53 The Trial of Wisdom (1/2)

”NO!”

Linri shouted in fury, kicking the pedestal in front of him. This can't be it, he still had too much to do, he had to return home; his family.

The kick was not enough to subside his anger, he went to the wall and punched it with all he had. That did not stop it but he kept punching it. His right hand became a bloody mess, he was losing control in desperation and he knew it.

”HAAAAA!!!!” he roared like a fierce animal backed into a corner.

This furious beast was not him, he had to calm down. Remember what the old man had thought him.

1. Calm down; discard all unnecessary emotions. Anger, fear, anxiety, happiness, sadness, desperation, pain; everything. Emotions cloud your judgement so you have to learn to control them.

Linri started to take deep breaths, slowly calming down the beast inside of him. This was something new to him as he never lost control this much before. He was always calm because he was confident, he knew that whatever happens, it would always turn out fine so nothing could faze him easily. Just when had he lost confidence? When he lost the contact with the deities? When his knowledge about the future proved to be wrong?

Before coming to this world he didn't have those things but he never lost confidence once. Why should he let something trivial affect him then? He was not going to let that happen. He was not going to other things change him, because of something like this. He was finally calm and he started to feel the pain of his right hand. Damn that hurt like hell, wouldn't it be awesome if he could just turn off his pain receptors? He was getting off track so he focused again.

2. Assess your situation; look into your environment. Why are you here? What happened before everything lead to those events?

He looked around, the walls were getting closer. If they kept going at the same speed he still had 15 minutes before he was crushed to death. There were 3 pedestals, 3 different keys and 2 tablets. There was also rubble of the broken tablet.

Why am I here? Because I wanted to save my parents? No that's too general, I am here because I asked to be treated as a criminal from Lozna.

What happened before? I changed my deal with the gods so the future had changed. What was supposed to be a safe expedition turned into a death trap. Solas told me about this because she was 'interested' in my choice. What else? He also went through a minor awakening because of his compatibility with stones.

3. Analyse what you know; small conversations, hints, emotions, everything you know that got you here.

Okay, so he had to solve a riddle and get a key. He also saw some words when he came here.

'With great strength comes courage, but courage without wisdom is just recklessness.'

So this was some kind of trial where he proved his wisdom. How can he prove his wisdom, by solving a riddle? That would be too easy as a trial. What else? Escaping the room maybe? This seemed much more plausible as there was always more than 1 answer to this problem.

So how could he get out? A- Solve the riddle, B- Force open the door, C- Find an opening in the room.

B and C were impossible. He couldn't even make a dent with his punch on the wall so how was he going to destroy it? Dynamite maybe? Maybe B wasn't impossible after all, so he immediately got into action. He took out one handmade dynamite and threw it at the door. Linri closed his ears and turned his back.

'Boom'

He looked at the door again excitedly. The smoke cleared and he could see that there wasn't even a dent on the door. Yep B was impossible.