Young Swordmaster's Journey

The day had finally arrived, the day that Victor would be arriving at his humble sword academy and would be placing who-knows-how-many of his students under the legendary and fabled trial of Kronethia.

Xyn had been trying for years to get Victor to take his head out of whatever cloud it had been put in since joining the Kronethian church and use even a watered-down version of the trial on some of his students. Not even necessarily as a consistent thing, just once would have been enough to drive his students to new and greater heights and spread the word and techniques of the Dragon-Scale sword style to every corner of the Twin-Continents.

Yes, even the Meian Wildlands and Brynel Summits, despite their seemingly eternal and timeless border war that had been going on well before Xyn's birth and would likely continue well after his death. Truthfully, there was a small, dark part of him that hoped the Dragon-Scale style would make it that far east just so that he could see how such constant, aggressive combat would tweak and warp the techniques of the style.

However, he was perfectly fine with letting all of his academies bright young stars spread the gospel of Dragon-Scale in his stead so that he could continue teaching more, especially since actually getting into either country without being pulled into their conflicts and murdered was an exercise in extremely fine politicking, if rumours were to be believed.

But those thoughts were what had driven him to constantly ask and beg and pester Victor in the vain hope that he would allow students of the academy to undergo the trials. Not just for their own growth, but for his curiosity too. However, much to his great and consistent disappointment, Victor had taken the time to stop staring into whenever it was that members of the Kronethian ecclesia were constantly looking and very firmly denied him each and every time he attempted to convince him.

Every time, except when he had managed to ask a few weeks ago.

The man, a friend he had had since he was but a wee teenager, had regained the clarity in his previously clockwork eyes and had turned to look at him, his expression flat and his jaw set in that way that Xyn just knew meant that his friend was in a bad mood. He had had all the hallmark traits of being about to deny Xyn's request yet again, only to pause the moment that his lips opened.

The headmaster would likely remember that moment until the day that he met his end, the way that his entire body had locked up suddenly and the way that not only the mana density but also the mana purity in the private sanctum had skyrocketed as if the two of them had been dunked right into the middle of a fight between two high-ranking [Saint]'s.

"Undergo the trials, your students shall be allowed." A voice both Victor's, and yet not, spoke from his lips, the entirety of his iris swallowed in white clockworks rimmed in gold, "Of great importance, some of them are. Of high enough standing to be granted this Grace, those individuals have been deemed to be."

Then, like a puppet whose strings had been cut, Victor unceremoniously crumpled in on himself and fell backwards. The man lurched backwards as fast as gravity would take him before shaking his head and grabbing a nearby pillar in a panicked motion, just as his back and head were about to meet the ground.

And in the face of that, what both of them could only assume was some kind of spiritual possession by some entity connected to Kronethia in some way, there hadn't been much else that Victor could say. The man's only other comment was to let him know when he should come to the academy to start and undergo the trials.

Xyn might have been desperate enough to hope that the trials showed him an outcome both promising and exciting for the future of both his students and sword style, but as he stood in his office and overlooked the grounds of his academy through the window, he found himself not believing he even needed to. In that exact, precise moment, Xyn knew with every fibre of his being that these trials would show him all of that and more; he only had to be patient enough to get to them.

XXXxxxXXX

Meanwhile, Old-Academy Dormitory

"So, today's the day." Olivia hummed, standing out front of Alec's room as he closed the door behind him and made doubly sure to lock his dorm.

It wouldn't do for somebody to come in, not that anyone really had a reason to, and find out about his scaly green friend, after all. They had gone through some pretty extenuating lengths to keep them hidden, and the blue-haired teen really didn't want to get rid of all of that work just because someone had gotten supremely unlucky.

"It is." Alec nodded blandly, getting a small roll of her eyes, "Do you have any idea who might be arriving?"

"No clue. I tried looking into it when I went to go and collect my mail yesterday, but no one that I know, or could think to ask, had any clues who it might be." She huffed in annoyance, reaching up to make sure that her ponytail was done up sufficiently tight and her hairclip wasn't in any immediate risk of falling out.

"You have some mail to pick up? Is that through the ICS?" Alec finally turned away from his door and gave her a curious look as he began to walk, the white-haired girl stepping in line with him fairly easily.

"Yes. As much as my family can be rather….caustic with their opinions." Olivia grumbled, the expression on her face revealing far more than her words did, "We're still a fairly renowned adventuring bloodline, regardless of how much they tried to keep me out of the spotlight, so I get offers, invites, and all sorts of advertisements sent directly to me. They think that circumventing the rest of the family will somehow yield better results."

"Those poor souls. I'm amazed you haven't sent any threats back to them yet."

"Hah hah, Dius. You're hilarious." Olivia rolled her eyes, both of them turning at the end of the hallway to start heading for the main entrance of the building.

"Though I'll be honest, I'm wondering now if I've gotten anything like that. I've only ever used the ICS to keep in touch with the orphanage before." Alec quickly and smartly changed the topic of conversation, realizing the avenue that their previous one would inevitably lead down.

"Hm. It's difficult to say. You're an Iron-rank now, so there's a possibility, but there's also thousands of Irons worldwide, and if they sent out advertisements and other things to all of them, that would be a serious resource and time expenditure for something that may not even pan out in the end."

"That's true, I suppose. I guess it's just something for me to check out after whatever this 'seminar' is that Xyn has planned for us."

"Mind if I come with you?" Alec looked over at Olivia curiously as they reached the doors to their dormitory building, each of them grabbing one of the double doors and opening them smoothly to exit the building.

"I mean, I have nothing against you coming with me, but why? You just said that you checked it out recently."

"I have a couple of replies to send off." She explained simply, getting a small look of understanding and a nod from her adventuring partner in turn, "Also, it never hurts to check if something else has come in since the last time I checked. When you're in a position like mine, you never know who has decided to send you what and at what time."

"Look at you, bragging about your family for a change."

"If you want to make it to this seminar, you'll change the topic again real fast, Alec."

"So, what do you think about that new party in World Quest?-"

XXXxxxXXX

Twenty Minutes Later

Who, or what, ever the myriad students of Dragon-Scale academy had been expecting to show up for this mysterious seminar, an actual [Kronethian Saint] was not one of them. For good reason as well.

The Church of Kronethia, as a coalition of people all brought together and, largely, powered by the actual God of Time held a view of the word that was a step left of what one might consider 'normal'; Their view of the world was unique at best, and cruelly apathetic and callous at worst. In the past, entire towns and cities, in full view of the Kronethian Church, had been razed with only the scores of impassive clockworks gazing upon them as evidence that the followers had even noticed. Meanwhile, entire warbands –but not crusades, never crusades– had been formed and marched with unflinching dedication to protect a singular child or random, innocuous, trees and locations at what seemed to be the flip of a coin and drop of a hat.

To those outside their ecclesia, nothing that they did, except the most overt of actions, made even the slightest bit of sense. However, to a follower of Kronethia, they would tell you that what they did was the only thing that made sense.

This had led to a quite well-deserved reputation amongst the myriad peoples of the Twin-Continents of capricious motivation and a near complete apathy to anything outside of their church walls. Yet, time and time again, they had come to help cities defend against swarms of beasts and rituals that were on the verge of, but not yet, complete collapse or detonation. Which was probably why their attitudes were tolerated with only mild annoyance, rather than outright hated and shunned with all the fires that one could fan in their heart.

However, this reputation was why, as Victor gazed over the hundred-or-so students that had shown up to the seminar, an awed series of gasps and whispers shot through the gathered crowd. To see a member of the Kronethian Ecclesia, a lone one at that, doing something so seemingly unrelated to whatever goals their church held was a rare commodity indeed, and a rather valuable one too.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Whatever he had planned was certain to be something that they would all remember and take to heart for the rest of their days. Then, with a sigh that seemed to rumble over the entire crowd, the man turned towards Headmaster Xyn and spoke.

"You did not tell me that there would be so many people."

"It was an open invite; I told you that," Xyn responded bluntly and without remorse, shrugging carelessly.

"You said that it would be an 'open invite, but only about twenty or so students should show up,' not this." Victor scowled, a hand raised to brush some of his dark brown hair out of his eyes.

"Well, what can I say? My students are eager to learn. Must be a new experience for you, huh?" The headmaster teased his friend, blocking a lazy elbow at his stomach without even taking a moment to look.

"I'm going to have to adjust so many portions of the trial now. Do you have any idea what kind of glitches or errors this could introduce?" The saint growled, only getting a loud, overdramatic sigh that seemed to somehow set every student's nerves on edge in return.

"Perhaps I might if someone were kind enough to actually inform me about what it actually is that you do."

"Keep trying, sword-junkie." Victor huffed, rolling his eyes and looking out over the gathered students again with an annoyed look and a cross of his arms.

A strangled, awkward silence filled the trainarium as the students waited for what Victor would say or do next. None of them were willing to break the silence and potentially earn his ire, and Victor was more than happy to, seemingly, passively scan his gaze over the gathered conglomerate in silence.

Eventually, one side had to give, however, and that side surprisingly ended up being Victor, who just sharpened his gaze a little and placed a lone finger against his lips for a moment. A warning for the students to stay silent, and one that none of them were willing to test.

"Alright. Due to the extremely high turnout with so little warning, the preparations I've made aren't going to be sufficient to run this trial as it is traditionally intended." Victor began to explain, pressing his lips together when murmurs and whispers began to bounce around the congregated students.

"I'm going to run this trial in groups of four, instead of singularly, as is proper." He continued, his tone just annoyed enough to quiet down the murmuring that had cropped up in his brief moment of silence. "Which I will choose at random, so don't bother trying to group up with friends or shoo anyone away."

There were a couple of groans of annoyance and a few jokes between those who were close about 'being lucky they couldn't decide', which Victor was more than happy to let play out again as he took what appeared to be a calming breath.

'Honestly. How does anyone stand being around so many people constantly? This is exhausting.' The man grouched to himself, rubbing his stubbled cheek with the palm of his hand.

"Now, because there is going to be more than one person going through at a time, glitches in the trial steps are bound to appear. I cannot say what these glitches might be, but know that they will be there, and they might even circumvent the intended clearance path of the steps entirely."

At the back of the grouping of students, Olivia raised an eyebrow at that piece of knowledge, her arms crossed beneath her chest, and both she and Alec leaned against the wall casually as they listened to the man's explanation.

She wasn't quite sure what she was expecting from a real Trial of Kronethia, but whatever it was, she wouldn't get to actually experience it, apparently. Which was simultaneously both annoying and exciting. Annoying in that she wouldn't get to actually do it as was proper and intended, but exciting in that she would likely get to experience something that no one else, except those who went in with her, would get to. Something unique that actually managed to stem from the granular and strict members of the Time God's church.

"The goal of the trial is to prove who is worthy of the knowledge of Kronethia, and who can withstand what that knowledge might possibly hold." Victor continued explaining, an almost oppressive weight of expectation pressed on the shoulders of every student in front of him, "There are four steps. Distress, Strength, Intelligence, and Acknowledgement."

As the man spoke, he raised a finger and ticked off one finger for each step that he listed, eventually holding all four fingers up with his thumb still tucked in.

"The Step of Distress, naturally, involves something highly upsetting to whoever is going through the trial; passing this trial proves that you have the willpower to handle whatever insight you may be given. With four of you in there at once, however, I am unsure how this step may pan out."

Victor waited for a beat to make sure that everyone had understood and digested his words before he continued.

"The Step of Strength brings forth a version of a foe from some time in your future, from a random timeline." Victor began his explanation, sighing quietly when a hand instantly shot up from somewhere in the middle of the crowd, "Speak."

"What do you mean by a 'random timeline'?" A girl with glasses and a short bob-cut questioned curiously.

"Time is not linear; there are multitudes of avenues that one's path can go down based on their choices, and the choices of others as well. The foe that is meant to appear is from one timeline chosen at complete random. They may still become a foe to you in whatever path you go down; you may never meet them once in your life. It is entirely up to how you live."

"Oh, I see. Thank you!"

"Just don't interrupt again," Victor grunted in annoyance, getting a shaky, meek smile in response from the girl as she bowed her head nervously.

The man took a moment to place a hand on his neck and sharply jerked his head to the side, a rather satisfying sounding 'pop!' resounding from it and almost echoing through the room. Once he had stood in that position for about half a second, he finally opened his eyes again and held his hand out once more, though this time with only two fingers extended.

"I cannot tell any of you for sure what may happen, but my best guess on this step is that all of you may need to fight a shared foe, if any exist, or all of you will need to fight a foe that is only in one of your futures."

After giving his best guesses, Victor extended a third finger once more and shifted his weight onto one leg.

"Following that is the Step of Intelligence. The insight that you may be given isn't always guaranteed to be cut and dry, or simple to parse the meaning behind. This step will give you some kind of puzzle or crisis to solve. With four of you, my guess is that this step will either be the easiest, with four people working on a single-person puzzle, or will be made extraordinarily difficult by giving you a puzzle or crisis designed for four people."

Whispers and murmurs ran amok through the crowd of students once more as everyone began to theorize on what they might come across or declared that they would be fine no matter what it was. A few students here and there looked worried at what a puzzle designed for four people might look like, and a few students looked annoyed at the thought that they might get a cop-out puzzle instead of something that might actually prove their worth.

As this happened, Victor just levelled an unimpressed glare at the crowd, his gaze moving over to Xyn with all the grace of a drunk lemur, and the heat in his glare only grew stronger once the man was actually in his view. In response, Xyn merely grinned unapologetically and shrugged, gesturing towards the students with both hands when the murmurs began to quiet down naturally.

A tired sigh left the man's lips as he turned back once more, raising his hand again and extending four fingers.

"The final step is the Step of Acknowledgement. This step is….an interesting one. The one taking the trial will be met with a future version of themselves from a randomised timeline. Traditionally, the version of the trial-taker will be from five years in the future. The goal of this step is to make your future self admit that you are worthy of whatever knowledge you may gain from Lord Kronethia. The exact challenge, trial, or difficulty that you will have to overcome in this step is entirely unknown as it depends on who you will be as a person and what may potentially happen to you within the next five years."

All four fingers of Victor's hand closed into a tight fist, and a pulse of mana left the man, filling the entire trainarium in a second flat and bringing multiple students down to their knees. Not through some kind of physically crushing pressure, nor any kind of spell of attributional affect, but just through the sheer power that seemed to buzz in the very air around them.

"I will say this once and once only. Nothing in this trial is lethal; injuries can be sustained, but mutilations and lethal hits will do nothing to you while you are inside. However, how you react to what you see….there is no defence against that. You will be on your own to face whatever kind of horrors await you within the trial. I do not say this lightly, I wish you all the best of luck."

A tense, unending silence followed the man's ominous well-wishes, some of the students opening their mouths to try and awkwardly, in any way that they possibly could, cut through the tension and make things more comfortable. Only, nothing came out. When they opened their mouths, they could not force themselves to make any sort of noise. Their words clung to their throats, and their lungs refused to contract, selfishly refusing to let go of the air that they held within their grasp.

"Now. The first group will be you, you, you, and you." Victor pointed out four students.

The four of them all jolted in surprise, caught entirely off-guard by the sudden announcement, yet before any of them could so much as get a surprised blubber out of their mouths, Victor whirled on the spot.

"The second will be you, you, you, and you."

This time, the quicker of the students had realized what was happening and began to shuffle through the crowd to collect the rest of their teammates as they were called out. Group one already mostly formed, and group two in the midst of doing so.

Once they realized what was happening, the groups began to form quickly, students shuffling along to the outskirts with their teammates, no matter how annoyed some of them seemed to be with who they had gotten grouped up with.

Much to Alec's amusement, Lex and Ryx had gotten split into separate groups entirely, and the looks on their faces were something he'd cherish for a while to come.

It was a little past the halfway point, about group fourteen, that Victor's outstretched finger jerked up to Alec, and Olivia stood all the way in the back. In an instant, the postures of both of them had straightened minutely in preparation for being called into the group-to-be. Both of their thoughts wandered and whirled with who of them would be chosen to join the group and whether they recognized anyone that was in it as the finger continued its smooth arc towards them.

Then, quickly, suddenly, in an almost infinitesimally small moment of time, the man's eyes had flashed white and gold. Both teens blinked in surprise at the sudden change in his eye colour, a near-synchronous silent exclamation of shock and surprise. When their eyes had re-opened, however, the white and gold had been gone and the man's arm dipped with the same smooth grace that it had been moving with, as if his intention had always been to fake out the two teens.

Which meant that Alec and Olivia, who had stood beside each other the entire time and made no attempt to look or act like strangers, were among the last four standing not in a group.

"Finally, you, you, you, and you. You're the last group. Good, there were no rounding errors left over." Victor sighed in tired gratitude, finally lowering his arm and rolling his shoulder as if just that simple action had worn out what little stamina the man might have had.

"Well, I'm starting to think this was intentional," Alec muttered with a raised eyebrow as he noticed the two people walking over.

"It better not be, otherwise this is a sick, twisted joke," Olivia growled, her hands clutching her arms tightly as she crossed them.

"Yeah, yeah. Black Sheep." Glenn Larstud muttered in annoyance as he walked over, Callum trudging over a moment later, looking somehow both horrified and relieved in equal measure, "Believe me. I'm not thrilled either."

"Alright, now all of you groups do whatever you want so long as it doesn't cause a ruckus or destroy anything. I have a ritual to set up, and if any of you ruin it, I will make you regret it."

With his warning said, and a firm glare alongside it to boot, Victor walked back to the wall alongside where Xyn was standing and grabbed a large bag propped up against it. The man grabbed what items he seemed to need and headed towards the centre of the trainarium to begin setting up the trial.