You are in the halls of destiny.

Defeat your hidden fears and shape your destiny.

“Yeah, yeah.” Dallion shattered the rectangle as he entered the room.

Unlike before, he didn’t seem particularly worried. If anything, he was impatient to get this over with so he could focus on his real worries, namely the copyette in the city. While there was no evidence, his gut told him that there was a connection between it and the Star. What that connection was, he could only speculate. Having a talk with the mirror pool would be nice… although he knew quite a few people would disapprove. Their opinions on the matter had a lot of weight, but at the end of the day, they weren’t living his life.

That’s really not the best idea, Gen said. They almost killed you twice.

True, but the second time doesn’t count, Dallion smiled. Besides, that means they owe me.

The corridor seemed to widen the further Dallion went. A few hundred feet in, the torches on the walls were so far that they were like flickering lights in the distance. Looking up, Dallion could see more of them on the ceiling, forming a dimly lit dome.

Any idea what this is, Nil? Or is that an area you aren’t familiar with as well?

Hmph! The old echo grumbled. Just because I don’t burden my mind with useless information doesn’t mean I’m as ignorant as you. And to answer your question, no, there is nothing specific that matches that shape. Must be something relating to you. You don’t happen to fear domes, do you?

Dallion didn’t bother answering. So far, he had held enough battles in dome-shaped arenas to be fairly certain that he had no dark secret relating to domes. Still, it would have been nice if the room gave him a hint so he could somewhat prepare. Thinking logically, the first challenge had been against himself, the second, against the mental image of his grandfather, and the third… Well, the third was a bit too fresh in his mind to forget. Maybe he was going to face his mother after all? She was skilled in music, so it was going to be a difficult fight. Or maybe it was going to be something completely different?

Focusing, Dallion formed an echo of himself a few steps away. The effort was slightly greater than combat splitting, but in this instance, this seemed to be more useful.

“We’ll need a few more to explore the entire place,” the echo said. “Even if you—” he paused, then crossed his arms. “Great. You’re sending me forward. Why am I not surprised?”

Dallion smirked. He could see the echo had taken his snarkiness to the extreme. Still, there were no hard feelings as he said that. And to be perfectly honest, it was a bit nasty, making an echo just to check the way forward. From what Dallion remembered, scouts used this method while in the realms to explore vast territories in the least amount of time. There were several scrolls in the ring library dealing with that. Dallion had tried reading a few in order to prepare for his world expedition, but the slow, boring pace of the scroll had made him stop after half.

See anything? Dallion thought.

“Just the tunnel going on and on,” the echo shouted from ahead. “I think it’s starting to shrink again.”

That was interesting, although not as interesting as the complete lack of enemies. Normally, something should have happened about now.

Lux, be ready, Dallion thought.

The firebird chirped, then appeared next to him moments later.

“Lux…” Dallion sighed. “When I said that, I didn’t mean for you to come here. You were supposed to…”

The firebird looked at him, confused, tilting its head to the side. Even with his music skills, Dallion couldn’t be certain if the familiar wasn’t doing that on purpose. For some reason familiar emotions were difficult to see, especially Nox’s lately.

“Just stay there and be ready, okay?”

The firebird chirped, moving slightly higher in the air.

“Yep, the tunnel is definitely getting smaller,” the echo shouted. “I think I can see the end.”

“What’s there?”

“Nothing. Just an empty wall.”

An empty wall. Maybe that was the test? Dallion remembered that when he had unsealed the awakened powers of his mother, he had to rely on Nox to make cracks within a wall. It was very likely the same to be in effect here.

“The wall looks pretty solid,” the echo shouted. “Want me to come back?”

“No, stay there!” Dallion yelled, even if he didn’t have to. “I’ll come to you.” Eagerly, he marched forward.

On the fifth step he took, everything around him suddenly changed. Dallion had less than a moment to sense the flood change into water, almost pulling him down as he stood on it. In that instant, the mental fortress of calm that he had built shattered, as panic seeped through.

Water… Why did it have to be water?

Even worse, why hadn’t he taken the opportunity to learn proper swimming since the first mirror pool incident? Practically, there was no excuse. He had seen the amount of time his improved body allowed him to hold his breath. The amount of time had to have further increased since then. His perception allowed him to see everything beneath the surface as if it were air… and still he hadn’t bothered to do the simplest thing simply because he didn’t think he’d even need it.

For a few seconds Dallion remained still, almost frozen, as the silence went through his mind, letting the surface move further away. It was like watching a helium balloon go up and up towards the sky. Shortly after, the next phase of panic kicked in, forcing Dallion’s body to move on its own, as he desperately tried to grab the fleeing surface.

Lux! Get me out! He desperately shouted in his mind, even if he knew that it would be no use. Despite the firebird’s many qualities, swimming wasn’t among them.

You need to be calm, Gen said. This is just a trial.

In part, Dallion knew that. However, at the same time, he did not. It seemed too real to him, so real that everything that he had learned since he had arrived in Nerosal, all the skills and improvements vanished like smoke in the night.

Desperation kept him struggling as he went down, not once managing to coordinate anything close to actual swimming, as if sheer will alone would be able to propel him forward.

Don’t fight it, a melody said in Dallion’s mind. Focus on what you achieve and not on what is surrounding you.

The nymph’s words fell on deaf ears. Struggling in a battle against himself, Dallion seemed to do everything in his power to make life more difficult for himself. Then suddenly, the water around him disappeared, letting him fall on a stone floor.

It took several seconds for Dallion’s body to catch on and end its attempts to swim through air. When it did, confusion kicked in.

“Where am I?” Dallion wondered.

Slowly, he stood up and looked around.

The room was very similar to the first room he had once he had come here. There were doors or windows, nothing but grey walls. As he took a step forward, a red rectangle appeared without warning.

You are Level 16

“Okay.” Dallion gently tapped it. The rectangle disappeared and a new one formed in its place.

You have failed to defeat your fears.

You won’t be able to shape your destiny for another 24:00.

As Dallion looked, the counter started counting down.

“Look on the bright side,” Gen’s voice came from a few steps behind. “At least you get to try again in a day if you want to.”

“Huh?” Dallion turned around briskly. “What are you doing here?”

The wall

“Greeting you, apparently. Didn’t know about this place, though. Guess it is the room of failure.”

“Close,” Nil walked in from where one of the walls used to be. “You can call this the heart of the realm—the very first room that was created upon awakening. Usually, you get thrown back there when you mess up in the awakening realm. The medallion leaves you a way out.”

As the echo spoke, the walls of the room disappeared one by one, revealing the initial awakening room.

It had been quite a while since Dallion had failed. The experience was unlike all previous times. He wasn’t thrown out in the real world, for one thing. Then again, there was the humiliating experience of failing due to drowning. That definitely wasn’t something he’d share with anyone.

“You don’t have anything to be ashamed about, dear boy.” Nil said with a polite smile. “Leveling up faces you with issues that you haven’t resolved yet. No matter the appearance, they are things you might not be ready for yet.”

“Nil, I drowned in a pool of water…”

“Not something I’d advertise, that’s for sure, but at least you know not to do so in future, correct?”

That was definitely one way of looking at it. Maybe that was a hint not to get involved with the mirror pool? If everything in the awakened realm was metaphor, maybe the body of water was the representation of the organization and Dallion falling to the bottom meant he was in too deep? Or maybe he was overthinking things.

“Still, I would suggest a bit of real-life practice before your next attempt?” the echo said, arching his brows. “Just a suggestion.”

“You know what, I might do that,” Dallion walked right past him and gen. “Give me just a minute, I need to check something.”

Without explanation, he went out of the room and into the corridor. The door was still there, only this time, there was a large padlock on it. It wasn’t the place Dallion wanted to go, though. Turning to his right, he continued along the other side of the corridor, until he reached the harpsisword’s domain.

The sun had already set, replaced by the seven moons. The clean skies for a moment made Dallion feel as if he were in space. A cool breeze passed through him, washing all his troubles away, making him wonder why he didn’t spend more time here.

“Harp?” Dallion said, looking at the top of the nymph’s tower.

A blue light appeared, inviting him to go up. Just as Dallion was about to, a familiar chirp came from the air beside him.

“Not now, Lux,” Dallion said as he petted the firebird. “I want to have a few words alone.”

The familiar was visibly sad at the response, but even so flapped its wings, disappearing from the realm in a flash. Waiting a few more seconds, Dallion then made his way to the top of the tower. The nymph was there, as always, only this time her harp was gone, replaced by a fireplace made of water. Blue flames let out a pleasant glow, though without creating any heat.

“The sea is breaking up tonight,” the flame vibrated, conveying the nymph’s words.

“I’ll take your work for it.” Dallion didn’t even look.

“You shouldn’t.”

“Because I must be ready to deal with things on my own. I know. I have just one question, though. You could have helped me pass the trial. Same as you did during the sanitation job.”

The nymph said nothing.

“I’m not here to ask why you didn’t help me level up. I’m here to learn why you let me win last time. I could never defeat you in a normal fight, even with Lux and Nox. You and Nil were quite convincing, but I think there was more to that test than what you said.”

“Possibly. It’s not for you to know, though. Not yet.”

“Is that everyone’s answer for everything?”

There was another long pause. The guardian looked at Dallion.

“The skill was a gift left there for you,” she replied through the water flames. “I was just a way for you to find it.”

“So the trial was fake?”

“No. The trial was real, but the skill you acquired had nothing to do with it. The flaw you held was that you were starting to rely on me too much. I had to put a stop to that early on.”

That made some sense in a strangely weird way.

“Who left the gift for me?” Dallion asked.

“I can’t tell you.”

“Why not?”

“Because the Moons won’t allow it.”