Night of Trials

Chapter 3, Trial 2: Gang of Darkness

"The path hasn't changed. Do we just continue to walk through these woods while we take on our trials, or is our set of trials gonna change depending on what we have to fight?" I asked.

"I don't know, Aaron, but I guess the trials are gonna change on certain trials." Piper said.

"I guess so." I muttered.

We continued to walk. After a while, a group of people appeared in front of us. Our next trial.

When our enemies came closer, I realized it was Joshua and his gang. Him and four other boys.

"Joshua!? What are you and your friends doin' here!?" I asked.

He only looked at me and didn't say a word.

"Uh...hello?" Piper said.

Their skin tone started to darken. Literally darken. Piper and I didn't say a word as we watched what was happening to Joshua and his gang.

We watched as their skin tone darkened and darkened, including their clothes, watching as the darkness consumed them and their original skin tone until it was gone. They now looked like shadows of who they used to be.

"Well, at least now they've shown us what they look like on the inside." I said, trying to make a joke. Piper narrowed her eyes as she looked at me.

And then she sighed.

"You're right about that, though." She said. I gave her a grin.

"Told ya so." I said.

"Let's just fight these guys already." She said. I nodded.

Deciding to go first, I ran fowards and threw a punch at the first bully, who I thought was Joshua. He staggered back as he gripped his face.

"Ha ha! Like that!?" I asked.

But I got no response.

"Aaron! Look out!" Said a voice.

I turned around to see my sister charging at me with a fist pulled back. I immediately got out of the way as she slugged a presumed Joshua right in the forehead, and then the right cheek.

Before I could react, a blackened version of his friend kicked me right on my shin, forcing me to fall down backwards.

When I got back up, I punched him right in the gut.

The blackened dude I punched disappeared into thin air.

"Hey Piper! Make sure to get a kick, punch, or something to whoever's attacking you and make it good! It'll make 'em disappear!" I said as I dodged another blackened dude from Joshua's gang just in time.

"Got it!" Piper said. I saw her punch one blackened dude in the gut, but he didn't disappear.

"Try again!" I said as I dodged an attack. I saw Piper punch that dude again and he finally disappeared.

"Great job!" I said as I dodged another attack that was close to hitting my right arm.

Two down and two more to go.

One of the blackened boys ran at the both of us, but we both dodged the attack and watched as he fell down behind us.

When he got up, we both punched him in the chest.

As with all the others, this one faded away, too.

One more left.

I started looking around for the last part of this trial, but I saw nothing except for my sister.

"Hey Piper, wasn't there one more guy?" I asked as I looked at her, a both brows raised with a hint of confusion in my voice.

"Yeah, or at least that's what I thought." Piper said as she looked around. I knew she was as confused as I was.

I don't know why I did this, but I then sat on the dirt covered road we had been walking on.

"What are you doing?!" Piper asked as she crossed her arms.

"Waiting for the last guy." I said nonchalantly as I looked up at her from the dirt.

Piper sighed and walked in front of me.

"Aaron, I love you, but you do the weirdest things sometimes. Now get up." Piper said as she grabbed my wrist, but then my hand and started to pull me up. Then she grabbed my unoccupied hand.

She had managed to pull me off the ground and I started to dust off my pants. When I finished, I walked in front of me to see if we could move onto the trial, but I couldn't move on.

"OI LAST GUY! WHERE ARE YA!?" I yelled as I turned around.

Once I did, I noticed someone-or something-behind Piper.

"PIPER, LOOK BEHIND YOU!" I said as I started running towards her.

Unfortunately, I was too late. Piper was picked up by the shadowed figure and thrown to the ground.

"EAT MY FIST, YOU STUPID WEIRDO!" I said, pulling my fist back.

I ran past Piper, being careful not to step on her, and punched the blackened figure in the mouth so hard that he was knocked into a tree before disappearing.

I heard coughing behind me. I turned around to see my sister pulling herself up from the ground and coughing into the air.

I ran to her and knelt down beside her.

"Are you okay?" I asked as I began to look her over, trying to see if I could find any scratches or bruises.

But I found zero of those, fortunately.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Piper said.

It was my turn this time.

I held onto her wrist and started to pull her up, but then I held her hand instead and her other hand. I pulled her up from the ground and let her hands go once she was standing.

"Thanks." She said with a smile.

I playfully but lightly punched her shoulder.

"Hey, what are siblings for?" I asked.

Piper chuckled.

"You're right about that, Aaron. You know, you might not be the best brother sometimes, but when the time comes, you can be the best sibling anyone could ever have." Piper said as a big smile fell onto her lips.

I couldn't help but smile back.

"And the same goes for you. You're sweet all around, though." I said.

Piper laughed.

"Oh, come on! I'm not sweet all the time."

We started walking down the dirt road, still looking at each other and talking to each other.

"Oh yeah? Say that to all the times I told you about things that I was too scared to tell Mom or Dad." I said.

Piper shook her head.

"Alright, fine. I guess I'm sweet most of the time." She said.

"Now that's something I won't argue with." I said.

Before I knew it, we had walked onto our next trial.

And I couldn't help but wonder what it would be.
3rd person POV
Unbeknownst to the sibling duo, they were being watched. However, their watchers were able to blend into the darkness just fine.

"When do we meet them?" A girl asked as she looked at the boy next to her.

"Patience. We'll meet them eventually." The boy responds.

"I can't wait to see the surprised looks on their faces." The girl says.

A grin spreads across the face of the boy as he began to stand up on the tree branch the two of them were on.

"Neither can I, but we'll have to." He says.

The girl stands up and looks at the boy, a grin also on her face.

"And when they meet us...." Her voice trails off as the both of them looked at Aaron and Piper.

"We might just be their toughest trial yet." The two of them say in unison, and with that said, the both of them disappeared-literally-into the night.

End chapter