by J. T. Wright
She had agreed to the rules governing her Trial in order to be allowed to bring her subjects in with her. She had reasoned that this was the best way to protect the Fey under her command from a world that was moving on. She had done so, because what was a Queen without her followers?
Oh, how she regretted that decision now! How she wished she was Keeper of a Trial where Adventurers could be tricked into pits of acid or forced to battle waves of Beasts until they were overcome. There was none of that for Maven. For her, there was only serenity and quiet.
The challengers that came to her Garden never fell for the simple tricks she was allowed. Most were like the boring Al’rashian boy, who took one look at the nets she supplied and dismissed them. Maven hated that little violet-eyed wretch. He was currently wandering peacefully about the Garden, plucking flowers at the behest of one of Maven’s subjects and an Earth Elemental!
The Al’rashian never put a foot off the stone walkways. He never took more than he should. He never tried to trap a Fairy. He was polite and prudent. In other words, he was insufferably dull!
Maven much preferred the redheaded human, Tersa. In all her long years of tending the Garden Trial, Maven had never bothered learning the name of a challenger. Tersa was an exception. Maven truly wished to know all about this small girl. Tersa was a delight!
Imagine, activating an Aura Skill while surrounded by benign Fairies! Maven had never seen the like before. The Queen was only allowed small tricks to expose a challenger’s weaknesses. Nets to provoke aggression, valuable herbs to inspire greed, these were her only tools. No challenger was stupid enough to fall for such obvious lures.
No challenger until Tersa. Tersa was a gem. She swatted at Fairies and crushed foliage. Maven had no idea what the girl thought to accomplish with her Aura, and the Queen didn’t care. In her eyes, it was a grand gesture, a gift from this simple peon to her noble self.
Watching Tersa careen off walls and fall repeatedly, Maven felt joy like she hadn’t felt in decades. The girl’s Class was Brute? Maven absolutely had to find a way to attract more Brutes in the future. Of course, she’d also have to properly coach her subjects in how they should manage the challengers. Fairies were capable of much more devastating attacks, but so far, they had held back.
The Fairies had long shaken off the effects of Enraging Aura. It was surprise that had caught them in the first place. Small magic like the Aura was no threat to the Fey. Now there was pity in their arrows and spears. The girl’s terror was apparent, and it was greater than was called for given the slight force the Fairies were using.
Maven huffed and pouted. What had she done to deserve such subjects? There were tribes of the Fey that delighted in fooling and torturing mortals. Why couldn’t Maven rule over them? Maven was Queen over the benevolent, and she hated it! She had thought being in the Trial would twist her subjects. No such luck. If they weren’t happy in their imprisonment, the Fairies were at least satisfied. They actually enjoyed helping Adventurers!
Tersa was good for hours of entertainment, but despite their advantage, her people were guiding the redhead to the heart of the Trial. Arrows that seemed pretty and spiteful were forcing Tersa deeper and deeper towards the Pool of Clarity. The fun would be done then, and the Trial’s Spirit would take over. Maven had no interest in that part of her duties.
But as Tersa approached the end of her ordeal, Maven’s attention sharpened. The girl was marked! It was only her authority as Keeper and interest in the Brute that caused the Queen to notice this. A Fairy Queen’s power was nothing before the gods, and in the outside world Terah’s mark would have been beyond Maven. However, even if her role was limited, inside the Garden of Clarity, Maven was sovereign!
Maven hated Terah! Goddess of Fields and Forest? Bah! Maven could remember when the uppity nature Spirit was almost as harmless as the Earth Elemental that had attached itself to the Al’rashian boy! It irked the Fairy Queen to no end that while she was trapped in this Trial, Terah had ascended to become a major force in the World.
To add further insult, the first challengers to Maven’s Garden, a clan of wandering Al’rashians had been inspired to build the goddess a temple. They connected Maven’s Trial to a temple of that smug bitch! Gods had no authority here, yet, Maven was constantly subjected to Terah’s presence lingering outside as the goddess preened in self-satisfaction!
Now, the nature hag was marking challengers entering Maven’s Trial! How dare she! This would not stand; Maven would not allow it. She would not allow the first interesting challenger of her Trial to fall into the goddess’s hands!
Caught up in studying the mark Terah had placed on Tersa’s forehead, Maven missed the chance to cackle as the girl fell yet again. The mark was intricate, obviously meant to force Tersa down the path of an Earth Warden, a Class for which the girl was unsuited. This wouldn’t do! No servant of Terah would be created in Maven’s Garden.
A Fairy Queen could never affect a mark left by a deity, but Maven was more than a Queen, she was a Keeper! It was as easy as snapping her fingers for Maven to erase the mark. She did so, gleefully. Take that meddlesome Nature Bitch!
“This action is not beneficial. It is outside your purview.”
Maven cringed as the wispy voice of her Trial Spirit spoke inside her head. Other Keepers worked with their Trials, but for Maven, the Spirit was the leash that kept her in check. The Garden spoke gently, without emotion, but the words crashed against Maven’s satisfaction, causing her pain that was nearly physical.
“It isn’t harmful, either!” Maven defended her action belligerently. “That bitch had no right to mark my challenger! And becoming an Earth Warden isn’t ‘beneficial’ to the girl either!”
“Nonetheless, your intention was not to aid or test the challenger. It was unnecessary. There is a price.”
Maven’s wings twitched at the Garden's announcement. “What price?”
“The girl desires transformation. You will provide the power for the challenger’s transformation.”
Maven shook with fury. This wasn’t fair! Fairies, at least Maven’s tribe of Fey, weren’t an Awakened race. Maven didn’t gain Experience or level up. Her power was painstakingly gathered and tended personally. It would take years for her to regain the strength she lost empowering the girl! As a Keeper, she never needed her own magic, but still, it was hers!
“Fine!” Maven cast the word out of her mouth spitefully. There was no use arguing with the Garden once it made a judgment. Maven had tried many times in the past and never once succeed.
“Fine!” she repeated. She glowered in Tersa’s direction. The Brute was no longer pleasing to her eyes. She didn’t want to look upon the redhead any longer. Fortunately, challengers in the Garden were separated. Maven’s attention turned to the Al’rashian boy she found so boring. Maybe there was some fun to be found there.
**********
To Maven’s disgust, the Fairy that had led Trent into the hedge maze also guided him through it. Watching Adventurers stumble about lost and confused was the Queen’s favorite form of entertainment in the Garden, and now one of her followers had robbed her of that pleasure. Trent strolled through the maze that was supposed to be the greatest obstacle in the Maven’s Trial and passed through easily. He was unaffected by the illusions and temptations that were supposed to bar his path. He never even noticed them.
Stepping out of the maze, Trent found himself in a large area paved with cobblestones. There was nothing much to see here except a fountain that drew his eye. A mist hung about the fountain, which was filled with cool blue water. The mist swirled mysteriously, pushed about by a wind that never left the boundary of the fountain’s basin.
A statue of a fairy standing on a pedestal rose up in the middle of the fountain. Unlike the Fairy gardeners Trent had encountered, this statue was clearly female. A mischievous smile decorated full lips, and her generous figure was wrapped in a dress of leaves. Her hands were held out to her sides, palms lifted, and water flowed from them to fall into
the basin below.
Trent didn’t approach the fountain. The statue was different from the one he had seen of Terah, but there were similarities. The mature figure, the graceful lines of neck, and flowing hair, they all brought to mind the Goddess Terah. However, where Terah had worn a loving, motherly smile, this Fairy’s smile was playful and cold.
If this statue came to life and demonstrated the same power as Terah, then Trent had no desire to confront it. He stood still and cautiously eyed the fountain, gripping the hilt of his sword.
His hesitation pecked at Maven’s last nerve. Already the Trial’s Spirit was whispering to her that the boy had cleared the Garden's challenge. The weakness of his Survivalist Class was aggression. From beginning to end, the Al’rashian had demonstrated prudence and humility. This was enough.
Maven disagreed! She disagreed adamantly! When had the boy been tested? Choosing not to attack Fairies who had never offered him insult? This wasn’t overcoming the weakness of his Class. Showing restrain while picking flowers? How could that be considered a Trial!
The Garden had already decided on the Al’rashian’s reward. Maven restrained the Spirit. She was not content. The Al’rashian must pass one more test. This was within her authority, and she would have her way, whether the Garden approved or not. Without word or gesture, the Fairy Queen’s power flowed from her into the fountain. She had to be careful, she had suffered one loss today. Her actions now had to comply with the rules.
Trent was startled as the mist above the pool vanished. His sword left its scabbard, and his left arm came up as his shield formed on it. The water was moving. Something was coming out of the fountain. A figure… a man! Within seconds, a man shaped-pillar of water rose out of the fountain. As he watched, details coalesced, and lines were drawn. Shortly, Trent was confronted by a sight that was both bizarre and familiar.
The watery man solidified. There was no color about him, his clothing all shades of black and white. Even his hands, the only part of the fountain’s creation not covered in one way or another, were pure white, lifelessly so. Once formed, the figure stood silently, unmoving, hands at his sides.
Trent’s head cocked to one side, and the figure mimicked him. He took a step forward, and the man stepped out of the fountain onto the paving stones. White hands slowly came up, drawing two daggers as they did. Trent paused. Those daggers were more familiar to him than the shape of the man. He knew those daggers intimately.
Sorrow and Strife, his soul-bound weapons, his favorite weapons, were perfectly replicated in the hands of this creature. Trent had never spent much time studying his own reflection, but the sight of those knives told him why he felt he had seen this creature before. From the cowl and mask that hid its face, to the scale mail and vambraces it wore, this creation was identical to Trent. The Trial wanted him to fight himself?
“No.” Trent shook his head slowly. His shield returned to its ring, and his sword was sheathed. “That’s not me. I won’t fight that thing. I'll find another way out.”
Trent started to leave, back the way he came. His mirror image stood there, making no move to stop him, but before Trent could take more than a single step, his Status sent him a notification.
Trial, Garden of Clarity, has been…
“No!” Trent had no time to finish reading. He was interrupted by the shrill shouts of a furious Fairy Queen. “No, no, no, no, no! I set this challenge, and I say he failed!”
Trent’s sword was out the moment he caught sight, out of the corner of his eye, of a light emerging from the statue in the fountain. He was also prepared to run. Seeing that the statue itself remained while a flesh and blood Fairy appeared, didn’t settle his nerves. This Fairy was angry, and anyone who could set a challenge within a Trial had to be powerful. This was the Keeper!
Trent kept his sword in hand but lowered it to his side. He couldn’t fight a Keeper. An aggravated Keeper at that. Aggravated with him, though he didn’t know why. The Fairy continued to rail at the air. She hadn’t turned her temper on him, yet.
“How is refusing to fight overcoming a weakness! He did nothing! He's done nothing since he entered!”
“Aggression is the greatest weakness of Survivalists. By refusing to fight, he has demonstrated he is not controlled by his Class. He has no other issues to overcome. None that we can test him on.”
The Fairy shouted at the air, and the air responded. Now Trent was completely at a loss. Had he cleared the Trial or not?
“He refused to fight out of arrogance!” Maven stormed. Her wings brought her hovering in front of Trent, an accusing finger jabbed towards his face. “Why didn’t you fight? Are you a coward? What kind of warrior are you!?
Maven didn’t expect a reply. She didn’t, couldn’t, communicate with challengers. She just wanted to toss this Al’rashian out! No reward! No more chances! When Trent opened his mouth and answered her rhetorical questions, she was stunned into silence.
“That thing,” Trent said, gesturing with his blade, “is supposed to be me? But it’s not. It didn’t attack me, and there’s nothing to be gained from fighting it. It’s not a challenge!” It was all very clear to Trent. He found the reflection that confronted him insulting. Also, this Trial reminded him of the Burning Lake. At the Lake, it was his perseverance that was tested. If the Garden was similar, then violence wasn’t the answer to this Trial.
Maven’s jaw worked, but seconds passed before she could form a thought. “You can see me? Hear me? How is that possible? What are you? A… a Bond? How do you exist!?”
The Fairy Queen never gave Trent a chance to answer. Not that he could have, anyway. He had heard these questions before. His life was as much a mystery to himself as it was to everyone else.
Maven continued ranting, not at Trent but at the Garden. Trent’s words had given her the leverage she needed. “He failed!” She shouted, stomping her foot on the empty air. “He refused to fight out of arrogance! That is a weakness of a Swordsman! He deserves nothing!”
“He has passed the challenge. This creation of yours skirts what is allowed. If you wish to challenge him further, a price must be paid!” The wispy voice of the Garden was tense. Its Keeper had finally pushed it too far.
“Fine! I'll pay, if he wins!” Maven was gleeful as she clapped her hands and demanded of Trent, “Fight!”
Trent cast a doubtful gaze at the dagger-wielding Trial Beast. Now that he understood Identify better, Trent had no need to use the Skill on this creature. From Fairies, this Keeper in particular, he felt danger. They had the ability to harm him. This black and white rendition of himself only exerted the slightest pressure on him. Seeing it holding daggers, Trent felt contemptuous. “Fight that? Why? Where’s the challenge?”
Maven’s face flushed. “Where’s the challenge? That is a perfect replica of you! It has all your Skills and Abilities and none of your ego, your weakness! Your arrogance! If you last two seconds against it, I'll… just fight!”
Her wings brought her out of the way, and at Maven’s command, Trent’s doppelganger surged forward, knives held at the ready. This was it; this was Maven’s chance! This wager of hers would set a precedence that the Fairy Queen could use to affect real change in her Trial. Her mind filled with visions of a Garden where challengers fought increasingly strong versions of themselves. From now on, Adventurers would fight and die bloody deaths for Maven’s amusement.
Caught up in her delusions and the impending death of the insufferable, arrogant Al’rashian, Maven failed to notice the storm clouds gathering above the Garden. They were a warning, but she took no heed. Her creation was within striking distance now. Soon...
Trent rolled his shoulders. He didn’t bother pulling up his cowl or fixing his mask in place to protect his head and face. He hadn’t used or trained in the technique Military Fencing since he had acquired the Skill. The stance for this technique was narrower than that of Basic Longsword, but Military Fencing was just a specialized version of a Skill he had mastered. The first moveme
nts were natural to him.
Trent had to admit, the Keeper’s creation was better than he was. Intellect was not getting in the way of Skill usage. The need for self-preservation placed no limits on its movements. Under the influence of Dodge and Dash, the replicant was moving swiftly and surely. Its knives promised pain and inevitable death. If the creature had been smarter, Trent might have been worried.
The doppelganger was close now, one knife angled from his side while the other reached for his throat. Leaving his shield in its ring, Trent stepped forward. His left hand lazily grasped the wrist that came in low. A casual flick of his own wrist brought the blade of his sword in contact with the upheld knife, which was promptly sent spinning away.
Trent sighed as he lashed out with the hilt of his sword, striking his doppelganger hard where neck met shoulder. He squeezed the wrist he was easily restraining. The Fairy Queen was right; Trent and the Trial Beast had identical Attributes. Strain as it might, the creature couldn’t bring its knife any closer to Trent’s body. They were a matched pair.
Trent didn’t know if the creature would be stunned by the blow to its neck, but the hilt’s strike had caused it to pause. He brought his sword down on the arm he held in place. There wasn’t a great deal of strength behind the cut, just enough to jar the arm and cause the creature’s hand to weaken. A second knife fell to the ground.
Stepping back, Trent lifted his foot and delivered a heavy kick to the doppelganger’s chest. The creature stumbled back, and while it was off balance, Trent kicked again and swept the creature’s legs out from underneath it. The sound it made as it tumbled to the ground was reminiscent of water splashing against stone.
The doppelganger tried to employ Acrobatics to roll to its feet, but it was useless. Trent had been in control of this encounter from the beginning and had already decided how it would end. Lunging forward, Trent used Thrust forcefully. The Skilled strike pierced the creature’s scale mail smoothly, and Trent’s blade skewered its left breast.
Unsure if this would kill a Trial Beast that was, presumably, composed of water, Trent continued hacking and slashing at the defenseless doppelganger. His feet rose and fell, stomping on knees, joints, and other sensitive areas. This was the heart of Military Fencing. It was a brutal Technique designed for soldiers fighting other soldiers. There was no compassion or honor in it. Military Fencing was all about pitiless efficiency.