10 Trial (2/2)

”Explore. Understand.” I could just about pick up the man's voice, but it sounded distant.

I heard a roar from behind me and I spun around. Two monstrous apes towered over the forest, locked in a fierce battle. One ape was pummelling the other into submission.

Its fists seemed to move slowly, but each hit sent out a wave of pressure that stripped the trees bare. The other ape was struggling, its arms raised in defence, but they were being warped and snapped with each punch.

Finally, its arms fell. The winner bared its fangs, then sunk them deep into the neck of its victim. It thrashed in pain for a few seconds, then lay still.

The winner let out a bloody roar and thumped its chest. A massive shock wave hit me, and I was sent flying back. As I flew, the world seemed to shrink, and I felt myself falling again.

I fell through another tunnel, into a different world.

It was dark and there was a torrential downpour. Beneath me was a city, the only structure in sight for miles. Huge towers of varying heights pierced the sky.

Between two towers were two floating figures. They wore tattered cloaks and drooping wide-brimmed hats. One was dressed in grey, the other in white.

The man in grey was covered in a veil of arcing lightening. He yelled a strange word and raised a staff to the sky. A great thunderbolt shot through the man in white and smashed into the tower behind.

The man in white fell towards the ground, and the tower seemed to buckle. Large stones shot out, crushing buildings in the city below. I could hear many faint screams, muffled by the rain.

Again, I fell backwards into to a new world. A small group of well armoured soldiers were in a circular formation, their backs to a shining gold standard.

But they were surrounded by a huge rag-tag army. The army were dressed in tanned leather and furs, and most of them carried rough clubs.

They swamped the small group, and the gold standard fell, trampled into the mud.

I fell again, and yet another world unfolded beneath me. This time, I saw a man slice a woman's throat in a dark alleyway. She gargled on her own blood, screaming for help, but no-one heard or saw her.

I fell again into another world. It was a one-sided battle.

I fell again, another world. A slaughter.

I was dragged through countless worlds and witnessed countless tragedies. I became numb to the sight of cruelty. I was sick and tired of it. What could I gain from seeing this?

Another world. More cruelty.

Another world. More suffering.

Another world. Death.

Another world. Another world, another world another world….

”So, what did you learn?”

The man's voice startled me, and I realised I was lying down with my eyes closed. I slowly pulled myself upright and opened my eyes. I was back in the pavilion.

”That you're a sick bastard,” I replied.

”I simply showed you everything as it is,” he said, without missing a beat. ”So?”

I sighed and told him.

”The weak beat the strong. The many beat the few. Wherever you go, horrible things happen. You can't escape it. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

”Is that it?” he asked, putting his hands behind his head.

”What else do you want me to say?” I replied.

”Is that really all you learned from seeing thousands of battles across thousands of worlds?”

When he put it like that, I was ashamed. If I was a cultivation protagonist, I would have learned some mystical power from such an experience. Self-doubt filled my mind.

”Am I… weak?”

The man stood up and wandered over to me. He placed his hands on my shoulders and whispered in my ear.

”Yes. You are.”