Alright?
The first test in this labyrinth/maze had been a riddle, a test of the mind. The second had challenged the body. Elijah hadn’t known what the third would entail, but he had two guesses.
The first idea, that this would be a test of the soul. Body, mind, and soul sounded right, but he had no idea how this Trial would go about testing it. Perhaps a challenge of moral fortitude or by bombarding him with soul mana, assuming that was a thing.
The second idea he had was that this chamber would test his Agility, Perception, and Dexterity, since the last room tested Strength, Endurance, and Vitality, and the mind stats were Intelligence, Wisdom, and Initiative.
Strangely, both his guesses were at once wrong and right. The crystal screen hummed to life, and through his swimming vision, Elijah saw that it was displaying something. He recognised the images. It was an animation of the trolley problem, one that he had seen on YouTube.
It was somehow taking the images straight from his mind; he could feel it.
A pillar shot up in front of him, and he was so tired that he stood there, slouched over and blinking slowly for a full fifteen seconds before he realised.
On top of the pillar was a lever, just waiting to be pulled. The animation began, and a black sketch of a train started trundling down the track.
If it continued on its current path, five wiggling stick figures that were hogtied and unable to escape would be run over. If it changed to the other track, only one would die. The teen assumed this lever was what caused it to switch from one to the other.
Elijah didn’t have the wherewithal to really dig into this problem at the moment. Luckily, he had thought long and hard about it when he had watched the aforementioned video.
Most people he knew would pull the lever without question; it was the utilitarian thing to do. Five was greater than one, so you should save the five and leave the one to die, no?
The problem was, Elijah didn’t think that way. To him, he would be personally killing one person if he pulled that lever. If he did nothing, it would be a tragedy, but he couldn’t say that he would feel guilty.
Perhaps he was just selfish, but if this were real, he wouldn’t interfere. This wasn’t real, however; this was a test. Whatever he did, the only things at stake were crudely drawn stick figures.
If this was a test of morality, as he expected, then the best thing to do would be to pull the lever. Morality in society was determined by the majority opinion.
Elijah reached out and tried to grab the crystalline shaft. His Perception picked up on something, and his Agility tried to get him to move out of the way, but his body was shattered, and it didn’t respond.
At once, the navel-high pillar and the lever on top of it moved away from the teen, out of his reach, and a crystal dart shot out of the wall, aimed straight for his hand.
Ow, Elijah thought dryly as a spike appeared in his hand, a hand that was still trying to grasp a lever that was no longer there. Although his Attributes had given him everything he needed to dodge that attack, his body and mind were simply too slow.
The constant running and now this crystal dagger hitting him had brought his Health down to half.
Looking up at the screen, he saw that the happily puffing steam train had already eaten up most of the track. If he was going to pull that lever, he would have to do it quickly.
Using his Water Manipulation Skill, Elijah summoned a ball of the cold, refreshing liquid right above his head and let it drop. It wasn’t quite the kick in the arse he was hoping for, but it did wake him up some and got rid of the sweaty grime that coated his skinny body.
A thin line of green had appeared at the end of his Stamina bar, just enough to allow the young man to launch off his back foot towards the lever.
Again it glided back; again a hole in the wall opened up and released a dart. Now that Elijah was expecting it, he was able to dodge. Leveraging his Dexterity, he snaked his hand around the projectile, and while in a full lunge position, stretched to his furthest extent, he grasped the lever and yanked.
There was the sound of metal grinding and a clunking as the crystal mechanism moved into place. The animation displayed on the purple screen sped up now that a decision had been made.
It was diverted; it ploughed straight over the singular gagged and blindfolded stickman.
To Elijah’s surprise, a vibrant fluid sprayed out of the screen, covering him and half the room. It was red. The drop that had landed on his tongue tasted like iron. There was no doubt; this was blood!
The revelation may have had more of an effect on the sixteen-year-old had he not been barely conscious. In his current state of mind, it was just something strange that happened. Like a dog riding a unicycle; it didn’t make any sense. It would definitely be one of the images that kept him up at night, but he didn’t, couldn't, know that yet.
There was no time to dwell. A chime rang out, and the room began to shift. Columns formed, the floor moved, and a scene was constructed out of crystal.
The last problem was displayed on a screen; there had been a layer of separation between himself and the moral quandary. This time, however, the scenario had been reconstructed out of a solid material; it was far more real.
He was standing on a bridge overlooking a train track. A tram was headed towards him. On the track ahead were five screaming and bound people. In front of him was a rotund man, peering over the railing of the bridge.
All of it was made out of the same see-through, light purple crystal. It wasn’t exactly like real life, but it was already getting too close for comfort.
Given Elijah was against the idea of pulling a lever to save five people but damn one, one may assume that he would be vehemently opposed to directly killing one man by pushing him in front of the tram.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
One would assume correctly. Elijah couldn’t even bring himself to attack the pirates, and he didn’t even believe they were really alive. There was just something about attacking another human that he was deeply uncomfortable with; part of him was scared he would turn into his father.
This time, however, he wasn’t given a choice. The fat crystal man turned around, showing his blank, featureless face. It was deeply disturbing.
Elijah didn’t notice the golem's arm swinging for his head; now that he was in fight or flight, however, that didn’t matter. He could see a blur in the corner of his vision and reacted instinctively.
His flexible body bent over backwards, further than used to be possible thanks to his Agility. It was barely enough to avoid the blow which cracked the air where his head had been seconds before.
The teen reached the limit of his elasticity and sprang back up straight. He used the momentum of the movement to push the figure, hoping to get enough room to compose himself. He ended up with far more room than he needed.
The crystal golem stumbled backwards, toppling over the railing and falling onto the track.
Elijah was horrified! He screamed out; the teen wanted to help. His face changed from shock to despair. The train sped up, giving him no time to assist the floundering man.
Given he was made out of crystal, Elijah expected the creature to shatter when hit. That was not the case. Instead, it splattered, sending blood and organs that it did not have only seconds before all over the place. Covering the teen and leaving him frozen in shock.
His mind could not help but think that he had just killed someone, and the five that had just been saved were no consolation.
Elijah remained in place as the room shifted once more. There was a lever in front of him and two sets of tracks; except this time there was only one person tied to each.
Just before the train started moving, there was a shift. Where before everything was made of angular crystals, now it appeared to be real, too real.
The teen smelt the fire in the steam engine, saw the sun reflected in the polished surface of the tracks, felt a breeze passing over his skin, and heard a bone-chilling cry coming from behind him.
He turned around. Behind him, tied to the track, bound and gagged, was his mother calling out for help. If he pulled the lever, it would instead run over his dad, who lay there unmoving.
No. No more. This test was sick, and Elijah would take no part in it!
Perhaps in response to his internal declaration of resolve, or because he was just unfortunate, it was at that moment that a hole was shattered in the illusion by an eight-foot-tall Minotaur barreling through the crystal wall.
The monster no longer held itself back, charging at full speed towards Elijah. Given its size, the speed at which it ran should have been impossible. In three seconds it had moved from its makeshift door in the simulation to the teen’s position by the tracks.
Elijah was far slower than he had been when he was fresh; even so, he was just about able to avoid the horns that came with the initial charge.
Unkillable activated, and the sixteen-year-old watched the beast wearily as two fist-sized holes were taken out of its back. It grunted slightly, but that was it. In two shakes of a lamb's tail, the Minotaur had healed the injury and was wheeling around for an attack.
Its axe swung down. Elijah contorted his body to dodge. It stopped mid-swing and switched direction. The teen tried to use Dodge, but he didn’t have enough Stamina, and it failed to activate.
One second his right hand was there; the next it was simply gone. Elijah didn’t have time to act, only to react. In one fluid motion he released a blood blade, staggering the creature, and then used his newfound control over blood to crystallise it at the end of his stump and stop him from bleeding out.
All this happened before the nerves had time to send him the pain from the original injury; when they did, he screamed. The agony of losing an appendage meant he lost the precious little time his attack had given him.
The Minotaur’s Vitality must be massive to heal so fast, a far-off part of his mind thought, clearly not entirely within the moment. Other parts of his mind were already working in overdrive to try and find a way out of this.
The simulation was still running, and the train continued to thunder down the tracks; the monster was entirely focused on killing him, not paying attention to anything else. These two things gave the teen an idea.
He backed away from the beast, his feet moving backwards over the tracks but his eyes never leaving the Minotaur’s.
Another swing came at him, this time from the left. Elijah raised his only remaining hand to block the strike. The monster smirked a bloodthirsty smile; there was no way the boy's empty hand could block the blow, and they both knew it.
The Minotaur was stunned, therefore, when his rusty weapon didn’t glide through flesh like butter but clanged off something solid.
Elijah had summoned the king's sword at the moment of impact, bracing it against his arm. He didn’t have the Agility to wield the weapon, so he recalled it in the next instant, before it could fall to the ground.
He didn’t have the Strength to block the muscular monster’s blow, and he was sent reeling back from the impact, putting him fully on the far side of the tracks.
He didn’t have much time, but neither did the Minotaur.
It looked at the teen’s grinning face with confusion. It cocked its head, unfamiliar with seeing any expression other than fear. A train struck it at full speed, killing it insta—
The train shattered into a million tiny shards, and the illusion was broken. The room returned to its original appearance. Crystal tiles cracked as a barbaric roar filled the chamber, bursting Elijah’s eardrums and causing blood to trickle down both sides of his head.
The young man watched in horror and fascination as the mangled body of the monster regenerated. Bones snapped back into place, wound sealed over, and its head twisted back on straight.
Yep, he was definitely not going to kill it!
The world was silent and in slow motion as Elijah’s heart pumped harder than it ever had before. He launched himself into a run, wanting nothing but to get away from the monster.
With each step he pushed harder, willing his legs to move faster, needing to get away.
A cracked wall stood before him, but the teen didn’t notice; he was only focused on creating as much distance as possible.
Addled by fear, he activated Berserker’s Bark, forgetting how the Skill worked. With no Stamina left, the Skill took from his Health, forming a layer of crimson bark that was far more sturdy than the regular armour but burnt every inch of his body, bathing him in fiery agony.
It didn’t help. Just as he looked down to examine himself, he saw a flash of something grey just below his waist.
The wall in front of him was smashed open, revealing a familiar emptiness.
It didn’t matter; he wasn’t going to make it. His legs fell limp, severed from his body. For the barest moment he was suspended in the air before gravity took hold.
In that moment he flailed his arm backwards, connecting lightly with the Minotaur’s chest. It didn’t matter how light the strike was; it held behind it all the retaliatory force Berserker’s Bark had absorbed, which was substantial.
Elijah’s fist exploded on contact, unable to take the pressure, and his top half was flung into the void. His mind blossomed anew with pain, but it was unimportant; he had escaped from the labyrinth.
Congratulations!
You have completed the Trial of Evolution 1: Minotaur
Grade: D
Objectives:
- Learn how to construct a good labyrinth: ?
- Defeat the Minotaur before escaping the labyrinth: ?
- Do not Die: ?
Rewards:
You have earned the right to Evolve from a Minotaur into 1 of 2 Minotaur Evolutions:
- A Mazeing Bovine
- Bullock Buster
Choose Now!
patrons: