Chapter 2: First Blood
The rain continued to fall.
Heavy footsteps echoed through the shattered remains of Ashbrook Village.
Charles stood motionless.
His father's broken sword felt heavier than before. The cracked blade was barely half its original length, its edge chipped beyond repair.
Against armed bandits...
It was little more than scrap metal.
Yet it was all he had.
Three figures emerged through the curtain of rain.
The first was a scar-faced brute carrying a bloodstained axe across his shoulder.
The second wielded a hunting spear.
The third, their leader, wore weathered leather armor and carried a curved saber at his waist.
The scar-faced man frowned.
"I told you I saw someone move."
His eyes landed on Charles.
"...Impossible."
"The boy's alive."
The leader narrowed his eyes.
"I watched Garen drive a spear through his heart."
Charles remained silent.
His grip tightened around the broken sword.
The voice inside his mind spoke once more.
"Your trial begins."
A translucent screen appeared.
Trial Progress
Bandits Remaining: 3
Objective: Survive Until Sunrise
The spear wielder charged first.
Heat surged from the mark on Charles's chest.
The world slowed.
Using Flame Sense, Charles narrowly dodged the attack and disarmed the bandit before driving the broken sword into his stomach.
Shaking from taking his first life, Charles barely had time to recover before the axe-wielding brute attacked.
The battle was fierce.
Again and again Charles was driven backward.
Only after the mark pulsed once more did he find an opening, slipping inside the brute's guard and stabbing him through the chest.
The final bandit, their leader, hesitated.
Fear had replaced his confidence.
After an exhausting duel, Charles was wounded several times before Flame Sense revealed a tiny opening.
Charles stepped inside the final swing and drove the jagged blade beneath the leader's ribs.
The leader collapsed into the rain.
Silence returned to Ashbrook Village.
The broken sword slipped from Charles's hands.
He looked at the three bodies lying before him.
He hadn't survived because he was stronger.
He survived because they underestimated him...
And because something inside him had awakened.
The screen appeared once again.
Trial Progress
Bandits Remaining: 0
Objective: Survive Until Sunrise
Status: In Progress
Charles slowly sank to his knees.
His wounds burned.
His vision blurred.
The voice echoed quietly within him.
"This is only the beginning."
Charles looked toward the dark horizon.
The night was far from over.
All he had to do now...
Was survive until dawn.