A blinding light seeped between the eyelids of an unknown, unnamed person. She blinked her eyes open for the first time, then squinted at the light once more, which radiated from a bright white Sun that hung over her at the zenith. Her first view was the sky, clear, grey, and cloudless. Her instinct was to sit up, and she did. Her view shifted from the sky to the horizon and the ground she was sitting on. The landscape was strangely flat, a wasteland that seemed like it could only sustain shrubs and a small forest on the horizon to her right. She looked to her left, and in the distance was a large, alabaster building, like a laboratory of some sort, that just about camouflaged with the sky.
After taking in a good view of her surroundings, she looked down at her form. It was fairly tall and lean, with tan, smooth skin. She held out her hands in front of her, studied them, then touched the palms together. She could feel things. It was strange, she already knew how all of this worked, yet she wasn't sure where she had learned it. Her form was unrecognizable, but the planet she was on wasn't. The feeling of moist dirt on her skin wasn't unfamiliar, and neither was the occasional gusts of wind that blew across the land, and her eyes had adjusted to the sunlight fairly quickly. In fact, she even knew what all of those natural occurrences were called, and could describe them. But, she wasn't sure where she had learned this information. She used her hands to feel her face and hair, which by using this tactic, discovered that it was shaved into a curly mohawk. The fact that she woke up like that was perplexing, but she didn't think much of it at the moment. All she could do was make the first decision of her new existence, go left to the strange building, or go right towards the forest. She took her first, wobbling step towards the building, but a voice in her head stopped her.
Don't go there. It's dangerous. It said.
Not having any form of better judgment, she turned towards the forest and began walking, the ground, which was a mix of dirt and sand with the occasional cluster of shrubs, feeling soft on her bare feet. As she kept walking, she kept stumbling upon grooves in the earth, like something had been there, and this was the imprint it left behind. She figured that there were no animals here and that maybe the residents in the mysterious building had done it, before continuing with her journey, which was completed by the time the Sun set behind the forest and the night shifted in with its millions of stars. She took a few steps into the forest, the ground harsher on her skin, before looking back beyond the edge. The mysterious building was still on the horizon, like it was following her. The ivory roof of the thing was now lit up on the inside with lights, but she continued to walk into the darkness aimlessly, not growing weary even after the long walk. As the night grew darker, the forest surrounding her did too, and the deeper she went in, the way in which she came disappeared behind her. The trees loomed over her threateningly, the moonlight projected the silhouettes of their branches so that they looked like claws trying to snatch her. The noises of animals caught her ears, the coos and calls of birds and the scurrying of small mammals in the bushes that brushed and occasionally scratched her legs. She noticed the occasional glowing eyes in the darkness, studying her as she walked. There were multiple eyes staring her down, but she knew it wasn't those that gave her the strange feeling she was being watched. It was something bigger, stalking her.
She stopped walking, her muscles tensing and her heart racing under the pressure. She kept listening for something approaching her, but the only sounds she heard were leaves blowing in the wind. Her eyes scanned the area around her, but there was nothing moving that she could detect. It was too dark at this point. She shifted her feet, cracking a few twigs. Seemingly in reply, something else snapped twigs as well, and a quiet hissing echoed like a whisper in the brambles. Her eyes widened and a glowing pink and blue light radiated gradually out of her chest as she snatched a thick, sturdy branch off the ground, knowing she had to fight on her own. The hissing grew louder, and out of the thorns, two, bright green eyes glowed and rose, revealing that they belonged to a giant, black scaled serpent, the eyes being the most prominent feature. The serpent snarled a growl that was like a mix of a roar and a hiss with its fangs drawn, and lunged towards her with the intention to swallow her whole. She rolled out of the way, and after getting a mouth full of bush, the serpent coiled around her, surrounding its prey so that it couldn't escape. She swallowed nervously, her grip on the branch she wielded as a weapon sweaty and shaky as the serpent prepared to pounce once more, its massive head blocking out the moon, and its light, compromising her vision.
But, that wasn't the case. Suddenly, the serpent roared in agony and uncoiled itself. Behind its massive body was a woman who wore a long, jade green kimono and black wedged sandals underneath the regal silk garbs. Her obsidian hair was in a tight bun, with only a few curly strands escaping. She held two cleavers with wide and sharp blades that glinted in the moonlight, one of which was dripping blood. Her skin was dark, darker than hers, and her eyes an intense hazel. The bottom half of the serpent leaked ruby liquid onto the ground, and the creature instantly went after its attacker. It slithered towards the woman, knocking trees over in the process, but the woman, with a running start, leaped over the open jaws of the serpent and landed on its head, right between the eyes. The serpent desperately tried to buck her off, but to no avail. The woman dug her blade into the serpent's scales for leverage, then made a motion with her hand that made it look like she threw the other cleaver out completely. However, connecting her first finger and the handle of her blade was a long chain, which allowed her to slice things from long distances. The second cleaver stuck its end into the neck of the serpent. The woman jumped off the head of the snake and swung under its bottom jaw, before landing back on the head, which made the blade slice around the neck and sever the snake's head completely. With a final cry of agony, the serpent was decapitated, and after the bloody head of the creature landed in front of the unnamed person, who spectated the fight in awe and fear, the limp and lifeless body followed. However, that wasn't the peak of her interest. It was the mysterious woman, who after killing the serpent, put her cleavers away and approached her.
"What was that thing? Who are you?" The unnamed person asked. It was her first words, and they seemed appropriate for the situation.
The mysterious woman stopped in front of her, so close they could feel each other's breath. The woman's breath was abnormally cold and it sent a chill down her spine. Her hands were like ice as she cupped her face with one hand and grinned. "You don't already know?" She asked quietly. She shrugged. "Interesting. This should be fun."
"What?" The unnamed person asked, confused before the mysterious woman smiled, her eyes flashed with malice. She felt a sharp pain on her neck, a needle. Out of her control, her body grew limp and fell into the woman's arms. Her eyelids fell, and she was back in darkness once more.
"Rho. Her name is Rho." A voice that the unnamed person recognized as the mysterious woman. She had a name now and was somewhat grateful for it. A name was the beginning of an identity. Survival came first, but once one achieves it, other parts of them feel empty. A name is a gateway to fulfilling those other things, and it may even be the secret to thriving. She refused to open her eyes, she held them tight so that she might eavesdrop more.
"I recognize her, Mawsa. I know her...well." Another voice cut in. Rho didn't recognize this one, but there was a strange deja vu to the smooth tone of it. Both of these voices felt like honey to the ears, sultry and low. Rho also figured that Mawsa was the mysterious woman.
"Do you? Well, then working with her should be fascinating. I'll be in Laboratory One; stay with her until she wakes up, Hazel." The voice of Mawsa came back, and after speaking Rho heard slow footsteps receding.
"Yes, madame." The second voice, who's name was Hazel, said quietly. It was silent for a minute as the echoes of Mawsa's footsteps continued to fade away. Once it was completely quiet, Hazel spoke again. "You can open your eyes now, she's gone." She must've figured out that she was faking.
Rho opened her eyes to her new surroundings. It must've been the interior of the building she saw the night before. It was stark white, just like the outside. It had ceramic tile flooring and drywall walls. She was laying on a cot with light blue covers that felt like paper and she was dressed in a white cotton nightgown with lace on the neckline and on the end of the sleeves. As she looked around, Hazel caught her eyes as the most colorful thing in the room. She was wearing the same clothing as Rho, but her skin was a deathly alabaster, so much so that you could trace every sky blue vein. Her hair was in a braid that reached her knees, and the color was the equivalent of a raven's feathers, black with a pearly luster. Hazel's eyes had heterochromia, her right eye was a sharp gunmetal blue, almost silver against slightly bloodshot scleras. The left eye was a dark hazel, like Mawsa's eyes. Rho assumed that's how Hazel got her name. Rho couldn't come up with any conversation topics, but something tugged at her tongue, like she already knew this girl.
"You're Hazel, right?" Rho asked stupidly.
Hazel nodded solemnly. "And you're Rho."
Rho shot her a confused look, but she only replied with a tight-lipped smile. "So, can I just ask what's happening here? What do you and...Mawsa, do here?"
"What, were you born yesterday?" Hazel asked before giggling. "I'm sorry, I say that to everyone who comes here. You're a smart girl, Rho. You'll figure it out. Everything you experience will just be instinct, so I don't see the point in explaining the obvious."
"Of course," Rho said, her tone less than thrilled.
"Come on, I have to take you to the library, and then the arsenal, hook you up with a life starter pack." Rho got out of bed and began to follow Hazel down a long, winding, white, ceramic, tube-like hallway. While walking, she began to explain some things. "Our species is born into adulthood, so we don't have to deal with that useless infantile stage. You just wake up, and it's instant indoctrination, now isn't that handy? I managed to sit in on your physical examination, Mawsa performed it while you were knocked out. You don't have a warrior build. You're too scrawny, but then again, I'm a warrior class, and I'm not the beefiest. Eh, you're practically untapped potential. After I get you all the things you need, books for study, clothes, and a good weapon, Mawsa will lead you through your first test. Each test will determine where you fit in on the home planet. If you don't fit into a category, well, let's just hope that you do."
"So, this isn't the home planet." Rho was just beginning to retain the information that Hazel spat out for her.
"Nope. The home planet is apparently way better. Xerith is the ultimate planet, a thriving city of innovation and advanced society all overseen by a trio of rulers, the most powerful deities to ever live. As you'll read in the books, it is the destiny of them, and the rest of the species, to conquer the never-ending cosmos, acquire every resource and slaughter everyone who dares stand in our way. The last time a group of Xerithians stood in the way of the trinity of Gods, it didn't end well. But, of course, you probably already know this story very well. It's why this planet is barren, with only savage creatures as residents. This place used to be beautiful." Hazel closed her eyes as if suppressing memories before resuming. "But forget I ever told you about that. It's our destiny to be the most superior race. It's our goal, even. And these things just have to happen."
"I see. And we'll be going to Xerith soon?"
"In three weeks, yes. Your brainwashing won't take long. I've been here for ten years, so I know the content and tests backward and forwards. Mawsa likes to keep me around as a mentor for newbies, and as the only one left of our kind until you showed up. I'll admit I've been lonely, but I'm used to it. The real test is learning to live with another person again. The library is just down the end of this hallway." They were coming upon a three-pronged fork in the corridors. Hazel gestured to the right turn, and she glided the curve, her footsteps making no noise, like she was flying. Meanwhile, Rho couldn't help but notice that she dragged her feet, despite them being bare and practically weightless.
Rho had no idea why a building containing only two people would have so many rooms. There must've been fifty rooms in that sector alone, or, at least, fifty doors all leading to places Rho did not know. She was almost too afraid to peer through the small peeking holes on the doors. It certainly was tempting, but Hazel kept urging her along. Maybe she could check them out later.
The room they were heading for, however, was located behind a door at the end of the hallway. The small, dim light bulb dangling from the ceiling looked like it hadn't been changed out in decades, and it flickered weakly over the door. Rho wondered why Mawsa had kept such an important area so poorly sustained. Hazel was not hesitant in opening the door to the library and leading Rho in. The library was also very poorly sustained. There was not enough lighting in the room, only a few dimming lights to guide one through the dark, towering shelves of books and holograms. The dormant holograms glowed blue, giving off a little bit of light. There was not much space between the shelves, so Hazel and Rho had to cram next to each other as they scoured.
"Why would you guys need so many books?" Rho asked.
"Mawsa is the recorder for the Trinity, she has recorded every event, every life, in Xerithian history. There used to be an entire committee of people writing the record, but now it's just her, deciding how history should be read, who the heroes were, who the villains were. If you want to read millions of years worth of history, go right on ahead, but there are only a few things you need to know, to get by. You can look around, I'll be right back." Hazel explained before walking off and leaving Rho in the labyrinth of shelves. As she looked around her with wonder, she realized that none of the books on that aisle really interested her.
She kept walking until she heard and was startled by something, like a breeze, a breath, a whisper. It didn't seem like Hazel to be mysterious on purpose. She seemed more like a jokester to Rho, a jokester that knew when to be serious. Rho followed the whispers, knowing that they came from a certain direction. Rho quickly lost her trail, being confounded and led astray from Hazel the more turns she took, passing towers and towers of books, documents, and holograms, each stack dustier than the last. Rho kept her eyes down and her ears alert to the whispers that grew louder but never more distinct as to what the whispers were trying to say. Like a song stuck in her head, but worse, Rho felt her first taste of madness that only grew grievous as she neared the destination to satisfy it.
Finally, after Rho weaved through the stacks, her pace getting quicker with every step, she was inhibited by a solid wall, the end of the library, the other side of the labyrinth that seemed nonexistent before. It was the oldest and dustiest spot. Against this wall was a shelf, half replete with books, the other half, a collection of holograms that lit and dimmed weakly, like they were on their final breaths, nursing before death. The whispers were on fortissimo now, and they wouldn't end now matter how tightly Rho clutched her ears. Such hallucinations would verify her defective, and she knew she didn't want that. She had to end them. Rho tried to satisfy the urges of the voices by reaching for a hologram. It was a grey cube that occasionally scintillated turquoise. Rho tried to study it as she held it in her right palm, but the hologram the cube contained came surging out in a blaze of blue. It projected a scene on the wall that Rho watched intensely.
The scene was a dark room lit very dimly by white light, like the library, without all the books. The floor was stark ivory tile and the walls grey. The hologram didn't seem to tint the scene blue, to Rho's surprise. It was as vivid as a well-made movie. She didn't care at the moment, focused on the lone shadow in the center of the room. It was a feminine shadow. Her body was lean and flexible looking, like a dancer's. She held her head low, almost submissively, her boyishly short white hair with black roots just masking her face. Her delicate, pale hands remained placed over her chest. Her shoes were white as well, a pair of boots with black laces. The silhouette stayed that way until a noise slashed through the quiet, a growl that had become familiar just by the one encounter Rho had with the savage beasts of that planet. This was a test, and this girl was the subject.
A hulking, furry creature resembling a mix between a buffalo and a bear hobbled into view, its form being an exponentially bigger shadow than that of the girl. Its hind legs ended in hooves that the beast stood on, and the front legs were large paws with claws like hooks that dangled as it loomed over the girl, who didn't seem fazed. It roared, shaking the holographic projection but not shaking the girl as she took her hands away from her chest and held them out gracefully, as a gymnast would before a great leap. She took a step back, her boots making noises against the floor. Once she did this, she looked up again at the beast, who snorted, its breath manifesting in vapor from the evident cold in the room. Rho saw the girl's chest light up lilac and periwinkle as she sprinted towards the beast, her hands glowing the same color as her chest as ice formed will each footfall. The beast tried to knock her back with its paws, but she cleverly ducked under them and slid across the ground under the beast and came out next to the tail unharmed. The entire floor was frozen in an ice skating rink by then, and the girl's boots had converted to ice skates.
The light finally revealed the girl's face. It was cold and serious, like Mawsa's, yet her green eyes were strangely kind, not lifeless and dutiful like the rest of her expression. She wore nothing but a black leotard, the color contrasted with her skin and hair. She moved her head as to whip her hair out of her face as she watched the beast struggle to turn around, repeatedly slipping and falling on the ice as it did so. It grunted in frustration and continued to move as the girl stood poised on the shining blades of her skates. The beast finally turned, although still having trouble remaining balanced on the ice. It nevertheless tried to charge her, slipping and sliding towards her with its great mass. The girl skated towards it effortlessly, and a few feet before the snarling head of the creature, the girl jumped, landed on her hands and used them to push the rest of her body onto the beast's head. The blades of her skates dug right in between its eyes and drew blood as it cried out in agony. The skate part retracted back into the girl's boots and in the beast's vulnerable moment, she grabbed onto its horns and used them to lift herself onto the nape of its neck that was a grassland of fur, a biome in itself to the girl. She waited for the beast, in its size and registers of sensation, to forget about her, to see her as merely a mindless flea in its mane.
Once it did, the girl's skates came back out again and dug as a pinch into the beast's tender flesh. It snorted and rustled as an attempt to knock the girl off, but she began to leap and flip, landing multiple times on the creature's neck and slicing through it, trying to get through the strata of fat and muscle to get through the veins important to life. Each flip was coordinated perfectly, each blow made in time to a metronome that the girl had built inside of her until the beast finally shook her into the air by arching its back violently. She flew, not looking frightened in the slightest before she landed on the beast's less furry back, where she continued to do backflips like it was a balance beam. Her skates cut the skin with every landing until she reached the tail. By then, her landings left behind an incision that oozed ruby liquid from the middle of the back to the tail. She jumped off the beast and stopped to reach into her boot, where an extra set of skate blades was stored. She replaced the blunt and bloody blades with the newer ones before going after the beast for a final strike.
With each gliding stride across the ice, silver dust sprayed up from the blades of her skates. The giant beast tried whacking the girl out of its way as it continually tried to hobble and avenge its wounds. Its fur seemed to puff up in anger as it snarled and bore its teeth, a wrathful sight that still didn't seem to quake the spirit of the girl on skates. She circled around the creature and headed straight for the wall of the room. With a wave of her icy hands, the wall froze, and she jumped onto the wall, her skates holding her feet so that she defied gravity before pushing off the wall, doing another flip so that her blades aimed for the skull of the beast. She hit the beast between the eyes with both feet at the speed of a bullet, and impact and pre-existing cut fused with the sharpness of her skates combined to slice through the skull of the beast and knock it dead. It collapsed on the ice, and the girl jumped off unharmed. She dusted off her hands, her glowing chest slowing growing dimmer before finally going dark.
The hologram retreated back into the not as dusty box in Rho's hands, as she stared in a trance of awe and slight confusion.
"Rho! Rho!" She could hear Hazel's voice calling her, and getting closer, along with hurried footsteps until Rho heard them skid to a halt behind her. That was enough to snap her somewhat out of her trance. She whipped around to Hazel with an anxious expression. It was met with a mournfully shocked face from Hazel. Maybe Rho wasn't supposed to find those holographs. Hazel's head was peeking at Rho behind a large stack of books and holograms she held with both hands. The tower wobbled unstably. Hazel dropped the books abruptly with a loud thud and approached Rho.
"Wait, was I not supposed to be here? I'm sorry, I didn't know. You see, there were these whispers-"
"You found them." Hazel smiled, taking the hologram of the skating girl out of her hands gently.
"I did what? Were they lost or something?" Rho asked.
"No, not at all. I always knew they were here. How did you say you found them?" Hazel asked, not looking away from the hologram in her hand.
"I heard these whispers, they were so strange, I just had to follow them." Rho shrugged.
"You hear them too! Oh, thank goodness!" Hazel smiled even bigger.
Rho shot a confused look at Hazel. "You weird me out more and more every minute I'm here."
"Hey, you're just as crazy as I am." Hazel held up the hologram in her hand. "And so is she." She gestured to the wall behind Rho. "And so are all of them. We have one thing in common." Rho tilted her head quizzically. "After discovering that our souls, our very life forces, our spirits, are physical parts of us that can transcend death, rather than an abstract concept, Mawsa saw it as a chance to further improve on Xerithian society. Immortal Xerithians, outside of the Trinity of Gods."
Rho's eyes widened. "So you're saying?"
"Mawsa has spent centuries here, on this planet, the site of a great war. This planet is all that remains of the first and final stand against the Trinity of Gods. Once souls are shattered, like glass, their shards remain inactive. That's the only way to completely annihilate someone. Slaughtering one's corpse can kill, but the soul remains until shattered. The Trinity, in their wrath, shattered every Xerithian that stood against them. We are remnants of them."
"So, our souls are basically fallen warriors smushed together?" Rho asked.
"Right, because molecules are just atoms smushed together," Hazel said sarcastically. "I'm surprised you choose such crude language to describe us."
"Sorry, but what happened to this girl? And all these other Xerithians?" Rho changed the subject. The question was all she could think about after hearing Hazel finally give some answers.
"Edelweiss. She was the last Xerithian who Mawsa found on the planet. She and I were," She paused. "Very good friends. And her fighting style, I had never seen before, and neither had Mawsa. We were getting ready to leave for Xerith when she vanished without a trace. That's what happened to these other ones, too. They were here one minute, gone the next." Hazel explained with stoic wistfulness.
Rho felt anxiety hit her like an elbow to the chest. If these other Xerithians disappeared, does that mean Rho would disappear too? And why did Hazel not vanish after all these years?
Hazel must've seen this in Rho because she immediately changed the subject to a positive one. "We've spent enough time in here." She walked back over to the book stack and picked up half of it with both arms. "You take the rest. Follow me."
Rho lifted the stack of books with a few strained grunts, her arms feeling an aching pain the longer she held them as she followed Hazel back through the path from which she came from the back wall to the door, the library lighting seemingly growing dimmer the longer they stayed. By the time they got out of the library, Rho was thankful to be back in the brighter lights, but she had a lot more to contemplate after leaving that library, and something told her that she would return to the labyrinth again. Her eyes were blocked by the towers of books and holograms she had to balance, yet she followed Hazel well without bumping into things, as much.
Hazel led her down more hallways until they reached another door. Behind this one was a large locker room, with rows and rows of metal lockers, and on the wall across from the door were multiple weapons of multiple types that hung on racks, waiting to be chosen. All of the lockers were interestingly filled, but one. This one was right next to Hazel's in the row directly in the center of the room. The floor tiles were white but faded with wear, and the paint on the walls was worn as well. The lockers had gathered rust in the places the silver paint had chipped off. On the other side of Hazel's locker was one that looked in good condition. Between the small holes in the locker meant for design, Rho could see neatly folded clothes, with a pair of white boots with black laces resting on top of them. Hazel looked to this locker and quietly sighed, figuring that Rho couldn't hear before opening her locker and proceeding to dress in battle wear. The base layer of this outfit consisted of a plain white spandex body suit, then another bodysuit of some chainmail material. Over that, Hazel put on a suit of samurai armor with matching boots, the pads being mainly black with white around the rims. Her body was almost completely covered by the pads, her chest and abdomen down past her crotch in a rigid tunic. Her knees, shins, and elbows were covered as well. Wrapped around her waist was a belt that carried multiple silver throwing knives. There was no helmet, but Hazel looked certain she didn't need it.
Hazel looked to Rho, who looked confused seeing as there were no clothes in her locker. She smirked, held up her first finger, which told Rho to wait as she reached into her locker and presented Rho with her own clothes. The more Rho thought about it, the more she realized that it seemed as though Mawsa and Hazel were already prepared for her. Rho took the clothes, a dark blue short-sleeved athletic shirt, and light pink leggings, along with black combat boots. Hazel left Rho to her own business, heading for the weapon racks silently. Rho didn't bother following her, because once she finished getting dressed, Hazel had already left the locker room, leaving her to find her way to her side again.
Rho eventually found and followed Hazel into a spacious room painted grey, the walls, the floors, everything. They didn't bother to put pads on anything, not that safety ever mattered to these people anyway. The room contained a course of various traps and obstacles, each one more difficult than the last. She wasn't sure how long the obstacle course was, but Rho figured she'd be dead by obstacle two. The first was a wall that was meant to be climbed or vaulted over, but after that was a cat's cradle of lasers that one had to maneuver themselves around. After that, a balance beam that had to be crossed. Underneath said beam was a deep pool of water, and circling inside was a creature, merely a shadow that lurked impatiently for failure. While crossing this beam, large, axe-like blades swung back and forth like pendulums. On the other end of the pole, another animal was chained to the wall, waiting to pounce. It was a giant, sand-colored, alligator-like monster, with a tail that resembled a scorpion's, barb and all. It banged its tail against the ground, that thundered and shook with every blow. Rho was amazed, but more so afraid of the obstacle course. Mawsa and Hazel seemed bored staring out ahead at it stoically. In Hazel's hands was a tomahawk, and as Rho walked beside her, Hazel whacked Rho playfully with the butt of the handle before giving it to her. "Eyes up, Rho." She said. "This is test number one."
"What? We have to do this?" Rho asked, even though she already knew the answer. She just didn't want to accept it, not yet.
"This is meant to test your strength and agility. You and Hazel will work together to defeat the Desert Leviathan." Mawsa said solemnly before stepping back, smiling. "Good luck."
Hazel turned to Rho. "Don't worry, Rho. It's not that hard." She smirked and winked, her chest glowing mainly white with a hint of bronze before pulling two knives from her belt, twirling them, and sprinting towards the wall, her braid waving behind her. She leaped and dug her throwing knives into the wall, almost like the way Mawsa dug her cleavers into the serpent on the night Rho met her. With a few light grunts, Hazel flung herself off the wall to the other side, her braid being the last thing Rho saw.
Rho gulped nervously and followed after Hazel, mirroring her actions by jumping onto the wall and sticking her tomahawk into it to use as a hand and foothold. She dangled from the handle of the tomahawk for a second before swinging and doing a clumsy backflip, landing on the tomahawk that was stuck in the concrete barrier. As she balanced on the handle of iron wrapped in leather, she realized both she and her weapon couldn't go over the wall together. Her height made it so that standing on the tomahawk boosted her over the top of the wall. Rho draped her arms over the wall and gripped tight, releasing her legs and wrapping her thighs around the axe and pulling the tomahawk out with her leg strength. She pulled herself up to sit on the concrete barrier, axe and all. Rho pulled her tomahawk out of her thighs and jumped down, landing face first onto the floor and into the cat's cradle of lasers. She looked up to see that Hazel was already almost done with it, bounding and sliding between the red lines with ease, even showing off a bit with gymnastics moves and somersaults, not even letting her hair or stray clothing catch on them.
Rho took her time on this one, sliding on her belly and stepping over each laser, fearful of what happened if she made a mistake. At one moment she looked up to see Hazel just finishing the laser portion, looking behind at Rho and giving her a thumbs-up and an encouraging smile before getting through the balance beam in a few flips. Rho felt envy as she watched, and she was almost so distracted that she walked right through a laser. She gritted her teeth competitively and went through her laser avoidance ritual a bit faster. She beat herself up for taking so long, fearing that Mawsa had other important tasks to get to besides watching her fail. As she walked the corridors with Hazel, she saw so many offices and laboratories that all belonged to Mawsa. Whatever she was doing, it had to have been important, for something, or someone on the home planet.
She finally completed the lasers and moved onto the balance beam, slowly. Two steps in, Rho's foot slipped and she fell so that the bar nailed her in the crotch. She let out a soft whimper before struggling to get on her feet again. Finding no way to stand at this point, she crawled on her hands and knees across the balance beam, military crawling whenever under the swinging axe blades. Hazel would stop to watch her when not keeping the leviathan at bay. She seemed amused by Rho's predicament. Rho found her amusement taunting. She continued to shimmy across the balance beam, and her entire body was shaking once she crawled off the iron pole. She laid there for a few seconds before Hazel called after her.
"Eyes up, Rho! We're supposed to work as a team!" Hazel shouted as the rolled out of the way of an oncoming strike from the leviathan's tail.
Rho jumped up, adjusted her sweaty grip on the slippery leather handle of her tomahawk, and ran towards the leviathan. However, once she got there, she was unsure how to handle the situation. "What do I do now?"
"Pass me your tomahawk real quick! Try not to get killed while I use it!" Hazel yelled as she threw one knife into the leviathan's left eye. It roared in agony and tried to snap its massive jaws on Hazel, but she jumped as they closed, landed on the creature's forehead, and proceeded to run down to the leviathan's neck to use Rho's tomahawk to break the metal bondage keeping it from coming completely unglued on Rho and Hazel. Rho could see the similarities between Mawsa and Hazel's fighting styles. It was freaky how similar they were. Hazel broke the chain with a loud metallic clank, then jumped off the animal as it started moving towards Rho at a frightening pace. Its massive body slammed against the walls, leaving large dents with each collision. The ground shook as the leviathan's feet and tail pounded against the concrete.
"What are you doing? Don't set it free! I thought you were the smart one here!" Rho shouted as she started running away from the leviathan. It continued to chase her, gaining on her with bounding strides. "Hazel!" Rho whined. "Help me out here!"
Hazel face-palmed, looked apologetically to Mawsa, who somehow had moved to the other end of the obstacle course, and sprang back into action. She ran to catch up to Rho, and they were now running side by side. Hazel tossed the tomahawk back to Rho, who fumbled with it for a few seconds before getting a grip. "Aim for the nape! That's its weak spot!"
"There's always a weak spot, isn't there?" Rho replied sarcastically.
"Just listen! I'll distract it, although you are doing a very good job of doing that already." Hazel said before slowing down and turning to confront the leviathan. She licked her lips and exchanged the knives in her hands for new ones on her belt. Rho stopped for a second to look back at Hazel, who seemed too focused to notice.
Rho sprinted with an extra bit of energy she had saved up, although she was so exhausted her legs felt like wet noodles. She ran a half circle around the leviathan, ducking in a surprising boost of agility under its swinging tail, before making a kamikaze jump face-first into its flank. The creature looked back abruptly, its long snout nearly whacking Rho against the flank again. Rho climbed up the leviathan's back and ran across the rough terrain of its spiky scales, the sight of its tender nape being the finish line in the life-threatening race. Hazel watched anxiously, hoping that Rho would at least come out of this alive. She had never lost someone to this test, and she wasn't about to let Rho be the first. Just as Rho raised her tomahawk, ready to strike the neck, Hazel ran towards the chest of the leviathan, hoping to penetrate its armor-like scales with her small dagger. Before Hazel could reach it in time, she was surprised. The beast fell at her feet in a fountain of blood, and standing at the top of the fallen animal was Rho, who had a satisfied smirk on her face despite the fact she knew she failed the test.
"I don't know what exactly I did, but it worked!" Rho shouted triumphantly before jumping down in front of Hazel.
Hazel couldn't help but smile. "It certainly did. I'll make a warrior out of you yet." Hazel winked again. She always did that, and Rho never knew why. She would close her left eye, the hazel one, and leave the silverish blue one, like that was a signal that Rho was supposed to recognize, but couldn't. It was always that way with Mawsa and Hazel, they were both so experienced in the ways of the world, and it was as though they were waiting for Rho to figure it out. As if she was just going to get all their inside jokes and signals overnight.
Rho and Hazel approached Mawsa, who looked expressionless when congratulating Hazel on a new time, and even more so when telling Rho that she simply wasn't gifted in the area of physical strength. Rho was baffled by this, seeing as it was only the first day, but she was too afraid of Mawsa to confront her. Hazel guided her out into the corridor, then led her to a new room, a bedroom full of bunk beds, all with metal frames and grey covers with white pillows. As Hazel shut the door, Rho finally spoke.
"What was that?" Rho asked. "Not gifted in the area, pssh! Come on! It's only the first day! How long have you been doing it, years?"
"Don't be so loud!" Hazel whispered. "She might hear you!"
"I want her to hear me! I want to redo the test!" Rho shouted.
"Why?" Hazel suddenly reverted back to a calm state. It was strange. Hazel was just a strange individual, like Mawsa.
"Because...I don't know! I just think I should have some time to practice before taking a test like that and determining my worth that quickly. Don't you think? Were you just naturally good when you started?" Rho asked. She had no idea what came over her, or why she cared so much.
"Yes. It was like I had done it all before. Every step I took was already embedded in my muscle memory...that's what Mawsa's looking for, Rho. Our society works off of people's strengths. After utilizing soul essence, that's when our society began to grow. Everyone was born with a purpose. There was no questioning who you were or who you wanted to be anymore, you just woke up with your life hardwired into you." Hazel explained.
"That can't be it. Can it?" Rho asked.
Hazel shrugged and seemed slow to nod like she wasn't sure. "There'll be more tests. You'll find your place, don't worry."
Rho kept her eyes to the floor and her arms wrapped tight around herself. She nodded quietly. She couldn't help but wonder what would happen to her if she failed all of the tests, if she didn't fit into a category. It wasn't so much the impending punishment she feared, but the lack of direction. She had no direction now, but she couldn't imagine living without finding a purpose to do so. She made it her quest to find out everything about herself so that she could fit into a category on Xerith, or even create her own. This new life was a leap into a dark abyss of uncertainty and confusion, and she pondered these things as she and Hazel turned into bed, Rho being on the top bunk and Hazel being on the bottom. She closed her eyes as the first of many days slowed to a close.
Ah, only a peek.
So I did mention a new project in my latest Skimming the Surface AN, so I figured I could give you guys a little peek into what I'm up to. It's an original remake of Broken Together. The plot and characters, revised and set into an original world conjured up by the mad scientist known as me. I mostly just posted this to build hype and to maybe get some critiques from you guys. But, enjoy! The scenes in the sneak peek are the first two chapters. :)
REVIEWS ARE ENCOURAGED!
(Oh, and I'll be working a lot lately on my new RWBY fic, New Visitors. Check it out!)