My Last Hope (Truth Series 4)

41: Trail By Fire

Soro's POV

I walk into the castle. It's rooms and hallways are large and elaborate. I'd get lost in them if I didn't still feel that calling. I walk through the twists and turns of the halls. I walk in one set of doors and out another only to find more hallways. I walk with no real sense of purpose. I just want to find what's calling out to me. The strange feeling is starting to make me sick. My heart is pounding so hard in my chest I can feel it in my skull.

I lose my companions somewhere. I don't know if they're still behind me or in another part of this labyrinth called a castle. I don't even notice the color of the walls anymore. It's all just a blur that comes in and out of focus. I don't know how many halls I traverse. All I can focus on is this thing calling out to me. I need to get to it. I need to find it. I need to know where it's coming from.

Finally, I find myself at a dead end. There's nothing here but walls and paintings. There's no doors or anything. It's just an empty space at the end of an even emptier corridor. But that feeling is still going strong. I can't focus. It hurts and everything is blurring around me. I stumble towards the nearest wall trying to catch myself on it as I start to collapse. One of my hands knocks a painting. The painting shifts revealing a passage behind it. I enter the passage keeping one hand on the wall to steady myself. I follow the passage for a while. I'm not sure for how long exactly but it seems to go on forever. Eventually the passage opens up into a secluded part of the Nether. I bet none of the Nether mobs can even get to here without following the passage I just took.

This must be what my dad was talking about. Find the castle. Follow the secret passage. Walk one hundred blocks straight from the exit. I do my best to count out one hundred blocks. When I get there, there is nothing but empty space and a wall of netherrack on my left. What was next? What did my dad write? I can't remember. The strange feeling has become white noise in my head. I can't stand it anymore. My balance falters. I catch myself on the wall beside me with one of my palms flat against it. The wall disappears causing me to crash to the ground.

"Soro!" Rythian calls out. Wait. Rythian... I can hear him... I can understand what he's saying! The white noise is gone! The strange feeling is gone! I feel fine now! What ever's calling out to me must be beyond the wall that just disappeared. I pick myself up off the ground. I stand in the entrance of a large netherrack corridor. The floor in front of me is nonexistent. Looking down I can see a lava lake far below. "Soro, are you okay?" Rythian stands behind me.

"Yeah. I'm fine," I mutter still gazing around in front of me. Floating above the netherrack, where the floor or ground should be, there are several chunks of netherrack. Some kind of parkour? I try to fly up to get a better view of the place. It's then that I realize that no, I am not okay. I can not fly. I can not teleport. I can not sense my magic within myself. Then I recall my father's words. 'However, I will warn you that beyond that point you will not be able to use your magic.' This must be what he meant by that. My magic is completely sealed off from me. Completely unusable. Well shit. That's uncomfortable. I absolutely hate not be able to sense my magic within me. It's unsettling. Unnerving. Unnatural. More importantly, it's unsafe.

"Soro?" Rythian calls out again.

"I'm okay. I'm okay. Everything is fine." I choke on my own words. I'm trying to convince myself of these things as much as I'm trying to convince him. I force my tense muscles to relax. I take a deep shaky breath and compose myself. "I'm fine." This time I sound a bit more convincing.

"What happened back there?" Rythian asks. "In the castle?" I'm surprised no one else is questioning me on that. I sneak a glance behind me. Rythian is the only one there. He stands with his arms crossed and a serious expression plastered across his face. The others must be still coming through the secret passage. That or they're lost somewhere.

"I'm sorry. Something just came over me. I don't know what it was. I'll explain everything later. But right now there's something that I have to do. And I have to do it alone. I'll meet you back here when I'm done. Tell everyone else for me." With that said I run and jump off the edge landing on the closest chunk of netherrack. I continue on without a second thought, jumping from netherrack chunk to netherrack chunk. I get quite far without messing up. And of course I jinx myself. I jump from one junk and as I land on another my foot catches of the edge of it. I land on my stomach on the chunk. I'm not injured. Just winded. I stand back up and continue on. A few minutes pass and I finally arrive at the end of the parkour.

The parkour ends with one last jump to large endless bed of netherrack. I'm slightly out of breath but it's not too bad. I can keep going for a while longer before I need to rest. I start trudging across the netherrack. There are a few hills and a bit of rough landscape. Overall, there's nothing too tedious. I stop and close my eyes for a minute. Looking at all the netherrack for who knows how long is making my head spin. That's it! This isn't a test about parkour skills or how well you can navigate rough terrain. It's about endurance and willpower. How far can you get without passing out? How far can you get without giving up and turning around? It's a test on your pure body and mind strength when unenhanced by magic. Damn. That means I have to keep pushing forward. I open my eyes and continue walking. I must keep going. I must get through this. I must find Wit's End. I must avenge my father. I must protect those around me. I must defeat Brine. I must save Hero. I must save the world. I can't give up now. I refuse to give up now. Just like I refuse to let anyone else get hurt if I can prevent it.

At long last I reach the end of the vast expanse of netherrack. However, what lays before me now is just as unpleasant. A river of bubbling lava stretches out in front of me. Lava and I have a love-hate relationship. It's the same thing with water. While neither of them can actually hurt me (unless too much somehow gets inside me), they are uncomfortable to swim in. This is why I avoid the beach,

I rest for a moment. Then I test the lava. I stick one of my hands in the lava and grimace. It doesn't hurt. It just feels unpleasant against my skin. It's like that itchy feeling you get from an uncomfortable sweater or a piece of clothing that needs to be washed. I reach into the lava until it reaches my shoulder. I don't feel anything beneath my hand. I pull my arm out of the lava. I take a deep breath, hold it, and jump in. My whole body submerges below the lava. I kick my feet and resurface my head. Then I start swimming away from the shore and into the unknown. Where is the end of the river? I don't know. Where does the river lead? I don't know. Is there even another shore to swim to? I don't know. Will I ever find Wit's End? I don't know. Will I make it back to Rythian like I said I would? I don't know. Will I be able to stop Brine? I don't know. Will I be able to save Hero? I don't know. Will I be able to protect everyone? I don't know. Will I fail to pr-STOP! I cut myself off. I dive deeper into the lava. It may be uncomfortable but it does help me clear my head. You need to stop this, Soro. I tell myself. You cannot give up now. You have a job to do. You will do it or die trying. There's no way in Hell you're going to fail because you gave up this early into the job. I resurface and grin. There it is. The shore at the end of the river. It's within view distance. I push myself harder. I can do this. I will do this.

I did it! I'm at the shore. I pull myself up on the shore. I collapse on the ground catching my breath and letting my muscles rest for a minute. I stay like this for a few minutes. Okay. Time to get moving. I push myself to my feet. When I stand up I see it. It's right there. Right in front of me. A sword juts out of the ground. The lean blade of the sword glistens a blue-purple color while the hilt is dark silver with dark purple details. I approach it cautiously. I grab the hilt.