41 walked up to the wall of soldiers that were unblinking and unmoving' clearly the tallest of the men that had come with the army. In-between them where a few slaves, same that even he even knew like old-62 or that crooked 1005, and before them was a tall auburn-haired woman, her skin tone of a natural tan but still containing undertones of a pale skin, showing her mixed heritage. For a bit, 41 thought of which other kingdom or society her other patronage come from because it was clear she didn't come from slavery, her air felt too refined.
But quickly he shook those useless thoughts off, trying to understand why the slaves were gathering in her vicinity. When he focused, he saw it, her outstretched palm, one of the slaves handing her the token pendant and then in the next instant the pendant handed back. And almost like clockwork, the slave moved forward, his figure blurred as he walked towards the wall of guards before vanishing completely like as if he wasn't there.
This scenario dazed 41, his sinking uncomfortable feeling deepening as the day went on. For the first time since that dark night, he once again came face to face with the power of the Sun Order Empire. His emotions of revenge and resilience taking significant blows as he continued to see the resources at the hands of the imperial army or the power of the imperial envoy.
Just as his unconstructive thoughts continued to assault him, he received a shove from on his back forcing him to stable forward. When he turned back, he saw a familiar face, it was 94, a short shout man who worked in the same unit as him. He waved his hand back and forth twice his palm towards forty-one, a sign of shrugging. Then as if hearing his unasked question, the man nodded his head towards a direction, and when 41 looked down that direction, a slasher with an unsightly expression was staring him down, the hand clasping their signature nine tailed whip twitching as if promising him a beating he would never forget.
41 nodded at 94 with a thankful expression, before he continued towards the entrance of the bridge where the tall guards positioned in a way that blocked the sight beyond. But as he got closer, he heard faint sounds of grumbling, metal clattering and granting. Once he and 94 joined the small crew that was collected around the tall female soldier, he felt that feeling that he was quite familiar with, that eerie feeling of a relic. But something felt different about this one, it didn't loom or spread like it usually did, rather it ebbed and pulsed at a consistent rhythm feeling rather systematic and unnatural. He was truly unaware of what it is that he was feeling, was there another type of relic that he wasn't aware of.
Then he heard a soft and gentle voice say the word "rrulb" and in a more commanding and firmer but quite harsh tone, "Step forward". The slave who had current been handed back his token walked forward, the scenario of the past repeating itself. A spike of eerie energy washed over the surroundings like never before, if the former relics released a trick of this flawed atmosphere, then this was a flooded causing the raising of all hair of each slave in the surrounding, only the soldiers remained unaffected. The atmosphere fading only once the current slave faded into air.
When 41 heard the woman saying next, he offered himself fore as most of the others hesitated, the backlash of that eerie feeling still lingering. But he wished to be over with it, rather than wait and be dowsed in that atmosphere a few more times. But once he went through the process, he was pleasantly surprised. Rather than the malevolent feel increasing at the center of the incident, it faded away and as he walked forward the figures of the soldiers blurred and simply vanished once got close enough as he was welcomed by the sight of the bridge. Multiple shapes, lines and runic symbols were combined together in a sprawling manner seemingly made of a black type substance that looked like ink across the bridge.
"Is this one of those formations I have heard about in those fantastic tales the old ones told us about", 41 thought looking at the marvel that wasn't on the bridge just this morning. While he was still in awe, a soldier walked up to him, grabbing his shoulder wordlessly pulling him forward until he was standing in front of prism shaped dumbbells with small runic symbols carved into its surface.
Today was a weird day for 41, never having been meet with such a spoil of wealth in terms of relics, he wondered how so many relics were made with so many uses for each. Can you reuse a relic, do they have multiple applications. Until this very moment he had never thought about such things, fighting for your very life can do that to you.
The soldier that had led him there was now leaning on the edge-wall of the bridge picking up a relic tablet. Without saying a word he grabbed the token out of 41's hand, tapped it on the rune atop the tablet once before returning it to him.
"41, yah. So how long have you been within our camps.", the soldier said in a light tone with a slight smirk on his face as he squatted towards the prismatic dumbbells."Ahm, well about ten years sir.", 41 answered hesitantly taken aback by this man's carefree attitude. He burst in to laughed as he tapped the runes on dumbbell relic, "Sir, sir. Look boy am not and have never been a sir, just a simple soldier.", he said as he stood up.
"Okay, scrap, lift that for me, come let's go.", he said leaning back on the edge. As 41 bent and heaved the dumbbell up, he lifted it with much more ease than he had expected, better than porter duty where you carried those large rock of uncut unrefined materials. "Damn, ten years in this abyss, that means you were like what, six at enslavement. Huh, now I get it." he said. Which 41 answered back immediately with "Get what, sir." as returned the relic dumbbell to the ground.
"Haha, there goes that sir again. And the thing am talking about, it's the resentment." he said. That almost caused him to freeze in his tracks, "Did he slip up, how did he notice. Where did I go wrong, am I screwed."41 thought to himself, requiring a few breathes to return himself back to equilibrium. "What do you mean, sir. There is no resentment here." He replied very calmly and meekly.
The soldier paused from adjusting something on the prismatic dumbbell. He stared up at him from the squatting position, a slightly more serious than before. "Now boy, let's not play games, shall we. Leaving alone the fact that I have been watching you folks since I steeped foot on this sun-damned bridge, it would simply be weird of you to not have a signal resentful bone in your body after what my people have put you through.", and with that, his relaxed deminer returned. "But you don't gotta to worry about me, am just thinking away as I always do. Now if you could do me a favor and carry that thing for me, I think we could both be sunnier, no." He finished his statement as they both stared down at the prismatic dumbbell.
41 bent down, slightly shaken taking the dumbbell into his arms trying to lift it in one go like he did before, but something was off. The weight was significantly way more than before, he struggled slightly, only able to bring it up to waist level and place it back down. "Now I don't, want us to go off on the wrong foot. So, tell you what. How about you fire three questions at me, and we call it even, what do you say?", he spoke up once again, the levity still traced in his voice.
In all honesty, 41 wanted to stop talking to this man. Admitted the most amiable of the bunch, but the way he saw it, this man was the most dangerous of them all. But also, he was the most talkative of the bunch, and 41 simply couldn't miss out on this opportunity. But he didn't know if he could even trust the things that he was going to tell him. "Okay, I guess sir. I think I will take you up on that offer." he responded, still try to reck his brain on how to test if this information was going to be accurate. But he come up with a conclusion, probably not. But was that going to stop him from asking the questions, nope.
"Could you tell me what's all this, the damn relic that keeps gaining weight like a pregnant sow, or the weird lines running throughout the bridge?", he questioned, but before he could even continue on, the man responded with a chuckle, "I see what you did there, trying to get a beach for the price of a grain of sand. Clever, but I will allow it, but only this once. Now what was it you asked.", his voice trailing from relax to firm and back, like the variations of a flickering flame.
"Ahh, yes. What is all this, that's not important. Rather what's it for, that's its weight in sand. I will start with this." he said tapping the prismatic dumbbell once before continuing with his work on it." It's to test your strength in short, but generally we want to know your limits. It will tell us how much force you can exert, what kind of weight you can lift. And lines, well that's a formation and really, it's for the net, hmm, what should I call it, test, challenge, event anyway you get the point. And unfortunately, am authorized to spread any other details". That made 41 frown, he hadn't told him exactly what he wanted to hear but he had told him something valuable still.
He breathed out slowly trying to assess what question would bring more value to him at the moment, 'he would just have to leapt at it' he thought. "Well, this one should be fairly easy for you to answer sir, could you tell me between this and the one that comes after, which challenge is worse?" he questioned, try to glimpse some advantage in the next challenge. The man let out that easy chuckle again as he stood up, his work on the relic done. "Well, that's easy. The next, it takes a toll and is really a bother if you don't stick it out." he said looking forward as if something in the formation had caught his eye.
That's when he saw it, like a mirage coming into reality. The slave who had passed through before him appeared in front of them, in the middle of the bridge accompanied by one of the loudest cluttering sounds he had ever heard. The man was dripping in sweat his entire body shaking due to exertion, and very loud panting breathes exiting his mouth before he collapsed.
41 had been asking himself where the grunting sounds that had been there but had fade into the background were coming from, now he had got his answer. Though there were still sounds of grunting and cluttering within the air, he simply assumed that they were probably others within the space of this formation doing the same test as him or the guy up front, but he just couldn't see them for some reason until they collapsed. And just as swiftly as he had fallen, was he swooped away by a soldier who also appeared from nowhere and faded into nothing.
"So, you've got one more question, make sure it worth your deal with the void." He said, still smirking in that easy manner way he does. "Well, am probably going to regret this but it's all I have got. Anything you can tell me that can help, please, it's all I ask?",41's bravado cracked in that moment. Sure, he was trusting to fast, sure he was taking a huge risk. But he was a kid who had been shown a modicum of respect for the first time in a decade, he just needed a wall to lean on just this one.
"Clever boy as always, hmm, without getting into the specifics, here is what a will say. 'After the blades and the staffs, your safest bet is in a group of friends, but not too many that it's beyond the grasp of a hand.' that's all I can say, it's up to you to understand it." He said in a less cheerful expression. But it was obvious that 41 was largely disappointed, his face fell, and his mood worsened. He hadn't gotten anything from that. Had he asked the wrong questions, had he been duped, he would never know and now it didn't even matter anymore.
"Okay boy, lift the damn thing so that you can be rid of me, don't you think.", the soldier's voice echoed in his ear, without bothering to look at him again he squatted down to attempt the third lift of the relic. But what greeted him was a far cry from what he thought it would be. To call his last dead lift hard was simply an understatement, by the time he was done lifting it off the ground, his muscles were screaming, his legs were warbling, and his sweat was seeping out of his pores. And in just a few second the relic had slipped from between his fingers followed by the loud cluttering sound as hit the pavement below, causing him to flinch backwards.
The amiable soldier next to him grabbed his small curving knife and for the first time since 41 had gotten there, beginning to scribble on his tablet as it produced that irritating sound he hated. He followed it up by saying, "The good news is, you have a power exertion rate of 105kg which is fair, and an average carrying 97kg. Which honestly puts you in the slightly above average category. Now if we add that brain of yours into the question, I think you will be just fine." he smirked.