"Guys, there's an opening up there!" exclaimed Matthew while pointing at an opening on the ceiling of the third room they entered.
"Shall we go above ground now?" shrugged Rosemary and Lilith visibly flinched.
"In that crazy storm? Hell no. There must be another way."
"I don't see any other exit in this room," confirmed Kristine with a shrug and Rosemary crossed her arms in confidence.
"There isn't a way deeper underground either."
Everyone was staring deeply and patiently into Lilith's eyes waiting for an answer. The red eyed girl in return let out a groan and finally decided to go along with everyone's opinion, "Okay! Fine! Geez! It's not like I have any oher choice anyways..."
"That's what I wanted to hear~" spoke Rosemary with a heartwarming smile that made Lilith roll her eyes in embarrassment.
After everyone came on an agreement, Adrian used his power to create stairs for them to walk on and soon enough, they were all once again able to see the surface.
"Guys... The storm has completely stopped," commented Aurora and she immediately turned to look suspiciously at her surroundings.
"Something's wrong here...," muttered Adrian and Matthew raised a curious eyebrow.
"You think so? Everything looks fine to me... Isn't it more convenient to us that the storm has stopped?" spoke up Matthew and Aurora bit her lower lip.
"Okay then... Let's move on. But it'll be best if we are careful of our surroundings."
"Heh, isn't that what we always do?" scoffed Kristine and Dimitri rolled his eyes.
"You mean what everyone does except you."
"Why you little..."
"Enough chit-chat. The temple won't be found by it self," with Adrian's final harsh yet wise words, everyone started making their way forward into the unknown.
Their spirits high and filled with optimism. Their senses alert for each danger that awaits them. Nothing could stop them from reaching their destination. Yet the time passes... The seconds become minutes and the minutes become hours... Their hopes for finding the temple, started fading with each step...
Nothing could be seen at their endless horizon of the lonesome baren land.
"Hey... Do you guys think that it was wrong that we left from the underground?" asked Lilith disheartened and Matthew stopped to look towards the clear blue sky.
"...Let's head back."
"Are you for real now?! Do you know how far we already are from where we started?!" retorted Kristine but Rosemary stepped between them before the hot headed woman could say anything regrettable.
"Matthew is right. Maybe it's best if we take a different approach of the situation. Like you said... We already went too far. Let's not waste any more time and try something else."
At that, Kristine only tightened her fist and glared at the black haired young man behind Rosemary.
Adrian let out a sigh and walked beside his best friend, "Come on Matt... Let's go."
"Yeah..."
A tremor.
"Wait! Something's going on!"
Before everyone was able to realise what was happening, the earth bellow them opened in half.
"What the-!"
Everyone, was falling deep into the earth once more. But this time, it would not be just a few meters.
Matthew was quick to act this time and created a thick mist just above the ground. Thanks to that, he was able to save everyone by freezing they bodies in space and time the last few seconds.
"Is everyone alright?!" questioned Aurora as they all got slowly on their feet while the mist was slowly disappearing and the opening of the hole they fell had completely disappeared.
"What the hell was that! That's it! Imma 'bout to throw hands!" yelled loudly Kristine as she raised her right fist into the air, "The damned Gods better show themselves or else I might just destroy everything!" she then threatened, her eyes looking frantically at every direction in hopes that the so called Gods of this trial would answer her.
And they did.
All the torches hung up on the walls, immediately lighten up the room and made everything visible once again for our heroes eyes. A room, with precious gems decorating the walls and an endless void for a door just a few meters before them. What was more surprising, was that the fog coming out the void was slowly filling the entire room.
"The judgment of the forth trial starts now. I, Terros, God of the Earth, shall witness the future of those worthy of my gaze."
"And I, Ventosis, God of the Wind, shall watch every soul worthy of living."
Matthew looked alarmingly around him, expecting to fight at any moment. But nothing happened. Even after the heavenly deep and surprisingly seemilar voices of the Gods died down, nothing happened...
Well...not completely.
The fog was getting thicker making everyone's vision slightly blurry and the oxygen in the room - possibly the temple - seemed to be decreasing.
"Cough...cough... I...I can't breathe...," whispered tiredly Dimitri while holding his neck in utmost pain.
"I-It's poison!" exclaimed Rosemary. Despite her shortness of breath, she was strong enough to create numerous plants to produce oxygen in the room. But what could the mere plants do when the poison could not be cured?
"L-Lilith! You... You can cure poisons, can't you?!" asked Matthew in despair. His sore throat was as if he was spitting flames with each word he would say. His mind throbbing in pain, his eyes getting blurred as the time goes by and his lungs begging even for a moment to breath.
The bloody eyed girl could only stare at everyone in terror without uttering a word. Her hands clenched tightly and her body slightly shaking in fear. The coughs and crys of her friends made her feel completely useless.
"Lilith!"
Rosemary's yell was enough to bring Lilith back from her own dark thoughts. Lilith bit her lower lip and then took a step forward, "What should I do?! I can't create an antidote when I don't have a sample of the poison!" she shouted back in both anger and desperation.
"The air!" yelled then Adrian between coughs and Lilith's gaze turned towards him in wonder, "The poison is in the air you fucking idiot!"
"You think I don't know that?! I can only use the flowers that create the poison. I can't use the final product that is in the air!"
"You can!" voiced Aurora will all her might and Lilith's anger quiet down, "Cough... Just... Just try your best. E-Even if you don't manage to save us, you end up at least trying to do so..."
As the rest fell on the ground in pain, ready to loose consciousness, Lilith stood upright with clenched fists. Her panicked heart reaching her ears like a drum. She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes trying to clear her mind and focus on her surroundings. The worries that weighted her stomach like rocks, were now almost nonexistent.
Lilith opened her eyes, now with confidence and raised her hands in the air right beside her. A red mist coming out of the palm of her hands flowing towards her friends and slowly, filling the whole room. Everyone was able to breath once more, but that was not enough to keep everyone safe. Lilith turned to look towards the void with piercing glaring eyes and directed her right arm at it. The mist surrounding her hand flew immediately inside the void like a bullet. With that action, the void's color became pure white, signaling the end of the poisonous atmosphere.
A moment of silence filled the room. Lilith fell on the ground breathing heavily from the exhaustion and shock. She didn't knew that she was able to do something like this. It made her happy to be of use but the horror and anxiety of action was something that she hoped that she never needed to witness again. But that was just a hopeful wish. Lilith knew that inside this tower was nothing there to protect her from all that.
"Lilith! You did it! You are amazing!" exclaimed Rosemary while running towards Lilith, taking her into a big and warm embrace.
Lilith stared at Rosemary in shock but after a few seconds, she calmed down and her eyes softened. The tower was indeed cruel, but if she had the sweet pink haired girl by her side, she didn't minded any of the horrors and cruelty of the tower. A small smile soon taking place on her lips.
"I'm awesome, aren't I?" she laughed and Rosemary replied with one of her own.
"Good job Lilith! I knew you can do it!" praised Matthew with a smile while Kristine and Dimitri nodded both of their heads in agreement.
"I guess we are lucky. Thanks to you we'll be able to live a while longer!" commented Kristine and Dimitri hit her shoulder with a punch.
"Don't scare the kids like that. Everyone will survive if we are strong enough," scolded Dimitri and then turned to look towards the bloody eyed girl, "You did amazing overpowering the poison. I bet if you practice a bit more you'll find more amazing tricks to use to your advantage."
Lilith's eyes started to water as she hugged a bit more tightly the girl into her arms, "Thank you everyone..."
"Impressive," voiced Terros.
"But that's not enough," added then Ventosis.
With that, eight monsters came out of the white void before them. They were monsters resembling humans made out of stone and precious gems. Their hands made of topaz holding spears made out of adamant, the strongest and unbreakable gem in existence.
"Just great...," mumbled Adrian under his breath as he took a fighting stance.
"Heh, if that's what you Gods want, then so be it!" laughed Kristine now breaking her knuckles.
Lilith finally got up from the ground along with Rosemary and made sure to be careful around the new enemies.
After another moment of silence, the fight had finally begun.
Surprisingly enough, Aurora was the first one to run forward. With her power, she was able to move as fast as lightning right in front of one of the monsters and disarm it. She took its weapon and pointed it at the rest with a slight smirk on her face.
"My turn now~" voiced Kristine and didn't wasted a second to jump into the fight. She dodged an attack from one of the humanoid monsters, slipped behind it and broke its body apart. Her eyes looking greedily at the spear on the ground, "Heh, nice~" she snickered while taking it into her hands, admiring the so called mythical adamant. But her smile soon faded when the monster she had just supposedly killed, was brought back into life. By collecting the dirt on the ground, the monster gathered the gems and created another body for it self, "Oh you have to be fucking kidding me..."
"There surely must be a fatal point that we can hit. Don't loose hope just yet," cheered Dimitri with a smirk as he walked beside the hot headed woman.
"What? Do you intend to use your power again and teleport the monsters somewhere else?" deadpanned Kristine and Dimitri shook his head in denial. He slyly grabbed the spear from Kristine's hands and attacked skillfully the monster before them in its joints. Now with broken hands and legs, the monster was unable to do them any harm. But the surprising part, was that the monster could not rebuild its body like it did before.
"Maybe we have to break the stones in their body, instead of destroying the rocks and dirt like you did," voiced Dimitri in a cocky and mocking manner. A confident smirk plastered on his lips, "You know, I'm just saying." Kristine, now furious stole back the spear from Dimitri's hands and spared a glance at the rest. Aurora had already killed two of them while Matthew and Adrian backed her up. Her eyes widened in anger when Dimitri placed a hand over her right shoulder, "You own me one," he whispered as he rushed to help the rest.
"Tch, you asshole..."