Test Your Might {Part2}

[Læbirius]

44th of Frost, Year 123. A.o.S

☠ Fingers ran across the scar on his back when he awoke the next day, the reminders still etched into his skin. His hearing was still one sided, he leaned into the right with every conversation nowadays and was getting somewhat used to the hearing adjustment. Stretching he removed himself from under his fellow competitors and greeted the day as it greeted him. Once ready and dressed he went to the Unseen Temple where the next trial of the tournament was to take place.

He was early as he could see them setting up for the trial of the day and he sat and waited for when it would start. He would take that time to practice his skill with his axe and shield, as there wasn't much else for him to do at that point. And so he practiced honing his talent and skill with his weapons of choice, repeating processes and techniques as best he could, making his own personal flair and style with it that suited him. After some time the other competitors joined him, and the MC of the tournament had appeared through a portal.

Ready he along with Guringor and the other competitors stood ready, waiting to hear what was in store for them. "Welcome back you six who have proven yourself determined to continue on to the next trial of the tournament. This trial will be a test of your courage." Tapping his weapon on the ground six figures came to stand behind each competitor. Lae would look behind him and see the figure behind him was a young elven woman, maybe around his age with short silver hair and piercing purple eyes.

"From this moment on, these six will be your handlers, as they will send you into the Arena, a place we Arbiters use to combat and overcome our fears. In this trial, your courage will be tested to face and defeat your greatest fear will be your challenge. The first four to achieve this will move on to the semi-finals. There is no time limit, and you will remain within your personal arena until said fear has been vanquished."

With those final remarks, he tapped his greatsword on the ground once more, and Lae felt a hand clasp his shoulder as the world around him shifted. Blinking he stood within an arena, and several paces in front of him a figure stood cloaked in shadow. Its form was relatively the same size as Lae, but as it moved a bit closer, the shadowy veil that obscured its form gave way to the one thing he feared most. "Father!?"

Sword in his hand, the visage of Maelor stood before him. ☠

---

"Common Speech"
"Vastian Speech"
"Vallenor Speech"
"Self-Thoughts"

[Pharaoh]

Perhaps Læbirius might find it strange that he'd been assigned a handler with no explanation, but trials weren't typically meant to be easy. Sometimes the challenges came in the form of obscurity, as seemed to be the case in this instance. The unidentified handler whose grasp had brought him to the arena observed the vision that appeared from over his shoulder, arching a brow and grimacing.

"Stuff and nonsense." She muttered through a scoff. "If you play at superficial half-measures, you will fail. Did you come to the Arena of Arbiters in the belief that you would be able to waltz in and defeat your greatest fear in simple, single combat? No. The first step in this trial is to discover what you actually fear, and this... this is not it." She gestured at the simulacrum of Læbirius' father.

"Away with you, onai opie." The form began to recede back into the shadow from whence it came. "Remember, oeiang'uvi, not all fears can be overcome with weapons. Fear is a matter of the mind. Now delve. Dig deep. Let the theatre of your mind play out in the arena before you. Memories, fantasies, worries... all may be made manifest in this place. I would see the darkness in the life you've led. I would see the horrors haunting the future of your foremost fears. What is the worst fate that might ever befall you? Speaking it into existence might make it more likely, you know, but that is a chance you must take if you would succeed in this trial. First we will discover what you truly fear and then you will figure out how to vanquish it... or it will vanquish you."

[Læbirius]

☠ The phantom of his father faded with the words of the woman who was his handler, she spoke of finding what he truly feared. A question he thought he may have had the answer to, but alas things were never as they seemed nowadays. He closed his eyes, following her words to search the memories of his life, to find the darkness, to find what could possibly haunt his future. At first, he thought it was orks, but coming to know Taidryn and living within the commonwealth he knew that wasn't the case.

He thought it was disappointing to his mother, but he had already crossed that bridge during his meeting with Atra and the other dragons. So what was it that truly caused him to shutter? Then it came to him, like a moment of his life being played out before him. He soon found himself standing in that bandit camp, bodies of dead bandits littered across the camp as he saw himself, watching the life drain from their eyes. He could see the fear in his own that was mixed with fascination. He feared not knowing what lay beyond life and death.

He feared becoming stagnant. But most of all he feared the unknown. It was why he thirsted for knowledge, for the key to unlock the secrets of life and death, to become immortal and record the knowledge of the world, to see the knowledge forbidden to mortal minds. He feared himself falling into obscurity, of not knowing what secrets are hidden beyond mortal understanding. At least that's what he thought. In reality, the greatest fear of all formed itself in front of him at the end of the camp. There atop the hill was a single grave, one whose headstone read "Here lies Phozenzia Len’Nagarath Læbirius". Falling to his knees he held a hand out to it. He came to realize that his drive to find the Codex of Setrah, to find the secrets of Lichdom, was to evade his greatest fear of all.

Death itself. ☠

---

"Common Speech"
"Vastian Speech"
"Vallenor Speech"
"Self-Thoughts"

[Pharaoh]

► Show Spoiler

The handler stalked behind Læbirius. His focus should remain on the arena before him, not on her. Hers was to lead from behind, literally and figuratively, unless intercession be required of her. It was good that he shut his eyes and closed off at least one of his senses to the distractions of the waking world. The arena within was the first stage he would need to complete before anything worthwhile presented without. She followed the winding ways of his thoughts as they drew him to far darker places than where he'd begun.

He recognised himself as a failure in certain regards. Both of his parents had been part and parcel to this endeavour and it had only just begun. He recognised himself as insufficient, and feared what that might portend if he did not act. And such sweeping strides he sought to take by quitting his fatherland in favour of the once-forbidden jungles of the Commonwealth.

Ultimately, he seemed to come to a conclusion that he'd realised before, but perhaps forgotten or perhaps hoped to bury deep lest it bury him first.

"Good. Now open your eyes."

When he did, Læbirius would find the elven woman standing in front of him with a too-broad, unnerving smile spreading her thin lips taut.

"Deeeaaath." She hissed the word, "It drives you away, but it turns you on like a stranger's love." She bared rows of sharp teeth now, as her smooth skin sank and dark circles rounded her eyes, as the stench of decay began to waft into the man's nostrils. "Is this what you seek? All the power of wormfood? Hideous and hated, not alive but enduring and growing more and more grotesque and alone. For what, Læbirius? To what end do you seek power and endless days? Tell me..." All of a sudden she produced a dagger and buried it into his abdomen, twisting, tearing, digging deep.

"There. I've just set the timer on your trial. Your body is the hourglass, your blood the sand. You will tell me what I wish to know and you will face your fear, or you will meet it. Face. To. Face." Her grin widened so far that it tore the flesh from her lips all the way up to her ears. She cackled as she drew the dagger from his flesh, and licked the blade as the blood began to flow from the laceration. The smile remained, though the laughter diminished as the handler waited for Læbirius to regain the presence of mind to answer her several questions.

[Læbirius]

► Show Spoiler

☠ He wasn't sure what he was expecting after coming to such a realization, but it was the truth. He loved and feared death, admiring who a person was in their final moments, wanting to know what those last thoughts could be as the light slipped from their eyes. But fear in the fact that once death had claimed him, there would be no more time to learn the mysteries of this world. When he had come to this realization, his handler called his attention.

He was taken aback by the weird cheshire grin she held on her lips, and soon he realized that the trial was far from over, it was just beginning. He watched as her form became grisly, undead, her words inquisitive with a mocking tone, yet menacing all at once. He watched her become an embodiment of death, a figure that would square even those with iron wills. He never saw the dagger coming, and when he realized it, it was only because she tasted the blood that came from his abdomen.

Wide eyed panic began to set in, as bleeding out was the timer, and he wasnt sure how long it had been already, nor was he sure how many had finished already. Suddenly a calm came over his mind, the haze of impending death and confusion lifting. He could think clearly now, as she demanded answers to her previous questions.

"It drives you away, but it turns you on like a stranger's love."

"Is this what you seek? All the power of wormfood? Hideous and hated, not alive but enduring and growing more and more grotesque and alone."

"For what, Læbirius? To what end do you seek power and endless days? Tell me..."

Her words echoed through his head as he thought about his answers. He thought about his meeting with Atra, Sable, and Carmine. How Sable had first turned him into a ghost, how he spoke to his mother about his path. He remember the day he noticed the weird bracelet on his wrist, and how it allowed him to become a ghost, what that feeling was like. He realized he has always been dancing with death, be it almost dying himself, or being surrounded by dead loved ones like his mother and Taidryn.

Death was no stranger to him, he was always in the presence of death. His own summons came from a realm of death and decay and he was used to them and their horrid forms. Looking up at the horror before him, ghostly green eyes turned a luminescent gold as ethereal smoke bellowed from his body as he spoke. Something in him stirred, as the output of the smoke increased. "To what end do I seek endless days and power you ask? Heh well, that's simple. Because the finality of this mortal coil is not enough time to sustain my thirst for knowledge and the mysteries of this existence. I seek to know all there is to know, to learn all there is to learn. The Codex of Setrah is just the beginning, from there I will learn all the forbidden knowledge there is to know. I seek the power to achieve this and we all know that knowledge in and of itself is power. I seek power to look at death and know it cannot touch me."

His words soon held an echo to them, and if Taidryn was alive, he would attest to the fact that it sounded similar to the feminine voice that echoed his that night his bloodline awoke in his bed in the Solunarium. "I am Læbirius Tu Anai. I am destined to inherit and suffer, to inherit the secrets of life and death so that I may know all that is forbidden in this world, and to suffer knowing the truth that comes with such knowledge."

With that he found the strength to walk over to the horror in front of him, taking her face in his hands and placing a kiss on her forehead. "So as far as I am concerned, I can't afford to fear you anymore, but I implore you to try and stop me." he encouraged, taking a step back, clutching his stomach to try and staunch the bleeding, slow down the timer somehow, even if he knew it was futile. ☠

---

"Common Speech"
"Vastian Speech"
"Vallenor Speech"
"Self-Thoughts"

[Pharaoh]

The creature seemed to lose her amusement— her smile falling into an equally unnerving grimace as he answered the first question.

“You are little more than a child, barely having embarked on the adventure of one lifetime... Scarcely having sought the thrill of mortal adventure. So few risks taken to seek such lofty rewards… There is typically a give for a take, but you ask for gifts to be handed out like candies from a doting grandmother. Is it death you fear or risk? Would you have embarked on this trial if you’d known it might end with your demise? If so, then is death your greatest fear? If not, then why do you deserve the power you desire?” By the end of her line of questioning, her good humour seemed to have returned and the severe curl of her grin was stark once again. His fatalistic musings seemed to amuse her further.

“Destined, are you? And whose prognostications told you that you would learn such secrets in life, which all do learn in death’s embrace? Your certainty verges on conceit. I find that such certainty tends to wane with the life-sustaining blood that leaks forth from your veins. Destiny is fickle and yours hangs on a precipice. You use it as armour against fear, but your fears are justified. Your wound is real, your demise is imminent, and I remain unimpressed with your façade of hubris. Delve deep, or bleed deeper.“ At his kiss to her forehead the creature cackled into his face.

“I am not Death, Læbirius ‘tu Anai’, though I may deal it if you fail to impress. Did you not come here to gripe the hilt of the Sword of the Arbiter? What, then, shall you call them that decide whether you are worthy to draw closer to that goal? I suppose you may call me… Judgement. Now, tarry not. Your wound wants treatment more than you seem to want the sword…”

[Læbirius]

► Show Spoiler

☠ Eyes of confusion painted his face as he looked at the horrific woman. He was confused more so that he didn't know what she meant. "Læbirius ‘tu Anai’?" he puzzled to himself, as he wondered what could have happened that he would recite that name again. In any case whatever happened, whatever he said to them, it didn't work.

Her words echoed through him as he thought about what she could possibly mean. He chuckled when she called herself judgment. "Trust me when I say I've met judgment before, I have seen first hand what those who carry that weight can do, and last I checked I don't see a damn black scale on you hag." he spat, his words carrying every ounce of venom in them he could muster. He wasn't sure how much deeper he could dig. He had experienced a lot over the seasons, from being killed by black dragons, finding a bracelet that allows him to become a ghost. Witnessing the death of those close to him, and betrayal from those he saw as a mentor.

"Of course I want that sword. I would think they would call me just that, worthy of the sword by overcoming the trials set before me to claim it. You keep saying to dig deeper but what more could I fear than failing? If I fail, then I submit to a fate worse than death at the hands of Atra and that is currently what I fear in this very moment. The wrath of dragons is a scary thing, especially when they can kill you with so much as placing a hand on your shoulder." he said running his fingers over the marks that the dragoness etched into his skin. Even now he could see her sickening smile and the pressure her very presence exuded.

He was running out of time however, and he would continue to look within, though his glowing ghostly green eyes glared at the elven woman before closing them to find the answer that would satisfy this trial. He wasn't sure, he explored all his options and each one seemed to not be correct. Part of his wondered if she was even proctoring this trial the right way, but without knowing what the other participants were going through he could only wonder. Regardless he concentrated.

He didn't fear death, as he had experienced death if only briefly, and could become a ghost without losing his own tethers to this plane of existence. He knew he no longer harbored hatred or fear for Orks as he had come to live among them and had seen not all were brutish monsters he thought them to be. He was hoping to find this answer soon, otherwise his chances where running out. ☠

---

"Common Speech"
"Vastian Speech"
"Vallenor Speech"
"Self-Thoughts"

[Pharaoh]

► Show Spoiler

"Hag, am I?"

The creature's broad grin faded slightly, as Læbirius spent some of the waning stores of his energy to laugh in misguided mockery.

"You own judgement is increasingly dubious... wasting these last, precious minutes to ridicule them that hold your life in their hands, rather than spending these moments to make a valid case for why you should walk this earth, let alone bear a sword meant for those of measured mind. I do not see an Arbiter in you, child. What I see is arbitrary." She sighed and turned from him, beginning to stalk away. She would pause her gait, when he spoke up once more, ears pricking up to listen.

"You seem to be unclear as to what I want from you. I want to be impressed with him that would gripe the sacred hilt of the sword he seeks. I am not." He paused for another beat before pivoting around sharply and skipping back over to where Læ lay.

"If Atra's disappointment is what you fear, then perhaps death is a mercy, rather than your greatest fear..." She clucked her tongue and clapped her hands together abruptly,

"Well. You are very young, Læbirius, and youth is famous for folly. I believe your ambition far exceeds your worth, at this moment in time, but as I am an honest 'hag', I will offer you this one solitary morsel of mercy. I will give you a chance to lead a life beyond this arena." She extended her hand and spread her long, claw-like fingers as Læbirius' wound halted its bleeding.

"The scale of your judgement hangs in the balance and I bring you a fork in the road. You have two choices, and I will brook no questions. When I have finished explaining the two paths, you will choose and we will proceed from there.

"Option one: You make one, final plea to enlighten me as to how your greatest fear balances against your lofty goals. This trial has never been about fear alone. Consider the name of the blade you pursue and what that means and impress me with your worthiness to bear it. If you take this road and impress me, you will proceed to the final trial. If, however, you fail to move the needle of my opinion to favour you, I will undam your wound. You will lose consciousness, and you will die here in obscurity with me, alone, as witness to your end. Atra's disappointment will never touch you as Wraeden folds you into his embrace.

"Option two: You renounce your pursuit of the Sword of the Arbiter. Here, in this holy place under the eyes of gods and spirits, you will acknowledge your unworthiness and vouchsafe that you will forsake this misguided quest for now and evermore. The trials will proceed without you and, perhaps, another will claim the sword. Or perhaps none today will prove worthy and it will remain sheathed until the rightful hand comes to claim it. Choose this path, and that hand will never be yours."

Although she'd only staunched the blood, Læbirius could feel his wits returning to him- no longer clouded by the loss of vitae. He was of sound mind, as his arbiter awaited his final decision.

!	Message from: Pharaoh
	This is a warning that the choices made in this trial have led Læbirius into a life-or-death situation. Proceed in the knowledge that the consequences of his next decision may prove fatal.