“Why are you stopping?” he held his shield and weapon to the side, “Are you quitting? That was easy. Bummer I thought you’d be a challenge. Oh well.”
“I’m not quitting!” you could hear a slight irritation in Obidaan’s voice; he was breathing quite heavily but noticed that his reflection was not winded.
“Oh, you’re not? Taking a breather then? Take your time. I have all the time in the world,” He sheathed his weapons and stood there, arms crossed.
Obidaan sat down, the reflection copied his move.
“Why did you sit?” Obidaan asked.
“Because you sat. I told you, I’m a mirror reflection of you.”
“But not my opposite?”
“No.”
“So,” Obidaan was still catching his breath, “You know how to solve this?”
“Of course I do. But I’m not telling you.” He smiled and shook his finger at Obidaan, “That would be cheating.”
“Ok, let me think. I have to get past myself, but I have to do it by kicking my own ass?”
“You have to get past me.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“Yes I did.”
“What about kicking my own ass?”
“What about it?”
“What’s that mean?” it seemed they were playing verbal tennis now.
“What are you talking about?” He continued to answer each question with a question.
“How do I fight myself?”
“I don’t know. How do you?”
“This is pointless. We’re going around in circles.”
“We are?” He looked around, “I thought we were just sitting here.”
“You’re not helping.”
“I’m not here to; I’m an obstacle for you to overcome.”
“You were helping before,” Obidaan was clearly beginning to get frustrated.
“The test hadn’t started yet,” his answers remained steady, almost taunting.
“Wait, what are we doing?” an idea popped into Obidaan’s head.
“Talking.”
“Why?”
“Because you opened a dialog.”
“Like I always do. That’s it! Before I start a battle, I always try to reason with the other side. But this time, I just went into the fight,” he snapped his fingers and smiled.
“So, what’s your point?” the reflection seemed unimpressed by his revelation.
“I should be the Obidaan I am, I should have reasoned with you, me, whatever first; even though we drew swords first. Swords are always drawn first, then talk. I can’t believe I missed that.”
“Nerves?” he raised his eyebrows.
“No, not being myself. I was thinking I was going to have to fight.”
“And what gave you that idea?”
“You told me to draw my weapon.”
“Oh, so now you’re blaming me for your poor decision making?” he leaned back, placing his hands behind him for support.
Obidaan finally caught on, “No, I’m blaming me for looking at a situation and jumping to conclusions instead of sticking to what I normally do.”
“So what are you trying to say?” he stretched his feet out and began wiggling them absentmindedly.
Obidaan stood up, “I’m saying, I let the situation control me instead of controlling the situation.”
“So? Isn’t that the normal way?” the reflection continued to sit and twiddle, “See a situation, someone drawing a sword, respond in kind. What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing, if that’s how you normally respond. No, wait, that’s wrong too.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re letting the situation control you.”
“So?”
“Being in control, that’s the key. I have to control the situation.” Obidaan began to pace around, the thought about making a dash for the door, but noticed the reflection was now standing, as if reading his mind.
“Again, so?” he crossed his arms.
“So I have to get around you my way.”
“Well, that’s nice and all, but I’m tired of talking, so get ready to fight,” he drew his weapons and got into a fighting stance.
“No.”
“Why not? We’ve talked enough. When talk doesn’t work, you fight. Even you succumb to that one.”
“Yes, but it’s not usually with myself. Fighting myself is pointless, it only leads to my own destruction.”
“Well then bright boy,” the reflection still had his sword at the ready, “how are you going to get past me?”
“Easy. I haven’t done the one thing I should have in the first place.”
“What’s that?”
“Ask. May I go past you to the door, please?”
The reflection sheathed his sword and slung his shield over his back, “Of course you may; after you.”
Obidaan walked through the door. He was once again in darkness inside a circle of light.
“Congratulations. You have no idea how many people fail that test,” the reflection said.
“Because they don’t control the situation?” Obidaan asked.
“Not so much that, but because they don’t get out of their own way to succeed. How many people fight with themselves to achieve a goal, only to ultimately fail? You can’t kick your own ass. Beating yourself up, you will always lose. You have to get out of your own way to succeed. Took you long enough to figure that out.”
“Why is that a record or something?”
“No, one guy kicked his own ass five times before he begged his reflection to let him pass. Boy did he feel dumb when the reflection relented.”
“Who was it?”
“Sorry, all information related to other parties is strictly confidential,” the response was unemotional and rote in nature, as though that were the only response he could give at that moment.
“Fine,” Obidaan heaved a sigh, “let’s move on.”
“Ok, walk this way,” the reflection began to do a silly walk, marching stiffly, not bending at the knees or elbows. Obidaan looked at him, sighed, and was about to do the same thing, when he though about what he had just gone through. He walked the way he always walked, following behind the reflection.
“Drat, we usually catch people on that test. It’s such an old joke. Nice to see you can see the double meaning of it. You’re doing well. I’m very impressed.”
“Thank you,” Obidaan was staying serious
“Conformity.”
“What?” he heard him but didn’t understand what he meant.
“That last test, conformity. It’s nice but conformity is for the majority. The majority of people don’t wield our items. Nice catch.”
“I just didn’t feel like playing the game, not after what I just went through.”
“Good enough.”
They walked toward two doors. “In this test, behind one of the doors, there are 3 hideous trolls. They won’t rationalize with you, they won’t talk with you, they will just want to rip your head off and eat you for dinner. They have no sense of civility. Pure animal instinct and they want to use it on you. The other door is completely empty, a totally safe passage. Depending on how you pick determines how easily you make it to the other side. You have the power of divination, I suggest you use it.”
Obidaan meditated for a moment, getting in touch with the Seers. They gave him a couple of messages. Once he received the messages he stood up and without hesitation proclaimed. “I pick door number two.”
The reflection opened it up and there, as if in suspended animation where three very angry trolls. “Seems you picked the wrong door,” The reflection said.
“No, I picked the correct one,” Obidaan has his weapons out and a satisfied smile on his face.
“But
door number one was safe, it was the easy one.”
“Exactly,” Obidaan felt he had the upper hand in this challenge.
“So, then why this door?”
“I am a paladin.”
The reflection smiled, “You don’t go for the easy way, do you?”
“No. As they just told me, a paladin that chooses the easy path is no paladin. I have to face the dangers, not flee from them. Only then can I be the example I am meant to be.”
“Outstanding! You are so good at this. Oh, one more thing. If you die, you loose.”
The fight was furious and desperate. The trolls showed no mercy and ripped at his flesh. Only his paladin skills allowed him to barely make it through the fight. The final swing, with muscles aching, mana drained, and smites used came down to Obidaan thrusting his sword deep into the heart of the troll as it attempted to bite his entire face off. Still breathing heavily from the fight, Obidaan pulled out a flask of oil, poured on the remains, and with the last bit of mana he had, used a divine spark to light the bodies. He staggered through door number two. As he staggered, he began to wonder again. Why was that so hard? It seems as a paladin, a defender of the people he should have been able to dispatch three trolls with ease. However, it took everything he had to defeat them. Obidaan concluded that, obviously, as part of his test, he was not given regular trolls but enhanced ones. It only made sense that if he was to get such a superior weapon he’d have to show superior fighting skills even against the seemingly mundane.
On the other side, he was completely healed. A single applause was heard.
“Wow, great fight, and kudos for the flames; so many forget that, get almost to the door, only to be dragged back into combat.”
“So, what’s next?” Obidaan was feeling energized
“I don’t know. There sits a door,” He point to the opposite end of the hall.
“Let’s go,” Obidaan pointed at it and began walking.
“Ok.”
Obidaan was about to open the door when he looked back at his reflection, “Wait. What was the test for this area?”
The reflection smiled, “Not gonna tell you!” He said in a sing songy voice. “That would be cheating.”
“So I just have to open this door?”
“If you want to; free will and all that you know.”
Obidaan opened the door. There in front of him stood a small boy and an old man. “What am I supposed to do here?”
“Sorry, didn’t I tell you? The tests get harder as we go along. The only hint I can give you is you can ask them one question.”
“About what?” Obidaan still wasn’t getting it.
“Man, haven’t you figured out this game yet? What part of one question can’t you understand?” the reflection seemed irritated at Obidaan.
“But there are so many categories.”
“So, what’s your point?”
“Which do I choose?”
“Whatever. I told you, one question. No more hints. If you ask me a question again, they’ll answer and that will be it.”
Obidaan thought for a few moments and then asked, “How do I get out of here?”
The little boy pointed to the door, the old man pointed to the floor. Not really understanding what the old man was doing, Obidaan took a step into the room, toward the door. As soon as he stepped on the stone, it began to sink, quickly. He looked around frantically, then finally noticed where the old man was pointing. Before it became too far for him to jump, he leaped to the stone the old man was pointing at. As soon as he did that, the old man then pointed to another stone. Following his pointing, Obidaan made it to the other side.
There his reflection waited, “Ah the duality of questions; amazing how they can be answered, in this case, two separate ways and still be correct. You started to choose the naiveté of the child but settled for the wisdom of the old man; the one who read into your question, while the child answered it directly.”
“How many more tests are there?” Obidaan asked.
“I don’t know. It’s up to you.”
“Up to me, how?” that answer really got to Obidaan.
“I can’t answer that.”
“Why?”
“It would give away too much information.”
“Wait, ok, let me see. You can help me, but I notice you can’t lie,” Obidaan leaned against the wall, arms crossed, the reflection leaned against the other wall, arms crossed.
“Correct.”
“But you can obscure the truth,” he raised a finger.
“I can’t answer that,” he raised a finger.
“I’ll take that to mean yes. That means there is a truth about this test you are obscuring.”
“Yes. No sense saying ‘I can’t answer that.’ You’ve figured that part out.”
“You said it was up to me, right?” Obidaan patted his upper arm with his hand. “So what if I want to quit now?” The reflection did not copy him.
“Then you would fail.”
“How do I succeed?” Obidaan looked at the floor, back to the ceiling, then at the reflection.
“Pass the test.”
“You said test.”
“Yes.”
“But I’ve gone through a series of tests, you’ve called each one a test, and I passed them.”
“Yes.”
“But I haven’t passed The Test.”
“I can… yes.”
Obidaan thought for a moment, and then it hit him like a ton of bricks. “The free room!”
“What about it?” the reflection remained totally unemotional and detached.
“There was not test.”
“Yes there was. Every room had a test.”
“Right, but that one all you said was ‘there’s a door.’ When I asked about it, you said that would be cheating.”
“Yes.”
“You gave me a free door and I opened it.”
“So, where are you going with this?”
“One test,” he raised his finger and looked his reflection dead in the eye.
“Yes.”
Obidaan thought some more. “Decisions. ‘Is it my fault you made a bad decision?’ That’s what you said about our fight.”
“Yes.”
“Control. Be myself. Get past you. These are things we’ve talked about but I’m not doing that,” Obidaan began to pace.
“You are, in a way.”
“But not the way I’m supposed to.”
“I can’t answer that.”
He turned back and looked at the reflection, “That means yes.”
“I can’t answer that either.”
“Ok, control, decisions. Wait, we haven’t gone to the next test yet.”
“Are you sure?”
“This is it?”
“Could be; up to you.”
“Again with the ‘up to me’ comment. Well, then. I choose to end this and go to the castle.”
“Open the door,” the reflection motioned his hand across his body and bowed slightly.
Obidaan went to the door and opened it. There, in front of him was the exit to the woods and the castle. “This was ‘The Test’ all the time wasn’t it?”
“Yes.” the reflection seemed totally autonomous now, no longer mirroring Obidaan, he walked up to Obidaan and put his arm around his shoulders, “Getting bonded to a soul item is no easy task. It is painful and long. Also, it bonds to the soul, not the skin. It becomes one with you, a part of you, like your arm, or heart, or brain,” he pointed to the body parts as he mentioned them. “The question never was about conformity, or justice, or taking the hard road. It was about control. Will you control the test or will the test control you?” He removed his arm and now faced away from Obidaan, toward the door, “Like most people, you assumed there would be a series of t
est, a set number, and after you passed them all, you would be allowed into the castle.” He now turned and faced Obidaan, “There is a set number, 15. If people go through all 15, and we give them encouragement as they pass each one, they fail. We give each person an opportunity to ask as many questions as they like about the test before it starts. After it starts, we make it up to conform to what you want to hear.” He was almost in Obidaan’s face now, but backed off just a bit, “We leave things out in hopes you overlook them. We throw another at you to not give you time to think. But every so often we just present a blank segment, to see what people will do; often times the just trudge on, without thinking.”
The reflection took his hand and shook it. Holding it, he concluded, “When you walk through the door, your group will make it to the castle door. You will have no recollection of the tests but you will know that 1: You passed, 2: you made it harder on yourself than necessary. Congratulations and we hope nothing but the best for you,” the reflection faded at this point.
Obidaan stepped through the door. He was back on his horse and they emerged from the woods in front of the castle door.
“You did it!” Relina screamed and reached over to him. “You passed.”
“Yes, yes I did,” he said with a sly smile.
“Eat, eat!” Zarinthis, leader of the Historians exclaimed, “Eat hearty, and when you are full, eat some more!”
“I am so stuffed,” Obidaan proclaimed, “I don’t believe I could eat another bite.”
“You, most of all, Obidaan, must eat until you are beyond full. It is the only way to handle the trial you are about to face.”
The Vanguard made it to the castle in about 45 minutes. Once there, they were warmly greeted by Zarinthis Palanthar and a group of his workers. Zarinthis with peaceful brown eyes was a rather large man in height but fit stature. It was obvious by the way he ate this was not his first feast. His brown curly hair made him appear younger than he was; even with hints of grey in his temples, you could not tell he was in his 60s. He appeared to be a man 20 years younger.
No Good Deed Page 13
