I walked towards Bel, wanting to look anywhere but at him. I fought against my instincts and kept my eyes locked with his.

My body was in fight or flight- who am I kidding; I was in flight mode. Each step felt like I was betraying my body. There's no way I can do this. I can't take any more steps towards him, and my eyes were begging to be sealed shut. I wanted the complete darkness back, take away my sight!

I started to feel every sense of the word fatigue. I felt so mentally exerted, and my body was so exhausted. Each movement was squeezing out the last of my energy. After what felt like hours, I finally managed to stand in front of Bel.

"I did it," I panted. "I passed the test!"

"That wasn't the test," Bel laughed.

You've got to be kidding me. What the f-

"This is your test. Arise, Sintra," he shouted as he plunged the blade into the ground.

At first, nothing happened. Moments later, I felt the ground begin to shake. My bones trembled, and I couldn't help but fall to the ground once again. I watched as the blade was slowly swallowed into the ground. After it disappeared, the trembling stopped. The only trace left of the blade was a tiny hole left in its place

Bel began taking a few steps back until he was out of the light.

"Wait, so what's the test?" I yelled. "What just happe-"

A black pillar sprouted from the spot the blade used to be. I sat there, unable to move. It has to be over 100 feet tall...

Palms now sweaty, I opened my mouth to ask Bel what the hell was going on when I heard a faint whisper. I shut my mouth and strained my ears to figure out where the noise was coming from.

Sssssss

The sound appeared again. This time it was louder than before.

Sssssssssssss

I feel like this hissing sound is coming from above me, but there's nothing there except that pillar. I looked up and tried to see what the top of the pillar looked like. Straining my eyes, I could only see two illuminated golden circles. I stood up and moved closer to get a better view.

The pillar was as thick as an elephant, and it looked like it had some sort of pattern running all over it.

Ssssssssssssssssssssss

Wait, hissing? I looked up once again to the golden circles. Hold up, those are-

In those empty golden circles, black slit-shaped pupils appeared. They immediately locked on to me. I felt my stomach begin to churn, and I unconsciously took a step back. Almost as if I stepped on a hidden land mine, the moment my foot touched the floor, the pillar collapsed like falling rope.

Not wanting to get crushed to death, I ran as far as I could away from it.

The black pillar went limp and became tightly coiled on the ground. I could already guess what this thing was before it all touched the ground. I felt my body shivering. My skin felt like sharp needles were pricking it all over, and an unbearable itch built up everywhere. And worse, I felt a pressure slithering around my chest and suffocating me.

In front of me was a snake straight out of a nightmare—endless black scales slithering over each other, a loud and deep hiss, and large sentient eyes. Death was staring at me.

I saw its eyes dilating as if it could already imagine what I tasted like. It was almost as if I could feel what it was thinking. Oh shit...

I felt the same pressure Bel gave off earlier from it. No, this one is way worse. Its pronged tongue flicked in and out as if it was tasting the air.

I turned around and ran as fast as I could into the darkness. The serpent shot out towards me like a cannon. I looked over my shoulder every other second, watching it slither at an unbelievable speed towards me. I begged my legs not to stop.

Before I realized it, the serpent had coiled itself up again, and before I could understand what was happening, it struck like lightning.

I slid on my knees underneath its body, and I watched as the black body melted into the darkness. God knows how I dodged it, but somehow I did. Seeing that it had launched itself in front of me, I jumped back to my feet and ran back towards the light.

Unable to see where the snake was, I ran back to the center of the light.

Sssssssssssss

I couldn't figure out which direction the hissing was coming from. I slowly took a few steps back. In tandem with me, Sintra slowly slithered into the light, and I froze at the sight of it again. In my brief pause, I noticed Sintra stopped moving too. Its scales reflected the light like obsidian as it laid still.

Huh? Why did it stop? It could have caught me if it kept going. I slowly took a step back. Simultaneously, Sintra slowly began advancing towards me again. I stopped. It stopped. I thought about when Bel said, "You must be able to stare death in the eye and not back down."

I had an idea. I watched Sintra closely as I took a small step back. The moment my leg stepped back, it budged ever so slightly towards me. Aha! I think it's reacting to what I'm doing.

What happens if I move towards it? I steeled myself as I readied to go against my natural instinct to run away. My eyes involuntarily shut as I slowly took a step forward.

Nothing. I opened my eyes to see what happened. Sintra had not moved a muscle. Feeling a bit more confident, I took another step forward. No movement.

After each step closer, I felt a surge in confidence. Before I knew it, the gap between us closed. I was arm's length away when it tightly coiled its body. Each coiled layer was pressed so tight to each other. It was almost as if it was a spiral stairway leading to Sintra's head.

Even though I felt confident when I was approaching the serpent, I hesitated when I thought about touching the snake. Who in their right mind touches a snake? I shut the fear out immediately. I got this far from overcoming my fears, why stop now? Feeling more courageous now than ever before, I took my first step up the serpentine steps.

I felt the strong and sturdy muscles of the snake beneath me. Feeling my foot slip from the smooth scales, I steadied myself before making another move. There was still no movement from the serpent. I slowly made my way to the top of the steps.

It flicked its tongue out at me, almost as if it was beckoning me to come closer. I walked towards its head, making sure I didn't trip from the uneven footing. As I approached the center of the snake, I realized something. I'm not afraid of Sintra anymore. When I finally stood eye to eye with it, I felt filled to the brim with courage.

"You don't scare me anymore," I said to the snake as I reached out to touch its head.

The moment I touched its head, it's body disintegrated into black sand and swirled around me as I slowly descended to the ground.

"Well done," A voice said behind me.

I spun around and saw Bel reappear once again. The sand collected back into his hand until his blade was reformed.

"By conquering death, you earn the right to master it," He continued.

Before I could react, Bel lunged towards me. I felt a warmth bubbling within me as I looked down to see the blade lodged in my chest, but there was no pain.

"With your soul baptizing this blade, you are now reborn!" Bel triumphantly shouted.