The Three Trials

Kamui's eyes fluttered open as memories barraged his thoughts. He remembered everything about that night when Caeldori had saved his life and smooched him in front of a campfire.

After the throbbing sensation in his head had quelled, he began to observe his surroundings. Kamui deduced he was in the infirmary, given the bleached interior and smell of despair.

Unbeknownst to Kamui, his inner thoughts were experiencing an 'internal situation', if you will. The spider that Nyx had released into his ear originally had its web wrapped nice and tight around the memory of Kamui's campground misadventure. That all changed when he collided with that poor tree that had the misfortune of a dragon smashing into it. The spider's web was destroyed due to Kamui's head being knocked around, and it had searched for another memory to ensnare, as that was its singular purpose. The spider eventually settled its web over the memory of Kamui carrying a young Caeldori on his shoulders.

Essentially, Kamui remembered nothing about meeting Caeldori when she was a child.

While Kamui was scanning the infirmary, he failed to notice that Caeldori was currently pressing her head into the blanket that covered him. She snored loudly before her head rolled onto its side and slowly opened her eyes.

Caeldori lifted herself off the bed before stretching her arms out and yawning. Her focus shifted to Kamui, who now leaned up against the bed frame.

"Oh, thank the gods you're okay!" She ensnared him with her arms in the blink of an eye, and her grip on his back was incredibly strong while she smiled. "I never got the chance to repay you for... rescuing me." Her eyes seemed to focus in on Kamui's iris', and Kamui couldn't help but stare at her beautiful, red pupils.

Kamui watched with bated breath as she pulled her head closer to his. Her eyelids closed and her head tilted itself slightly to the left. "Here goes nothing…" Caeldori pushed her lips onto Kamui's as her mouth opened. She expected him to resist like last time, but instead, he parted his mouth as well.

Kamui couldn't understand why he didn't resist, although he had a sneaking suspicion that his back wasn't the only thing damaged last night. Something about Caeldori just seemed so… different.

Given that his memory of her as a child was now removed from his mind, he now had no qualms about Caeldori's romantic advances.

Kamui began to notice the tiny details on her face, such as how easy it was to get lost in her beautiful eyes. He lost his train of thought and continued to embrace her. Neither of them cared that their breath smelled like wet garbage.

Hisame, meanwhile, was in the mess hall making three sandwiches. He placed the steak he had collected onto the cutting board before unsheathing his katana. Some individuals mocked him for using a sword to cook meat, saying that it was 'unsanitary'. He never liked those people. While he gently lowered his blade onto the raw steak, his thoughts began to drift about his practice in hopes of being a Master of Arms.

He was considered by his mentor to be a master of the sword and had spent many years in his deep realm practicing with the club until he felt skilled with it. His only obstacle left was mastering how to use a spear. He understood the basics of 'stab it until it dies' well; his only problem was his muscle memory to slash at the target.

Hisame interrupted his thoughts and finished cutting the steak into three chunks. He slid the pieces off the board and into the nearby cooking pot that had a fire underneath it. He flipped the nearby hourglass and began to cut the bread.

His thoughts began to wander again as he thought of his friends. He was never that good at making friends, seeing as everyone in the nearby village at his deep realm referred to him as the 'Pickled Prince of Freaks'. Kamui and Caeldori, however, treated him with wonderful respect befitting a human, enough so that he considered Kamui as his closest friend.

Caeldori, in particular, had been the apple of his eye ever since he arrived at the castle; her beautiful looks and wonderful personality continuously reminded him why he loved her so.

Hisame noticed that the sand in the hourglass was now residing in the bottom half of the glass time-teller, which indicated that the steak was cooked. He finished slicing six slices of bread and fitted his hands into the red mitts next to the pot. He slipped a few slices of a pickle into his sandwich.

Moments later, Hisame placed the three steak sandwiches into a basket and left the mess hall. The morning fog was still residing in the air outside and the only sound Hisame could hear was the press of his footsteps against the wet grass.

Back inside the infirmary, Sakura watched with increasing discomfort as Caeldori playfully rolled onto Kamui's bed. Leo gazed on in dismay as well while he awkwardly twiddled his thumbs.

"Should we… uh, get going?" Leo turned to Sakura and noticed that her face was entirely red.

"Dear gods yes," Sakura immediately stood up and grabbed Leo's hand. She scurried out of the tent with him in tow.

The couple sprinted across the main field and collided with Hisame, seeing as all three of them had paid no attention to their surroundings.

"Ow!" Hisame exclaimed as he felt the full force of a tiny girl collide with him. He looked down to see Princess Sakura collapsed on the ground, and that Nohrian Prince, Leo, bending down to help her onto her feet.

Sakura grunted in pain as well and began rubbing her forehead as she stood up.

"I am sorry for running into you." She focused her sight on the man she just sprinted into; only after a long five seconds did she realize it was Hisame. "O-Oh, hi Hisame! How are you doing?" Her face beamed with delight at the sight of her friend's son.

"Hello, Sakura. I'm doing fine, thanks for asking." Hisame attempted to sidestep her to the infirmary, but unfortunately, she grabbed his shoulders tightly. He let out a sigh as he realized he wasn't getting out of this; Leo gave him a sympathetic smile. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine; thank you for asking." Sakura smiled with glee. "So I heard you were having problems with your parents." Her smile shifted into a worried look.

"With all due respect, I'd prefer if I kept my quarrels with them secret." Hisame sighed, then focused his eyes on the ground rather than Sakura's face.

"That's nonsense. As your godmother, I just want to know if anything is going on between you and your parents." Sakura's concerned look shifted into a more serious expression.

"Well, if you insist," Hisame inhaled sharply. "I despise my parents because they only visited me three times in the span of eighteen years." He expected that whenever he said the words 'I despise my parents' that he would feel some sense of guilt with such an extreme statement.

Instead, he felt nothing.

"B-But Hinata told me he visited your deep realm every day." Sakura was taken aback by this statement.

"That was false. My dope of a father promised he would visit every year, but only showed up whenever he remembered he had a son. I'm disgusted that I'm even related to him, or my lazy mother." Hisame rustled his shoulders until Sakura lost her grip; he began stomping to the infirmary as he clutched his basket.

"Hisame, wait!" Sakura attempted to run after her before a hand firmly held her by the shoulder and stopped her from following.

"Sakura, I'd really prefer if you didn't chase after him." Leo sighed as he looked at the departing man.

"But…" Sakura stood in place and her mind was already combing through ways to fix this predicament with Hisame and his parents.

"I've got a bad feeling about that kid. Mark my words, he's gonna cause something disastrous." Leo delicately held her hand, and she took comfort in the warmth of his fingers.

Hisame entered the tent and looked to his left to see Kamui and Caeldori. Both of them were standing up and looked very suspicious with their hands behind their backs.

"Oh, hello friends," Hisame spoke while giving them a smile.

"H-Hi, Hisame." Kamui's voice croaked as he held Caeldori's hand behind his back. He quite enjoyed the soothing feeling of her fingers. "Is there a reason why you're up so early?"

"I made you two some breakfast!" Hisame smiled as he pulled out a trio of sandwiches from his basket. He handed one to Kamui, and another to Caeldori before sitting down in nearby chair. He was mildly curious as to why Kamui and Caeldori sat down directly next to each other while smiling in an overly-enthusiastic manner, but he decided not to ask them about it.

"This tastes really good," Caeldori spoke after swallowing a bite of her sandwich. "Thank you for thinking about us."

"You're welcome." Hisame smiled and refused to stop smiling while he stared at her.

"Is there a reason why this tastes like someone cut it with a sword?" Kamui spoke while he was chewing his food.

"Don't be absurd, I used a knife." Hisame figured that it was trivial to specify the size of said knife.

Two weeks later, Ryoma relaxed in the hot spring while Camilla propped her head against his shoulder. Ryoma's right arm was coiled around her smooth back.

"Can we just stay like this for the next decade or so?" He asked as Camilla smiled. The hot water from the sauna numbed his skin.

"That would be wonderful." She responded before lazily dragging her finger along Ryoma's chest. She turned her head to face him and pressed her mouth to his; his hand gently supported the back of her head. His other free hand clutched her back and was inching ever so slowly to her posterior. "Oh, getting feisty now?" She giggled with delight.

Xander, who had spent the last five minutes looking for Ryoma, walked down the hallway leading into the hot spring; his metal footsteps making a clacking sound against the slate floor. He entered the central room, and steam wafted into his eyes before he noticed the outline of Ryoma and Camilla. Xander waved his hand back and forth to dissipate the steam. He immediately regretted this as he noticed Camilla was sitting on Ryoma's lap while the top of her swimsuit was discarded and floating in the water.

Camilla heard the gagging noises coming from behind her and looked to see Xander -whose ears were blood red- covering his eyes with his arm.

"Gods dammit brother! Ryoma and I were having a moment!" Water splashed out of the large pool as Camilla stood up. She covered her bare chest with both arms, and she had a rather displeased look on her face.

"Gah! I'm so very, very, sorry! I just needed to know where Ryoma keeps his sword polish!" Xander stared at the marble floor while the redness in his cheeks had grown to cover his entire face.

"It's in the storage room of the main castle. There's a big jar that reads 'Sword polish'; you can't miss it." Ryoma stood up as well and was holding Camilla's hand tightly. He looked rather serene

"Thank you." Xander quickly sprinted out of the room, and as if on cue, Kamui entered. A towel covered his waist and below.

"What the hell does it take to get some privacy around here?!" Camilla furrowed her brow while focusing on Kamui.

"Okay, I didn't know you two were in here, so I'll just get going and…" Kamui immediately went back into the main hallway. He stopped by the changing room and donned his regular attire before stepping out into the sun-lit courtyard.

Midori seemed to be waiting for him at the entrance to the hot spring.

"Hey, Kamui, have you heard the rumors about that magic temple?" Midori asked while she stuffed various herbs and dyes into her bag.

"A magic what-now?" Kamui inquired and raised his right eyebrow.

"It's this magic temple that materializes once every century outside the Kingdom of Izumo. It just showed up a couple days ago, and there are rumors that if you pass three trials in the temple, you're granted a free wish."

"What does any of that have to do with me?" Kamui began walking away before Midori stopped him by grabbing his shoulder.

"Think about this, Kamui. You could wish for this war to be over, and for you-know-who to be destroyed!" Midori smiled as she watched Kamui's expression remain confused.

"Who's this 'you-know-who' character?" Kamui tilted his head to the side.

Midori responded by pressing her hand to her face and letting out a sigh.

"His name starts with an A, and ends with nankos." Midori's tone sounded as if she were teaching math to an infant.

Kamui immediately remembered the fact that a curse existed if one ever mentioned Anankos outside of Valla.

"Oh, gotcha." He began to think and came to the same conclusion as Midori. "You're right! Tell the others that I'm heading off with Hisame and Caeldori." Kamui waved to Midori as he walked to the main castle, where Caeldori and Hisame surely were. Midori sat down and continued to sort her collection of plants.

A large, stone ziggurat sat in the middle of the forests of Izumo. The top of the structure had a pointed tip, and it seemed to touch the sky itself. Darkness poured out of the large entrance, and general passerby stayed far away from it as a result.

Kamui entered the large, imposing temple while Caeldori and Hisame followed closely behind him. He brushed a cobweb away from his face before stepping on a mound of dust.

"This place looks like it hasn't been cleaned in years," Hisame stated the obvious. Ahead of the group was a staircase adorned with a purple carpet, which Caeldori noted that it contrasted the yellow interior quite nicely.

"Greetings, oh fair travelers!" An inexplicable voice boomed; Hisame drew his sword and leaped before Caeldori in a protective manner.

"Who said that? Where are you?" He frantically focused around the entire room in an attempt to pinpoint the source of that voice.

"Be at ease Hisame, I mean you and your friends no harm." The voice spoke. "I am the guardian deity of this sacred ground, which as you can see, you have just entered. Surely this means you seek to prove yourself in my trials?" The voice sounded rather... normal, to say the least.

"Yes, we would like to face your trials," Kamui responded while signaling for Hisame to sheathe his sword.

"Splendid. Ascend those stairs and you will find three doorways. Because your group consists of three brave individuals, you each will face one trial that is specifically crafted for you. Harm will befall you should you fail, but such is the price to receive my blessing." Torches on each side of the staircase flickered to life and emanated a yellow glow. The group began to walk up the passageway and their footsteps echoed around the interior.

At the very pinnacle of the stairs were three ornate doorways; each had a border that shifted as the ensemble got closer. "Kamui, please step into the doorway at the far left." Kamui obeyed and walked into the leftmost door. The symbol of a spider sitting atop the Hoshidan emblem adorned the border.

Inside was a single room, devoid of any lights or windows. The door slammed shut behind Kamui as gas began to fill the room.

"What the hell?!" Kamui unsheathed his sword in a panic and began pounding at the door with his fist. For all he knew, this gas was toxic.

"Do not be alarmed, this is merely the first step of the challenge." The voice stated as Kamui felt incredibly sleepy. He lied down on the stone floor and shut his eyes, then began to snore into the ground.

So the next three chapters will each be the trials of our three protagonists, which is where many of the more... unique elements to this story come into play.