“I hate you.”
Kaius grunted, holding on to the rope with a white-knuckle grip. Almost horizontal from how far he was leaning back, the only thing stopping him from flying over the edge of the cliff was a raised lip of stone that he’d braced his feet against.
Dipping low into his crouch for a moment, he hauled backwards — arms shaking as he pulled the rope in with his right and reached for more with his left.
Sweat poured from his forehead, as every muscle down his back and hamstrings burned with the heat of one of Ianmus’s overcharged rays.
Shaking as he held position for a moment, Kaius looked down.
Porkchop was swaying in the breeze, a crude rope harness wrapped around his chest and waist. Despondently staring at the ground far below, his head hung limp.
Kaius’s quaking intensified — though this time it was from suppressing laughter. Gods bless whoever designed this trial for giving him the opportunity to lord this one over Porkchop for the rest of time. He looked like a bloody trussed up chicken!
He took a long breath, swallowing his mirth — if he lost it now, it wouldn’t just be his laughter. He’d never hear the end of it if he dropped the bastard.
“I can feel you laughing! The rope shakes!”
Kaius grunted and heaved Porkchop another stride higher.
“I—”
By the bloody gods Porkchop was heavy. He dipped low again — it was easier when he built up a little momentum with his legs.
“Have—”
He was breathing through clenched teeth now. Stamina might have kept him at peak strength, but it didn’t lessen the burn. Normally he didn’t mind that. Normally, he wasn’t lugging some fat lump up a bloody cliff.
Kaius snickered again, before he yanked on the rope.
“You’re going to keep this to yourself.”
Kaius couldn’t keep the smile off his face as he nodded, no matter how hard he tried.
“Uh huh, of course. I would never tell our friends that you nearly cut yourself loose because a few pebbles fell on you.”
“You said it was a swarm of bugs!”
“I said bits. Bits! As in, bits of stone.”
“Bastard. Now get this abomination off me so we can keep moving. Even going back through the fog will be better than this…travesty.”
Kaius laughed and jumped to his feet, working on the knots of the makeshift harness. They would have to return to the swirling blanket of white that swallowed the land — unfortunately. The first thing he’d done when he’d used Shunt to reach the top had been to scout ahead. There was another path right behind him that lead to the edge of the dome of clear air.
Of the other routes, there was no sign — only part of the hill had been cleared. He hoped they would see them again at the next crossroads, otherwise that meant if they were ever forced to split up…they might stay that way for the rest of the trial.
They’d just have to deal with that if they reached that point. It wasn’t like they would separate unless there was no other option.
Unfurling the last knot, Kaius quickly gathered the rope into a loop and stored it in his ring.
“Come on, let's go.”
….
Kaius whistled at what waited for them at their next crossroads.
“That’s a doozy. Think you’re up for it?”
“It’s going to suck more than when the Siege Ogre nearly snapped me in half, but yes. Why me though? You’re the one who has resistance to storm affinity.” Porkchop groaned.
“Firstly, I’ve done, what, four of six obstacles we’ve passed? Second, you also have storm resistance thanks to my Sigil — and Spell Resistance, partially magic resistant armour, a Skill that makes you nigh invulnerable for a brief moment, nearly half again as much Constitution, nearly triple my health, and have the natural resilience of a greater beast.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“Hey now, we don’t know that those bolts are a spell! They could be natural magic phenomena!”
Kaius looked at the looming dark cloud that hung over the middle path, to the stone door engraved with a contorted man being struck by lightning — and a mirror of the door opening behind them — before he looked back at Porkchop. Twenty strides wide, it stood alone in a field of grass, blocking their way forwards. Unfortunately, they couldn’t just walk around it. The trial rebuffed them the few times they’d tried.
“Breaking out the big words now, I see.”
He gave Porkchop a teasing grin and got a rumbling sigh in response.
“Fine… but you best make something tasty next time we stop to eat.”
“Of course — I'm not evil. Just a lot more fragile than you are.”
Both of them had seen first hand how unpleasant it looked to be hit by lightning, courtesy of Stormlash, and his spell looked to be a mere fraction of the mana that boiled inside the cloud above the middle road.
Electric, storm, and wind affinities, tearing at each other in an unstable frenzy — just barely held in check as it cracked ominously. Every few heartbeats, the cloud crackled as a spiderweb of blue light spread through its depths.
It was better than splitting up. As far as they’d been able to tease out, the flanking routes forward would let both of them attempt — but the one time they’d tried to do that, they’d been violently ejected back to the start.
They’d been attacked by some sort of hyper-violent slime mould — mostly immune to physical damage, but very susceptible to his lightning. Kaius hadn’t been able to help himself when Porkchop had started to get engulfed.
No assistance allowed outside the central path, it seemed. That simple fact had ruled out those routes as an option. Every single one of them had been designed to be tough, but fair for one of them, and ruinously difficult for the other.
This time around, the right hand path was swarmed by a storm of needles — each one boring right through the dirt beneath the path to loop back round and approach from another angle. He could handle it — between his speed, Slipstep, and a multitude of general Skills that would help him to notice, avoid, and withstand their assault. Porkchop…not so much. He was too large, too inflexible, and too slow. Judging by the ease the projectiles tore through the shard wall they’d sent in as a test, his armour wouldn’t be much help either.
On the other hand, the left hand path had two glass golems that were pumped full of a mana type that he didn’t recognise. No doubt something nasty he wouldn’t be able to dodge, and would put him down hard.
All of that was a long way to say they’d long since made their mind up about sticking to the middle route.
Not that the central path was easy. His least favourite had been walking through a tunnel filled with toxic smog to flick a lever to open a gate. The pain was one thing — but did it really have to taste like sour milk mixed with coal ash?
Still, Kaius did wonder what it was all for — he still had yet to feel even a peep out of Animus, and that was with him already having brushed up against its resonance.
It must have something to do with cooperation; though by now he was far less certain that it was that simple. Perhaps it was about how they supported each other with their strengths? Some sort of cohesion that made them greater than the sum of their parts.
It would fit with the way the middle path overwhelmingly required one of them to do all the work to get through it.
A little weird, considering that didn’t quite match up with either of their previous Aspects. His were all about persistence, struggle, and improvement, and Porkchop’s was all about forward movement and the pursuit of a goal.
But what else could it be? No matter how much he wracked his brain, he really couldn’t see what other revelation this trial could be pushing them towards. Even if the silence of his pillar niggled at him constantly.
He sighed — it would come to him soon. While he hadn’t had to ignite his aspects in his earlier trials, neither of them had been immediately understandable. He’d only understood the why after he’d started the process of embodying.
This trial should be similar. He hoped.
Sighing, Kaius looked to Porkchop who was still watching the storm cloud with a pensive expression.
“How do you want to do this? Wanna relax for a bit first?”
Porkchop shook his head.
“I’d rather get in a brawl with my Patriarch — I’m getting this over and done with.”
There was a soft pop as Porkchop summoned his heavy-plate. Strong and purposeful, he trotted towards the black cloud and stone gate.
Kaius crossed his arms, his stomach turning in knots as he watched. Porkchop had this — but it wasn’t easy standing back and letting him face the danger alone, no matter how much tougher he was.
The second Porkchop was under the cloud, it started to whine. A loud, high pitched sound that stabbed through Kaius’s ears to crawl down his spine — like someone was scraping the tip of a knife against porcelain.
It only got louder as the mana within grew chaotic and hateful — colliding in an endless swirl of currents that ripped and tore at the air around them. Spiderwebbing lightning grew bright and plentiful as the black was washed away on a rising tide of power.
Balling his fists, Kaius forced himself to stay where he was as his breath caught in his throat. Gods’ scorn, he hated sitting on the sidelines like this. It wasn’t his place — he should be out there fighting, striving onwards at his brother’s side.
Porkchop grew — Gladespirit suffusing his body alongside The Stone that Weathered Time; his strongest defensive skill.
Not a moment too soon. Light flashed as a trunk-thick rope of cracking power arced from the cloud, a corrosive binding that struck his brother with the wrath of gods. Porkchop roared, his body locking up as a torrent of storm raced through his body. Rotten roots — he was smoking! His fur smouldered from tongues of flame as excess charge ran rampant.
Then it was over, and Kaius could breathe again.
Smoke rose from Porkchop in tendrils, and blood wet his fur from a dozen cracks in his scorched flesh. He breathed deep and slow, holding strong as his wounds rapidly boiled with the regenerative power of his health.
Before Kaius could race over to check on him, the cloud above began to whine again — power building quickly. He blanched.
Porkchop looked up, disgust and resignation written plain on his face.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake. Double helpings of stew for lunch! Double! Helpings!”
“You got it! Are you gonna be alright!”
“I’ll be fine — can handle two or three more if I have to, but then you’re going to have to sub in. Best be ready with your Bound Maelstrom, because it’s got a gods’ damned kick to it.”
Kaius eyed the rapidly brightening cloud warily. Surely it wouldn’t be four bolts, right? That would be ridiculous!