stopped announcing his details. Briefly he regained his consciousness, It was like falling down a black void, similar to when he first arrived in this world. It was comforting and very quiet. But he was in a terrible state now; since Alice had stopped healing him, old wounds reopened, wounds all over his thigh, his shoulder, his collarbone, his chest, his left ear. They were non-life-threatening; luckily, he had avoided his vitals. But considering how he did in a Sentrum rift as a non-Awakened, a non-Enlightened, maybe his leader had a reason for stopping him from entering the expeditions. A normal human could never make it out of a trial, no matter what. Lucid was lucky. Lucky because of Alice. Had it not been for her, he would have met his end with that guard. But alas, there are tons of 'what ifs.' There is no use in pondering what could have been done. As he fell down, he thought that the only thing that mattered was that he finished the job. And that was it. Then again the way Alice had controlled him at that moment left a bitter taste on his tongue.
'You did amazing. I am so proud of you... I feel myself one step closer to who I was,' the voice echoed.
"Shut it," Lucid said bluntly.
"Leave my body." He was serious now.