After stating his name, the ginormous doors began to creak open; a gust of wind was blowing out the door, almost sweeping Krey off his feet.
After striking the ground with the sword to stabilize himself, the wind ceased its ferocious assault on him. He examined the enormous, open doors and discovered what they were made of. When he touched the substance and looked at his reflection, he knew it was steel because of the way it felt and appeared. He shifted his focus, put down his hand, and went through the gate.
Upon entry, he encountered another steel gate, the room not looking any better than the previous, with an orb of light illuminating the not-so-spacious room; this time, the carvings on the stone sign had new instructions.
"slash downwards"
Looking back down, there was a small crevice on the door, the mighty door, which was made from the same material as the last, was missing something, a straight line downwards separating the two pieces of the gate so that it could be pushed open.
Instead, a crevice was formed. Raising the sword, he gently placed it from the top and lightly dragged it down.
With a smirk on his face, he thought,
"I'm not about to waste my precious energy precisely cutting the crevice of the steel wall. Who am I, a fool?"
After, the door began to descend into the ground, slowly revealing the next room, which looked exactly the same as the one he had just come out of. The illuminating orb was following him, the stone sign instructing,
"slash horizontally"
Raising the sword, he repeated the same thing, gently placing the tip of the blade on the crevice and dragging it to the side to form a cut.
Krey's smirk growing even bigger,
"This is just too easy! whoever made this is the biggest idiot known to man."
However the thought of him entering the forest and falling through a pit, was forming in the back of his head.
With a sour look on his face, he looked at the next room. The mighty steel doors had already descended while he was thinking to himself. Walking inside, there were two crevices on the wall, unlike the last two.
"Slash diagonally."
Up until now Krey was guessing what the stone slabs said due to his inadequate education. Krey struggled for some time; however, he managed to follow the instructions by repeating what he'd done twice. The doors began to fall once more.
Growing hungry, he put down the sword and picked out a few berries from his pocket, having a light snack to satiate some of his hunger.
Walking inside the fourth room, the stone slab had one word written on it,
"Win."
That, Krey understood. Looking down, the room was much more spacious. In the middle, the ground was slightly elevated, with a wooden human-sized doll standing, holding a sword made from the same material as its body.
a cold sweat dripping down his body,
"I guess whoever made this place wasn't so idiotic after all."
Walking upwards, he climbed the elevated arena. Once he entered, strings of illuminating light had attached themselves to his body; the light wasn't as powerful as the orb, however.
The strings had come from the wooden doll. As he was pondering, it suddenly lunged at Krey, who barely had time to move out of the way to dodge it. Raising the sword, Krey hammered the blade downwards, landing a blow on the doll, but to his dismay, a sharp pain struck his body at the same time.
"How is this possible? It didn't strike me!"
The wooden doll, which hadn't bothered with protecting itself, raised its sword in a similar manner and struck down.
The shadow of the sword covering Krey's face, he instinctively kicked the doll backwards, and then all of a sudden, a sharp sensation of pain struck him again, and his face grew cold.
"N-no way..."
A realization had come to him; whatever damage Krey had done to the wooden doll, the same pain would whiplash back onto him.
Gritting his teeth, he stood a distance away, but the doll had other thoughts in mind.
Running towards him, the doll had delivered a devastating kick at him. Krey had managed to block it; in spite of this, he was sent flying back, being dragged by the force of the impact out of the arena. The strings that had attached themselves to him had disappeared.
rolling on the ground, immediately stood up, raising the sword, but the wooden doll didn't come after him; instead, it stood lifeless in the arena.
"What was that last move... It's almost as if it was copying my attacks, and it also reflects the damage back onto me? It can't be... there's no way. That's just unfair!"
Shouting curses in the air, he put his hands in his pockets to take out a few berries, but his face grew even more sour.
"...mushed."
The berries, which he had diligently worked hard to attain, had been squished. Grabbing them out of his pocket, he ate the remaining berries, putting back a few that weren't too mushed back in his pockets.
Walking in front of the arena, he waved the sword inside the elevated area; however, the wooden doll didn't react. A glint of superiority beamed in his eyes. Raising the sword, he struck the doll's hand holding the wooden sword. After repeated strikes, it had come undone. It took a while because the sword, which was now in Krey's possession, was dull, with only a few parts of the blade's body sharp.
Walking around the elevated ground, Krey climbed up the arena, a good distance away from the wooden doll, the strings attaching onto him again.
"How are you going to face me now, huh!"
With newfound determination, he ran, jumped, and then lunged downwards at the doll. Attacking the doll, aiming at its head, but the doll had moved out of the way, picked up the wooden sword from its fallen hand, and was using its other hand to wield its blade.
A frightened expression wore Krey's face as the doll was repeating his action of attack, dropping his sword. Krey wrapped himself around the doll's body, pushing it onto the ground, struggling to grab the sword out of the doll's sturdy grip. He managed to rip it out of its grip, since two hands are stronger than one.
Upon stealing the doll's sword, he began to smash at the doll's face with the pommel of the sword, the damage reflecting itself back onto Krey's face. Gritting through the pain, he continued anyways. Eventually the strings, which had bound themselves onto him, began to dissipate, disappearing into the air, the pain no longer lashing out onto Krey's face.
Letting go of the wooden sword, he looked up with a glorious look on his face as sweat escaped his glands.
"I won... I actually won!"
Rising from his position, he walked away, picking up the dull blade, which shone under the radiating light of the orb above him.
Walking out of the arena, holding two swords in his hands, preparing for another battle; however, this time, instead of the steel gates opening, a small space on the ground had opened, and a pedestal rose up, with a box presenting itself to Krey.
Cautiously, he dropped his swords and opened the box, revealing four beautiful thick bracelets. Its color was black, with an intricate pattern of a lotus flower. Wanting to admire it even more, he touched its smooth jade surface; however, as soon as he did, all four of the bracelets began to rattle, rising out of the box. It bound itself onto him, making Krey fall onto the ground.
The bracelets weren't normal; they were.
"HEAVY. Damn it, why are they so heavy?"
Groaning, he struggled to stand, attempting to take off the bracelets, but no matter how hard and how many times he tried, they just wouldn't let go of his disheveled body.
Giving up, he spat curses, walking towards the box looking for something, if there was anything else, but instead, there was a note that Krey struggled to read for sometime but it simply stated,
"Find my next trial."
Sulking, he grimaced.
"You put me through a grueling trial, punish me with a burden, four burdens in fact, and you want me to find your next trial? I curse you to DEATH."
After his tangent. The four burdens suddenly began to tighten, causing him immense pain before eventually falling to the ground.
"Wait, I didn't mean it! I'll bow to your request and find it!"
Then the pain subsided.
The steel gate in front of him began to descend, revealing a set of stairs with a light from the sky shining down. Picking up the two swords, he limped on the way to freedom from the trial.
Walking up the stairs, he struggled with each step, the weight of the bracelets weighing down on him.
Upon exiting the tunnel, the place began to collapse, the trials were falling before him, and a gust of dust-filled wind was flowing past him.
Baffled, he tilted his head in confusion, but he dismissed it, wanting to go back to the harsh outskirts. Krey was planning to turn the place into his new home, but alas, it had been destroyed.
Each step was heavy; he was barely able to walk properly. As he was about to exit the forest, a sharp growl came from behind him. He looked back.
What stood before him was a starved wolf, towering over Krey and his small stature.
Raising the two swords, adrenaline took over his body.