They do everything for their own satisfaction.

Brijjet's words floated about in Waverly's head as she staggered behind Lord Adunar, who looked maliciously excited with whatever he was thinking.

Waverly's body exploded with pain and her head throbbed like a thousand earthquakes were inside it at once. Her vision reduced to a blur and so even when Adunar stopped walking, she did not realize it and continued to advance. The air was incredibly cold and thin, almost too difficult to breathe in.

"Why, you seem very anxious to meet your next Trial. Peace, you most possibly will not walk out of this one alive." He sneered.

But Waverly was not listening. Extreme hunger and thirst felt like death to her. She could not see clearly or hear clearly, but Adunar was talking about something light that something eats. She staggered and felt a sharp pain strike the nape of her neck. She winced and looked back tiredly.

"She senses you already, hence the pain you feel now. Have a gloomy passage to The Sacred Space." The deity said and disappeared.

Waverly slumped face down to the ground. She still could not make out her environment but a few feet away, she spotted a large unfinished table. It stood directly in front of an abandoned shop filled with pieces of wood. The part of Waverly's brain that still worked told her it was a carpenter's workshop.

She crawled toward the table then went underneath it. As she did, she reached ontop of the table to grab what she saw was a rough, wood streaked blanket. Waverly draped the dusty and prickly material over herself and shut her eyes. She did not know what her next Trial was but she also did not care now. Better for it to kill her in her sleep than for her to fight it in her weakened state. She could not lift a finger even if she tried.

As Waverly drifted into a disturbing sleep she became plagued by an equally disturbing mare.

She was still under the table when she woke but it was noon. She indistinctly recalled it was evening when she had arrived. She crawled out from under the table and found herself to be in a very big forest, much bigger than any one she had been in. And inside the forest, the strangest things were happening.

The trees were moving and they had mean, evil faces - scraggy tree beards that jutted out in a pointy manner, eyes like hollow shells, conk noses and very wide, very empty ugly mouths.

The ground was strewn with tiny living creatures that Waverly could not completely make out. She only saw that some had really small wings, some had too many fingers or toes, others had too many eyes or no eyes at all. A lot of them had strange colors of skin and very awkward ways of walking.

Several other foul creatures that Waverly could not name swarmed the place but none of them seemed to notice her. The air smelled so bad that Waverly was forced to breathe through her mouth.

Waverly wondered if the creatures were having a meeting of some kind. One of them turned to look in her direction and Waverly let out a very sharp shriek. She had seen hundreds of this kind of creature before. It was one of the many dwellers in The Abyss. A Vulturo - vulture man. He was even uglier and more terrifying up close. His arms and legs were human but the rest of him was vulture - an ugly, eld, brown and greyish, deformed, wide-eyed vulture.

Waverly moved backward as the creature advanced with a deathly look about his face. He lunged for Waverly. She screamed and shielded her face but the creature only passed right through her like she was made of smoke. Waverly turned sharply and found the vulture digging into the dead body of a large yellow cat. The cat was rotting and swarmed by noisy flies but the vulture man did not mind. This was probably the best meal he had eaten in a long time.

Waverly made a disgusted face and looked away. Soon, other vulture men crowded the carrion and joined their brother but a fight broke out between them and the dead meat ended up being smashed to flat earth by the massive foot of a massive brown skinned ogre.

He yelled something at the Vulturo and they all scampered away. Waverly was thankful for the first time that the sounds of the environment had been snuffed out. She moved out of the way as a giant dressed in the heaviest chain mail walked forward. She feared getting stepped on even though she knew it was unlikely as she was nothing but a mere presence.

Waverly followed the chaotic procession past many places that she did not recognize. They emerged from the forest and into a wilderness then across a large bubbly river that cascaded past an extremely high waterfall. Waverly's feet could not get tired since she only floated behind them so she did not mind the long travel. She itched to know where the procession lead.

As they travelled, more and more creatures joined them in hundreds until Waverly was looking at over a million and one creatures of different kinds. Waverly's heart sank as she saw them gather. With each passing minute, more creatures poured in and Waverly felt totally helpless. If this army was headed to Bremeton first, then her home was as good as destroyed.

To make things worse, the creatures did not travel empty handed. They carried wicked weapons and many dangerous looking contraptions but no matter how large these weapons were, it did nothing to slow them down. The biggest giants and Ogres carried them as if they weighed only as heavy as a quill.

The procession moved rather slowly and Waverly made sure to keep at the very end of them, almost twenty feet away from the last of them. Despite not being visible, she hated the way some animals turned to look in her direction as if they could sense her presence.

The biggest ogres trailed up front and Waverly could tell from how much spit flew out of their mouths that they talked loudly to one another. The smaller creatures conversed too, pecking at the other kind and pulling wicked stunts on their own kind. They ate whatever they came across and caused complete disaster with each step. More than a hundred times the ogres had to break up a fight. Waverly's gaze lingered on a She-Ogre. Her stomach was bulgy which made her look extra large. Her dress was dirty but Waverly could tell it had once been a beautiful velvet. She was pregnant but she hefted a club the size of a tree against her shoulder.

Waverly concluded she never wanted to discover what it was like to fight a pregnant orge.

The procession finally came to a stop at the border of whatever country they were leaving. Waverly floated above them expecting to see the bridge of Bridge up ahead but her expectation turned stone cold. The bridge had disappeared and from the height at which she floated, she could see a huge city spread toward the horizon with the sea around it. The city was beautifully green, filled with extremely tall living structures like treehouses. Lights glowed from every inch of the city despite the light from the sun. The only thing that separated the army from the city was a very wide forest. The same forest that usually led to the bridge of Bridge in every realm but this was greener, wider and very serene. It felt almost like a realm of power itself.

Waverly watched the creatures. They did not look very eager to proceed. In fact, they looked like they were waiting for something. An order, perhaps. Waverly thought.

She waited with them. Then, the trees began to ruffle noisily. Waverly guessed that whatever was approaching was normal Human size but the creatures seemed to be retreating fearfully. The big ones tried to compose themselves but the small ones lost their wits and ran to the back.

Some army they are. Waverly mocked.

The new intruder emerged. It was a man. A very willowy man. He wore smart purple uniform. The sign of a King's guard or another office of some type. He held a strange golden translucent shield that looked like it had been cut in half. The image of a four headed lion was engraved in its middle. In his left hand he held a glowing sword. The blade was encrusted with tiny bits of what Waverly thought looked suspiciously like Heaven's Medal.

The man did not look happy. He glared with hatred at the monsters and pointed his sword at them as he spoke. His posture was quite composed despite the angry look on his face.

Waverly looked into the forest and saw spots of purple everywhere. Her gaze fell back to the monsters. The dull things had not yet realized that the guard was not alone - even the tallest ones.

The biggest Ogre proceeded to say something.

Waverly recognized him as the one that always gave orders. He yelled and advanced on the guard but he was roughly knocked back by a barrier that became slightly invisible only when the Ogre had collided with it. The monsters were thrown into a panic seeing as their leader laid indisposed and bleeding from his face.

The guard gave a snarl and glared at the fallen ogre as if he was the stupidest thing ever created (which Waverly felt was true).

Another ogre faced the man and began to speak too. Waverly floated over to the guard then realized why he seemed so tall. He was indeed very tall, the top of her head saw past the last button of his uniform. He was an Elf and he had a magnificent face. His teeth ground against his jaw like he was biting down his own impatience.

From the medals that streaked the breastpockets of his purple uniform, Waverly could now see that he was a Cen - the leader of a hundred man army. His army was, in fact, right behind him in the forest. He looked so regal and composed that Waverly believed he could have been the King in a guard's disguise but she also doubted it. Elves usually were so disciplined that each one behaved exactly as a King would.

The elf interrupted the ogre mid-sentence by lifting a hand and pointing behind them as if ordering them to leave. Waverly began to wish she could hear what he said. She stood next to the Cen with folded arms trying to show support even though he could not see her.

The creatures began to protest by banging on the barrier only for each one to get repelled and bloodied. Whenever a creature went down, another would wreak its vengeance on the barrier and also end up like its comrade. One would think this would warn the rest against attacking the barrier but they just kept coming. Waverly thought they were indeed very stupid dull things.

Then the real suprise came when the creatures suddenly began to part in the middle. Waverly thought they gave way for their main leader or a secret weapon but who she saw caused the blood flow in her folded arms to be cut off. Her arms turned stiff and cold fingers tickled the length of her spine.

Judson emerged from the middle of the crowd. There was nothing different about him. He looked absolutely well. His clothes were clean and his hair had been brushed neatly so that all the curls laid back. His face was poker as he advanced and he walked with his usual lopsided gait.

Waverly told herself that she was only seeing a strange hallucination. She assured herself that this was not Judson at all but someone else that had taken his form - and she would be proven correct.

The Cen shouted something to his army and they rushed out of the forest behind him in a very complicated formation. Each man carried a shield on his back, a sword by his side and a bow and arrow in his hands. They took aim with their bows at the Cen's command.

"No! He is not an enemy." Waverly yelled at the top of her voice but nobody could hear her. She had completely forgotten that she was only an invisible presence and that she was having a dream.

A hundred arrows were pointed at Judson but he walked calmly still, almost as though he could not see the army in front of him.

"Jud. Go back! Get out of there." Waverly yelled to him.

Judson came closer to the barrier and lifted a finger. Waverly held her breath. As soon as Judson touched the barrier, a wave spread across it and it broke to pieces like glass.

Waverly gasped and she guessed that the army did too.

Suddenly, she could hear the wind and the sound of voices - cheering from the creatures and a hushed silence from the Elves.

"Taro eso." The Cen commanded in Alpgetonian. It meant arrows forth.

Arrows flew toward Judson like hail but he shielded himself with his wings. The arrows pierced them and stuck fast. Waverly watched in terror and shock and so did the army.

Only a few seconds passed before Judson separated his wings again, sending all the arrows back. Each one found a chink in the men's armor and every one fell to his death including the Cen. Judson's wings looked unhurt.

Waverly's mouth hung open as she watched the scene. Judson turned to face the cheering crowd. They became silent and every one of them, including the injured creatures and the biggest Ogre who had attacked the barrier first, went down on his knees in reverence.

The biggest ogre spoke with his head down and his bloody mouth.

"The Emperor of Chaos. Father and Creator of all Evil. Bearer of Darkness, Dweller in Darkness, Father of Nys and Lord over The Eternal Abyss. We are most humbled by your presence, Lord Oculmus The Malevolent."

Judson's head was held high. He spoke in his normal voice but it came out as very mature and very sinister. "Yes. I have returned."

With that, Judson solemnly turned to face Waverly and flashed a very strange smile in her direction. She gasped. He could see her.

She sat up quickly and bonked her head against the table.

"Oy!" Waverly winced as she rubbed her temple, sleep disappearing from her eyes. From the blurry corner of her vision, she saw something slithering out from under her blanket.

She scurried out from under the table and without even thinking about it, threw Calaire. It transformed into a sword midair and pinned the creature to the ground by the tail.

Waverly cautiously inched closer and saw that it was a Cobius. A very small but very venomous viper snake. It had milky skin and yellow eyes and was only as long as a grown man's arm. It hissed at Waverly and struggled to free itself but Calaire held it fast. The sword shone faintly and the snake slithered about to avoid the light.

The snake began to grow in size. When Waverly blinked, she was looking at a man with a sword stuck into the middle of his bare foot.

"You vermin. Take this abomination out of me at once!" He spat at her.

Waverly quickly picked up a small brick and lifted it. Her insides twisted higgledy-piggledy. The cold wind made her teeth chatter.

"What were you doing under my covers?" She inquired with a shaky voice. Something about the man made her insides tremble. He was not exactly hideous but the way his face twisted with disgust reminded Waverly of her worst nightmares.

The man scoffed. "Silly little pest. I ordered you to take this thing out of my foot and not ask me irrelevant questions."

Waverly tossed her brick and it connected with the man's forehead. He did not show any signs of pain. Instead, he frowned unpleasantly. Waverly picked up another brick. She did not even bother to think why she was now surrounded by bricks.

"You answer my question first and we shall see if my sword leaves your foot or not." Waverly countered. She fidgeted in her spot and kept hefting the brick in her hand. She felt strangely nervous and afraid. The strange man had made no attempt to take the sword out by himself. This made Waverly think he was either afraid of touching it or just baiting her into coming closer.

The man growled and tried to move but the pain from his foot made him wince and he remained standing. His yellow eyes made Tunis' flowers look like bleaching colors. They were so yellow they looked luminescent. His skin was rough and full of scar marks, one very outstanding scar stretched from his temple and made a sharp curve across his cheek. He was draped in fitted burgundy robes and a black headdress that framed his face but despite his admirable attire, his feet was bare. Long ropes hung from every inch of his robe so that the cloth looked ripped. If he had not sounded so regal and commanding or transformed from snake to man, Waverly would have mistaken him for a homeless thief who had managed to get his hands on a wealthy person's possessions.

"The lot of you mortals always thinking you must have what you want. Listen little hedgepig, if you do not relieve me of this sword, i will make sure you have even worse nightmares next time. Do you understand me? Now set me free."

"Nightmares." Waverly muttered dryly.

"Yes, you snotty wimp. I do not know how you managed to see me but what did i expect from the insignificant bleat of a spawn of an Entonian disease? Cannot keep your nose in your own business, can you?"

Waverly stared at the man before her. She was suddenly taken aback by realization. Back in Bremeton, certain townsfolk warded off nightmares by leaving a plate of burning snowdrop windflower at the foot of their bed. This was believed to prevent the spirit of Nysus from cowering under the covers.

"You are him. Nysus. You bring nightmares to mortals." Waverly said.

The man, Nysus, rolled his eyes. "Took your spittle brain long enough. Now let me go."

Waverly chucked the second brick with trembling hands but it whacked Nysus in his left eye. She hurriedly picked up another one.

Nysus growled angrily. "I swear to Nys if you throw that brick. . . . "

Waverly threw the brick and it bounced right off the man's headdress. He roared and tried to reach for her then changed his mind and remained put. He probably thought it was useless since Waverly stood almost twelve feet away from him and the sword seemed to be digging deeper into his foot.

Waverly picked up another brick.

"I will not stop throwing bricks nor will i pull my sword out of your foot unless you tell me why you were under my covers. I was not sleeping untucked."

"What does it matter that you were not? I do not care if you sleep with a bear over you, i come whenever i wish."

Waverly suddenly blotted out from her mind the belief that nightmares only came to whoever slept untucked.

"So why are you here?"

"Are you bloody thick as well as naive? I came to give you nightmares, you foolish ungregarious gremlin."

Waverly threw her fourth brick but Nysus dodged it. "Do not call me words i cannot understand."

"For someone who is on a Trial such as this you sure are unconcerned about your present situation." Nysus said. His voice had lost its angry touch. He now sounded as if he had just realized that Waverly was already in worse situations than any he could put her in should she take her sword out.

"Why do you care?" Waverly snapped. She inconspicuously began to study her environment.

"I do not care even in the slightest, wretched bastard. Now, take your weapon out."

Waverly picked up a brick but this time, she did not throw it. She inched close to Nysus. He flinched slightly as she approached, squinting his eyes as if she carried a blinding light with her.

Waverly drew Calaire out and Nysus moaned in pain and clutched his bleeding foot. His blood, unlike Ante's that was wine red, was glossy green.

"Stupid Medal." He muttered glaring at the sword. He transformed back into a Cobius then gave one last spiteful hiss and slithered away.

Waverly thought she would never meet a god who swore as much as Nysus did. She oddly remembered who he was as soon as he was gone. Nysus was a son of Nys, a replacement for his uncle, the primordial god Hephus, who was the original god of dreams. Hephus was a powerful force of the dark side until he began to associate with an Entonian goddess called Hanithelia. She was a deity of joy and happiness. Her influence quickly caused Hephus' powers to have a positive effect, bringing people sweet dreams and daydreams. Nys kicked Hephus out of her realm and immediately replaced him with Nysus who did a very excellent job bringing the nastiest of all nasty dreams to mortals.

The pain Waverly had been feeling before had dulled by the time she woke up. This allowed her to focus more on her surrounding and impending Trial. She turned to look at the pile of bricks near her. They were the scattered remains of a ruined manor.

She wore Calaire on her wrist and began to walk. She was in a county palatine. A marchland. From the way the houses were built, Waverly guessed she was back in Bremeton but a farther part of it. Maybe in the South, Waverly guessed.

County palatines were abundant in certain parts of Bremeton where their rulers held the position of Counts and Countess. They were considered the Lower Lords because King Asherah himself was still above them.

The land was not so big and many houses on it had come to ruins. In fact, the town was so small that Waverly concluded she could count the number of people who lived in it. As she walked past a small brick house, Waverly caught glimpse of a mother and her children peeping at her from behind a window. She suddenly became aware of all the eyes she had walked past without knowing.

A young Elven woman stepped out of the next house as Waverly walked toward it. She held on to her flowing skirt in a timid way and inclined her head as Waverly came nearer.

"Flee while you can." The woman sobbed.

Waverly regarded her then turned around. A small group of people were following her, whispering amongst themselves. Waverly overheard one saying "a child of Light." Another added, "Alluna's daughter".

Waverly focused on the woman before her. The nape of her neck suddenly ruptured with pain, making her wince. She tried to recall what Adunar had warned about this next Trial, but barely remembered a thing. Extreme cold made the air thin and made her feel light-headed, but the people seemed to have no problem with breathing.

"Where is it?" Waverly asked.

The woman turned and pointed. Waverly walked forward and gasped. The houses ended where a clearing suddenly branched into a wide river with no banks. This was because the strange water flowed backwards and dropped off into what Waverly assumed was a fall. The strangest thing was that the river was level with the ground and yet no water flowed into the town.

The people allowed Waverly proceed to the river but most of them kept spilling warnings in a terrified tone of voice.

"She will kill you." A man said.

"She shows no mercy." Another added.

"Méti néor, dreñn Alluña." An elfin woman cried. (Come back, child of Alluna)

"Néor a'raé nohel eram ani." Waverly snapped angrily at them. (Back with all of you)

Many gasped and held on to their spouses and children but nobody tried to leave. It was their hometown.

"Mir m'ia édon édéira." Waverly said bravely even though her knees were knocking together. (I will face her)

The pain in her neck intensified and she tried her very best to hide it.

"No matter how it ends."

"malya bist édéira mispron." An Elg child whispered. (Her magic is strong)

Waverly looked at the girl. She clutched hard to her father's trousers. Her brown hair was unkempt but her face looked very clean. She wore comfortable clothes like everyone else and a pair of white gloves.

"Féna mir bist veloñn mispron." Waverly replied calmly. (Maybe my will is stronger)

The Honor of Light|
Book 02