After Shiloh's identity crisis, he and Twil rejoihe group. He got a lot of sad smiles ale reassurances, which he very much appreciated. When he had started to eat, Viktora even came over and apologized.

  "I am sorry, Shiloh. I did not mean to upset you." She whispered. He ed an arm around her shoulders and squeezed. She stiffened, but didn't rebuke him.

  "It's okay, Viktora. Thank you for helpio see what I was blio."

  Such a strange leader. Viktora thought to herself. She had questioned him, been rude to him, and fronted him with the things he was ign, yet he had not shed out at her. She wasn't told to remember her pce or struck for her insolence. She had been thanked. Southerruly were queer peoples.

  After their repast, they resumed their arduous trek into the belly of the mountain. The tuhey followed branched off several times, but Viktora always chose a dire with unwaveriainty. After another few hours of plodding along the dark passageway, the tunnel suddenly opened up into an enormous cavern. It had to be at least a hundred feet from side to side, and close to thirty feet tall.

  On the opposite side of the cavern were a rge tunnel and a very narrow tunnel. Running across the middle of the cavern, ing out of one wall and flowing through the other, was a tiny little stream. To their left was nothing but empty stone floor, but to their right was the m ruin of a decades-old campsite. The tent was little more than scraps of fabri a moldy frame, and the pit that had once housed fires was now home to charcoal covered in about an inch of dust.

  "That is where my mother's lover camped while they were seeing each other." Viktora said, her voice thick with emotion. "That was where I was ceived."

  "Does your mother also live in the valley?" Elnor asked gently.

  "My mother was executed when I was seventeen." Viktora responded with dull anguish. "She was bur the stake fht days before her screams finally stopped."

  Nobody knew how to respond to that. Shiloh hesitantly stepped forward and pced a hand on her shoulder.

  "I'm sorry, Viktora."

  "Thank you."

  "Would you like-" Shiloh started, but was interrupted by a fsh of red light.

  Their entire party, except for Viktora, drew their ons and looked around for the source. There, on the side of the cavern that had previously beey, stood a dungeora wasn't arance desigo fool them, however. Rather than the discreet, unobtrusive entrahat Hera had designated for her trial, this oood out. The stones were not simply gathered rocks, but were carved intricately, with the design of one flowing into the . There were no mosses or vines creeping up over the mound of rocks, either. Everything looked like it was in pristine dition.

  Above the entrahe designs carved into the rock resembled a sword and a spear crossed over a shield. A warm, e-yellow light glowed from within, being them forward.

  "What the hell is that?" Viktora whispered, hiding behind Shiloh.

  "A trial of the gods." Shiloh murmured. "Ares, I think, if the armaments above the entrance are anything to judge by."

  The reed with him, but Elnor asked the perti question. "Do we go in?"

  Silence followed that for a long time. There were a lot of factors to sider.

  "Last time we almost died." Beck finally whispered.

  "We're a lot stronger now, though." Ara tered.

  "We have a level oh us!" Beck argued, pointing at Viktora, who blushed, then looked fused, then angry.

  "How did you-" She started, but Beck held up her hands in defense a on.

  "It's a skill I have called Devil's Sight. I normally don't blurt anyone's information out like that, but this is crazy. We 't take a level oo something like that. It would be suicide!"

  "I am a vampire, though." Viktora replied. "I am much strohan a normal person."

  "She's also a Third." Twil added. "So she would be the stro person out of all of us without csses."

  "That's not enough to tend with the floating eyeball thing, though." Elnor said. "If we faething that dangerous again, and it slips uard, it could kill her ht."

  "I have Lesser Resurre." Shiloh's voice brought the argument to a halt. "Not that I want to test its effectiveness, or that I want any of you to take unnecessary risks, but it does mitigate the ces of something truly awful happening."

  "Do you have a on, or any armor?" Ara asked Viktora. Bed Elnor shook their heads in disbelief.

  "No. I was never given ons or armor." Viktora whispered. "I've never fought so much as a slime. Ever since I unlocked my css, all I have done is be a servant and a carving block." She spat the end of the sente like it was something foul she'd eaten.

  "Well, you might as well be armed if you're serious about traveling the wilderness." Ara sighed.

  She withdrew the extra sword der had given them and ha to Viktora. The vampire took it with obvious appreciation for the craftsmanship, but looked warily around, as if expeg them to judge her or something.

  "I've never even held a sword." She admitted with a blush, then ied the on closely. "I wouldn't even know what to do with a Gideon's Bckbde. Is that its name? Why does it say it's bound to me?"

  The rest of the party gaped at her.

  "You exami?" Shiloh asked when he'd recovered from the shock.

  She looked up at him fused. "Yeah, you 't?"

  "None of us could. A bound item only be examined by who it's bound to." Shiloh whispered.

  Her eyes narrowed in suspi. "Why were you carrying around a magic sword bound to me?"

  "We were given that sword along with a pieagical gear for each of us from a dragon named der, the Life-Giver." Twil stated. "We didn't know who it was bound to, just that it was obviously a very high quality sword."

  Viktora's features softehough she still looked like she was waiting for the other shoe to drop. heless, she read off the sword's information.

  "It says that it's iructible and deals double damage when wielded by a vampire. It also says that the sword will evolve when I sy ohousand creatures."

  "Sounds like it could turn into a real monster of a on." Ara ented, giving Viktora a smile. "Hopefully the evolution is good!"

  "I still don't like the idea of taking a level oo a trial." Beck said ftly. "Even if she has an ented sword, she doesn't have any armor or stats to fall ba if she-"

  "Viktora!" Shiloh shouted, interrupting Beck's arguments. The vampire had moved fast. He knew Beck could move way faster with Drop Yuard, but Viktora was easily faster than any of them without that skill. She darted through the group and threw herself into the trial.

  "Fug hell." Beck swore.

  "Standard formation!" Ara barked. "We're going in!" Then she dashed in after Viktora. Elnor followed her, then Shiloh, Twil, Katerine, and finally Beck, bringing up the rear.

  ***

  This trial was nothing like their first one. Not at the beginning, anyways. Instead of a b that resolved into the dungeon, this one wasn't pretending to be anything other than a trial. They stormed through the portal, and emerged from a heavy wooden door into an arena. The door smmed behind them, and they looked around for any obvious signs of danger.

  Viktora was there, standing just a few steps ahead of them o a cluster of five sandstone pilrs. The ground was made of packed dirt, and the walls of the arena were of carved sandstone as well. It looked exactly like one of the old coliseums that used to house gdiathts. There didn't seem to be any enemies in the arena with them, but there was a crowd, silently watg.

  Once he khey weren't under immihreat, Shiloh broke formation and rao Viktora.

  "What the hell was that?" He hissed.

  "She was going to waste another fifteen minutes arguing, then we were going in anyways. I just took the shorter option." Viktora shrugged.

  "Didn't you hear me when I said we make decisions as a group? You don't just run into enters by yourself because you know we're going to go in! You robbed the team of our ce tize and incorporate you into our formations." Shiloh leased to see that, while she didn't seem abashed by her rashness, she did at least lretful for the tactical advantage she'd thrown away.

  Shiloh sighed. "There's nothing to be done for it now, but we are going to have a long talk about respeg your teammates when this is over. For now, do whatever Ara says and stay near me if you're not actively doing anything."

  Viktora nodded as the others approached.

  "Sorry." She whispered to him.

  "W-what are th-these p-pilrs?" Katerine asked as they closed the distance. Shiloh gnced over at them and saw a wooden sign on the opposite side, no doubt with a bunch of writing iive tongue, which he couldn't read. Elnor walked around and began reading off the sign.

  "Wele to your trial by bat. Each of these pilrs represents a different type of foe to overe. You must select the pilrs o a time, defeating whatever appears in the arena before moving on to the . If you win all five rounds, you will be giveimate prize."

  "The ultimate prize?" Shiloh asked. "What's the ultimate prize?"

  As soon as he spoke those words, there was an explosion of red smoke issuing from between the pilrs, apanied by the deafening, irritated tirade of Aphrodite.

  "...not fug funny, Ares! Don't you dare send me... GODS DAMN YOU, ARES!!" She screamed as the smoke cleared. In the middle of the pilrs there was now a rge metal cage. The door had five locks upon it and an insed goddess behind it.

  "Um... Hey there, Aphrodite." Shiloh said, giving a half wave. He had never seen her in such a state of fury, and it scared him shitless. Only the fact that he knew she cared for him could make him approach the cage, which he hesitantly did.

  The goddess huffed and closed her eyes, let out a growl, then shimmered. There were no other obvious effects of her tantrum, so Shiloh got up right o the bars.

  "Did Ares lock you in there?" He asked tentatively.

  "Yes." She sulked, looking like she wanted nothing more than to throttle the god of war in his sleep. "Then he mao temporarily take away my powers."

  "How could he-" Beck started, but Aphrodite held up a hand, forestalling the question.

  "Even if I could expin it, I don't think mortal minds could prehend it." Aphrodite sighed. She took a deep breath, seemed to focus herself, then unleashed one of her radiant smiles upon her avatar. "Hey there, Loverboy. Sorry you had to see me like that."

  "I'm sorry you're stu a cage." Shiloh responded. "I think it's something to do with his trial, though. We're supposed to activate these pilrs, best whatever the arena throws at us, and free you, I think. It said 'you will be giveimate prize', and when I asked what that was, you showed up.

  "That's fug sick, you bastard!" Aphrodite was shouting at the sky again. "You don't give people arizes!"

  "We'll get you out of there, don't worry." Shiloh assured her. "We all know you're not a prize to be won, even if Ares is being a dickhead about it."

  The ground shook beh their feet, and they all had to brace themselves to not fall over. Aphrodite looked up again, then sighed and dropped her shoulders.

  "Well, I think he's got me good and ered here, so we'll have to py by his rules for the time being. I suppose we ought not insult him too heavily while ihe trial." She said sullenly.

  Shiloh reached through the bars for her, and she embraced him, the hard metal digging into each of them but not preventing the tact.

  "We'll get you out of there quick, I promise." Shiloh murmured in her ear.

  "I know, Loverboy. I know."

  Shiloh stepped back from the cage and the group formed up around him.

  "What's the pn?" He asked, his voice all business. Beck shifted her legs, seeming unfortable, but Shiloh was too focused to pay much attention. If something was wrong, she'd say so.

  "We've taken a look at all the pilrs, and they seem to have an asding difficulty to them." Ara informed him. "This one..." She poi the one closest to them. "...seems to be the weakest. It has depis of slimes all over it, so it will probably be a swarm of the little buggers. The oo it looks like a minotaur. Should be easy enough for Elnor to put down quick. The one appears to be something draic, but it doesn't have wings. Part of the mural is missing, so we 't be for sure what it is. After that you have a lich with some undead backup, that'll be a real treat. Then you have what we think is the boss, which has nothing but a giant sword on the pilr. Maybe an ination of Ares himself? The champion of the coliseum? Whatever it is, it'll be a tough fight."

  Shiloh nodded along with all of this, then asked his question. "Are we going big first or w our ?"

  "We think it would be smarter to start small. If we mahe slimes properly, we should be able to let Viktora kill a bunch of them a her some mueeded levels to survive the ter rounds."

  Shiloh nodded again. "That's an excellent point. Thank you all for taking care of that while I spoke with Aphrodite. We o get moving."

  Beck shifted again, and Shiloh g her. She blushed and avoided his gaze. Whatever was wrong with her, she'd have to wait until they got out. ces are, she was just feeling a bit pent up. Holy, if they hadn't dohe ritual st night, Shiloh was sure one or more of them would have been jumping him this m.

  Oh well, time to kick Ares's minions' teeth in.