With a flick of his wrist the Fae tells the man under his control to move to the back of the room, to give his magic a clearer path to others not yet, so blessed. Downing his drink and gesturing for another, he continues with his piece.

  —----

  Our Hero has been given much to think about,

  Which will define the nature of the next bout,

  He has an attack which is nice,

  Surviving an attack is still no dice,

  So he picks the Trial of the Whale,

  And hopes that he does not fail,

  Declaring his choice loud and clear,

  The Crowd rejoices with a cheer,

  The Commentator smiles and raises his hand,

  Magic circles appear, ornate and grand,

  The magic strikes the ground with power,

  Lifting to the sky a debris shower,

  Leaving behind a carved stone table,

  Upon which is a box with no label,

  A small box but without an open side,

  What could possibly be hiding inside,

  Its top had a perfectly smooth dip,

  In which something round could be slip,

  Then with a crack the Arena was filled,

  An overwhelming pile of amber had spilled,

  Countless orbs each a good fit,

  Upon the box every one could sit,

  The Commentator now told him to pick one,

  To choose the Trials rewards and begin the fun,

  He approach the small orbs with fear and trepidation,

  Clearly showing an extreme amount of hesitation,

  But as he got close and could clearly see,

  Inside the first one was a small honeybee,

  The next had a bear and the one after a cat,

  Small models of animals, including a bat,

  He walked past orbs containing creatures,

  Known and unknown with strange features,

  Spines that glowed or tails of rock,

  Even one that looked like it was a frock,

  But none so far truly grabbed his attention,

  He was looking for a welcoming sensation,

  After what seemed like forever and ever,

  And the crowd thought he’d pick one never,

  He saw an orb with a four legged beast,

  With a long nose to reach its daily feast,

  Ears as wide as the rest of its head,

  A stalwart pose that to many meant dread,

  With the Orb chosen, to the box with it,

  Into the dip it snuggly fit,

  Two sides dropped revealing inside,

  It was empty, literally nothing to hide,

  A ghostly image showed what to do,

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  To pass his arm clean on through,

  Even though his fear was not diminished,

  He had a desire to get this finished,

  So through the box he thrust his arm,

  Expected to receive a lot of harm,

  He didn’t have long to wait,

  Until the box showed his current fate,

  The Orb shined briefly and then shrunk,

  With a loud and audible ker-plunk,

  Then the box glowed so bright,

  And thus began the Heros fight,

  Up his arm his veins turned grey,

  The pain climbing higher, making him pray,

  The Grey-ness spread across his chest,

  And then he doesn’t remember the rest,

  All he knows is that he screamed,

  Until he fainted and then he dreamed,

  Of pain and violence forever unending,

  His will was cracking and painfully bending,

  After what felt like time eternal,

  He recovered from the visions internal,

  His body was now a muted grey,

  Which looked like it was to stay,

  He felt stronger, harder and tougher,

  With skin that was clearly rougher,

  The Commentator tells him the Trial isn’t done,

  Now to learn to use it for some malicious fun,

  Withstanding the blows from an attacker in green,

  Then respond in a way that is so mean,

  Trust in the power that is within,

  So now let the attacks fly and begin.

  Without warning he gets hit in the back,

  Making him drop like a potato sack,

  He did feel a response from his skin,

  But it was slow, not enough to win,

  So up he stood in time to get hit,

  Upon his arse he was forced to sit,

  In his face there was a large lizard,

  Approaching with intent to fill its gizzard,

  So he stands up again but this time he is ready,

  Taking the blow he remains quite steady,

  Deep inside he feels a spark, and his skin becomes tight,

  The force received spread quite far, but was actually quite light,

  With every blow his control improved,

  His reaction time matched how the lizard moved,

  Soon the lizards attacks were doing nothing at all,

  Now it was time to bring forth its curtain call,

  With his sword to hand, he made quick work,

  Of this oversized green scaled jerk.

  And with this the second Trial came to and end,

  Now there was only one thing to attend,

  He can attack, and take a blow,

  Without getting hurt, or starting to slow,

  So it is time how to dodge any damage,

  In this last Trial how will he manage.

  What sort of power or insight do you think he should get?