Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

The trees of the jungles twisted into the sky, knotting together like a badly weaved tapestry and blocking all view of the world above them. Being trapped under the canopy made the air musty and hot, so hot that the only creatures around the area were those that were uniquely adapted to survive in such conditions. The only people who would attempt to travel these jungles were those who had practiced and prepared themselves to make the journey.

Or those who were just plain stupid.

"It's hooooottttt!" Tio whined, fanning his face with his hands in a useless attempt to cool himself down. He had been walking for what felt like hours now, but had in fact been about twenty minutes, and already his clothes were drenched with sweat. Heat had never agreed with him, so why on earth he'd agreed to come to the stuffy part of one of the hottest parts of the world was beyond him.

Ahead of him Zavoius sighed to himself and continued hobbling forwards, leading them deeper and deeper into the forest. Like always the tattered grey cloak he wore concealed most of his appearance, with only his withered old hands and the wiry grey beard poking out of his hood to show how old he was, but today he seemed to move with a certain enthusiasm rarely seen in people his age."It's just a little discomfort Tio, could you get over yourself for one minute! This is a serious matter! Today it's sink or swim day; either you accept the spark and become a necromancer or everything I've taught you up until this point has meant nothing. Fail this and you'll almost certainly die."

Tio replied with a frown. "Well couldn't I almost certainly die somewhere colder? Maybe somewhere with a nice ocean breeze?"

Zavoius shook his head and ignored the question, turning his attention back to their surroundings. They continued the journey in silence for a short while until at last they reached their destination, the mouth of a large cave that led deep underneath one of the biggest trees Tio had ever seen.

"Wait, this is what we've been looking for? A cave!" Tio exclaimed with indignity. "You said we were going somewhere with treasure!"

"Not all treasure is silver and gold Tio. In this cave you'll find a reward of a more lasting kind, knowledge."

Tio looked back and forth between him and the cave. "I think I'd rather have silver and gold thanks."

"Just shut up and get in the cave." Zavious replied with clear exasperation.

The elderly man led Tio down through the cave mouth and into the dark underbelly, a natural maze of earth and large roots forming a web of interconnecting corridors. It was so dark that Tio could barely see his own hands stretched out in front of him, and more than a few times he tripped and stumbled over a root or stone on the ground that he couldn't see, but eventually they arrived in a large cavern with faint beams of light trickling down from small holes in the ceiling that provided some faint illumination. Lying in the middle of the cavern was the skeletal remains of a human, its body sprawled out its back in a position that suggested the person had given up and accepted their death before it had come to claim them.

Tio raised an eyebrow at the corpse. "Should I be freaked out that you just happen to know where a hidden cave containing a dead guy is? Who is this, an old enemy of yours?"

"Not an enemy, no." A wry smile crept up on Zavious' face. "I did tell you that if you fail the initiation you'll almost certainly die."

"Wait, so this is..." Tio gaped in horror as the realization hit him. "Is this a previous apprentice of yours?"

"Aye, the one I trained before you actually. He was a nice lad, very bright, but sadly not assertive enough to wield a magic like necromancy. Anyway despite being dead and all he has his uses, in fact he'll be helping you with your initiation today."

"So if one of your apprentices dies you just replace them and use their corpse to train their successor?" Tio frowned. "You are one creepy old man."

"You aught to leave behind any notions of respect for the dead if you want to make it as a necromancer Tio. Sentimentality is the bane of study." Zavious warned. He sat down on a clear patch of dirt and cross his legs, motioning for Tio to join him. "But enough of that, we have progress to be making and not much time to do it. Sit with me Tio, it's time to begin the ritual."

"Alright, what do I have to do?" Tio asked as he also sat down cross-legged in front of him.

Zavoius smirked. "Open your mind and turn your focus within. It's time for the spark to be set alight within you."

Tio relaxed his body and focused on his breathing, steadily drawing deep breaths in and out until he could feel his heart rate slow and his muscles become peaceful. He then turned his attention within himself, closing his eyes and tuning out the sounds and smells of the world around him until he was focused only on his own thoughts, and did his best to empty his mind, discarding all the stray ideas that could distract him from the coming task. It was a difficult job; though he did his utmost not to show it he really was very interested in becoming a necromancer, and with that desire came a raging host of fears, doubts and ambitions that were not so easily quietened.

What if the spark doesn't take?

What if I take it too far and destroy myself?

If I do master this magic, where is the limit to what I could achieve?

Bit by bit Tio silenced those thoughts until his head was as clear and calm as he could make it. With an unusually serious expression he looked at Zavious, gave him a small nod and held out a hand towards him.

"I'm ready."

Silently Zavious took his hand and closed his eyes. "This is going to feel a little weird, but bear with it. It'll be over soon."

No sooner had he said that than a tingling sensation grew within Tio's arm, running from the tips of his fingers straight along the bones and into his chest, where it stirred his heart uncomfortably. It was gentle at first, but with every second that passed it grew little by little until after about a minute it was unbearable. His chest felt so hot that Tio couldn't help sweating and gasping for air, and his heart was pounding so hard he could hear it in his ears. Any second now he was sure that he was going to burst into flames.

"Stop! Stop it! I can't take it!" He gasped, trying to pull his arm away from Zavoius and break the connection. But Zavious' grip held firm, and Tio's pained arm couldn't muster the strength to break away.

"No. Not yet. We're so close."

"We have to! My chest... I'm going to die!"

"You talked a big game about not being afraid of death before. Where's that arrogance now?"

"Just stop this! I..."

For a fraction of a second an image flashed through Tio's mind like a lightning bolt. It was of a dark, dusty room built of stone in which a strange object lay; an enormous orb made of bones and a weird green miasma that looked oddly like a cocoon. Within it was a faint light and the silhouette of a person that he didn't recognize, but before he could take in any real details the image was gone, leaving behind nothing but a half-formed memory. With an almost imperceptible clicking sensation a strange feeling blossomed in his chest, as if a tiny weight had been placed in a hole inside him he'd never noticed up until now. It was so light it was hard to tell if it was imagined or not, but with its arrival Zavious instantly let go of Tio's hand and broke the tingling sensation.

"It is done. The spark now lives inside of you."

Tio keeled over onto his side, greedily huffing in deep breaths of air as the pain in his arm faded. Even as his heart-rate and breathing calmed the feeling of the strange new weight in his chest remained, and although it didn't feel uncomfortable exactly it still felt foreign to him, like his body knew that whatever it was it didn't belong as a part of him.

Zavious stood and brushed the dirt off his robe, then eyed Tio with a knowing expression. "It feels strange I know but fret not, take some time to recover and you'll be right as rain. Your initiation isn't over yet Tio; you may have the spark within you now, but if you don't learn to use it soon it will not bond to you and will fade into nothing." He looked up towards the beams of light creeping in from the ceiling. "Your real test will begin at nightfall, which is roughly just under an hour away I'd say. I have some preparations to make, so you rest up here and when the sun sets meet me by the cave's entrance. Oh, and bring the corpse with you."

When at last Tio had fully recovered from receiving the spark and was ready to continue with his trial there was barely any light coming in from the holes in the ceiling, a reminder that nightfall was only a mere few minutes away. Tio brushed himself off as he stood and gathered up the bones of his predecessor apprentice in a bundle, wincing slightly at the feeling of wrongness that came with picking up someone else's corpse, and then made his way towards the entrance to the cave.

It was difficult remembering which way the cave mouth was; walking through the dark had left him with no visual cues as to which way to go, and so the Yludih was forced to rely on his memory of what directions they had taken at certain junctions and in what order. For worry of tripping over or getting lost Tio walked slowly, fumbling ahead of him with one arm to ensure he wasn't walking into anything and clutching the pile of bones to his side with the other, and soon the trepidation he was feeling at the upcoming next task was replaced by boredom.

"Why does that old geezer have to make a point to drag me out to cave in the middle of nowhere for an initiation test? What's wrong with a nice tavern with a hot fire and a warm bed? At least then if I died it'd be in some comfort." He sighed to himself, then picked the skull out of the pile of bones he was holding and held it in front of him, it's hollow sockets staring directly into his eyes. "You get where I'm coming from don't you my sibling student? It's like he's just doing it for dramatic effect! Wouldn't you have liked to pass away... in whatever way you did that... somewhere were you could at least get a last swig of ale down you as you went?" His expression morphed into one of curiosity as he continued to stare at the skull. "Come to think of it the old timer never did tell me what your name was. I guess I should have some respect for you considering we had the same master, even if you did technically fail to pass this little test. Do you think I'd be here now taking this initiation ritual if you had lived?" The corner of his mouth curled up into a small smirk. "Or perhaps I'd have ended up as your apprentice instead? It's a funny old world isn't it, you never know what destiny has in store for you."

After a few more minutes of blindly stumbling around Tio finally reached a place that felt at lot like an area he'd passed by shortly after entering the cave, meaning he must be near the exit. Oddly enough though he couldn't feel any gentle breezes or see any growing patches of light that suggested the cave mouth was nearby. He continued following his instincts through the cave until he reached a dead end, a wall of rock that he had no memory of seeing before.

"A dead end." He muttered to himself. "That's weird, I though the entrance was right here."

"Ah Tio, is that you?"

The muffled sound of Zavoius' voice coming from behind the rock wall surprised him, and unbidden a spark of genuine fear wormed its way into Tio's heart. "Is that you old timer? What happened here? I don't remember this rock here before, was there a cave in?"

The muffled yet undeniably ominous chuckling that came as a reply fanned the spark of fear into a growing flame. "Not quite. This is the cave entrance, and the only one I might add, but I'm afraid you are not allowed to use it. I've put a boulder over it you see, a boulder that you won't be able to move by yourself."

The growing fear ignited a spark of anger in Tio, and he pounded away at the boulder in a vain attempt to move it. "What the hell are you doing! You can't trap me down here!"

"But I must Tio, it is a necessary part of your initiation. You see whilst you might not be able to move this boulder on your own you will be able to manage with the help of another. Do you understand what I'm getting at?"

Tio looked over the pile of bones he'd let fall to the floor when he'd started pounding on the boulder. "You want me to animate this corpse here to help me move the boulder?"

"That's right. It is now nightfall, so I'd say the spark within you will fade from existence at about the time the sun rises. Three possibilities lay before you Tio; either you will die here and become the aid of my next apprentice, you will somehow claw your way out of this cave and return to an ordinary life, or..." he paused for dramatic effect, "you will seize control of the power within you, move this boulder and re-enter the world again reborn as something greater than what you were before; a necromancer! Tell me Tio, do you think you're up for the challenge?"

His pride flared at the mention of a challenge, and though he knew he was being baited Tio allowed himself to focus on that feeling. Feeling cocky was better than feeling afraid after all. "Are you kidding me, I'll have this boulder gone in no time old man! And then I'll trap you in a cave and see how you like it!"

There was no reply from Zavoius, however in that silence Tio realized that there was a strange clacking sound he hadn't noticed before coming from close behind him. He looked behind him and peered into the darkness to see what it was, only to find that it was the bones he'd brought from the cavern! They were moving, rattling around as bone after bone connected together from the skull downwards, slowly forming a complete skeleton that seemed to rise up from the ground.

Tio smirked smugly to himself and shot a glance back at the boulder. "Hey old man, so much for your possibilities! I've reanimated the body already!" He laughed. "All your talk about how difficult it is to wield necromancy and I've done it with a thought. Alright corpse..." he pointed at the boulder, "move that rock!"

However the skeleton didn't respond to his commands, it just stood their looking directly at him. The fear that'd been growing before came back with a fury as the skeleton slowly opened its mouth, and some back part of his mind registered that despite being dead the skeleton had an air of hunger about it, a hunger focused on him.

"Oh, one more thing I should mention." Zavoius' muffled voice replied. "The skeleton itself will already be animated, you just have to take control of it. Of course although the skeleton is animated it wont receive any sort of commands. Do you remember what I told you would happen in an animated construct was left alone with no commands?"

A palpable dread surrounded Tio as the skeleton took a step towards him. "That it would... crave to devour all life nearby it."

"Attaboy."

With the ominous creaking of old bones rubbing together the skeleton took another step forward, then another, and then suddenly lunged forward at Tio, arms outstretched and mouth ready to bite down upon flesh. Acting on instinct Tio dodged under its grasp and rolled forwards, slipping past the skeleton and running off deep into the caves. Behind him he could hear the sound of bony footsteps chasing after him and Zavoius' muted laughter echoing through the darkness.

"Run as fast as you can Tio, but the only way outta there is to stand and fight!"

Tio charged through the darkness of the cave as if a host of evil spirits were hot on his heels, occasionally stumbling or bashing into the walls in his haste. The sounds of bone footsteps against soil emanated from somewhere behind him, a grim reminder of the monster chasing him, but without any lighting it was impossible to see how close his pursuer was to catching him. It could be literally right behind him, hands outstretched just an inch away from his head and ready to grab him for all he knew, and the terror of that possibility filled Tio's legs with the strength to flee faster than even he knew he was capable of.

Deeper and deeper into the cave he ran, loosing all track of which way he was going. He was completely lost and knew somewhere in the back of his mind that finding his way to the exit again was going to prove a real challenge, but he'd have to worry about that at some point when he wasn't in danger of being eaten. As he kept running the skeleton's footsteps gradually grew quieter and quieter until they faded away completely, and Tio leaned up against a wall to quickly get his breath back.

Screw being a necromancer! Dying to a pile of old bones in a godforsaken cave was not worth the power! Sure Zavious had warned him repeatedly that pursuing magic meant risking his life but Tio hadn't thought he'd actually meant it! Loads of people told others to be willing to risk their lives for one cause or another, but none of them were actually being serious about it! Who in their right minds would ever actually lay down their life for something!

After a quick break Tio's breathing was steady again, and he turned his attention towards coming up with a plan. It was true that the cave mouth was blocked and he would be able to open it by himself, but given that the place was naturally formed instead of man-made their was a chance that there would be another way out somewhere about. His real problem was finding it without being caught by the skeleton, which his calmer mind now remembered was normally referred to as a Marrow by proper necromancers. As he had no weapon to defend himself with and no real skill in using such things anyway the marrow would almost certainly kill him if he tried to fight it, so his best chance would be to use the darkness as cover and sneak around. It couldn't kill what it couldn't find after all.

Keeping himself crouched down low and his footsteps as silent as possible, Tio followed the wall deeper into the labyrinth of the cave. He kept his ears as alert, listening out for any sounds that the marrow was nearby, but the only thing he could hear in the deathly silence was the occasional rustle of small rodents and insects running when he got too close, and with his nerves strung so high even those slight sounds were enough to make him jump. As minutes turned to hours Tio started to loose track of time, but no matter how hard he searched all he found were dead ends.

"Come on, there has to be a way out somewhere." He whispered to himself in frustration as he arrived at another dead end, which felt like the hundredth he'd come across now. A thin tunnel in the wall had lead him to another cavern which had seemed like a promising place to find an exit, but after searching around Tio had found that in fact the cavern had absolutely nowhere else to go except for the tunnel he'd just come in from. He could swear the cave was taunting him somehow, giving him hope for finding an exit only to pull the rug out from under him seconds later. If he ever got out of here and made a fortune for himself Tio promised himself that he'd come back here and blow his whole damn cave to pieces!

He froze as a clacking sound gently grew behind him, and despair grabbed his heart as he recognized it as the sound of the marrow approaching. Shit! Had it followed him or just gotten lucky, because this cavern was practically ideal for trapping people! The only way out was through the tunnel the marrow was coming in from, meaning there was nowhere Tio could run too until the marrow was actually in the cavern with him. The only chance he had to escape was to evade its notice long enough for the marrow to move far away enough from the tunnel to make and break for it, but the cavern was completely empty of things he could hide behind! All he had to hide himself in was the dark!

As quickly and quietly as he could Tio pushed himself up against the wall, keeping low down and putting a hand over his mouth to muffle his breathing. He could make out a flicker of movement somewhere in front of him, most likely the marrow coming out of the tunnel, and froze as the ominous clacking sound drew closer. It was here, he was sure of it! He could sense it looking about in the darkness up ahead, feel its hunger for life set his skin crawling!

But would it find him?

The soft crunch of soil being trod on alerted Tio that the marrow was moving, slowly walking about as it searched the cavern for him. Unfortunately it wasn't moving away from him like he'd hoped but towards him, meaning it would catch him before he had a chance to make a run for it! His mind kicked into overdrive thinking of a way to get past it, but with nothing else in the cavern there didn't seem to be any opportunities! This was it, the marrow was going to get him!

"Run as fast as you can Tio, but the only way outta there is to stand and fight!"

Unbidden, the memory of Zavoius' final piece of advice played out in his head. Well if there was nowhere to run or hide then like it or not the only option he had available to him was to try and take control of it after all! There really wasn't another choice in the matter! In his imagination the marrow was already looming over him, teeth bared and ready to bite down into his skull, and with his back to the wall Tio's survival instincts changed tact, pressing for him to go on the offensive rather than flee. With desperate determination Tio focused on the new weight inside of himself, the feeling of the magical spark flickering in his soul, and willed it to come to his aid! In one fluid motion he shot up, reaching out with his hand towards the marrow and yelling with as much will as he could muster "FREEZE!"

The marrow, standing a hairs bredth away from his outstretched hand, blankly stared at him with its hollowed eyes sockets, as if it had been taken aback by the sudden exclamation. Then with a hollow scream it lunged at Tio.

Well so much for that.

Tio dodged back out of the way of the marrow's lunge, straight back into the wall behind him. Shit, he was pinned! He raised his arms to block as the marrow took another swipe at him, raking four nasty scratches across his arm, and then kicked out and hit it in the ribcage! The marrow stumbled back a little but was surprisingly tough for a pile of bones, tough enough to shake off the hit at least, and lunged forwards again with its teeth bared to bite him. Its head slipped past his guard and came so close to biting off a part of his face that Tio could smell the faintest hints of rotten flesh, but Tio was fast enough to grab its spine with his hands and hold it back.

The marrow grabbed his arms and for a moment the two wrestled, Tio trying to push the marrow to the floor and the marrow trying to pull him closer to it. For a being with no muscles the marrow was surprisingly strong and utterly vicious, and as Tio started to tire it pulled the Yludih closer and closer to its open jaw. Realizing he was doomed to loose Tio impulsively kicked against the wall behind him and launched himself forwards, suddenly rocketing into the marrow and headbutting its jawbone so hard that it came off. The two fell to the floor, the marrow relinquishing its grip upon impact, and sensing his chance Tio leaped off of it and ran down the tunnel.

Behind him the marrow rushed to its feet as well and grabbed its jawbone off the floor, clicking it back into place and issuing another shrill scream before chasing after him.

Why wasn't this working?

The marrow was, quite literally, snapping at his heels as Tio ran through the cave. He was by no means a slow person, but being nothing more than a skeleton made the marrow very light and surprisingly nimble because of it. Perhaps it would have caught him already if it had been able to see him properly, but the darkness concealed even footing from it just as it did for Tio. Whenever he got far ahead enough Tio focused on the spark within him and tried to order the marrow to freeze again, but his attempts didn't so much as falt the creature's step. What was he doing wrong? Zavious had told him that once he had the spark he'd be able to control thralls with his will, but so far it hadn't done anything!

Blind panic guided him as he charged through the seemingly endless expanse of tunnels. Some back part of his brain noted that the area he was in and the direction he was taking felt familiar somehow, but was ignored as Tio focused on keeping his balance in the low visibility. He charged around a corner, feeling a slight brush against his hair as the marrow swiped at him and just barely missed his head, and burst into a familiar looking area.

It was the cavern where Tio had received and recovered from the spark, the one that the marrow had originally been left in. Thin beams of light were still being cast down from the small holes in the ceiling, and too his alarm Tio noticed that the light had a faint orange tinge to it. Was that a sign that sunrise was not far off?! How long had he been down here?! During all the commotion he'd forgotten about the strange little weighted feeling in his chest, but now that he paid attention to it Tio realized that it felt far weaker than it had felt before.

The spark was fading. Time was running out!

He turned to face the marrow as it approached him. Once again he was blocked in a cavern with only one way in or out, but this time he didn't have the aid of the dark to conceal him and had next to no chance of escaping. Recognizing that its prey was cornered the marrow slowed down to a walk, gradually advancing on Tio and forcing him to back away towards the wall little by little until eventually the Yludih was only a few steps away from it.

There was nowhere he could run to, nowhere to hide, and no way he could talk his way out of this. This was it! Death had come for him, he could feel it watching him from out of the marrow's hollow eyes, and he had no way of slipping out through its fingers! Who'd have thought he'd meet his end like this; devoured by a skeleton in a godforsaken cave in the middle of a jungle. There was so much he still wanted to do, but now he'd never get the chance.

No, fuck that! He wasn't giving up yet! A surge of indignant fury rose from within him as he thought about all that he still wanted to accomplish. He was going to become as rich as a king, buy himself a castle in some remote little corner of the world, fill it with whores and live a life of luxury and comfort until his final day! There was too much lying in store for him to die here!

Gathering up every last ounce of willpower within him Tio reached out like a puppeteer with a marionette's strings on its fingers and commanded, not with words but with thoughts and feelings, the marrow to bow. As he did the spark flared to life inside him again like it had last time, but this time instead of simply flaring and dying down again he felt a warm feeling like a stream of fire flow down his arms and out of his fingertips. The marrow stumbled back as if it'd walked into an invisible wall, convulsed, and then to Tio's amazement slowly began to bend its knees. There was a struggle as Tio's resolve met the marrow's innate hunger to consume him and battled for dominance over its body, but little by little Tio's will gained ground until with an almost audible snap the marrow's hunger gave out and it dropped to its knees, bowing before him like a devoted slave.

There was a flush of a strange, refreshing heat in his chest, and as he focused his attention on it Tio found that the alien weight in his chest suddenly didn't feel so unnatural anymore. It still had a noticeable presence but now felt less like some implanted seed in his chest and more like a second heart, a gentle steady thrum of heat and power that sat nicely inside of him. It actually felt pretty good, as for that matter had that fiery feeling that'd erupted down his hands when he'd assumed control over the marrow.

He looked over to the ceiling where the light above was peering down through the cracks. It was noticeably orange by now, meaning sunrise couldn't be more than a few seconds away. He'd passed the initiation quite literally at the last few seconds. A smile grew on his face as a wave of relief hit him, washing away all the fear and tension of his ordeal, and without meaning to he broke out into heartfelt laughter. He'd done it! He'd actually done it! He was a necromancer! Admittedly not much of one at the moment but he could work on that in time! He sat down on he floor, savoring the sweet taste of victory as it flooded through him.

Zavoius was going to be so pleased!
"One, two, three!"

With a grunt Tio pushed against the boulder with all the strength he could manage, throwing all his weight against its rough surface. Besides him the marrow, now under his control, pushed as well, and with a satisfying creak the boulder shifted and began to roll away. Sunlight streamed through the gap, forcing Tio to screw his eyes shut as they struggled to adapt, and blindly Tio stepped out into the fresh air of the outside world again.

Spirits it felt good to be in the open again! Hot and muggy as it was Tio drank in the outside air greedily, savoring how clean it felt compared to the stale cave air and how the breeze gently flowed across him. Even after taking control of the marrow it had taken Tio a long time to find the cave exit simply because of how dark it was and because of how disorientated the initiation ritual had made him, and so by now the sun was riding high in the sky in a position that suggested it was sometime around late-morning. As his eyes finally adapted to the outside light Tio looked around for Zavoius, eager to tell him of his accomplishments.

"Guess what old man! I..."

However the words died on his lip. Zavious wasn't there, nor was there even a trace of where he'd gone. Tio began searching the surrounding area for him, but there were no obvious clues and he was no tracker.

"HEY OLD MAN! WHERE ARE YOU?!" He shouted, hoping that Zavious was just wondering around somewhere nearby and would hear him. But there was no returning call, and even after waiting for another hour Zavoius never returned to the cave mouth.

He was gone.