The Test of Fortitude

Sin was such a delicious country, a barren wasteland rife with grotesque and ancient monsters. There were few who dared to venture into the country’s borders. Even the populated areas were hardly safe at any given time, relying on magic to keep its citizens protected from the wild threats that plagued their city walls. Only the hardiest and fearless of individuals elected to call such a twisted place home, outcasts and criminals with no where else to go who are desperate -- or crazy -- enough to seek solace in its desolation. And among them, only the truly insane ever took it upon themselves to actually venture into its horrific wildernesses.

Thana was one such individual that seemed to have a death wish. Not only had she been out by herself for over a day at this point, but she also had no weapons or supplies with her to keep her safe or fed or sheltered. It was a test, set upon her by her guildmaster Janet in order to gauge her resolve and strength as both an ace and member of Elysium. All were welcome in the guild, but only a very select few knew its true aims. Janet required utmost loyalty, a trait that was admittedly foreign to the psychopath, but the quest of Elysium intrigued Thana enough that she had elected to join their cause to see where it led. Janet, having seen her potential, had slotted her as her Ace of Destruction, a title that Thana took quite a bit of pride in.

But now it was time to have her skills and allegiances truly put to the test, and Thana had been more than a little excited by the prospect. Janet had wanted to find a trial worthy of Thana’s skills, and that trial was none other than surviving the harsh landscape with nothing but the clothes on her back, the skills of her hands, and the wit of her fractured mind. A tantalizing challenge, one that Aeron was not looking forward to in the slightest. The grumpier of Trinity’s personalities had grumbled and thrown a little hissy fit when Thana told her, much to Thana’s delight, but even Aeron wasn’t dumb enough to argue the idea in front of their guildmaster.

So off Thana had wandered into the night, clad only in what she’d been wearing at the time of receiving the guildmaster’s instructions. The only item of any worth on her was the gem that held the spirit of the wizard Darius, which Trinity always wore on a cord around her neck. Though the man had been a mage of great renown during his time, he had long ago shed his mortal body and was no longer capable of performing any great feats of magic or strength. Now, he was little more than another voice in her head that occasionally contributed and offered knowledge to her, nothing more. Thana had only even left the item on because Darius was the only one capable of communicating with Trinity, and if for some reason the original personality of the body took over during the trail, Thana wanted to make sure the insufferable coward didn’t fail them by running back to the guildhall before the five days were up.

The first two days so far had been nominally uneventful, all things considered. A few monsters had shown their ugly heads, of course, but Thana had met more than her fair share of those throughout her life. Before she had found her way to Elysium, she and the other two personalities that shared a body had once been a slave for a pit fighting group. Their specialty had been surviving against horrific creatures just like the ones that wandered through Sin, so there was nothing yet that overly frightened or surprised her. Mostly it had been just a few run of the mill beasts that were taken down with a quick fight, and turned into a meal.

Of course, that changed the minute her bright amber eyes laid upon a glorious beast like a great, white tiger that was twice as large and mutated in breathtaking ways. Great horns like a ram protruded forward from its forehead, twisting back to form a curve and covered in sharp spikes like thorns on a vine. Its tail was long enough to wrap around its whole body, with feathers and a fin-like tip that was more akin to that of a dragon than a feline. It also had two immense, white feathered wings fixed at its shoulders. The creature grunted where it sat on a tall ledge overlooking a deep ravine, predatory eyes fixed below in search of game.

It hadn’t seemed to have caught her scent yet. With a deep grin, Thana shifted her size down to that of a pixie, producing a pair of wings of her own to lift her up in the air above the great creature. She adjusted her flight pattern on the breeze, took aim, and dove down at the beast’s back, shifting back to her full size a split second before impact. It was caught completely off guard by the small but capable attacker, who hit the creature so hard they both stumbled and rolled right off the cliff. The beast roared like the tiger it mostly appeared to be, trying to flap its wings to get airborne even as it kept turning its face to try and snap a maw full of vicious teeth at her.

Unfortunately, with her weight on its shoulders it was unable to get its wings up properly enough to get any lift, and Thana had grasped the creature firmly by the horns with a wild and gleeful shout. She used her hold to keep the mutated feline’s jaws away from her own extremities, as well as to keep them twisted and turned in the air as they plummeted toward the ground. Cackling madly, Thana waited until it would be near impossible for the thing to be able to right itself before letting go, practically throwing it at the ground beneath her even as she spread her own wings, the draft immediately halting her in the air before she could make impact with the ground.

The winged tiger was not so fortunate, continuing to twist its body in an attempt to do the same thing but it was too late. Its massive body hit the ravine floor with a sickening crunch before it lay still with death. Thana grinned and fluttered down to it, her fingers running through its soft fur. “I know just what I’m going to do with you,” she purred to the corpse.

“This is so stupid.”

Aeron sat hunched over a small fire, her cerulean eyes darting back and forth across the landscape before her in paranoia. Behind her was a makeshift tent crafted from the hide of the giant white tiger beast that Thana had slain the day before. The psychopath had killed it and promptly left Aeron to deal with the carcass down at the bottom of the ravine, deciding that she would rather run off and fight other monsters rather than stay and help make some kind of secure place for them to hole up in.

So Aeron had scrounged for some sharp rocks and somehow managed to skin the thing, managing to leave most of the fur intact. She’d carved out all the meat and used some of its large bones to make a spit over the fire with which she could cook the stuff. Hopefully it would stay good for a few more days, since apparently she was stuck out here in the middle of nowhere for another two days after this. The rest of the creature’s bones she’d used to set up a literal skeletal structure to drape the pelt over, as the makings of her tent to keep the elements away. Thankfully, its bones were huge so the rib cage had been perfect for the occasion, though it did reek pretty strongly of a recent kill still.

“Are you complaining again?”

Aeron near about jumped out of her skin when Thana’s voice sounded beside her, the darker haired woman seeming to slink out of the shadows when Aeron hadn’t been looking. “Damnit, Thana! Could you make a noise or something to let me know you’re coming?”

The other woman smirked at her, taking a seat on the ground and lounging in front of the fire. “And here I thought that’s what I was doing,” she said.

“You know what I meant.”

Silence passed between them for a bit as Aeron continued to watch the surrounding area, eyes peeled for potential threats. She looked completely on edge, and she was terrified and wary of the many great threats and dangers that lay beyond her scope of vision. On the flip side, Thana looked the very picture of a woman right at home, her amber gaze staring up at the stars almost wistfully. Eventually, the woman sighed. “It sure is lovely out here, isn’t it?”

Aeron scoffed. “Yeah, sure. Lovely. That’s exactly the word I’d use to describe a barren wasteland crawling with thousands of rabid beasts that want to eat me. Gods, I hate you.”

“Oh relax,” Thana told her, rolling her eyes. “You’re going to be fine.”

“You don’t know that.”

“You’ve got me here, don’t you?”

“Yeah, and you’re usually going out of your way to make things worse.”

“Don’t act like you don’t enjoy it.”

“I DON’T, THANA!” Aeron finally lost her temper, turning to scream at the darker haired woman who simply looked back at her with a surprised raised brow. It was too much. Their lives had been constantly nonstop since they escaped Bellum, and the tension and fear had built up in her to the point of bursting. “You enjoy all the chaos, but I don’t! I don’t want anything to do with it! All I want is to go home and mind my own business, and not be bothered by anyone, but you always have to drag us into every crazy little thing just so you can get your damn adrenaline high!”

It was the longest Aeron had ever yelled at her without being interrupted, Thana being surprisingly attentive to what the shorter haired woman had to say. And at this point, Aeron couldn’t stop herself. Her words and thoughts came streaming out of her mouth faster than she could even form them in her head. “You don’t care about me. All you ever do is try to get me killed, so why won’t you just leave me alone?”

“You know why I don’t leave.”

“No, I don’t. You know why? Because this whole idea that you keep insisting on, that you and I are the same person, sharing a body with some bitch I’ve never seen, is absolute bullshit and I refuse to believe it. Especially coming from you.”

Thana shrugged. “Fine. Then ask Janet. She’s seen all of us.”

Aeron rolled her eyes. “Yeah, Janet’s real high up on my trust list right now. Or did you already forget that she was the one who sent us out here to die? She doesn’t care any more than you do.”

“You’re joking, right?” Thana fixed her amber eyes on Aeron with an expression that was half amused, and half serious -- which was more serious than Thana ever was. “You really don’t get it, do you? How much Janet trusts us? How much faith she has in us?”

“You call this faith?” Aeron gestured broadly at the nightmarish landscape around them.

“Yeah, I do actually. She wouldn’t have sent you out here if she didn’t believe you could survive it, Aeron. Otherwise, she would just be wasting one of her aces. Did you ever stop to think maybe you’re out here not because she doesn’t have faith in you, but because you don’t have faith in you?”

It was the most profound thing Thana had said to her, ever. The words hit Aeron with such force that she was stunned into silence, opening her mouth several times to speak, but finding no words, no sufficient argument to refute with. Thana took the opportunity to continue. “You have become a lot stronger than you give yourself credit for, but you’re always looking over your shoulder, afraid that Xander is going to find you. But you and I? We’re stronger than we’ve ever been. If Xander managed to track us down again, I think you’d be surprised by how easily you’d be able to defend yourself against him. You have been continuing to push yourself and challenge yourself past your limits. I highly doubt he has been doing the same.”

It took a long time for Aeron to say anything, her mind churning her companion’s words over in her head. “I’ve… never thought about it like that before…” she finally admitted quietly. Did Janet really think that highly of her? She must have. Why else would the guildmaster have made her an Ace, and so quickly after meeting her, if the half dragoness didn’t have faith in Aeron’s potential and ability to handle herself.

Thana smirked. “I know you haven’t. That’s why I stick around. I’m not here just to torture you, you know. Someone here has to be the smarts between us, and it sure isn’t you.”

“Oh, ha ha, very funny.” Despite herself, Aeron smirked back, if only a little. Still, Thana had given her much to think about. She really had grown more than she had given herself credit for. Maybe… maybe she didn’t have to be so afraid all the time. They had been free from Bellum for a while now, and even had a place she could call home, with a guildmaster that helped take care of her and would probably raise hell if anyone tried to hurt her. It was strange, and she would never admit it out loud, but Thana had some good points.

She stood and moved to retreat into the tent. “I’m… going to get some rest.”

“Night, then.”

“Goodnight. And uh… thanks, Thana.”

Thana flapped a dismissed hand at her. “Whatever.”

Shaking her head a little, Aeron disappeared inside and laid down, with much on her mind before she finally drifted off to sleep.

Trinity screamed, tears rolling down her face as she huddled up against the wall of the ravine. Tears poured down her face, and she was practically frozen in fear. Stalking toward her was a grotesque creature. It was hairless with the torso of a human, but its legs were elongated and misshapen, with points for feet and two smaller, spidery legs coming off its midsection. Three tails made of little more than flesh and bone curled up behind its backside, and its face had no eyes or nose to speak of, only a giant gaping maw full of razor sharp teeth.

It screeched at her, causing Trinity to flinch and cower against the wall. She wasn’t sure how she’d wound up in this place, as usual. She had woken up that morning inside a strange tent made out of the pelt of a large and beautiful horned white tiger. The embers of a fire in front of the scary, but warm, shelter were still hot from the fire that must have been burning still as she slept. She had been alone, but the sound of rocks and pebbles trickling down the canyon walls had informed her that she wasn’t the only living thing in the ravine, and a quick glance outside had revealed the sickening monster that instantly sent her into a frightened panic. She was going to die. This thing was going to pull her apart and eat her for breakfast.

You need to fight, Trinity.

The young woman was too scared to look around for the source of the voice, but her eyes did open in surprise at the new sound. Then, the creature screeched again, dropping down from the wall of the ravine into the front of her shelter, causing her to scream and close her eyes again in fear. Open your eyes. Fight. You can handle this thing. She didn’t know who this male voice was, but it was wrong. Trinity wasn’t strong enough for this. As if it could hear her thoughts, he replied to them once more. Yes, you are strong enough. I know it’s scary, but you have to trust me. You don’t want to die, so you have to fight. Don’t you want to see Nathaniel again?

That got her attention. Sniffling a little, Trinity opened her eyes again. Nathaniel. She wanted to see him again. She wished he was here now to protect her. You don’t need him to protect you. You are capable of protecting yourself. Trust in your magic, girl.

The twisted beast scrambled its way into the shelter, where Trinity was backed against the wall of the ravine and cornered. But as it reached out to snatch her with gnarled and gaunt fingers, she shrieked at it in rage. Her body shifted and morphed to take on the aspect of the Abyssal form she wasn’t aware that she had, her physique closely matching that of the creature she fought except she stood upright still and the orifice that filled her face was not riddled with fangs. The smaller creature immediately scrambled in an attempt to get away, but got caught in the bone framing of the shelter. Trinity sucked in deep, a powerful wind like a vortex drawing the thing to her. Its flesh began to crumble and rip apart painfully piece by piece until the whole creature was sucked down by her and gone.

Trinity dropped to the ground in her normal body, panting heavily and still shaking with fear that was also now riddled with surprise over what she’d just done. How had she done that? And who was the man she’d been hearing? She wanted to go home.

You can’t go home. Not yet.

There it was again. She jumped a little where she sat, looking around. Look around your neck, child. Trinity looked down and picked up the jewel that hung from her shoulders. She had noticed it before, of course, but never really knew where it had come from. Since things like that happened to her all the time, she’d never really thought about it, thinking it something that she had probably been given at some point, or possibly stolen and just didn’t remember. Was this where the voice was coming from?

Yes. My name is Darius, and my soul is housed in this gem. I can read your thoughts. I know this is terrifying, and that you have a lot of questions. I cannot answer them. But you can’t go home just yet. You’re out here because Janet sent you on a mission, one to test your skills and resolve. I know you don’t remember it, but that’s why I am here; to remind you. You are to remain out in the wilds for five days.

Five days? The very thought sent a chill down her spine. What if she couldn’t last that long?

You can, Darius assured her. Today is already your fourth day. Trinity blinked, surprised. She’d already been out here for three whole days, bleeding into a fourth? How had she already survived this long, and why couldn’t she remember it? Like I said, I cannot answer all your questions. But you must remain here through tomorrow. It’s only one more night. You already have plenty to eat that you’ve set away for yourself. Don’t let your fear control you. You are far more capable than you know, but you need to face it. That’s why you are here, to learn not to be controlled by your fears. Have you ever noticed how you always black out when you’re scared?

She nodded softly, holding the small gem in her hands in wonder and apprehension. You can stop that from happening. You just need to learn to control yourself. Get through tonight and tomorrow, you can go back home to Elysium. Trinity wiped the tears from her face, somehow managing to settle down a bit. She didn’t know why Darius seemed to know so much about her, but he seemed trustworthy. And she did want to stop blacking out when she was scared, and losing long periods of time. If she had plenty to eat and this shelter, and all she had to do was hang out for another forty eight hours… maybe she could do that.

Darius stopped talking to her after that, but in a way Trinity was comforted to know that she wasn’t alone, even if he didn’t seem to have a physical body. The rest of that day and the following one was spent with long periods of boredom periodically interrupted with quick moments of fright as other merciless and hungry creatures stalked out of the area, tracking her scent. But somehow, she managed to fend them all off. Trinity barely slept the whole night through, too afraid to actually fall asleep.

Once the fifth day was nearing its end, Darius reached out to her again with instructions. Using her magic to enlarge her size so she could travel longer distances more quickly and carry larger loads, she collected the pelt from the tiger as well as the corpses of all the other monsters she had slain. Under his direction, she managed to make her way back to Elysium, alive, and with all the evidence of her battles to show that she’d done more than just sit in safety for the whole period of time. And once she was done completing her mission, Trinity would go back to her room, finding solace in its safety as she passed out to sleep for several long hours of much earned rest… finding herself with an odd sense of peace and pride for having survived so many scary things without relying on anyone else to protect her.

Maybe she wasn’t so helpless afterall.