With every step Dallion made down the corridor, his anxiety grew. He had tried reciting the names of the Moons, but this was one instance in which they had a limited effect.

It’s just water, Gen said in an attempt to encourage Dallion. You’ve been practicing.

Dallion didn’t reply. Images of the dark murky liquid kept appearing in his mind even before he had reached the large section of the chamber.

I can go ahead, if you want, Gen offered.

No! Dallion said instantly. He had no intention of risking his first close echo on something that was his problem. I’ll deal with it. I just need to mentally warm up.

“I am in the halls of destiny,” he whispered to himself as he walked on. “And this time I’ll defeat my flaws.”

Part of his mind reminded that it was easier said than done—there was no good way to fight water. Well, almost no good way.

Remember, don’t forget to breathe, dear boy, Nil reminded in an amused voice. It would be bad if you fail again.

“Thanks a lot, Nil,” Dallion grumbled. In a way, this reminded him of the last instance when he had hit a wall: his fight against the sand dragon. That had been almost a lifetime ago and remained the most humiliating experience Dallion had had when it came to leveling up. He certainly hoped this wouldn’t end up being similar.

Lift me up, Lux, Dallion said.

The firebird appeared, grabbing Dallion by the back and lifting him up. After a few moments of hesitation, Dallion got Lux to move him forward. As before, the entire floor changed into a pool of water. It seemed so harmless from above, almost serene.

Score one for me, Dallion thought.

Instinct made Dallion look up out of fear that the walls and ceiling would also transform into water. Thankfully, they didn’t. A sense of relief appeared in his chest, allowing him to relax for a few moments. No sooner had he done so, when the realization kicked in—Dallion had to enter the water for the trial to start. Last time, the trial had caught him off guard, but it had also done him a favor. Going down didn’t cause him to hesitate, unlike now.

That’s the crux of the issue, Nil said. Most people react. In order to go further, you need to act.

Easy for you to say…

Dallion summoned his dartbow and fired a bolt in the water. The bolt disappeared, rippling the surface as it did. There were no rectangles, no sudden effects, and no decrease of the water level. More out of curiosity than anything else, Dallion summoned an ingot of iron and dropped it into the pool. There was a loud splash, but little more.

In theory, Dallion could keep on summoning ingots until the entire pool was filled up, but that was unlikely to solve the problem. In order to succeed, he had to go through this. Logic kept telling him that there was nothing to fear, at most he would only have to redo the trial. Sadly, that wasn’t enough to remove the instinct for self-preservation that screamed he go as far away from the pool of water as he possibly could.

So much for the swimming lesson, Dallion thought.

It would have been nice to have the shield. With luck, the metal ball it managed to create could prevent water from going in. The chance would have been ridiculously small, but at least he would have had one. Now he was left with the direct plunge option.

“Lux,” Dallion began. “After five seconds, drop me down.”

The fire bird chirped, confused.

“And no matter what I say, don’t grab me again. I don’t want to have to do this more than once.” Dallion took a deep breath. “Keep here, though. I’d like to keep seeing some light.”

The instruction seemed sufficient, because two seconds later, the firebird just let Dallion go. There was barely any warning. The flame just bounced off, rising into the air, while Dallion went straight down, splashing into the pool feet first. At this distance, he barely felt the impact, sliding in as if it were soft jelly.

This time Dallion didn’t freeze. Holding his breath, he immediately resorted to his newly learned swimming skills. Moving around turned out to be surprisingly easy. However, no matter how hard Dallion tried to reach the surface, it would always move away.

So that’s the trick, Dallion thought. Now that he was in the water, it was impossible to reach the surface. However, if he reached the bottom, he would be spat out back in the starting room. In that case, the option was to move sideways along the length of the corridor. Last time the temp echo Dallion had made had mentioned a dead end. Maybe down here it wasn’t exactly a dead end? Or maybe…

A hang grabbed Dallion by the ankle. Looking down, he could see a silhouette of darker water forming. It had the appearance of a ragged piece of cloth that had grown legs and hands—just what one would imagine to be a drowned ghost.

Most people in such a situation would have frozen out of fear. Initially, Dallion did as well. However, he had seen enough horror movies back on Earth to know that a good axe, or sword, tended to be the best response.

Dallion summoned his harpsisword. The weapon appeared in his head, slicing through the water with surprising ease, as if they were made of silk and spiderwebs. One quick circular slash through the arm of the creature that had taken hold of Dallion, and the entity dissolved into the water.

Thanks, Harp, Dallion thought.

The harpsisword vibrated for a moment, indicating the Dallion was welcome.

Swimming was going to be a bite more difficult from now on, but at least—

COMBAT INITIATED

The water around Dallion filled with creatures dressed in long rags.

That’s the stuff of nightmares, Dallion thought as chills went through his body. This wasn’t going to be an easy fight.

Markers appeared in the water, but when Dallion tried to follow them, he found that there was a slight distortion. This was true both for red and green markers—each time he tried to match them, he kept being slightly off. Some athletic skills would have been quite useful about now…

Relying on his combat skills, Dallion ignored the markers, swinging at the nearest raggy in front of him. The action was fast, though far lower than he was used to. The attack didn’t reach the enemy. Before the blade could slash the raggy in two, the creature floated back with just as much force as Dallion put in his strike. It was like trying to catch a piece of paper underwater. Circular attacks were even worse, causing all enemies around him to pull a safe distance back.

If that’s the way you want it, Dallion though resorting to a piercing attack.

The floating entity he was targeting attempted to move back, but the blade was faster, popping it like a soap bubble. The shape lost form, transforming into a dark liquid that dispersed in the rest of the water.

Sadly, the victory was short-lived. As Dallion killed off the attacker, several more moved in from the opposite side, grabbing onto his legs and left arm. The speed at which they did that was deceptively fast, making the attack impossible to evade.

Dallion let go of the harpsisword and summoned his dartbow. Using as much force as he could he could muster, Dallion freed his arm, then pulled away from the enemies’ grasp. No sooner had he popped the entities, holding his legs, when a new wave came from behind clinging to him.

Damn it! Dallion cursed.

The more he struggled, the more enemies clung to him, making it more and more difficult to break free. There was no pain or damage, just the sense of limitation, slowing his movements and slowly pulling him down to the bottom.

The limitation made Dallion think about all the people who had let him down to Earth. There were quite a few instances that he could have achieved greatness—at least in his mind—if it weren’t for acquaintances quitting on him at vital moments. A glorious YouTube career had been taken away from him because of his animation partner, who had taken months to make the channel’s trailer, after insisting they have one. Not only that, but he then had vanished from the face of the Earth just when Dallion needed content the most. Then there were a few high school friends with which Dallion had set out to make a game. The process had been slow and arduous, with lots of arguments. Dallion and another friend had ended up doing the work for the entire team, before his friends dropped him to join another project. Dallion had attempted to finish the project himself, but it had ended up so half-assed that even he didn’t want to be associated with it.

Dozens of regretful memories went through his mind, each clinging to him with the same strength the entities were. This was Dallion’s trial, not the water. The entire reason Dallion feared the water was because he actually feared being pulled down to the bottom without anyone to help. It had happened too many times in the past, even since he was a child. He felt that he was there for everyone when he needed to help out someone else, but when he was in actual trouble, no one gave a damn.

Just like the ragged clingers, he thought. With them, things were clear—their whole purpose was to have him fail the trial, and they seemed to be exceedingly good at it. There was no fighting them: with each killed, three took its place. The creatures were quick to run, and next to impossible to let go. The situation seemed hopeless.

Astreza, Berannah, Centor, Dararr, Emoion, Felygn, Galatea… Dallion recited.

Time seemed to freeze as Dallion focused on the situation. As hopeless as things appeared, he knew that there had to be an answer; not because he thought of the trial as a puzzle, rather he refused to believe that this would end up being his limit. There were hundreds, probably thousands of awakened, beyond his level and Dallion was determined to join their ranks! He definitely wasn’t going to let all the people who had dragged him down in the past drag him down again.

Gritting his teeth, Dallion summoned his harpsisword again and kept on fighting. His actions were sluggish, making him feel as if he were trapped in jelly. Still, he was able to kill off several of the floaters, allowing him to swim slightly up. It was just a matter of strength. As long as he kept on fighting, no one was going to keep him down!

Raglings kept on transforming into murky water as he slayed them, but even so, their numbers kept on growing. It was as if everyone from Dallion’s past had come here with the express goal of preventing him from moving on to better things.

For a moment Dallion felt as if the whole world was closing down on him, as if telling him he was not allowed to progress from his current place. The water was to be his final barrier, one that could not be crossed or broken through.

It’s all because of Earth, Dallion thought. That was where all the betrayals and let downs had taken place. If only he hadn’t met all those people, hadn’t asked them to join in on his plans. Frankly, he would have been better off if he had done it all on his own. At least then, if things had gone bad, he’d have himself to blame and not—

Dallion stopped. A single thought surfaced in his mind, passing through all the rest like a hot knife through butter. Why hadn’t he done it on his own? If things had been as simple as he claimed, we wouldn’t have needed anyone else. There would have been no one to drag him down, no one to ruin things… The truth was that Dallion had also been a clinger. Just as others had clung to him, he had relied on others to do things that he could or didn’t want to do. He could have learned how to make the intro to his YouTube channel, but preferred to dump that on someone else while he focused on the cool stuff. He could have made the game on his own, instead of relying on others doing the work he didn’t like. The reality was that he could have been a lot more like Veil and Gloria. What they had achieved, they had achieved on their own, but also had asked for help.

When Gloria had first approached him in the village, her level was higher, and still she needed him to defeat the awakening shrine guardian. She had relied on Dallion, just as he had relied on her, and both of them had succeeded, because they were both willing to do everything it took to win.

Dallion unsummoned his weapons.

You aren’t enemies, are you? he thought as more of the creatures grabbed hold. You’re just thicker water.

Dallion had been told several times that he can’t fight water. That was true—the more he tried, the more the water fought back. But as long as he waited and went on with the flow, he could pass through it. All this time, he had attempted to keep the water and the creatures separate in order to have an easier time. There was no such thing as “easier” there was only reality. As long as he accepted that and took the appropriate steps to move on, there would be no limit.