This time Kaius was ready for the jarring transition, staying steady as he stepped through the crucible portal.
A wall of tumbled boulders surrounded him, set deep into the grass. Fog shrouded everything, each stone looming over him through the haze.
They did look natural, even if the formation was unlikely — closer to a keep’s wall than a random outcropping. Dead ahead of him, there was a break in the barrier where two natural plinths had toppled towards each other, creating a gateway.
The opening led out to a path, snaking out of view — no doubt leading to the meat of the challenge. It was surrounded by more grass. The dense, thick kind. Reaching up to midthigh, it would slow his pace. At least, it would if he was weaker. Unless the grass was magical in some way, he doubted it would be anything more than a mild annoyance with his strength.
So far, there were no major threats he could see. Though, the fog would no doubt be an issue. Whether it was through the trial’s unfathomable powers, or simply an innate resistance, he struggled to pierce the white with Truesight.
It wasn’t complete — not like what he’d experienced in his Trial of Mentis — but it did limit his vision significantly. He could barely see fifty strides — which meant that no doubt he would have struggled to see his own outstretched hand without his Skill.
Kaius sighed.
And leapt six strides into the air when he heard a yelp of surprise behind him.
He flailed, doing his best to twist mid air as his heart slammed in his chest. Something large and dark loomed at the far end of the stone circle — a good twenty longstrides away. Familiar, large, impossible.
A sight that he’d just barely dared to hope to see waited for him. A small mountain of dark green fur, with a white ruff and crystalline claws — still wrapped in his leather underarmour. Porkchop.
Kaius’s mind raced, struggling to process what was right in front of him as the world slowed. It felt like he hung in the air, staring at the stupid lump for an age and a half. It couldn’t be. The link between their souls was still sealed — left him cut off from Porkchop’s mind.
But he was there. Right fucking there!
Before he could laugh in joy, thick slabs of heavy-plate surrounded his brother with a subtle pop as Porkchop readied himself for a fight. His eyes were narrowed — like he was struggling to pierce the gloom.
“Porkchop!” Kaius finally yelled.
His brother yelped — the ground caving beneath his feat as he jumped in fright; handedly clearing the natural stone wall that surrounded them in spite of the titanic weight of his armour.
Kaius touched down and laughed, an overwhelming mix of warmth, confusion, joy, and relief filling his chest. Spinning to the sound, Porkchop hit the ground with a thud and sank a handspan into the dirt. He froze, ears swiveling as he searched the fog — an expression of suspicion etched in his face.
“...Kaius?”
“It’s me! Can you not see me through the fog?”
As he confirmed his presence, Porkchop went still for a heart beat — before he dismissed his armour a heartbeat later and charged.
Kaius reacted immediately, kicking into a sprint. Spreading his arms wide, he tackled Porkchop as hard as he could — and went sprawling as his brother hooked a paw under the back of his legs and yanked him in.
“Kaius! By the Matriarch’s, it’s you!”
Kaius wrapped his hands around Porkchop’s neck and did his best to squeeze the very life out of him — grinning so wide that his cheeks ached. Praise the gods — it had been too long. He felt whole again.
Growling and chuffing, Porkchop took them to the ground — slapping him from side to side with heavy, if gentle paw strikes. Grinning ferociously, Kaius lunged and wrapped himself around his brother’s forearm and strained as he clinched with his legs.
Heaving with all his might, his back and core burned as he did his best to force Porkchop to straighten his arm. He didn’t get very far — but Porkchop did rear up and flail his arm madly in an attempt to shake him loose.
“Get off!”
“Make me!”
Porkchop growled, bringing him close — jaw opening wide around his head.
“Fine, fine! It’s my loss,” Kaius sighed, dropping to the ground. He dove back in a moment later, wrapping his arms around Porkchop’s chest.
“Rotten roots, it’s good to see you!”
“I…yeah, it is.”
It felt wrong not to feel Porkchop’s sincerity — to rely on simple words alone to try and convey how he felt. Without the bond, he couldn’t respond to Porkchop’s natural telepathy as he wanted to — was cut off from sharing the context of his senses, mind, and emotions.
So he didn’t try — he just clung on for dear life, and stayed that way right up until a notification spilled across his vision. They broke apart automatically, reading what was shown.
**Ding! You have challenged the Trial of Cohesion!**
**Seek the core of Animus, and find the self through insight, awareness, and understanding of your bond.**
**Walk the Path until you can go no further. Forfeit, and forever know that you were lacking!**
Stolen story; please report.
It held nothing new, and no special insight that he could gleam into the nature of the challenge. Though, thankfully, it seemed that there were no conditions for forfeiting — merely the natural consequences of failure. He could live with that — it wasn’t like he would do so without it being his sole remaining option.
Dismissing the notification, Kaius immediately returned his attention to Porkchop — still struggling to believe he was really here.
“What the hells are you doing here? And why is our bloody bond still sealed if we need it to find Animus?”
“You tell me, I can’t feel you either!”
He couldn’t bear it any longer.
Kaius leapt onto his brother's back and pivoted to lay flat — staring up into the fog. He felt a rumble resonate up through Porkchop’s chest, a sound of delight. Regardless of the why, or what waited for them in the trial, what mattered was that they were here. They’d figure it out.
“I’d hoped we might run into each other — it seemed reasonable for a trial related to the soul. It’s still surprising though, and I didn’t expect to stay cut off — feels weird. I…needed this. My first two trials were rough. They’ve left me weary.”
Porkchop hunkered down, before he bumped Kaius off his back and wrapped around him. Kaius leaned in, enjoying the warmth and simple presence of his closest and most trusted companion.
“Tell me about them?”
Kaius nodded slowly, and slipped into his tale. The unending waves of challengers that pushed him to the brink — that refined him with the gentle grace of a millstone, and revealed to him the raw madness that lay within. His willingness to fight and die, to keep cutting and killing until an end had been reached — one way or the other.
The memories rocked him. The weakness that crawled through his marrow; the phantom sensation of his missing limbs; the hot rush of blood that spilled down his throat with every rabid bite. He wanted to call it foreign — the fugue of spite and hunger that had pulled him in as his mind fled before exhaustion. It bothered him that it wasn’t — with the weight of Corporus suffusing him, he felt that thread of iron that ran through him. That drive to improve — to walk, even as the journey shattered him.
As he talked, Porkchop hummed in commiseration when he spoke of his wounds; chuffed in delight at the ruin he wrought, and pulled him tighter as he paused — struggling for the right words. It put Kaius at ease — the comfort of having a burden that he hadn’t realised the weight of being lifted from him. He felt light — free, regardless of the oppressive fog that swallowed them.
“And then I died.”
Porkchop gasped. “No! That — by my Patriarch’s scruff, are you alright?”