Wowee! Mika's having quite a crappy week! Between TVF, my oneshot, and Still Unbroken he's a very busy boy.
I'm so glad my insane updation spirit lasted long enugh to get this chapter up, cuz I've had the first half written since freaking MAY! I wrote it on the memo pad on my phone on the bus..
The trial part started out hard to write. At first I rushed it and did a shitty outline, then I went back and added in a bit more drama, excitement, details, and length. I hope I did it justice!
"You're not scary at all, are ya little fella?" Mika Ver Leth muttered softly to the small grey spider that sat comfortably in the palm of his hand. It was early. He wasn't sure how early, but almost everyone in the mountain was still asleep. He'd woken at an ungodly hour and was unable to will himself back to sleep, so he'd taken to lying face-up on the cool, smooth floor of his cell, keeping company with the spider he'd found lurking in a corner of his coffin.
His next trial, the Cave of Spiders, was about 5 hours away, so he figured he might as well take this opportunity to see what the little beasts actually looked like up close and personal. Kinda cute, was his opinion after an investigation. Not bad for a critter living in Vampire Mountain, anyway. Of course Larten would always be the arachnid afficionado of the group, but Mika figured he could get used to them. After all, they were just little bugs...
He slowly got up, joints stiff from lying on such a cold hard surface. He set his tiny friend on a small ledge he'd carved into the stone wall. The spider crawled around contentedly. Mika observed it with half a smile.
"Just your size, hmm? If I pass this trial, it's yours." He promised the spider, only half-joking. Room-mates are always fun, no matter how many legs they have. Sure he was fairly confident about the trial before him, but still...it was a Trial of Death, after all. He couldn't afford a mistake. Before climbing back into his coffin to try for at least a few minutes of shut-eye, he glanced back at his spider. So small and insignificant... He knew in his gut that he shouldn't be thinking it, but how hard could this trial really be?
"Now remember, after you've been bitten a few dozen times, try not to make any unecessary movements, and take your time, to slow the spread of poison. But don't stop moving, because adrenaline weakens it- a little. Don't try to squash the spiders. You can flick them off, at first. But eventually there'll be too many, and it'll be futile. Just try not to think about them, keep moving, hold tight to the goblet, but not too tight or your hand will cramp and start shaking. Just keep it upright, and don't forget to-"
Vanez was uneasy. When he was uneasy, he spoke loudly. So naturally, everyone in the dark damp chamber could hear him, other than the one who the words were meant for- Mika Ver Leth.
The named was staring down the cavern that gaped in front of him- near-vertical sides with cracks and crevices snaking throughout the service. When he started his descent, the spiders within would be disturbed by his movements, crawl to the surface, and -joy- swarm around him.
But they're just little spiders!
Vanez's focus became taken over by Paris descending to ask some official and businesslike questions, and Mika was shaken out of his thoughtful reverie by his friends forming a gaggle around him.
"How are you feeling?" asked Kurda, looking about 10 times as nervous as Mika felt.
"I feel..." Mika took a moment to figure it out, and he answered honestly: "...great."
No one replied, so he added;
"Is that a bad thing?"
Kurda and Arrow replied simultaneously.
"You're about to go into a Trial of Death! Is anyone else worried about his mind?" asked Kurda reproachfully.
"Nah." said Arrow. Kurda shot him a glare. Arrow elbowed him, nearly toppling him.
"I rest my case." Kurda grunted, regaining his balance. "Luck to you, Mika Ver Leth."
With that, he strode over to the gathered crowd and stood by his mentor's side. Arian didn't acknowledge him, he was fully occupied by snarling degrading remarks at a terrified young guard who had apparently forgotten half of a message he'd been sent to deliver.
For some reason, the look on the young Vampire's face made Mika smile. And that in it self pulled a wave of cool confidence over his entire body. He contracted the smoothly toned muscles in his arms and shoulders, and then relaxed them as the adrenaline really started to flow, pushing out every remaining feeling of doubt.
I can do this.
"One minute till the trial begins!" Paris announced loudly over the chatter.
"Remember what I told you." Vanez implored, squeezing his shoulder. "Slow is fast, and a clear head is the best remedy you have until you get out of the cavern."
Mika smiled and nodded, holding back a chuckle at the worried expression on the trainer's face.
"Don't -damn it all, Seba!- I mean, do not underestimate the spiders." Larten ordered, gazing intensely at his friend. He must have realised how morbidly creepy that sounded, because he added: "And be careful."
"Try not to die, is what he means." Vancha noted with a grin. Then he dropped it, and added in a more serious voice: "Really though. Watch your back. We need you around here."
Mika grinned casually, taking it all in.
Now only Arrow remained. He didn't speak; what could he possibly say? Everything had been said already, and what hadn't been said was simply too sappy to say out loud, especially in a room full of Vampires as rough as they come. Mika didn't need poetic words to know that he and Arrow shared the unshakeable bond deep of true brotherhood. They'd laughed together, cried together, bled together in countless mock battles throught the years, gotten each other out of trouble, learned from their childish mistakes. They'd made it this far because they had each other's backs.
Simultaneously without realising it, both Mika and Arrow recalled something Paris told them long ago: We Vampires are completely un-materialistic. We don't live for silly human inventions. We can't raise families. We live in the elements. When we find love, it rarely lasts the centuries. This is why our friends are everything to us. Everything.
There was nothing else to be said. So Arrow gritted his teeth and nodded.
"Drinks after this, then?" Mika remarked with slightly forced casualness.
"Just get this over with. I can't come haul your ass out this time, you have to through this." his tone was light enough, but Mika understood the dead seriousness behind every word.
"I'll be fine, Arrow. I'm a big Vampire."
"Time to commence the trial!" Arian bellowed suddenly, words that drove Mika far from his companions with the blunt force trauma of an axe.
This isn't so bad...I can do this...I'm gonna get through this just fine. Mika repeated over and over in his head on the way down. The cave floor was about a quarter-mile down, the slope wasn't horribly steep, and there were plenty of ledges and handholds. Flicking the spiders was easy, for now. He could feel their little legs the second they latched on, and so far they'd been slow to bite. He'd gotten six so far. They stung for less than a second, then the area tingled for about 10 seconds, and then it was as if they spider had never been there.
Then again, a lot of those bites, all over his body, simultaneously could really spell trouble...
But he pushed it out of his head. All he had to do was keep flicking them off.
Flick a spider off his ankle, climb, flick one off his neck, climb, flick, climb, bite -"Oww.."-climb, flick, climb...
Finally he was on the solid ground of the cavern floor, he walked quickly to the pool, swiped the goblet through it, and began his ascent.
The second he got to the wall he realized how much more difficult the climb up would be. As if keeping the goblet perfectly still wasn't enough, he had one less hand to swipe away spiders, and he couldn't take his left hand off the wall without tipping backwards.
A spider appeared on his right shoulder. He pressed his body flat against the rocks for balance and used his left hand to shove the spider off, but he wasn't fast enough. The spider sunk its teeth into his flesh before jumping off on it's own accord. The venom travelled all the way down Mika's arm, and it twitched painfully. Mika gasped in fury as several drops of water became separated from the rest and dropped onto the rockface. The goblet held about half a litre of water, and there was a thin line carved an inch beneath the top on the inside. If the water level dipped below this line, Mika would fail. And die.
He felt a layer of sweat ooze between his hand and the tarnished bronze goblet, and he forced himself to breathe and think about anything but his perdicament.
"I'm not gonna die." he muttered fiercely at the rock wall in front of his face.
Not so tough now, are you? the sharp unforgiving stones beneath his hands seemed to say.
More bites, on his legs, back, sides. He'd lost count now. His right arm ached with the effort of holding the goblet perfectly still as he continued his slow and painful scale up the wall.
Now his left hand was bleeding, rubbed raw by gripping the jagged stones. How far was the top of the cavern?
Too far!
He looked up, and the motion induced a shockwave of vertigo that almost made him vomit. Or maybe that was an effect of the spider venom which he felt more strongly with every passing minute. His body became nearly numb and his movements became jerky and uncoordinated as his veins bore the poison to every corner of his body.
Keep climbing...Keep...climbing...So many spiders...Keep...climb...ing... but don't let the goblet tip!
He righted it before too much was spilled, and shuddered a sigh of relief. His arm was so numb now he couldn't even feel the sharp pain of keeping it so stiffly locked.
The spiders were all over him now, his body became one crawling, tingling, itching field of horror. had he been able to think he would have laughed at his earlier thought that he could simply keep flicking them off. He could feel every little hair, every tiny leg...
Get them off get them off get them off get them off! They're everywhere, everywhere, gonna kill me, get off me, HELP ME, GET THEM OFF!
He tried to call up his friend's faces in his mind's eye, their last words to him...something to keep him in motion. But he couldn't, he couldn't remember anything. Recalling his very name was a struggle. As his brain disengaged, he no longer was aware of the arachnid onslaught. Muscle memory took over, fueled by instinct and determination. He couldn't stop now...had to keep climbing... Had to...
And then a spider crawled directly across his eye, they were all over his face now. Terror like nothing he'd ever felt ripped apart his mind. At least drowning hadn't been like this.
He wasn't going to make it, he was slipping, tipping, grappling, scrabbling to stay upright, falling backwards, as the crawling on his skin increased to an agonizing level.
Then his hand hit a flat surface.
The top of the cavern.
With as much care as possible, he used his last modicum of strength and stretched his right hand upwards and set the goblet down on the flat stones.
It was safe.
And suddenly he was too. Strong arms, several pairs of them, latched onto him and hauled him upwards. He felt the sensation of being lifted, and then set down on the floor.
So many spiders...
More hands all over him, batting the spiders away. But the crawling terror didn't leave him.
"GET THEM OFF GET THEM OFF GET THEM OFF GET THEM OFF!" the sudden bark of his own voice startled him. His vision flared back into focus and the faces of Vanez Blane and Seba Nile loomed over him. Seba slammed the spout of a glass vial between his lips, and Mika felt a burning liquid splash the insides of his mouth.
"...Spi...ders!" he gagged.
"Swallow it!" Seba barked.
Mika obeyed.
"Now lie still until it takes effect."
"Get them off!" Mika whimpered, clamping his eyes shut and trying to claw at the little legs he still felt crawling over his body.
Seba latched onto both of his wrists, pinning them to the floor.
"They are off, I swear there is not a single one left. You are safe." the quartermaster murmured gently.
"They're everywhere, get them off!"
"Shhh..."
"JUST GET THEM OFF!"
Barely a second after the scream passed his lips, Seba's sedative kicked in. The feeling of awful crawling insanity didn't leave him, but he suddenly felt exhausted as if every ounce of strength had been ripped away.
"YOU DID IT!" bellowed a familliar voice directly into his ear.
"Arr?" Mika gurgled.
"Close enough!" Arrow yelled happily.
Why was he so thrilled? There were spiders everywhere!"
"Arrow...the spiders...get them off..."
"They're off, we got them all. Promise." Arrow soothed, squeezing his best friend's shoulder.
"No...they're...everywhere..."
"What do you think of spiders now?" Larten's voice joined the fray.
"Stuff it Crepsley, he doesn't wanna hear that! Mika, how ya feelin?" Vancha boomed.
"G'them off...spiders..."
How did no one else see them? They were all over him, he could feel their disgusting little legs coating his body!
Vampires were cheering now, dozens by the sound of it. Chanting his name as though they hadn't a care in the world.
"Someone...get them off..." he croaked again and again, but all he got were repetitions of the same gentle, comforting whispers, "They're all off, you're safe, calm down, it's okay..."
But he could feel them...everywhere...he was going insane...
###
4 hours later, Mika's mental prescence partially returned to him and realized he was back on the same cot he'd found himself in after the Aquatic Maze. He dimly remembered the slow and painful process of walking there, supported by Arrow and Vancha.
Now the horrible horrible crawling sensation was mostly gone, but his nerves still tingled like fire and ice.
His head was clear though, finally. The raw unadultered panic had mercifully left him. However the jagged edge of fear was still painfully present.
How had he been so damn cocky going into that trial and came out a screaming wreck? And the Cave of Spiders had been free from malicious tampering as far as he knew. It had been an average trial.
What if the next trial was a deadly one?
What if his mysterious enemy tried to take him down again?
What would happen when his luck ran out?
So, reviews and constructive crit would be like totallllyy amazing? Especially since its the beautiful Christmas season ;)
*Roxy & Elena,
