The exterior of the sect was very different from its luxurious interior; a glacial cold penetrated to the roots of Ducanor's body as he followed his master.
"Let's go," Alana said as she guided Ducanor beyond the gigantic complex that was the Shadow Branch Sect.
After all, the sect was isolated on the Isle of Dawn. This place was practically a snowy paradise, and legends say it was where the ancient Solar Divine Palace fell, although the Lunar Divine Palace was apparently now the headquarters of the Mountain Palace, led by the Dragon Sovereign.
For that reason, a small mystical realm existed on this island, a pocket dimension that held a considerable density of spiritual energy inside and was an extremely good place for training.
And that was the place where Ducanor's exam would take place.
But first, he had to practice something he had avoided for several days.
"Ducanor, first you must learn to borrow the power of your contracted spirit if you want to enter the palace, and for that, I will show you a bit of a spiritist's power," Alana said as she took off her thick coat, revealing a tight combat exosuit.
"Yes, Master," Ducanor replied in a forced tone, while his expression didn't change much despite seeing Alana's figure, although his eyes followed the master's curves, to the latter's satisfaction.
"First of all, I brought some guests..."
Suddenly Ducanor felt extra weight on his back, while a familiar voice sounded in his ears as it covered his eyes.
"Who am I?" shouted Voltia while her cheerful laughter was heard behind him.
"Damn brat, stop bothering me," growled Ducanor while trying to shake off his own True Spirit.
"Incorrect. Come on, I won't let go until you say my name," said Voltia while continuing to cling like an octopus to Ducanor.
"Damn it... Yes, you're Voltia, right," finally surrendering, he felt her let go and finally managed to see again. "For the love of God, I couldn't have gotten a better spirit, ma..."
But before he could continue, a stomp came from his spirit that made him jump back while she chased him furiously: "You're not going to replace Voltia! We're going to be together forever!"
And as she said that, she started chasing him, stomping on his shoes with unusually great force despite her size.
"Don't provoke your spirit, Ducanor; a good spiritist doesn't fight with them," said Alana exasperated while taking off her black-rimmed glasses and suddenly murmuring: "Well, I suppose we can start. Convocatio Carnia."
Alana's simple and direct words caused the duo, spiritist and spirit, to freeze while watching the void open, revealing nothing less than a thin and small figure, not much bigger than Voltia herself.
"Voltia!" she shouted with joy as the figure shot forward and hugged Voltia with great joy.
The girl hugging Voltia had an unusual appearance, just like Voltia herself. She had reddish skin and blue eyes, while her hair was a mop of indigo hair with red thorns sprouting from her head as if it were a hawthorn tree.
"Is that your True Spirit?" asked a stupefied Ducanor upon realizing that this little brat had been summoned by Alana. "Are all True Spirits little girls?"
"Hey!" he heard both Voltia's and the second spirit's voices, but quickly both were distracted when that huge reddish bird appeared just as suddenly.
"Of course not, Ducanor, but obviously many True Spirits with human form prefer to make contracts with women than with men, while in your case," she said while watching Voltia spinning around, "it's a bit special."
"Maybe a bit too special," complained Ducanor.
But then he saw Alana suddenly get into a battle stance. "Well, enough games now. I'm going to teach you the basic skills of a spiritist," and with those words, the training for the Warden exam had begun.
...
In the void, thousands of sinister things moved silently without mortals noticing, and among those things was a white and pristine vessel.
But despite its pristine appearance on the outside, inside it was a scene of blood and metal. Dozens of metal cables covered the ship's interior and, coating it, the golden and silver blood of Aureans and Argenteans covered its interior.
Hearts hung from hooks ending in tubes that collected the still-pulsating blood, while severed brains and heads lived on the edge of life and death to force the organs to produce blood and other nutrients.
"She has left, Creator," said a female voice behind a tall and thin figure like a dry tree trunk.
He had skin pale as a corpse, and when he lifted his face any child would scream in terror: he had no eyes, or at least his eyes weren't where they belonged. Huge nostrils with no sign of a nose covered the center of his face, while two mouths on both sides of his cheeks twisted while ruminating unknown words. But even so, she could feel his gaze.
On his bare torso, dozens of scars and different skin grafts covered his body. At shoulder height, two vertical slits blinked with two pupils each, looking curiously at his creation.
"Go," said the Master of Life Creation with an indifferent tone.
His creation, a female figure in gold and bronze armor with wings of flesh and metal, knelt before him and nodded, disappearing in an instant, melting into the void itself, while her master smiled. Not because of her departure.
But because of what was about to begin.
"Oh, my old friend, the moment we have both been waiting for has arrived. I wonder if you would dare to take that final step," he said with an expression distorted from any mortal emotion. "You don't know how much I look forward to it."
...
The landscape in the sect's outer domains was full of life despite the cold; dozens of students, servants, and slaves of different races and jobs swarmed like a great hive around the sect. It was practically a city in itself.
And finally the day had arrived: Ducanor would have to take his Warden exam. For this exam, there had to be a supervisor and, to his discomfort and zero surprise, it was none other than Alana.
"Let's go, Ducanor, your journey as a Warden begins today," said Alana with much more emotion than Ducanor himself.
They finally arrived at a sort of enclosure, where there was a multitude of beasts and animals of different types. Ducanor managed to recognize several, but one of them caught his attention.
"A steppe horse," said Ducanor surprised.
"Yes, a steppe horse. Some say it can cover almost a hundred kilometers in an hour, or in almost half an hour through tall grass," commented Alana with a smile while stroking one of the horses. "So, giddy up! Do you know how to ride?"
...
With a great pain in his ass, besides being relatively tired from riding a horse for so long, at this point Ducanor, together with Alana, was about to reach the location of what was the Solar Divine Palace.
Throughout the journey, Ducanor had tried to ask about the exam's content, but Alana's answer had always been a sort of mysterious smile, as she had practically avoided answering his question saying it was a surprise.
But he had suspected the exam's content for some time.
He had tried to ask people who had already passed it for clues, but like Alana, they avoided answering clearly, although apparently, it was a practical challenge; that is, it would be a fight. Although against what he would fight, even he didn't know.
"We have arrived," said Alana suddenly, after quite some time had passed.
Surprised at those words, he looked around with a doubtful tone, because practically in this place there was nothing, apart from a wooded mountain covered in tall trees with leafy crowns covered in white snow.
"This place?" said Ducanor while frowning.
"Yes, this place," replied Alana with a mischievous expression.
Suddenly she began to perform some hand seals, in addition to reciting a sort of spell in an unknown language, when suddenly the air in front of her opened revealing a humanoid figure of unknown identity.
It was totally covered with a robe bordered in green and gold that hid its face and body, except for wooden antlers that escaped its hood and seemed to come out of its head.
"Name," growled the figure.
"Alana Jagger," replied his master with a slight nod to the figure.
"Alana..." replied the figure in a choppy tone, as if about to choke. "The entrance to the first level is open. It will depend on his luck if he can survive. Remember," this time looking at Ducanor, "death is possible in this realm."
And after saying those words, the void distorted again, but this time forming a portal that sucked in the old man's figure. And not only him, but an unknown attraction force began to pull him forward.
"Don't resist, Ducanor. Your exam begins now."
And at that moment the colors died.