《Heaven's Trials》 Prologue He sat on a steel chair in a sterile white room, waiting and confused. Last he remembered he was drinking a pint in a bar before he felt a terrible discomfort on his forehead and then he was here. Was he at the hospital? He didn¡¯t know and so he waited for someone to come in through one of the walls; because he saw no other way to get in or out the room, no windows or cracks that would hint at there being a door somewhere. Maybe they were thin or something of the like, maybe they were meant to be broken? And to his question one of the walls shimmered and turned into liquid as a person walked in to see him holding the steel chair by the legs and about to swing it. The woman¡¯s smile became forced as she watched him think if he should club her with it or not. ¡°Please put that down Mister Griffin,¡± ¡°Let¡¯s start with you telling me where I am?¡± ¡°Dead,¡± ¡°E- Excuse me?¡± Griffin¡¯s grip slacked a bit and he stammered as the woman sighed and walked in front of him as the floor boiled and ballooned until a strange desk and chair appeared. ¡°You are very much dead Sir, a stray bullet impacted your forehead and ended you almost instantly. Lucky you,¡± ¡°What in hell do you mean? I was at a bar a second ago, I can¡¯t be dead,¡± ¡°And now you are here, in my office, and wasting my time. Explain that to me, mister Griffin,¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I want to know!¡± He lifted the chair an inch and his heart began to drum in his chest, his throat became parched, and his legs slack. ¡°Before you keep threatening me with that, I wish to remind you the underworld grants its employees the privilege to strike one customer per day. Tell me Griffin, do you want me to check my privileges?¡± Doing his best to speak he tried swallowing a couple of times but there was nothing but sand in his mouth. The woman sighed and handed him a glass of water, which he took. ¡°T- Thank you,¡± She eyed him for a second before nodding to herself and materializing a clipboard on her side of the desk, jotting down notes while tapping one finger against it. ¡°Are you calm enough to discuss your future now?¡± ¡°I believe so¡­ is it hell for me?¡± She tried - oh she really did try - to refrain from rolling her eyes but failed and he saw her eyes going fully white before they were fixed on him once more. ¡°Everyone asks the same, Am I going to hell now? What did you do to deserve an eternity of suffering and imprisonment, what could you have done so wrong that beings that have seen it all couldn¡¯t forgive?¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. She sighed and took a deep breath before continuing. ¡°Forgive me, it¡¯s been a long week. I had to deal with the souls of two planes crashes and a train wreck one after the other and they exhaust me,¡± ¡°Must be hard on you if everyone reacted like I did, right? I am sorry for that too,¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, yours was on the milder side of things actually. Anyways, I need to read you your crimes and rights so that you may be judged, ok?¡± ¡°Yes, please carry on,¡± Opening a cabinet, she brought out a single, small page with his name on it. Griffin looked at it and waited for her to bring out a folder, or at the least another page and instead she simply closed the cabinet. ¡°That¡¯s it? That¡¯s really underwhelming,¡± ¡°Yes, most people never do much with their lives that may impact their karma. You for example, have negative karma for stealing soaps, towels, a cup from your office, and some pens. While your positive karma comes from helping disabled people cross the street, giving up your seat to some pregnant women, caring for your family, and helping the poor with food and blankets,¡± She began to do some math on her clipboard as he thought of how little of his life was taken into account when being judged, it was true he was no Mother Therese but nevertheless there should have been something that stood out there. ¡°Well then Mister Griffin, congratulations you have come out with positive karma. Not enough for heaven or a try again but just enough to be put on our trial program,¡± ¡°Trial program? You have those in the underworld,¡± ¡°Oh, yes. We need to keep heaven and hell from overpopulating and so far it has worked,¡± ¡°The afterlife is awfully mundane,¡± ¡°Most things are disappointing after experiencing them, mister Griffin. Now, you will be granted another chance at life, in this new life you will be guided by us so that you may acquire good karma,¡± ¡°And if I fail them? Hell?¡± Her eye twitched in annoyance at the question. ¡°Do you wish to go to hell? Because there is no coming back from there,¡± ¡°No, no, no. I will take the trial,¡± ¡°Good. Now, for your trial you will be granted a system that will help you in your development and will act as a platform for us to judge you. Is there anything you want me to add to my report that you believe will help you? Be realistic; even in the underworld everything has a price,¡± ¡°What is considered realistic here?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t consider asking for the traits or your world¡¯s superheroes, you couldn¡¯t pay the price with ten lifetimes,¡± ¡°That tells me absolutely nothing,¡± In a rare show of emotion, the woman smirked at him. ¡°This is part of your trial,¡± ¡°And what are they testing me for? Humility, intelligence, cunning?¡± ¡°If I knew that I would be a manager instead of working in customer service, sir. Now, your answer?¡± He thought and thought about it and came with paltry changes, nothing that would see his soul split in half and devoured as the price. ¡°Can I ask for an added service to the system?¡± ¡°Of course, you can,¡± Her smile wasn¡¯t one that gave him much respite, but he carried on, it was worth a shot. ¡°I would like to ask for a shop tab, so that I may buy and sell things,¡± ¡°Very well then, anything else?¡± Griffin looked a little embarrassed as he spoke. ¡°Can you make it so that I don¡¯t faint or freeze when I see blood or a corpse?¡± That made her laugh, made her throw her head back and belch out a sound so loud it was more a shout than anything else. ¡°Marvelous, excellent choice. You won¡¯t believe the amount of people that think they can survive without any experience while they were alive, they just think everything will be alright with the system; it¡¯s hilarious, really,¡± ¡°Thank you. I guess,¡± ¡°Well then, you will know the price once you get a new body,¡± ¡°You mean you aren¡¯t going to tell me how much it will cost me?¡± ¡°Of course not, i am here just to take your requests and pass them on to the developers. They are the ones that figure it out,¡± ¡°Not even an estimate?¡± ¡°Not even that. Enjoy your new life Griffin, although that won¡¯t be your name once you are on the other side,¡± ¡°What the.¡± 2 The forest was bright when the traveller first arrived. No ¨Cto begin with, he didn¡¯t arrive. He didn¡¯t walk or run or leap or fell from the sky as most other guests of this sea of trees reached its innards, he simply appeared. There was no tearing of space or bright lights and falling lighting to announce his arrival either; he simply popped into existence. Like an ignored weed. Laying on the floor, he rested. A young man with long hair and ruffled clothes. And after some time of the sun hitting his face, he began to wake up. His eyelids moved groggily up and down, as if he was waking up from a particularly bad night out. Eyes roamed across the wall of trees and leaves and stones around him, mind clearing up with each new thing he saw. It didn¡¯t take long for him to wake up completely, but without energy. He used a tree trunk to rest his back and began thinking out loud; the silence was deafening. ¡°It wasn¡¯t a dream. Fuck.¡± He hit his head against the bark lightly as if to prove the point, even pinched his leg to prove it once more and was convinced. Taking a deep breath, he began again. ¡°Let¡¯s start with my name then, who am I?¡± It was frustrating to remember ¨C right at the tip of its tongue laid the answer and it stayed right there. Taunting him with what was the most basic of things, so he tried again. ¡°Who am I?¡± And like the last nudge in a particularly old door, the answer came to him and he spoke it, tasted his name. ¡°Wu Yu¡­ Horrible name,¡± He smiled weakly, it was an easy name to remember, hell, it even rhymed a little. If you tried hard enough it sounded like a rhyme, or a word by itself. ¡°Let¡¯s see if they gave me something at least,¡± He felt at his clothes and realized they had no pockets. He was wearing a grey wool jacket over what looked like a bath robe and some pants underneath, all of it tied by some kind of sash. Worst of all was that his feet had nothing but some leather slippers. What really called for his attention the most - what should have been the first thing to realize really- was that his left sleeve was empty. It was but clothe that hang from his shoulder. No hand or elbow answered when he raised his arm, just a stump almost halfway to the shoulder. How did one lose an arm without even feeling it? He made a fist and felt his hand balling up but there was simply air. Nothing else. When faced against something that defies reality as you understand it, what would the normal reaction be? Get proof of the change. The young man rolled up his sleeve and stared and touched at the sudden ending of his arm, rolled it down and closed his eyes. Pinched his leg and said. ¡°She could have at least said it would cost me an arm, at least it wasn¡¯t an eye or both.¡± Something broke in him as he spoke, tears ran down his face as he screamed. Anger, despair, sadness, they left him in waves as he let it all out until his throat was but a burning piece of him. Reeling himself in, Wu Yu cleaned his face with his sleeve and mumbled weak curses. ¡°Let¡¯s turn the system on, see if I get to live for one more day at least,¡± And like a devil, his thoughts summoned the system. The platform upon which he would be judged and whatever it was they wanted him to do. System primed. Auxiliary systems online. Shop online. Welcome, user, to the system. Your missions, their rewards, and their punishments shall be delivered through this interface. ¡°Great, they can punish me,¡± Please select your starting class. Fighter: A class that rewards offense and boldness, they are deadly with their mastery over their two-handed weapons. ¡°Oh, yes. I would love to try to handle a bardiche with just the one hand.¡± Warrior: Masters of the shield they focus on defence and stamina to savage their weaken foes. ¡°No.¡± Martial Artist: They emphasize manoeuvrability over any other aspect, they dart in and out of fights. ¡°Well, at least one of them looks fine. Next, please,¡± When nothing happened, Wu Yu motioned with his finger for the page to keep scrolling but nothing happened, his eyes popped out as he looked at the short list of purely melee fighters and groaned. He insisted a couple more times before giving up and making the only logical choice out of the three with a defeated sigh. For having chosen a rank D danger zone as your starting point you have been awarded five levels, as well as twenty taels of gold. ¡°I chose what now?¡± Congratulations on becoming a level 5 [Martial Artist] New Skill acquired [Basic Footwork] New Skill acquired [Enhanced Strength] New Skill acquired [Lesser Stamina] Groaning into his hands, Wu Yu opened the shop tab of the system and found an impossibly long list. It began quite normal really, more a shopping list to a trip than the underworld¡¯s market, with socks and shirts and knives. But almost at the middle of it began the more fantastical ¨Cand quite truthfully kinkier ¨C named objects. Some examples were [The Chains of Ytar], [Hellthorn Whips] and [The Manacle¡¯s of Arreat].Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°Let¡¯s go with the basics then,¡± After selecting what he felt was most needed and buying it he saw a symbol like a golden hoof blink and go down to nineteen while another of silver appeared that read three. The amount of money he had it seemed, but could he retrieve it? And a fat piece of gold dropped in front of him to answer his question and he popped it back into the tab by thinking of it. After a second a duffel bag dropped in front of him as he selected the buy button on the display, inside there were canteens with water, some rations -that looked more like flavoured crackers really-, a knife, a machete, a lighter, and steel toed boots. He had been tempted to buy something more, something like the manuals and scriptures that appeared along the list but decided to keep it simple and get just the bare necessities. There was also the fact that they each costed more than twenty taels but that was a separate matter. Really, who wanted the [Scriptures of Nine Suns] or [The Manual of The Jade Mountain]? After tightening his laces as best as he could and buckling the belt that came with the tools¡ä sheathes, Wu Yu patted his vest and looked around, found a stick that was straight enough and took it. ¡°There is still enough sun to start walking so let¡¯s choose a direction,¡± Throwing the stick up he watched it turn in the air, twist and then fall with a thump. Looking in the direction the sharper end was pointing he saw the same row of trees that covered every other direction; but as he kept staring, he saw something else. A small figure was standing right in the direction the stick was pointing. Even when considering the distance, it was diminutive, perhaps a palm and a half tall. But what was unnerving was to see it standing like a person, its legs -thin like twigs- supported a bloated abdomen and two eyes that popped horribly from their sockets. They stared at each other and Wu Yu felt tingles run down his face as he examined the little humanoid. It reminded him of every horror movie with a doll in it, and if he had learnt one thing from them was to run like all hells from the demon possessed bastard. And true to his thoughts he picked a stone just in case and began to walk backwards, strongly hoping it wouldn¡¯t follow him. But as things went, hope has never meant much to reality. The little creeper began to jog towards him, limbs hanging limp from its shoulders and eyes that never blinked came at him atop legs like wire. Wu Yu felt his throat sting hard enough to bring him to focus and he threw the stone he had picked up; it hit the floor perhaps three steps away from the critter, but he saw something happen to it, as his mouth dried and his voice left him the animal grew larger. With its newfound strength it picked up speed, it was coming at full tilt towards him now. He turned around and began to leg it away from the green bastard. It scurried towards him as he ran screaming for his dear life. The only sounds in the forest now were those of a man cursing at every breath he could spare and the falling footfalls of the creature behind him. It sounded as if its every step broke its feet, the jarring noise of bones grind against stone followed Wu Yu. He spared only one glance over his shoulder, but that was enough. He ran even faster. It had somehow managed to grow all the way up to his hips and its features had grown more pronounced too, it now resembled a horned toad on two feet. With its head pointing forwards. Nonononononononono---- Close to the middle of the race he had stopped wasting his breath on curses and decided to use his inner voice, devoting every last bit of air to run just a bit faster than the terrifying midget at his back. Almost immediately, as if by magic, the trees cleared up and in front of him lay a great wound upon the earth. He could see the other side and it was a cliff with a face as clean as a new chopping board, with nothing but small wrinkles on the rocks to hold onto if you failed the jump; but one look at his companion and his fast growing height gave Wu Yu all the excuses to take the risk. At the sight of a place where he would be free of this demon his body gave him the little bit of strength it had been keeping in reserve and he ran faster, swift as the wind he cleared the distance to the edge and leapt without an ounce of hesitation. He took to the air higher than an Olympic athlete ever could and as the strength of his jump began to run out, he realized it hadn¡¯t been enough. His waist hit at full strength against the top of the crag of the other side, the air in him escaped as pain blossomed from his bones but fear kept him from giving up. With his one hand he gripped the tip of a buried stone and dragged himself up in time to see the toad make the jump and fail miserably. As soon as he recovered enough, Wu Yu hacked out a raspy laugh. He peeked over the brink of the cliff and looked at the toad hanging for dear life, its long fingers buried in the cracks between the stones. He grimaced and his eyes widen as the critter brought one arm out and began its slow ascent. Wu Yu was sure that, if he allowed it, it would reach him and begin its pursuit anew, so he picked up the biggest stone he could find and chucked it down. It hit it perfectly in the eye and the first sound it made was the most horrible scream of pain; it was the sound of nails scratching glass, of a person clawing at stone, it was everything wrong in the world and it began to disappear as the monster fell off the cliff. Soon, the only sound that came from the crevice was that of running water. Wu Yu could only sigh and clutch at his side as he recovered from the hard sprint. It hurt. Everything hurt. His legs ached, his lungs were about to burst, and whatever organ it was by his side was being stabbed. He was also a bit lightheaded, but he wasn¡¯t safe enough to rest for long. He forced some water and a cracker down and began walking again. Walking and speaking. ¡°I should have gotten a notification for this. System! Where are my levels for killing a fighting toad? I demand levels!¡± ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª By the time the sun was gone Wu Yu, not having found a cave or the like to rest in, decided to settle near the largest tree he could find. Luckily one of the knots of the trunk had hollowed enough for it to become a refuge for the night, and with a fire illuminating the entrance he felt comfortable. Not comfortable as if he was in his home, resting in the corner of his room and surrounded by blankets and pillows and his dog. Or as if he was having a mug of coffee in his kitchen, with the sun hitting his back. It would be a long time before he became that comfortable, it would have to wait at least until he found signs of life. Life that didn¡¯t try to kill him, or eat him, people preferably. He sighed and stoked the fires, threw another dry branch to the pile and watched the sparks fly to the side and found himself looking at the wall of green once more. He also found himself looking at a fox, a bright, red and yellow fox. Not thinking that a lone fox was worth worrying about he threw a stone at it and watched it chitter strangely at him and then scamper away. That was normal enough, animals had every reason to avoid being injured when looking for food; it was a basic survival instinct. One that was clearly lacking in that toad, what was it planning to do when it caught him anyway. Duck it out and see if it would come out on top? He had seen no teeth in its gaping maw when it had screamed and it had no claws to speak of, just thick, leathery fingers with no nails. On the other hand, if it could keep growing past a certain point all it would need to do would be throw itself on him and smother him to death. Wu Yu shivered at the thought of dying such an ignoble death, bad enough to be taken once by a stray bullet but being crushed to death by a toad would be embarrassing beyond belief. Moving the duffel bag and the leaves he had picked up around he made himself comfortable in his nook in the tree. Readying himself to rest with his machete sitting across his legs and fire well fed he closed his eyes. His breathing grew slower. Congratulations on becoming a level 6 [Martial Artist] New Skill acquired [Danger Sense] New Skill acquired [Weightless Form] Thanks to the system¡¯s brightness being set to its fullest potential and its suddenness Wu Yu heart skipped a beat, he rose too fast and fumbled with the machete across his knees; almost cutting himself open with it in the haste. He sighed - it was becoming a recurring habit it seemed- and took a deep breath to steady his beating heart. ¡°Why in hell are notifications appearing now?¡± To keep the system from negatively affecting the user by being distractive during the day all notifications are presented when the user has decided they are safe enough to rest. ¡°¡­can I lower the brightness?¡± No ¡°Excellent.¡± He replied sarcastically and threw himself back, done with everything for the day.