Shit, I fell asleep.
The cold hit me first.
My soaked clothes, still damp from sweat and the fountain water, clung to my skin uncomfortably. The wall I'd slumped against didn't help - its chill seeped straight into my bones, making the sensation even worse.
I stood up and stretched, rotating each joint slowly to get some warmth back into my limbs. I had no change of clothes, so I was left with two options - walk wet or walk naked. And I wasn't desperate enough to pick the latter.
I need to move or I might catch a cold… if that's even possible…
The circular hall around me hadn't changed. Dozens of stone arches ringed the space, all identical except for the glowing inscriptions beside them, none of which I could read. My stomach gave a warning churn, reminding me that the jerky I ate wasn't going to keep me going much longer.
I hesitated.
The image of the dragon breathing fire still sat fresh in my memory, but standing here shivering wouldn't help. I had to keep going. I chose the arch closest to the one where I'd fought the dragon, reasoning that the odds of two death traps side by side had to be low. Or at least, low enough.
I stepped toward the stone arch and pressed my hand to the center, pausing first to memorize the inscription:
ⴔⴐⴓⴅ ⴈⴍⴐⴑⴄⴊⴔ
The stone shimmered and faded, revealing a room beyond - completely white, with smooth walls and no visible features. I leaned in, scanning for anything unusual. Nothing. Not even a speck of dust.
Should I turn back? Try a different door?
I lingered for a second, then decided to step in, just far enough to trigger whatever magic this place held. Maybe it was another healing chamber, and if so, it would have food.
The moment my foot touched the floor, the entire room shifted.
Gray smoke burst out from nowhere, engulfing my vision, and just as quickly, it vanished, revealing something entirely different.
The space had transformed into a small landmass hovering before a vast, still pool. Connected to it with narrow rope bridges were two stone pillars, raised from the water. In the center of the landmass was a small stone platform, a bowl lying on it.
I approached slowly, keeping my distance at first. Inside the bowl was water, with a faintly glowing inscription right beneath it.
ⴙⴓⴆ ⴅⴀⴈⴆⴊⴈ
Another inscription I couldn't read. I hated this feeling - knowing every answer was here, just buried behind a language I hadn't yet learned. I'd have to figure it out the hard way, risking my life.
I reached forward and lightly touched the surface of the bowl.
Immediately, the two pillars began to shimmer with soft silver light, and from each of them, trees emerged. Not illusions but real, tangible trees, brought into being through the dungeon's magic.
The one on the left was tall and wide, towering overhead, but dying. Its bark was gray and cracked, leaves curled and blackening. The tree on the right was thin, barely more than a sapling, but full of color. Its trunk was a rich, vibrant brown, and its leaves practically glowed with life.
The two trees stood far apart, with nothing bridging the space between them.
It seems I must make a choice…
It wasn't about what kind of trees I loved. That much was obvious. This was symbolic - some kind of test or trial. One tree with age, roots, experience… but already withering. The other young and brimming with potential, a blank slate waiting to grow.
There were many ways to interpret it - old strength versus new beginnings, experience versus potential, the past against the future… I turned over each possibility in my mind, weighing them one by one, but no matter how I framed it, I kept arriving at the same conclusion.
The sapling was the right choice.
Regardless of how much history the dying tree carried or what it once represented, it had already passed its peak. Keeping it alive would take everything I had and in the end, it would still wither. But the young tree… that held possibility. It could grow, change, adapt. All it needed was time and someone to nurture it.
I stepped onto the bridge leading toward it, placing my foot down firmly. The ropes creaked, swaying just enough to remind me of the drop below, but not enough to throw off my balance. I crossed, knelt by the base of the sapling, and poured the water from the bowl onto its roots.
As I took a step back, something shimmered in the air. Before my foot even touched the ground, a vial materialized in front of me, hovering, weightless.
It was filled with the same liquid I thought had been water, now swirling with a faint, blue luminescence. The vial itself was delicately carved, as if it had been shaped by hands far more refined than mine. Looking at it now, I wasn't so sure what the liquid truly was.
I reached forward, took the vial, and tucked it away into my Veilspace.
Then I turned, scanning the area, trying to figure out what came next. But the ground shifted before I could take another step.
The platform beneath the sapling trembled, then cracked. Its roots burst outward, tearing through the foundation and demonstrating its power. I tensed, heart racing, unsure if the pillar would collapse completely or toss me into the dark waters below.
I tried to run, but my body froze mid-motion.
When I looked down, I wasn't falling. I was suspended, floating, as the entire landscape reshaped itself.
The sapling was no more. In its place stood a magnificent tree, its trunk thicker than the old, withered one, its leaves gleaming gold under some unseen light. The roots expanded rapidly, twisting and crawling outward until the dark pool was gone entirely. In its place was a bed of tangled roots - firm, solid, walkable.
My feet touched down gently. I stood there for a moment, catching my breath, trying to understand what I'd just witnessed.
Then came the sound of faint chimes, carried by an invisible breeze.
I looked up and saw the tree's branches shifting again, now sprouting strange fruits. They were dark purple, elongated at first, but soon rounded into perfect spheres. One by one, they ripened and fell - not crashing down, but drifting softly, like feathers caught in slow descent.
I stepped closer to the tree, eyes narrowing as I caught the first glimpse of what lay inside the spheres.
Images.
Each fruit held one. I couldn't recognize them at first glance, but the longer I stared, the more familiar they became. My childhood. My failures. My beliefs. Everything I was. Different times. Different places. Different versions of myself, flickering inside those perfect spheres.
This wasn't what I expected.
The dungeon didn't just read me - it reached into my mind and pulled pieces out like they belonged to it. And more than that, it presented them to me like a proof of its might.
I thought I was immune to divine power… or maybe this place doesn't follow the same rules?
I considered the implications for a moment, but quickly shook my head, getting rid of those thoughts. There was no point getting lost in theories now. I was still in the middle of the trial, and perhaps there was a time limit.
At this point, I was certain what all this was. A test.
But what am I supposed to do with these spheres?
I looked around again, searching for something - an altar, a hint, a mark in the ground. Anything.
But unlike the first trial, which guided me with a bowl and a choice, this one offered nothing.
No symbols. No clues.
Just my memories, suspended in air, waiting.
I decided to examine one of the memories, picking a sphere at random and stepping closer.
The moment I recognized what it held, my lips curled reflexively. It was my mother, gently rocking me in her arms, singing one of her lullabies. I must have been no older than two. I reached out instinctively, but froze as the image stirred to life. Her voice echoed softly through the place, filling the space with something I hadn't felt in a long time. Safety. Warmth. Home.
I stood there, letting it wash over me. Letting her voice wrap around me like a blanket I thought I'd forgotten the feeling of.
When it ended, something inside me shifted. I wasn't just aware of that memory anymore, I could sense the others. Every sphere. Every moment. I knew what they were now. Where they hung. What they held.
I reached out again, wanting to hear her voice one more time. To feel that moment again. But as my fingertips hovered near the sphere, the others began to dim.
That was the choice. Once touched, the rest would fade.
So this is how it works.
A quiet, bittersweet truth settled into my chest. I had figured out the rule, but it meant accepting that whichever memory I chose would be the one I kept and the others would fade. The trial wanted me to make my choice, to pick the memory that would shape who I was and would become. Or perhaps it wanted me to pick the memory I cherished the most…
I took a breath and looked around the chamber, my gaze moving from one sphere to the next. And I began to watch them, one by one.
Memories of my childhood. My first day at university. My first kiss - awkward and perfect in all the ways that mattered. The fight I had with my best friend. The day we made up. So many moments that had once felt like the entire world.
But as I watched them play, each memory felt a little more distant. Like watching someone else's life. Someone I used to be. That version of me, the one with all those simple hopes, fears, and dreams, was now gone.
And in the end, I knew which one I had to choose.
I turned toward the sphere that held the most ridiculous, tragic, and absurd moment of my life.
My death.
There I was, collapsed alone in my room, face down on the hardwood floor, crimson pooled around me like spilled ink. A pathetic, messy ending to a life no one saw coming.
This is the one. This is where everything started.
Maybe I was just saying that to feel better. Maybe I needed it to mean something. But it was the truth I settled on. This was the moment that unmade me… and remade me.
I stepped forward and reached for the sphere, eyes fixed on the image of my former self, lifeless, sprawled across the floor, already forgotten by the world I'd left behind.
I felt both relief and resolve as the other spheres dimmed, their soft purple glow fading into nothing. But somewhere, buried deep in my mind, a smaller voice stirred. One that whispered I should've chosen differently. That I had let something irreplaceable go.
I ignored it.
I was no longer Verde because the system handed me that name - I was Verde because I claimed it. Because I chose it for myself.
The tree shook again, as if responding to that choice. Its branches stretched upward in a blur, twisting and braiding together to form a path. The brown bark curled into shape beneath me, forming a platform as I slowly began to rise.
I glanced down. The memories, those once-glowing spheres, lay scattered below, dim and forgotten. Whatever purpose they once served, it had ended.
They were no longer needed.
I kept ascending. The branches ahead had already woven the final stretch of the path, guiding me toward the top. When I reached it, the sight waiting for me stole the breath from my lungs.
A sword stood embedded in the center of the summit - radiant, impossibly bright. Its hilt shimmered gold, while silver runes curled along the edge of its blade, glowing faintly with power.
And beyond the sword, lay the final trial. The last choice. And it wasn't just about passing some test - it felt larger, heavier. A turning point that might shape not only this moment, but everything that came after.
My heartbeat climbed with every step.
Whatever I chose next… there'd be no turning back.
**
A/N -
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