Lucas's breathing quickened. The silence in the darkness seemed to be devouring everything. He stood in that empty space, with no reference points around. There was only an endless darkness. The previous courtyard had disappeared, replaced by an indistinguishable abyss, as if he were standing on the edge of an unknown world.
He gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, his heart filled with alertness. This suffocating silence gave him a strong sense of unease, as if something unknown was approaching from the darkness.
Suddenly, he heard a faint sound of footsteps, as if someone was approaching quietly in the dark. Lucas raised his eyebrows and immediately turned around, but he still couldn't see anything. He tensed his nerves and felt the change in the surrounding air - it was a feeling of being watched, as if there were a pair of eyes in the darkness staring at him intently.
"Who's there?" Lucas say in a low voice. His voice echoed in the empty space, but he received no response. It was still silent all around, and even the echo seemed to have been swallowed up.
He took a deep breath and decided not to wait any longer. Even though he hadn't seen the enemy, he knew that he couldn't remain passive any longer. He quickened his pace, ready to draw his sword at any moment.
And just as he took his first step, those blurred images began to appear again - it was no longer an empty void, but familiar scenes, one after another, alternating rapidly. In that instant, he saw the friends he had once lost, the comrades he had once fought alongside, but every face was filled with an indescribable pain and despair.
He saw Alyce - the woman he had once loved deeply. Her face flashed before his eyes, tears streaming down, her lips slightly parted as if she were saying something, but Lucas couldn't hear it. In that instant, Alyce's figure was suddenly swallowed up by a piece of darkness and disappeared without a trace.
"Alyce!" Lucas was stunned and rushed towards the direction where she had disappeared, but the ground under his feet suddenly became slippery. Every step he took was like struggling in a quagmire. The feeling of loss welled up in his heart like a flood, almost overwhelming him.
"Give up," A cold voice came from behind, with obvious mockery.
Lucas spun around sharply. The darkness in front of him began to condense into a figure - it was a tall man, his face hidden under a black cloak. The outline of his face was blurred, and only a pair of eyes shining with a cold light could be seen.
"Who are you?" Lucas gripped the hilt of his sword tightly and stared at the figure without hesitation.
The man chuckled softly, his voice low and sinister. "Don't you remember me, Lucas? Perhaps you've long forgotten, or perhaps you've never realized that you've always been under my control."
Lucas was shocked. Instantly, he felt an ominous premonition. He stared at the man nervously and suddenly realized that familiar feeling - that invisible oppression, that overwhelming aura.
"Who on earth are you?" Lucas's voice became calm, but the doubts in his heart grew stronger.
The man didn't answer immediately. He just said casually, "I'm not important. What's important is you yourself. You've always thought you could control everything, but you've never truly understood what you're facing." His tone was full of mockery, as if he were looking at a child who had never known the truth.
Lucas frowned. "What exactly do you want to say?"
"I want to say that your heart has always been bound by something you've ignored. You thought the enemy was behind this trial, but in fact, the enemy has been in your heart from the very beginning." The man slowly approached, his footsteps gently echoing, carrying an extremely oppressive aura.
Lucas's heart was in turmoil. He suddenly realized that those illusions, those lost memories, might not be accidental. Yes, the trial was indeed testing his inner fear, but what exactly were these fears? Did he really understand his own heart?
"What do you mean...?" Lucas almost forced himself to calm down.
The man laughed, his voice low and with a hint of coldness. "Every trial is you facing your own truth. Your past failures, your former cowardice, your remorse and guilt are your greatest enemies. You've always thought the enemy was an external force, but in fact, your greatest enemy is yourself."
Lucas took a deep breath, and the edge of his sword trembled slightly. The figure in front of him was still blurred, but that strong sense of oppression made it almost impossible for him to breathe. His heart was pounding violently, as if something was forcing him to face what he had been avoiding all along - his sense of powerlessness in the past, his doubts about fate, and the deepest fear in his heart.
"What exactly do you want me to do?" Lucas asked coldly.
The man didn't answer. Instead, he continued, "Do you want to overcome your fear? Do you want to break free from the shackles of fate? Then, face it, face the deepest shadow in your heart."
As soon as the words were spoken, those painful memories flashed before Lucas's eyes again. His past failures and fears welled up in his heart like a tide, almost suffocating him. Alyce's departure, the death of his comrades, the cruelty of the battlefield... All of this still haunted him as always, as if no matter how he struggled, he couldn't escape the shadow of the past.
He was stunned, the tip of his sword trembling slightly. The chaos in his heart almost made him lose his mind.
Just then, suddenly a strong beam of light pierced through the darkness, illuminating the front. The scene in front of Lucas began to become clear, and the face of the figure finally emerged - it was a strange face he had never seen before, but it was full of an aura that couldn't be ignored.
"Face it, Lucas. Only you can save yourself," The man's last words fell. Lucas felt a powerful force rushing into his body. All his fears and doubts burst out instantly, as if everything was redefined at this moment.
The trial in the darkness was still going on, and at this moment, Lucas's heart truly awakened.