His body felt lighter than usual, everything around him was a lot larger as well.

"Horus, child." A sweet yet familiar voice called out to him. Standing behind the glared of the sunlight were his parents' body outline.

"As reluctant as we are we must leave on a voyage, this trip has no time no limit. This voyage holds the fate of everything we hold dear to us so we must leave you behind. You are everything we hold dear. Hold this medallion and treasure it with your life. And one day we may reunite with you."

...

...

The sensation of pain returned to his body and his soul which had been in a transcended state had returned. He had abruptly woken from a long but unforgotten dream, a dream of his past.

The agony of the air contacting his flesh was immense. There was a cavity in his chest area from where William had shot him, William! The treacherous bastard, even after he had gone through the trouble of saving Menace 1-3 the coward only thought for himself and what was convenient to him. In any case, he had survived and needed immediate medical attention.

The strength in his limbs was being deprived by his weakened state he pushed himself off the ground and looked at his surroundings. The place he had fallen into could only be described with one word.

Cave.

Evident were the stalagmites and stalactites adorning the sparse cavern. He looked up and saw the hole he had fallen through. And how did he survive such a fall, the items in his rucksack, his limbs were filed with cuts and bruises so he must have slammed against the walls of the hole while falling down which slowed his momentum. He brushed his hand across the floor, looking down he realized his was lying amidst a flower bed with rare exotic plants bunched up which had cushioned his fall also. Miraculously he did not break any bones nor fracture them, there was no blood hemorrhaging too. He immediately took out the medikit and sprayed the biofoam solution onto his chest cavity and the cuts because he was not sure whether any of the plants might contain deadly bio toxins, he had no luxury of guessing.

"Argh!" As he moved his hands up he noticed his shoulder had an acute pain, the shoulder had been dislocated from the appearance of the strange jutting bone. He fixed it with a yank of his arm while using his knee to support.

"I need to get out of this cave!"

[Even through it was you who entered my domain.] A powerful voice rippled through the cavern and his own existence, yet it sounded like a voice in the head.

"Who's there?"

[You will have to decide, this will be the place you triumph or the place that you rest for eternity]

As the eternal voice told him this, the ground rumble and the most eerie thing happened. Shriveled corpse hands broke out from the ground around the area in front of him, the dead was rising from the graves.

[So let us begin! The first trial, limbo.]

The 'zombies' had by now fully emerged from their underground resting places and were limping towards him.

"What the-!"

Horus had no time to continue attending to his wounds, he reached for his rifle. "Eh?" The rifle wasn't there holstered to his leg, he was completely defenseless.

He turned around and scuffled around the rucksack containing the peculiar weapons that were found in the old derelict Skyranger. Pulling out the pair of axes, he wasn't sure what the other weapons did but he had no time to fix or figure out how they worked. The axes didn't require a manual though. A walking dead was already upon him, so he swung the axe to lob off its head.

The axes weight was good for delivering heavy blows and the blade wasn't bad either. More of the zombies converged to him after he killed one of their kind. He needed to think of a plan fast, at this rate if he just concentrates on killing them the normal way he would get overwhelmed.

The cavern was spacious and the stalagmites offered cover from the grabbing hands. He snatched the rucksack and ran through the zombie horde to the supposed safety of the stalagmites. But it didn't hold against the massive pressure they exerted from the stampede, although some were minced into pulp from squeezing. Horus ran again.

He looked around for places to hide or at least high ground. His right arm was not responding the way he wanted it to, because it had just been set back into its socket so he couldn't wield the heavy axes much more with just his left hand.

He saw a ledge overlooking the entire cavern and began his desperate climb to safety, regardless of the pain in his arm and body. Compared to being flayed by the massive horde this was his only chance at safety. The ledge was 10 metres above ground and there were little contact surfaces to plant his feet or hands on to boost him up. He stumbled a few times when the gravel gave way, but the through of death kept him going.

He reached the ledge panting and collapsed fainting from exhaustion. Time passed quickly and the night had settled in, the zombies' wails were still present and the visibility was surprisingly good for nightfall, an unknown substance radiated the entire cavern from the rocky walls, some form of luminescent rock embedded into the walls of the cavern.

He now had the luxury to think about his circumstance. First, why was he here? He had gone back to rescue that ungrateful prick and had gotten stabbed in the back in the end and tumbled down the mountain. He woke up in a cave from which he fell through the sky light that dominated the entire cavern. Then there was that voice, the ethereal voice that resounded in the recesses of his head every time it spoke. But it said I trespassed into its domain, and there was a commencement of a...trial?

He looked down at the zombies reaching out for him, certainly they began to appear the moment the voice declared the start of some sort of trial.

Horus spent more time attending to his wounds and checked his inventory, his drone was nowhere to be seen, his rifle was absent but his datapad and ammunition were still on him. Everything else he packed on the combat harness was also present, food for a 72 hours. Food was the only concern he had now, he had no idea where he was and the trek through the jungle could take him more than his supplies can handle.

He had to get out of here, looking around the cavern for clues to exit. The visibility was low but he could still make out the ends of the walls encompassing the cavern.

"There's-...no exit..." Horus's heart thumped wildly as the thought of being trapped in this cave forever crept into his heart. He sat against the wall of the ledge.

Was he really going to live out his days in the recess of this cavern? Five days was tops that he could live without food and water.

The zombies continued wailing infuriated him to the point that he wanted to do to them what they would do to him. It was like an audience laughing at his pathetic existence all over.

"Shut up!"

The zombies were mindless so his words did not influence them.

He took up one of the axes and flung it at the horde out of anger. The axe spun in the air and lodged itself into the head of a zombie.

"Ha...hahahhhahaHAHAHAHAHA...!" His end was coming and he could see it, he laughed at his own existence once again.

Two days had passed, as he squandered the time he had left. If anything, he found the constant wailing of the zombies to be incessantly noisy, he couldn't get a moments peace.

If he had one wish now, it would be to destroy them all to return tranquility to the once quiet cavern.

"Since... I'm going to die anyway... I should at least go down the way I want to." He resigned himself.

He took out the strange weapons from the rucksack, their design had a reminiscence of hunting weapons, due to their wooden-like furniture. They weighed almost lighter than the ADVENT weapons and their own weapons.

One of the weapons looked like some sort of nail gun, the other was like a steampunk flintlock pistol. The nail gun had been found with eight stakes made from some alien dense metal. Horus fiddled around with the controls and two metal sections on the front of the gun deployed, making it look like some sort of vertical crossbow.

Curious to find out the power of the weapon he loaded one of the stakes into the gun and walked to the ledge where the zombies were.

He pulled the trigger and the stake flew with immense force and speed that it ripped through several zombies in a row, it was just that powerful. Horus dropped the gun as he was stunned by the devastating power of the crossbolt.

He immediately picked up the weapon and examined it once again, there was a lot of mechanisms he couldn't reach inside because of its overall complexity so he left it alone. His findings were on the controls of the weapon, how to manipulate the gun to load and the safety. The gun would not fire unless the bow was deployed, that was the most important element. He was definitely 90% sure the weapon operated on some kind of railgun concept, the energy used to power it was that alien fuel recovered from dead aliens for their plasma weapons, Elerium. So there was no real worry of whether the gun would fail in firing or shut off from power consumption yet, he turned the weapon off just in case to conserve its energy.

The other firearm was the flintlock-like pistol, because it wasn't a flintlock exactly. The weapon fired using gunpowder but the ammunition for it didn't seem to be present, he took out a cartridge from his magazine and pulled the bullet out of the case to use the smokeless powder. Personally he wasn't sure of the effects of using smokeless powder in a flintlock but this pistol wasn't a flintlock. He pulled out more cartridges to fill the gun's magazine. The weird thing he noticed about the gun was that there was no hole from which the bullet would come out from but there was some sort of criss cross mess on the end like on a mincer. He took the pistol to his live targets and pulled the trigger. A massive flash from the gun blinded the front of him but he heard flesh being shredded from the shot. Something had managed to come out from the gun through the mesh, the gun had also seemed to be powered in some way. But the most peculiar thing happened after he fired the gun at the zombies. The horde seemed to disperse throughout the cavern, like they had just lost sight of him. Could it be the enormous flash from the ignition had broken their sight of him? This meant that he could kill someone and sneak off undetected. This pistol was just as effective as the nail gun.

He had one last axe with him he didn't throw away at the horde. The axe too had unusual properties, it too was somehow powered by the internal Elerium battery for some function. The axe seemed to cleave through flesh and rock like paper. He dare not touch the blade due to its sharpness but he could guess why it had this unusual ability of cutting through hard objects with general ease, from the quiet humming of the blade. The power of the internal Elerium was used to energized the blade at a high frequency, that meant the axe head was a vibrating frequency blade able to cut through other metals without problems or heavy wear to the blades sharpness because it will be sharp indefinitely as long as power is provided to it. Luckily the blade only vibrates when in contact with something, one of the great energy saving features that were on it.

Horus had decided after having an hour of contemplating, he would make his final hour the best time he could have, if he died prematurely that was fine as long as he didn't die of hunger.

Horus slung the weapons onto his body and climbed down the ledge. His noise from climbing down alerted some of the horde to his presence and they began to limp towards him in greater strides.

He walked towards the horde and pulled out the axe he had thrown at the zombies earlier and readied himself for the greatest fight his life would ever encounter!

"HAH!" He brought the axe down upon the closest zombie to him and comboed with his pistol which sent another bright flash blinding the zombies. He found it useful in providing him with breathing seconds. He ran around the place to gather the horde en masse, his intentions were to bunch as many as possible to use his nail gun to pierce as many as possible. He only had seven bolts with him left but he found out a convenient thing about the weapon that was it was able to reuse its ammunition. He fired the bolt at the horde taking away tens of zombies away from the horde and he repeated the process until he was out of bolts. There were a few that came to him from other angles but they were finished of with the axe.

Unfortunately, he had no time to collect the bolts scattered throughout the cavern. Slinging the bolt caster, as he now called it on the back he drew one of the axes and the pistol.

He began to charge at the group of zombies and began hacking at them and sending gunpowder spraying at them. The zombies were now in close proximity to him, clawed and bit at him, a few were successful. Horus initially wondered where contact would result in him joining the living dead eventually like those zombie movies. But he was about to die anyway so why should he care. While the numbers had dwindled, there was still a sizable amount that could overwhelm him at any time.

His strength was fading fast but it didn't slow him down because he was determined to make his last fight the greatest by throwing every ounce of energy into his body.

His body was succumbing to the pain of the bites and scratches but also his previous wound that might have opened up.

Is this the end? He asked himself, his strength had waned considerably with his constant fighting. Let's see if I can take every single zombie down with everything I've got, he challenged himself.

The hours passed as his fighting continued. He should have been down long ago but the sensation, the rush of combat was getting to him, he grinned madly at achieving his own perfect death.

"Just...ten more..." the last remaining zombies wailed to him as they reached out to bite him to dead. But his use of the axe had become more streamline than before, after swinging the axe a few hundred times he learnt to strike with the least amount of energy but achieving the same or greater force exerted from the blade.

He now dual wielded the axes into and awesome display of fighting style. And then finally, after four straight hours of fighting he cleared out all of the zombies within the cavern. He collapsed with a satisfied smile on his face as he had achieved his own limit, he could die ha-

[First trial complete, proceed to the second trial]

The cavern rumbled and the rocky wall parted near him revealing a secret passage he had not known about before.

"That's right, I finished its trial..." He murmured too tired to get up.

Wait! A glimpse of hope came over him.

"Hey! If I finish your trials, can I leave this place?" He called out to the voice.

The voice did not reply immediately but answered anyway.

[A path will be provided for you if you survive and inherit my legacy.]

Legacy? Whatever! It offered me a way out, I should be grateful. I can't stand a single second more in this place!

Horus lay back to rest for a moment then got up to collect his things, more importantly the bolts for the bolt caster. It had shown to be a formidable tool in removing heavily armed targets, he managed to recover all eight bolts.

He ate his supplies of food and clean water then proceeded further after applying more of the medikit paste to his abdomen covered with bite marks and scratches. He heated a knife on him to seal the cavity wound that had opened as the biofoam couldn't do its job of keeping it closed. Taking a rest again was important for him because he was unsure of what lay ahead in the secret opening.

"How many trials are there in total?"

...

[You have succeeded the trial of Limbo, ahead lies the blood trials of Binding followed by the final trial of Fortitude. If you are worthy, the legacy of the blood boa falls to you, you may go back into the world to do great deeds both terrible and magnanimous.]

"Trial of Binding? Would it be something like that zombie horde I put out of its misery?"

He looked back at the bodies lying around, he was having a hard time believing he was actually capable of doing that. He walked into the exit towards the second trial determined to return to the AVENGER.

"How can you speak English?" Horus had just realized this place was still Argentine so there shouldn't be any English present.

[I am speaking to you from your heart. It is a trait endowed to myself so that as the ages go by and the native tongues change I will still be able to communicate with the participants.]

After considerable walking distance they arrived in another similarly lit up cavern only this time there were man-made structures in it, mostly columns with stone engravings of serpents wrapping around them. It wasn't just the columns, the stepping stones, the walls and the roof was decorated with a common theme, and that was serpents.

"What is this place?"

[You entered by mistake it seems, without the intention of attending the age old ceremonies that once took place in this holy site. This is the temple of the bloody serpent god.]

He had heard from the voice that he had fallen into and ancient temple to some local deity, he just wanted to get out before offending the occupant further.

Up ahead was an elevated altar up the long steps. The ever present luminous stones were there to light up his way, he wondered how this place seemed to be filled with them. Perhaps this was a mine that the ancient civilization built their sacred ritual ground it from. He could hear the trickling of water from where the altar was too.

"What are you?" The most important question, who was this who was speaking to him? From the voice alone he knew no person could even hope to replicate.

[I am the caretaker of the blood serpent trial grounds. And you are an aspiree hoping to become a spiritual flame user.]

"I just wanna get out of this place, I'll deal with your trials then I'm off!"

[Do you not seek power?]

Horus stopped in his tracks.

[That is why you have come here isn't it. Fate had a comical way of bringing you here to change it. The question is, do you want it to change?]

"... I do, every second I spend here I think of how I could have done better, how if only I was stronger, faster, more intelligent than people I only begin to start caring for won't die abruptly!"

[Then proceed. Take a chance at attempting the trials, succeed and you will have the strength that you so desire. Fail, and you will join the thousands who had failed before you!]

"I'll die if I don't get out, I might die if I attempt the trial. Obviously I would attempt it, I have nothing to lose now."

[So be it. Let the trial of binding begin!]

"What does this trial consist of?" But the voice no longer answered him.

He reached the altar, there was a chalice sitting in the middle. He took up the cup and examined it.

He could see the blood stains in the walls of its vessel, at the back of the altar was a fountain but there was one key feature that distinguished it quite clearly from any ordinary fountain.

Because it was flowing with blood, he could tell because of the iron smell that permeated the air around it.

[Drink...]

That's all the guardian told him.

Unhesitant, he dipped the chalice into the pool and retrieved a cup full.

"I can't believe I'm really doing this!" He said to himself.

Leaning the cup against his lips he took in the flesh blood into his system. He waited but nothing happened.

"Am I done with the trial- urgh!...AHHHHHH!"

An unseen flame burnt his insides from the liquid he took into his stomach. The chalice dropped from his grasp and rolled down the steps as he collapsed on his knees then finally he crawled into a fetal position.

[Endure my blood legacy and you shall continue. Fail and you shall immolate from your insides and you will become but ashes.]

The pain was like being impaled by hot iron stakes throughout his body. He let out a blood curdling scream, but the agony was ever present. It circulated his body roasting his organs and veins, mucus and tears rolled out from his extremities uncontrollably. Steam was emanating from his skin to signify the boiling temperature his body was in.

But to escape from this place he would do anything, he had too much at stake back home. And yet the pain and suffering he was going through made him want to end his life that every instant. How long did it last, how long had gone by he didn't know although it felt like an eternity?

It was too much. Too much! "God!... Kill me now!" He suddenly declared hoping someone would respond, it was at that moment that his medallion fell off from around his neck in front of him.

He stared at the medallion with bloodshot eyes, then that memory started to unfold in front of him. The oldest most treasured memory burnt into his mind.

"Hold this medallion and treasure it with your life. And one day we may reunite with you."

His mother told him. But for that to happen he had to return, he had to survive! SURVIVE! Bismarck had once told him the same thing to leave with his live, but it ended in an unforeseen saga.

"Rune Barbatos!" He cursed the name out loud. The man who had taken his friends from him.

That's right, I still need to survive. I still need to avenge them! If not, everyone will suffer because of me! There was Alicia in danger of the machinations of William!

Horus grabbed the medallion and gazed at it feverishly to stem the notions of suicide and remember why he needed to survive this trial. He could feel his vitality burn away but if he didn't get out then it was meaningless.

Survive. Survive. Survive. Survive...

He repeated in his head as he grasped the medallion till his palm bleed staining it with his fresh blood, steam rose from his spilt blood, he was still boiling inside but it didn't matter.

Survive. Survive. Survive. Survive...

Blood poured from his eyes, ears and mouth from the damage it caused.

And after seemed like an eternity...

"I will...SURVIVE!" He shouted with all his might.

The pain vanished quickly and a comfortable sensation took its place. Horus fainted from the sudden change. A smile planted on his face.

He had done it.

[Finally, after millennia. A worthy successor...]

The case was never officially settled. Horus was listed as KIA as according to William's account and from his fire team members. A ceremony was held in hangar with participants from engineering, the science team and the combatants and general staff.

There were a few people not present at the ceremony, one was Alicia. Since the mission she had not come out of her room, leaving Heather to deal with her work load, but her friend understood what she was going through and took it up willingly.

"Once again he threw his life for his fellow man! Each and every one of you here are because of something he had offered you without demanding anything in return. And that is a rare caliber of man even throughout the ages..." The commander gave a funeral speech personally and left because there were matters to attend to immediately after.

Steph was the other one who took the weight of his death the heaviest. She was out and about but would often forget things right in the middle of doing her duties. The chief medical officer handled her case and had her come to here infirmary for checkups and to monitor for changes.

"Alicia! Child! Open the door this instant!" Madam Lee demanded. But there was no reply.

She was sitting in her bed against the wall hugging her knees. Her room was a mess, as if she had been flinging everything upside down.

Madam Lee heard hands touching the door on the other side.

"You were right, Nanna! In the end I was really too late!"

Referring to the time she had mentioned about her relationships.

"Child...open this door. So I may console you." Hye Gi changed her tone to her loving mother tone she had used on her all those years ago.

The door slides open and Madam Lee caught sight of the dried up tears along her face.

"Come here." She requested as she opened her arms to receive Alicia.

"...Nanna!" She burst into tears once more as she leaped into her arms.

Madam Lee sat at her bedside while she was still pressing her face against her Nanna's bosom.

"I miss him so much!..."

"We all do, dear."

Outside William had arrived at her room though he didn't enter, he had intended to console her but was beaten to it by Lee Hye Gi. His knuckles crunched and teeth gritted at his failure. Who would have thought she would feel that way about that mongrel who was part of her team? He had kept a watchful eye on Horus because he was entering his equation to be with her and he was getting in the way with the latter's logical answers and apparent lack of respect for him. He couldn't find a single detail to fault him through their conversations, the man was incredibly cunning in placing his words so that they weren't directly challenging his position as an officer but still equally as potent in poison of insult. It always agonized him at the end of their conversation. But now he was out of the way and he would have complete hold over his Alicia. Just like he should as his mother had always told him.

"Soon, you will be mine only, Alicia." A crazed look appeared on his handsome face.

Horus opened his eyes to find himself in silence. He got up and looked around, he was still beside the altar but now another passage had opened. He had survived the consumption of that liquid he now avoided calling blood.

The pain was already gone. In fact, all of his pain was gone. He looked down to where the cavity in his chest from the bullet was gone, his cuts and bite marks, gone. His body wasn't feeling a single pain as it should be, there were no scars on his body either. Could the liquid have caused his injuries to heal rapidly, it felt more like he would have received more damage from drinking but since this was the case he couldn't not be grateful for the situation.

Although his heart still felt the pain he had gone through, it probably took a few years of his life in exchange.

[The blood trial of Binding is complete, proceed to the final trial and be ready.]

Horus sighed at the way the voice was giving him orders like some sort of voice in one of those video games where the protagonist must complete a sacred ritual. That was how he felt.

He picked himself up and checked his inventory, ensuring that his weapons were fully loaded and accessible. He went through the passageway that revealed itself after completing the blood trial.

Horus began to notice as he was walking that he felt taller and his muscles were more prominent as an effect of that liquid. He honestly didn't want another sip even if it gave him superhuman strength this time.

Up ahead was a narrow cave like place with a circular platform and a skylight shining down on the platform. He was honestly sick and tired of caves, what he wouldn't give to see the forest.

As he stepped onto the platform the voice called out again.

[Have you prepared yourself? Are you ready to face the final trial?]

"Yes, how ready do you want me to be?"

[Then for the final trial you will be pitted against myself.] The voice came from his back this time instead of his surrounding so he quickly turned around to meet the voice. He froze when he saw two glowing eyes in the shadows, but that wasn't all. There was an enormous snakes body slithering through the light.

The glowing eyes came out of the dark to reveal what appeared to be a giant snake, the snake was at least a body width of a metre as for the length it was impossible to tell. From the patterns on the snake's body he could tell that it was some sort of boa constrictor, but of course they would never grow this big.

He remembered they had venom as well which he definitely needed to avoid at all costs, the same could be said if the snake wraps around his body, he was a dead man. Strangely he did not feel frightened at all, perhaps the fighting with the undead had worn out his fright of the supernatural as a giant boa was right before him.

"So you're the guardian? And if I want to get out of here I need to defeat you, correct?"

[You must destroy this physical manifestation of myself if you want to succeed my legacy and return home.]

He wanted to try his luck at reducing the demands on him, defeating it and killing it were two entirely different levels all together. If he severely wounded it, the fighting might stop but to kill it would require more than twice the amount of skill and luck.

"Are you sure you're ok with me killing you?"

[This is but a vessel to store my soul, I will not truly die so you need not hold back.] The snake said while slipping its tongue in and out.

Perfect! (Sigh) The hard way it is!

Horus was most concerned about the speed of the boa, for its size the amount of sinew and muscle in it would allow it to propel it at him in an instant, he might not even have time to react.

He checked his weapons one last time, he couldn't afford to make a mistake in this scenario or he will really lose his life for real this time.

The guardian's eyes followed his movements and patiently waited for him as its body was coiled and its head towering above him at least two stories high.

"One question before we begin."

[Speak]

"You keep talking about this legacy but I have no idea what you are talking about, care to enlighten?"

The serpent guardian chuckled monstrously, through its non-existent teeth..

[Defeat my physical form then I will teach you.]

The snake guardian bent ready to lunge. Horus prepared himself for a sprint.

"I'm ready!"

[You shall make the first move]

The moment the serpent guardian said that Horus dashed towards it with the bolt caster in hand. The guardian darted its head at him with speeds that deceived its size. Horus leaped sideways to avoid and the guardian slammed at the cavern wall causing a minor tremor. Horus ran for the back where its tail should have been while it was recovering from its assault. He fired the bolt caster at the end of the tail and it impaled the guardian to the ground like a 'pin the tail on the mule'. The guardian shrieked in pain and turned its head to meet Horus at its tail. It darted its head at him again but this time to snap him in its mouth. Horus drew the axe and brought it down onto the its head and cut the top of the mouth without doing serious damage, but that wasn't the point.

He had successfully kept the head down for him to stake with the bolt caster. He climbed the guardians enormous head with the axes and fired the bolt caster into its cranium to put it out for good. Unfortunately, things are not as smooth sailing as always planned. The guardian shook its head vigorously and made him lose balance. He fell to the floor and the bolt caster lay a distance from him, he quickly ran to retrieve it but the guardian lifted its body to block his path, cutting him from reaching the bolt caster.

The guardian knew of its dangerous ability to penetrate its hard skin and wouldn't allow him to fire a second shot.

Horus's initial plan was to impale the serpent body from the tail to deny movement, then somehow have the head lured down from its high point and strike the head from the back. Now the worst had happened, he was separated from the only weapon that could take it down in one shot.

The guardian flayed its head at him to try and squash him, but he barely dodged. What he wouldn't give for an X4 charge right about now, it could blast this snake into smithereens. Unfortunately, he used it on the ADVENT column previously. The only weapons he had were the strange armaments he recovered from the old Skyranger.

He took out the second axe to use side by side with its twin. Awaiting the snake head to try to crush him in its jaw. He danced to the side and delivered a heavy blow every time the snake snapped at him.

But it was tired of receiving and not giving. The snake body coiled around him and closed in. "Shit!" Horus used the Axes to climb before the coil completely tightened but was unable to make it out fully and quick wittedly used the axe to jack it from crushing his stuck leg. But he was in a helpless position for the head to strike him again.

[It seems this is as far as you go. Such a disappointment, yet you even resisted my paralyzing gaze.]

It was doing that? He thought. The snake head reared to give space to build momentum and flung forward at him. Horus quickly pulled out the last remaining weapon in his arsenal he had yet to show the guardian. The trigger was pulled and the gunpowder ignited and created a huge muzzle flash that blinded the snake and it spasm about while the grip on Horus leg slowly slipped. Horus took the axe and flung it at the snake's eye and it lodged itself in its eye. The snake jittered about from the pain. As Horus searched about for the one weapon that could kill the serpent.

He found the bolt caster and immediately loaded a bolt in it and aimed at the serpent's head. The bolt catapulted towards the snake from the side of its head and pierced straight through the lower jaw but not the head. He loaded another and fired at the same destination and it lodged itself through its last remaining eye. The snake was heavily injured but not out of the fight yet. As he loaded the fifth shot the snake listened to the metal surfaces contacting and attacked the general direction. He was knocked back and lay on his back after he finished loading. The snake listened in again for noise, Horus saw this and quickly stilled his heart and motion the snake slithered around to hear for him.

Then Horus thought of an idea, he waited for the snake to reach a certain place and threw his axe on the opposite side of him to alert the snake of his decoy presence on the opposite side. The snake bought his strategy and moved towards the location. Horus aimed the bolt caster at the head and pulled the trigger which sent the bolt straight through the cranium and instantly the snake stopped moving. He fired off his last shot at it just to make sure.

Collapsing a third time for over exerting himself today. He breathes a sigh of relief when the guardian's physical form failed to move again. The snake began to evaporate into the air like it never existed.

[Well done. Truly a magnificent show of force and skill, you possess a keen intellect to go with your agility. Perhaps I could make a spiritual flame wielder of you yet.]

The guardian's voice returned to its neither here nor their ethereal presence.

"Am I done?"

[Yes. The final trial has been complete. You are now entitled to receiving the legacy.]

"Can I just opt to get out of here?"

[No.] It responded sharply and rather aggressively

[One hundred years. One hundred years! Do you know that's how long since anyone has visited this place, let alone pass it?]

The guardian's voice became less serious than it was throughout the trial and more of a lonely person.

"So you mind telling me what is this legacy you keep talking about?"

[A-ah! Yes! This way.]

Another passageway door hinged open and Horus went through without hesitating.

[The legacy I'm about to give is the spirit emblem of the blood serpent.]

"Sorry, you've lost me. What's a spirit emblem?"

[Argh! How can humanity of this era be so forgettable about the power that has been protecting this world from other worldly forces?!]

The guardian said in an angry tone.

Otherworldly forces? Like the aliens?

"There are no records in history that talk about this spiritual power, it was always assumed that was merely mysticism or religious practices."

[Really, those ungrateful curs! Why didn't they do a good job at spreading the influence of spiritual power? (Gibberish)!]

The guardian's behavior was now akin to a grumpy old man, it was strangely comforting for Horus.

"How many of these sites are there around the world?"

[Ten! Yes!- No, wait! Was it eight?]

"(Sigh)... Let's pretend there are ten in the world that are evenly spread out. Of course, this power would be recognized by the people that live near it. They'd probably worship the spiritual power seeing as it was supposed to be a guardian force as you said and would become a state religion. But times change. The cities may adopt other religions especially like what happened in the dark ages when the Christians went around burning other religious groups they classified as pagans. Perhaps one of the spiritual power religions got caught in it. The point I'm trying to make is that if the necessity of the sites does not fulfill the function it will be forgotten."

[F-Forgotten? NOOOOO! This one can't be forgotten...that can't be...]

The voice sounded grief struck after receiving such a news.

[AH! But it's fine now! Your here, so you can inherit the spiritual flames of the blood serpent and spread the word again! Hahaha!]

"This spiritual flame, what does it actually do?" He knew it was some sort of power but what was its true function.

[The spiritual flame is both a weapon for offensive and defensive purposes. Depending on the spiritual emblem you receive, like in this instance the bloody serpents you will be endowed with the traits that are exclusive to the said emblem. Other spiritual emblems from other sites have their own ability and so will yours.]

"Does it make me stronger? And what are the weaknesses of having it?

[It can make you stronger, faster and more durable when you activate it but as for weaknesses, to maintain the spiritual flame requires reserves of your own innate spiritual power and could run out quickly depending on the person.]

They reached another platform with diagrams and formations carved into it. The area was dominated but four statues of serpents gazing upon the square.

[Hop on board and we shall begin.]

Horus stepped onto the platform and had triggered a phenomenon of rising lights.

[Your name, boy...]

"Horus."

[What do you seek from attaining the acknowledgement of the spirit emblem?]

"The power to save my friends, to destroy ADVENT and the Prism knights!"

[As he says, let the power of the temple bestow the blessing onto this young warrior!]

A burning sensation took hold of his arm it felt like a molten barbwire wrapped around it, he clasped his hand in pain. Symbols began to engrave itself onto his left hand in intricate patterns, compared to the pain from the blood trial this was shy in comparison. So he endured it.

[The trials have made you stronger both in mind and in body. I hope that someday you will spread the existence of us spiritual entities once again.]

"I'll try, no promises."

The guardian chuckled satisfied with his response.

[Then arise! Champion of the bloody serpent!]

The engraving on his hand completed with quicker speed and he recognized what it had formed, a boa constrictor like the guardian's fleshy body that wrapped around his hand.

His world became dark and he fell under a sleeping spell.

Waking up in a cavern with the light shining from the entrance. Horus got up and walked towards the cave entrance, he saw the jungle down below and beyond. He had made it out finally. Now it was time to return to XCOM.

He looked at his arm that had a tattoo of a boa binding around his hand and noticed something that was not there before. A bracelet with a blood red gem that was held in the centre of its weave. Perhaps it was a farewell gift from the guardian, who knows.

Horus climbed down the slope from where the cave entrance was after rechecking that everything was with him, he now only had one day's worth of provisions left so he had to find food and clean water somewhere from the wilderness but that was no problem for him now.

(Bang) (Gunfire)

Horus heard a firefight happening nearby, that was probably ADVENT engaging a resistance group. That meant that he could regroup faster than he anticipated. "What luck!" He rubbed his hands together.

Horus dashed through the thick foliage of the jungle following the sound of the battle taking place, he hoped that he would be at least one resistance fighter left or else returning to their base would be a hassle.