Runeblade

The portals inside of the Crucible were odd: they lacked the twisting disorientation he'd grown used to from Depths portals, and their initial entrance to the challenge. There was no mindbending yank through a direction perpendicular to conventional geometry.

He just blinked.

And then he stood in a stone room. It was blocky and plain — square unadorned walls and ceiling made from dark grey masonry bricks half as tall as he was. The quality was good, a finely ground polish that he'd only seen in Deadacre's more expensive buildings, like the guildhall.

Reflexively tapping his hips to check for his sword, Kaius grinned as he felt scalemail clank under his touch. He'd been allowed his gear for this trial, and a quick flicker of intent confirmed his glyphs were untouched too — no more handicaps.

Returning his attention to his surroundings, Kaius investigated what looked to be some sort of workstation set up next to the wall in front of him.

There was a massive parchment pinned to a wooden board in the middle of it, easily nine strides tall and two and a half times as wide. There was even a bench below it. Simple and sturdy, with an inkwell and multiple stacks of paper on its top.

He looked at them curiously. What on earth could this be for? He sincerely hoped it wasn't a trial based on academics or arithmetic — even if Mentis was the aspect of the mind, that would be far too cruel.

Runework was just about the only study of theory he could stand.

Still, there had to be more to the space — some other clue of what he was to do. Spinning to his right, he found a procession of amenities. A simple bed and kitchen, stocked with what looked to be bread, water, cheese, and dried fruit and meat. Enough to last him a couple of weeks, easy — even excluding the extra provisions he held in his storage rings.

Continuing on, he stopped fast as he reached the final wall. It was open — a simple arch dominating the centre of it.

His eyes sharpened as he held himself back from rushing over in curiosity. Beyond the opening, a wide and raised pathway ran through the centre of a mindbogglingly long hall — it had to be a league or more!

At first, it was simple and unadorned, but there was a waist height wall cutting across the path a hundred longstrides in, quickly followed by a pit that had a row of iron bars hanging above it just out of arms reach — then another pit, interspersed with standing stones close enough he could comfortably step from one to one. An obstacle course, one that started so simple a child could pass it.

By the looks of it, it didn't stay so easy for long. Concave climbing faces four times his height, a field of spinning blades that moved and rotated in what looked to be a randomised pattern, gouts of fire, and spikes of ice; a bubbling pit of green something with only a gossamer thread-thin tightrope over its depths.

Kaius struggled to see all of it — even with Truesight, the obstacles grew so complex they became such a confusing mess of overlapping structures that he struggled to see the full picture. Nor did it make it easy to parse anything resembling a route.

He still felt a thrumming edge of excitement well up within him. An obstacle course? That sounded doable — fun, even! Exactly what he needed to burn off some energy, even if it did look a little dangerous.

Hells, with his glyphs intact, it might even be easy. How bad could it be when he had both Expedient Shunt and Slip Step to help him through?

Though, considering the food, bed, writing supplies, and overall nature of the trial, there had to be more to it. It was the trial of Mentis — it wouldn't be a purely physical exercise.

Perhaps it was a time trial? A challenge where he was forced to develop, plan, and memorise a route that would bring him through the hall as fast as possible? The bottom stone floor off the hall wasn't that far below the floating pathway, maybe seven or eight strides. It looked clear too — he could always walk his way back if he got stuck.

Hopefully the trial notification would tell him more.

Kaius didn't have to wait long. After he spent a few more minutes trying to pick his way through some of the further off obstacles, a notification popped into view.

**Ding! You have challenged the Trial of Obstinance!**

**Meld with the wisdom of Mentis, and prove your ability through sharpness of mind, staunchness of memory, and conviction.**

**Reach the end of the Way of Struggle. Be warned, cowardice has no place on the Path — to forfeit is to accept True Death!**

Kaius stared at the notification. That was…beyond his expectations. True death — for forfeiting? The Crucible really had no qualms about making its trials brutal indeed.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Something still niggled in his stomach. It felt off — for death to be the consequence of forfeiting, why even have the option? Why not have it be failure that led to death. And the name. Kaius didn't know what it meant, but it had to mean something.

If there was one thing he was certain of, there was more to this trial than met the eye. Not that he would treat its warning as anything less than the most serious. Even if there had been a hidden safety net to his trial of Corporus, he would have to be a fool to assume this would be the same.

Before he could ruminate further, a flash out of the corner of his eye ripped him out of his thoughts. Kaius snapped his head to the movement, staring at the parchment covered wall with narrowed eyes. It had been quick — almost instantaneous — but with his sight and his mental stats, he could have sworn the page had been full for a moment. A drawing or diagram, full of black lines that had been scrawled tight and dense.

It was gone before he could even fully process what it was, the parchment returning to a pale cream. He stared at it frowning — maybe it would come back?

There was no harm in waiting. He'd need some time to think through his approach to the obstacle course anyway.

Kaius wandered over to the larder, scavenging what he needed for a light sandwich. Taking a seat at the desk beneath the mounted parchment, he kicked his legs up and began to eat — watching it like a hawk.

An hour later, with nary a change in sight, Kaius groaned his defeat. It hadn't even flickered — even when he'd withheld from blinking until his eyes burned! He pushed himself to his feet, scowling in disgust.

Whatever it had been, he'd been too slow and distracted to catch it — he could only hope the moment would come again soon.

Not that that meant he'd sit around and wait. An hour of sitting on his ass and staring at a blank wall had been more than enough — he needed to move.

It was time to investigate the challenge for himself.

Walking over to the open arch, Kaius eyed the floating path beyond it with suspicion. While it may have been empty and clear for a full hundred longstrides, there was no way it was going to be as simple as it looked. An open path? In a Crucible? Yeah right — he'd sooner burn down a temple of the lady of luck than believe that. Nor did he think even the later, more complex and overtly dangerous, obstacles would be what they appeared. No matter how hellishly difficult and confusing, a simple agility test like this would never be enough to make him forfeit — there had to be something more to the test.

Checking his gear for readiness, he considered stripping off his armour. It was heavy, even if his Strength and Tempered by Dissonance let him ignore most of it. Any edge might help.

Mulling it over for a moment, he decided to keep it on — until he knew what he was dealing with, he'd prefer the extra protection. He could always take it off later if it proved more hurt than help. He did store his sword and scabbard in his ring — it would only be slightly slower to draw from in there, but it was just large enough it might prove awkward in a climb.

Taking a breath to steady himself, Kaius edged his way forward out onto the floating path of stone.

Despite his rising nerves, it was an easy walk free of difficulties. As open and flat as it looked to be.

Until he made it halfway to the low wall.

A sudden twang came from his left. Instincts fired, he snapped to the noise. A dark streak — nearly at his throat.

Expedient Shunt let loose an explosion of force right next to his chest, shoving him backwards as he unleashed the spell as soon as he registered the threat. Careening back down the path, Kaius watched a glint of steel hit the opposite wall at his neck height.

It hit a stone block that must have weighed ten tons, shattering it with the same ease he would crush an egg.

Kaius stared at it in horror, knowing that the trap would have vaporised his head and half of his chest into pink mist.

There'd been no warning. None at all. No click of a pressure plate, no broken wire — and no hint from Explorer's Toolkit or blurt of danger from Uncanny Dodge. There hadn't even been any visible mana!

He was completely and utterly blind.

Kaius stared out at the long hallway full of traps with renewed trepidation and respect.

Why? He could understand such a challenge for something like Corporus, but Mentis? He might have some peripheral advantage from his Glass Mind helping to pay attention to his surroundings, but beyond that, what? Rotten roots, how was this supposed to help feel Campaigner's Reasoning, the seed of his pillar?

How was he supposed to learn from his mistakes, when the first trap had nearly killed him outright?

Kaius grit his teeth and scoured the wall — searching for any sign of where the metal dart had been fired from. Despite his best efforts, there was nothing — it was like it had been summoned from thin air. Nor did he find any sign of further hidden dangers ahead — his skills were as silent as the night.

Nailed to the spot, he urged himself to push on. He had to move — but all he could feel was the cold grip of death on the back of his neck. There was nowhere to go but forward — the pantry might have been stocked, but it would run low eventually. There was no alternate challenge, and no additional advantage to be found. Only a gamble that an unknown drawing would return.

Despite his best efforts, it seemed he might have underestimated this challenge.

He had to move, towards death and victory.