The Pinnacle Warrior

The night passed quickly, with Astrid forcing herself to put the brief away and try to sleep not so long after sunset. Sleep avoided her for a very long time, but she couldn’t help the nerves and excitement, so she just tried her best to rest however much she could. At some point during the night, with darkness and quiet all around her, unconsciousness finally found her. Despite only falling asleep late, Astrid still found herself awake as the first light of dawn peeked over the horizon. Knowing that she wasn’t going to be able to sleep anymore and feeling well rested enough, given Quick Recovery, Astrid walked out of her party’s tent.

Chloe already sat beside the fire pit, playing with the coals that slowly burned there. She looked up at Astrid and laughed a little as they made eye contact. “Having trouble sleeping?”

“I got enough, but no more, just like you, I’d imagine.” Astrid chuckled back. “I’d imagine we aren’t going to be the only ones out here for long.”

Out of habit and training more than anything else, Astrid turned and poked Muti in the belly as she tried to sneak up on the Warrior. The Rogue shook her head in disappointment but didn’t say anything as she settled into a crouch behind Astrid.

“At this point, you’re training me to suspect you’re right there more than anything else. If I can’t see you, I just always expect you to be right behind me.” Astrid protested.

“And when you do not see our enemies, you should expect them to be behind you. That is what I have attempted to teach you.” Muti said. She pulled a strip of jerky from her backpack, not the spatial pouch, and set about making a small pot of stew for breakfast. Astrid helped her, preparing the barley that, even months after leaving Kznietch, they couldn’t escape. As they continued to work on breakfast, Chloe spoke.

“Do you think you’re ready to get into the Trials?” Though her tone was casual, the fear was obvious in her body language.

“That’s why we’re here.” Astrid answered with a shrug. She didn’t stop chopping vegetables as she continued, “I think we’re as ready as we could be. Benedict, idiot that he is, almost got himself too ready, but yeah, we don’t have any other choices. It’s been an exhausting couple of months getting here, but we’re ready to see if we can get ourselves a boon.”

“You were traveling for months to get here? Why didn’t they teleport or something? How long has it been since you were Bestowed with your Classes? Are you way older than you look?”

Astrid laughed as she pushed the vegetables into the pot and carried it to the fire, leading the hearty breakfast warm while she figured out how to answer the deluge of questions. “No, we’re not that crazy! We were level 15, what, two and a half months ago? Got a letter that let us know that we had a chance to get into the Wandering Trials, and decided to do our best to qualify. Spent most of the time in the Dungeon, maybe resting two nights a week outside of it to get here in time. I guess it was a good training session for what we’re going into, huh? But we’re looking forward to getting a real break after all this.”

Chloe‘s mouth hung open as she listened to Astrid’s explanation. Then, she rubbed her forehead. “How old are you?”

“Turning 20 during the Trials, but I’m the youngest in the party. Muti’s 22, and the others’re around that same age.” Astrid answered. “Yeah I know, we were a little rushed but managed to get those last few levels pretty quick, huh?”

“You’re insane.” Chloe said, not meanly, but may be a little horrified. “You’re telling me you got the last five levels of Bronze at a rate of one level every two weeks? No, basically six, since you’re about to hit 21? Are you actually Human or are you all some weird semi divine creature?”

“No, we’re Human. Well, minus this one.” Astrid said, gesturing with her thumb at Muti. The Barbarian obliged by flicking her pointed ears and baring her sharp teeth. “Yeah, we were pretty fast, but nothing that crazy.”

Chloe scoffed and waved off Astrid’s statement. “I think you’re right about what you were saying yesterday. You’ll have a pretty good chance of being the top performers. Good luck.”

The Healer didn’t leave after that, but the topics of conversation died out as Chloe gave short answers and occasionally muttered to herself about crazy people. At one point, Benedict came out, got the general gist of what Chloe was so surprised about, and after preening for a short moment, began to commiserate with her. He also enjoyed talking with her about how they both were so long suffering and unlucky, given that their companions had crossed 100 in at least one of their attributes while they both weren’t quite there.

As the little clearing filled up with people, though notably, devoid of Caelum’s party’s presence, Astrid was relieved to find that time passed relatively quickly. This was the closest thing to real downtime she and her party had had in quite a while, given that they’d had a full night’s rest and then didn’t have anything to do for several hours after waking. They all enjoyed it, though Astrid‘s explanation of her parties last several months quickly became fireside talk, spreading through the other parties. Though she saw congratulations in several people’s faces, there was also a small measure of fear and frustration. While she deliberately kept herself out of conversation, she finally settled on what she thought was the explanation for the faint hostility some people directed towards her.

Everybody here was considered an individual of immense potential. The Guild had gotten them into the perfect position and invested a large amount of funds and materials in them, and sent them forward with the hopes that they would be able to get the boon from the Great One here in the Trials. Those who were frustrated and unhappy with her were those who didn’t see any possibility for themselves to overcome Astrid‘s party. A small part of her commiserated with them and their hopelessness, but the rest of her scoffed. They were so weak–minded as to see somebody else powerful and then say that they couldn’t be the same. Fortunately, it was only one or two people per party who began to sink into weakness, but Astrid didn’t see any of the same hesitation in her own people, even Benedict with his common self–deprecation.

Once breakfast had come and gone but lunch was still a fair ways off, Skandr excused himself to the tent to do some last-minute spellcraft while many of the others got themselves equipped and wandered around with obvious nervous energy. Astrid didn’t blame them, but instead of moving around meaninglessly, she dove back into the briefs, familiarizing herself intimately with especially the first 10 floors. She resolved to continue to keep herself completely knowledgeable of everything for 10 floors ahead of her current position as they pushed through the Trials. Her mind flitted from one thing to the next, focused on how best to keep her party moving forward and effective in the Trials.

Their first goal would have to be passing their Class quests. Once they’d done that, then their levels would climb, and they could focus on moving more quickly. There was the question of if they should choose a slightly weaker Class to ensure they could evolve more quickly, but Astrid quickly discarded the idea. They wouldn’t know what the quest was until they selected the Class anyways, and as Bronze tiers, the quests wouldn’t be too demanding. Right?

Astrid lost herself in her research until finally, it was time to gather, and, fully outfitted in their equipment, the three parties made their way to the central tent within the Human’s camp. Count Prig and his party hadn’t left their tent at all, so far as any of the other Bronze parties had seen, but they didn’t care to pass on communications if the arseholes were unwilling to be in the right place at the right time. Striding through the camp, everything had gone quiet, the delvers all making their way to the same place to get their final briefing. 

Outside of the headquarters tent, Astrid, Paulie, and Aaron, as the three party leaders, stepped into the tent. As soon as they did, they saw Caelum already standing in the middle of everything, his face twisted in a superior grin. To Astrid’s surprise, she saw a familiar face near the arrogant Count, a man who looked like he’d been bothered three times too many and wasn’t looking for a fourth.

She wasn’t going to say anything and risk looking like a fool, but to her own pride, Aleksandr greeted her himself, walking forward with a grin that broke the anger in his countenance. “Astrid Warrior, what a pleasure to see you here! I wouldn’t have expected you to be at the top of Bronze already, but I can see that I underestimated you. When I saw the brief, I figured it had to be you. Isana will be thrilled to see you. And you still have her helmet?”

The deluge of words, and an indirect explanation of the apparently intimate relationship that they had, took Astrid by surprise, and after swallowing once, then twice, she answered, “My party and I are ready to prove ourselves in the trials. It’s good to see you as well, Aleksandr… Soldier?”

He laughed and patted her on the back. “Everybody knows what my Class is. Don’t tell me you’d forgotten!”

“No, of course I hadn’t, but you mentioned mine so I wasn’t sure if I should repeat it back to you.”

As she exchanged words with the leader of the Golden Fist, Astrid felt as Aaron and Paulie went still beside her. With nothing else to say, Astrid presented them. “Aleksandr, this is Paulie Warrior and Aaron Ranger.”

“I could’ve picked that out, I’ve read through your overviews. You’ll do well, so long as you apply yourselves.” Though not dismissive, the Adamantium tiered delver didn’t extend the same grace to her two companions as he did to her herself. When he nodded his brief farewell to go stand next to Lars once more, Astrid couldn’t help but see the obvious burning envy in Caelum’s face. She smirked and said nothing as she settled into a ready waiting position. She could feel Paulie and Aaron’s burning gazes on her, but she didn’t look to the side, and just a couple minutes later, Lars stood in the center of the tent. Astrid watched the other parties, guessing which ones were Iron, Steel, and Mithril. For Iron, it looked like there were four parties, just like the Bronze. Steel only had two, and Mithril had one. Surprisingly, there seemed to be three Adamantium tier parties with no Arcanite, but Astrid didn’t say anything. Instead, she listened as Lars began to speak.

“You all are our best hopes of getting boons for Humanity’s sake. You have been prepared and have trained and have been helped to further the cause of our people. There will be others who appear after you, those who might go to greater depths in the Trials, but they will be built off of your shoulders, and you are the ones who can reap the greatest benefits. Do not forget that, I do not hesitate to push yourselves further and harder to achieve victory.

“The Wandering Trials, in case you didn’t know, will split you up from every other delving team for the first ten floors. Starting on the eleventh, the floors will be much larger in scale than those that precede them and every party will be on the same floor. Though you all are competitors with each other for the ultimate prize of the boon, we are also allies, so do not harm your fellow Humans in jealousy or envy. If you are found to have done so, justice will be swift and punitive. You do not need to support or help each other, but do not harm one another.”

The leader of Humanity’s outpost maintained strict eye contact with everybody as he said it. Once he seemed positive that his point had been carried across, he nodded and began to dive into specifics regarding the official ways to approach parties from other countries, general warnings, and the expectations of each individual present.

“Every one of you was capable of returning victorious. You’re also all capable of dying down there. Do the first, not the second, and if you have to choose between them, choose not to die instead of going deeper. If you need to retreat, do so. Ascending a single floor will take you all the way back out of the Trials. Just know that once you begin to do so, you won’t be able to descend once more. That’s all.”

Lars didn’t say anything more as he turned on his heel and dismissed all of the delvers. Even the Adamantium tiers all left, and Astrid wasn’t going to be the only person who failed to listen. She followed the rest as they walked towards the clearing between the five camps. There, for the first time, Astrid actually looked at the six doors that led into the Wandering Trials.

As she’d heard, each of the doorways were joined at the edge, making a hexagon of doorways. From where they approached, Astrid saw the silvery blue of Mithril making the edges of the closest entrance. To the right of that doorway was a dark metal, almost green, but more gray, that must have been adamantium. On the other side, the glint of steel was familiar to her. On the other side, there were three more doorways, but Astrid couldn’t see them, and her attention moved to the other representatives who waited for the time to enter.

Each nation’s representatives stayed together, somewhat separated from the other others. The Verdant Walkers, towering tree-like creatures, stood nearby, and Astrid couldn’t tell if they were looking at anybody or not. She couldn’t see any faces, at least from this distance, but on the other side were the Hiveguards, and they were constantly looking in every direction. Since she was seeing them for the first time, Astrid was a little horrified upon seeing their heads, especially. From afar, the day before, she hadn’t seen much other than their general shapes. Now, much closer, she could see that though slightly more human in shape, the Hiveguards’ heads were much like an insect’s, sporting large mandibles, bulbous compound eyes, antennae, and so on.

Beyond the Hiveguard, Astrid could see that the Barbarians stood in small subsections among their group, and Muti didn’t take her eyes away from them. Some of the Barbarians turned and saw her among the Humans, and before long, the entire group was staring. Muti started to quail under the overbearing focus, but Astrid reached out and took her friend’s hand. Muti stood taller after that, and didn’t retreat as one of the parties of Barbarians stepped out of their group of 50 or so to walk towards the Humans. 

Long before they got close, their leader called out, “What is this? Have you taken one of our people? Unable to find a satisfactory representative among your own? Come. Rejoin your people.”

The speaker, a woman that appeared to be giant even among the Barbarians at well over 260 centimeters tall, gestured for Muti to come to the Barbarian side. The stranger’s face was patterned with curling scars on her forehead, cheeks, and chin. When the Rogue hesitated, she roared something in the Barbarian’s tongue, and Muti flinched.

“I don’t think it’s any of your damn business who we’re bringing for our representatives.” Aleksandr spoke as he strode forward, his party behind him.

“You have complained so much that we are not allowed to bring our slaves to these little festivals. I will not allow you to enslave one of mine, as you have complained for so many decades.” She dismissed the Adamantine delver and hissed what sounded like the same command at Muti again.

In answer, Astrid’s friend raised her chin and gritted her teeth audibly. As soon as the Barbarian saw Muti’s rebellion, and her scar on her chin, she scoffed and turned on her heel, the party members with her doing the same.

“You would take one of our outcasts into the trials? It is obvious that Humanity will be unable to prove themselves in this round of the Trials if you are so desperate. Keep the whelp.”

The immediate change of opinion was surprising, and the party who’d come called something back to the rest of the Barbarians. They began jeering and mocking, most of the words in their own tongue instead of in one that the Humans could understand, but the disgust and mockery was obvious. Muti didn’t say anything, merely accepting the verbal abuse as Astrid leaned over and elbowed her in the ribs.

“You’re here. You earned this place. You’re going to be Iron by the time you see any of them again, and then we can show them what they’ve lost out on by turning away from you.“

Muti nodded, putting on a brave face, but Astrid could see that she yet retained much of that same nervousness. There wasn’t any more time for communication as one representative from each of the nations stepped forward. Interestingly, the people who stepped forward weren’t those who were going into the Dungeon, and the Verdant Walker who walked forward for the conversation was one of shortest Astrid had seen, not much taller than she was.

While the rest watched, every one of the representatives seemed to do something, going through the complicated movements of a series of drawing lots. Maybe two minutes later, each representative stepped back, some frustrated, others unreadable, and Humanity’s grinning as he called out, “We’re the second to enter!”

At that, every member of every nation started to get into position, and Astrid and her party followed alongside. They ended up being the second in line for the humans going into the Bronze entrance, just in front of the Five Spears with the single Hiveguard party in front of them. The insect people were strangely quiet, not speaking, but constantly moving and twitching as they approached. Astrid thought to ask something, but a voice called out, “Go!“ and it was time to move.

The single Hiveguard party rushed into the Wandering Trials’ entrance, and Astrid jogged forward, guiding her four allies in her party onward. As soon as they entered the portal, swirling light covered her vision, the stairs she stepped on disappearing as her stomach turned, and her perception twisted. A time that was impossible to tell if it was short or long finished passing, and Astrid blinked, looking around the Wandering Trials for the first time.