"So…your first name is Solstice, last name Everstone. I'm assuming you were named in honor of the Solstice God."
Solstice hesitated. "Yeah, my parents were fans of the Solstice God, as a lot of people are, hence my first name."
"I personally think its a weird name"
Stunned, Solstice scoffed. "It's not like I was able to choose my name! Also, I personally think its powerful to be named after a god!"
"Mhm…yeah I can't do it, I'm calling you by your last name for now until I figure out a nickname for ya." Jest laughed a little more and adjusted himself a little bit in his seat.
"The briefing process won't take long, it's pretty straightforward, let me start off by asking, what do you know of what's going to happen to you?"
"What I do know is that at some point my mind will be dragged into the Wyrd and I'll have to undergo some trial?" Solstice replied with his limited understanding.
Jest looked at Solstice intensely and sighed. "If that is all you know, then I regretfully have to inform you that you don't even know the bare minimum, didn't you get a somewhat proper education?"
"Admittedly, I wasn't particularly intrigued on learning things about the Wyrd so I didn't really pay attention"
Jest answered almost immediately with a strained voice. "Well, you've got some learning to do."
A sharp pain flared in Solstice's head, he grasped it tightly, his jaw clenching as he attempted to endure the pain. After a minute the pain subsided.
"That's no good."
"Yeah, that hurt like hell…"
"Alright! Quick explanation because I don't think you have much time. Basically, your physical body will stay here in a vegetative state, while your mind and spirit will get dragged into a trial set up by the Wyrd. What it's usually called is a 'Chain Trial', because you will be bestowed your Chains of Fate by the Wyrd! Congratulations on becoming a fate slave. Anyway, you will be brought to a moment or event recorded in the history of the Wyrd, and there will be a rough narritave to follow based on what previously occured. Of course, this will not be one to one with the past, but you should be able to observe an outline that you'll want to follow along. One piece of advice when it comes to things related to the Wyrd, sometimes its not the monsters you'll face that you will have to worry about, but the people that you meet."
"Ok…Is there more that I should know?"
"Yes, but I don't think you have anymore time with me right now."
"What?"
Solstice suddenly went silent and his body fell backward onto the cot. The next thing he noticed was that he could not move, and he was starting to lose the feeling of his body rapidly. It was extremely painful and indescribable but it only lasted for a moment before he began to descend from his body. He felt weightless and weighted at the same time, such a contradiction confused him.
It was weird to be looking at your own body from above you growing more and more distant as you get pulled into an endless oblivion below it. The speed at which he was being dragged rapidly grew and eventually, everything became dark.
Then, Solstice fluttered his eyes open.
He could feel his consciousness and soul fully settle into a body not of his own.
Solstice felt extremely tall, he felt his hair, it was now a long, unkempt dirty blond and went past his shoulders. He also felt incredibly hungry, his body was severely emaciated, littered with scabs and bruises. Unfortunately, on top of the already terrible state of his body, he was missing his left arm which happened to be his dominant arm. His eyes were no longer the pretty spring green of his original body, instead they were a stormy cold grey.
His new body was adorned in a black hooded cloak, a leather glove, a vambrace, greaves and leggings, and a tunic. Solstice also noted a graceful rapier kept in a scabbard with strange embroidery.
Solstice was so shocked at the state of his new body his consciousness was planted into and his appearance to realize that someone had been yelling at him.
"Drifter! Why'd you stop moving!?". A human voice yelled out directed towards him.
Solstice jumped at the sound of the human voice and turned around. This time, after being so absorbed in studying his new body, he finally began to actually perceive his situation.
He was staring at what looked to be a knight, and behind that knight was an entire convoy of wagons, with knights on each side and the rear. In the middle of that convoy was what looked to be a type of palanquin, lifted by four incredibly powerful knights. These powerful knights were massive, easily almost matching Solstice's current height, which was roughly around 2.4 to 2.5 meters, making them and Solstice seem like they had giant blood in them.
The knights were wearing chainmail, underneath their plated cuirass, gauntlets, greaves, and vambraces, and underneath the maille was the gambeson, the standard armaments for knights. They also wielded heater shields, painted on them were their sigils, along with their surcoats for recognition. As for weapons, they varied between maces, axes, lances and longswords.
The powerful looking knights, who were extremely tall, had an aura to them that one could tell was supernatural. One had a halberd with no shield, another was grasping a spear and a kite shield, a third knight wielded dual swords again with no shield, and the fourth was holding a flail in addition to a heater shield. They were probably there as extra special guards for whatever nobility was inside the palanquin.
Solstice began to look around to take in the environment they were currently in. They were in a forest, currently travelling on what looked to be a human made path that went straight through the forest all the way down. Solstice turned around again with his back facing the knight who had asked him why he stopped walking, and stared down the road ahead.
The sun was currently in the West, meaning that it was getting close to dusk. The sun also was red, it was a blazing red.
It looked like they still had a long way to go, in the distance he saw a beautifully pristine white, seemingly small castle which could very well be very large in reality as he was looking at it from afar. The red light from the sun was reflected off the pristine white castle, with the lush mountainous terrain behind it, it definitely made viewing it from this distance picturesque. He deduced that the castle was most likely their destination and taking in the fact that he was at the forefront of the convoy, he was probably meant to be their guide.
The knight spoke up again. "Is there something troubling you?"
Actually there was….
The road was a straight path through the forest so nothing was in their direct line of way, there was no need for a guide, all they needed to do was to go forward. So if Solstice was sent to walk in front of the convoy like a guide would, yet there was no need for a guide, then why was Solstice in the front? What was his role in this convoy? A guard? No, they had plenty of them and he wouldn't even be a good one, with the state of his body.
Solstice turned around, once again facing the knight. The knight was patiently waiting for Solstice to answer.
The knight wore a stoic expression on his face, one of his black eyes was blinded and had a nasty scar cut across his face that extended to even below his chin. He had a ginger stubble, with short curly ginger hair to go along with it. He was also firmly grasping the hilt of his longsword, ready to unsheathe it at a moment's notice. His sigil on his shield was that of burning white sun, the background was relatively bland, just being bright orange.
Solstice had no clue what to do. Not only was he put in a heavily damaged body, he didn't know what the role he was assigned was. But honestly that was the least of his worries.
Solstice recognized that he exhibited powerful pulls from the Wyrd, meaning he most likely had a powerful fate, and possibly unique on top of that, which is extremely rare. Not many people had a strong or unique fate, both however, were nigh unheard of. From Solstice's limited knowledge, he could count only a handful of people that were chosen to carry both, which meant that his Chain Trial would be impossibly dangerous.
But that also meant the powers granted to him would be just as strong and unique.
What made it even more dreadful though, was that he did not get enough time for Jest to tell him some much needed tips once undergoing the Chain Trial. Solstice should've had at least one hour before he fully succumbed to the Wyrd since the Madness visions started. Twenty minutes though, was all the time that Solstice was granted, which was one of the fastest times someone ever succumbed to the weight of the Wyrd in history.
If he remembered correctly, there was a famous twelve year old girl who succumbed to the weight of the pull in 28 minutes. Whatever fate that she had to deal with, she did not survive it as it was too harrowing, even if she was granted fantastical powers.
Those tips Jest was meant to tell Solstice were truly vital to his survival.
He would either have to experiment with himself until he acquired some clues as to what his "Gift" was and how to grasp this information, or he would have to be forced to discover them under a dire situation, if he even stayed alive to do so.
'Taking these factors into consideration, I probably have a unique "Gift", making me some sort of specialist. There is no need for further protection, or a guide as there is clearly only one direction needed to walk, the problem is figuring out what I specialize in and why me, the "Drifter", was hired for his specialties. There is a problem that only I can solve which is why my presence is here at the forefront, I need to identify it.' Solstice began trying to guess his purpose to no avail, more clues were needed.
Solstice finally decided to answer the patiently waiting knight. "I apologize I was lost in thought. Let's keep going."
The knight stared at him with a piercing gaze and walked up to him. Solstice had to stare down at the knight's face, he really did not know exactly how tall he was, but seeing as how he was towering over the ginger haired knight, he truly felt like a giant. The knight did not falter at Solstice's fearsome height however and stood in front of him, locking eyes with the tall man.
The knight quickly lost his staid demeanor after being stared at by the giant for a few seconds. "Th-there is no time for jokes, and there won't be anytime for them in the future either, if you sense something wrong you are to notify us immediately. At least until we pass through this cursed forest and make it to the castle." The ginger knight turned around and walked back to the wagon that he had come from, facing his companions he regained his confidence to order Solstice around. "Keep walking forward and do what you do best!"
With that, Solstice turned back around facing the beautiful white castle that lay in the distance, and hesitantly started walking.
'But what the hell do I do best? This is too goddamn weird! Wait, he said to notify them if I sense something wrong, the key word he said was "Sense", do I have a sensory type gift? But how do I feel out for it? Hmm, sight, smell, touch, hearing, and taste. Then there is the "Unofficial 6th sense", like when you feel like you're being watched, is it that? Or something else? Do I have a special organ that detects something specific?' Solstice shook his head.
"This is going to be rough."