Always keep your expectations low and you won't be disappointed was a slogan Lyren had come to created for himself. He had learned various lesson and this marked his best lesson. Even with this thought though, what came next was beyond his expectations.
When he lost his footing and when he could feel the ground again, it happened almost instantly and when he appeared, something was wrong with him. He could feel his legs were cool. Wait, could it be that he had been undressed?
That was not the case though because he could feel the cloth pressing on him. That was impossible because he had no shirt and he had been wearing only pants. Now, he could feel that his body fully covered. As his sight cleared, his eyes popped out once again.
When had been dressed? He was wearing a familiar white gown to those men in this place. They were long sleeved but were wide. He looked at his hands and saw they were glowing and clean. Too clean at that. Looking at his feet, he was wearing black sandals and he did not have pants underneath the gown.
That explained the cool sensation but that did not explain why he was dressed like those people. He could even feel that his hair had been made to fall on his back which he did not like that much. He could not feel the sweat and grime he always carried which meant he had probably been washed.
But was that even possible, who could do all those changes instantly. He suddenly looked forward and he was bombarded by a sight he did not expect at all. Standing before him were two rows of lined up people. They were not looking at him at all but one could sense the anticipation in the air.
Lyren felt weak in the knees as he realized that something was wrong here or was it that that something was right? He realized he had been transported to the last person and he was just meters away from them. They maintained the distance between them and their numbers seemed to stretch to infinity.
Then, a voice came to his mind just then, telling him to start walking. Lyren started walking absent-mindedly and as he approached the pathway in between, he felt his heart race and his weak knees wobbled as he walked forward.
When he was between them, he realized just how insignificant he was. Just one of them was enough to leave him incapacitated. Yet, here he was walking in between them. Their gazes fixed on him and this just seemed to bore holes into him.
Those he left started walking behind him as he headed forwards. By the time he was halfway there, his body felt weak and the children's curious gazes bore onto him. The youths looked at him and he could feel their arrogant gazes as he walked past them. He could feel their contempt towards him and this somehow made his chest build up rage.
So they were truly being ungrateful. These arrogant fools who had masters to teach them dared to look down on him who had come this far all by himself. He let out a chuckle as he felt all his worry disappear. He had fallen victim to their aura forgetting that they were already dead. He did not believe that it was him who had been walking with his head lowered.
Maybe this was actually the reason they looked down on him. He stopped moving forward and he looked at the youths who were staring at him. Next to his side was the lady he had seen first turning from statue to human. She was the only one who did not show any contempt or maybe she was just good at hiding it unlike the others.
They seemed to be pulled back by his chuckle as he raised his right hand and opened his palm. He waved it at all these youths and he could see even more contempt on their faces but he wore an evil grin as he waited for them to notice.
He watched as their faces started changing from contempt to shock then to fear. Lyren felt a sense of pride as he watched them face their defeat in his hands. He had learned from the guardian just how important the mark on his palm was. He watched as they started facing down with envy on their eyes.
They then bowed as they watched him continue wave his hand to the other side of the lady. They saw his mark and majority of them looked down and bowed and it was only the girl who waved back showing off a similar pattern to his.
Lyren smiled sheepishly as he was beaten in his own game. The other youths who had been throwing glances at the lady finally raised their head and looked at him again their contempt returning. Lyren looked at the innocent smile on the lady and he could not help but feel that it was far from innocent as it could be.
He harrumphed as he raised his head high and continued walking forward not bothering about their gazes anymore. He had gained the courage and he was not going to lose it again. The kids followed closely behind him and the adults maintained their distance. Lyren could still feel their glares and hesitant steps as the youths followed him behind the kids.
This made Lyren wipe his sleeves not bothering to look back at them as he approached the end. A crowd behind him. And there his guilt was revived as he looked at the last person at the stairs. It was a completely aged old man and how he was still standing was forever going to be a mystery. After all, he appeared frail.
Lyren almost laughed as he felt the side of his lips twitch. He tried his best to maintain his cool as he looked at this old man and bowed. But when he looked at the man again, his laughter almost came back as he saw a brown line that seemed to trail through his face separating it into two. Yes, this was the statue he had kicked so far away that it had broken into two.
As though sensing his thoughts, the old man sent a piercing glare that made Lyren quickly turned away as he took in a deep breath or else he was really going to laugh.
He then realized why he had won against the guardian.It appeared that they were not statues but were her comrades. His previous thoughts were suppressed by the guilt as he looked towards the hall.
Now what was next? Was he going to have to climb the stairs with a multitude behind him? He saw the old man stand next to him on the right and a lady stood by his left. She was also aged but not as frail as the old man.
They both stretched their hands out and a token appeared. They looked at each other and then they released them. The two tokens floated in the air and then started flying towards the hall. They seemed to cover the distance slowly and when they were hovering above the hall, they merged and then started spinning.
In just a few seconds, they turned to an orange glow and then a bright light surged from it that struck the hall's peak. They disappeared and a sudden wind surged forward toward the peak of the hall. And right there, what appeared like a virtual door appeared. It was difficult to tell where the door led but it where it led to did not matter anymore as two eyes pierced trough the darkness.
This left Lyren paralyzed as he recalled the last time had seen these two eyes glaring at him. He took a step back unconsciously but he was stopped when he felt an arm behind him stopping him from falling backwards.
He looked to see who it was and it appeared that it was the same lady. She had a reassuring smile on her face. She did not even seem to notice the beads of sweat that formed on his forehead but still, Lyren looked forward as he watched a nightmare crawl out of an abyss.