Chương 100: The information Challenge

Nyxil stood by Ari as she lost herself to the ritual of naming. There had been no stopping the girl; as soon as she'd been given the time, she'd dropped to her knees and scrawled the simple runes around her. Ari dove into her name as soon as Nyxil had promised to snap her out for Dan's Trial. They couldn't speak with him until he'd had his time to perform, so Nyxil and Ari lingered in the small crowd of observers that watched from behind the representatives. He'd noticed them as soon as they'd arrived.

With her nod, and Ari's exuberant grin, Dan had let out a relieved sigh. Obviously, Ari's… accidental choice had been worrying him. Her eyes shifted through the crowd. The Fleshsmiths had already shown they would try things, and she knew the moment she looked away would be the moment they struck again. Nyxil just didn't know when. Ari's obliviousness was somewhat enviable.

Even if she didn't know she was being targeted, Nyxil would never let herself slip into the ritual to see your own name while there were so many people around. It left her open and vulnerable. Though, it wasn't like she didn't understand. Those first few additives were impossible to brush aside. Back in her past life, she would have done the same the moment she found out she'd gotten another name. Especially if it wasn't another curse.

"Start!" A girl ran off from the trial's coordinator, dashing to the large stone slab two courtyards away. The challenge of information was surprisingly simple. One simply had to relay what was written on the other side of the large plaque to the coordinator in as little time as they could. The difficulty came from the length of the inscribed passage, and its incoherent nature. It would be difficult to just remember what was written. Stopping to write it all down would slow a challenger significantly.

The girl skidded to a stop before the pillar, and as soon as she saw what was written, her expression brightened. Unlike the other challengers before her, she took her time to write it down manually. Odd. With a time slower than most others, she ran back and relayed the transcription. She looked nervous, but confidant. Odd.

"Well done." The Coordinator clapped. This one enjoyed his job much more than the coordinator Ari and Nyxil had been stuck with.

"You get extra consideration for deciphering the message correctly." There were a few groans from some of the challengers that had already had their chance. The fact that it could be deciphered hadn't been stated. Before the next challenger could have his chance, the message inscribed on the stone slate shifted. It would have been too easy if they could just repeat the previous participants' answers, after all. Nyxil returned her attention to her surroundings.

The challenge was simple, but so too were the abilities shown. It was to be expected. Most here hadn't gone beyond a single additive, and even those that had some interesting effects were still bound by the limits of pre-evolution names. Dan's group didn't have anyone that had pulled any observers' eye, so the crowd around Nyxil and Ari was rather slim. To her gratitude.

Still, they were gradually making their way through all the challengers, and it was only a matter of time until Dan had his chance, and they could prepare for tomorrow's trial. With nothing else to do but wait, she pulled back the sleeve of her robe again, and scratched at her stump. The uncomfortable sensation had disappeared, but there was no denying what she'd felt. Not only in her leg and arm, but her wing and the lump that was all that remained of Shy, too. It was her severed limbs.

The phantom sensation had been isolated to her injuries alone. She noticed her prosthetic suddenly mismatching her height only moments after the strange sensations. It was possible that one of her names could regenerate her lost flesh. That, or some new mutation growing in. It was simply too much of a coincidence for her to pass off the change in her gait to the prosthetic accidentally readjusting. Nyxil couldn't let herself get carried away with the thought.

Names that could heal — especially those that could regenerate lost limbs — were rare. Even amongst the highest creeds. She may not fully understand N̚oth or Lyotep, but it was unlikely either name could do as she hoped. Her mutations on the other hand… No. While it seemed much more likely she'd find some mutation in her cursed name to unleash that could do something of the same nature, none of the ones she had adapted could do such. Unless it was her new stomach.

But surely, if that was the case, she'd have noticed it days ago. Well, any experimenting with her mutations would have to wait until the Trials were over. The use of her third eye had ignited the veins around it. For now they were hidden beneath both her shroud and Ta'Stralanov'r's armband, but she shouldn't push her luck too far. There were limits on what the film could hide. The same consideration should apply to whatever new mutation this was.

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. Deal with it later. One arm would need to be enough for these Trials. Though… she did miss Shy.

"He's starting." She nudged Ari as soon as Dan crept forward. The boy stood tall — well, as tall as his sub-average height allowed — before the coordinator, waiting for his declaration to begin.

"Wha-" Ari mumbled groggily as she opened her eyes.

"Begin." And Dan ran. Ari quickly shook off her fugue and focused on Dan as he ran the hundred and fifty metres. There wasn't really much question about how this would go. He'd been open with what his names did, so as soon as he reached the plaque, his actions were as expected. Dan's eyes flickered between the carved words and the coordinator. His mouth moved, but she couldn't hear. Line by line, he repeated what was written to the coordinator a distance away.

Without needing to write the message down, or run back, Dan achieved one of the best times of his group. It was a show of what he could do, and nothing more. Compared to Ari's battle, it was underwhelming. In no time, he was done and jogged over to them.

"That went well." Ari smirked, unable to stop the twitching of her cheeks. Dan was immediately suspicious. He looked between Ari and Nyxil, eyeing them both.

"It did. I see you two survived…" With his eyes narrowed on Ari, she could no longer hold herself back. A wide, toothy grin swept her face.

"What happened?" he asked, warily. She answered by slipping forward, and tapping his neck. Dan jerked. Involuntarily, his shoulder flinched up and back.

"What was that!?" His hand shot to his neck.

"That, was something new." Her cheeky grin never slipped from her face.

"Hi, I'm Ari-ai-lah." His eyes widened and his hand dropped from his neck.

"A new name?"

"Yeah. It gives me a feel for where muscles are tense or strained," she said.

"It's more of a fighting additive, but I think with some practice it could help my drawings. Well, not for landscapes, but it gives some insight into how bodies work, so I can't complain."

"I'm glad." Dan sighed, then turned to Nyxil.

"So I assume your challenge wasn't as dangerous as I'd feared?"

"It was." At least for any unevolved.

"But Ari fought well. She killed a hound spawn with a brush made of its own skull." Dan blinked and stared at Ari.

"Wow. Remind me never to insult her drawings again." She looked embarrassed.

"It was only because of Nyxil. I don't know how she did it, but she kept it… wait, again?" Her embarrassment forgotten, she turned to glare at Dan.

"You didn't get a new name because of my help," Nyxil said.

"You pushed yourself, and beat that dog with your own efforts." Dan stared wide eyed — not that that was out of the ordinary, considering the assists that held open his eyelids — and Ari shrunk in on herself. The boy turned to his friend.

"Damn, you really beat up a puppy?" He didn't move quick enough to dodge the pencil suddenly jabbed into his ribs. As he fell, Ari huffed, and turned away. Now that all three of them were done, they needn't worry about the Trials until next morning. With how many participants there were, it was hard enough scheduling them all in for a single trial. Through the commons, the majority of participants had succeeded their first trial. Uncertain and excited voices overshadowed the silence of the depressed.

Failure to have the support of even two representatives was rare, but it did happen. Sometimes a kid was unlucky. They didn't gain a good additive with their naming, failed to receive another before the Trials, and couldn't find a way to impress anyone with their natural talents. Failing the first round of the Trials didn't make it impossible to join a cult, but it raised the difficulty so much it might as well be.

Nyxil watched the coalescence of repugnance, despair and loathing settle into a corruptive mass within their names. Their own negative emotions combined with the societal weight put on the event left many of the failures with a very real penalty. A curse. Now, not only did they need to overcome the poor start they'd been given, but also a curse which held them back even further. Then there was the other end of things.

If the social impact of the Trials lumped many of the failures with curses, then did it also raise the likelihood of new additives for those who succeeded? Only Ari backed up that theory for now, but it didn't seem unreasonable. As Dan staggered to his feet, clutching his side and trailed after Ari, Nyxil turned her attention to the challenge one last time. The coordinator had just called the start, but the challenger didn't move. She stood there, speaking softly, until the coordinator clapped in awe.

"Very impressive. And deciphered too!" He paused.

"But… the intent of these trials is to show off what you can do. Would you like to give a small demonstration?" The girl shook her head, and Nyxil noticed an odd, ethereal shimmer to her pale hair. How had she done it? What kind of ability did she have that let her see the stone plaque without looking at it, and somehow being able to decipher it, too? Her light grey robe stood out amongst the favoured darker cloaks of the other prospective cultists. Now done with her challenge, she turned and caught Nyxil's eye.

There had been no hesitation. She'd spun knowing full well where Nyxil had been watching. An arrogant smirk stained the white-haired girl's lips. As Nyxil pondered why she'd singled her out amongst a crowd that had been watching — trying not to jump to conclusions again as she had with Ep'Nanorschi — the girl winked, then slipped into the crowd. Despite her bright robe, she disappeared in moments. Well, it looked like she'd met one of her competitors for the harbinger Trials.

Even if the girl turned out not to have any fighting abilities, Nyxil would need to be careful around her. She had some way to gather information, and pick out the strong amongst the crowd. Likely an onomastician name, but she couldn't make assumptions. Nyxil shook her head. Getting caught up in a single opponent would be disastrous when she had thousands to look out for. Turning, she followed Dan and Ari as they waded through the crowd for their ward. Today, they would celebrate passing the first Trial.

Tonight, she would get Tarchon to fix her leg. And tomorrow, they would take on the second Trial.