Gabriel felt like shit, and it couldn't be said it wasn't for good reasons.

Resting on the cold hard floor, naked and spent, the lingering feeling of being burned alive was still fresh in his memory, the echoes of it, or maybe the cold in the air, making his body hair stand on end, and his pipi retract, turtleneck-style.

"What has happened..."

There was no word he could add or any exclamation which was enough to describe what he felt when he opened his eyes, if not…

"Ho-ly… shit…"

The cold stone floor and the chilling air was quickly forgotten once his eyes wandered over his surroundings.

In front of him, a forest, so big and with trees so huge to be mind-boggling, rose from the ground and spawned for what could be… he had no idea how much that could be. But he was staring at it from high up.

Backtracking with his bottom on the hard rocky floor, he hit the back of his head on a rock.

"Ouch!"

Bringing a hand to his head, he turned around. And discovered that he was in a luminous cave.

A small enclosure built in a solid wall of rock, judging from the view he had of the forest, he should have been pretty high up on what couldn't be anything else but the side of a mountain.

Gabriel stood up, shivering once again when the cold wind whipped on the whole of his exposed skin. He decided to get closer to the aperture to take a better look at his location.

It was a bad idea. Just a quick glance made his intestines contract; Gabe was impossibly high.

How the fuck did I get here!? He asked himself, back pinned against the cave's wall. His heart thundered in his chest.

This is unreal.

I must be dreaming… wolf, darkness, wind, that's all bullshit… I'm dreaming, and that's-

As if to spite him, a whiff of silver wind manifested from the cave's inside, pushing him to follow it into the dark corridor.

The cave was small at first sight, but with the glowing silver wind's appearance, it rediscovered a long tunnel in its belly, a tunnel leading below.

Gabriel got closer, taking a sip of the humid air coming from it; the downbound tunnel was not too steep, yet still, it did not look like an adventure. It looked more like a bad trip.

I should be going down there?

Yeah, it did not look easy to descend at all, especially without proper shoes… Damn, without shoes at all, he thought. But there was nowhere else to go for him.

How in hell should I walk this path? I mean, I should just wait for someone to come and get me out of here. It's crazy… I can't even-

The high-pitched shrill of something coming from outside, and a gigantic shadow, darkened the cave, obscuring that little amount of dim light that reached it.

That's surely not a bird… was it some sort of plane?

There's no way that shadow belonged to a bird. Even if it was so high up to cast such a shadow, how big would it have to be?

Outside, the light was dimmer than that of a full day. Judging by its orangish colors, it would disappear in a few hours at most. The night was bound to come, and it would bring for the cold. Gabriel was in his birth suit.

Alright, maybe I should take my chances with that… Gabe thought, still a bit unsure, before another of the high-pitched cries steeled his resolve.

Okay, I'm definitely descending this tunnel.

It was not easy. Gabriel accumulated cuts in minutes.

Hands, forearms, legs, but especially feet. Nothing was spared of him, but he couldn't stop anymore. Not only was he closer to the ground level now, or what he thought was the ground level, but there was no meaningful reason to stay upstairs.

Shit, shit, shit!

By the time he reached the ground, Gabriel's feet were a mess. He could barely keep his concentration from the pain, and in fact, the last two meters hurt; he slipped over his own blood falling on his back, cutting his scalp and his right hand deeply, more deeply than any cut he had accumulated so far.

The amount of blood he started losing was no laughing matter.

"This is bad…" he understood once he felt his vision sway. The cut on his scalp, even though it hadn't knocked him out, was releasing a dangerous amount of blood.

His voice trembled, as did his knees. Yet behind him, a cave way vaster than the previous one opened up, but… that was not the ground.

The young man had not reached the forest level, not by far. Getting closer to a small aperture at the edges of the cave, he could see that he was still more than, probably five hundred meters from the ground.

He dropped on his knees, feet burning from the contact with the dust.

"No…"

I… I won't make it like this… Oh my God… I'm about to die? Here?… I will die here…

"I DON'T EVEN HAVE ANY IDEA WHERE HERE IS!" He screamed at the fissure.

Gabriel stood there, immobile, his gaze lost in the trees' crowns that reached so high up.

In front of him, nature unfolded.

The trees were inhabited by creatures. Birds, he could not make them out, but they were definitely there. He could see their silhouettes even from there, but that was it. The twilight was upon him now. Only a few more minutes of light remained.

Wait… even if I can see them from here, those sizes are… I mean, I should not be able to distinguish them, like at all… how big can they possibly be?

His eyes widened at the thought.

"Where am I headed?"

Was he descending to hell? Would those huge creatures be threatening to him? Was he really doing the right thing by getting down the mountain?

I want to go back!

Desperation started to really take hold of him.

Gabriel limped toward the steep tunnel. But there was no way, no way in hell he could climb it back up.

His arms ached, his feet were a mess, he was losing blood and seeing butterflies. He would have fallen and seriously died in minutes if he started climbing.

What- what do I do now?

Defeated, Gabriel sat on the ground, back to the cold silver stone.

"Why did this happen? What is this place?"

Questions that would go unanswered echoed in the hollow cave.

It was a few minutes later when he decided to start his descent anew.

After crying himself to satisfaction, he concluded that there was nothing to be done up there. The only way forward was to climb down the steep tunnel. Or…

Light flickered into existence at the three other sides of the cavern.

What is that? He asked himself, dejected.

As seconds passed, Gabriel was scared to stand up and inspect the thing at a closer range. Coming to his aide, the lights magnified, and what could be only classified as unbound silver energy, moved around in the air, free as the wind, forming peculiar shapes.

At his left appeared a blade. From where he sat, it looked like a sword with a cross handle; around it, fangs and claws appeared and disappeared while in the background of the sword, images flickered into existence, and each of them was cast in silver light. Shapes of aves, canines, ursi, felines, reptiles; they each lasted for a few seconds, switching continuously, never reappearing, in an endless cycle.

Gabriel closed himself in his embrace of its knees. That was something unnatural. Finding himself in a cave was one thing. He could have been drugged and dropped in there, but what he was seeing now? That was something else.

At the center of the light appeared what looked like a wand, azure energy moving about it, pulsing by the gem that was etched on its tip. The background this time was composed of images of primates, bovids, bovines, cervids, equines, and such.

What the hell is going on…

Finally, at his right, a three-dimensional image of a kite shield stood in the air; shells, scales, caracapes, armors; moved about it. In the background, illuminating that portion of the room, images of Insects, scaled animals like armadillos, pangolins, turtles, alligators even, oxes; they appeared with the same frequency as the others had.

Gabriel was confused, to say the least.

The silver wind started swirling about as if wishing for him to come forward. He saw no other way to continue, so he got up.

The young man walked toward the images. They blocked the road to the next tunnel, so he had to come forward all the same.

Tentatively, Gabriel passed a hand through one of the images, a wand, it went straight through. Just an image? A hologram?

So he walked forward, crossing the threshold with the images of the armaments.

The scenery changed abruptly. All over the previously lit hall descended a haze, and something else had changed too.

Statues unfolded everywhere in front of him and at his sides. The hall had just become… he had no idea how much bigger it had become because the statues had no end to them. But there were now roads amid them as if dividing various possible routes. They each had holograms hanging on the air and each depicted variations of the previous three three-dimensional images.

Every one of them was different. If they looked alike, it was just partially. Not one repeated, or at least that was what Gabriel could see with his own eyes from where he was standing. The hall was too vast and the haze too thick for him to see much further than a dozen meters.

Each image had some effects moving about them, violet droplets, wings, blood, electricity. The variety was… impractical to recount.

Gabriel had no idea what was going on, so he just reached closer to the first statue he met. A cat, a simple cat.

As he got closer and started taking in the details, the vague haze about the room dissolved from the statue, while it got thicker above the rest of the room. He almost got drawn away by that, but something drew him in, the beauty of the statue.

It was marvel itself. The artists must have been the epitome of sculpting. The cat was perfect in every detail; the fluffiness of the fur, the whiskers, and the space among them… it was all made of stone but it was simply unfeasible to reproduce a cat in these sorts of details. Its eyes… they were practically alive.

Then, as he touched the tip of one whisker, something changed.

Cracks started manifesting over it. He backed away, hoping he wouldn't have to pay fees for the damage, but that thought went away when the mantle of rock crumbled on the ground, and a real-life cat appeared instead.

It was alive and had been trapped within the statue.

How is it… this is impossible.

The cat was looking at him, only at him. And it was furious. It launched at him without a second thought.

Gabriel, in panic, started backstepping in a rush, then turned away and ran.

Quickly the haze slightly lifted up once again, and he could look at the closest road and statues manifesting on their edges.

Gabriel looked behind. There was no cat… and yet where the statue stood, there was nothing, nothing other than pebbles and rocks. The three-dimensional image on top of it had disappeared.

What does this mean?

He repeated once again, this time with an ant. But the ant was as big as the previous cat. Then it was the turn of a sparrow, and this time, he got beaked. His blood flowed to the ground from the palm he had used to protect his eyes.

This is so wrong… I have no idea what to-

That was when the tunnel leading down entered once again into his field of view. It had actually never left his sight, it had always been there, at close range, right in the middle of the roads, and it led down.

I think that's the exit… and that's my only way out. I don't understand what these statues are for, but… maybe it's not for me to discover.

Thus he climbed down.

As he descended, the haze got thicker and thicker until he could see nothing else; he simply focused on descending further.

It felt like hours.

Many a time, he was about to fall and managed to hang on by his fingers.

Many times Gabriel stopped only to relieve his grief in his crying roars.

His feet's soles were a mess; most of his nails had been broken, or he outright lost them while gripping the stone for salvation or searching for the right spot on which to rest his tormented feet. Yet amid screams, he held on. Gabriel held onto a will he did not know he had, and after the tunnel became so steep that there was no other way to descend but to slide down from it, he took it in stride.

His eyes were hollow. It wasn't that the fight had been driven off from him; he had simply resorted to going forward no matter the cost; he would die anyway if he didn't continue so, even if he had to shed skin, he would. There would come the time to scream for salvation, but now was the time to act for it.

Seeing no way to grip, Gabriel placed his forearm on both sides of the ever-narrowing tunnel, and with a breath, he started sliding, slowly at first.

If his voice could be heard by anybody, they would have said the torture was the only explanation for that sound. And as torture, it could be classified.

Sacrificing his skin, accepting the burn and the pain, Gabriel descended the tunnel until his arms gave out, and soon after, he found himself opening his eyes to the dark cavern.

The pain coming from his limbs was excruciating. He could not feel his left arm anymore and tried to take a look at his state. He discovered that his right leg was bent at the wrong angle.

A cry of misery came out from his mouth, but even that was weak; Gabriel was dying, there was really no energy left in him, and that was when he relaxed his eyes. They unfocused as the last of his breath puffed out of his mouth.

***

In a wide circular room, where light entered from each side, through holes poked in its walls, ceilings, and pavement, stood three people. Two of them had their gaze locked onto a sphere that depicted an image. The third person sat on the ground on the other side of the room.

"There he is! Gods! Look at the state of his body. What has he chosen? We need to help him!" Said the female, one of the two standing near the sphere.

"We need to do nothing. This is his Test, not yours."

"But… He's the Uninvited. Father! And he's dying," she retorted.

"Don't be ridiculous, Gaia. You can't know that. But even if he was, what of it? That is the trial. That's how it is always conducted. It has nothing to do with us… whether he was invited or not," the tall shadowy creature answered back. "However…" he added after quite a few seconds of consideration.

"Wh-what?"

"However, it's taken too long since the haze disappeared. The tunnel should be just a simple trip to the Stele. It's taking too much time. Did he stop to recover from the fight? I don't get it," admitted the unnaturally tall creature.

"Wait, isn't it said that when the Tunnel is so long, it's because the Den is trying to reject the tester? Oh, gods… may it be that he was not fit for it!? But I just can't understand… he saved my life, it's just not right."

"Gaia. The Den might have given him a chance, but he might have refused. We can't know all the details from here. Besides, it's already a miracle he got there without our help at all. There must be traces of Alter in his family line."

"Whatever, don't you see he is not gonna make it? We must help him!" She continued.

"Enough! There is nothing we can do, even with my Authority, and if you sent him all the Mana in the Rapids, it would not be enough to interfere with the Testing," angrily stated the enormous creature enveloped in darkness.

"Father, let me at least try!"

"You give me no choice. You are to return to The Cradle, now. If he survives, you shall meet him there and thank him as much as you want, now leave."

The girl lowered her head, her figure slowly folded on herself, her features taking the form of a big silver wolf, azure eyes shining in the night. She left right away, without the willpower to retort; her father's orders bypassed even hers.

The remaining creature's form rippled with shadows. There seemed to be a weight to them, but their undulating, expanding, and retracting clearly defied physics laws.

Even as his frame shifted from that of a beast to that of a man, the shadow remained about him. "If he manages to overcome this trial, he shall become one of ours, but that singular glow in his gaze… I cannot place it anywhere, but I do remember seeing it. Can you do a background check on him?" He asked the woman sitting on the floor in silence.

The woman had a hood on her, hiding her futures, but it covered her eyes so completely that it seemed to be used to shadow her from sight more than hide her face.

"I will do what I must," she said, and no more.

The man snorted.

Then as soon as he had observed Gabriel's fall and the subsequent lack of breathing from the young man, his head shook in acceptance.

***

Gabriel opened his eyes back to the world. He could feel a faint burning sensation from his eyes; it filled him with heat, but it quickly receded and what remained to him was just as a vague feeling of having met a red bright light, but nothing more.

“I thought I died,” Gabriel whispered to himself. However, even though he had opened his eyes back again, his condition had not improved in the least. However, he could now see a pillar looking exactly like the one he had seen at the center of the huge villa’s ‘garden.’

He got closer to the massive piece of marble with all the energy he had left in him, and hoping that touching it would get him back home; he placed his hand on it.

Congratulations, Gabriel Walker.

You have passed the Test of N’arr.

You will be given a set of options to choose from. Make your choice wisely because there is no turning back.

Given your lacking, and your unwillingness to choose your Bond Spirit, N’arr has tested you with the worst environment for you to reach the Stele so that you could manifest your strengths at least in that; yet, even though you have managed to pull forth, you have not shown any redeeming strengths. You will not receive any further help from the Testing other than choosing your own path.

Because of the Testing results and your inherent qualities, you have access only to Common Bonds.

N’arr has patronage over the Spirits of the forest, so the following are your choices.

Now choose wisely for the one which fits you best.

Remember, Gabriel Walker, your Bond will accompany you forever.

Paths

Bonds

Rarity

Path of the Archer

Bond of the Sparrow

Common

Path of the Bruiser

Bond of the Mouse

Common

Path of the Healer

Bond of the Goat

Common

Path of the Mystic

Bond of the Hare

Common

Path of the Scout

Bond of the Cat

Common

Path of the Soldier

Bond of the Ant

Common

Path of the Striker

Bond of the Lizard

Common

Path of the Tank

Bond of the Hedgehog

Common

What… is… this? Meekly thought Gabriel.

Focus on the Bond to gain deeper knowledge on it.

He was flabbergasted. The letters in the air had answered him.

Somehow adrenalin started building up again in his system; the clearly mystical thing happening to him was reinvigorating what little life was left in him.

He focused on the first “Bond” displayed: Bond of the Sparrow .

Bond of the Sparrow

Rank

Skill

Skill effect

Boost

Common

Built to Fly; Stamina

Defy gravity for 1 Mana point.

Permanently increases Stamina by 10%.

Alacrity +2

Resilience +1

Stamina +3

Just… what is this… what is it meant to be? In your party, is this a game?

He tried focusing on each word, but the knowledge did not manifest, so he chose the next Bond.

Bond of the Mouse

Rank

Skill

Skill effect

Boost

Common

Mad Assault; Power

Increase your Power by 100% for 1 Energy point.

Permanently increases Power by 10%.

Alacrity +1

Power +2

Stamina +1

Resilience +2

This is exactly like a role-playing game… I- is this for real?

Let’s check the others as well…

Bond of the Goat

Rank

Skill

Skill effect

Boost

Common

Helping hand; Recovery

Increase a target’s Recovery by 100% for 1 Mana point.

Permanently increases Recovery by 10%.

Affinity +2

Alacrity +1

Recovery +1

Resilience +2

These really relate to roles… it’s unbelievable.

Another one.

Bond of the Hare

Rank

Skill

Skill effect

Boost

Common

Epiphany; Affinity

Focus on the Veil to gauge its secrets for 1 Mana point.

Permanently increases Affinity by 10%.

Affinity +2

Alacrity +2

Recovery +1

Stamina +1

Next.

Bond of the Cat

Rank

Skill

Skill effect

Boost

Common

Dash; Alacrity

Increase your Alacrity by 100% for 1 Energy point.

Permanently increases Alacrity by 10%.

Power +1

Alacrity +3

Stamina +2

Again…

Bond of the Ant

Rank

Skill

Skill effect

Boost

Common

Power of Many; Power

+1 to boosted Attributes per Soldier in your party (max 6).

Affinity +1

Alacrity +1

Power +1

Recovery +1

Resilience +1

Stamina +1

The striker…

Bond of the Lizard

Rank

Skill

Skill effect

Boost

Common

Burst Attack; Power

Increase your Power and Alacrity by 50% for 1 Energy point. Your Recovery permanently increases by 10%.

Alacrity +2

Power +1

Recovery +2

Stamina +1

He tried to study the details in front of him but much escaped him. Tunnel vision and lack of blood effects were becoming increasingly hard to resist.

The last one…

Bond of the Hedgehog

Rank

Skill

Skill effect

Boost

Common

Toughen; Resilience

Steel yourself, increasing your Resilience by 100% for 1 Life point.

Permanently increases Resilience by 10%.

Power +2

Recovery +1

Resilience +3

That is all, right? Yeah… Can’t get crazier than this… But what can really help me? Is there something which could save me from dying of blood loss… the Bond of the Goat… it says it increases Recovery by 100%… whatever that is… but maybe it’s physical recovery; I could heal.

But it says Mana… and a target… Can I target myself?

I have no idea…

He did not know if that Skill could be used to help himself. However, his mind was now imprinted on Recovery… and if he knew about animals that could heal, they were those of the lizard family. Some lizards could regrow their tails, others like the salamander could regrow entire limbs.

Maybe whatever that bond was, it could grant him the power of a lizard.

There is the Hare, the Ant, and the Hedgehog as well… they each give Recovery, but I’d much sooner choose the lizard if I had to… that permanent Recovery increase should help me out; gosh, I don’t even know how I would possibly use these things… just hope I won’t turn into a lizard…

You have made your choice, Gabrel Walker.

Your bond will be the Lizard.

The moment those words appeared in front of him, once again, Gabriel’s body started to burn from the inside out. This time, the silver wind acted on its own accord, as if it was being vacuumed inside of him, a vortex of silver-colored mystical forces shoved themselves inside of each one of Gabriel’s pores and orifices.

They lifted him up in the air, and his body shook until there was no remaining trace of the silver wind which hung in the room cave.

His screams were muffled by the sound of the wind, when finally, with a powerful ripple in space spreading from the center of Gabriel’s body, the man disappeared.