Racial change to a Half-Sylph.

  Ascension has commenced.

  Elron pushed himself off the ground, clutching his head. As he stumbled to his feet, he rubbed his eyes and murmured, “Where’s mother?” But a frown quickly followed as he realized he was far from his world. His spirit now walked a different plane.

  His body felt lighter, almost weightless. “These ascension trials are strange,” he muttered.

  He looked around and found himself high in a mountain range. There was no green in sight, nothing within reach but rock and dirt. This place was unlike anywhere in the kingdom. If he looked hard enough, he could see a distant cherry blossom tree stubbornly clinging to life in the high altitude.

  After taking in the landscape, he felt the familiar sensation he always experienced upon entering these worlds—the urge to push forward.

  Before him stretched a winding gravel path carved into the rock. He took a deep breath, pulling in as much of the thin atmosphere as he could, and moved forward. It didn’t take long to spot the first trial awaiting him. Ascension trials typically demanded physical, mental, and spiritual effort, but this time, it was clear the physical challenge would come first.

  Ahead lay a large boulder next to a familiar sword. As he approached, he extended his hand, and the sword flew into his grip. “Balmer,” he said with a flat tone.

  “Elron, my bearer,” said Balmer.

  He attached the sword to his belt and said, “So, what’s the challenge this time, you think?”

  Balmer raked his voice and said, “That is for you to figure out.”

  “I could have sworn you are suppose to help me… that was the deal,” Elron said looking down at the sword in disdain.

  “I have helped—more than you know. This is your trial, not mine,” Balmer hissed.

  Elron huffed. “Well, it’s got something to do with this thing,” he said, kicking the nearly perfectly round boulder.

  He hopped on one foot in pain, cursing, “Damn, this rock is solid.”

  Looking around, he noticed the gravel path continued beyond the boulder, winding up to a plateau.

  Leaning against the massive stone, he groaned, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  He then asked, “Can I fail this?”

  “Fail? No. Fall short? Yes,” Balmer replied.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Elron asked.

  “At this rate, you’ll end up a tier-three being with a farmer’s class,” Balmer sneered.

  Elron put both hands on the boulder, and with all his might, he slowly began to roll it forward. “Well, I refuse to be a king of farming,” he muttered.

  As he pushed the stone initially he feared for the worse, his body ached just to roll it a few inches forward, yet he didn’t give up. He strained his muscles, using every ounce of strength in his leggs, his back, and his arms to move it. Fortunately, as oddly spherical as the object was, it was incredibly rough and textured, preventing his sweaty hands from slipping.

  With every foot placed infront of the other, things became easier, even with the incline becoming sharper and sharper. However, he eventually pulled his head up from looking at the ground and saw a stone statue along the way.

  He stopped and asked, “Who is that? I feel like I have seen him from somewhere before…”

  Balmer chuckled darkly. “That’s the first man you ever killed.”

  A flash of memory hit Elron. The statue was a near-perfect replica of the man he had run through with his sword. The craftsmanship was so lifelike, it seemed as if the statue was watching him.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “I have no regrets about killing him,” Elron muttered, looking back at the ground.

  Balmer hummed in acknowledgment, and Elron returned to pushing the boulder. Since he stopped the ball was no longer in motion and it became many times more difficult to put it back into motion, yet after persevering, it began to move again. Step after step, he put one foot forward, sinking his feet deep into the gravel before heaving the bulder forward, whilst moving his hands downward.

  Eventually, the incline became so steep he was forced to switch tactics. He began to use his shoulder and chest, in conjunction with his arms to push the boulder up hill. His whole body ached, but stopping now would mean starting over. He looked down and to the right, and whistled. “That’s a long a way down…”

  In his moment of looking over, he couldn’t help but slow down to look at another statue along the path.

  Clicking his tongue, he muttered, “Damn, who was he again?”

  “It all blurs together, doesn’t it?” Balmer teased.

  “Who is he?!” Elron snapped.

  Balmer laughed. “That’s Flop-wop, the chieftain you burned alive beneath his shield.”

  As Elron gritted his teeth, he relealized that he had slowled down too much and could no longer push the boulder forward. His body and muscles strained, his veins bulded to the point where he could feel them throbbing in his face, yet it just as he was giving it his all, it wasn’t enough. The boulder pushed him backwards, crushing him as it rolled back down the path from wince it came. Almost as if magically aligned on a track, it rolled all the way back down the hill and stopped in it’s original position.

  That’s when Elron found himself chest flat on the ground from wince he started.

  “Fuck!” he shouted, kicking up stones as he stood.

  “Sucks to suck,” Balmer said mockingly.

  In a fit of rage, Elron tore the sword from his belt and flung it over the side of the mountain. His breathing steadied for a moment, but it didn’t last—the sword reappeared at his waist with a pop.

  “You’re stuck with me, remember?” Balmer reminded him.

  Elron, still in a foul mood, ignored the sword and went back to placing his hands onto the rock. Like before, he used his entire body to roll the stone along, making sure to place his hands in the center or toward the bottom with ever push. With more drive this time, he quickly reached the previous point on the slope where he had to switch to using his chest and shoulders to move the boulder along. Albeit, this time, he made sure to look at the ground and focus on his foot work. Step by step, piece by piece, he found himself at the top of the plateau.

  Once he acknowledged the ground was flat, he steadied the stone and collapsed, drenched in sweat.

  “Bah, that was nothing,” he said, wiping his brow.

  “Had me fooled,” Balmer replied dryly.

  Before Elron could retort, a cracking sound filled the air. His gaze snapped to the boulder, which began splitting apart like an egg. He scrambled to his feet, sword drawn, ready for whatever was inside.

  As the boulder split open, both halves toppled over, revealing two figures. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief. Before him stood his brother, Adan, strangling none other than Elron’s younger self.

  Without hesitation, Elron charged. Adan didn’t react until the last second, just before Elron’s blade severed his head. The head tumbled down the mountainside, and Adan’s body collapsed, blood spurting from the stump.

  “Get up, me,” Elron said, extending a hand to his younger self.

  He stared at the younger version of himself, unsettled. He wasn’t even a high elf yet. The clone didn’t speak, only smiled and shook Elron’s hand with both of his.

  But Elron’s smile faded as he realized this wasn’t a plateau—it was a volcano. When he started the trial, the world gave him little to no internal prompt. It didn’t force him to do anything but allude to him his next task. This was different though, the prompt was now screaming at him, and it was readily apparent at what he was supposed to do next.

  He looked down at the bubbling lava from within and then peered over down the cliff side of the mountain and saw a town. The lava quickly rose and started to pop and sizzle violently. He needed to make a decision, someone needed to go into the volcano to stop it, otherwise it would destroy the town below.

  Elron sat down and tried to breath. He told himself over and over that nothing was real in the plane of existence, yet as he told himself that it became hard and hard to believe. Here, he felt pain, he felt clarity like that not his actual world. It scare him. He needed to make a decision. Standing, he looked into the volcano, then back at the town.

  Biting his lip, he turned to his former self and whispered, “I’m sorry.” Grabbing him by the waist, Elron tossed him into the volcano.

  As his former self flew into the depths of the volcano, he did not scream, yet the shock and terror on his face was unmistakable. As he plummeted to his death, he raised his hand out as if someone was going to reach out and grab him before he fell, yet that never happened. He hit the lava below, like water striking a hot pan, bouncing several times before exploding into a mess of fiery bits and gore.

  With ragged breaths Elron watched, and after several moments the lava began to lower inside of the volcano.

  “You did that all on your own, that time,” said Balmer.

  Elron dropped to his knees, exhausted, and muttered, “Fuck you.”

  New Class Unlocked: Doomblade.