"Come on, hurry up!"
It felt as if Asahi carried the weight of the world on his back.
An object so heavy that not even his intense training could bear him up.
It shared the shape of a chair comprised of hardened stone and jewels, heavy enough to crush those who were not strong enough. Asahi gripped the chair's arms and hoisted it onto his back as he hiked, straining under its weight.
After the meeting and the earlier strange occurrence—dark, swirling clouds silencing everything—Toivo decided to test Asahi. This new trial was harsher than any before, posing a challenge even to the best.
Traveling through a lush forest opening, Toivo led Asahi, Brunella, Canyon, and the others to a stunning location teeming with life.
A blue river meandered its way through the landscape, feeding the plants that grew closest to its sandy banks. Birds flew across the mist that sharply encircled this plateau as the sun shone brightly in a clear blue sky.
At Toivo's command, Asahi carefully approached the bluff's edge. He adjusted his grip on the weighty chair, slowly inching forward until the river came into view far below.
"Alright, now put the chair down. I recommend you use your legs, not your back."
After hearing that, Asahi shot Toivo a glare brimming with frustration and pain. His bare midsection, marked by grime, bruises, and scars—the evidence of countless trials—shone angrily beside the swirling S tattooed on his lower back. Yet, in his eyes blazed stubborn defiance; he refused to let defeat show.
Yet still, defeat never crossed his mind; Asahi pushed harder, stubbornly chasing the strength he craved, rage and determination lighting his eyes.
Now tall and muscular, Asahi gripped the chair, bending his knees to take advantage of his stance. He lowered his body in a swift yet controlled movement, readying himself to move the burden.
During his time in the mansion, Asahi had focused solely on training his upper body, neglecting his lower half.
The heavy stone walls of the mansion had been marked by his persistent effort and the weights he'd lifted daily.
However, a recent black shockwave incident had left an indelible mark on him, both physically and emotionally.
The mysterious wave had swept through the land, leaving a trail of destruction and shadow over the landscape.
The world seemed to be still for a moment, enveloped in an eerie silence as it passed. Asahi, caught in its wake, had felt an inexplicable pressure, as if the very air was closing in around him.
Despite the unsettling event, Toivo immediately noticed Asahi's physical imbalance and decided to put him through this grueling test.
In Toivo's eyes, this challenge was not just a physical trial, but an opportunity for Asahi to confront the lingering shadows of the incident.
The weight of the stone chair slipped down Asahi's spine, leaving fresh red marks and bruises all over his body.
His cheeks flushed with anger as an overwhelming force pushed him toward the ground. Around him, worried voices called out in response.
"Asahi, are you alright?"
"Is he going to be okay?" Said a high-pitched voice.
Toivo responded quickly by stepping in front of the others, pushing them away from Asahi. With a harsh, icy expression, he shouted at the group to keep their distance.
"Leave this young man alone. I'm doing this for a reason, not for all of you to ruin it."
Even with despair clawing at his resolve, Asahi forced his feet into the ground, fighting the crushing weight with shaking limbs.
Using trembling muscles and unsteady legs, Asahi lowered the stone chair to the ground.
The plants beneath flattened under its mass, pebbles scattering from its impact.
Sweat streamed down Asahi's face as he caught his breath and lifted his gaze into the harsh sunlight.
"Why is it so hot all of a sudden?" Asahi mumbled as he slid his hand against his forehead. "It's almost unbearable."
"That doesn't matter," Toivo added as he applauded him, staring at each bruise on his face. "Excuses only hold you back. You will not melt like a snowball anyway."
After hearing Toivo's words, Asahi sealed his lips shut. Faced with the logic of Toivo's argument, Asahi chose silence, unable to refute him. This allowed Toivo the space to continue explaining.
"What you are doing right now serves as a test to see how strong your heart truly is. You can't give in to the pain and discomfort of this world. That's why you need to take this challenge seriously. If you don't, you won't survive among the other nations of this world."
The other team members nodded silently, their expressions serious. Each felt a gut instinct to look away, as if this situation would be more painful than they could imagine.
As silence filled the air, the sun beat down on Asahi, making his skin sting and his eyes water.
He stared at the ground as his grip on the chair weakened with each passing second. Just before he collapsed, a sudden shout jolted him.
"I'll tell you something else, too,"
Toivo said, looking at Asahi with a stern expression.
"I have no idea if you're human or not. However, please be aware that humans are a relatively weak species compared to the other races inhabiting this world. They suffer just like you.
Take, for example, even if you've lived in this world for years, you haven't really experienced true hardship."
Toivo paused after regaining his posture, fixing his gaze on Asahi before continuing.
Analyzing Toivo's piercing glare and the fluid movement of his hair, Asahi could see that Toivo was serious. Asahi took a deep breath, and as one of Toivo's hair bristles drifted into the wilderness, Toivo continued speaking.
"No matter how strong you might think you are, no matter how much strength you've gained here, you will never know true agony until you experience it." He said as he turned over to the group. "Isn't that right, my people?"
Upon his question, Canyon, Joshilyn, Brunella, and even Kendra all nodded their heads in agreement, as if each one of them had experienced such suffering. With that moment engraved in Asahi's mind, Toivo scratched his blue-haired beard in confidence and steered his gaze back at Asahi.
"It is indeed so." He said. "If you really want to try and wander this world, then you must endure this. Much like all my students in the past, even Kendra."
The mention of the maid immediately caught Asahi's attention.
"Kendra?!" Asahi trembled as he felt the chair push his back.
Toivo lightly chuckled and nodded.
"Yes. Even she… was trained. Now. I want you to go back to that chair. Alright?"
"Understood, sir," Asahi replied as he returned to the stone throne.
As the silent breeze passed by, making the situation awkward than it already was, the blue-haired wise man stood there silently, staring at the chair. All the group's eyes were locked on the chair, waiting for anything to happen in the quietness.
A few moments of tense silence passed. Asahi turned toward Toivo, took a shaky breath, and asked his question.
"What are you doing? Are you not going to sit on it?"
"No," Toivo said, shaking his head and suppressing a devious smile. He placed his hand against Asahi's shoulder, leaned over to his ear, and whispered. "I want you to throw it into the river."
Asahi's eyes widened in surprise at the demand. The demand itself was baffling, considering just how long it took to carry it here.
"WHAT?!" Asahi roared, eyes blazing with aggravated disbelief. "Are you insane?! All that pain just for this?!"
"To amplify your strength, of course," Toivo replied with a flawless smirk. "Now. Throw it. Or the training session will end."
Realizing the risk of suspension from the training he had endured for days, Asahi wiped dirt from his eyes. Determined, he clutched the chair's base, looked at Toivo, and nodded in agreement.
"Okay." He said with trembling breaths. "If you say so."
He squatted down and gripped the chair's reinforced base with trembling hands. Pressure shot through his legs, making his head throb as he tried lifting the impossibly heavy stone throne.
His eyes watered and his limbs shook, nearing collapse.
But, to everyone's shock, he managed to lift the throne's base off the ground.
(Yes! Now's... my chance!)
Irritated and on the edge of collapse, Asahi's lips split into a wild, exhausted grin as he heaved the heavy stone chair upward. His defiance radiated in the shock it sent through the group—a rush of desperate triumph.
"There's no way..." Canyon mumbled with his shrunken eyes.
"Impossible," Brunella uttered as she took two steps back.
Though Asahi's actions were to grab many people's attention, only a few had spoken out. Kendra, Realma, and even Toivo (the instructor himself) were speechless at what they witnessed.
Not long after, the group heard Asahi's victorious screams resound across every corner of the valley as he kept his arms locked in a powerful position.
Then, after he had slowly tilted the chair and his body over to the sinking valley, Asahi launched his legs upward and hurled the chair into the air with all his might, screaming.
"AHHHHH!"
After the world heard his elongated scream, Asahi took three stumbling steps backward and exhaustingly watched with the others as the stone throne made its swift descent.
The tip scraped the air, the fog, and finally the teal surface.
A blossom-shaped splash rose into the air as the group watched it speedily plummet into the river and shatter into the huge river below.
Following the impact came a deafening crash that reverberated throughout the entire vast valley.
A sound that matched a collision from a meteor.
The aftermath of the collision startled every animal in the area, disturbing the inner peace for a moment, leaving the group with shocked expressions. It was truly something monumental.
. . .
Seconds after, Toivo and the group hurriedly pulled Asahi back up and applauded him.
"Outstanding performance!" Brunella said as she crossed her arms.
"There's nothing more I can say but... wow," Canyon mumbled, looking over at the clear blue sky.
Kendra covered her mouth with her hand, her azure eyes bulging in surprise. Speechless, she hunched over to the ground and blinked rapidly, in disbelief at this occurrence.
"Are my eyes... lying? Did that boy actually do it?" She whispered with a hidden admiring grin. "He's... a lot stronger than I expected."
While the intriguing tone ceased, Asahi retrieved his sanity and analyzed the situation. He noticed that all the group's faces carried a sense of wonder and awe after that moment, as if they were shocked that a boy like Asahi could manage to pull off such a feat.
(Unbelievable.)
Toivo whispered aloud in his mind.
("I never thought this day would ever come. I suppose I can conclude that Asahi learned he could utilize his upper-body strength to compensate for his lower-body weakness.
In fact, I could see his legs bulging with strength. Now THAT is determination. Unlike my other students, Asahi truly IS someone special.")
As Asahi stood there, flabbergasted, his feet rooted into the ground, the group cleared their path for the wise green-haired man to walk through.
"Excellent performance!"
Toivo said to Asahi as he clapped his hands, stepping forward with a proud smile.
"Though you may not have shown it earlier, I can see that those exercises and practices have worked out for you. Any more, and your physical strength could possibly match mine!"
"Really?" Asahi said with rounded eyes.
"No," Toivo answered with a prideful chuckle. "You have proven yourself that you are strong, that much I can say. But I'm afraid that it's going to take something more to get to my level of strength."
As Asahi's excitement began to die down, Toivo's green-blue eyes anchored over to Kendra before steering over to the exhausted white-haired boy, saying with absolute seriousness.
"However, you shall focus on that later. You have another trial to attend to."
"Another trial...?" Asahi stammered with a raised eyebrow and breaths of exhaustion. "What do you mean?"
"You see that river, right?" Toivo asked Asahi as he led him over to the sharp edge of the cliff. "The one that's full of rocks and debris?"
Asahi nodded silently, urging Toivo to continue with a louder tone.
"Good. You're going to have to climb down the cliff and swim across to the other side of that river."
"Swim? Across a river?"
"Indeed. You will have to swim across the river with the remaining strength I have. But I'm not too worried. You're a strong young man yourself; you'll find a way eventually. Almost every student of mine does."
Toivo replied as he shrugged his shoulders, chuckling uneasily.
"Heh.. I didn't really expect you to react that way. Something about swimming frightens you?"
In addition to the sentence, Asahi clenched his jaw in fear.
Because of Toivo's question, a chain reaction of traumatic recollections of Asahi's awakening to this world occurs in his mind.
Each memory strikes with vivid intensity: the chilling embrace of the salty ocean, pressing in from all sides, an endless expanse of water where Asahi found himself adrift.
Schools of fish darted by, their scales shimmering in the dim sunlight filtering through the depths.
He vividly recalled the sting of saltwater in his eyes, the choking sensation as he struggled to draw breath, and the clusters of bubbles that fled his mouth with each desperate gasp.
The cold, chilling floor of the deep was a constant reminder of his isolation and vulnerability in this new, unforgiving world.
Asahi blinked, trying to shake off the lingering sensation of weightlessness, but the memories pulled at him, a tether to his past that he could not easily sever.
Although there were many times Asahi wanted to tell the truth about what he had felt during that awakening, when Aletha wasn't around, he usually covered up the event with a lie. And as an illustration of his frightened face, Asahi replied simply.
"No."
As Tovio held his arms tight to his body, he angled away from Asahi and narrowed his eyes down at his feet with suspicion. A cold air of speculation entered in between them; a storm of thoughts burst into everyone's mind.
But just before Asahi could utter anything else, Toivo hurriedly swept the suspicious atmosphere aside and hollered.
"Ah. Then this trial should be a walk in the park for you." He said as he relaxed his posture and knelt down to get a better view. "You know, Asahi, every student who has ever come to my mansion before you... had to endure this exact trial. Even me."
"Strange," Asahi mumbled as he reeled back toward the others. "So... after this, I will receive a medal? Or reward? Or any clear indication of me passing your so-called trials."
Toivo nodded his head unevenly as if unsure of his own reward..
"Yeah. Something like that."
. . .
After the awkward silence, Canyon approached Asahi and patted him on the back, congratulating him with a radiant smile.
"Good job, Asahi."
Following him, Joshilyn, despite having been silent for quite some time, lifted her spoon out from her mouth and smiled.
"Excellent work. Not even an adventurer like me could accomplish something like that."
Even Kendra decided to cheer him on.
"You did an amazing job! Keep it up!"
Being showered with praise, Asahi felt a surge of confidence emerge within him. However, the moment was cut short when Telos stepped in and rushed.
"Alright, let's go, Asahi." He said, crossing his arms in impatience.
"Huh?"
"You heard me. This is just the beginning."
. . .
After the brief celebration, the group and Asahi followed Tovio deeper into the valley, where they clambered over rocks and stepped through crevices along the cliff's edge to reach the river below.
While others may have questioned his motivations, Asahi only saw the benefits of his candor.
Asahi stared at the water. The river looked deep and wide. But more importantly, he couldn't imagine himself swimming through the murky water, where anything could lurk beneath the surface.
"Alright, this is where your next trail begins," Toivo informed as he stood at the shore, watching the fish swim underwater. "Just cross that river toward the other side of that valley, and your trial will be finished."
. . .
But all of that changed as soon as Asahi stepped foot into the clear liquid.
. . .
(Minutes after…)
Rolling rocks stomped on tufts of grass. Trees started to topple down and crash into the river. Something ominous was brewing.
A white-haired man appeared beyond, racing over the riverbed while clinging to the handle of a blade. He climbed the rock pillars quickly, panting heavily the whole way. Then he looked down and saw that he was no longer near the river.
This rising mountain was simply too tall to fathom in its entirety.
In spite of this red herring, Asahi kept his nerves in check and gazed upward. Giant scarlet birds flew overhead, tossing additional rocks into the river. This is what he believed at the time.
"What's going on?" Why is the ground shaking like that?"
Suddenly, a voice inside his head responded to him.
In his mind, Asahi heard a voice, which he quickly recognized as Telos, an ancient magical entity linked to him for guidance. "It would seem as if the chair you had thrown triggered something to happen. Thus, it gave this result."
As he crossed a bridge of rock pillars overhead, seeing the waters of the river sink and drain into the opening crevices, Asahi stopped in his tracks and mumbled.
"Where is everyone?"
Asahi clung to the rocks as he descended the tower. But just as he thought he was safe, blue light began shining off the underlying rock mountain.
There were groans and cracks as rocks broke apart like diamonds. Looking around, he heard everyone call out to Asahi.
"Be careful!"
He dropped his blade and fumbled to get down the weird mountain he was on, completely befuddled. Unexpectedly, he stumbled and hit his head on the hard stone, causing him to almost fall unconscious.
As the ground beneath him shook and the cerulean light began to encircle him, wounds began to develop all over his body.
Even now, there was one thing he couldn't ignore. He was still standing on this spinning, living, dangerous rock.
Yet, the ominous rumble beneath his feet hinted at something far worse lurking ahead.
Asahi felt an unsettling jolt within him, as if the very essence of the land was challenging his resolve.
He knew a critical choice awaited him, and with every tremor, the shadow of an emerging threat loomed larger, demanding his attention.