After calming himself down and catching his breath, Ren stood back up and quickly fixed his gaze on the bird.
It was waiting for him in front of a dark corridor of unknown length.
"What now..?" Ren sighed.
As Ren finally approached the entrance to the corridor, it lit up, with countless torches lighting the walls.
"… am I raiding some ancient tomb or something..?"
As Ren was about to enter the corridor, the bird sang to get his attention.
"What now..?" Ren sighed as he turned his head towards the bird.
It brought his attention to the wall, or to inscriptions on said wall.
"Is this..?" Ren took a torch from the wall and brought it towards the words on the wall:
[Caelo responsum erit, terra te prodet.]
"Yeah… It's Latin. This has to be the only reason I'd ever want Karma around.." Ren walked away and quickly looked at the bird. "I can't read that, feathers." He said to the bird as if expecting it to understand.
The bird seemed to freeze at the nickname Ren gave him, before finally pecking Ren's arm.
"Ouch- what the hell-" Ren dropped the torch as he moved his arm away.
The torch fell on the floor and rolled deeper in the corridor, before finally Ren heard a click and immediately jumped back.
Just as he did countless metal spikes erupted from the ground at great speed.
After a few seconds, they retract back into the ground.
"Holy shit…"
Ren stared at the spikes as they slowly slid back into the floor.
"…Yeah. That tracks."
He tossed a pebble forward.
Click.
Spikes shot up again.
Ren sighed loudly.
"Great. So the ground kills."
The bird chirped.
"Oh shut up."
Ren looked back at the Latin inscription again.
Still useless.
"Who even writes instructions in Latin anymore?"
The bird tilted its head.
Ren rubbed his face in frustration and leaned back against the wall.
"This would be so much easier if Karma was here…" Ren reluctantly admitted.
He groaned and tilted his head back in irritation.
The torchlight flickered across the ceiling.
Ren froze.
"…Huh."
He squinted.
Faint carvings stretched across the stone above the corridor. Small marks, barely visible unless the light hits them right.
They formed a pattern.
Ren slowly straightened.
"…You've got to be kidding me."
He looked down at the floor and carefully threw another pebble right under the ceiling's marking.
Nothing.
He finally figured out how to get past this room.
He had to use the lights from the torches to follow the path carved into the ceiling.
One wrong move would kill him.
Ren grabbed as many pebbles as he could fit in his pockets and took another torch from the wall before carefully taking the first step.
"Here I go…"
No spikes emerged from the ground.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pebble. With a small flick of his wrist, he tossed it forward.
The pebble bounced once.
Nothing.
His feet landed exactly where the pebble had landed, once he had safely reached the safe spot, he brought the torch towards the ceiling and looked at the next marking.
——————
A few hours had passed.
He was only halfway through the corridor.
'No turning back now…' Ren thought.
He threw another pebble.
It landed a few centimeters further than it should have.
A click.
Ren's heart slammed into his throat as he jerked back to the previous safe spots.
Spikes burst from the floor with a violent metallic screech, slicing through the air where his leg had been a second earlier.
The metal spears trembled for a moment before slowly sliding back into the ground and walls.
He wiped the sweat gathering on his forehead.
"Okay… that was way too close..!"
After calming down, Ren grabbed another pebble and tossed it forward.
Pebble.
Step.
Pebble.
Step.
The rhythm repeated itself over and over again, the quiet sounds of stone and metal echoing faintly through the corridor.
Pebble.
Step.
Pebble.
Step.
Ren didn't realize how tense his body had become until his arm started to tremble from holding the torch up toward the ceiling for so long.
————
More time passed.
Ren carefully took one step after the other, not letting even his sweat fall on the ground.
He brought the torch up one more time, but this time there were no longer any markings.
"W-what?!"
The corridor wasn't over yet, there was still some distance left.
What was he supposed to do now?
Was the rest of the corridor safe from this point..?
No it couldn't be! …But then what was he supposed to do?
Ren hesitated for a long time, he took a dozen more pebbles from his pockets and looked ahead.
He prepared to jump back to the previous safe spots.
He threw all the pebbles he had forward before jumping a few steps back.
He almost tripped and fell on the ground because of his sudden burst of speed but managed to hold his stance.
Nothing.
No spikes had come out of the ground.
"Seriously..?" He wondered.
He carefully came back to his latest safe spot and took one small hesitant step forward.
Nothing again.
The bird landed on Ren's head to rest because of how tired its wing was from flying around him while he was crossing the trapped corridor.
"Watch your grip it hurts!" Ren shouted at the bird.
Still not fully convinced Ren took one small step after the other, raising the torch as high as he could in case new markings appeared, but none did.
Ren stepped into a large chamber. At the far end stood a golden throne.
The bird flew off him and went back through the corridor.
Ren took a step forward, and then another.
It was as if something was making him.
He could faintly hear the sound of a voice.
It was deep and firm, the kind of voice a leader should have. At first, Ren couldn't make out what it was saying. But the closer he got to the throne, the clearer it became.
"Bow down before your king."
Those were the words that echoed in Ren's mind.
They repeated themselves over and over, and got nothing but louder as he approached the throne.
The words clashed with Ren's already weakened mind making it even harder for him to think.
He was in front of the throne.
The voice was now screaming.
"BOW DOWN." It screeched.
His knees trembled, not from exhaustion but because something was pushing them down. Yet Ren did not bow.
Simply for one reason, while this place was trying to force a feeling of awe and admiration deep within him, something stronger pushed it away.
Ren was afraid.
Powered by this fear, he finally managed to move on his own, taking a few steps away from the throne.
As he did so, the voice suddenly went quiet, as if realizing Ren had managed to break free.
"What the… what the fuck was that?!" Ren said breathing heavily.
His stone tablet appeared.
[congratulation! You have skillfully reached the throne room. Sadly, it seems your mind did not merge with the ***, this will result in a lack of compatibility. You will now awaken.]
Ren blinked.
"What..?"
Before he had the time to think properly, a sharp pain shot through his entire body.
Then, Ren opened his eyes.