Wednesday, October 2, 2013

100 List Challenge: Test


The Crying Traveler
Nakh and Kalana watched nervously as Neth faced the huge ceremonial mural with the four tunnels in front. Neth himself was a little nervous, but was determined to prove his right to meet his father and rule the clan that his father left behind. He could still remember the day he came to visit the Black Mage with his intent...

"I am the son of the Archer Lord. I have come to see him."

"You may be," the Black Mage said in an unimpressed tone. "You may not be. We shall see. You must go through a series of tests before you can prove your claims."

"Throw whatever you can to me. I'm ready.

"Very well," the Black Mage stood up and led them to the far outbacks of the forest, with Nakh and Kalana following behind. Along the way, she continued, "This is not the first time someone like you has come here to claim that they are the son of the Archer Lord.

"Every one of them who came must be subjected to these tests: First the Tunnel of the Twin Snakes, second the Tunnel of Hell Lions, third the Tunnel of Fire Bees and last but not least the Tunnel of Pure Lightning. Most of them would never even get past the snakes, and the rest died straightaway in the lions' mouth.

"If you come out unscathed with your life in all the tunnels, we will accept you. If not," the Black Mage turned to Nakh and Kal, "two of you must leave and never speak of this for the rest of your life."


The lovers held their breaths as Neth let his out and entered the first tunnel. A few weeks ago, he was just a boy tagging along them in search of his father, now he was going to fight to the death to prove his words.

"I hope he'll come out alright, regardless if he fails or not," Kal lamented.

"I hope so too," Nakh agreed.

--:--

Love of the Damned
The whole conference room was quiet. Everyone was armed with pens and pencils as they went through the IQ and EQ test.

Thilius sighed quietly as he moved on to his second last paper. Why did he even bother to do this? It was all very simple and based on common sense. He was about to answer his question when he felt Fai's leg touch his.

Don't forget to deliberately answer a few wrong questions.

Why should I? Why can't I just answer them all and get it over and done with?

You don't want the mortals to find out who we really are now, do you?

Gah! Why do we even bother doing this? We could've just called in absent!

We're doing this for the benefit of being mortals, remember? And also for the sake of Damien.

Thilius rolled his eyes and turned to his other first few pages, erased the correct answer and tick the wrong one.

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A/N:

Poor Thili. The things he had to do for his family on earth. As you can see, they can actually communicate with each other telepathically whenever they touch. Just imagine the things they'd say when they're hugging each other or holding hands, or even making love! ^^
 

In Nakh-Kal's scene, Neth is a young boy who ran away from home to search for his father after having enough of being teased by his friends for being fatherless and calling his mother 'a slut'. He met Nakh and Kal along the way and asked if he could join them in his search for his father.
Through the many weeks of his search, he discovers that he is the son of the Archer Lord, one of the many underlings under the Sun God, and that there was a clan who worships the Archer Lord, waiting for his heir to lead their people to prosperity.

 

It is said that the Archer Lord used to lead the people, but was punished by the Sun God for fraternizing with Neth's mother as celestial beings are not allowed to have romantic feelings with mortals. In order to protect the woman he loved, the Archer Lord took her out of the clan and put her amongst a different clan and erased her memories of ever having loved him before the Sun Lord took him and forced him to stay within the Heavens for all eternity, never to leave.
 

As expected, Neth succeeded in coming out safe and sound from the first three tunnels, but once he entered the fourth tunnel, being half celestial, the lightning was attracted to his body and scalded him deeply, causing him to go near death. He thought he was going to die when suddenly he floated out of the tunnel looking totally different, more majestic and more celestial than he used to be.
 

Turns out that it was supposed to happen because it strips him of his mortal body and awakens his celestial body to reveal his lineage. If it were anyone normal, they would've been fried in an instant and wouldn't be still breathing like him. The whole clan rejoiced in Neth's arrival as the new ruler, and Nakh and Kalana were welcomed to stay with them, but the Black Mage secretly urged the couple to leave because she had a premonition that someone will betray them and reveal them to Kal's clansmen if they stayed.
 

So Nakh and Kalana left in the middle of the night, leaving a note to Neth to congratulate him and to bid farewell and they never met again.

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