A Spark Of Hope

12: Talk Of The Trials

Before she knew it, red, orange and yellow hues were blending together. It was a sunrise so beautiful, so unlike any Aila had ever seen before in the city.

"Cas," she shook her friend and poked him in the arm. His eyes opened almost immediately, and he sat up as if he didn't need time for his mind to awaken.

"Kaiden," she called, raising her volume in the hopes that her voice would travel through the fairly thin pieces of fabric between them and be enough to wake him. He groaned in response.

Within five minutes, the three of them were eating a delicious breakfast of bread and vegetables, and within twelve, they had taken the tents down, repacked their rucksacks, untethered Kallias and were on their way.

Sand shifted beneath their feet as they strode; it was terrain that Aila wasn't used to, yet it was strangely amusing. She imagined if she had water to spare, she could spend hours creating shapes with the substance. Perhaps a castle to rival her own.

A clear blue sky opened before them, no shields concealing it. The desert they were in was void of everything: trees, bushes, rocks, water. The only thing Aila could see stretching out before her was miles of sand, blending with the blue sky much like the sunrise.

"What do you know about the trials?" Aila asked Kaiden suddenly. She was aware that they'd be at The Dragon Temple within the next few days, and she didn't want to enter without knowing what there was to know about it all.

Kaiden ran a hand through his hair. He appeared tired, yet Aila would bet everything she had that no matter how fatigued he was, he was still extremely dangerous. Lethal almost.

She hadn't seen him use the twin swords that were strapped to his back, or the daggers sheathed in his belt, but his taut muscles spoke of years of practice spent honing his combat skills.

She imagined for a second what he would look like with a bow in his arms, a quiver of arrows on his back, his muscles stretching as he led the nock to the string, as he raised the bow to his cheek, as his fingers released the tension and the arrow went flying before inevitably finding its mark.

She was suddenly glad that Perador didn't have this weapon, that she had experience in a skill set, that too one related to combat, that Kaiden didn't have. She made a point of not thinking about the fire magic coursing through his veins. Instead, she let the steady weight of her bow and arrow on her back lift her spirits slightly, even as Kallias' hooves clip-clopped steadily beside them.

"There are three trials," Kaiden began, cutting off Aila's internal calculating. "In all honesty I don't know much about them. The trial of the body, the trial of the mind and the trial of the spirit."

"That's it?" She asked.

Kaiden nodded.

"I believe the trial of the body will involve a fight of some sort. Perhaps a creature that guards The Dragon Temple."

"A dragon?" Castor questioned.

"Unlikely," Kaiden responded. "Dragons haven't been spotted for over a century. Many are claiming that they're a myth too, that it's something our ancestors made up in order to sound brave and fearless, or simply just to entertain us."

Red flashed before Aila's vision, eyes so unusual, features so sharp. Almost reptilian. Almost dragon-like.

She chuckled to herself and shook the memory out of her mind. The thought of a human-dragon speaking to her, warning her, thanking her... it was so absurd that a dream was all it had to be.

Kaiden's eyebrows furrowed in confusion but Aila waved him off, reluctant to tell him about the man of her dreams.

"Trial of the mind?" She prompted.

"I don't know how the trial of the mind will take place. I believe it's to test our competence, to know whether we're knowledgeable enough to use the contents of The Dragon Temple for good, to help others... instead of to cause harm."

Kaiden cleared his throat uncomfortably and glanced away, refusing to meet Aila's eyes.

"And the trial of the spirit," he continued in a rush, "is to test our character. It determines the values we hold most dear, and whether we're deserving of entering a sacred space."

A few minutes of silence followed as the three pondered the challenges they would face together. They didn't know what form the trials would take, but the three of them had been trained since birth to be prepared for anything.

"Is all this a myth in Perador too?" Aila asked. The taste of the rival country's name on her tongue felt foreign, and it must've had the same impact on Kaiden because an unreadable expression flickered over his face.

"Yes," he claimed. "I don't truly know the original, but I believe that it resembles what I have told you. The notion of the three trials is found in many books and children's stories, and it's been twisted and changed so many times, each time more crazy. I'm surprised you don't have such stories in Merelia."

The sound of her country's name on his tongue also sounded strange.

She wanted to ignore the barb but her pride wouldn't allow her to.

"We have no need to concern ourselves with such stories," she replied disdainfully. "It's known as a fact that Merelia's archives are far larger than Perador's. If your people spend less time indulging the imagination of the young, and more time seeking true knowledge, then perhaps you wouldn't appear as dull and incompetent as you are."

"Dull and incompetent?" He echoed, his eyes alighting with an amusement that only served to irritate Aila further.

"Perhaps if you'd spent less time opening your ears to such nonsense, you wouldn't have wasted so much of your time trying to place magic in everyday items," she snapped.

Aila regretted the words immediately. She wished that she could take them back, that she could rewind time and let her pride go, that she could respond to Kaiden's light jab with a witty comment of her own instead of an underhanded one.

Pain flashed across Kaiden's features, as if she had stabbed him with his own sword. It was there for a second, before he shut off the display, his face once again becoming a mask of impenetrable steel.

He gave Cas a curt nod, refusing to even meet Aila's regretful gaze, before he mounted Kallias and swiftly galloped ahead of them, disappearing amongst the dunes.

Hola todos! ¿Cómo estáis?
Hoy, tuve mi examen oral de español. Sería extraño de escribir una nota en francés sin escribir una otra en español también.

Espero que vosotros hayáis tenido un buen día! :)

Por favor, dejáme saber vuestros pensamientos aquí. Votad y comentad si os gusta este capítulo!

Muchas gracias, hasta pronto!

~ MaddyWilsón 💙