Reos Purity Trials

"It is time" Kazegami thought to himself. He had prepared for this day for a long time, as have many other Vayrons before him. He was about to start his journey trial, but as a creature of intellect, more so than strength, he was a bit uneasy about going on such a long and arduous trip, which is why he had postponed it for a while now. But summer had ended and the weather was going to be cold and harsh in the next couple months, so if he didn’t want to wait one whole year, he had to finish this trial now. Still, his adventurous personality sparked a curiosity for exploring new territory and experiencing exciting situations which will help him further develop his practical skills. Like all who take part in this trial, he had traveled to the city of Azrester first and stayed there for a few days to prepare. 

With his full bags buckled onto his flanks he left the Inn he had stayed at and looked into the early morning sky, wondering if he didn’t forget anything and telling himself he brought everything he could possibly need. It was so early in fact, that the sun had not even risen yet, although there was some pale yellow light on the horizon of the dark blue sky. Confidently he walked over to the town hall where he was supposed to meet other Reoseans like him who wanted to take on this trial. He had signed up for a group, thinking it might be easier and more fun to journey with other people instead of being alone for more than a week straight. 

When he arrived, Kaze already saw a slender, gray Vay with scars all over his body, sitting in front of the building. His bags were much smaller and looked lighter than the Kitsune’s, but instead the stranger had a sword attached to his back. The other one only glanced over at the brown runner for a second, but he did not say anything or even nod his head once to acknowledge his presence when the brown Vay sat down next to him. His head held high and staring straight ahead, the gray one looked almost like a statue, if it wasn't for his ears twitching and turning to make note of anything happening around him. "Hi, I'm Kazegami. Are you also here for the Journey Trial?" Gami did his best to be friendly and sociable, but when the other Vayron did not reply or even look at him, he snorted angrily. "Great", he thought to himself, "That one looks like a lot of fun."

They were waiting for the organizer to arrive and give them final instructions and a special map of Warrenfall, so when a large, blood-red Tyrian arrived and landed next to them, they thought this was the person they'd been expecting. This idea occurred to the two males because the newcomer did not have any supplies with them. Surely he could not also be interested in the journey, so Kazegami took the initiative again. "Hi, nice to meet you, I'm Kazegami. We are ready to start our journey, is there anything else we need to know? Do you have any tips for us?" The Tyrian looked at the pecan colored runner for a second, then glanced over at the fighter sitting behind him. "Well, I guess you two will walk, right? Just put one paw in front of the other then." "I'm sorry?" Gami was confused, but the Tyrian just chuckled. "Or are you idiots gonna sprout wings all of a sudden? If not then this whole trip should work best if I will fly and you walk along. But don't get mad if I leave you behind. After all, flying IS the best way to travel." Finally realizing that this rude Tyrian was another member of their little group, Kazegami sighed. "Oh. A jokester, huh? Don't worry, we won't slow you down. If anything, YOU will have to keep up with us– seeing you didn't bring any supplies with you, you will need to take the time to hunt a lot more often than us." "Yep. I'm not interested in any stale beef jerky, so I'd rather catch some fresh deer along the way. And because I'm flying I don't want to carry around unnecessary, heavy equipment with me as I'm sure even you two will understand." "Unnecessary." This time the gray Vay addressed them for the first time. His voice was deep and a little intimidating. "Reckless is what it is if you ask me."

Before a heated argument could start, the organizer, a typically short-legged Chaser, finally arrived with hurried steps. He immediately pulled out a detailed map with the locations of towns and villages as well a couple of unfamiliar symbols. It was also marked with a number of checkpoints where the group was supposed to report at certain times to make sure they did not get lost. If they didn't reach these points in a reasonable amount of time, a search party was going to look for them, according to the organizer. The map was sketched on a sheet of brown parchment and, after explaining the symbols to them, the Chaser rolled it up so that it could be carried easily by each participant and handed it to Kazegami, but Yakuza stepped forward right away and snatched the map out of his paws before he could say anything. "I'll take that. I'm used to long journeys and will navigate us to the next town fast and effectively." The Tyrian just shrugged, satisfied to stay completely baggage-free, and while Kazegami was not happy with the gray stranger just taking the map from him without talking about this first, he knew this was not the time nor place for discussion. "At least the Tyrian didn't take it. He would surely never check the map and lose it somewhere on the way", Gami thought. And thanks to his arcane powers, he had a rough copy of the map in his mind already, so he didn't need to fully depend on the other Vayron either. 

After that, the organizer kept instructing them on how they should follow the marks on the map, but also find their own path through the terrain. "Especially when you get towards the mountains on the last stretch of the trip, it's important you keep track of your direction or you might get stuck in a chasm." When everything was said and done, they thanked the Chaser and moved to the edge of town, ready to start their long trial. "Before we leave", the gray one said, "I think it would be good to know our names." "Well DUH smartass." The Tyrian seemed to agree. Maybe. Kazegami just nodded, trying to stay calm. "You know my name already. Now it's your turn." The Vay with the sword gave them a short nod. "I'm Yakuza." They waited for a moment if he'd say anything else, but he seemed to think that was all they needed to know about him. At least for now. And finally the Tyrian offered them a smug grin, saying "And my name is Blodreina. Don't wear it out", before he lept off the ground and rose into the sky, his large wings beating steadily and creating a breeze which ruffled Kazegami's mane. Yakuza on the other paw was unimpressed, and his tightly tied up bun moved as little as the stern expression on his face. "You're might think you're faster than us if you're flying but it makes no difference. You should save your energy." With that he pulled out the map and studied it for a short moment, his ears twitching in annoyance and finally they headed out into the wilderness of Warrenfall.

~

A few days later, the group was in the middle of their journey, making their way through a dense forest with high cliffs. A number of times the Vays have had to turn back and look for a different path because they ran into a dead end, but this gave Blodreina time to hunt and get back to the group in time before they could get too far ahead. By now it was clear that Kazegami had a much more difficult time with this trial than Yakuza who, as he mentioned before, was used to traveling and seemed to have a much higher stamina and strength. A couple times Gami had tripped and scraped his legs, and the heavy bags full of supplies he didn’t even need were not making it easier. He was dusty and exhausted and became slower by the day. "Hey, keep up" Yakuza called back to him. There was no worry or consideration in his voice. The scarred Vay felt as if they were walking at a snail's pace and was frustrated that the environment in this forest was so difficult to traverse. At that moment, the Tyrian returned to the group and landed next to them. "Man, I'm starving. I've only found one small rabbit today and yesterday too. This shabby forest is bullshit." "You should've brought food with you after all then." "How was I supposed to know I wasn't going to be able to find any prey in such dense vegetation!?" The Vayrons looked at each other for a brief moment, but their expressions were enough to convey their thoughts about this remark and they didn't need any words. Blodreina didn’t notice that though and turned towards the many-tailed runner. “You don’t happen to have any more food with you, small fry?” Kazegami shook his head vigorously. “You already ate most of it and I still need some for myself.” "Ugh. Well, I don't like asking you for help, knowing you would only get lost, but could one of you catch me anything? I'm not gonna be able to keep up this pace for much longer and you two need me to scout the area after all." "As if you ever helped us find the way", Yakuza replied with a growl. "You wouldn't be able to tell a rock from the sun. If you would’ve actually helped us, we wouldn't be stuck here for so long. Fine, I'll get us something to eat. The sooner we reach the next city the better. And YOU take some rest." He pointed at the Kitsune before he left. 

After Yakuza had disappeared into the forest, Kazegami sat down next to Blodreina and rolled his eyes. "He's really annoying, right? There's no reason to be so condescending." While the Tyrian was often rude, insulting and reckless, as the rest of the group discovered soon enough, at least he was remotely sociable. But even though they'd been together day and night for almost a week already, they had not really gotten any closer to Yakuza at all. Overall he was not very talkative and especially did not want to share any personal details about himself, which made it difficult to keep up a conversation with him. And that was on his good days. Often he also just snapped and told the others to shut up when they were talking to each other, so he could walk in silence for a while. "Yeah he's an absolute degenerate." For a while they vented to each other and chatted about this and that, enjoying this little break from the serious Vay. After an hour or so, they were wondering why he was gone for so long and Yakuza became once more the topic of choice. "What do you think he does in his free time? Do you think he has a partner?" the Kitsune asked, but Blodreina shook his head. "No way, nobody would be able to stand this freak. I'm sure all he does is work all day and that's why he's such a buzzkill." "Probably. I'd say he’s something like a soldier maybe. Would explain his discipline and adamant personality." "To me he screams 'assassin'." "I'm a royal guard actually." The two whirled around in shock as the voice appeared behind them and something was dropped at their paws. First they saw the gray Vayron stand in front of them, looking at the two chatterboxes with an indifferent expression. Then they lowered their gazes and saw a dead doe on the ground, as well as two large pheasants. "Wha...Yakuza we didn't mean to–" "I don't care what you think of me. It's not like I need your approval or friendship. I am doing this for me and...nevermind this is none of your business." He shoved the deer over to Blodreina and grabbed one of the birds for himself. Then he walked a few steps away and sat down alone.

~

Finally, after 10 exhausting and difficult days, their trial was drawing to a close. The group had managed to make it all the way to the mountains in the north of Warrenfall and were ascending towards Bullmar. In the distance they already saw the towers of the city reach into the sky. The Tyrian, now worn out and unable to fly at this height, crawling behind the Vayrons and somewhat sheltering them from the wind, even if just unintentionally. All of them were tired, but the anticipation of finishing this trip gave them enough strength to keep going. The path through the mountains was by far the most difficult as they were all low on energy, but they took enough breaks and slowed down as the terrain got rougher, which saved them from taking one or two days longer than originally planned. By the time they reached Bullmar, the sun had set and the town, now lit up by the pale moonlight, almost seemed to glow in the dark. A shining beacon of hope. They slowly approached the city gates, where two Pullers were standing guard, but let them pass without troubles. As the group stepped inside the walls, all of them were immediately greeted by a young Tyrian, looking at them with excitement and admiration. "Did you just finish your trial?!" "Yes, we need to find someone to validate we reached our destination. Do you know where we can find this person?" "Of course, I'll show you!" The little one flew away and the group followed suit.

After everything was officially confirmed, they all longed for nothing more than a comfortable bed and to sleep for three days straight. They had agreed to stay at different places and find their own accommodations, but before they split up they all gathered together one last time. "I can't say it was a pleasure, but I am still thankful I didn't have to take this journey alone", Kazegami started. "I have learned a lot about me on the way and thanks to you, my skills have improved a lot. I hope you will all have a good trip back home and maybe we'll run into each other in Bullmar again before you leave." "Don't expect a long speech from me" continued Yakuza with his usual stern attitude. "I had always planned to take this trip alone, but the challenge of finishing this journey together with a group was suggested to me by someone I trust, so I'm sure it was good for something." And last but not least, the dark red Tyrian laughed and gave Yakuza a friendly shove, which he acknowledged with an angry grunt. "Not gonna lie, I hope I will never see your ugly faces again. But I had fun anyway." With that, they all went separate ways. As Kazegami fell into his bed, he recalled the journey and nodded to himself. It wasn't all bad and he was sure both of them were not terrible Reoseans, but it just hadn't worked out between them. All that mattered was that the journey was a success and he already had his next goal in sight. His final trial.