Aaron appeared beside Elmira in a fiery landscape with the silhouettes of monsters and pluming ashy smoke in the distance. Rivers of lava snaked across the landscape, cutting it into pieces, and in the distance, volcanic mountains spewed lava down their edges.

  The genie god Gastelum the Magnificent floated nearby. Elmira had chosen the god’s avatar to lead them through this trial, and Aaron had been happy to agree to it. He would keep Yendal and Oozagh for his own personal trials. Not that they paid the genie much attention, nor did they require the help of a god to pass a first-stage trial.

  At first, it all seemed fairly standard for a trial, except, of course, Elmira was with him. That still felt a little odd.

  But it was what he noticed next that really threw a spanner into the works. They had both metal belts clasped around their waists, and a thick chain a few meters long anchoring them to each other.

  He didn’t even need to test the strength of the chain. He could feel the energy within it. That thing was unbreakable, at least for anybody in the trials.

  “So, we’re stuck together? Did you know about this?” Aaron said, grabbing the chain and lifting it up.

  Elmira smiled back. “There’s a portal at the far end of the stage,” she continued, pointing up to the darkened, sooty sky.

  “Huh?” Aaron narrowed his gaze, trying to make sense of what he was looking at.

  It almost looked like a staircase of floating rocks, pillars, and other random debris climbing up into the apocalyptic clouds.

  “We have to go up there?”

  “Yeah. It’s not too dissimilar to the Trial of Survival. Expect lots of monsters along the way and a deadly landscape. But it shouldn’t be anything you can’t handle, assuming you can get over this…” she glanced down at the chain.

  “I should have expected the trials would have a creative way of making us work together for a Trial of Companionship.”

  Elmira nodded. “Fun, no?”

  He wasn’t sure at first, but it actually did sound kind of fun for a change. However, Aaron was well aware of what made him special. If he went through his normal dying routine, he was likely to make Elmira one very sick individual. So in reality, the trial was far more than just the challenge of the chain binding them together. Aaron was going to have to go against his normal techniques and, for a change, focus on keeping himself alive.

  Well, it was probably a good thing he was up for a challenge then.

  They started walking, and right off the bat, it was obvious Elmira had a different way of doing things. She was cautious, spying their enemies and counting them out as they weaved their way through the course.

  She led him behind craggy rocks, pointing out blind spots and directing him around unnecessary encounters.

  It was… admittedly kind of nice. Aaron was a little thick-headed when it came to overcoming challenges, and it was refreshing to avoid some unnecessary fights, especially when they weren’t providing XP.

  “So, how’d you end up with Pentival and his people anyway?”

  Elmira explained how they met mid-tutorial. He had been questing when she came across a large group of low-level Tutorial takers who were surrounded by monsters. A few of them had already died, and it was looking bad for the rest.

  She came to the rescue, and whilst she fought bravely, there had been too many monsters. That was up until Pentival, and a group of his followers joined the battle.

  “So, that’s how it happened. Honestly, I was happy working alone up until I met Pentival. I had beaten a couple of quests and felt pretty confident. But I realized there was more to all of this than just fighting. He got people organized, got them working together. Forging something bigger than themselves. When he broke the monster siege, he talked to the people, he calmed them, and gave them hope. It wasn’t just that group, either. There were hundreds throughout the Tutorial. Panicked idiots are getting themselves killed every which way. And then when he came in, he fixed the chaos and got people doing appropriate things. Those who sucked at fighting were told to focus on their Profession and stay in camp. That kind of thing. It was the first time I actually saw someone fixing up the mess made by the Integration. Honestly, it was hard not to want to follow him.”

  “I suppose that makes sense.”

  “You don’t sound convinced.”

  “No. I mean, it’s not like I don’t understand. I just don’t think that’s for me. Maybe I’m an idiot, but I like my freedom.”

  Elmira looked down at the chain binding them to each other as they walked through the hellscape and laughed.

  “Ironic,” Aaron shared a chuckle.

  If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  “Seriously, though. Why not?” Elmira’s expression returned to its usual seriousness. “You can’t do everything. Besides, you’re a fighter, aren’t you?”

  “I am. But… well,” Aaron grimaced. He was a little embarrassed to admit it, but what the hell. “I’ve always been a free spirit. But organized society has a way of putting limits on that. In some ways, this all excites me way more than it probably should. Does that sound stupid?”

  “No. I don’t know if it’s reasonable, but I kind of get it. In some ways, I feel the same. I agreed to help Pentival build his empire, but I always told him that I’d keep my independence, and if I ever decided to leave, I would.”

  Maybe she isn’t as under his thumb as I thought? I wonder if the rest of his people are the same?

  “And he was okay with that?”

  “In a way. I won’t lie. He’d rather have me a loyal servant. But he’s not so pig headed that he’d risk our relationship over something like that. He knows I’m a free spirit, and he accepts that. You might miss it in his speeches about creating an empire, but that man is reasonable. He thinks things through, and he doesn’t just slam his head against a wall until he breaks through. He plans and he mediates. That’s how he got so many powerful people to follow him in the first place.”

  What she said made sense, Aaron had to admit. Still, it didn’t make him any more eager to join the man’s so-called empire, even if that was a stubborn take for a guy who had no interest in empire building.

  “Okay, I told you all about me. Your turn. “Is it true then? You’ve been here for the entire Tutorials?”

  Aaron gave her a quick recap, going over his experiences since arriving without giving too many details away.

  The conversation was interrupted occasionally as they made their way through fiery fields and jumped rivers of lava by exploding geysers of flame, all whilst avoiding the natural inhabitants.

  “So, that’s more ot less my story. I never even got to see the Tutorial.”

  “And that’s why your level is so low. At first, I thought it might be some kind of trick. A Skill or item to obscure your details.”

  “I wish,” Aaron sighed. “It’s not so bad, though. In truth, I’ve learned a lot from the uphill battle I was thrown into.”

  They were nearing the first floating blocks now. The first trial stage wasn’t particularly hard for Aaron and Elmira, but it was obvious she was looking around and wondering how anybody could get through something like this at level 1.

  “I mean, it wasn’t easy. But I also had plenty of time, and I couldn’t die, you know?”

  “That’s another interesting thing about you. You talk about your own death so casually. One of our team members already got stuck on a stage. He died a few times and was in a bit of a state. He’s starting to recover now, but he also doesn’t seem to want to head back into the trials anytime soon. It did a real number on him. And it wasn’t like he was some weak-spirited man. I’ve seen him overcome all kinds of challenges. But dying? Yeah, he looks like a ghost of his former self.”

  “Yeah, I’ve heard similar things,” Aaron said.

  It was actually useful information. He kind of already knew that most people struggled with dying, even in the trials. But the extent of which he was unsure. If one of Elmira’s companions was already struggling, and they really hadn’t been here that long, it did a number on his perspective.

  As they jumped onto the first floating block of crumbled concrete, a number of winged humanoid goat creatures took notice and began to slowly fly toward them.

  “Looks like we’ve been spotted.”

  Elmira glanced down at the chain again. “Probably best to remain in one place whilst we fight. Happy to make our stand here?”

  Aaron looked around. They were standing on one of the biggest floating blocks around. Besides going back to the surface, it looked as good a place as any to fight. And these monsters were not that powerful, so Aaron didn’t really want to backtrack.

  “Yeah, fine with me.”

  The flying goats grew closer, and as Aaron was picking his targets, he caught himself stealing glances across to Elmira by his side. He wanted to size her up, see what Elmira was capable of.

  He had seen the way Pentival looked at her. She was one of his strongest, maybe even the strongest, and depending on what she showed him in this fight, it could determine what their relations would be like going forward.

  She activated some kind of Skill, and strange, runic symbols floated up into the red sky above them as the monsters neared. They were connected to Elmira somehow, and Aaron was extremely curious to see what was about to happen next.

  She took her delicate, elven-looking axes in each hand, dual-wielding them and showing off with a little finesse display as the enemy approached.

  Surprisingly, Elmira was closer to Aaron than he had expected. There was no torrent of power that met the first wave of flying goats; instead, she attacked them with swift and precise attacks that cut them down elegantly.

  Aaron had to focus on his own fight as well, dancing through a barrage of halberds as the goats engaged. But compared to other enemies, these flying goats weren’t anything special. In fact, he didn’t even feel it necessary to rely on time dilation despite the overwhelming numbers attacking him.

  Landing a couple of perfect haymakers, he killed a few and took a second to glance over at Elmira.

  The chain limited their movement, but Elmira had remained in place, not moving an inch from where she planted her feet down. Was it intentional? Was she giving up mobility so that Aaron would have more?

  If they were both jumping around like he did, it would likely cause logistics issues relatively quickly.

  So, I’m the weak link, am I?

  Aaron wasn’t sure he liked this dynamic, but movement was his style, and he still couldn’t take that many hits. It was his regeneration that allowed him to go toe-to-toe with stronger foes. And he didn’t really like the idea of taking hits from weak foes, let alone letting them kill him, even if it didn’t really matter.

  Taking down a few more goats, he glanced back again.

  A swarm of attackers started to build up around Elmira, and she raised one of her axes to the air. One of the floating runes was activated with glowing blue light, and down rained lightning.

  Instantly, a dozen goats were fried black and fell to the ground. Although in the grand scheme of things, Aaron knew it was not the most powerful attack. It was a mid-tier crowd control Skill or spell at best. But it was intriguing how her little rune thing worked.

  This is going to be fun, he thought as he killed the last of the goats and looked up at the floating platforms to avoid them.

  What an interesting trial he found himself in.

  Patreon!