Things rapidly collapsed into chaos.
As Ayah had said, normally, the trial would only take a day or two, at most.
But what she didn't know was that these trials weren't so simple, at least not this time, due to Thoryl's actions.
Normally, the trials for food, information, and the gates were supposed to happen separately, spaced out over the course of a full week.
This was intentional.
It gave all natives time to heal, to learn, and to slowly get accustomed to their awakened abilities. More importantly, it gave them breathing room; time to form solid groups, to find trust, to stabilize before being pushed further.
It was also supposed to happen within the confines of one's own settlement.
It was never meant to be a common trial shared across all settlements of the dungeon.
Thoryl had turned it all into chaos.
All three trials were triggered at once. Every settlement was forcibly joined into a single, massive shared trial, housing hundreds of millions of humans from Ithurial simultaneously.
And worse, far worse, the trial itself became a hunting ground.
Humans hunted shadow creatures. Humans hunted other humans.
It became a brutal, sprawling slaughter that none of the guides had prepared for, and none of the natives could have possibly anticipated.
The guides were rapidly overwhelmed, much to Reiner's annoyance, and to Thoryl's delight.
What was supposed to take a few days dragged on.
A week passed.
Then more.
In the end, what should have ended quickly stretched into a week and a half of sustained chaos.
'Hopefully that gave him enough time.'
…
POP!
Uriel's pupils fluttered open.
The cocoon encasing his body dissolved instantly, fading into motes of soft light that blinked out of existence over the course of a few breaths, leaving nothing behind.
He lay flat on the ground, confused and groggy, his mind slow to catch up as sensation flooded back into him.
After a moment, he groaned quietly and pushed himself up.
His body had changed.
He was still thin, painfully so in places, clearly starved and malnourished by any normal standard. But there was substance there now. A bit of meat. A bit of muscle.
Slender. That was the right word.
His eyes and cheeks were no longer as sunken as they'd once been, and his sandy olive skin tone had regained some of its color, shifting toward a healthier shade, closer to a pale jade white now.
His long, curling white-silver hair spilled from his head and shoulders like a river of thick, liquid flame, heavy and wet, reaching all the way to his feet and dragging softly across the ground as he moved.
His ribs still showed. So did most of his veins. But now, they stood in contrast to slowly bulging musculature beneath the skin, subtle, but undeniable.
He looked… alive.
Healthier. Not like a Lich anymore.
"Mmmm."
Uriel closed his eyes and stretched instinctively, a full-body shiver running through him as the sensation of comfort surged in all at once, too euphoric, too intense, instantly overwhelming.
He let out a long yawn, then smiled without thinking.
"Oh my."
He turned, and immediately startled.
Enoch sat cross-legged not too far away from him, perfectly still, eyes closed, meditating.
'Did I sleepwalk into his place?'
As if on cue, Enoch opened his eyes. A dark fog escaped his lips as he exhaled, rolling low across the ground before dissipating. He rose smoothly to his feet.
"Good. You're finally awake."
He walked over and placed a hand on Uriel's chest, patting it once, then again, as if testing the density beneath the skin.
"How're you feeling? Good? Tired?"
Uriel shook his head quickly. "I feel fantastic. My chest still hurts a bit when I breathe, but it's always been like that, so…"
He grinned, bright and unrestrained, practically beaming. "I feel amazing!"
Before Enoch could respond, Uriel started shadowboxing the air, throwing clumsy punches with terrible form. His shoulders popped faintly with each movement, and his balance wavered, but his excitement more than made up for the shoddy display.
Enoch hummed, clearly satisfied. "Great. There's a lot of work we need to do. You've been lazing around for a week, you know?"
"It's almost been two weeks, actually."
Uriel froze.
He nearly fell over just processing that. "What?!"
Before panic could properly set in, Enoch waved it off. "Relax. Nothing happened. I've actually been here the entire time."
"The trial is only just finishing. It should be done in a few hours, at most."
Uriel let out a long breath, shoulders sagging in relief. "Wasn't it supposed to end in two days? What happened?"
Enoch shrugged. "No idea. But if I had to guess…"
He tapped his chest, exactly where his injury had once been.
"…it's probably the result of a mess they caused."
He paused, then added, matter-of-factly, "But it works in our favor."
"It gave you time to fully recover and sleep, while I planned everything out. So we didn't lose anything."
"It's actually perfect."
"…Gave us time?" Uriel's gaze sharpened as something clicked. "Ah. Right. I forgot."
"We're on a timer."
Enoch turned and motioned for Uriel to follow. He led him to a more secluded area he'd prepared ahead of time.
A circle of glowing dark-blue crystals was embedded into the ground, each one emitting a strange, unfamiliar type of aether, unlike anything Uriel had ever sensed before.
They sat cross-legged within the circle.
"All right. Let's not waste any more time," Enoch said, getting straight to the point. "I'll feed you information gradually. No rushing, you don't want to overload your mind."
"So today, we'll start with your ability, your core, and how we generally get stronger."
The faint fog of sleep clouding Uriel's thoughts vanished in an instant. Curiosity flared, sharp and focused, his attention snapping fully into place.
"All living beings, human or not, have something called a Natal Spark," Enoch began. "It's a natural part of you that, in the simplest terms, gives you abilities."
"You start with one foundational ability. From there, it branches out into many other things you'll learn over time."
He snapped his fingers.
"For example."
Between them, a tendril of darkness formed in the air. It coiled, thickened, and transmuted, rotting into flesh as it twisted into a small monstrous creature—mad eyes, decayed skin, broken bones jutting at wrong angles.
"One of my sparks is called Lie Eater," Enoch continued calmly. "It allows me to tell lies from truths, across any level. And when someone lies to me, I can turn their lie into little creatures like this."
He snapped again.
The creature screamed silently as it warped, stretching and compressing until it hardened into a long black blade.
"I can do whatever I want with these," he said. "The stronger the person who lies to me, the stronger the Lie Eater becomes."
He looked directly at Uriel.
"Tell me your name."
Still confused, but curious, Uriel answered honestly. "Uriel."
PAH!
The blade trembled violently, suddenly turning gold as white flame erupted across its edge.
"When someone tells me the truth in the presence of my Lie Eaters," Enoch said, "they grow stronger. I can even attach them to others."
"My allies can use them as growth weapons for as long as I live."
"And to my enemies…"
His eyes darkened slightly.
"They remain a curse. They follow them, forever, until they tell me the truth I want to hear."
Uriel stared.
"…Holy…"