A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing-Chapter 712 - Inheritance tests [1/2]

Erik, Naeku, and Eira reappeared in another flash. The former two immediately swivelled their heads around to get their bearings. Wherever they were, it was dark. They couldn’t see any walls, as if they were standing in the middle of a void.

The only thing illuminated was a narrow walkway stretching out in front of them with, what looked like, several checkpoints along the way in the form of chest-height lecterns with sigils carved in the tops. At the end of this walkway stood a large throne.

Erik carefully reached out his hand, but as soon as he tried to go beyond the first lectern, a barrier of light stopped him. Narrowing his eyes slightly, he pulled back his hand and balled his fist. In the same movement, he changed to werewolf form, formed a thundersnow blast on his fist, and howled as he smashed it against the barrier.

Unsurprisingly, the barrier didn’t even tremble. Having expected that, Erik glanced at Naeku and Eira. "Had to try..." he shrugged wryly, but both women could see the frustration and impatience burning in his eyes.

Fortunately, Nadia had healed most of the consequences he’d suffered from using too much Elorium. Even so, he felt some instability around the point where Elorium left his soul and entered his body... He didn’t think it was a good idea to use Elorium for a little while. Still, if the barrier had at least trembled, he’d have tried again with some Elorium.

Naeku put an armoured gauntlet on his shoulder and smiled. "Don’t worry. We’ll get her back."

Erik did feel a little comforted by her and smiled. They then both turned to Eira. "So, what now?" they asked at the same time.

Eira looked like she was internalising some new information, but focused back on them after only a few seconds.

"The builders wanted to make sure their inheritor possessed specific values, as well as a certain amount of talent," she explained quickly, before waving at the illuminated path. "That’s what these tests are for. If you complete them all, you can sit on the throne and take control. And, of course, I’m not supposed to help at all."

Before either of them could ask more, a mischievous grin spread across Eira’s transparent lips and she puffed out her chest in pride. "They didn’t anticipate someone like me, though! I’ll bend the rules as much as I can!"

She pointed a finger at the first lectern. "For example, I’m not supposed to tell you anything about the tests, but this first one is the easiest. It simply uses a sigil to give an approximation of your talent."

Naeku nodded and wasted no time to put her hand on top of the sigilled lectern. With a flash of light, it activated, and Erik watched it anxiously. He wasn’t worried she’d fail, he simply didn’t like having nothing to do. Seeing that, Eira pouted a little. "I’m afraid for most of these tests they just allowed her bonded to be here for moral support, Master..."

Smirking helplessly, Erik decided to do just that.

Meanwhile, the test was already done. After the sigil died down, the barrier in front of them flashed the number eight for a moment, and then disappeared.

Erik and Naeku looked at Eira curiously, and she shrugged. "The original construct was supposed to translate everything to a format you’re familiar with after learning your language. I’m just following the same instruction."

She smiled at Naeku, giving her a thumbs-up. "You got an eight out of ten, basically. That’s plenty to pass!"

Naeku, grinning proudly, glanced at Erik, and he smiled lightly at her. "I wouldn’t just marry anyone, you know?" he chuckled, and Naeku blushed a little. Love was important to her, but she wouldn’t want to be useless. She enjoyed the fact Erik had high standards.

Still, Naeku noticed the stress behind the smile and so they quickly moved on to the next test.

"For this next test, I’m only supposed to tell you your two options: memory or illusion," Eira immediately explained. "The former will check your memory for certain markers they’re looking for, and illusion will put you in an illusion to test for what they’re looking for. If you fail one, you can’t retry with the other."

She looked prideful again. "But since it’s me we’re talking about, I can also tell you that this is a test about bravery and character! Knowing what I’ve seen of you through Master’s eyes, I have no doubt you’d succeed the memory test."

Naeku frowned. "I assume my memory will only be viewed by you and this soulless sigil? That’s fine, then. The memory test is probably the fastest, as well."

When Eira nodded in confirmation, Naeku immediately reached for the sigil, but in a surprise move, Erik grabbed her wrist and stopped her.

"Wait..." he muttered, and creased his brow as he glanced at Eira. Before saying anything else, he used their connection to share his and Naeku’s wedding night, where the latter was pretty quick to submit to him. Since Eira wasn’t with him at the time, she had no idea how that went. "Will that have any effect on this, or other memory tests?"

Naeku looked confused, and Eira’s transparent cheeks blushed. The Minotaur construct’s tail swept, her fingers fiddled with each other, and her cow ears twitched. "I, uhm, I— I should be able to subtly steer the memory search away from anything sexual, because that’s a very low priority for this test... I’m not sure what the test would do with that, but... better safe than sorry."

Now clear on what this was about, Naeku blushed as well. With an embarrassed roll of her eyes, she punched Erik’s shoulders after he let her go. She knew he was right to ask, but still...

Erik shrugged helplessly, and Naeku quickly put her hand on top of this next lectern. The sigil flashed, and she felt something trying to scan her soul and giving her a choice, so she chose to let it.

This time, the test took a little longer, and Erik couldn’t help but pace nervously. He hated being unable to reliably affect the outcome of this test. He fully believed Naeku would succeed, but Elora had instilled a desire for control in him, and it was in these moments that it came to bite him in the ass.

Suddenly, he remembered the day he first met Frostfang, now more than a year ago... Back then, Björn was forced to watch as others decided the fate of his loved one, and Erik swore he’d never be in the same spot... only now did he realise such an oath was impossible to keep reliably.

Right now, in this place, Erik’s power in the outside world was useless. He was fully confident in defending his loved ones, even against forces that were stronger than him, but these city builders were simply on a whole other level. They were on the level of Ymir and Audumla, and this experience only increased his wariness towards these two figures.

Still, he breathed a sigh of relief in knowing that, unlike Björn, he could still rely on his amazing wife to be his proxy in saving Elora... and he fully trusted her to do so. freёnovelkiss.com

Just as he had that thought, the second barrier came down, and they moved on to the next.

This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦