Jake pulled the Ring of Return from his finger and it turned visible again. He offered it to Cara. “Take this. If I’m wrong, get both of you to safety.”

Her eyes narrowed, but she took the ring.

He slung the pack off his back, petted Nibbles inside of it, and passed the pack over. “This too.”

“Hey Nibbles,” Cara purred. She reached inside, and a flurry of squeaks responded. “I’ll play with you when we next camp, I promise.”

Jake turned back to the console. If he buffed up, could he take the next one by himself? His heart twisted at the memory of the centurion’s lance piercing Gramok’s heavy metal armor.

Who was he kidding? This was the last try. If he got it wrong…

He looked around the room again. What lesson was he meant to learn? What were these stories meant to teach him?

There wasn’t any judgment in the murals. Jake frowned. The style changed across the scenes, highlighting and accentuating the ups and downs, but there wasn’t a hint of judgment.

At least, not in the murals. That lance had been extremely judgmental.

“This isn’t a lesson,” Jake said, pacing up the hall. “They’re not trying to teach us anything. It’s a test of understanding to see if we’re worthy.”

Gramok scowled and shook his head. “Good of you to figure that out now.”

Jake bit his tongue. Nearly being murdered brought a lot of leeway. He gestured to the scenes in order. “Danger, learning, danger, learning, danger. The inescapable nature of the universe.”

“You can say that again,” Gramok said, blood dribbling down his armor.

Cara shuffled next to Gramok, bit her lip, and nodded. “Go for it.”

Was it right, though? Weight crushed against Jake’s chest, but Archaeologist’s Sight remained completely silent on the matter. He’d have to trust his gut. “Here goes nothing.”

Krin. Nosh. Krin. Nosh. Krin.

Five white lights. Jake swallowed. Had he fucked it up again?

The door silently slid open, revealing a small square room with yet another sliding door at the far end. The walls were bare, but the circle at the center of the room brimmed with fluctuating magic.

Jake exhaled heavily. “Knew it was right.” He strode forward. If he was in front, his face couldn’t betray him. “The circle’s got magic running through it. No idea what it does, but it’s next level complexity.” The magic kept shifting and turning, an intricate cascade of energy. He smiled. “It’s beautiful.”

The door behind them slid shut. The one ahead opened, revealing crackling white laser beams covering the entire door.

Jake blinked. “Well, that wasn’t expected.”

Cara darted ahead and stopped just short of the beams. “Looks dangerous.” She pulled out a small branch and chucked it in. It incinerated on contact. She turned back and grinned. “Yup, dangerous! What do you think the circle does?”

“I don’t know.” Jake kneeled down beside the circle, examining the moving threads of magic. “The magic in this place is different enough as it is. Hold on, there’s some writing. ‘Test of Will.’”

Gramok snorted. “You sure of that this time, Zero Fun?”

Jake glared back. “Given it’s inscribed in Common, pretty sure, yeah.”

A long pause. “Well, then,” Gramok said, “this calls for a brave adventurer.”

He stepped into the circle. His face contorted and twitched. Was that the test, pain? He growled and gritted his teeth. How long could he last?

He clenched his fists and roared, “This enough will for you, Zelnari?”

No response. Grunts became screams. Was it a question of how long he could hold out? Or was this all for nothing?

Gramok fell to his knees and crawled out of the circle. He flopped onto his back, gasping for air. “I couldn’t do it.” He smashed his fist against the floor. “What the hell do they want?”

Cara passed back the pack. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and stepped into the circle. “Pain is in the mind,” she whispered in wood elvish. “Always control the pain. Never let the pain control you.”

Her fingers clenched against her sides. Her lips pressed together. Jake’s chest closed in around him. How long could she last? Would it be enough?

What if it wasn’t?

Water pooled in her eyes. Her chin trembled, but she still didn’t move.

Pain stabbed at Jake’s heart. It should have been him, not her.

The color drained from her face. Her knees shook.

She cried out and darted forward, out of the circle. “I couldn’t do it either.” She growled and clenched her fists. “I wasn’t good enough.”

Jake patted her on the shoulder. “It’s okay. You did your best. For all we know, the Zelnari didn’t feel pain the way we did.”

She glared back at him and nodded curtly. “It hurt so damned much.”

Evidently. “Wouldn’t be much of a test of will otherwise.” Jake passed the pack back to Cara. No sense subjecting Nibbles to that.

He stepped up to the edge of the circle and swallowed. This was it. Could he handle it? Only one way to find out. He lifted his foot, and paused.

No. He looked back. The door was closed, but he could still remember the murals. Even depicting the Zelnari’s worst, there had been a pride to them. He looked down. This circle of pain didn’t have to be this intricate, finely crafted piece of magic. It was more artwork than functional.

Pride. They’d stayed proud, even after it had destroyed them. Jake put his foot back down outside the circle. “This isn’t the test.”

Gramok half-snickered, half chuckled. “Figures.”

“You’ve lost a lot of blood,” Jake said. “Maybe Cara can heal you in here?”

Another grunt, and Gramok nodded. Cara stepped forward and cast another healing spell. This time, it worked. She pressed her hand to his wound and green magic flowed into it, binding the flesh.

Jake’s muscles clenched. He had an idea, but there was no idea Cara would be okay with it.

“Heal him up,” Jake said, making his way over to the lasers. “I’m going to take another look.”

The beams sparked and crackled, carrying more than enough power to disintegrate him. He held his hand up, just shy of the beam. It was hot, too.

What if he was wrong? He gulped. What if he wasn’t?

What showed more will to a proud species—letting yourself be tortured, or walking into the jaws of death? Worst case, he had another chat with that bastard of a god. Even if Death was stringing him along with it, information was power, and Death knew things.

The other two had the Ring of Return. How it worked was still a mystery. It was like half the spell was missing. That made sense in a way—there wasn’t anywhere near enough power in it to teleport someone across the world. It had to trigger an effect powered elsewhere. Hopefully, that would make it harder for this place to block it.

They could escape that way, even if he was stuck.

Butterflies filled Jake’s chest. If he was right, what could be behind these tests? What rewards would the Zelnari provide, a race so steeped in magic that they wrote with it?

Danger, growth. He stiffened up and stepped into the laser beams.

The world went white. Heat tingled against his skin.

He blinked. The world was still white.

Jake frowned. This had better not be another of Death’s playgrounds.

No. If it was that, why was he still hearing sparks? Why was there magic all around him?

The magic faded. White gave way to a view of another square stone room, with another door and another circle. He glanced over his shoulder. Cara glared, hands on her hips, while Gramok shook his head.

“It worked, didn’t it?”

Her face scrunched up. She tilted her head from side to side for a while before growling and looking away. “You could have warned us.”

“Would you have let me?” No response. He shrugged and approached the circle. Equally complicated yet very different magic danced around it. He kneeled down. There, another message. “More Common. ‘Final test: Test of Learning.’”

Metal clanked as Gramok leaned against the back wall. “You’re up first this time, resident intellect of the group.”

Jake shot him a glare. “Could you say that with a little less sincerity?”

Gramok flashed another of those grins that melted through perfectly good hatred. “Nope.”

How did he do that? A pull tugged at Jake’s stomach. It wasn’t fair. Why couldn’t he ever pull that off?

No. No time for that. Jake shook his head and turned back to business. “Well, the first step of learning is experimentation, so…”

He paused. The Zelnari believed danger always preceded learning, and they weren’t far wrong. Better safe than sorry. He self-cast Armor and Absorb spells and stepped forward into the circle.

The door behind slid shut. A hexagonal crystal pedestal fizzled into existence at the center of the circle, a yard tall and a hand span wide. A complex, blocky hole sunk into the top of the shimmering white crystal. A slot for a strange key?

Behind the pedestal, a translucent Zelnari appeared, clad in a silvery robe. Its hood shrouded its face in shadow. A gray ball appeared in the air, suspended before the Zelnari.

The figure’s hands moved independently of each other in a complex series of motions, weaving mana around the ball into a golden spell. Transmutation?

The threads ripped the ball apart. Liquid rock swirled in the air and reformed into an unusual blocky shape—the mirror of the hole in the pedestal.

The images flickered, and the process restarted. A small stone ball materialized and hung in the air before Jake.

He smiled. “Learn the spell, create the key, open the door. I can do that.”

The side walls creaked and shuddered. They crept forward, advancing inward. Jake swallowed. A timed test, then. He was good at those.

Gramok rushed to one of the walls, bracing himself futilely against it. “Any time, Jake.”

“Right.” Jake stared at the looping image. Definitely Transmutation, not an effect he knew though. His heart pounded in his chest. A single spell. That couldn’t be too hard to learn.

He glanced at the oncoming walls. Plenty of time. He could do this.

The spell solidified in his mind. No need to worry, even with the walls creaking in.

He pulled on his mana and cast the spell. The stone ripped apart and reformed before his eyes into the necessary key. He grabbed it and pushed it down into the waiting slot.

Success. The walls ground to a halt, not even halfway to crushing them. The image flickered and vanished, along with the pedestal.

Jake exhaled heavily. “Plenty of time.”

Another crystal pedestal appeared. A hole sank in its top, more irregular in shape this time, and a new stone ball materialized.

More creaks, more shudders, and the walls resumed their advance.

Jake’s gut twisted. Not again. He frowned. No image to teach him. Was the shape was coded into the spell itself? It had to be. Did they expect a Spellcrafter, or was this test personalized?

No time to worry about that. His breath quickened, and he pulled the spell up in his mind.

How to do this, how to do this, how to do this?

The walls moved ever closer. He swallowed. Calm, logical thinking. It had saved him before, it would save him now.

Deep breaths. One segment pulled apart the stone, and another resolidified it. Neither of those contained the key’s shape.

Gramok roared and slammed his mace against the wall. “Getting a little tight here!”

Jake stole a glance. Only a few yards left. He closed his eyes. One of the segments was a tight ball of threads. He teased the ball apart and there it was, the pattern for the key inside.

Cara’s hand rested on his shoulder. “I’ll be back to find you.”

Update the pattern. Put the spell back together, and… “Got it!”

Only a couple of yards of space. It would be enough. Jake grinned and cast the updated spell. The ball reformed into the new stone key. He grabbed it and shoved it into the pedestal.

The walls shuddered to a halt and retreated a few yards. The pedestal vanished again.

Jake turned to the others, quivers running up and down his body. “Plenty of time.” He swallowed, and grinned as best he could. “Plenty.”

They raised their eyebrows but didn’t deny it. Not that they had to. Coming that close to being crushed wasn’t exactly plan A, but hey, he’d pulled through. That’s what mattered, and the rewards would be worth it.

A faint fizzle sounded behind him, almost like there was another pedestal.

Jake’s heart sank. He spun around. The pedestal was larger this time, as was the stone ball. What did they want him to do with it this time?

A message forced itself into his head. A pyramid of concepts with lesser ones at the base, building up to larger ideas at the top. A final test of understanding/worth. Personalized rewards beyond the next door. Good luck.

At least this was the last test. How hard could it be?

A new image appeared. A golden spider? Part mechanical, part magic, just like the centurion. The walls shuddered and began their final advance.

No way. Jake panted for air that wouldn’t come. There wasn’t any image to teach him the spell. He’d have to make it himself. Maybe with a week, a month, hell, probably a year—but in a minute, at most?

Deep breaths. There had to be a way. The test was personalized, just like the rewards. They wouldn’t give an impossible test.

Wouldn’t they? Jake’s stomach twisted. Life was full of impossible tests. The moment he overcame one, the universe threw another two at him. Why would this be any different?

The walls closed in. At least this problem would be resolved quickly, one way or another. He might as well give it his best shot. He had the Transform effect. That could be a base. Then, something to animate it. Add in Energy? Force, maybe? Some form of Telepathy?

Damned if he was letting this stupid test get the better of him. He closed his eyes and focused. No way he’d fall at the final hurdle.

Someone tapped at his shoulder. A useless distraction.

Another tap. Couldn’t they see he was focusing?

Gramok grunted a single word in his ear. “Hubris.”

Hubris? Jake’s eyes shot open. That was what had destroyed the others. He chuckled. Was it that simple?

“I can’t do this,” he said, “not this fast.”