The Test

Michael and May were brought to a dark chasm. There was only a small crack in the ground, but they could already tell that within it there was no source of light, the small shred of light from the sun was the only way they would be able to see anything once inside. Even from here as they looked into it, the ground looked far away…and wet. They could make out a small land mass that seemed to be composed of pebbles. Saul and Rochelle were standing by with them, although neither one of those two seemed interested in the chasm. They both had a 'been there, done that' kind of opinion of this mess. It was fairly reassuring to know that these two both had accepted this mission and took it on.

"So, what are we here for?" asked Michael. He had a sinking feeling it involved going into the dark chasm, wandering around blindly for hours for some superfluous goal. Especially since May had just woken up from what could be a potentially fatal side-effect of meeting Marburg and his brother. It made no sense, it seemed like they were putting their lives on the line once more for something that they had no idea about.

"You two have been partners for awhile now," brought up Saul, Michael and May looked at each other and supposed he was right. It seemed they first met forever ago, but it also seemed like just last week, it was a vivid memory in both of their minds it was the day their whole word changed…for the better. "It must mean that you trust each other a lot." Michael felt a little annoyed that THAT was his point, he was for some reason expecting a big major revelation from him, but if that was it Michael felt he'd be better off training with the rest of the gang rather than with him. "That trust is the only thing you'll be able to rely on in here. Your own five senses will be completely destroyed once in there. The darkness of the cave will overtake you; you won't see a thing for miles. The water that flows in is from the sea and has a ripe fresh sea scent that will burn into your nostrils. The sound of the sea lapping against the stone walls will eventually be all you can hear. Of course, the sea lapping against the wall had polished the walls to a fine, smooth surface, so, all the rooms will even feel exactly the same."

"So, how are we supposed to get out?" asked Michael plainly and simply. It was a fine question and the only really important one at this point. Once in he needed to get out, nothing asides from that even mattered.

"I've only been saying 'you' and by that I mean only you will be entering the cave," pointed out Saul. "Your sixth sense will be the only thing you can rely on and the so-called North of your compass will be May." Saul grabbed onto her shoulders and shoved her in front of Michael. "She will be stationed at the exit. You will head towards her soul at all times. Get a good look at her now, it will be the last time you see this body." Saul placed his hands beneath May's breasts as if to exemplify them. Which promptly earned him a hit from Rochelle, both Michael and May wanted to hit him, but they were too flustered from being involved in Saul's horrible act that they couldn't quite move quick enough to get a piece of him, although May's hands did cover up her breasts despite the fact that her shirt wasn't anywhere close to invisible and covered them up well enough.

"Anyways," said Rochelle, continuing up where Saul was and giving a brief cough to hopefully cut the tension down. "The point of this training is to test trust, train your Soul Perception, as well as strengthen your mind. It will be lonely down there…completing this task is not easy. It's a long walk, treacherous conditions all the way, maddening thoughts will fill your head down there."

"A sound mind and a sound body is what's needed to complete this test," said Saul coming back to and quickly taking a swig from his flask. It was probably more for medication than pleasure though…he had a large bruise forming o his head from where Rochelle hit him. "If your body is too weak, you'll collapse in there from lack of food, water, or just plain exhaustion…in your case you may break down for other reasons. If your mind is too weak, you'll may manage to climb out of the dark hole and see the light of the sun again, smell the fresh air again, hear the song of birds…but you'll be a different person than who you were going in."

"So, how was it when you two did this mess?" asked May, hoping to hear some good news from the two of them. After all, they didn't particularly seem to stressed about this kind of trial, despite the fact that they had made it out to be some kind of death run.

"We did when my old partner died," mentioned Saul as he took a swig from his flask. Rochelle looked to the side and slightly closed her eyes. She was a friend of Saul's wife…and old partner, so the thought of her death kind of stung close to home for both of them, but Saul kept going. "I was in a bad place then. I didn't have anyone to talk to, me and Rochelle rarely talked before her death and we never talked after it. So, bottom line this training became kind of necessary for me…however, with my partner gone there wasn't many people I trusted. Probably my fault, I wasn't particularly well-liked back in the day." May and Michael could believe that. Saul probably turned most people off and Rochelle didn't seem like the kind of girl to try and break through his rather asinine personality.

"Well, in my opinion nobody else knew how to have fun…so, when Lord Death brought up the test and asked for volunteers to stand at the end for me and guide me through…nobody raised their hands…nobody particularly wanted to pull me out of the abyss I was in. They just wanted me to keep on falling…who knew where I'd be if it wasn't for a certain someone meekly raising her hand and saying she'd do it…now for most people this wouldn't exactly inspire a lot of confidence in them. A random stranger, drudging along unwillingly to help you out…especially if you could see the scared look on her face! She made it look like she thought I was going to eat her alive!" Saul laughed and shouted, pounding his leg as he remembered that day fondly. Rochelle just simply looked away, not wanting to be brought down to this level.

"In the end, though…I trusted her," Saul muttered beneath his breath, barely loud enough for them to hear him, but they did. "I made it to the end thanks to her. I'm thankful for that. Not only that, but I set a record! The quickest to make it to the end! It only took me one and a half weeks!" Michael's and May's energy suddenly plummeted. It looked and sounded fairly simple, but the quickest was one and a half week it meant that this trial was nothing to sneeze at. "Come on puff out your chest! Sing happy songs! You may just beat me!"

Michael nodded cementing that idea in his head. His goal was to beat Saul's time. It seemed simple enough. Michael was provided with a week's worth of rations, anything over that time and he would just have to deal with it. Of course, as a golem the week's worth of rations were replaced with a simple repair kit he could use if it came to that. Michael basically had a handicap with that body.

"Okay now," said Saul as he stood up and moved for the chasm, "it won't be pleasant down there, so I seriously hope you are ready for this." Michael stepped forward, tentatively at first, but after a reassuring thumbs-up from May he went forward with a little bit more confidence. He stopped and hesitated for just a second at the entrance before jumping in. Saul walked over to it and gave May and Rochelle the signal to move to the exit. "We're going to have to wait awhile for them to get situated, so until then we'll just wait here and get comfortable." Michael had a look on his face that obviously said that he wished Saul would've pointed that out earlier.

Already Michael started to feel what Saul was talking about. Being cut off from your five senses. The darkness was all around him he couldn't see left from right and as Michael stepped forward and was basically brought down to knee level in an instant due to a sudden drop off, even where up and down were was impossible for him to decipher. Michael was hoping he could get accustomed to this weird situation before May got in position, but the only thing he had learned from this little two second excursion that a week and a half time was truly a miracle. Michael twisted around and tried to stare down where he thought he had to go. It was difficult to know for sure…he was still blind and the sound of another wave of water smashing into the ground made it even harder for him to focus. It was truly a maddening situation. A week…could one survive for that long down here? Cut off from civilization, friends, and even the warmth of the sun? It appeared that the real battle had already started the instant Michael had jumped down here. Saul said it was test of both one's body and mind to see if they are sound…Michael could see that now. It wasn't going to be an enjoyable week and a half, that much was already painfully obvious.

(-with Rochelle-)

"Okay, now remember once we drop you off here you cannot move, okay?" cautioned Rochelle once more as the helicopter they were in slowly started to drop down to the ground level. May nodded once more, she was fine. It was Michael she was worried about, he was tough all right, but this is the first time since they had been teamed up that they had actually been separated for this long. May felt slightly embarrassed by that fact, but Weapons and Meisters rarely split up while in the school the only time they did do such a thing especially a period of a week was during vacations and even those were rare.

The helicopter dropped off and touched the ground. May and Rochelle stepped off and took their time getting into position. The area was a small clearing amongst a bunch of rocks. There was a small tent to the side as well as basic commodities set up around the clearing for May to use in case this really did drag out to be an incredibly long venture. They landed and they got set-up, small things at first, but Rochelle wasted no time in calling Saul. May just shrugged as far as she was concerned she would just be relaxing for these next few days…true it wouldn't be a perfect vacation like the one she had given up in order to do this, but, hey, she was used to battling devils and witches…a few days in a tent was nothing.

Rochelle nodded as she got word from Saul that they would start the test now. Rochelle quickly went back onboard the helicopter and asked one last time, "are you sure you are up for this?" May nodded, it was simple from her perspective. She believed Michael wouldn't break down, if he was ready for it so was she. Besides she had the easy part. Rochelle wore a pained look on her face almost as if she wasn't sure they were ready for such a task, but in the end she sighed, yelled 'good luck' over the whir of the helicopter blades once more and they were off.

This 'training' takes a little while longer then it should, but I enjoyed writing it through and through.