After the horrifying display of brutality by the pirate captain Ragnar, the rest of the crew were directed to loot whatever they could in the little village.
The smell of ash and blood mixed in the air to form a nauseating smell.
The pirates celebrated as they took gold, and even rare materials that Harley haven't heard of before. None of them seemed to bother about the carnage that just occured.
Harley made his way into the room where he was healed by the prophetess and he couldn't help but shake his head, looking around. There were a few portraits of the prophetess with many of the village members celebrating during events.
'Well, they were living their best lives during a war. It had to catch up with them someday…' Harley closed his eyes, realizing that he didn't feel, even a little bit of remorse for the people that died today.
They were all illusions after all.
'Hm.' Harley raised a brow as he spotted a small silver compass open on the desk. He picked it up, looking around as, instead of a compass, there was an image of… him and the prophetess.
As it touched his hand, a melodic, almost feminine voice resounded in his ears.
{You have obtained a new artifact – The wish Locket. If you wish to see the details, simply will to see it}
Harley looked at the artifact, the circular frame had beautiful, immaculate carvings resembling a flower. It looked like it was carved with sharp precision, simply looking pleasing to the eyes.
With a thought to see the details of the artifact, a paper looking like the one the oracle gave him for his records, appeared in front of him.
[Name: The wish Locket
Category: Artifact
Type: Accessory
Rank: Heroic (Ready for evolution)
Echoes: 7
Status: In it's weakest form.
Growth: Requires the strings of control.
Description: A silver locket containing a mirror that reflects no faces, only memories and unfinished wishes.
A wandering jester, served a god who embodied contradiction. Said god granted his servant the locket, with a story. "You will remember what the world tries to forget."
Thus, the locket serves as a grave for the forgotten, and a prison for the unfulfilled. The servant tried to peek into the truth of the Locket, she screamed once, tore out her own eyes, and lived the rest of her life seeing lies and endings.
Verses 2/7 (Incomplete)
Verse 1 [Mortal]: "Show me what I wanted"
Echo: Wish
Effect: This reveals the bearers most desired memory.
Verse 2 [Heroic]: Kneel, and be remembered
Echo: Subjugation
Effect: All absorbed story fragments are instantly subjugated and transformed into essence.]
'Wow. Its… so confusing.' Harley stared at the information on the script, confused and fascinated.
Being a reporter, he himself had written stories of wardens summoning supernatural powers with artifacts. Now there was one in his hand.
There were a lot of things he didn't understand from reading the description of the artifact though.
Throughout his time working as a miner, then as a circus clown, he had heard stories of the wardens and their feats, but never an explanation for anything.
'I filtered out the boring stuff as a reporter, didn't know that one day I would need the knowledge.' he shook his head.
Harley never expected for someone like him to be chosen by the oracle, after all, his life was rather bland and uneventful.
He put the locket inside his shirt, choosing to find out how it works later. There were much more important matters he had to think about.
'I have to escape before I get caught.' Harley thought, looking in the direction of the village entrance.
Every second that he hanged around these pirates increased the level of risk that he took.
"Do you think the captain would let us go back to the kingdom?" A soft, nearly childish voice came from the entrance.
Harley turned to see the young man he spoke to while the captain burned all those people alive.
The skinny young man walked into the shed with an obvious curiosity, scanning the place with a smile on his face.
"Hm… why wouldn't we?" Harley responded, going ahead to search the room for anything useful there.
"You're right. We have already captured part of the main attack force of the resistance army. Our mission is done," The young man yawned, pocketing a golden hairpin he saw on a desk.
"Hm." Harley nodded, playing along when hearing many unfamiliar terms was weird for him.
In that moment, a funny joke came to his head and he smiled to himself, looking back at the young man that was ransacking the room.
'Nah, this is no time for jokes.' he thought, clearing his throat.
"Hey, I used to be a miner before I joined the pirates, can you tell me what started the war in the first place, many of the other guys didn't want to explain it." Harley turned to look at the guy to see him who turned, staring right at him with a confused look on his face.
"You don't know what started the war?"
Harley's lips twitched under the collar of the shirt he was wearing.
'Oh gee, I wonder why I don't know.' He rolled his eyes internally, while nodding with a curious gaze.
"Yes…"
"Well, I don't know either. Hahahahha… I'm just here to eat. Hahaha…"
Harley didn't even react frowning so deeply that the young man flinched.
Seeing that Harley wasn't joking at all the guy straightened, clearing his throat.
"Okay, alright, alright. Here's how it started, but you should really try to appreciate jokes more. Oh, and two more questions… where you born with those eyes, and what type of women do you like?"
…
"Round up! We're setting sail! Jin, to your post!" A pirate with a scarred face wearing a scarf announced, heading towards the ship.
"Well, I gotta run." The young man who followed Harley around suddenly stood up and walked towards the ship.
"Phew." Harley heaved a sigh of relief. He squinted his eyes as he saw two bloodied sickles strapped behind the boys belt.
This made Harley close his eyes, as he remembered that he killed one of the pirates in the weapon shed.
He remembered the scared look on the pirates face when the dagger had it him.
'Doesn't matter. If it's me or anyone, I would choose me every time of the day.' Harley looked away.
{You have found the second scenario location!}
A sweet, scary voice reached his ears, making him freeze in his tracks. Then... The voice came again.
{Second scenario location is the pirate ship!}
Harley gritted his teeth, looking at almost fifty metres long ship floating on shore behind the village.
'Oh hell no.' Harley shook his head.
Now he wondered if the Oracle was indeed trying to kill him with this trial. If the second scenario was indeed on the ship, there would surely expose him, and he'll be killed.
'Although I can change my voice, I can't change my looks.'
He had to think of a way to continue from here. But no matter how hard he thought, he couldn't go around the second scenario.
Then, it clicked.
'Wait, where do I find the creature that I'm supposed to kill? And the ship is heading somewhere, and all the trials are connected.' A frown dawned on his face.
If he goes on that ship he could suffer the same fate if he's not careful. But if he ignores it and let the time waste, he didn't know what was going to happen once the time limit reaches zero.
'If the time limit hits zero, it's obvious that I will fail the trial.' His body shuddered at the thought of failing the trial.
The Oracle itself was a very brutal entity that sends people to die. So it's obvious what would happen to him.
"I have to make a choice." He turned fully to the ship and raised his collar.
Staring straight with a cold stare, Harley made a decision.
His purple eyes scanned the surroundings
The young man—Jin—gave him the information he sought but couldn't stop talking about a popular bar that has the most beautiful women in the kingdom that they were supposed to head to. That was only half of the talk, the other half he kept simping for Harley's eye color, talking about wanting his kids to have those eyes!
And Harley had to play along the entire time!
'According to Jin, this world and all its kingdoms were at war with each other. One day, the prophets in the world received messages from their respective gods to wage war on the others.' Harley scoffed, most of the things he heard were so serious he was wondering if this was really a first trial.
From what he knew, first trials were supposed to be hard, but also passable. Not borderline impossible like his.
He is literally walking on nails, being around these people that would kill him if they ever find him out.
Currently, Camelot was winning the war, but their allied kingdom has been taken over by a sorcerer serving the shadow god directly. And that's where the pirates are currently heading.
'Still doesn't tell me what a godsworn is though. And where it is.' He stood up, heading back to the ship.
The ship the pirates used was enormous. Just the visible part was over ten meters tall, not including the hull and the rest of it.
...
Harley hesitated at the base of the gangplank, his eyes scanning the deck. Captain Ragnar's gaze was fixed on him, a wide grin spreading across his scarred face.
'Has he figured me out,' Harley thought, frowning as he climbed the plank and boarded the ship.
People had all sorts of mystical powers, so he couldn't think about any other reason why the captain was staring at him.
'He definitely knows.' he turned around, ready to descend back and enter the woods.
Before he could take another step, rough hands grabbed him from both sides, yanking him into the deck.
"Grab him!"
He twisted, knocking one of the men with his elbow. He pulled the second arm grabbing him, throwing him onto his back with force.
"Stop him."
It was all so sudden, before he could take another step a blade swung to his front, blocking his way. Multiple pirates gathered around the gangplank, all of them held weapons now.
"Did you really think you could blend in?! You don't even have the aura of shadow! Filthy Chaff!" Ragnar's voice bellowed, making him grit his teeth.
Two men surrounded him, pulling him to the ground.
The wood of the deck scraped against his palms as he struggled, but there were too many of them.
"Well, at least I tried." Harley muttered under his breath as the pirates pinned him down.
They tore off the pirate jacket, revealing a brown knitted shirt. A cold steel blade pressed against his neck, and Harley felt a deep nauseating feeling in his stomach.
'What did I expect? It's a trial with a 0% chance of survival. It's meant to be passed by someone extraordinary... Would I reincarnate again?' He closed his eyes, feeling the blade of the cutlass lifted off his neck for a swing.
"Wait!" the captain barked, his voice cutting through the wind. "Stop!"
The pirates froze instantly, stopping to look at the captain for further instructions.
Harley's eyes met the captain's. There, he saw a woman in a red dress close to the captain, smiling as she caressed his chest.
Her blonde hair complimented her fair skin, the dress did so little to hide her tantalizing curves.
The captain leaned forward. "Jesters were in charge of entertainment in the old days. So, can you make us laugh?"
Harley blinked. His mind spun—'laughter? At a time like this?'
He forced a shaky smile, then muttered something that, to his own surprise, twisted into a joke.
"Ah. Old man Lin was pronounced dead. But he didn't reveal to the people what he saw in the other side, guess why?"
"Because he's dead!"
The pirates erupted into laughter, loud and harsh, echoing across the deck. Even the captain's grin widened, eyes glinting with amusement.
'Oh. Who knew this would come in hand?' Harley smiled, he thought about this when he was with the young man in the village.
"Well, well," the captain said, clapping his hands once. "Seems you've got some spirit after all. You'll entertain us on this voyage, you owe your remaining life to my lady. Keep us laughing, and maybe you'll see another sunrise."
Harley exhaled, chest heaving. Relief washed over him, but it was shallow.
Wasn't he ready to die a minute ago?
The pirates shoved him toward the dark, iron-bound dungeon below deck. The scent of salt, rust, and old sea wood filled his nose as the heavy hatch slammed shut behind him.
'So this is my life now,' Harley thought, straining to see in the dim light.
'Entertainment… and a cell. Great.'
He sat on the hard wooden floor, the echo of laughter above still ringing in his ears. The feeling of the blade hadn't left his neck, only the constant reminder of the captain's control.
Harley let out a simple sigh, feeling all around him. He seemed to be in a metallic cage. It eas so dark he wondered how those pirates were able to see down here.
And as the ship rocked gently on the waves, he began to plan. He pulled out the vial of black substance he gained from the pirate he killed, reading the description again.
[Name: Liquid shadow
Rank: Mortal
Category: Consumable item
Description: Drink the liquid to be able to manipulate a shadow item. Other effects include being able to see in dark places.]
There had to be only one reason that the pirates didn't search him.
They did not consider him a threat, not even a bit.
This trial was turning out to be quite the experience for him. He was already tired of trying to survive it.
He opened the vial, drinking the liquid inside without hesitation.
He felt a refreshing sensation wash over him as the contents passed his throat. All of a sudden the area around him became clear.
On the other side of this dark place there were dozens of barrels stacked in one side.
And on his side, there were cages, holding people.
Harley's mind immediately went back to what the young man Jin spoke about before.
'He said that they captured the main attack force of the resistance army. 1... 3... 6 people?' He wondered.
Six people were a threat?
Having a lot of questions, Harley banged on the iron softly. The man in the next cell, hair ruffled and wild, shifted, looking back at him slowly.
"I would like to ask a question, do you know of a certain creature called a Godsworn?"