The Walker Of Voids

After the feeling of uselessness finally disappeared, Lloyd surveyed the area.

'Pretty sure that thing is alive, but on a good note, the flames are gone...' Lloyd mused before repeating his findings aloud.

"Just follow my voice." Lloyd shouted while constantly snapping his fingers so they could track his location.

They quickly regrouped after a few minutes of them trying not to trip over debris, and when they finally found each other, they could not help but let out wide smiles.

"Felt my life flash before me." Jenna shuddered.

"Hey! I don't see you holding a sword and getting into close quarter battles!" John sneered.

"I don't see you using all your mana and stamina to boost and heal a stupid moron who jumps into the middle of a battle the moment he sees on." Jenna sneered back.

"Who are you calling a moron!" John pointed at her accusingly, yet she only ignored his antics while the rest of the group simply laughed at their antics.

"We don't have time to waste. It's getting harder to breathe by the minute." Jake informed, causing everyone except Lloyd to nod.

There were two reasons for him not nodding.

One, he didn't feel a difference when breathing.

Two, he was more preoccupied with something else, yet after a moment, he simply shook his head and looked back at his team.

"Let's go." He ordered, and everyone followed his lead. It made sense, after all, since he was the only one with night vision.

"Ooo! Are those new torches?" John spoke excitedly, but after everyone looked at him weirdly, he cleared his throat and repeated the sentence more composed instead of screaming like a 15-year-old girl who got a car for a birthday present.

"I believe they are. But I suggest we limit the amount we take to only two..." Lloyd spoke.

"Why?" Fatima asked while taking a bite from a nutrition bar she had brought with her. While nutrition bars were still a thing during Lloyd's time, they were considered to be a lot more useful than the ones of the past.

To be exact, a nutrition bar was considered to be a normal meal for those in the army or on missions as they were small, healthy, and filled with enough calories to keep someone filled for an entire day.

It was actually one of the main ways people of the 22nd century defeated obesity.

"I have a bad feeling about them." Lloyd simply explained as they all moved forward.

5, 10, 15 minutes quickly passed, and everyone was getting restless again. It made sense, though. After such a heart-racing fight, 15 minutes of nothing could make the calmest soldier feel agitated by the sudden and utter silence.

However, after that, 2 hours seemed to pass in the blink of an eye.

They encountered many things, from groups of small creatures they had to kill to traps and even puzzles they had to complete.

After the 2-hour mark, 'Fatima's Group' found themselves before a puzzle, yet this was a little different from the other ones.

A large illusory figure floated in the middle of the cold room. It was surrounded by mist, as if the room itself was a foggy graveyard; well, at least it was designed that way. But Lloyd knew better than to believe that such a design had no ulterior motive.

'Scary + Low Oxygen = Hyperventilation.' Lloyd thought with an unamused expression.

However, that was not all.

He could tell that his teammates were becoming increasingly drowsy on the way to this room, and while an idiot would think that the journey had caused them to tire out, Lloyd knew that it was something else...

And what terrified him was the fact that he was certain that the reason for this drowsiness was not the lack of oxygen...

No... Anyone with half a brain could make that one up. He wasn't certain what it was, but he had a suspicion.

Of course, he could tell his team about it, but he was certain that it would worsen the situation for anyone other than Fatima. Yet, he still chose to say nothing.

He knew how Fatima's ability worked, so on the off chance she became upset by the news, it was more than likely that it would cause a chain reaction that he did not have the social ability to stop.

"Welcome to the trial of intelligence." An ethereal voice entered their ears and caused all of them to widen their eyes.

"They're a bit like the drake." Jenna commented.

Sighing, Lloyd asked the most important question.

"What is the trial of intelligence?"

"It is a trial that tests your intelligence..." The ethereal voice replied unemotionally, yet Lloyd could not help but feel like it was mocking him for asking such a stupid question despite that being obvious.

"Then, why don't you start this test of yours." Lloyd asked with a condescending tone of voice.

A long silence descended upon the group, and no one dared speak.

"I think you pissed it off."

Well, no one with any semblance of a brain dared speak. John was clearly an anomaly amongst humans.

However, before anyone could silently complain about his stupidity, the ethereal voice entered their ears again.

"Who will you choose to represent you?" It asked.

Fatima: "..."

John: "..."

Jack: "..."

Jenna: "..."

Lloyd: "???"

In an instant, everyone turned toward Lloyd.

"Why is everyone looking at me?" He asked.

"Because you're the only one who is particularly intelligent. You also did all the other intelligence-based rooms, so we kind of assumed you'd do this one." Jenna replied innocently, yet everyone else in the group couldn't help but feel like a vein on their forehead would burst.

They all knew it was true, but they felt a little angry when it was said like that.

"Ugh, fine." Lloyd snarled before stepping forward with a look of defeat.

"Do you represent your group?" The spirit asked.

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Lloyd shrugged.

"Who will you choose to represent you for the trial of courage?" It asked; however, this time, the answer was not was unanimous.

"What are all the trials?" Lloyd asked

"Tenacity, Courage and Intelligence." The spirit explained.

"John should do Tenacity, and Fatima should do Courage." Lloyd suggested with folded arms.

After hearing Lloyd's words, they both looked at each other for a moment before shrugging and walking to the designated areas.

Lloyd felt like Fatima would do well in courage, and since John is a knight willing to jump into anything for the "Father, son and holy spirit," he should be fine in a trial like this.

On the other hand, Fatima had shown that she was a good leader not only because of her ability to make everyone around her feel less stressed out but also because she could put on a smile no matter the situation.

As spacial energy covered Lloyd, John, and Fatima, Lloyd couldn't help but feel confident about his choice; little did he know that this decision would be one he would look back on and think-

"I was so wrong."

***

Appearing in a dark room, Lloyd opened his eyes and looked around for a bit before the lights slowly turned on.

'I won't be there to keep the flames in check, but they should be capable of going a few minutes without me doing so.' Lloyd thought to himself before his eyes widened for a completely unrelated reason.

"Uh... What the hell is this place?" Lloyd muttered under his breath, but after a few seconds of analyzing the place, he seemed to understand what was happening.

As the darkness faded from his vision and everything became as bright as day, Lloyd's eyes scanned the entire room, yet unlike the previous older castle dungeon theme that the dungeon was going with, this place looked more modern.

"This is..." Lloyd frowned.

He was in a completely ordinary room, the only significance of it being that it was clearly a room from an age before the awakening.

"The technology looks 21st century..." Lloyd mused while walking up to the tv.

The room was dyed mostly white; if it wasn't, it was probably either marble white, silver, or creamy.

He was currently in the living room, but with a single glance, he could tell that this house was either a two or three-story house.

"Looking outside indicates that we are at least on the 7th floor... And this tv." Lloyd muttered before touching it.

"It uses gas cells that emit ultraviolet rays. They go through the screen to create an image... It was genius for its time, but its quite crap now that I think about it." Lloyd thought to himself while tapping the screen of the tv.

"4k Resolution and-..."

Looking at the tv, he watched as a casket was held high while a white, red, and blue flag with 4 lines in it fluttered above it.

"British flag? I think? Is this the British empire? Wait, no, they didn't have televisions this good. This is clealry the passing of a monarch, but I can't tell who." Lloyd folded his arms and thought with closed eyes, yet after a while, he simply shrugged and said he would research it later.

"Why am I here?"

Without taking another glance at the TV, Lloyd searched the entire house, and for the most part, it looked pretty ordinary.

It was nothing compared to the standards he was used to, but he could tell that the house he was in was considered a luxury home by people of the 21st century.

However, when he finally reached a window and tried to open it to let Earth's breeze in, he realized something important.

"They won't open..." He frowned before disappearing and appearing at the front door, trying to open it as well, to no avail.

"So, I have to escape this place. Like an escape room?" Lloyd asked himself.

***

In a completely different place, a boy wearing heavy knight armor was walking in a desert that spanned out for what looked like light years.

It didn't take him long to take his armor off, and while it was a load off him, quite literally in this sense, he still felt the scorching heat of the desert sizzling his skin.

He could even argue that the sizzling of skin was even worse now that he didn't have anything covering it, but nothing was as bad as the amount of sweat he released when he had his armor on.

*Rumble*

"Hmm?" The boy raised a brow but thought nothing of the faint tremor.

*Rumble!*

"I swear to god, if it makes me run in this weather I will lose it!" John roared in rage, yet-

*RUMBLE*

The sound was getting closer.

"Please..."

*RUMBLE!*

"Oh god, please don't make me run." John pleaded, yet it was too late.

*PWOOOOSH*

John watched helplessly as an enormous centipede as big as a skyscraper erupted out of the ground, its maw wide open as a devastating shriek left its mouth and caused the desert to shake despite it seeming endless.

"...May the lord forgive me for the unholy words I'm about to spout in his presence." John clasped his hands in prayer before his eyes became serious, yet in that same instant, he had to turned around and bolted in the other direction.

The centipede seemed to recognize his existence, and the moment he began to run, he lowered himself to the ground and began to crawl toward the running boy with clear sadistic intent exuding from it.

Nevertheless, John screamed like a little girl and ran away with his arms flailing around as he let out curse words that I am literally not allowed to put on this site, so I, as the writer, will leave the rest to your imagination.

***

In the alleyway between two buildings stood a little girl with jet-black hair that had been tied into pigtails and dark brown eyes that seemed even darker than usual.

The girl could not have been older than 5 years old, yet her eyes were completely dead, like a soldier who's gone insane from the constant music of bullets that rain upon them and take their friends and family on a daily basis.

The little girl was covered in fresh blood. In one hand, she held a teddy bear that seemed to have been soaked in blood from how much of the red liquid was dripping from it.

However, on the other hand, she held what seemed like an adult hand covered in an equal amount of blood, yet this time the blood was dry, indicating that it had happened before the girl showed up.

And in front of her stood a woman with unmatched beauty, covered in blood... A woman who held a pitch-black sword in her hand while her eyes glowed with a fierce and bright violet that could have only been replicated by the stars themselves.

A woman that, despite her magnificent beauty, held an expression of contempt on her face. A complete contradiction to the superb awe-worthy aura she emitted.

The little girl in this story wasn't Fatima Khan... At least, not yet.

The little girl in this story was Fatima Ahmed, a 5-year-old girl who just had watched her mother get slaughtered in front of her, and her father bleed to death as he held her hand...

[Let the Trial of Courage begin]

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