Chapter 13：Celestial trial (part 2)

Izzy awoke with stone walls surrounding her on all sides in a circle with two gaps on opposite sides that turned corners and a small speaker and button on the wall in front of her. Walking up to the speaker there was a note on it that read: 'Welcome to your trial. To complete your trial, you must exit this maze. Pressing this button will make the speaker tell the way to the exit'. Izzy instantly pressed the button the speaker spoke in a robotic voice:

"Take the exit that has a right turn then follow the path until the third exit on the left." Izzy looked at the two exits. One turned left and the other turned right. She went trough the right turning one and walked down the path until she reached the third exit on the left. Walking through it, she found herself back in the circular area. She pressed the button again.

"Take the exit that has a left turn then follow the path until the second exit on the right." She followed the instructions again. 'Exit with a left turn' she said in her head as she followed the directions. 'second exit on the right. Once again she walked through and found herself in the circular area again. This time, there were two daggers on the floor in the middle. She looked at the button and pressed it again.

"You have failed twice. If you fail again, a monster will be sent to chase you and kill you until you find the correct exit. Take the third exit and then take the only exit." said the speaker. This brought fear into Izzy's heart. What if she messed up? What if she was killed? Had she messed up the directions before? Was it lying to her? All these questions and more crowded her and she started to panic. She picked up the daggers to defend herself and ran through one of the two exits of which she chose randomly. Again choosing randomly, Izzy ran through an exit that lead her back to the circular area but this time there was a person standing in the middle holding two daggers like Izzy. They turned with a maniacal grin to show it was a cone of Izzy. Izzy was petrified. She didn't know what to do. What did it mean by the third exit? There's only two! The doppelganger launched themselves at Izzy slashing with their daggers but Izzy countered them and made a run for the button. The clone saw her running towards the button but instead of jumping in front of the button they lumped behind it. As if they were hiding something.

"There's no escape from me!" said the clone in a distorted voice similar to Izzy's. Izzy went to press the button but a small shimmer of light coming from a crack in the stone behind the clone. There wasn't a third path. Not yet at least. Izzy made a run for one of the exits and the clone followed but just after they jumped Izzy turned and made a run for the wall behind the button.

"I told you, there's no escape!" said the clone.

"Not yet! I just have to make my own way out!" shouted Izzy and she slashed and felt an energy like never before and sent it at the wall sending arcs of electricity flying as the wall and the clone exploded into smoke. Izzy stepped through the hole she had made to find an exit with light coming out of it. She stepped through. There was a flash and she fell unconscious.

William awoke with a group of people. They were at a fork in the road with one path going straight to freedom whereas the other had traps and monsters. William instinctively took charge and said it would be safer to go down the straight path. The group agreed and followed him down the path. It was all going fine until the exit was blocked by a wall of stone that came out of nowhere and the same happened for the way they entered the path. It wasn't soon before the walls began to close in on the group. They tried everything to stop or slowdown their oncoming death but nothing they did proved to help. William was slamming at the wall blocking the exit before he noticed a small hole. Big enough for him but too small for the others. With the others distracted by the closing walls he dived through the hole just as the walls closed over it. On the other side he could see the exit but it was guarded by a clone of himself holding a trident. He suddenly felt something wet under his feet and looked down to see a stream of blood coming out of small gaps in the wall behind him. The weight of what he had just done hit William like a brick. His clone walked up to him and said:

"You left them to die. You let them trust you and followed you into a trap but you didn't die with them and instead ran away." The doppelgangers voice was deep and sinister with a mocking tone. William collapsed to the floor in disbelief and sadness.

"I can make it right! Give me another chance!" pleaded William.

"I'll give you one last try. That is all." the clone said as it tapped on the ground with the trident and William was sent back to the point when he first awoke. He went to speak and lead the team through the other path but he stopped. He looked at the group as they began to argue what to do. William spotted a small person who was trying to speak but couldn't be heard. William shouted at the top of his voice "SILENCE!! You, what is your plan?" William pointed to the small person who said they should take the path that has the obvious traps but avoid the traps using their obviousness. The group agreed and followed their new leader who pointed out each trap along the way before they reached the exit. They all excitedly ran out leaving William behind.

"Well done, you left your high role as leader and let someone else lead your group. Normally in these trials you's have to fight us clones but I want to hurry this up. Congrats!" The clone handed William it's trident before exploding unto smoke. The trident's energy coursed through William as he stepped through the exit and fell unconscious.

Edward awoke in a forest. As far as he could see there were trees and bushes with the faintest glimpses of sky escaping from the leaves above. Suddenly, an arrow whizzed past and planted itself two inches into a nearby tree. Edward ran for cover behind a tree just as another arrow flew through the air where his head used to be. Quickly glancing to see where his attacker was, another arrow barely missed his eye and landed with a 'thunk' in the trunk of the tree he was hiding behind. All he was able to make out was that there was an archer squatted in a tree far away with a large, white bow and arrows appeared out of thin air. All he had to do was find a pattern and use the gaps where his attacker was forming the arrows to run to different trees and get closer. At first it worked. He weaved left and right, dodging the arrows raining down on him until his attacker learned Edwards methods and began to shoot his arrows randomly. Edward was now only four metres away but the arrows were firing completely unpredictably. Edward had to think of something to do but there was no pattern to use. The only way to get close was to...be unpredictable himself! Edward ran out into the open and ran straight for the archer. Jumping and rolling left and right until he was right underneath the archer. Running up the tree, he dodged an arrow, grabbed it from the trunk of the tree and spun round to plan it straight into the archer's head. The archer's hood fell back to reveal Edward's face for only a second before exploding into smoke. The bow began to fall but Edward grabbed it and felt a strange tingling inside. There was a flash and he fell unconscious.

The group re-awoke in a cave with five pillars in front of them. They were all still holding their weapons and felt stronger and faster than ever before. But something was off. James and Josie were nowhere to be seen. Had they failed their trials? Five figures suddenly appeared on the pillar wearing white robes that covered their whole bodies.

"Well done warriors!" spoke one in an echoed and female voice.

"Where's James and Josie!?" demanded Ben. His sudden change in personality from quiet and confined came as a shock to the group.

"These ruins only contain five celestial weapons!" spoke another robed person.

"The celestial weapon of darkness was hidden and the celestial weapon of fire was lost!" said a forth.

"Your friends are still at the temple waiting for you! Good luck warriors!" said the last robed person and before anyone could speak they were each engulfed in an aura of colour and were teleported back to the ruins where they once stood.