The Oblivion Trials (The Astral Wanderer Book 3)

by D'Artagnan Rey

  She selected one with a golden sword and handed it Jazai, then chose a silver star and handed it to Asla. The final two were a red star and a blue crown. This seemed to surprise her for a moment before she simply shrugged and handed them out. The star went to Koli and the crown to Devol.

  “Keep hold of these,” she instructed and turned away as they examined the emblems. “You need them for the rest of the trial. We shall begin at midnight.”

  “What are these emblems about?” Jazai asked but she disappeared before he could even finish his question and left him to grunt in annoyance.

  “Midnight, huh?” Devol flicked his signet up in the air and caught it. “It’s a good thing we decided to come early.”

  “It would appear so.” Asla nodded in agreement. “Otherwise, we may have been disqualified.”

  Koli pocketed his signet and began to walk away from the group. Jazai rolled the map and called out to him. “Where are you going?”

  “Hmm?” The assassin turned back. “Will you be lonely without me, my friend?”

  The diviner shivered at the thought. “Truly, that’s not my main concern. I thought you were in our party, so where are you wandering off to? Midnight is in a couple of hours.”

  “Indeed.” The older magi slid his hands into his pockets. “And it looks like I have some time to kill.” He stared into the crowd. Devol followed his gaze to where Zed and his team huddled in a circle on the west side of the cavern. Koli’s gaze moved to a bald man in shining armor, equipped with a large blade who huddled by himself as a few other magi chatted around him.

  “You should recall that our party only lasted until we reached the chamber, but I intend to keep my promise.” The assassin looked at them. “Unless I have reason to, I will not attack you during the rest of these trials. But you should probably be more concerned with…well, everyone else.” He turned away and slid a hand out of a pocket to wave at them. “Have fun, little ones.”

  The three watched him go. They were all stone-faced for a moment before Devol sighed and shrugged. “If the truth be told, I can’t tell if I’m more concerned or relieved.”

  “I, for one, am fine with him leaving.” Asla folded her arms as she scanned the room. “I recognize some of the players here.”

  The swordsman’s gaze drifted over the many different teams gathered there. “Hmm…like who?”

  She pointed out a trio of wildkin. “Those three—the two deer homina and rat verte wildkin. They are a group of traveling adventurers similar to us.” She paused and pursed her lips. “I remember them from when I lived in the kingdom. I’m surprised to see them here, though. They are good hunters, but they never aimed to be anything more than that from what I remember. All they wanted was to make a pleasant life for themselves.”

  “It looks like their ambitions have grown,” Jazai commented. “What about Zed’s wildkin buddy? You seemed surprised to see him.”

  “Yes, Ramah,” she recalled with a nod. “He has a reputation as a fierce and strong fighter. He sells himself out as a mercenary. I did not know that he was currently allied with any person or group in particular, though.”

  Devol looked at Zed’s group again and studied the gorilla wildkin. “He’s big and certainly looks strong but doesn’t seem the bloodthirsty type. I’m almost surprised to see him with someone like Zed, who seems…uh, of an angrier temperament.”

  “Perhaps,” Asla said with a frown. “But from what I have heard…well, you have seen with Koli that not all killers are ravening lunatics or wrathful avengers. Some are calm and decisive, which I believe to be far more terrifying.”

  “I see.” The swordsman looked at Jazai. “What about you? Do you recognize anyone?”

  “Well, there’s him obviously,” the other boy said and nodded to the north side. Devol looked over and his eyes almost popped out of his head. A man in leather armor laughed heartily with about ten or so men around him. He had a long, unkempt brown beard and dark-brown eyes and held a mace in one hand and shield in the other as the men around him cheered.

  “Wait, is that Jett?!” asked, gobsmacked. “The bandit leader from—”

  “Our first mission,” Asla finished.

  “We might be overqualified for these tests if he was able to make it this far,” the diviner said with a soft laugh.

  “I wonder how many men he lost along the way,” the wildkin added thoughtfully.

  “I guess he wants to become a mercenary leader now,” Devol surmised. “Seriously, what use does a bandit have for an Oblivion marker?”

  “Maybe to get some of his warrants cleared,” Jazai suggested. “Or to use it to go to a different realm. After all, he did get beaten by a group of kids.”

  “Do you notice anyone else?” Asla asked.

  The diviner craned his neck and searched the crowd. “No one I know personally, but I see some familiar faces from wanted posters or who I know by reputation.” He pointed to a hunter in a long, faded blue cloak. “That’s Yule, a hunter associated with the assassin’s guild Black Sun out of Osira. He supposedly works solo nowadays.”

  He pointed out two female magi, one human with long black hair and the other a dryad with reddish-brown skin, short green-hued hair, and a single curved horn. “Those are an ambassador pair to the kingdom of Britana and the dryad realm. The human woman is Mara and the dryad is Calipsi. I don’t know why they would be here. You would think they had a cushy enough job to keep them busy and comfortable.”

  After a moment, he pointed to a man dressed in dark robes with a wide-brimmed hat. “And that’s Rome, a dark mage who had a warrant out for him in Britana and Soel. But he’s more blunder than power from what I understand. He ran from both kingdoms as soon as he heard of those warrants instead of continuing with his plans.”

  “What about you, Devol?” Asla asked and gestured around the cave. “Do you see anyone?”

  The swordsman looked around. He truly hoped not as it was more likely that he would see a friend rather than an evil magi or rival. His search thankfully brought no results, but his gaze did linger on a large warrior in dark armor with an ax on his waist. He seemed somewhat familiar—or his armor did, at least—but he wore a helm that covered his face, which left him unidentifiable. Devol simply shrugged and shook his head. “No, at least that I can see, but there is still time for more to arrive.”

  Jazai took his pack off, opened it to put the map away, and rummaged through it. “Well, I have no intentions to try to make fast friends right now.” He withdrew a small container and opened it to reveal a rice bowl with some meat. “What say we have one last meal before this starts?”

  His friends agreed, sat beside him, and opened their packs to retrieve their prepared meals. They huddled together and chatted casually like the other the magi around the cavern, all enjoying one final moment of peace before the clock struck midnight.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  “So how many does that make now?” Jazai asked and looked up from his book as another two magi walked into the cave and were greeted quickly by one of the council members.

  “One hundred and twenty-seven so far,” Devol stated before he looked at his friends and shook his head. “I keep forgetting to add us in the total. So a hundred and thirty even.”

  “It is quite a large group,” Asla commented and looked around the cave from her perch atop a large stone. “And all potential enemies.”

  “And a large number of bodies for them to whittle through,” Jazai added, closed his book, and tucked it into his backpack. “Midnight is almost here. At most, there are fifteen or fewer winners in the trials. Even if we go with the highest amount, it means one hundred and fifteen losers.”

  “How long do you think the trials will last?” Devol asked.

  The other boy shrugged. “It can vary but normally, the real trial is rather short compared to the prologue.”

  “Prologue?” Asla asked as she climbed down from the rock.

  “Yeah, as in all the stuff we did to get here.”
He held a hand up and counted off on his fingers. “Being qualified, discovering the location, getting here through all the nuisances, those things.”

  “You don’t think all of that was set up, do you?” The swordsman glanced at the cliff and the council members. “I mean that they played a part in it?”

  Jazai shrugged again. “I’m not sure I would go that far, but remember what we heard before we even reached here? Those who were mugged for their signets and the likes of people like Merri and Hem who killed participants before they even reached the cave. It may not be official, but I’ve considered us in the trial ever since we got our signets.”

  “Look, the Council is moving,” Asla warned them. The friends and many other magi focused on the dark-clothed figures who walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down at all of them. The tallest among them lowered their hood to reveal Mephis, the daemoni they had met before.

  “A good evening to you all,” he announced and his voice resounded through the cavern as everyone fell silent. “Congratulations on making it this far. I speak for the Council in welcoming you to the Oblivion Trials.”

  “Hey, aren’t there a few minutes left until midnight?” a magi shouted and earned some annoyed expletives and shouts to “shut up” from some of the others.

  “There are,” Mephis acknowledged. “But no one else has the time to make it. We have observed the entirety of this cave system for days. The closest magi to this chamber are over an hour away.”

  “Observed the caves?” Devol queried and looked Jazai. “I didn’t notice any runes or curios that could let them do that.”

  “I didn’t either,” his friend responded with a frown. “They must have a very powerful diviner among them.”

  “So what happens to the rest, then?” another shouted.

  “They will be attended to,” Mephis answered and looked around the crowd. “By why ask about them? Shouldn’t you be concerned with yourselves?”

  “He makes a good point,” the diviner reasoned and his gaze swept the room. “I don’t feel anything off yet, which is more disturbing than it should be.”

  “You have all come here for your own reasons, exactly as you were able to qualify through your own means, be those whatever they may be,” the daemoni stated. “But now, you all have the same goal—to survive.”

  “Is that it?” a boastful voice shouted. Devol noticed Jett grinning fiendishly at the council member. “I’ve been a bandit for decades. That’s the number one rule for those in our profession.”

  “A bandit got in?” another magi asked. “What is this idiocy?”

  “You wanna say that again, you blathering idiot?” one of Jett’s men roared as the others began to shout and hurl insults behind him.

  “Silence!” Mephis shouted and finally displayed a trace of anger as his voice cut through any shouted exchanges in the cavern. “You’ll have your chance to settle your squabbles later. For now, there is no difference between bandit and archon or hunter and assassin. You will all be nothing more than corpses by the end of this if you are not up to the task.”

  This declaration caused a shift in the crowd as everyone recalled where they were. Devol watched curiously as Zed approached the cliff. “Then why are we standing around?” the man demanded and folded his arms. “If the first test is waiting, I’m done already. Patience isn’t a virtue of mine—not that I have many to begin with.”

  “Clearly,” Mephis muttered. “So you are ready to begin?”

  Zed took his signet out and held it up. “Yeah. Simply tell us the point of these colorful little coins and let’s get on with it.”

  The daemoni uttered an odd sound and Devol could swear he was stifling a laugh. “Very well, then, but we will explain the signets later.”

  “Later? I thought we were starting now!” a magi shouted.

  Mephis nodded as two other figures approached the edge and stopped beside him. “We are, but the next part of the trial has no need for the signets yet. As I said, your only objective now is simply to survive.”

  One of the council members raised their hands and twirled them. Rocks dislodged from around the cavern and quickly piled up at the two entrances to seal them off. The other waved their hand and large wards were placed on the rocks to block other forms of magic from affecting them as the torches went out around the cave and the orb of light disappeared to leave them all in darkness.

  “What in the hells?” was a common cry, along with confused shouts and annoyed steams of curses.

  “I can’t port out of here,” Jazai stated and snapped his fingers. “Some kind of ward or item must be blocking me.”

  “Can we get some lights in here?” someone shouted. Individual torches and lanterns were lit quickly. Devol drew Achroma and brightened it with a trace of mana as several magi fired different light spells to illuminate the cavern.

  On the cliff, the council members had disappeared and left the large group of magi alone.

  “Do they plan to simply starve us out?” Asla demanded and glared at one of the sealed entrances.

  “It seems foolish,” Jazai commented and squinted at the wards surrounding the rocks. “Those are fairly fancy, but given how many magi are in here, we could probably destroy those wards or at least disassemble them in ten minutes or less.”

  “He said this was about survival,” Devol reminded them. “Given everything we had to do to get here, it would seem rather anticlimactic to simply make this a test of attrition.”

  “True enough.” The diviner placed his hand against one of the walls. “I sense wards inside the cavern walls as well, so I guess that means we can’t dig our way out.”

  “Wait,” Asla ordered and her ears flicked. “I hear rumbling.”

  “More golems?” the swordsman asked.

  “I hear breathing as well, coming from above.” She held her claws up as she stared at the ceiling. He looked around to see dozens of magi doing the same while some prepared spells and weapons. “Something is coming.”

  It did not take long to arrive. In a matter of moments, the ceiling began to crack and Devol heard the breathing Asla had described. To him, it sounded more like a hungry, desperate, salivating.

  “Look—the cliffs!” a man cried. The swordsman did so as several beasts ported onto the cliff's edge—flayers, likan, and a large, muscular horned beast that raised itself on its back legs and bellowed a deafening cry. The ceiling finally burst open and dozens of creatures swarmed through and plummeted toward those gathered below.

  “To battle!” The war cry triggered several others in response as all the magi present began to fight for their lives. Spells streaked overhead and Devol could see the effects of dozens of exotics in action as well as hear the pained shouts and gurgles of death from several in the room, both beast and man.

  “Flayer!” Asla shouted and pointed to the creature that climbed across the wall and headed rapidly toward them.

  Jazai jumped out in front and placed his hand on the wall. “Frost,” he invoked and sent a wave of ice through the stone that enveloped the beast and trapped the left side of its body in a frozen shell. As it reared with its other claw to hack at the restraining cold, Devol leapt upward and beheaded the beast before it could free itself, landed, and turned to his friends as he wiped a blob of blood from his cheek.

  “So what’s the plan here?” the diviner asked and scowled at the chaos that unfolded around them as more beasts continued to pour in from above. “Do we engage them or wait for them to come to us?”

  “How many are there?” Asla asked as her anima hummed to life. “And how quickly can we get through them?”

  The swordsman grasped Achroma and his gaze settled on the large horned beast where it prepared to jump off the cliff into the cavern. “It’s like he said.” Devol held his blade up and let the light shine off it as he looked at his friends. “We only need to survive, and we will have a better time doing that if we all work together.”

  Before his friends could respond with negati
ve comments about the likelihood—or not—of the other trialists agreeing, the beast finally leapt off the cliff, pounded onto the cavern floor, and hurled both magi and beast aside. It began to batter the ground with its fists. Devol and several other warrior magi looked at it and as one, roared and charged the giant creature as the monsters continued their feast.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  “Yeah, go ahead and charge the big monster.” Jazai grunted as he turned and blasted two mana missiles into the sky to knock down two flying critters that swooped down on him. “It’s not like there aren’t enough to go around.”

  “Should we help him?” Asla asked but felt a rumble beneath her and vaulted onto a large rock as a giant wurm burst out of the ground. It opened a four-lipped mouth to reveal a row of rounded teeth.

  “He’ll be all right,” the diviner affirmed as he walked closer and held a hand up that was covered in flame. “For now, let’s focus on our priorities.” He thrust his hand forward and unleashed a torrent of fire at the wurm. It screeched and shriveled. “And try not to use too much mana. I have a feeling this isn’t only to skew the numbers.”

  Devol and three other weapon-wielding magi struck the large beast together. It blocked the strikes with its massive forearms and uttered another loud roar as it swung its arms forward and knocked them all back.

  “What the hells is an asterius doing here? I thought they were only found in Kanako?” an archer questioned as he fired several bolts at the monster. The beast’s fur seemed to come to life, wrapped around the bolts, and tossed them aside. “And it’s enchanted?”

  As the swordsman pushed to his feet, he looked at the archer and drew his blink dagger. “Hey, do you have any twine or string?”

  The man looked at him with a puzzled expression. “Yeah, why?”

  Devol tossed him the dagger. “Tie this to an arrow and fire it over its head!”