The faint light of Leo's stick barely cut through the freezing black mist. He stared at the massive Iron Golem, its metallic surface dark and still, standing silently within a circle of perfectly smooth, black stone. The only movement was the soft, rhythmic pulsing of the bright blue energy core lodged in its chest.
Leo, driven by his usual impatience, took one step inside the ring of stone.
CRACK!
The sound was sharp and sudden. Blue fire, hot and fiercely bright, erupted from the carvings on the stone floor, tracing the circumference of the circle. The black mist immediately began to dissipate in the intense light.
The Golem roared. It was a grinding, metallic shriek of ancient gears forcing themselves to move. Its massive arms, thick as oak trees, lifted slowly, casting giant, distorted shadows. The blue core in its chest pulsed faster, and its deep, square eyes lit up with cold, hostile light.
The Golem attacked. A foot the size of a small boat slammed down where Leo had been standing a heartbeat before. The ground shook, and Leo barely dodged, rolling away like a small marble.
This thing is stronger than the Wolf King! Leo realized. The battle instinct snapped back into focus. He couldn't outrun or outfight this giant machine. He had to think. His eyes immediately focused on the core. The core, glowing brighter than any other part, must be its weakness.
"The core is the only way," Leo muttered, weaving away from a sweeping metallic arm that tore through the air. He sprinted toward the Golem's massive leg and leaped, driving his rusty dagger straight into the pulsing blue light.
CLANG!
The dagger snapped in half. The core didn't even scratch.
Leo ignored the loss and continued to dodge, leveraging the Golem's movements to his advantage. He used the remaining stub of his dagger to repeatedly strike the same point on the core, aiming with desperate precision.
CLANG! CLANG! SCRAPE!
Minutes dragged into an eternity of near death misses. Then, on a desperate leap, he connected with a slightly different angle. A fine, spiderweb crack appeared on the core's surface.
That small success sent the Golem into a terrifying frenzy. It let out another grating roar, and the blue light in its chest flared into a raging, blinding fire. The attacks became a blur. Leo dodged several massive strikes, but the last one, a backhand sweep, was too fast. It slammed into his left side.
CRACK!
Leo was sent flying across the cavern, the sound of his forearm breaking sickeningly loud. He landed hard, spitting up blood, his left arm dangling uselessly.
"Almost there," Leo gasped, looking at the core. The crack was wider now, a network of lightning scars spreading across the blue surface.
Ignoring the white-hot agony, Leo scrambled to his feet. He had one last chance. Waiting for the Golem to raise its hand for a final, crushing blow, Leo rushed forward. He used the last of his strength, slamming the dagger's thick handle, the only solid thing he had left straight into the widest crack.
The Golem froze. The blue light flared into a supernova of energy, followed by a deafening SHATTER. The Golem's metallic body crumbled, falling into a silent mountain of useless iron. Leo watched it fall, a strange, satisfied smile on his bloody face. Then, the world went black.
Leo woke up hours later with a gasp. He was lying on the cold stone floor, but the intense, crippling pain was gone. He slowly lifted his left arm. It was whole. The shattered bone, the torn muscles, even the bruises from the three weeks in the forest all gone. He was shocked. This place was healing him.
He didn't waste time looking back at the scrap metal of the Golem. Survival was forward.
He walked past the broken automaton and found what looked like the end of the cavern: an immense, seamless stone door that rose hundreds of feet into the darkness, carved with ancient symbols.
Leo pushed the door with his fully restored strength. It groaned with the sound of ancient stone grinding against stone, and slowly, impossibly, it slid inward.
He stepped through, stunned. The cavern opened into a hall that was impossibly large, lit by a strange, ethereal blue dust floating in the air.
Hundreds of massive stone knights stood in perfect formation, their sheer number filling the hall like an ancient, waiting army. In front of them all, seated on a massive stone throne, was the grandest statue of all: the Knight King. It was huge, radiating a terrifying aura.
Leo moved closer to the throne. Beneath the Knight King's feet, carved into the floor, were the words that had called out to him:
"Only the worthy shall awaken the knight army."
A chill ran down his spine as the ground beneath him trembled, and the eyes of the Knight King's statue began to flicker with a ghostly light. Leo stepped back as a deep rumble echoed through the hall. One by one, the stone knights began to stir, their heavy armor grinding against itself. Dust fell from their bodies like ancient ash. The Knight King's hand twitched, gripping his huge sword, and a voice like thunder filled the chamber:
"Who dares disturb my eternal rest?"
Heart pounding, Leo tried to speak, but his voice was lost in the roar of the awakening stone. The Knight King's gaze, now fully lit with cold fire, locked onto him.
"Then prove your worth, mortal."
The King's voice shook the air.
"To claim the truth," the Knight King declared, "you must face the trial of the forgotten, the battle between courage and despair".