Spirit Warriors: A clan shall rise

"Hmpf! Your boy is testing me Hjarn, he sure deserves a beating!" the elder retorted, a visible vein seemed to form on his neck as he spoke.

"Haha, indeed. But let's wait for the trial, heh. Then you can give my son a good wallop," the large but stoic man spoke with a sky grin on his face as he looked at Eirik.

'Damn old man! Siding with Elder Velko. The elder is crazy, and I would no doubt believe he can't wait for the day we return to give me a beating.

Eirik's mind raced as he glared at his father, who gave a small smile.

"Now, it's about time. Everyone! Gather around, we will be traveling to the foot of the forest," Hjarn called out.

Torvin and Eirik were not the only young men and women in the area; gathered around them were 6 others. They, like Torvin and Eirik, had turned 20 this year and would undergo the Trial of Eldvorn in hopes of receiving an ancient spirit warrior blessing.

The trial of Eldvorn was meant to be a coming-of-age ceremony, except much more brutal. From the starting point to the top of the Eldvorn Grag, one of the smaller peaks of the Vethkarin Mountains behind the village, takes around 12 days.

The problem lies in the fact that the journey is extremely dangerous for young men and women with no cultivation. The outer edges are filled with dangerous predators that could rather easily kill them, and that was not even mentioning the possibility of running into Eldbeasts in the core areas.

If they ran into an Eldbeast, there was almost no chance they would be able to escape.

Eirik followed the rest of the group slowly, his eyes glued to the approaching mountain. Swirls of mist and clouds stood at the top of the mountain, and dense foliage packed the slopes of the mighty mountain.

'And this is supposed to be a lesser peak among the ranges'

A sigh escaped his lips. He turned his attention to Torvin, who had started mingling with the rest of the group. The bear-like man was straightforward and mostly stubborn, but he was kind in that way; he got along with the group.

The others were also part of the village, but Eirik knew only their names and never actually spent time with others except with Torvin. Four men and two women. 

'Eight in total. Eight young men and women who would scale the slopes of the mountain face death and danger, just to earn the recognition of the Ancient Warrior Spirits and to start their journey on the path of cultivation.'

Eirik gazed at the group, it was a custom, but as the time grew nearer. Eirik grew nervous; he had trained for this day since he was 10, since his father had started training him in the ways of the sword. He looked forward to the day he could finally claim his spirit blessing, but he also knew that among the group, he had the greatest difficulty reaching the stone.

When he was little, the village was attacked by a group of Frostsnarl Wolves, Tier 1 Eldbeasts. The village elders and his father, who at the time was the guard captain of the village, rushed out to battle the beasts.

Eirik was 8 when it happened, when his leg got injured. During the fight, the group was driving the pack of wolves back, but unbeknownst to the village elders, one of the wolves…

Slipped through the village defenses, a Tier 2 Eldbeast, the alpha of the pack. It was a slaughter; that day was one of great sorrow. The alpha went on a rampage, and many villagers lost their lives in the raid, including a lot of children as well.

When the elders and their father realised what had happened, they rushed back to fight the beast. 

It was said that when they arrived, the beast was about to reach the hut with a group of children. Eirik was one of them; however, instead of cowering and hiding, Eirik had stood gazing upon the beast's eyes.

When his father appeared, he was told that he had been in the mouth of the beast. His father, a peak-tier 1 Kindled warrior, was outraged and consumed by fury; he burned his core energy to fight the Tier 2 beast. Others as well saw the danger and did the same.

Eirik was saved, but the cost was tremendous; a few elders died in the battle, and by burning their core energies, they had essentially cut off future progress in their cultivation. As such, his father and their village leader, Thane Halrik Harstad, were unable to advance further.

But apparently, the beast's bite had infected his bones; even the village healers did not understand the reason for it. And as such, ever since then… he had lived with injury that flared at times. Too much friction and movement would cause the injury to flare up, and his leg would go limp in pain.

The elders did everything they could, but nothing helped. They told him his only hope to recover would be to receive a warrior's blessing, and even then, it would be a slim chance.

"Eirik! What are you doing! Hurry up!" 

Eirik was pulled out of his thoughts by the impatient voice of Torvin rumbling through the air. He had unknowingly fallen behind, and the group waited for him up ahead.

He hurriedly made his way forward, as fast as he could anyway.

"Good, now that everyone is here, we can begin. Each of you will enter the Grag from here," Hjarn spoke calmly, turning to gesture to a gate of stone slowly opening, revealing dense foliage and large pine trees. 

A heavy scent of pine assaulted the air like a waterfall, heavy and strong. "From here, you will need to survive and venture through the woods until you reach the Stone of the Marked, at the top of the Crag." 

"Survive and etch your names in history… and come back to us," he continued, although his voice was softer, a flicker of concern flashed through his eyes.