…

  His subconscious was fading.

  As if he were drowning in a sea of ink, Ren was forced to fade farther into an endless darkness; slowly, unable to move, unable to remember his body, he fell into the depths where he was left only with his mind.

  What felt like days passed, yet nothing answered his fear. The darkness enshrouded his body as if he became the darkness itself. Yet he began to feel a change in the darkness; slight at first, he thought his own mind was playing tricks. But as the hours trickled by him was sure he felt something. The slight fluctuations, the whisp of what felt like fine strings dash across his face.

  But as the darkness began to move, he was pulled with it, driving him deeper and deeper into the unknown; yet again, he saw nothing.

  He could only rely on the senses around him, telling him this wasn't just imagination. But Ren's mind was reaching a breaking point.

  He began to doubt his own existence.

  What if it had all been an illusion? Maybe there was nothing outside of this darkness. Did he just dream of himself being infected?

  Was Ren nothing more than an existence he made to comfort the silence? The illusion of Earth, its destruction, and beauty. Existing to him only as paintings for a madman.

  Or maybe--he just wanted to feel special, to be something other than darkness.

  No, not darkness, to be more than insignificant; Was that what he wanted?

  The darkness swirled, approving of his realization, of his wish; it began to shimmer.

  Slight reflections turned into deep waves.

  The inky substance that enveloped him slowly shaped into currents of golden strings; finer than matter itself, not just flowing around him, but defining what he was.

  Where he remembered arms, the strings formed limbs; where his head used to be, strings flew forth; he began to remember.

  They rushed to fill in what he was before the darkness. Yet it was not the same; where he had only one working eye, two filled its place; the cloudy wound no more, and his scars from the slums washed away as if he never had them to begin.

  The strings worked inside, repairing, recrafting him. Making him something better than he was before.

  His Color made way into the world next.

  Where gold had enveloped his body, pale skin took its place, spreading throughout, wrapping the strings tightly inside of him, holding them in place. Energy surged through his newly developed body as he recovered his sense of touch.

  Through his once broken eyes, a new color shone through, not of grey storms or clouded white, but of radiating purple. Two working eyes sat, fully restored. Raven hair, completing his face as they fell upon his brows.

  He became a clearer existence, more defined; Awakened.

  As if his existence was proven to the universe.

  As if he mattered.

  Clarity flooded him; he understood where he was now. This was the beginning of his Trial.

  * * * * * * *

  Gathering his thoughts, Ren focused on what he could. Feeling his body, he realized he was no longer the fragile person he was before. He felt stronger, abs more defined. Where bones once poked through, muscles replaced their absence.

  His body felt light. No, not just light, he was floating on the thin strings the world left behind for him.

  A strange power moved through his body now, but it was familiar, as if he regained something that he should've had all along.

  Before he could examine the rest of his transformation, something stirred in the distance, demanding his attention.

  The strings that had remade his existence spread out to create a scene in front of him.

  As if he were watching a film, mountains formed, piercing a tall peak through a now midnight starry sky. They drove higher and higher as if trying to reach into the heavens.

  With the creation of the stony giants, soil spread upon their depths. Grass broke through the dirt, only to be gently covered in snow that began falling from the sky.

  A river broke through the giants and streamed down the snowy peaks, carving its way into the land before settling into a great lake-- spanning miles across.

  But where water came, Ice was born; slow at first, but eventually infecting the rushing water nerveless; covering it all in a thin icy veil.

  Trees spread their leaves to the sky, animals of galore ventured across the land, some he recognized; others eldritch and warped.

  Where the trees grew densely, a wave of deforestation broke through. Dark oak villages formed in its path.

  Not extravagant, but enough to survive. Cobblestone paved its streets, as its people scavenged the land. Providing food for their own, and warmth beneath massive bonfires.

  Castles rose far in the distance, lining the mountain range with walls of an indestructible fortress.

  Ren couldn't help but shudder.

  What am I watching? This can't be real, can it? How much time has passed for this to even be possible? Better yet, am I even on earth anymore?

  As questions flowed through his mind, the world suddenly paused. The golden strings faded away, but a vast land of snowy terrain, flowing rivers, and grand plains was left in their wake, proving their existence.

  Without warning or answers, Ren felt the strings that surrounded him fade away, joining their siblings.

  With them, the lightness of his body disappeared. His normal weight was replaced.

  Unfortunately for him, he was overlooking the world from the sky.

  And so he started to fall.

  Wonder quickly turned into panic; his mind realized the threat of the snowy fauna lying before him. Wind was bursting through his hair, yet giving him no advice.

  Ren couldn't help but curse the world.

  'This fucking trial couldn't even get the decency to spawn me on the ground? What type of test is this? Who makes a person survive a hundred feet fall from the start?'

  Answering his own question, Ren came to a conclusion.

  It's impossible; I'm really gonna die.

  But before he could have the answer, the sudden change in altitude caused him to black out.

  And with that, he hit the ground.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  * * * * * * *

  Ren woke up to the sound of ringing in his ear.

  Somehow, he had survived his descent. Whether it was the Trial correcting itself or by pure luck, Ren did not care at all.

  Whatever had happened, he was now in the middle of a small clearing on the edge of a dark oak forest. The ground looked as if it had been hit by a meteor, and in the center of that impact lay Ren.

  Despite his confusion about how he survived, he was not about to question anything.

  In fact, his survival made him so happy that he was currently kissing the ground, rolling in the melting snow.

  "Forgive me for ever doubting you, beautiful, beautiful, Trial."

  "If I had a ring, I'd marry you right now. Actually, who needs a ring when our love runs this deep? Come here."

  Ren scooped up piles of snow into a deep hug, but unfortunately for him, the world did not respond to his wishes.

  Ah, my first rejection, who knew you'd be so sweet.

  Drunk on the feeling of survival, he took a second to gather himself from his delusion. As he did, he noticed two things. First, the leaves around him were frozen midair. The trees did not sway; there was no wind moving in the first place.

  It was as if time had stalled.

  The second was the voice that echoed through his head.

  {ATTENTION: Greetings, Champion!! Your Trial will commence shortly - Please prepare yourself!}

  Your trial will commence shortly?

  "Haven't I already survived?"

  In a matter of ten seconds, Ren found out one thing. Never make assumptions out loud, unless you want to be proven a fool.

  'The voice in his head rang out again.'

  {Ten.}

  Ten? Ten what?

  Ren stood up, looking at the oak forest surrounding him. It was dark and unnaturally dense, as if trees grew from every blade of grass. He felt something was wrong.

  {Nine.}

  {Eight.}

  Ren realized that at this moment, the trial was counting down seconds. To what he had no idea, but he began to notice something stir in the forest, as if he was being watched.

  {Seven.}

  {Six.}

  {Five.}

  {Four.}

  {Three.}

  {Two.}

  {One.}

  Before Ren realized, the timer had sped up in its counting, leaving him only one second left.

  This brought Ren to his second lesson within the Trial.

  It could do whatever the fuck it wanted, and he needed to start thinking much faster.

  You've got to be shitting me.

  The forest that made up his surroundings began to move, breaking out of the prison of time that held them still.

  {Your Trial has commenced! Good luck, Champion!}

  In a matter of microseconds, the world around Ren became animated. The trees started to ache as if they were stretching their limbs, and the roots that held the great oaks in place began uprooting, lashing at everything in their domain.

  Since he was young, Ren has always had good instincts. It was one of the reasons he was able to survive in the Outer Districts for so long.

  Someone swung a punch at him? He could sense the danger coming. The bread he was about to eat had maggots inside? His instincts told him to starve a little longer. They had never betrayed him once he was in danger.

  So, when at this very moment, the same instincts started screaming at him to run, he moved almost instantly, without waiting for his mind to catch up.

  Using every ounce of willpower in his body, he took a full-on sprint to the edge of the forest.

  With that, the world had resumed its spin.

  Reacting to his movement, the plants around him whipped out in a series of vines, hoping to catch the prey they found before them, to serve their oak siblings.

  Slashing his skin and tearing his body, Ren's adrenaline kicked in, allowing him to dodge the few vines that tried to hold him in place. Yet he had to sacrifice his body to escape the net woven by the puppet-likeplants.

  Blood poured out of his wounds, but he did not stop.

  The trees joined their siblings before long; Now completely unrooted, they whipped through the ground, roots pulling them along the soil, in an effort to circle him.

  They sent their wooden limbs through the air, flying at extreme speeds, extending them into a bullet point, all for the sake of piercing his body.

  Ren managed to narrowly dodge the incoming barrage, but not without suffering more damage.

  The clearing he had once woken up in shrunk to half its size already, and the foliage around him condensed in on his body, becoming only inches away from his face as he raced through the forest.

  Fearing being swallowed by the animated forest, Ren used every ounce of power he had left in his legs to take a leap of faith in the direction he saw sunlight.

  And with that, he broke through the trees into the daylight.

  Luckily, the jump had freed him from the living forest.

  Unluckily, this was also because he had just jumped headfirst off the cliffside of a mountain.

  'Are you fucking serious right now.'

  Falling through the air, Ren braced for impact, and within a matter of seconds, he hit the surface below. Except, instead of splattering into a pile of guts, he fell through a thin sheet of ice into the water that lay below him.

  Instantly, the cold hit him; the water was clearly freezing his body and putting him at serious risk of hypothermia.

  But with little energy left, he was swept away by its currents, unable to do anything.

  While tearing through the thin sheets of ice, he rag-dolled down the river.

  He managed to escape most of the foliage, but in doing so, he fell straight into an even worse situation.

  To make matters worse, a thick piece of living oak, held together by 3 separate roots, had followed him through his leap of faith

  Ren tried to grab hold of anything to hold himself steady, but was left with his arms flailing as his body became stiffer under the freezing temperatures.

  The living wood, faring the same cold, did not do much better, but still, it pursued Ren with utmost will. No matter how you looked at it, the situation was bleak.

  As he fought back the shards of ice breaking off the river's surface, stabbing into him, and resisting the oppressive pull of the currents.

  The strangest battle had occurred simultaneously.

  The living wood was determined to kill Ren.

  But Ren was too stubborn to die.

  Locked in the freezing water together, they began to use any free movement they had to launch blows at each other.

  If anyone happened to be walking past the river at this time, they would see a man in a full fist fight with a piece of driftwood.

  'How is anyone supposed to survive this?!'

  At this moment, Ren wanted to burn the Trial to the ground.

  'Is this really the fate the world left me? Dying to a piece of fucking driftwood?'

  "I TAKE MY PROPOSAL BACK, YOU SHITTY TRIAL."

  Ren declared his vows using the last of his breath. If this is going to be his death, he wanted to make sure he divorced his killer.

  He swung a vicious punch towards the wood, chipping off a piece of its frame.

  The wood, responding to his violence, shot out its roots, all three like a missile shooting from its side.

  But seeing the blow coming, Ren took two of the blows to his body to dodge the fatal attack on his head.

  Two of the roots extended into Rens' abdomen, while the third struck the air when his head had been.

  The pain surged through his body.

  However, through pure determination, Ren managed to keep himself above the Ice and break off the pieces of roots that dug into him wigling like worms in his side.

  He kept fighting the beast as the river's current tried to take him into its depths, desperately looking for an answer.

  Then Ren found his way out. In front of him, a stone bridge came into sight.

  With his body becoming limp, guts spilling from his wound, and his energy failing, Ren grabbed the piece of driftwood that had chased him through the icy water and began to hold the living wood under the river's surface in an effort to freeze it.

  The wood, left with its one root, still trying to squirm, became stiff.

  Come on, please work with me, or we are both going to die. Ren screamed out internally, far too tired to say it out loud.

  The wood reacted as its final root went limp. Maybe due to understanding Ren's intent, or maybe it just reached its demise.

  Either way, the wood reluctantly extended itself one last time before dying. It was frozen and bound by Rens' will.

  {Congratulations Champion!- You have defeated - Living Sapling - Before your True awakening! The Trial recognizes your feat!}

  Another voice began to echo through his head, similar to the Trial's voice, but not quite the same. A different existence.

  With a series of sparks, the living wood held in Ren's hand formed into the shape of a sword before becoming completely still.

  [The Spell Reforges an Existence - Living sword - Tier 1 Augment - Was bound to you]

  Ignoring the voices in favor of saving his own life, Ren decided both the Trial and the new voice could wait.

  He'd figure everything out after he survived.

  Without hesitation, he aimed his newly obtained sword at the approaching stone, holding on with both hands while pushing to keep himself above the water, and thrust the sword into the stone, piercing it, before forming a large crack on the underside of the bridge.

  Using the last of his strength, he climbed to its side and pulled himself up from the freezing water, then grabbed his new weapon from the bridge's stone.

  He had experienced pain before.

  The wounds he had before awakening proved his word.

  And he had spent countless nights starving in the Outer District, but the pain he felt now was new to him; this was the closest he'd ever been to death.

  Shivering and covered in wounds, the Living Wood tore in him, paired with the freezing water, his senses started to overload.

  Unable to form a thought, he wrapped himself into a ball as he hugged his new weapon, lying himself against the edge of the cold bridge.

  Through sheer will, he held the guts inside him from spilling onto the concrete, unable to move his body anymore.

  If goddess luck were real, it was safe to say she was not his fan.

  With his life hanging by a thread, he heard one more thing: the sound of wheels moving across stone. From the edge of his vision, he looked down the bridge.

  A carriage rolled into his blurry vision.

  Riding along with a pair of horses at the helm was a beautiful woman dressed head to heels in heavy Furr clothes, decorated with an aura of elegance.

  Her hair danced in the wind, swinging strands of vibrant red throughout the snowy terrain; the same color that was leaking from his stomach.

  Next to her sat a Knight in shimmering steel. His essence strong, the sun broke off his polished surface, reflecting the blazing light across the lands they traveled.

  Left with no options, Ren tried to call out, but his body gave no response.

  He was too weak, too beaten.

  For the first time in his life, he prayed.

  But no god answered.

  And for the second time since coming to his Trial, and his life force diminishing, Ren blacked out.

  * * * * * * *