The Life I Gained From Dying

Chapter 55 - The Gate of Greed

Nearly twenty minutes later, the group arrived at the gate of pride. Upon arrival, the immediate first thing Kaden noticed was that the gate was now deactivated.

"What happened?" Kaden questioned. "Did it reset?"

"Maybe it closes after some time." Mai hypothesized. "It hasn't been used since you used it the last time, so maybe it just closed automatically."

"Can you activate it again?" Jayson asked.

"I can try."

Kaden approached the sapphire rune that was on the left pillar of the gate and stared at it reluctantly. After just a few seconds, he placed his palm on the rune, which, as he expected, activated the gate once again. The others stepped forward as Kaden took two steps back to watch as the archway filled with pure light. Taibai, who was following from above, suddenly flew down and perched back onto Mai's shoulder.

"How do I know it won't make me do this trial over again?" Kaden questioned.

"It shouldn't." Via replied. "I don't know much about the gates, but they were briefly mentioned in a book I found in a ruin. It said that even though the seven gates are spread all over the world, they almost exist as one entity. They share information with one another, and they remember everyone who attempts the trials. So once you go through, it should just teleport you to the next gate."

"So it basically saves your progress." Aaron simplified.

"Hopefully, that's the case." Kaden said as he walked towards the light.

"Just as a precaution, if you don't come back in less than a minute, we're going to assume you're doing the trial again." Jayson stated.

"Sounds fair."

Without hesitating any further, Kaden stepped into the light. Just as Via suspected, the trial had not reset for him. After a brief moment of complete silence, Kaden emerged from the gate of greed into the cave he had met Jayson in previously.

"Good."

.....

The others rejoined Kaden after he went back through the gate and gave them the all clear.

"Now we have the opposite issue with this." Kaden stated. "How do I get this trial to start instead of it teleporting me?"

"...The rune." Mai pointed out. "The sapphire rune on this gate isn't glowing,  maybe because it isn't fully active."

After making the same observation, Kaden approached the rune and placed his palm on top of it. The stone then illuminated, which was followed by all of the markings on the gate beginning to glow with light essence in ascending order.

"Yeah, that seems more right." Kaden said lightly.

The young man steeled himself by taking in a deep breath of air while standing before the second gate that awaited his entrance. Before entering, he turned to face the others, but before he could have even looked at them, Aaron had already placed his left hand on Kaden's shoulder.

"You got this, Kade. We're gonna be out here waiting for ya."

Nothing else was said between the two, just a singular head nod from Kaden confirming that he was ready. The others watched on as Kaden confidently entered the Gate of Greed.

.....

A familiar feeling of suspension held Kaden's body while the world around him appeared to be nothing but a void.

"Whatever I see inside here isn't real." Kaden reassured himself. "It's all just a projection of my mind. The worst should already be over with seeing my parents. Huh?"