At first, Sami couldn't tell where he was because there was just darkness all around him. He tried to look around but couldn't see anything. The only thing he could tell was that he was not standing on anything solid. Instead, it felt like he was floating or rather… sinking.
That was when he realized that he was underwater… but not just that. He was underwater so deep that light did not reach here. There was no surface above, and no seabed below. Just a cold, crushing dark expanse stretching in every direction.
He immediately panicked, but just as he was about to begin trashing in the water, he noticed something really strange.
He could breathe perfectly fine.
"Huh?" He blurted in confusion as he took in a series of deep breaths.
"I can breathe? How?" A trail of bubbles spiraled upward as he spoke, then vanished into the blackness.
Since he could not explain how it was possible that he could breathe underwater, he put that aside and tried to make sense of where he was at the moment.
He was supposed to be transported to Tiamat's sanctuary in a unique realm. But he could not see any sanctuary around, just water.
"Where is this?"
He tried to swim upwards, but that was when he noticed that he could not move upward. He could not move sideways either. Instead, like a chain looped around him, an invisible force kept dragging him downward slowly, leaving him no choice but to sink deeper and deeper.
"Huh? Why can't I move?" He was more confused than panicked until, suddenly, a loud and terrifying roar echoed through the water around him.
Panic slammed into his chest instantly, and his heart began to beat wildly. He looked around frantically, searching for the cause of the terrifying sound.
And then he heard it again.
'Shit… what the hell is that?! What's happening?
…Wait… Kevin said we get to see our path first. Does this… have anything to do with my path?'
Sami's mind raced as the roar grew louder. And then… he suddenly felt it. A terrifying presence unlike anything he had ever felt before.
Every muscle in his body locked. He could instinctively tell that whatever was coming was not just dangerous, it was wrong. Evil, even.
The closer the terrifying presence got, and the louder its roar, the more Sami's dread intensified. Until, he began to feel blood trickle from his nose and ears while blood mixed with tears streamed from his eyes.
'I'm… going to die…' The thought solidified as Sami finally saw the creature appear before him.
The monster loomed over him, massive beyond comprehension, its presence so vast it seemed to erase the world around it.
Looking at it, Sami couldn't exactly tell what he was seeing. The creature appeared to be a mix of a dragon and a serpent.
Though its obsidian body was impossibly long and coiled like a serpent, it had large, clawed limbs that seemed almost out of place.
Its head, which resembled that of a dragon, was massive, with piercing blue eyes that locked on Sami, sending chills down his spine.
Sami couldn't move, he couldn't scream, he couldn't even think.
Then… the monster spoke, its voice deep and terrifying. "Are you… afraid?"
Sami couldn't respond. He was rooted to the spot, paralyzed by sheer fear.
The creature spoke again. "Only by overcoming your fears can one rule over them."
It glided closer, the water rippling violently around its massive form. Its enormous jaws opened wide, sending a shockwave through the surrounding water.
Sami couldn't react. He could only watch in terror as the jaws snapped shut around him, the cold water surging in every direction as darkness enveloped him.
***
"aaaAAAHHHH!" Sami yelled at the top of his voice as he jolted awake. He clawed at the ground, scrabbling across the cold, wet stone, trying to escape something that was no longer there. His heart pounded as if it wanted to tear itself from his chest.
When he finally realized that he was still alive, he looked around frantically, half-expecting to find himself in the belly of the creature. But the creature was nowhere in sight. Instead, he was surrounded by a vast, ruined landscape.
Sami drew in a series of shallow breaths, then took a few deep ones to calm himself before pushing off the cold floor.
'What the hell was that? Was that my path? If it was then… what sort of creature is that?' He raised a hand to rub his bare chest. "That was… scary. Jeez, I thought I was going to die."
He continued rubbing his chest, taking shallow breaths, when suddenly something caught his attention. His eyes dropped, and that was when he realized… he was completely naked.
"What the…" He immediately covered himself with both hands, then spun around instinctively to see if anyone was nearby but when all he saw was ruins, he dropped his hands.
"Where am I, by the way."
Now that he had finally managed to calm his fear, he began to scan his surroundings.
The first strange thing that caught his attention was that, around a hundred meters above, a massive dome of water arched high, shimmering faintly. It was as if this entire area were trapped beneath the ocean, with some invisible force holding the ocean back. Beyond the dome was nothing but darkness, deep and infinite, stretching forever in every direction.
He looked to his sides and saw, far in the distance, where the dome curved down to meet the ground, enclosing the world around him in an impossibly perfect half-sphere.
The ground was rough, old, and freezing. It felt as if he were standing on a seabed, with shallow potholes filled with water scattered across the area.
Rising from the supposed seabed were the remnants of ruined, collapsing structures. He couldn't make out what the vague buildings had once been. However, one particular building caught his attention. Despite its crumbling state, it retained a certain beauty, built like some sort of sanctuary.
From the moment his gaze fell on it, Sami felt a strange pull in his chest, as if something were drawing him toward it.
'Is that the sanctuary?' he wondered, tilting his head and narrowing his eyes as he studied the building. He wasn't sure what the sanctuary for the initiation was supposed to look like. In fact, he wasn't sure of much, to be honest.
Unlike the rich kids in the higher sectors who were either members of clans, had connections to Dominants, or had access to training academies where they could learn about Dominants and what to expect when journeying to the unique realms for initiation, Sami and others in the lower sectors had to rely on rumors and secondhand stories.
That was why, standing there now, he had no idea what to do.
After a few seconds, he started walking toward the ruined building. The closer he got, the more the details came into view. At the heart of the crumbling sanctuary stood an altar with a basin carved from black stone, its surface dusted with salt and silt.
When he finally stepped inside, the pull in his chest grew stronger, guiding him toward the altar like an invisible thread. He moved carefully, each step echoing faintly in the vast, hollow space. As he neared the basin, something came into view. Resting at its center were two chalices, carved from the same black stone as the altar itself. One held water so clear it almost seemed invisible, while the other was filled with a liquid so dark that even the light refused to touch it.
Then something else caught Sami's eye. Near both chalices were markings etched into the basin in a foreign language. Yet as he studied them, the symbols slowly began to make sense, and he realized he could read them. That was when he found out that it was the same language as the one on his sigil. Though he barely registered that fact as a cold dread slid into his heart when he understood the words etched on the basin. They read:
"Choose wisely. One will make you whole, the other will strip away all that you are."
Sami swallowed hard and muttered in a shaky voice, "What the hell?" He paused for a moment, eyes flicking between the chalices. "Is this… some kind of test? I've never heard of there being a test during the initiation."
He ran a hand through his hair, his fingers trembling slightly before he covered his mouth, trying to steady his breathing. 'If this is a test, I'm screwed. I'm so screwed… I have really terrible luck.
…No, no, think Sami. Think. Don't panic. There has to be something that can help me make the right choice.'
Sami took a deep breath and looked around at the chalices and the altar, hoping for a sign, a clue, anything that could tell him which chalice to choose. But there was nothing.
Then, at that moment, Sami coughed as he suddenly began to feel an overwhelming thirst. He swallowed hard, but that only seemed to make it worse as the thirst grew stronger by the second.
"What… what's happening to me?" Sami rasped, clutching his neck.
It kept getting worse, building until a searing migraine lanced through his skull, forcing a groan from his lips. He gritted his teeth, one hand gripping his head as the pain pulsed behind his eyes. But that was not all, because the more the thirst burned inside him, the stronger the urge became to drink from the chalices.
'Dammit! What is this?!' Sami thought as he dropped to his knees, clutching the altar for support.
At this point, he could tell that the thirst and the chalices were probably connected. Which meant that he had to make a choice as soon as possible. His eyes flickered between the crystal-clear water and the opaque one.
'Which one… which one… which one?'
Before long, the pain grew so unbearable that Sami could barely breathe. His throat felt like it was tearing apart, his head pounding so violently that his vision blurred.
He finally reached out, hesitated for a moment, then grabbed the chalice filled with opaque, dark liquid.
'Aisshh! To hell with this!' he cursed, bringing it to his lips and drinking it all.