The wielder

Chapter 10: Temptation

“Ones who are not willing to take risks

Will never get the true taste of adventure”

                                 -Protector Keiness

When Kanos opened the door, Protector alerted Kanos. “Kanos! I think we have just entered a reality marble! I can feel that this whole place is like an illusion but not really an illusion.”

Kanos thought what reality marble is, but he didn’t say anything since he was going to find out what was going to happen. After they entered the door, they saw a very wide open area with stone ground. Kanos saw that there were two straight lines, 3 meters apart from each other, and he also saw a piece of paper in front of him. He picked up the paper and started reading it.

[Welcome, challenger! The rule in here is simple. You just have to walk inside the two lines until you reach the first treasure I left! Whatever you do, do not step out of the line. If you do that, ‘the guardian’ will be released, and you will have to fight it, which is almost impossible to win, since it was even hard for me to fight that thing. Good luck and may the bliss of Darian be with you…]

“…Well, that’s simple. We just have to walk inside the line until we reach the treasure!” shouted Protector, thinking that this is easy. Kanos started to walk inside the lines, also thinking that he would finish this easily.

Kanos walked for 10 minutes without haste, until he heard something.

“Help me! Please help me!” Kanos heard a little girl’s voice at his left. Kanos was surprised by the voice and turned to the left quick. Kanos’s eyes enlarged when he saw a 3 meter tall ogre holding the leg of the girl, letting her hang in his hand. “Please! Somebody help me!”

When Kanos planned to jump towards the ogre, Protector shouted, “Kanos! Remember the rule! Do not go out of the lines! Do not even think about throwing me beyond the line! I am also considered to be a challenger in here, since I have a soul too!”

“But if we don’t do something, the girl will…”

“Kanos! This is a reality marble! They are not real! The girl over there does not exist! That’s why this is called the door of temptation! Right now, it’s testing your temptation to save an innocent person!” shouted Protector. Kanos then realized that this was the part of the test…

“Ahhh!” CRUNCH! The ogre bit the head of the girl and swallowed it, but Kanos didn’t do anything. As soon as that happened, the ogre and the dead body of the girl started to disappear into thin dust, as if they didn’t exist at all.

“!!! Is that?”

“That’s right, Kanos. You passed the temptation to save an innocent person, that’s why they started to disappear.” Even if that was an illusion, Kanos felt bad about it. “Hey, Kanos! Cheer up! Think of this as a step forward! Train yourself! Advance from the limits of a human!”

Kanos somehow felt better after hearing that. ‘Yes. I have been so weak. I must train not only my physical abilities but also my mental abilities!’ Kanos was suddenly overjoyed. “I will train myself! Come on! Bring the challenges! I will take them all!”

“That’s the spirit! Let’s go!”

Then Kanos kept on moving forward, now, not stopping whether anything was shown outside the lines…

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