That night Max's words were echoing through my head. He avoided me for the rest of the night, obviously not wanting to be questioned again, so I just went to my coffin and slept. When I woke up, Max had moved out of my room and he wasn't at the Hall of Khledon Lurt, so I figured that he'd had an early breakfast and gone off somewhere. I did see Becky though, and after finding some food sat down next to her.

"Hey Al! Congratulations on the trial!" I couldn't help but grin and nod.

"I wonder what the next trial will be..." I thought aloud. Becky shrugged.

"None of them are easy, but seeing as Kreeva's tutoring you, you'll be fine!"

"Oh. Him." My eyes darkened, but Becky had resumed eating and didn't see this.

"I know he's tough now, but I told you already, he's a good tutor," she said during mouthfuls. I nodded and finished my meal. I then wandered around aimlessly for a bit before realising that I should head to the Hall of Princes.

When I got there, Kreeva was waiting impatiently. He steered me towards the Princes.

"Congratulations on clearing your first trial," Mika said. "Are you prepared for the next?" I nodded. Once the bag with the trials had been checked by a General, I stuck my hand in the bag and picked a stone at the very bottom.

"Number seventy one! The Ascent!" That didn't sound good to me. I'd never been one for heights and I couldn't help dreading what was to come. Especially with Kreeva tutoring me.

The Ascent was just as bad as I'd expected. I was going to climb one of the steeper cliff faces of Vampire Mountain. On the plus side, once there I could slip down a tunnel which lead back into the Mountain. Kreeva decided to throw me right in at the deep end and have me tackle a more vertical cliff face than the one I'd actually be facing! I was cursing all the way to the rocky wall, but Kreeva ignored my mutterings. He only said something when we got to the place I'd have to climb.

"I will catch you, should you fall." That was it!

"Listen here," I growled, forgetting that he could kill me in an instant. "I don't know what you're trying to do by attempting to get me killed before the trial, but rest assured I will not be climbing this cliff face!" He looked at me impassively, and I wondered whether he would snap or do nothing. Then:

"If you are so stubborn that you will not train, then I see no point in doing so. Just be aware that you brought this upon yourself." He walked off slowly. I knew I should apologise, but I was too angry to do anything of the kind. I simply waited a while so that there was a reasonable distance between us and looked up at the vertical climb.

"I'll show you." Then I started to climb. It would be great to say that I was able to get all the way up, but I didn't. I got no more than a tenth of the way there before looking down and hastily steering back to solid ground. I had no idea how I was going to clear this trial, and with no one tutoring me, the odds of me getting through this had already been cut in half.

"You shouldn't have done that." I'd told Becky what had happened, and she didn't seem impressed. "Now you wont have anyone to help you for this trial."

"Couldn't you tutor me?" I asked hopefully. Becky shook her head.

"You only get one tutor for your trials. If you're lucky, if you apologise to him, he'll still tutor you. If not, good luck on your next trials." I was too worried about The Ascent to worry about any of the other trials, so I knew that I would have to find Kreeva and try to convince him to help me in the trials. When I found him, he was unimpressed.

"And why should I help you? You do not seem to find my teaching methods of any use."

"I have a fear of heights." I mumbled. Then I looked him in the eye. "I'm sorry. And I mean it." There was a long pause.

"Very well. However, as a punishment of sorts, I will not assist you in this trial."

"What? W..."

"All I will say is this. Keep your fingernails as long as possible, but do not grab onto rocks that you think you could grind to dust." He walked off, leaving me wondering how long I would have left to live.

I found Max later on and said sorry for interrogating him the other night. I was still feeling pessimistic at the time, so I felt that I was saying my silent goodbyes.

"So what's your next trial like?"

"I have to climb a vertical cliff face." His face fell.

"Oh. Well, I wouldn't worry about it! Bad as Kreeva is, he'll get you through."

"He isn't tutoring me for this trial."

"So who is?"

"Nobody." I explained to him what had happened. He didn't say anything, but I had a pretty good idea what was running through his mind. Rather than just letting him stand there awkwardly, I went to my coffin and slept.

I didn't eat breakfast the next night. Not only was I too nervous to eat, but I was thinking that it might make me lighter and easier to manoevure. Then again, I could just have easily been wrong. I walked out of the mountain to where my trial would be held, where I found Mika and several other Vampires, including Michael, Becky, Max and Kreeva. I wondered why he was here. Maybe to gloat when I fell?

"Hello, Alastair. Are you ready for your trial?" I could only nod. "You must climb this cliff face and make it to the top. You will become disqualified if you are not holding on to the cliff face through some form or another." I made a mental note to remember that, it might be useful. I approached the side of the mountain...and began the climb.

I was swearing under my breath throughout the whole climb. I didn't dare look down: I simply remembered what Kreeva had told me and hoped that I would be able to get through this trial. Easier said than done. I checked every part of the mountain that I was about to grab onto so that I could make sure it was safe.

Then I did something really stupid. I looked down. I guess I was too curious about how high I was not to. Once I looked I wished I hadn't. The fall looked like it could at least cause me a serious injury if I fell. My vision started blurring, but I willed myself to hang on. Still looking down, I shifted my weight onto a rock without checking its strength.

It crumbled.

I freaked out and lost my holding. As I fell, I desperatly tried to grab the side of the mountain, but my arms were flailing too much to get a proper grip, and as I still flailed around, I fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

Shit.