The Trial of Kings

The Trial Begins

Mini Bosses had half of the HP (Health Points) than that of the true Floor Bosses however, that did not mean that their strength and ferocity was any weaker than that of the Bosses themselves. They had all of the strength, skill and blood lust to kill the players in the Dungeon. The reason why these digital Monsters were so hard to beat was that they were programmed using Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence to make their movements and decisions more random, more real, more – alive. And thus, they fought the adventurers as if they truly were defending themselves and trying to save their own lives. This is what made this Dungeon the only one of its kind in the world. The true testing ground for real world adventurers.

To conserve energy and keep up the pace required to make good time on this quest, Sir Damon walked briskly. Running would have depleted his energy reserves and he knew that facing 18 Mini Bosses was not going to be easy. He knew the programming that went into this Dungeon. He knew that these beasts, digital or not, were fighting to stay alive. They had HP bars above their heads displayed so that players would know how far they still had to defeat them. The monsters themselves never knew how close they were to death, so they fought with everything they had, right up until the very end. They fought right up until they were frozen in place and the pixels that made up their projection began to shimmer, then explode.

More than an hour had passed and no sign of trouble. In fact, the red lights had led him to a small pool which signaled a safe zone surrounded in yellow light. This was a sign to the adventurers that this place was safe from Monsters and Demons. Sir Damon stood there for a moment and he knew that he should take a break, but his mind shifted back to the reason why he was there. He saw her face in his mind’s eye and immediately took off. Cheers shot out around the taverns and courtyards as they watched the General make his way through this new area. Many wanted to see him succeed; many wanted him to fail so that the position would be up for grabs. The discussions flew around that if he succeeded then the position would still be up for grabs as he could not be both King and the General of the Dungeon. Many others were paying close attention to the layout of this new area knowing that certainly this new unexplored area, would soon be available to the rest of them. And the harder the challenge, the faster they could level up.

Back in the control room that not even the General knew existed, Goddess Luna, watched the screen and smiled at her Champions’ tenacity. Her dark hair was disheveled and the dirt had been cleaned off of her beautiful face. She fixed her hair as best she could, knowing that she would not be getting any sleep since the action was about to start and she would have to direct the scene if need be.  The engineers sat up as the red lights grew larger indicating danger. As Sir Damon approached a small room, he drew both of his swords knowing that danger was close. Too much time had passed with no action and the thought or his Goddess chained at the end of this quest infuriated him. “They’re all in my way...” he thought to himself.

Soon after entering the room the music began to play. Goddess Luna had told them to start off big and play the one song that would elevate his courage and give the viewers a show. She stood between the chairs and saw Sir Damon standing in battle stance, a sword in each hand. “Play Monster by Skillet,” she said sweetly as she smiled at the screen, anticipating what was to come. The one engineer shot her a look and asked nervously, “Should we really start off like that? He’s already upset.” She placed a delicate hand on his shoulder and said, “Trust me, it’s for the best.”

Hesitantly he keyed in the search bar and clicked on the mouse to load the track. They watched the screen as their nerves twitched knowing that this song would make anyone a true warrior. Let alone a man fight for the life of the woman he loved. She folded her arms and her mouth went dry as the song began to play. The taverns and courtyards erupted once again as they heard the song, knowing that what was to follow would be a display of rage and destruction. The Viking Leader turned to his party and raised his mug of Honeyed Mead, “May Odin have mercy on that beast which is about to be destroyed!” The rest of them cheered as they turned back to the screens. Sir Damon felt fire course through his veins as he waited for the Beast to come out from the darkness. And just as he expected, a Minotaur came from behind what he was sure to be the entrance to the next level. Standing well over 3 meters tall, the Beast with the body of a man and the head of a bull roared in anger at this intruder. As a small smile crept up the side of the Generals’ face, the AI cameras detected it and zoomed in from that angle. A mixture of emotion swept the viewers again. Some thinking he was about to do something spectacular, others felt the fear of what he was about to do to this beast. The rest, bathed in the moment and the aura of combat. The Minotaur roared and razed its axe high in the air. A second had passed and Sir Damon was in front of him. Somewhat surprised and taken aback, the monster didn’t know how to react as the General of the Dungeon held his left sword to block the axe in case it came down. He swung the sword in his right hand straight up, right between the monsters’ legs, ripping through the beast right up to its head. There was an audible gasp from the viewers as they felt it to their core. More than half of the Minotaur’s life span was depleted with a single blow and the General used the distraction to launch another attack. Sliding to his left he swung both swords into the monster’s midsection. Then immediately as the beast tried to strike to its right Sir Damon slid over to the other side and buried both swords again into the midsection. Reeling from this onslaught the Monster appeared to back down and almost seemed to be searching for the door. Sir Damon looked above its head at the HP gauge and could see that he only needed one or two more blows to finish this. And as the beast swung its axe going straight for his head, the General waited for just a moment until the strike was in full swing. He then quickly ducked underneath and to his left once again lacerating lower body of the Minotaur with both swords. The beast fell, and the pixels that made up the projection of this digital Beast began to brighten, then explode. The Minotaur was defeated. With the beast destroyed and with the viewers roar filling the streets, Sir Damon took a deep breath and sheathed both swords on his back. He wasted no time in heading through the opening and the next Red light glimmered in the distance. One of the engineers started rebooting that part of the system and placed the Minotaur on standby for when the Trial was over. This was what they were going to do with the other adventurers to make things overly difficult for them. The engineer on the far right rested his head on his fists and watched Sir Damon traverse the unknown part of the Dungeon, “One down, seventeen more to go.” Goddess Luna took a sip of her red wine and swirled it. Electricity coursed through her veins knowing that each struck he swung in that dungeon for the next 34 hours was for her. Every Beast, Demon and Mythical Creature that he would defeat was for her. His love and devotion were manifesting in the form of a warrior ripping through challenges in a dark and cold terrain. She smiled at the screen, taking in the scent of the wine on her lips. “Keep fighting my love. I will be there when you succeed,” she thought to herself. Her bare feet quietly padded over to the couch as she nestled into her spot that was in the center of the room giving her the perfect view. “Give him something to keep moving,” she said suddenly surprising the engineers. “What song Goddess?” one asked apprehensively. She was quiet for a moment then lifted her head slowly and said, “Leave out all the rest – Linkin Park.”