Trials of Black Part 2 [Dylan Supremacy #3]
Jan 25, 2023 3:17:44 GMT -5
Mongo the Destroyer, Kira Izumi, and 2 more like this
Post by Dylan on Jan 25, 2023 3:17:44 GMT -5
Dylan walks through a door, the Navi-like orb floating beside him. They step into the next room and turn to face a giant sphinx, sitting on a stone slab in the middle of the room. Dylan's hands crackle with electricity as he readies into a fighting stance.
Dylan: If this is just a string of different feats of combat I might end up dying for real.
The sphinx chuckles.
Sphinx: Relax, young one. I am not here to test your resolve in combat. In this room, we test your wit and your mind.
The sphinx stands up on all fours, stretches like a cat, and then sits back on its hind legs.
Sphinx: To pass through this room and continue your journey, you must solve four riddles, each more difficult than the last. Answer correctly, and you will be granted passage to the final stage of your trials. Fail to provide the correct answer, and I will have no choice but to consume you alive.
Dylan: Trials? Is this all just tests to see if I'm worthy of sitting across the negotiation table from Satan?
The sphinx nods.
Sphinx: Each of these trials is meant to test a different part of you, to see if are mentally, morally, and emotionally prepared for bartering with the King of the Underworld.
The sphinx settles into a relaxed position.
Sphinx: Now if you are ready, we can begin your next trial.
Dylan nods and sets his backpack on the floor, before sitting cross-legged in front of the Sphinx.
Dylan: Let us begin.
Words don't express just how much I hate you, Steve.
Dylan sits cross-legged in a stone room, torches on the walls provide the light that dances and flickers around him.
Every time I see your face, hear your voice, or feel your hot breath breathing down my neck... there's this feeling of rage that overcomes me. I can't help but want to wrap my cold steel fingers around your throat and just squeeze. Watch your eyes bug out, your face turns blue as you silently beg for help. Cry for forgiveness. I promise you that when you and I find each other in the ring at Supremacy. One year from when you "officially" became the owner of my right arm. I am going to do unspeakable things to you.
He can't help but grin thinking of all the ways he's going to hurt Steve.
But let me speak them. I'll start off by taking each finger on your right hand and snapping them one by one like twigs. I've been watching the masters of digit manipulation to see just how to cause you the most pain while doing it. I hope you're good at doing things left-handed because you'll spend the next two months in splints. Your hand will remain outstretched like a star, but your star will be broken as you can't do any movies. Sign any autographs. Touch yourself, though if you're kind to Zelda she might give you the pleasures you desire. But I am going to snap every finger on that right hand. Next, I'm going to break your arm. Hyper-extend your elbow and dislocate your shoulder. We're really going the full nine yards with making you suffer. Your elbow might recover in a month or so, but you'll be in a sling for your shoulder for at least four months.
He counts on his fingers.
That'll bring you to May? You'll miss the Rumble. You'll have to watch as the XHF moves on without you. You will feel a FRACTION of what I dealt with for FOURTEEN LONG, TIRESOME MONTHS! I had to stand in my bathroom and see the Fragility of Ego behind me. Look me in the eyes and be angry over the fact I let someone like you, some jackass who slaps his thighs and pumps out movies that make shit like Sharknado look like MCU products. I let you take away my identity, my humanity. I let you make a fool of me. But in my time of weakness, I grew stronger than you could imagine.
But as my strength grew, so did my anger. My hate. My suffering. If it labored me to breathe I could be the vilest entity in the galaxy. But I let my disdain for you fester in me for so long. It infected me. You infected me. But I've got my Steve Awesome vaccinations, and I have acquired an immunity to the disease you spew out. I am going to face you at my strongest, and I am going to get revenge for FOURTEEN MONTHS of hell! As I live and breathe Steve, I will beat you into submission and make you personally quit so I can become X*Crown Champion. It is only my destiny. My Violent Destiny! And this match will be a footnote in My Violent Dynasty.
Dylan raises a fist in the E.V.E. salute.
So sayeth the Daemon of Mayhem. The next three-time X*Crown Champion.
Dylan sits cross-legged in a stone room, torches on the walls provide the light that dances and flickers around him.
Every time I see your face, hear your voice, or feel your hot breath breathing down my neck... there's this feeling of rage that overcomes me. I can't help but want to wrap my cold steel fingers around your throat and just squeeze. Watch your eyes bug out, your face turns blue as you silently beg for help. Cry for forgiveness. I promise you that when you and I find each other in the ring at Supremacy. One year from when you "officially" became the owner of my right arm. I am going to do unspeakable things to you.
He can't help but grin thinking of all the ways he's going to hurt Steve.
But let me speak them. I'll start off by taking each finger on your right hand and snapping them one by one like twigs. I've been watching the masters of digit manipulation to see just how to cause you the most pain while doing it. I hope you're good at doing things left-handed because you'll spend the next two months in splints. Your hand will remain outstretched like a star, but your star will be broken as you can't do any movies. Sign any autographs. Touch yourself, though if you're kind to Zelda she might give you the pleasures you desire. But I am going to snap every finger on that right hand. Next, I'm going to break your arm. Hyper-extend your elbow and dislocate your shoulder. We're really going the full nine yards with making you suffer. Your elbow might recover in a month or so, but you'll be in a sling for your shoulder for at least four months.
He counts on his fingers.
That'll bring you to May? You'll miss the Rumble. You'll have to watch as the XHF moves on without you. You will feel a FRACTION of what I dealt with for FOURTEEN LONG, TIRESOME MONTHS! I had to stand in my bathroom and see the Fragility of Ego behind me. Look me in the eyes and be angry over the fact I let someone like you, some jackass who slaps his thighs and pumps out movies that make shit like Sharknado look like MCU products. I let you take away my identity, my humanity. I let you make a fool of me. But in my time of weakness, I grew stronger than you could imagine.
But as my strength grew, so did my anger. My hate. My suffering. If it labored me to breathe I could be the vilest entity in the galaxy. But I let my disdain for you fester in me for so long. It infected me. You infected me. But I've got my Steve Awesome vaccinations, and I have acquired an immunity to the disease you spew out. I am going to face you at my strongest, and I am going to get revenge for FOURTEEN MONTHS of hell! As I live and breathe Steve, I will beat you into submission and make you personally quit so I can become X*Crown Champion. It is only my destiny. My Violent Destiny! And this match will be a footnote in My Violent Dynasty.
Dylan raises a fist in the E.V.E. salute.
So sayeth the Daemon of Mayhem. The next three-time X*Crown Champion.
Sphinx: Let's start with something a little easy. Get you in the mindset.
She clears her throat.
Sphinx: What English word has three consecutive double letters?
Dylan: Hmm... something long... balloon... buffoon... cannoodler... bookkeeper...
His eyes squint as he mentally spells out that last word.
Dylan: Bee oh oh kay kay e e pee e ar... bookkeeper!
The sphinx nods.
Sphinx: Very good. Next question: What can you hold in your right hand, but never in your left hand?
Dylan thinks, bringing up his hands and inspecting them for a second.
Dylan: What can I hold in my right hand...
His gaze shifts to his right hand.
Dylan: ...but never in my left hand?
His gaze shifts to his left hand. He looks back and forth between them, before clasping his hands together.
Dylan: Oh! My left hand! I can never hold my left hand in my left hand.
The sphinx lets out a small smile and nods.
Sphinx: Very well. You're halfway there, but it can only get more complicated from here.
Dylan nods in anticipation.
Sphinx: A woman shoots her husband, then holds him underwater for five minutes. Next, she hangs him. Right after, they enjoy a lovely dinner. Explain how this is possible.
Oof. A low punch to the gut made Dylan's confidence drop. He repeats the riddle to himself a few times, slowly saying it word-for-word to understand it thoroughly.
Dylan: Shoots her husband... holds him underwater... hangs him... then has dinner? Is she... is she a necromancer and reviving him between each take? That doesn't make sense.
Orb: Psst!
Dylan turns to the orb, which moves in close to whisper to him.
Orb: A gun isn't the only thing you can shoot!
Dylan's eyes squinted as he turned to the orb. Before he could say anything the sphinx hissed at him.
Sphinx: This test is for your mind and your mind only! Are you dumbfounded? Have you no clue? Do you wish to forfeit your life?
Dylan: No no no. Let me think just a moment longer!
Dylan starts wracking through his mind, what else can you shoot besides guns? Basketball? Makes sense. You shoot some hoops and then do other sports like swimming and cliff diving, but it doesn't feel right. Archery? That falls in line with shooting a gun. What else can be shot?
Sphinx: Tick tock.
Dylan holds a hand to his head, thinking. What else, what else?.. wait, he has the very answer to this riddle in his pocket!
Dylan: A camera! She shoots the picture, perhaps with an old-timey camera, then develops the photo in a darkroom before having dinner!
The sphinx has a blank look on her face before it slightly cracks with a smile.
Sphinx: Impressive. I was almost certain that you would fail there. Alright. Final riddle: A rooster lays an egg at the very top of a slanted roof. Which side is the egg going to roll off on?
Dylan looks at her quizzically before answering.
Dylan: Roosters don't lay eggs. Neither side?
The sphinx nods.
Sphinx: Well done. You have wracked your mind and mentally fortified yourself for the upcoming challenges that lay ahead of you. But beware- the next room is the hardest one of them all. If you make it through you'll be on your date with destiny. However, I'm sure you'll be able to handle it.
Dylan stands up and grabs his backpack, nodding to the sphinx. He goes to walk past her when she calls out once more.
Sphinx: Hold on, just one more riddle for you. How do you plan on overcoming the greatest enemy in your life at his weakest when you could barely defeat him at your strongest?
Dylan pauses, hand on the door handle before he turns back.
Dylan: I am going to lift him onto his shoulders and spike him so hard on the mat he never moves again. And then I am going to ask permission from Zoran to pin Steve Awesome and take the X*Crown from them both.
With that final quote, he pulls open the door and walks into the next room, the orb floating behind him. The sphinx lays back and licks its paws as we fade to black.
