[Skell]
Think! Abyss, just think!
From one end of the semi-destroyed bathroom to the other I paced frantically. Five minutes was all I had to devise a way to cheat on a test in a reflective room where I was watched from every angle, and just like the test itself, figuring out the solution felt completely impossible.
A crunch came from underfoot: glass from the enchanted lights I broke two days back. I ignored it like I did the darkness I brought to the room, and the stall door I melded to the ground, and the deep gash Hyland's Radiant Arc dug into the wall behind it - everything.
That said… something came to mind not so unrelated.
My arts - what about them? I hit the wall and rebounded back, fingers pressed against my chin. Hand of Decay and Shadow Form. They've saved me time and again. I've gotta be able to rely on them here, right?
Hand of Decay: my brute force option. Except this wasn't the kind of problem that could be brute-forced. As much as I wanted to ball up the test and obliterate it inside my fist, the ensuing catharsis would be pretty short-lived.
That left Shadow Form: the scalpel to the former's hammer. A shame it was just as worthless. Everlasting light bathed every inch of the Second Ordeal's chamber. And unlike the guard station, there wasn't a system of vents for me drift through and peer out of from a convenient angle. Circulation in this underground facility seemed to be handled by some enchantment just like every other shading thing.
Without them, what else did I have? A staff? A Shroud? Incompatible tools. Frustration thrust my steps past the stalls 'til I all but careened into the sinks at the other side of the room.
Come on! There's gotta be some option I haven't considered!
My gaze flicked from the basin to the wide mirror above. A purple-haired man in dark leather armor stared back, the last few days sinking valleys into his face, and making stormy violet seas of his eyes, and leaking blood from his lip where a gnawing tooth accidentally pierced through. The accuracy of my glamour to my mental state was staggering.
Magical marvel or not, I tried to tear my mind away from the reflection and back to the matter at hand. Then I considered that the two might not be so far apart.
This glamour. My ticket into the Citadel - the veil even undead-slaying veterans can't see past. Every movement? Perfectly humanlike. Every emotion? Conveyed to my face in an instant.
My palms beat against the sink. Urgh! Back when I was an eyeless skeleton, my vision came from sparks in my skull. No one could tell where I was looking. But these purple eyes Cynthine gave me are so lifelike. Too lifelike. She's even connected them directly to those old sparks of mine; I see out of them just like any living human sees from their eyes.
But… wait. What if I could leverage that? What if I could take a page from my past? See without being seen? An urge twitched my fingers. What if…
I pushed myself away. No! No way! That's deranged. Psychotic! It'd never work, anyway. Don't even entertain it.
Yet, the idea didn't go away. Figures that it wouldn't. If I went back to the Second Ordeal's chamber, I'd fail, I knew I would. I needed an X-factor: something that'd give me even a ghost of a chance. And this was all I could come up with… even if it could easily make things much worse.
A reluctant turn brought me back to the mirror. I quieted all the dissent in my mind, leaned over the sink, near-pressed my face against the glass, and stared into my left eye.
It works just like any human eye. Except that it's magically linked to my vision…
My hand raised slowly.
As a skeleton, any damage that doesn't affect my bones won't hurt. The entire way my body works differs from the living.
Slowly, I slid fingers up my cheek, nearer and nearer to the glistening orb in my skull.
So if my eye just so happened to be somewhere else…
Thumb and index finger spread around the fragile folds of my eyelid.
Then I should still be able to see!
I pushed in. Through. Fingertips clamped down on the defenseless jelly and tugged 'til something inside snapped apart.
Then I seized.
It couldn't have lasted more than a moment. But there was no mistaking it. The same sensation as when I woke from unconsciousness in Belza Hill was exactly what I experienced again: a rushing glimpse into the past.
Except this one felt so much clearer.
A frozen moment in time hung onto the corners of my skull like sunlight staining your vision even after you blink away. But the place I saw had no sunlight.
The umbral city was somber and starless. Sources of light were ineffectual. Windows of distant buildings - though their edges were so undefined in the dark that they more resembled one broad, asymmetrical black mass - exuded the same weak, purple glow as the lanterns hanging hunchback over the streets.
But the word "street" was beyond generous. Haphazard wooden planks and old footprints in the rocky dirt were all that attested to the lanes between ramshackle buildings. That, and the dimly-luminescent mushrooms. And the people.
Pox-covered men and women were trapped mid-step in the frozen moment, wearing rags riddled in tears and stains. Some gathered at what seemed like a ran-down, sorry excuse for a tavern - an unfixed hole in the building side doubling as the front door. Flasks hung by the waist of some, indescribable colors bubbling in the darkness.
Strangest of all, though? This place felt familiar. More familiar than anywhere I'd ever been, ever seen. But something at the edges of my sight felt closest of all to me. Something high above.
Is that… a crack in the sky?
I tried to look closer. My vision blurred. Whatever grasp I had on this momentary sight slipped through my fingers like water.
"No, wait! I have to see!" words tripped out of my mouth.
But I was back in that dark bathroom before I'd even finished speaking. Only difference? My vision was half of what it was.
In my bloodied, curled palm, I felt the eye.
In that other half of my vision… I saw the dark crevices of my hand.
I almost jumped at the grisly result. Under those fingers sat my own eyeball, ripped from the socket. Though if anything, it reminded me: I was under a time constraint.
That said, Abyss, it was hard to focus. Somehow I'd been struck by another vision of what must've been my past life, manifested with more clarity than the other two visions combined. But now wasn't the time to dwell on it. I had to pass the Ordeal, or echoes of my past was all I'd ever see.
Hesitantly, I unfurled blood-drizzled fingers.
What I saw sent quakes through the depths of me. Through one eye's vision, I could see the plucked eyeball. Through the other I saw my own slack face, bloody streams trickling from the fresh hollow.
…I knew it! Since my sight's connected to each eye, gouging one out means I can still peer through it - attached or not!
There wasn't time to sit in awe, however. I couldn't go waltzing back without knowing exactly what I'd just unleashed. So my mind jumped to experimentation.
Circling my hand - and eye - around the room, I found I could see in directions even my face pointed away from. With no exaggeration, I peered behind my back, over my head - even into my pocket. The eye was perfectly functional and perfectly portable. All was going exactly as planned… even if the plan might've been the most unhinged thing I'd ever done.
And somehow it got even stranger.
The faint sound of mending flesh tipped me off first. My eye was regenerating.
I looked down. The other eye was still in my palm, watching the entire messy process. It wasn't going anywhere.
Somehow I didn't even consider my regeneration. That, combined with my glamour, meant…
I'm growing a third eye!?
Swimming into view as the hole closed in my face was a wider perspective - the normal perspective for anyone with two eyes. But again, the third perspective remained. As if I'd unlocked more space to see with that was hidden all my life.
And I knew exactly how to put it to use.
—————————————————————————————————
"You are late," Valérie noted before I'd even slid my nose past the door. "A Templar was nearly sent to retrieve you."
"Right. Sorry," I tossed up an apologetic hand as I walked the room's perimeter.
The other hand dangled casually at my side, closed around my smuggled eyeball. I'd rinsed the blood off in the sink, let it dry, and now had to hide it inside my fist, not too tight as to crush it, but not so loose as to let it be spotted. It was a nerve-wracking tightrope to walk. And one I'd have to balance over even as I dropped back into my chair between Ryzza and Soleil.
Of course, the test hadn't moved an inch. Neither did any of the questions magically solve themselves during my absence. No matter. I had my own magic solution.
But who to use it on…?
Discreetly, I pointed my right, eye-carrying hand toward Soleil, spreading middle and ring fingers just a smidge to peek through the crack.
She's definitely clever. I watched her one orange eye glide across the test. But that isn't the same as an academic.
I slipped hands under the table and tossed the eyeball over to my left hand. Then I brought the hand back up and laid it against my face like I was deep in thought.
Not everybody with glasses is smart, but she sure looks like she earned them. Before she seemed so meek and jumpy. Now she's staring down that test like a bull she's snatched by the horns.
Best of all, she didn't slip her current page on top of a stack - they were all laid out like a deck of cards. Perfect to select and steal whichever answers I wanted.
Yup. That's my mark.
I jumped to snagging geography answers first. Acting was part of the equation too, however. Suspicions might rise if I suddenly blazed through the test in five minutes after hours of deliberate pacing. So I'd pause, shift in my seat, pretend to soak in deep consideration…
Then nick Ryzza's answer anyway.
Explanations and checks and circles filled previously empty swathes of test paper. I resisted the urge to grin. This was just too easy. With things progressing as they were, it'd only be a matter of time 'til I passed with flying colors.
"Thirty more minutes, guys!" Merriline half-announced, half-yawned.
By then I'd finished the geography and math section. All that remained was anatomy and Lumeritan history. I slipped the former to the top of my stack and dipped my quill into the ink pot.
That's when Ryzza collected her papers and raised them high.
Sh-she's finished?
The nearest Templar stepped down our row and tore her test away from my prying eye.
Urgh. Well, looks like it's time for the back-up plan. There's still Soleil to use as a-
"Done," the minstrel held her test between two fingers like a smoking pipe.
"You're supposed to raise your test in silence," an approaching Paladin laced their words with barbs.
"Whoops, my bad," Soleil didn't lower her tone one bit.
The Paladin snatched up her test with a glower Soleil pretended not to notice. Leaving me with nothing.
Abyss! I figured they'd have finished sooner or later, but why couldn't they just hold onto their tests with the time they had left? Are they that sure of themselves?
I masked a grimace. Urgh. Doesn't matter. Now isn't the time to spiral.
All three of my eyes turned to the test before me. What I'd pilfered helped immensely, but there was still the bulk of two sections left to tackle, and there wasn't anyone close enough - or in Ra'Kol's case, sharp enough - to copy off of.
So my options narrowed to one: face the rest of the test on my own. Anatomy might've been salvageable if my guessing game was up to snuff.
As for history? Well, the fact that not even a single historical event sounded familiar was distressing in more ways than one.
Honestly, I didn't know if I'd make it. Too many variables were in play for me to accurately gauge my score. Were my answers as correct as I thought? Was Ryzza really erudite enough to be worth cheating off of? How many of my guesses were off the mark? I just couldn't tell.
But if I really wanted to be a Templar, to find the answers to my lost life, I couldn't let some stupid papers hold me back. I had to prove I was of a strong enough mind to beat this test - even if my schemes had petered out and I was forced to compete honestly.
Either through light or dark, I'd push on.
—————————————————————————————————
"Time's up!" the Paladin announced, after being nudged awake by Valérie for the seventh time. "We're coming around to retrieve your papers - and you better not be caught doing some last-second scribbling!"
I dunked my quill in the near-empty inkpot, slinking back into my chair with a tortured sigh. I finished the test… with seconds to spare.
As the Templars marched down our rows - the sound of papers taking flight surrounding me - I pocketed the eyeball stealthily. A Warden quickly stood over me. Without the slightest bit of acknowledgement he took my paper and moved on.
Soon, every test was collected at the foremost table, shadowed by the Templars. As for what came next? That part was a blur.
Merriline chattered something along the lines of our part in the Ordeal being over. Now it was their time to grade our performances while we waited in the commons for results. We were shooed out, or at least I assumed we were. I just followed the flow of bodies out of the narrow chamber into the broad commons, my feet stringing me toward my familiar table-refuge in the corner.
If the other applicants sent their usual stares at me - like I was month-old garbage or a contagion to steer clear of - I wouldn't have known. My mind was far, far away, then. Or at least it wanted to be. Her snoring made for an awful distraction.
Soleil sat across the table, jaw open, head laid over the rail of her chair in the middle of an unflattering slumber.
It wasn't a secret that I was in no mood for conversation. She chalked it up to stress over the test results and chose to take a nap. I didn't correct her. After all, she was half-right. As for the other half?
A glimpse into my past life. But if that place felt so familiar, so close to my soul… then was that where I lived? Was I impoverished and pox-covered like most of those people? Or is there something more to the puzzle I don't know-
Sharp snoring gutted my thoughts and left them bleeding out on the floor.
Urgh, Soleil! Can't you take a catnap somewhere else!?
Though that thought was more frustration than genuine emotion. Some part of me appreciated not having to sit at an empty table any longer. Just like I appreciated having someone who wasn't afraid to be seen with me, and someone who'd fight alongside me against the many enemies I'd made. I tried to keep myself rational about Soleil - keep the crazy minstrel at an arm's length. But for some reason, that was getting more and more difficult.
I couldn't decide if it was good or bad timing when the Second Ordeal's doors spread open. Emerging from it came Merriline and Valérie - tailed by the other Templars.
"Soleil, wake up." I reached to tap her shoulder, before thinking better of it. Still she didn't stir. I thought a moment. "Soleil. They said you got a zero."
"…Liar, " her orange eye snapped open, crooked smile slashing over her face.
The results were in. My unlife hung in the balance. Every bone in my body was tense like twigs on the verge of snapping. But I still could joke. Tease. Facing what'd come next alongside Soleil's smile was small comfort.
But it was a comfort.
"Your tests have been graded," Valérie's voice rose as we approached. "Your grades shall be announced in alphabetical order. If you pass? Stand by us. If you fail? Remain where you are."
Great. More restless waiting…
"And remember," Merriline added, "a score of one-hundred and sixty or above is passing. But I know everyone wants their scores, and more importantly, sleep - so let's dive right into it."
The first bundle of tests were delivered to the Paladin from one of the assisting Templars. "Starting with the letter 'A' - Ailana. Score: one-hundred thirty four. Fail."
—————————————————————————————————
"Hyland," called Merriline. "…one-hundred ninety-seven."
She didn't even have to say pass. Nobody - not even Cirian and the rest of the early passers - got a score close to that. Gasps came from a few of us. But not from me. After all, he was a Templar already; he'd basically been handed the cheat sheet.
The ex-Knight was as shocked as I was at his success, passing assuredly to the Templar's side where he surely thought he belonged.
More scores were called. Fifty-nine. One-hundred and eighty-two. Ninety. One-hundred and fifty-three. But eventually Merriline reached the "N's."
"Niles," the Paladin called next.
White knuckles squeezed around his waist. To him, this must've been far scarier than a staggering climb or a ferocious manticore. For once he stood absolutely still in preparation for his score. So did I.
"Score: one-hundred sixty-four. Pass. And great job - you were the only one to ace mathematics!"
About a thousand breaths of air left Niles' lips simultaneously. Relief built him back up and he stomped forward, taking his place for the next Ordeal, like success to him meant as much as life itself.
Anger and elation bled together inside me. If Niles failed, that was one less problem on my plate - the just desserts I would've loved to see him swallow. But also… it felt good to see him get one step closer to his goal. Two mutually exclusive feelings, you'd think. But more than elation…I saw an opportunity: the longer he stayed in the game, the more time I had to understand what drove his hate against dark mages.
Stupid… I wanted to slap myself. Soleil told you about this. Quit sympathizing with the enemy, or you're just gonna get yourself screwed over. Pass or fail, Niles is worth none of your attention.
By then, only fourteen applicants actually passed, even though announcements were over halfway done. I tried not to imagine my odds. I imagined them anyway.
"Ra'Kol" she called. "Score: one-hundred and seventy-five. Pass."
Huh? You're telling me that clown was able to pass. And pretty well, at that?
"Yeah, you know it!" he pumped a pink fist. He proudly strolled to the side of the Templars, finding a spot at the front of them like a pimple on an otherwise clean face.
Just my luck - all three of my worst enemies following me to the very end. Well, assuming I make it there too.
The Paladin yawned, her eyes fluttering. "Ryzza. Score: one-hundred and eighty four. Pass."
That's a great score. Good thing I chose to cheat off her and not Soleil.
But now was the big moment. I hoped with all my might that I'd pass. It didn't matter how low the score was, long as it cleared the bar.
Pinching herself awake to little success, Merriline spoke. "Skell."
Gazes darted to me.
"Score: zero-ninety one. Fail."
My soul felt as if it was ripped from my skeleton. F-fail!? No… there must've been some mistake. I can't… I can't go like this. I was so…
…Wait.
"Zero-ninety one?" Valérie questioned incredulously, eyeing down at Merriline. "Show me that test."
The Warden took less than a second to glance at my test, find something amiss, snatch the papers out of Merriline's gauntlets, then whack her over the head with them.
"Ouch…" the Paladin massaged her scalp. "Val, what was that for…?"
"Wake yourself, Merriline!" demanded Valérie. "This paper is upside down! How did you get chosen to supervise the Sacred Ordeals when you cannot even keep your eyes open long enough to read a handful of numbers?"
"It's… a long story," Merriline seemed uncharacteristically embarrassed.
The Warden sighed, returning to stoicism with impressive speed. "It is no matter. I will announce the rest of the names in your stead."
Hold on. She said it was upside down. Wouldn't that zero-ninety one, right side up, would be-
Valérie cleared her throat. "Your true score is one-hundred and sixty. Pass. Narrowly."
Chills surging through my bones usually doubled as a bad omen. Not today. All the bad things I could think of vanished for those few euphoric moments. Sure, it was by the the skin of my teeth, but-
"Abyss, I did it!" I shouted. All eyes rested on me; I couldn't care less.
Soleil nudged me, one of the two other smiles in the room. "Knew you had a brain somewhere in there. Hurry on before they say your score was right the first time."
I did just that, shooting cocky looks at Ra'Kol and Hyland. The former fumed, the latter not so much. Instead he almost seemed to expect it. Whatever. He could feel how he wanted - it didn't matter to me then. Niles' reaction did.
His was the other smile. For a moment so transient I would've doubted it was real had it been any shorter. But no, even though he quickly threw on a just-as-genuine look of hostility, I saw it.
No. Ignore him. Forget him.
"Soleil," called Valérie.
My thoughts returned to the minstrel. Though I still rode the high of passing, a tinge of concern went out for Soleil's chances.
Score: one-hundred and eighty-eight. Pass."
Wh-what? She scored higher than Ryzza?
One of the highest scores of the year, and it was under Soleil's name of all people. I was surprised enough, myself, but most of the others hadn't clocked her as anything more than some colorful weirdo with no filter on her voice box. Their expressions and appalled whispers, she drank in like ambrosia as she strolled over to my side.
"One eighty-eight?" I whispered, only slightly jealous.
"I know my history," she shrugged.
Should've copied her test instead…
Some time - and a lot of failed applicants - later, Valérie moved to the final succeeding name.
"Yamui. Score: one-hundred and seventy-four. Pass."
Wearing an impatient expression like he wore his elaborate jacket, the foreigner glided towards our group.
And that was it. Going into this Ordeal, we numbered fifty-six. Now we'd been cleaved in two again, with thirty-eight applicants standing defeated across from us. Like the previous Ordeals, their crowd was a collection of bitter grimaces and barely-contained tears and mouths on the verge of spewing insults and excuses. Failure must've been twice as bad here. They overcame ruthless undead, after all, only to fall to a bundle of paper.
An air of pity entered Valérie's eyes as she moved to stand between our groups, before procedure took its place. "Once again, those who've tasted victory and those who've tasted defeat stand divided. However, neither should allow this outcome to cloud their mind. As for those who have fallen short, note there is always another path to walk. And if you desire to return to the Citadel next year and continue this path, know you will be welcomed with open arms, and that our Order will count on your success." she nodded. "May you remain in the light."
At that, the assisting Templars came to escort the losing group out of the facility. Though, ever so slightly, the applicant's gloomy faces lightened at Valérie's words as the small crowd left for the world above.
"As for the eighteen of you that remain," addressed Valérie, "congratulations. Amongst you stand the shapers of our Order's future."
I flicked a glance at my sides. It was staggering how much our numbers had been shaved down since the day of the preliminaries, when I walked alongside the hundreds of heads that eagerly entered the Citadel's looming walls.
"For now, rest," she continued. "Tomorrow's Sacred Ordeal shall prove not half as tranquil."
"And remember," authority redoubled in her voice, "when the Final Ordeal begins, leave any personal grudges at the door."
—————————————————————————————————
Dozens of eyeballs floated around the waters below me.
I stared into the dark toilet bowl with one eye. The others looked back at my disappointed face with the same compound vision I imagined a fly would have. I'd been there for a long time, plucking out glamoured eyes just for another to regrow in its place. Though that didn't mean they lasted forever.
The oldest of the buoyed orbs started to fade like spice in the wind. Just like the one I pulled out earlier for the Second Ordeal.
Figures they'd vanish eventually. Disconnected from my body as they are, there's no source of mana to keep the illusion going for long.
But I wasn't back here to run experiments. At least not primarily.
I leaned against the walls of the stall, chewing nails that regenerated as fast as I bit them. …Just my luck. I can pull and pull 'til the sun rises. But I can't glimpse into my past life again - not even for a second.
"Some kind of snag between my sight and the necromancy that keeps me going…" I quietly theorized at the cause. "No matter how tight I cross my fingers, it doesn't seem like I can make it happen twice. But it does prove something: that vision didn't come from nowhere. All my memories really are locked inside my head, fresh as the day I experienced them."
A series of words. A blow to the head. A hiccup in the magic of my being. All different stimuli that brought a fragment of the past back to me. Don't know what the next one might be.
But each one marks another step closer. Another clue.
I sighed, accepting the conclusion as something of a half-victory. But I knew I couldn't stand around for the rest of the night. Well, I could, but by then the lights were off in more than just the bathroom. Darkness was my domain, now; I'd never been safer in the facility.
Besides, there's still plenty of hours to practise my Shroud for tomorrow. Not like one night'll make for a world of progress, but something tells me every little bit will count.
I made my way out of the bathroom and into the shadowy halls. They were empty and quiet. The same couldn't be said for the door to the commons.
Beyond it, a strange snap-snap-snapping sound emerged in an unvarying pattern. It didn't end, even as I waited in the hall trying to figure what in the Abyss that noise was.
I turned to my dorm room. I could've ignored it. I should've ignored it. But again, I stood in the dark. With it on my side, I was very possibly one of the most powerful applicants in the Ordeals.
So I stepped toward the source. Threw open the door.
And found him.
The swordsman sat across a chair, boots propped over the rail of another. Sleeplessness covered his face, accentuated by the pitch, into an expression completely unlike the leisurely face I'd grown to expect. A negativity that only deepened once he spotted me.
"…You," Niles acknowledged.
I quickly masked any surprise, my eyes moving to one of the man's gloves - his other hands' fingers pulling at its wrist. That was the sound. One of his many habits.
Something kept him from saying more. But he afforded himself a quick glance at the chair on the opposite end of his table before returning to meet my quiet gaze.
An invitation?
He peered at my face with that exceptional insight of his. Maybe the urge took a hold of my mind. But I didn't let it reach my face.
Niles closed his eyes, a bitter smile acting as the lone light in the darkness. "Right. Who'm I kidding? There's nothing else to be said. You are what you are. Nothing will change that."
"…Shut up and go to bed, Niles," I finally said. And that's all I ever said. I spun on a heel and blew back through the door before I could even catch his reaction. It was better that way.
Who does he think he is? I paced back to my dorm room. Pretending like everything can be forgotten after what he did! Damned traitor…
I opened the door to my dorm, mind somewhere else completely.
Which left me wide open to the foreign blade that blazed for my throat.