Our own hell; lord of the death trial

She went down on all fours, crawling into the small opening beneath the rocks, she knew this was not going to stop him from finding her but it gave her a momentary assurance of safety. She pulled in the rest of her dress into the cave, and sat atop a stone to rest for a while. "Véké lome" she whispered, watching as a pink pearl that appeared began expanding as it got brighter. She waved her hands in the air causing it to fade away, sighing at the wrongness of everything. "That's not it". "Vîén lomhe" she said convinced that she was correct this time. She sighed in frustration as a palm sized door with skull and bone engraved on it appeared and began to expand. She waved her hands in the air and it vanished. "This is ridiculous" she said standing up. She stretched her hands forward her face squeezing from concentration "zîvién lomhe" but nothing happened. She slapped her fore head repeatedly, and started pacing back and forth. "Vîzén lomhe" she said wealkly when the sight of a piece of fabric just outside of the opening, that had torn of from her dress caught her eye. She walked towards it and bent low stretching out her hands to pull it in before he used it to track her. She drew her hand back in as quickly as she had put it out watching wide eyed as a dagger landed on where her hand had been. She heard a low chuckle from beyond the cave as she stood to her feet. She knew those markings on the dagger, she knew them all to well. Her face turned pale as she heard his chuckle rise to a crescendo. "Golden moon, have you really forgotten about us" he said clucking. "How pitiful." She heard the sound of rocks falling and turned to run but she fell into a black hole. 'They found me' she thought as she closed her eyes.

*** ***

The process went by quickly, each person being branded in seconds and ushered into separate buildings. He saw people stationed on every side standing guard and ensuring that no one went out of line. He walked into a building with the inscription 'Bato hall' on the signboard at the top of the building. He saw an endless stream of lockers stacked against the walls of the dimly lit passage with no one in sight. They walked into the door before them, making a beeline for the counter to retrieve their suit before walking of to another room to put them on.

Her hoodie covered most of her face, her head bent low as though she was trying to hide from something, she stood out from the rest, of that he was sure. He watched her in confusion as she kept watching the doors, as though she was a criminal of some sort. He walked into the room full of weapons and walked towards the swords section, he saw a sword that seemed so much like the one he had seen in his memory, he pulled it out of and tested it, a small grin resting on his face. It felt new to him, and still it felt like it belonged in his hand. He held onto it clumsily picking up the other accessories and weighing them in his hands while inspecting the design. He didn't understand how, but he put everything together and strapped it behind his back. He shook his head in wonder, and turned quickly to see if the hooded figure was behind, but she Wasn't. He turned towards the exit door that was on the far end of the weaponry room and walked out into sunlight, he heard whispers as a loud voice boomed with delight "welcome."

*** ***

She followed quietly going along with everything, trying to blend in, but she knew the hood announced her in some way, and yet she couldn't take it of, not until she had gone through the gates of Thanatos into the trial at the very least.