I remembered falling from the nest, the hisser rising straight up in eye bursting pain, and the chick that jumped after me. I don’t know what she was thinking. She was too bloody compassionate for her own good. Maybe she wanted to prove that she was different from her brothers.

Did she think she could save me? Like I needed saving. Height didn’t matter to me. It was the floor, the predator infested ground, the foliage, and the beasts hidden inside the shadows that scared me; height —not so much.

Stop thinking about the past and concentrate on the present. Look at your surroundings. You don’t have time to waste daydreaming.

And there it was… my sarcastic inner voice. It was a different being at this point. I wouldn’t have been surprised if that turned out to be true.

Really, where was I? I could see nothing. It wasn’t night time. Night had never looked so bleak, so desolate. My surroundings were too… how should I describe my surroundings? They were too empty, too devoid of everything.

Where are you looking? The voice came again. Stop being distracted by the darkness and concentrate ahead of you. Your trial is starting.

How did my inner voice know that? I craned my neck to look behind and saw something hovering right behind me. It was an ember, orange and dark, but an ember still.

I heaved up to my legs and made an abrupt turn. All of my legs were present, and unexpectedly working. Even the middle left one that I had lost to… what had I lost it to again? Too much had happened in-between. I couldn’t remember.

The ember —it was still there, hovering like a stain in the air.

What are you? I questioned, but there was no answer.

I panicked when it drew closer to my face, but it thankfully stopped at a distance. I was ready to swat it with my antennae otherwise.

Vigilance is good. The voice came, directly in my head. Being afraid of something you don’t know is even better.

is it internal connection, was the first thought that came to my mind, but the voice denied it.

Start walking. It told me; and for better or worse, I followed the command like a broken tool. There was nothing else to do. I had to find a way out anyway.

The ground was dirt, of the compressed kind, and I was inside a tunnel, familiarly dark and narrow. I couldn’t figure how I got there, but the uncanny resemblance that the tunnel had to those of my city was unnerving, to say the least. However, there were no indications of the tunnel having ever been used. That was fairly odd.

The walk was short. Soon I found something hovering at the end of the tunnel: an unnaturally glowing mist. It glowed in multiple shades of blue with a hint of red mixed in. The mist churned as I went closer and someone appeared on the other side of it.

At first, I saw one, but my excitement fell when I noticed the other three familiar shapes. Before I knew it, the mist had surrounded me from all sides and I was standing right behind the lone ant. It was… not real? The figure though closely resembled a worker was clearly made up of the mist. Its shining body was a dead giveaway.

That’s all I could think for a moment before the other three pushed him to the ground. They shoved their mandibles at him in a threatening gesture. They all were workers —detailed by their short mandibles and their small bodies— and familiar.

That’s you. The voice pointed at the one on the ground, the one being bullied. I was thankful. I wouldn’t have known that was me, otherwise.

Sarcasm, I like it. Finally, you are showing some character.

I couldn’t hear them, for there were no chemicals scents from their exchange. But I didn’t need to. I exceptionally remembered this evening.

One of the three bulkier older workers held my apparitions neck in her mandible and I felt my neck tingle. This had happened right after my digging method was rejected by the council of workers. The three were sent by them to force me into giving up, which I had, easily.

I noticed the red mist that wasn’t mixing with the blue kind move closer to my apparition.

Fight back! A voice resounded in the tunnel. It was unlike the one that belonged to the ember. it was harsh and deep and echoing. The mist that made my apparition started boiling as if wanting to fight back. Kill them! The voice continued in hatred. Take what’s yours!

The voice repeated itself and the mist started coalescing. It echoed in the narrow tunnels, setting my senses on fire. Something very wrong was happening and I had no idea what. I feared my misty apparition would do as was told, but it didn’t.

I lowered my head. That’s how I had reacted in reality and also what repeated in front of me. The apparitions disappeared as the mist started churning, happy to find me so close, and moved deeper into the tunnel, opening my path.

That was Greed trying to meddle in your affairs. Now, start walking. The trial hasn’t ended yet. The ember explained. That was enough evidence to learn that it could read my mind.

How do you know that? Who are you?

Concentrate on what’s important. You will know everything when the time comes.

NO! I retaliated in panic. I’m not moving until you tell me what’s going on! And what’s this trial you keep speaking about?

You fulfilled the condition required for Greed to evolve. Clearing the trial is the second condition.

Heart pounding, I asked, What if I fail?

Then you die.

***

I went deeper and saw the mist again. It was waiting for me and came into action upon my touch.

Another apparition formed from the mist, this time it belonged to Princess Tinbuji. She stood motionlessly to my left, antennae entangled around the air. The mist hadn't cared to create her caretaker. It wasn't long before my apparition suddenly formed from the mist to my right and started moving toward her. Then the sergeant appeared and stopped me.

I knew where this was going.

Next, two soldiers appeared carrying a crazy worker. Red mist hovered over her head and seeped into her mouth, whirling inside her. Her form was barely visible under its influence.

This was where I had died protecting the princess. My heart pounded as memories returned and my chest started aching.

The crazy worker slipped from the soldier’s mandible and rushed toward the princess. The sergeant rushed right toward her.

The voice reverberated in the tunnels again as the apparitions froze in motion. Does her life matter more than yours? Why would you protect her? Stay back. You don’t need to protect her. Protect yourself! The voice grated against my consciousness, echoing loud and heavy.

But I protected the princess and died.

The mist fizzed and boiled, strengthening, and thickening. The apparitions disappeared one by one as the mist started churning and once again disappeared deeper down the tunnel, opening another path for me to follow.

The next time around, I found myself at the rim of the pit outside the city. I looked inside and surely, I was there at the bottom, hiding between rotting bodies, scared of the infections, and the soldiers searching for me. My apparition was looking outside, at the princess. The voice spoke again, words that sent a shiver down my back.

She can help you! It said. Reach her. She can’t fight back. Make her help you. Force her. Show her your memories!

I acted.

The mist quivered around me, growing darker and thicker. It shuddered in pain as the inky redness grew; like a sickness. It took over some of the blue particles, giving the calm blue mist a hint of ominous red.

Yes, yes. Greed bellowed, causing the tunnel to resonate with it and grow narrower.

That’s when you gave in to your desire. The ember explained. You didn’t care about her safety and pushed to protect yourself. You became selfish.

But that was my decision. I was trying to survive. Anyone could have done it. I—

How can you be sure? It stressed. You didn’t fight back against the workers bullied you or the council rejected your method. But suddenly you decided to get your way even if it meant harming the one you had died protecting?

Then what should I have done? I asked, but there was no answer.

The mist moved again. It only went slightly deeper before I found it again.

This time the princess asked me whether I would like to go with the harvesters.

Yes, say yes! The voice bellowed and I easily agreed. It was my desire to be a part of the harvesters. Why would I decline the offer when the opportunity arose? It was my only chance! Should I have said no?

Greed laughed again and the mist shuddered in pain. The red sickness grew further, converting more blue mist into its ominous shade.

I had a bad feeling about this.

Next time I entered the mist, my apparition was with the harvesters, following the princess, but she wasn’t the point of attention. There were only two apparitions, me and my partner. I missed her. Watching me ignore and refuse her help again and again deepened the wound in my heart that had opened after learning that she was dead. It hurt more because I didn't do that under Greed's influence, but my own selfishness.

Greed laughed as the mist quivered and grew another shade darker. The ominous red was beginning to take a hazy shape.

Carry onwards. The ember advised. Good or bad, these were your decisions. You need to see which once were influenced by Greed and which were not. The experience will help you next time.

I didn’t listen to Greed when it asked me to forsake Princess Tinbuji and save my life from the termite. That caused some of the red mist to revert back to their previous blue shade.

The sickness whittled further when I fought my anger and didn’t kill the soldier on the 41st floor.

Greed got angry and the blue shade of the mist strengthened when I helped the injured during the termite's raid, or when I followed Princess to the mushroom farm instead of letting her go alone.

The sickness completely dispersed when I promised Princess to reach the 47th city in her stead, leaving a red bead the size of my head floating inside the pulsating blue mist at the end. That was it.

Congratulations! You have overcome Greed’s first trial.

Greed has evolved to Tier-1.

[Greed][Tier-1][Vessel-0/1][Essence]

[????]

[Effects:]

Infinite skill affinity

There is a small chance of your most-used skills gaining a level when you level up.

Skills can’t gain experience.

????

The tunnel warped and disappeared, throwing me into darkness. I felt a pull starting to grow strong on my body when the ember glowed once again around me.

You didn’t succumb to Greed this time. But that doesn’t mean you are out of danger. Never forget what you saw here. Greed is a sickness. It is going to try and infect you again. Don’t fall for its tricks. A selfish life is not a happy life.

I had so many things to say, but pulled away before I could even begin, and kicked out.