Ruler's Trials

Chapter 2

The morning light entered the room through cracks in the dark blue curtains. The room was in shades of dark blue and light gray. A massive man was lying on the even bigger bed. He grunted as the light shined over his face.

Savar checked his inner systems. He felt balanced and ready for the day. Blessed be Oddo the 4th of his name. It was his progressive thinking or better to say, love for the bottle, that gave Savar a painless morning after the night of drinking.

An image of Karel flashed through Savar's mind.

"Goddammit." Curse you Oddo the 4th of his name.

Unfortunately, it also meant he couldn't forget anything done while drinking.

And he made an ass of himself, again. First threatening to kill him the other day and then yesterday going to his place as a fanboy. The disturbance he felt in Karel's presence was something he was confused about and made him do stupid shit. And what better time to resolve it than after several rounds of drinks.

The wall beeped, and the face of his wife Gora appeared.

"Answer."

Gora was wearing a soft smile. - "My husband, good morning. Have you slept well?"

"Thank you, Gora. I did. How are you and our family?"

"Are you sure? You don't look rested."

"I assume I won't be until the whole ordeal is over. But don't worry. Tell me about our family."

"Indeed. We're all fine. Dolina feels heavier each day. The baby is growing."

"Good, good. I'm eager to welcome a new baby into our family."

Savar scratched his beard. - "Do you need something?"

"No, I wanted to see if you need anything."

"Thank you, but I need to concentrate on my training. So a bit of solitude would be helpful."

"Of course, I'll leave you to your studies."

"Thank you, Gora. Goodbye."

Savar stretched on the bed and got up. It wasn't Gora's fault that he was in a bad mood but her complacent behavior was even harder for him to stomach after remembering his fiery sister last night. Gora and Dolina might have been just like his sister but he'll never know who his wives really are. The males of Snajan made sure that only one type of personality was cherished, respected and survived. Anything else was changed until there was nothing of originality left.

Karel was right, Savar could make a difference if he became the Ruler.

But does he really want it? Does he have what it takes to do it?

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The last test will be held on one of the moons orbiting the central one planet of the Empire.

The moon was normally inaccessible to the public, and served as a sanctuary. At the moment of inspiration, the Snajans called it the Holy moon.

The rules of the last test were simple: 5 flags were hidden on the moon. The goal is to bring the flag to the starting point. Participants will leave from the starting point with a backpack with supplies. Additional packages of food, medicine, clothing and weapons were dropped on the various places through the moon, but the entire supply was enough for a week for 75 people. There were also edible plants and animals on the moon, so hunting was also possible in case of emergency. Everyone was also given a SOS device, the use of which automatically disqualified the person, but the immediate extraction would be provided to retrieve them to safety.

The competitors were divided into 3 groups, and the distance between the release of each group was 10 minutes each, which meant that all participants would be in the wilderness within 20 minutes from the start of the test. This was intended to avoid an excessive number of deaths right at the beginning. Killing was not forbidden, but the creators of the Trials wanted to avoid unnecessary deaths, all participants were men and as such extremely precious. Karel competed under number 6 and Savar under number 2.

At the start signal, Karel started running. Around him, some of the bigger, stronger competitors had already started a direct conflict, fists flew in all directions, but Karel was primarily interested in what was in his backpack. Thanks to the fact that only one man with him was of his build, that is, so small and delicate, he passed by the other participants unnoticed, and successfully reached the edge of the forest area.

Climbing the tree, he settled comfortably on one of the branches and began rummaging through his backpack: a knife, matches, a mirror, binoculars, a map. Damn, neither water nor food.

Although the backpacks looked the same, he wasn't sure if they were the same in terms of content.

He opened the map of the moon and encountered the first positive surprise, there were flags marked on the map. One was relatively close. I'm wasting my time. He started to throw things back into his backpack when a sound below him stopped his movements. He looked down and found himself face to face with a huge boar-like animal. Despite their size, these were extremely agile and fast animals. A scream that pierced the air warned him that this andam was probably not the only one of its kind in the forest. A flag in a forest full of andams? Where is that map again?

Karel went back to the upper branch and took out the folder. Studying the map more closely, he realized that there was a border on the map that indicated the zone where the packages could be found and probably the recommended movement zone. The moon was 80% ocean and 20% continent. The nearest flag was actually in the ocean which he missed when he first looked. Karel shuddered at the thought of what was probably waiting in ambush from the depths of the ocean.

The remaining 4 flags were scattered across the continent, 2 in the lowlands, 2 in the mountain area.

Glancing down, he saw that the andam was gone. Must be a hard day for him also. So many potential meals. He turned around and noticed that there was no neighboring tree close enough to jump to. No choice but to walk.