The night sky slowly encroached, bringing with it the tides of the wind moving the grass. The grass seemed to sing in the open spaces, almost as if welcoming something. The camp of the servants became quiet as everyone went to soft slumber.

They did so, not knowing that a tense air hung about the camp near them. They only knew that they were told to sleep before the full moon rose into the sky. As it did so, with its appearance the same as ever in the past, nothing seemed out of place.

Within that camp, Tus sat in a tent that was in the exact center with the others surrounding him in a circular formation. Each had a person within, silently listening for any unusual movements.

Right next to Tus was a crouching creature known for keeping evil at bay, Gargoyle. He crouched near him, sometimes looking at him and consequently drooling. Other times, it looked around as if it was bored.

As for Tus, he continued his training since earlier.

All was peaceful until the moon suddenly vanished and the light it cast down was gone. The breeze stopped along with every other sound, the silence was all encompassing.

A weird feeling rose up in Tus that caused him to open his eyes. The overseers’ vague voice echoed in his mind. ‘The first part of the reconstruction trial shall commence. The goal is to fight for seven hours until the sun rises. If this is accomplished, then you will undergo a phase of your body changing. If not, you will be cast into Oblivion.’

Tus thought to himself as he stood up, ‘Another survival match? Sure.’

The overseer continued, ‘Your granted powers will be temporarily sealed, but your opponents will not. In compensation, you will receive a weapon that has been determined.’

“Oh a weapon! Awesome!” Tus almost hopped up and down in joy without really thinking about the restriction, as if it didn’t faze him. ‘What Worill mentioned before about weapons was very cool! I really can’t wait to try it.’

A white ball silently appeared in front of Tus with its glow like a star. Bright and resplendent.

Tus found himself in awe and he instinctively reached out, curling his fingers around it. The light flashed once, revealing something that made Tus incredibly shocked.

In his hand, a feather with the length of half a foot appeared. Its entire body was grey with the border of a crystal-like transparency. It also had a small breeze moving over the entire body.

‘What the hell kind of weapon is this?! Maybe that thing can tell me.’ Tus immediately brought out the talisman to his forehead, but there was silence. ‘Why isn’t this working now?!’ He complained and thought further about throwing both items away.

Rip!

Tus waved the feather in frustration and a few feet in front, the tent was sliced open. Stunned with his mouth open, he looked at the opening and then at the feather with wide eyes. He waved it again in a different direction and the tent was ripped open in the same fashion.

‘It creates a wind blade that can cut at range. Pretty good, although I suspect the range to be lousy. Only so far wind can go before dispersing.’ Tus made a quick judgement while analyzing it.

“Well it seems that we entered a trial grounds.” Gargoyles’ voice came from the side.

This startled Tus for a moment as he wasn’t paying any attention to his surroundings. He turned around to see Gargoyle warily looking around as if it could see through the tent.

Then he continued, “You were right. The grounds this time are different from what I experienced. It was also lucky that I could follow you here without being obstructed.”

Tus said, “It seems to be just another version of what I experienced in Oblivion…”

Before he could continue, Gargoyle hastily interrupted him. “You don’t know what you will be getting into. Oblivion was an initiation trial, while this is the first actual trial. The scale and difficulty will be different. What did the Overseer say?”

“It said that my power is sealed in exchange for this feather.” Tus held up the feather without making any hurried movements, to avoid accidently activating it. “And that I will have to survive until the sun rises.”

“So it is one of those.” Gargoyle nodded his head. “The enemy will probably come in waves, each being bigger than the last with a grace period between each. You have to persevere with a handicap, but with the purpose of improving one of your weaknesses.”

“I don’t really see how my battle skills are lacking though.”

Gargoyle shook his head, “Have you ever used a weapon besides throwing rocks?”

“No…” Tus was deep in thought when he realized that he only used his bare hands and miscellaneous items that were laying around.

The problem with this is that, some things couldn’t be solved with the hands alone. A weapon to enhance the capabilities would be important and finding random crap on the ground to use in place of this isn’t practical.

“The first portion of a trial sets the theme. In this case, the entire reconstruction trial should be preparing you to acquire a weapon that would require a strict requirements.” Gargoyle lectured.

“A feather?” Tus didn’t know how to feel about the grey thing in his hand that could generate a wind that could slice.

“Not necessarily…” Before Gargoyle could continue, a horn sounded outside the tent. It echoed outside for two minutes before withdrawing.

“The first wave should be coming. As this is your trial, I won’t help you until you are near death, and I’m afraid I can only help you once.” Gargoyle announced.

Tus looked back at him with a blank gaze before he moved out of the tent. ‘I don’t think he will be reliable at all.

Once he was outside, Tus saw that the landscape had changed. The tent was the same with its support attached to the ground and the immediate grass around it, but the area beyond five feet of the tent was a dense forest that had a dim orange light coming off of every tree. A stale smell of a closed building permeated the air and the temperature was comfortable, not too hot or cold. The sky was pitch black without any stars and besides the sound of the horn from before, there was nothing else.

‘The smell is the same as in the tent. That is a bit strange…’ Tus thought to himself as he stopped at the border between the grass and the forest.

Just as he was becoming bored looking into the forest, a pair of red eyes stared at him with bloodlust.