The door to the secured chamber opened with a heavy metallic sound, revealing an interior similar to other observation rooms. The room was more spacious but just like the others, there sat an identical chair at the center with similar machinery surrounding it.
Dr. Stark led Will to the chair and settled him, then started securing the heavy, metallic restraints on the chair. The iron binds snapped shut, firmly pinning Will's frail body to the chair.
As the cold metal brushed against his skin, Will couldn't help but think, 'Nice, from feeling like a celebrity to back to being a prisoner…'
Well, at least he was used to being one by now….
Once the bindings were fixed, Stark turned his attention to the surrounding equipment. He began calibrating the various devices designed to be attached to the body, including one that was meant to be put on the head. These were scanners specifically created to monitor one's vitals through studying the fluctuations of Soul Energy radiating from the body.
After he was done, Stark turned to Will, and his voice remaining steady:
"Once these sensors are active and the machine initiates, it will ignite the Soul Core developing in your body. You will lose consciousness, well not really; your consciousness will just shift from your physical body to your soul body. Then you will enter your First Trial…."
Stark stepped forward, continuing, "In the First Trial, your goal will be to gather a Soul Core. Which means, you must either hunt a creature or find one hidden in the trial grounds. You don't have much time though; you have a maximum of a day worth of time to complete the task…"
Finally, Stark stopped in front of Will, lingered for a bit and continued, "If you fail to retrieve a Soul Core before the clock runs out…. well, you already know what will happen. Pray that you have to find the core rather than taking it by force—not that there's anyone listening to prayers. Any enemy you fight will be a Tier-I Ascended, and as a Gen 2, your opponent won't be an easy one. Survive out there, I'd prefer not to watch another fellow human turn into a mindless monster."
With that, he fell silent. Will looked at the doctor's face. It seemed to be…regretful? Will was kind of surprised to see a hint of emotion on the doctor's face; he always saw that the man was as stiff as a statue.
'I guess death can ignite emotions in even statues…', Will smirked at the doctor's grim resolve and thought.
Stark then systematically attached the devices on various parts of Will's body. On his chest, abdomen, both arms, legs and head. After he was done, he turned around and walked over to the machine.
Watching the doctor, Will sighed and mocked his own condition inwardly, '24 hours to gather a Soul Core or I turn into a mindless monster huh? Just a normal Tuesday…'
Stark calibrated the device, then looked at Will, his voice rising higher now while still remaining calm, "Initiating in….3….2….1!"
With the loud noise, the machine started. At first Will didn't feel anything…. then his whole body burned. At first the slow burning sensation started intensifying rapidly, as he saw the dim crimson glow on it growing brighter. Then the sensation spread to his whole body, reaching his chest, his other hand, his legs, his head…
He closed his eyes in pain, and let out a groan, "Argh!"
After a moment of suffering, his body grew still. The fluctuations showing on the screen of the machine calmed too.
Stark stared at Will's motionless body for a bit, then walked out of the chamber. He turned to his assistant and spoke, his voice unyielding:
"23rd October, 7:20 P.M. Patient No. 2-1059, Willow Grey has entered his First Trial."
***
About two centuries ago, during the final years of the Great War, in one of the bomb craters in the battlefield, some soldiers stumbled upon a crystal-like object . This crystal was as clear as glass, catching the light with a tinted blue-ish hue. It was a strange discovery; despite humanity already creating civilizations on other planets…and destroying them later, the existence of these crystals remained unknown until that moment.
Not to mention these crystals themselves were a bit… strange. These radiated a type of 'energy' that was never found in the entire human history. This new type of energy didn't harm the human body, or anything in that aspect. It could only be detected after performing several series of tests. The results showed that these crystals can be used as fuel to generate electricity and other forms of electricity.
What was even more unsettling was that, after this discovery, across the globe, many people started finding these crystals everywhere, in some cave, crater, underneath their backyard or whatever that remained of it.
This was a turning point for humanity. After the Great War—a conflict that had wiped out more than half of the world's population and nearly every other living being on the planet—these crystals were nothing short of a miracle. With almost every resource burned, destroyed and reduced to dust, these crystals proved to be the ultimate provider, capable of fueling the reconstruction of a broken world.
…or so it seemed. A few years later, after humanity had integrated the crystals into all the necessary parts of the society—like providing electricity, food, filtering water and air, and many more—things started getting weird . Those with the highest exposure to the energy started reporting strange symptoms: severe headaches that wouldn't go for days, faint whispers that came out of nowhere, strange dreams, people feeling sore in every part of their body and more.
At first it was just the people that had long exposures but after a while many random people also started showing these weird symptoms. And they all had something more in common, a small diamond mark in the middle of their chest.
When investigated, it showed that these marks also radiated a faint amount of that strange energy. But the worst was yet to come. After a few weeks of suffering, these people suddenly felt intense burning pain in their body and fell unconscious. And after a few hours, they turned into vile, mindless monsters.
This event wreaked havoc everywhere. After the Great War, this was a devastating blow to humanity. The population reduced even farther, many people started abandoning their homes. What's worse was that, not just humans, animals turned into monsters as well.
Of course there were some humans who woke up from that terrible nightmare. They gained mysterious abilities and they seemed capable of hunting the monsters. These were the first generation of the Ascended. They were the first to show the humans a way out of the vicious hell, giving the people guidance on how to clear the First Trial. They were also the ones to name the various elements regarding this whole mess.
The crystals later came to be known as 'Soul Stones' and the energy that radiated from it became known as 'Soul Energy'. Those who were infected by the strange symptoms were called the 'Marked'. And the process that followed—which determined whether a person would become a vile monster or a mystical human—was simply labeled as the 'Trials'. Those who cleared the Trials, came to be known as the 'Ascended' and those who didn't, those who turned into abominations, became known as the 'Corrupted'
Soon, the number of Ascended started growing…. and so did the number of Corrupted, but still humanity was doing better than it was supposed to. And what pushed humanity, from just barely surviving to actually holding back the disaster was the fact that people soon found out that they could ascend even further. And so, the Path of Ascension was created…. with the Path of Corruption as well ofcourse.
This was divided into 7 Tiers and to ascend to a new one, one had to face a Trial. If one completed their First Trial, that would make them a 'Tier-I Ascended'. Completing the Second Trial would make them a 'Tier-II Ascended' and so on.
***
The Gen-2 Mark, which started appearing in the last two decades, had larger and more complicated marks than the rest. They also didn't have their marks on their chests; instead their marks showed up on their hands, legs, torso and head. These ones radiated much more Soul Energy than the others…. and these ones also had a much much higher mortality rate.
Out of all the 1058 people, who carried the Gen-2 Mark, only 27 survived the First Trial. And out of them, only 21 still lived. This is because the challenges they faced in their First Trial were much, much more dangerous than the others.
And now, Willow Grey who was the 1059th person that carried the Gen-2 Mark, was about to begin his First Trial.
***
Will once again woke up in absolute darkness, this time, however, there was nothing else outside of deep, unmoving darkness. He opened his mouth to say something…. or at least he tried to, but failed. Afterall, he didn't have a physical body at this moment; he was just a wandering consciousness now. All he could do was think:
'Hmm…. interesting. It seems like a path before entering the First Trial. I've heard a thing or two about this. I really can't do any physical movement here; only thoughts are available. Well, not like I wanted to move anyways. I've heard that this is how I'm gonna stay until my Soul Body forms. I wonder how long….'
Before he could finish his thoughts though, the darkness all around him suddenly surged and then retreated. Of course he didn't have eyes to 'see' anything, but strangely enough he could still perceive his surroundings. The image of the surroundings somehow appeared in his mind, as if created inside itself.
The darkness receded, giving way to a thick expanse of grey-ish white mist below. It was perfectly still and massive, carrying an air of ancient mystery. The mist felt less like a weather condition and more like a shroud that was placed there to hide something immense, powerful and utterly terrifying.
And within the thick mist, directly below Will's consciousness, a faint source of blue light could be seen. And just moments after Will spotted it, his consciousness moved. He didn't feel anything, he only felt his perception shift, turning wild. It looked like it was approaching the faint blue light. The closer he got to the light, the wilder his surroundings became. He was almost on the edge of vomiting…. not like he could.
As soon as he reached the blue light, everything calmed down. And now instead of being capable of perceiving everything, he could just see what was in front of him. Confused, Will, looked around and said:
"Wha-", he stopped midway. A genuine look of surprise could be seen on his face. Smirking, he mumbled to himself, "I see now, the faint blue light was my Soul Body and my consciousness was being transported here."
He couldn't think or say anything more though. With a pained and disgusted look on his face, he bent over, and emptied his guts. Well, what was even there to be emptied in the first place?
After a few moments, he straightened his back and thought to himself, with a weird expression on his face, 'Hah…..it seems like this a perfect recreation of my physical body. What's more, the conditions of this body are exactly the same as it was before I 'lost' my consciousness. I am even wearing clothes!'
The clothes, in question, was the tracksuit provided by the hospital. How could it even be manifested with his Soul Body? Will had no idea.
He looked around, trying to study where he was. All around him, thick mist covered vast expanses. Nothing could be seen beyond the range of 3 meters. Beneath him, there was a pool of water that only reached up to his ankles.
'It's quite a bit interesting I must say…. wait, is this in my Soul Core!? I am not shady enough for my soul to be shrouded in thick mist! What is this blasphemy!'Will complained inwardly. Of course, he knew too well that he was not inside his soul. Instead he entered the Mark.
Will lingered for a while, then started moving. As he moved, multiple thoughts entered his mind, analyzing the situation he was in. 'Hmm…. there's no end to this fog, and no end to this water either. How am I going to find a Soul Core like this? '
He was more worried about not being able to complete the Trial on time than dying to some creature.
However, after a bit of walking, he suddenly stopped…. and started to tremble, greatly so. It wasn't like he saw some ferocious monster ahead of him, or that he felt really cold. This was a deep, uncontrollable, instinctive fear that stemmed from deep within his soul.
He felt like something was utterly, terribly wrong. He feared that if he moved even a bit, he could get killed on the spot. He didn't know how, he didn't know why, he just felt that it could surely happen. He even forgot to breathe! His legs started to tremble so much that he was having trouble just standing up.
'What-'
Before he could even finish his sentence though, the motionless mist surged…. and suddenly Will felt like he was flying back at tremendous speed. Something terrible, and immensely, grandly, vastly powerful had just pushed him back!