((I know it's been forever for me to get to this and let me know if you do read this and there's something I did incorrectly about the trial so that I can change it))
5 Steps
Step 1
Versailles let out a sigh as he watched the Knight leave, before taking another look around and saw that well, Hawara had been correct about what had happened. The room appeared to be very stale with the door on the far end. And nothing was happening.
And then he remembered that he needed to go well,
through the door to finally start this… trial. He wasn’t sure if he was up for a “trial” in the first place. He had wanted answers, but if he had to go through some sort of physical or whatnot, he wasn’t sure if he would be able to make it. After all, he did live quite the life of luxury.
He took a long breath and then let it out, attempting to focus on the situation at hand. He had questions, doubts, fears, wants… but he needed to figure out what exactly they were.
And the first was what he wanted. He wanted to join the Order side. But would it be worth it? The Negaverse had quite the parties and other than energy collecting it wasn’t
so bad, but as much as he wanted to pretend that he didn’t care about hurting people, he did. He didn’t like the energy collecting either. Even if people could make it up with a little sleep, it’s not as though the power was going to them-
He shook his head. He was getting off track. He stepped forward until he reached the door, and firmly moved the doorknob getting greeted by a flash of light so bright he had to cover his eyes with his arm before he realized he was…
Somewhere? He wasn’t sure what this place was, but it seemed to be some sort of large room. It was as though the walls were made of gold and the and flooring, white with an intricate gold pattern within it.
Looking around he could see, well he wasn’t sure if they were people or not. Everyone was wearing a mask and while they looked human, the masks all hid their faces. But they seemed impressed by everything. There was talking, some laughter, a large fountain in the room, and exquisite… feast he was sure. Was this what Versailles was like? Is this what he had been missing from going to his Homeworld? He had to admit that it looked like somewhere that he could see himself easily leaving in, but life had been wiped out. Earth was the only planet with life on it now. What had happened to Versailles?
It was then he noticed something encrusted with a large blue jewel on a table nearby and as he got closer he could see the it was a key of sorts. It didn’t really
look like any key he had seen, but he could tell in his mind that it was one. Something was telling him to take it.
And as soon as he picked it up, the lavish room vanished and he was once again in the safe room. The door was once again visible, this time with the shape that appeared to correspond with the key. He let out a small breath, a bit annoyed that he hadn’t been able to spend very long in that first room, whatever it was. As much as he hoped it had been his Homeworld, he couldn’t confirm that it was.
Step 2
“Might as well get this over with now that I’ve started it.” He mumbled to himself. It’s not like he could talk to anyone here anyway. He supposed he ought to think of his next step in this process. Fear perhaps? A fear had come to mind in the previous room. That the Homeworld that belonged to him was no longer a, well a thing of splendor. So what
was it now? It worried him. It made him fearful. Had everything collapsed? Was there no way to get back to it? Would there be no way to at least partially restore the planet?
All were fears that were now flowing about in his head, and he realized that he needed to see what this test had in store for him. He quickly went back to the door again, fir the key into the slot, and opened the door. Again, a flash of light blinded him for a second, until he realized that it was his eyes adjusting to the now light-filled outside that was brighter than the safe room he had been in.
He looked around and was both surprised and… not surprised. He could only hope that he was being shown his homeworld as it currently was. He could see buildings in disrepair, expected from something that hadn’t been tended to in a thousand years. There was blue sky and the air felt pleasant but… that was it. There appeared to be some grass here and there, but most of the ground was covered in stone. The strange thing was it wasn’t even dusty. Like time had almost stopped here. Or the wind did.
He let couldn’t help but smile a little. The planet did look uninhabited, perhaps completely devoid of any fauna and barely any flora but, it wasn’t
horrible. He could work with this. And if he could even get one of these buildings working and in-tact, perhaps there could be a base of sorts that would allow for more things to happen and more to come back on his Homeworld.
But, just how much could he do? Could he do anything? He wasn’t very physically gifted in terms of what he could do, like construction or carpentry, though he was very good at pottery. Would it be worth it though? He knew that Order Senshi and Knights could go to their Worlds and Wonders, an obvious example being Hawara’s of course. And there
seemed to be some sort of… cleanup? To it. But could he do it to his world? Was he worth enough? He had already been inducted into the Negaverse. He had drained energy. He had already risen at least one rank and could possibly head towards another. Would he be allowed to purify or would he be stuck with the Negaverse forever, doing their bidding even if he didn’t want to.
He could see another gem in a run-down statue on his left and went to grab it, noticing it looked a lot like the other “key” that he had used to get here. This time it had a white jewel in it, almost crystal clear, and as soon as he picked it up, he was in the safe room again.
Step 3
Seeing his, possible, Homeworld in such a state of disrepair saddened him and made him lose some hope. Sure, he knew that it would take a lot of work to restore it, but would it be worth it? He didn’t know how much time, or what it would take, in order to renew his world. All the times he had met Order, and the ones he had managed to have pleasant conversations with, he never asked what he could do.
But would staying in the Negaverse be worth it if he couldn’t? If what he knew was correct, then he wouldn’t be able to reincarnate. There would be no other Versailles, the world would be lost forever.
The door caught his attention out of the corner of his eye due to… movement? Hawara didn’t say the door could move. It couldn’t be that, right?
He gripped the key tightly and made his way over, inserting it once again and this time finding himself in a dark world. No, it was his Homeworld but he could feel the Negaverse energy flowing through it. Something had happened to it, and he wasn’t sure if it was real or just a vision of what could happen to it, possibly already if he was corrupted or after he was purified. The chaotic energy didn’t hurt him, but it did make him sick to his stomach in a way that he had already been feeling about being a Senshi on the side of the Negaverse. As though this were wrong in some way that his head was telling him, but his body and possibly magical properties said otherwise.
What if his Homeworld was already like this? Would there be a way to change it?
The same questions over and over and over and over. He growled. Was this all that there was? Just questions without answers?! He thought he had come here to help with his feelings of unease, but all he was getting was confusion! Out of anger he punched a nearby wall, immediately feeling pain radiate towards his wrist and could see that he had scratched his knuckles.
But it felt good. Good to get feelings out of the way even if punching something wasn’t the best way to do it.
He had no one to talk to about any of this. If he talked to any Order on Earth, he could be spotted by another Agent and punished for it. He certainly couldn’t talk about it to any Agent and his civilian life? Being rich didn’t make you have good friends automatically and he had managed to chase away any that might have been in his life so far.
The wall that he had punched, had patterns that swirled on it and in one he could see something darker. It did not shine, it was though any light that was pulled into it didn’t make it out, like a black hole. Yet he could tell it was a deep purple, something that was often seen with Chaos.
Should he take it? He assumed that all of this was just… visions and couldn’t be dangerous, physically at least. Mentally there could definitely be some problems. He grabbed it and figured it was the next key which was quickly confirmed as the “world” around him faded away and he was back to the room.
Step 4
Versailles started to feel his legs shake a little and he decided to sit down and take a breath before going back into the door again. He knew this trial was supposed to be hard but barely seemed to have begun. Was it because he was too spoiled that his trial already was messing with him? Perhaps his arrogance and over-confidence had let him to assume that he would be much more mentally prepared than he was.
A few more minutes went by slowly and when Versailles though the strength in his legs were there again, he moved towards the door and opened it. And it was… the same? Same as last time it seemed, though the sky appeared darker, as though it was nighttime instead of daylight. What was supposed to be hard about this one?
He heard, and felt, a sudden rumbling and notice one of the already partially destroyed buildings begin to crumble, nothing left of it would stand. What did this mean? That he was watching his planet be destroyed? And then another, and he saw another building go down, this time a light-disappearing black crack appeared underneath one of the walls that he was near, moving towards him and he had to take a step back.
It didn’t slow down though it seemed to be heading straight for him. He jumped out of the way, but the crack didn’t slow down. And then another appeared, heading towards him from the opposite direction. He jumped again, away from the two and they collided, now creating a large dark crack in the ground, pure black, nothing could be seen.
He had managed to dodge them, but then realized that when it went towards something such as a wall or large rock, it disappeared. It didn’t make a sound, there was total silence as whatever it managed to swallow up was removed.
And unfortunately for him, the two cracks may have come together, but they started to create more cracks on the edges and on the side that he was on, they moved toward him like they had a purpose to swallow him up as well.
He tried to run away, but when he turned around he saw more coming towards him, they were everywhere and he had no where to go. Only a small glimpse of a jewel on the ground next to what appeared to be the only flower in the area grabbed his attention and he managed to just grab it before he was swallowed by the darkness.
Step 5
Versailles gasped and move himself onto his back as he realized he was back in the waiting room. He had no idea what had happened. Was there a black hole swallowing his world? Is it what would happen if he were to give fully into the darkness? What could it all have meant? Was he too late?
It seemed like an hour had passed before Versailles decided to move again. He really was naive and too full of himself. Barely anything had happened in this place except for what could be called a bad dream and he was already feeling afraid.
He hadn’t done anything. There was nothing to be proud of what he had done as a Corrupt Senshi. All he had done was be full of himself and pretend that he was better than others. He hadn’t done anything amazing. He had fought some battles, but had he really ever gotten into the war? There were Senshi and Agents younger than himself that had faced more than he had already, some of whom were still at their basic stage, and yet what could he say he had done?
Drained people? That was just one of their duties. It all boiled down to him pretending to do what he was supposed to and fighting with his hair. He hadn’t done anything to even pretend like he was a good agent.
Did he even deserve purification then? It was a question that kept coming back around to him again and again and again and WHY WAS HE HERE IF IT COULDN’T BE ANSWERED?! What was the point of all of this. At this point it would have been better to have his powers removed entirely and just to become a regular civilian with the chance to be drained by an Agent! Could he even say he really wanted to be purified if he had been so lazy that he had only talks with Order and hadn’t done anything to show that he did want to be purified.
Was there a point? He might as well give up at this point. But the door stayed, the room stayed, and there didn’t seem to be another way out. He had at least one more to go through, but would it be worth it?
If he didn’t want to die here he guessed he had to. Not like he could live here and he was sure that the Knight wouldn’t want to come across a mummified corpse when testing another individual.
He moved to the door again, having given up, yet another reason he shouldn’t be purified. The door opened and there was…
Nothing.
It was just all darkness. No sound, no light, he couldn’t even tell if there was a floor beneath him but could only assume as he didn’t feel like he was falling. But what was the point of this part? Yeah everything was gone. “Thanks, this tells me a lot.” He mumbled to himself to no one in particular. It didn’t seem to be as scary as the void cracks that had been chasing him, what could that mean though? Didn’t Hawara say this was supposed to get harder and harder? Or did that part eventually end.
He sat down moving his legs in front of him and setting his hands on, well he was’t sure what it was, it didn’t feel like anything he could identify, dirt, stone, or otherwise. It was just him and the darkness that surrounded him. He couldn’t even see his hand when he moved it infant of his face, he only confirmed that when he managed to smack himself in the nose when he moved it toward him.
So, this is what would happen eventually if the Negaverse won right? Just nothing? He couldn’t even feel chaos anymore, as though it had entirely disappeared and there was just nothingness left.
He didn’t like this total darkness. It didn’t feel right. It was as though he knew this would happen and yet…
For some reason there was a voice in his head telling him that he couldn’t let it end like this. Even if he was’t able to change anything by purifying that he couldn’t just sit here and let it all disappear into this.
He still had his health, his wealth, his ability to make art. There was something he could do, even if it wasn’t big, even if it only affected himself, even if he only managed to try to be purified but was destroyed before being able to do so.
There was life. There wasn’t nothingness, even if what they did on Earth was nothing in the grand scheme of things, that did not mean he should do nothing. There was always hope of something. Of another day coming, of more life being found, of understanding the universe, winning the lottery, making your own garden, running a mile… the things that could be done were possibly endless.
And with magic, there was even more possibilities.
He decided. He was going to attempt to find purification at the very least. Even if he got rejected, even if it meant he fell further into darkness.
Suddenly a light blinded his eyes and when his eyes were finally able to see again he realized that he was no longer in the safe room, it was the same as before they had both come in here.
It seemed he was done. Even if it hadn’t been as hard for him as it would have for others, it had helped to move something in him.
He was going to do it.
OP-Yunax
Ending post from me! Thank you for letting me do this!
