4. The First Trial

For the second time, Matheus was in a different place when he opened his eyes.

“What…” Was everything he managed to say.

He was on a platform floating in plain air! Around him, as far as he could see, many other platforms floated aloft, but they were all shaped differently. He saw triangles, cubes and spheres. Others looked more like tunnels, stairs, and some stretched in spirals. All in different colors.

And they all moved, seemingly to different directions and at different speeds. It was maddening.

Thanks to the Gods the one he was standing on was still. It was just a simple square, no bigger than a double size bed, all black.

His first instinct was to get to the floor and try to hold on for his life. He tried peeking below, but for what he could see, it was bottomless. Only more platforms everywhere.

“Welcome to your First Trial!” The Entity’s voice echoed on the walls, coming from everywhere and inside his mind at the same time. “Before your journey begins, you’ll have the opportunity to get your first bounty! Rejoice!, for the Gods are good.

Matheus didn’t answer, too busy sticking to the ground. His head was spinning following the movements around him, but he couldn’t stop looking. It was all craziness, but incredible nonetheless. He was transfixed.

Then he noticed…something. Very small, maybe the size of his head, standing some 10 platforms in front of him. It was also standing in an unmoving black square.

“This is the Slime Bunny! Your first quest is to manage to catch it before the time ends. Try SoulAnalyzing it”

“Are you crazy? If I try to do it here, I am sure to die!!” Matheus protested.

Seconds passed but silence was the only answer he got.

With a grunt, Matheus strengthened his grip and complied.

“SoulAnalyze!”

Slime Bunny - Level: 1 Slimy, sticky and cute. Surprisingly agile for its species.

Health: 1/1, Mana: 0/0

This time wasn’t nearly as bad as the first one, but he still didn’t like the feeling of looking at another living being’s soul.

The Slime was hopping around on its platform, carefree. Matheus had to admit it was a little cute.

How was he supposed to catch it? Matheus tried standing up, but his legs were trembling. There was no way. He was supposed to go after it, jumping from one platform to another?

Like something like that was possible.

“What happens if I don’t catch it in time?”

“Nothing happens. Consider this a warming-up, before the real challenges begin. But, if you do manage to catch it before the time ends, you may start with a slight advantage. Some of the glory of your past life will remain in your new one.”

The glory of my past life? Matheus had no idea what that meant, but he couldn’t let any advantage slip away. He had a feeling that he was already starting far behind the other contestants.

Maybe he wasn’t meant to do it. He was no hero, he barely felt like the main character of his own story. What had he accomplished in all his life? Nothing, nothing at all.

But wasn’t this the reason he needed to do it? To finally have a second chance. To experience a fulfilling life.

Matheus got on his feet, taking slow breaths. He still wasn’t sure if he could do it.

But he had to try it. He had to give all he had. So he would.

“I can see you are getting used to your surroundings. Great! You’ll have twenty minutes to catch the Slime Bunny. Good luck.

Without thinking, because Matheus knew that if he started thinking he wouldn’t do it, he jumped from his safe unmoving square to the platform in front of him.

It was a big green circle that went left and right continuously, and it had more than enough space for him. Still, the moment Matheus landed he lost his balance and fell on his butt. The circle wasn’t moving particularly fast, but it changed directions just before he reached it, catching him off guard.

He was up again in no time, and jumped next to a big pink star moving in a straight line. Just after he reached it, the star suddenly decided to move up! Before he got even higher, Matheus threw himself to a blue cube passing by. But before he could stand up and catch his balance, the cube suddenly dove to his right, faster than Matheus could fall.

The cube went without him, leaving no support to his feet, no hold to his hands.

“Fuuuuuuck” Matheus screamed in free fall.

He desperately tried to grab onto something, the endless abysm filling his mind. For how long would he fall?

His despair luckily didn’t last long, as another cube, this time purple, passed right below him. He crashed on it with a loud thump, his head spinning. He almost laughed with happiness. He was safe!

Before Matheus got a chance to get up, the cube stopped moving to the side and started spinning slowly.

Matheus got up as fast as he could, but he was already slipping. He threw himself and held onto one of the cube’s corners, but it kept spinning, merciless. Just when he was about to lose his grip, it stopped and started moving to the side again.

Before he lost his chance, Matheus let go of the cube and landed on a black spire that was just under him. He prepared himself for any sudden movements, but nothing happened. It seemed to be stopped in place, thank the Gods.

This was too hard. He was barely surviving, just going from platform to platform. And he was supposed to catch the Bunny?

The Slime Bunny. Where was it?

There, just one platform to the left of where it had started. The Slime didn’t seem to be running away from him, just wandered aimlessly.

But Matheus actually got further away from him. He had increased the distance in maybe five yards.

It was madness. Even if he was incredibly athletic, which he certainly wasn’t, it was useless if he couldn’t control where he would go.

How were the platforms not crashing in all this chaos? Surely most would have hit each other by now. Unless…

Matheus started meticulously observing his surroundings. He needed to find out the rules. There had to be rules, patterns to the movements, it was the only explanation. That was fabricated chaos, otherwise it wouldn’t work.

Careful to not lose the Bunny from his sight, Matheus watched the movements around him and learned.

He saw a blue rectangle the size of a door going up in a straight line, finally stopping after 7 seconds and diving in a diagonal northwest for 3 seconds, with a slightly faster speed. It stopped again, and it started going up again, repeating the movements.

A yellow ball moved in zigzag to the right for 4 seconds, then it launched down for 6 seconds, with almost triple its speed. A gray cube moved in a circle, clockwise, for 5 seconds. It stayed motionless for 5 more seconds, and resumed its whirl.

They were all following a 10 seconds cycle, with two different sets of movements. That was useful, but there was no way he could memorize all of them and catch the slime in time.

There needed to be more to it, damnit. Matheus could see that some followed the same pattern, but what was deciding it?

Then he saw a black cylinder, standing completely still.

That was it! The colors!

Matheus quickly checked his theory, and he couldn’t help but grin seeing he was right.

He didn’t need to run desperate after the rabbit, he just needed to calculate where the platforms would take him. More than speed, it was a question of precision.

First, he needed to learn the colors. Matheus watched the platforms moving, counting what he could. There were 11, no, 12 different colors and patterns. Matheus repeated the movements on his head, trying to memorize one by one. He didn’t rush it. It would only work if he got them all right.

He wished he had his cellphone with him, or at least a pen to write down the instructions. But wishing did him no good now.

Time passed, each lost second daunting. When he was finally confident he knew all the patterns, he started looking for the right path.

It was a complicated maze, where his first step could change everything. The answer was simple, really.

He needed to use the platforms to his advantage, not treat them as obstacles.

They were his ride to the prize.

Matheus jumped in a green square passing by, and started counting the seconds. One second before it stopped, he grabbed a yellow ball moving just above him, and was launched with it.

He let go of it and let himself fall onto a pink rectangle, a little bigger than a fridge. He moved like an arrow in the direction of the rabbit, going straight and then up, then repeating the movements again.

Matheus jumped to a purple block before he ended up too high, got up before it could start spinning and walked on its surface while it rotated. He waited a few seconds and leaped to a red square, letting it take him closer to his goal.

He was almost there. Just a little more.

He grabbed a silver cage the moment it passed over him. It was moving slowly, going up and down like a rollercoaster. He dropped to a small black circle, barely fitting him.

He waited, The Slime Bunny was now on a gray platform, getting closer. When it stopped, Matheus threw himself at him, hoping his aim was right.

He fell right into it, and the Slime exploded in dust.

Congratulations! You’ve completed your first quest: You’ve been granted a unique Title!

He did it! His plan worked, and he would receive his first reward. The High Angel wasn’t clear about what it would be, but who cared! He did it!

Finally, things were going in the right direction. Today was the first day of his new life, and Matheus was starting it ahead, not behind.

“SoulSystem!” Matheus said, and with enthusiasm read his new notification.

Congratulations! You are eligible for a Title: The Kings of Losers. Warning! This Title has Divine tempering. Do you want to equip it now?

“What the fuck.”