Garden Of The Abyss

"Try as you might, you'll never accomplish anything–!"

–Andraste found his words stifled as he lost track of the young man, who disappeared like a flash before his eyes.

Thwamp.

"Fwaugh…!"

The knight spit out, lurching as a massive palm-strike directly to his stomach was unleashed, pushing with such force that his organs surely felt the blow.

"What the hell do you know about me?!" He shouted, guiding his strike forward as he sent the knight flying back.

After crashing down into the soil with a towering cloud of dust pillaring up, Andraste coughed out before kicking back onto his feet, "I know you're too weak to accomplish anything of worth! Your eyes still hold something in them!"

"So what if they do–?!"

Amidst their words, they clashed against, steel-to-steel as the force caused the foundation of the land to tremble.

"You won't get anything done if you still care about your humanity! I can tell by the desperation in your fists: you're fighting for somebody else! That's bad, Ren Nakamura! Fight for yourself, and only yourself!" Andrade howled out.

"Shut up! You don't know a damn thing about me–!" He replied as he pushed the knight back, tightening his mystically-enhanced muscles to do so.

Andraste laughed out as bleed seeped from the corners of his lips, catching himself before he slammed his blades back down against the singular longsword wielded by his enemy, "Of course I do! I've encountered many otherworlders, I've hunted many, I've killed many–! As I hurt them, they told me everything about themselves, sometimes through words, but most times not! Through their tearful eyes, their trembles, their mannerisms, their screams–I learned everything about them!"

"Bullshit!"

"What?!"

–Pushing through his offense, the snowy-haired young man slammed his foot down against the ground, causing it to quake as Andraste watched in surprise–a fist began to carve upwards towards the underside of his chin.

"What about your eyes?! I've seen Argonauts myself, and compared to them–your eyes are full of life! You're fighting for something besides yourself–so don't give me that crap!"

–Just as his words left his lips, his fist sharply landed upside Andraste's chin with a resounding uppercut that caused the wind to spiral around the two.

The blow was sharp enough to cause Andraste's feet to leave the ground as he fell back.

"What the hell do you think you know…?" Andraste grunted as he picked himself back up.

The knight's gaze was met fiercely by the golden eyes of the snowy-haired otherworlder, who stood directly in front of him with fists clenched so tightly, the veins of his fists protruded.

"You can't hide it from these eyes, Andraste. Not the future, or the past. I don't know what led you to who you are now, but I know that you weren't always a lowlife—not like this," he answered, "you want to know what I see when I look into your eyes? Struggle. Guilt. Loneliness. More than anything–you seek something you think is impossible to reach out for. I recognize that look. I don't need enlightenment to recognize that."

Andraste fell silent for a moment, trying to muster a response by the infinitesimal movements of his mouth, but formed nothing before he launched towards his opponent with his bruised body.

"If you want me to cut your tongue so badly, then I'll indulge you–!" Andraste shouted out.

"You've lost, Andraste."

–Swiftly, he sidestepped the incoming strike of steel from the knight, much to the clear confusion of the bloodied and bruised, revered knight.

"That last hit to your jaw threw you off. You may possess godly power, but you're human, at the end of the day. After your brain bounces around your skull enough, you'll be on the same playing field as the rest of us."

Like a feral animal, backed into a corner amidst the scourge of rainfall, Andraste's expression embodied complete desperation in response to his opponent's words–taking an unorthodox, low stance before sprinting forward.

As both of the knight's blades were swung down overhead, he caught both of his wrists before they were fully swung.

"Huh…?" Andraste looked blankly in confusion at his failed attack.

"I said–it's over."

–Following his sternly placed words as he peered at the man with his golden gaze, a lound, churning crack resounded–both of the wrists he held in his grip were shattered.

"Ngh…!" Andraste let out in agony, dropping both of his blades.

As his wrists were released, the knight fell to his knees, reeling in pain–the spectrum of emotions that ran over him were irrational; babbling as tears and blood ran down his cheeks.

"I can't lose. I can't lose. I can't lose. I can't! I can't! I can't! I won't!" Andraste shook his head vigorously.

Suddenly, like an inhuman beast sprawling to his feet, with his shattered wrists dangling at his sides, Andraste roared out wordlessly as lightning shrouded his being.

"Win! Win! Win!...I have to win!"

He stood his ground, unflinching as his wheel-shaped, divine eyes looked upon the husk of what was once the colossal, impassable wall of a knight.

It originated from the golden, divine wheel that embedded itself in his eyes: upon direct eye-contact, Andraste was helpless to what was to come.

"If you refuse to accept defeat…then I have no other choice," He said, lifting a single hand in a prayer formation as his muscles relaxed, "Eightfold Noble Path – Open."

In the next moment after the utterances escaped his lips, the space around them was warped and contorted–shifting into a completely different reality that encapsulated the two of them.

Like droplets falling to the sea, the ground rippled as it was shifted to a boundless valley of astral skies.

The abyssal, rain-filled skies were replaced by an endless sea of golden clouds, now standing atop a singular, stone bridge that stood alone in the sepia world.

"Ngh…?" Andraste grunted, huffing.

As the knight looked up, complete fear embedded itself into his flesh as surrounding the circular, jewel-inlaid pavement he stood on were eight, astral beings, all looking down on him.

It was a completely separate world, detached from the one they stood just a moment prior. The only physical object in the inner-world was the stone bridge of atonement they both stood on.

"What the hell is this…?" Andraste asked, keeping his guard raised, though unable to do so much as lift his arms.

"You've been brought into the "Eightfold Noble Path" to be judged by the enlightened. All of your past actions, your sins, your transgressions–all will be aptly judged, and subsequently punished."

In here, the outcome lies on the accused. The life they've led, the good they've done, the bad they've committed–every choice, and the culmination of those choices, decides their fate amongst the Eight Enlightened. However…there is one more factor: who they wish to become. If there is something inside of him, something that still yearns to lead a fine life…Andraste, let's hope what I saw in your eyes was the truth, he thought.

As he released his words strongly, he held himself standing tall, though it was mostly a facade as he could feel his body breaking down as he held the inner-world manifested.

This is it. My last move, Andraste. After this, I'm done. I probably won't be able to do so much as ball my fist.

This is my gamble–my gamble that the path you've led up until now will be your own undoing. Let's witness it together: your karmic trial, he thought.

"Andraste, you will now be judged–!" He yelled out as blood streamed down from his nasal cavity.

The knight immediately reared back in anger with bloodshot eyes, hardly in better condition than his foe, "You think you can serve justice to me–!? I'll tear your head from your shoulders, you nobody!"

Just as Andraste took a step forward, he was completely stopped as the colossal, astral figures of enlightenment simultaneously brought their formless weapons down–blocking his path as he was forced still.

"Nrgh…! Damn you, Ren Nakamura…!" Andraste yelled out without any eloquence through blood-painted teeth.

Falling to his knees, the bloodied-and-bruised knight gritted his teeth in silence as his shattered wrists hung loosely on his lap.

"Face your past actions with some integrity, Andraste. You're a knight after all, aren't you?"

Andraste remained silent for a moment, keeping his head down before he answered quietly through a hoarse, begrudged tone, "...Do what you must…"

"With pleasure."

As he raised his hand, the eight divine spirits stood in judgment around the knelt knight, looking down upon him with their all-seeing gazes as the scenery of sepia skies began to shift.

The gilded clouds that inhabited the innate realm flooded plentifully around the bridge, swirling around it as the fantastical, seraphic bodies of golden elation surrounded the trial.

For the knight, it was the first time in memory that he felt this sensation: complete, and utter powerlessness. Broken and beaten, all he could do was rest on his knees and keep his gaze down as he accepted his fate.

"It is not my role to eradicate. It is my burden to guide those sunken in darkness into the light.. That is my own Eightfold Noble Path – Andraste, what you are about to experience is the termination of all darkness in your heart. Are you prepared?"