Chương 101: The Second Trial

"The second Trial will not be as straightforward as the first." The assistant Adjudicator stood on the hand of the giant as he had for the first trial. His superior nowhere to be seen.

"You will be given the freedom to approach the task as you wish, so long as no fighting breaks out. Save that for the harbinger trials." Nyxil stood amongst her group of ward-mates. The crowd was thinner, but not by much. All in all, less than a fifth of their group had failed to show for the second trial. Failed their first. While their lives were certain to be bleak, she was happy they didn't feed into the stomachs of the cults. In that view, it was disappointing only a fifth had failed.

Maybe I should do some sabotaging of my own? Her gaze flitted over her surrounding Trial participants. The problem with that, was the painful life that was a cultless. While her ideal was a Coral without cults, nobody would accept her demand to stop joining the factions. The cults held too much control. You were either one of them, or used by them.

"Your goal, is to use your knowledge and abilities to earn tokens from prescribed locations before ending at the arches of the Biovault with as many as possible." He held up two very distinct coins. One in crimson with a carved emblem of an eye, while the other was black, and depicted the reaching tentacles of the black hole.

"This trial tests your cooperation. You will treat your team as if it were your cult, and the tokens as your cult's value. Greater collections upon time-up will be seen more favourably. By the end, failure to have a token of each type will individually reflect your performance. While your team will perform well with many of each type, don't be left flat-footed without any for yourself." Nyxil could already see some problems sprouting amongst teams that couldn't get enough tokens. How do you decide who gets to pass?

It was probably a good thing they banned fighting for this trial; only the harbingers prospectives would end up with any tokens.

"Now, before I continue, I'll give you time to choose your teams." With Dan and Ari already standing by her side, she didn't need to move. She would much rather these two by her side than any unknown elements. Who knew what the Fleshsmiths would try next. After a few minutes, everyone had gathered into groups ranging from three to ten. She had to raise her brow at the one team with that many. It would simply make it harder to collect the necessary number of tokens to pass by having that many people.

Not that it mattered.

"Now that you have told us who you would prefer to work with, please move to the teams we have decided for you." The same wrist-band from yesterday wormed its way onto her arm again. Immediately, it tugged her to the other side of their courtyard. Displeased, Nyxil checked on the two she would have preferred to work with. They both shared her disappointment.

"Well, good luck." They gave resigned farewells. It wasn't just them. Every participant around seemed put off by the decision. Well, everyone except Grif. He followed his guiding band, apathetic to the loss of his group. The three he left behind looked between themselves, uncertain. Unlike everyone else who grouped with people they knew from their ward, he'd been joined by those from outside. Likely sponsored by the Scriptures. Grif himself seemed happy when he discovered he would be working with Stan…

only for the boy to not replicate his enthusiasm. Reluctantly, Nyxil slipped away from Dan and Ari, and soon found herself between a couple of people she really would have rather avoided. Kal and Tru were already glaring at each other. They turned as she stopped before them, and their scowls only deepened.

"Yeah, I don't feel any better about this than you boys." The last of their group was a girl Nyxil didn't know. Someone from another ward. Considering the composition of most teams, the wards had stayed mostly together. Whether it was for simplicity, or it was more likely they'd get placed with people they didn't like — as Nyxil experienced — was unclear. Regardless, there was no point complaining. Not like that stopped the crowd.

"Each team has been allocated its own observer, who will provide you a basic map listing the locations of some tokens. How you get there and what route you take is up to you. Your observer is there to confirm no fighting occurs between participants, but if you decide to take a more risky route, then it is up to you to survive. We understand many of you have barely left the safe zone, so don't think you will fail for sticking near the uncorrupted paths."

Nyxil and the three that would be her team turned at the arrival of their own observer. An Everseeing Eye cultist. He handed them their map to share, and Nyxil noticed how bare it was. Five locations, with only the simplest of directions. Sure, trying to map the corrupted regions was impossible, but this was intentionally lacking. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The Everseeing Eye cultist said nothing.

He took the time given to him to gaze up at the focus of his cult. The man looked like this was the last place he wanted to be. Nyxil checked his soul, and found he was only a second evolution himself. Not that impressive considering he looked like he was in his thirties. There were a lot of teams, so they probably didn't care who took the role. Well, at least he's not a Fleshsmith. I was sure they would try something again.

Almost immediately after she had the though, a younger woman tapped the Eye cultist's shoulder, whispered something in his ears, and handed him a handful of BD. The man didn't so much as shrug before he took the bribe and left.

"Change of plans. The one who was to be your observer is busy. I'll be taking his place." Nyxil gaped. Just how blatant did the Fleshsmiths want to be? What was her plan? Lead her down a dark alley and have her cult jump her mid-Trial? For a few moments, she pondered if the rule against fighting counted against your observer. Could she get away with stabbing the woman here, out in the open?

"My, my. This is quite the surprise." Slipping through the crowd to stand before Nyxil and her team was the hunched form of Ep'Nanorschi.

"After the recent spectacles your cult has been involved in, I was sure your lot would understand the concept of subtlety. Really makes one question what has you all riled up." The Bodytwister glanced at Nyxil with a knowing smirk.

"So, who put you up to this? Was it Z͐a̟͠n̖͐di̥s͈t̝̾h̃̔́? K'No͔͌͒̇ǐ̜͆r̢̥u̝s͕?" The Fleshsmith squirmed under the far stronger cultist's curious eye.

"Oh, my!" She exaggerated a gasp.

"It couldn't be S͍̾ølą̛́̄n̼̙͈̘̄̍̓͘?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she lied through her teeth, but fooled nobody.

"I'm simply here to fulfil an old favour."

"Of course. Of course. Who am I to question why the Fleshsmiths are so interested in the only survivor of their disaster? I'll leave that to the Technocult. They love to twist their knickers on stuff like that." She raised her arms defensively, but the grin never left her lips.

"But that's not why I'm here. I would like you to double down on whatever your cult intends. Until you lot started fumbling around, I was so sure these Trials would be as boring as ever. Tell your upper creeds that I'm thankful they've knocked over so many nests." With a wave, Ep'Nanorschi left two nervous girls, and three confused kids. Nyxil glared at the Fleshsmith for letting the other cults catch on that anything was wrong, while said Fleshsmith fretted that she'd failed her mission.

She'd been tasked with keeping things under wraps, after all. Blame the Fleshsmiths, or worry that the other cults had already learnt too much about her. Nyxil couldn't decide which. Even if they didn't know everything, just the fact that the Adjudicator vocally announced the Fleshsmiths had interest in her would be enough for them all to dive head first into their investigations.

"Wait here for me," the Fleshsmith said before running off. Likely to change whatever plans she'd laid down. Would she do as requested and double down on whatever she was planning, or take this as the obvious hint it was? Whatever she chose, nothing would change. Nyxil was going to be looking over her shoulder at all times. In that way, it was as if she'd never left the Dark Star. With their observer gone, and the signal to begin was bound to come at any moment, Nyxil turned to her temporary team. Kal was glaring.

Tru furrowed his brow, as if he wasn't looking forward to whatever would come. But the last member, the girl from another ward, stared with a raised eyebrow.

"You gonna tell us if there's something we should worry about?" Nyxil shrugged, not really certain what she could say.

"Maybe? They haven't been happy I survived their Dark Star while so many of their cult died." It was an excuse, but hopefully it explained their dedication to getting in her way. It worked.

"Oh, you're that girl." she said.

"Everyone in the Scriptures has been talking about you. Or, well, more along the lines that you survived when none of the Fleshsmiths did. Your very existence is an embarrassment." She smirked.

"No wonder they have a bone to pick. I'm Ma̍vi" Nyxil didn't miss the twitch from the two boys.

"Nỷx." At her introduction, Kal almost snarled. Tru, instead, narrowed his eyes. Great, he didn't believe she only had a single evolution at all.

"So, Nỷx." Mavi turned to the boys.

"I'm assuming you three are already acquainted?"

"This is Kal, and Tru. They were around back when I lived in the ward." Neither boy liked being introduced, but only Kal made a vocal rebuttal.

"Don't speak my name so casually."

"Oh, are you embarrassed? I'm sorry. Shall I let you speak all your additives as well?" His glare made it all too obvious he wasn't going to do that. Mavi smothered a giggle.

"Oh, I'd love to hear it. We could even make it a little team cohesion exercise. Get to know each other better before we go out in the scary world outside the safe zone."

"Don't get too up yourself," Kal growled and spun on his heel.

"Is that a no?" Nyxil asked.

"Shame." She shook her head and tsked.

"Maybe when you feel a bit more confident?" Mavi let out a laugh.

"I think I'll enjoy this Trial." She grinned at Nyxil.

"At least half of us will," Tru grumbled, which only earned a chuckle from Mavi, and a hard pat to his back.

"Now, everyone." The assistant Adjudicator's voice carried over them again.

"You have until an hour before first fog to collect your tokens. I must emphasise that this is not a race, so please do not shove others on your way into the tunnels. Fighting between participants is banned, and while you may only attempt each location for a token only once, there is eight hours for you to do things properly." His gaze spun over the crowd, as if trying to look everyone in the eye like Ep'Nanorschi had, but unable to replicate the effect.

"Do not rush," he repeated.

"You may begin." Immediately ignoring his words, the crowd pushed and shoved to get below the surface before anyone else.

"Shall we?" Nyxil asked.

"But our observer said to wait." Tru looked around for her, but she'd already disappeared. Nyxil wasn't about to pass up this opportunity.

"It's the observer's role to follow us, not ours to wait for her." Thankfully, Mavi was all too keen to get moving.

"Lets go a different way." She spun, and with Nyxil at her side, they worked their way through the crowd away from the main paths. The two boys had no choice but to chase after them. Oh, how nice it would be if the Fleshsmiths didn't try anything. Nyxil didn't remain optimistic.