Ziph was awakened by the shining sun through a hole in the wall. When he made his way outside he was greeted by the Guide from yesterday.

 

“Lord, Morning!” She bowed as he released a yawn.

 

“I never got your name. I’m Ziph.”

 

“My name is Phlora, Lord.” She hadn’t raised her head.

 

“Raise your head. Talking like this is unbefitting.” At his request, she raised her head and stared him in the eyes.

 

Ziph flinch but he quickly retracted the motion and returned to his expressionless self.

 

“Leader Arun would like to continue the discussion from last night.” She informed a bright smile across her face.

 

“Lead the way.” At his answer, she brought him back to the Arun’s manor, the same one as last night.

 

At their entrance, they were greeted with a table filled with natural vegetables and no forms of meat.

 

A fact that depressed Ziph but knew this to be normal for Elves in 90% of writings. If they had instead a table of different meats he would have been more shocked than the current predicament.

 

Over the meal they didn’t talk the first words only being spoken after Ziph finished eating.

 

“What information can you tell me about the situation, here.” Ziph questioned, full from the feast.

 

“Phlora will guide you to the Cave of Trials.” There was no explanation needed following this right now. Ziph knew the trial was placed there by Maseal. It would likely test his Will, Courage, and Mind.

 

‘A complete cliché.’ He groaned to himself.

 

“Thank you for the guidance.” He bowed to Phlora.

 

“Don’t bow to me Lord! It is my duty to guide you.” She was flustered by Ziph’s actions.

 

‘A complete cliché.’ He groaned again.

 

The trip to the cave was calm as himself Phlora traveled in silence. There wasn’t anything for Ziph to ask and Phlora wasn’t going to force a conversation.

 

The overall trip was less than 20 minutes and was directly north of the village entrance.

 

“Good luck, Lord.” She wished as she bid him farewell into the dungeon. He returned her wish with a smile and a wave.

 

The entrance to the cave was nothing special with a torch off to his left that Ziph took as he walked inside.

 

He walked in a straight line constantly on alert for something to happen.

 

Further and further into the cave he walked with their being no change to anything in the cave. Finding it suspicious he took the torch and made a burn mark on the wall. Hugging that same wall, he continues to walk down the path. After another period of time he saw that same burn mark.

 

He made another lap while watching the ceiling for any short of markings, nothing.

 

Watching his feet for anything out of place, nothing.

 

Watching the other wall, nothing.

 

Finding nothing through the minimum of five laps, he stood in place to try and understand what this could be testing. Only other choice was to travel to the entrance. He didn’t get back there though, there to his left was the burn mark.

 

There wasn’t anything else for him to test. What could this trial even be testing? If he had that idea, he could begin to cut off more options on what they expected.

 

With there being no visible changes to the room besides the one he made, meant the complication of the trial was related to his actions. With the torch in hand he traveled ten steps forward, and tried to make a mark, it failed. The stone wall didn’t darken no matter how long he held the torch there. So, he walked backwards to where he made the other make. But after 10 steps he didn’t see the mark, 15, 20, 30, after that he stopped counting.

 

This was all too strange, this wasn’t just a repeating hallway, there was something more to this. It wasn’t until awhile later that he found the burn mark. Holding the torch, a little to the left of it, he found he couldn’t make another mark in the wall. What this meant he didn’t know.

 

Walking around aimlessly wasn’t going to help, so he took a seat trying to think what was expected of him. Only one spot on the wall could be marked and this wasn’t actually a hallway but somehow changes based on how he walks.

“What could this mean?” He looked on the floor, ceiling, and both walls to see if there was any other sort of anomaly that would point towards this single spot being different. What made this single sport burnable?

 

There was nothing, there was nothing that pointed towards this being a special point.

 

He stood back up and walked 10 steps to the left, and then walked 10 steps back to where he started. On the wall was no burn mark as expected, so he put his torch along the wall waiting to see if it would burn. It didn’t initially so he reached left and right to see if he was within margin of error. There at the edge of his wingspan the wall turned darker. This single spot was special.

 

“What does this information give me though? Am I meant to walk forward and back 10 steps constantly marking this same spot in the wall? What does that prove though? Nothing. This whole thing proves nothing.”

 

He looked around and noticed “Lightning” written on the ceiling. This on the own didn’t mean anything but he made the note to remember as it will likely matter.  

 

He repeated this same process but found it didn’t work a second time. And as he walked down further he found himself back at where he started. Back at the beginning place of the burn mark without the word lightning on the ceiling.