Emp undertook the task of scanning the edge of the cliff for a way to get back down. Treasure was waiting for him down there. He had to collect it and be on his way.

After around ten minutes of walking, he found an irregularity in the rock. There was a section of stone missing from the top of the cliff, the hole was perfectly rectangular. Once he approached it, he understood what it was. There was a stairway dug into the stone that ended abruptly at the edge of the cliff reinforcing his first impression that the mountain had been cut in half. If it had been dug into the cliff, should it not have followed its side instead of running deeper into the mountain? A stairway ending into an empty space seemed odd to Emp.

Where could those stairs possibly lead?

Unable to resist his curiosity, he dropped down onto the first couple of steps and started his descent into the darkness of the mountain. The stairs where composed of simple steps carved into the stone, going down into a straight line away from the cliff. The steps were all identical if you disregarded the rare cracks in the old stone. They seemed to have been carved with care as all the lines were straight and smooth, same for the walls and the high ceiling.

Before the way could get too dark, a new source of light brightened the way from bellow. What could be shinning down there? This only made him more curious about what awaited him at the bottom of those stairs. Pushing the fertilizer at the back of his mind, he hurried his descent.

Once finally at the bottom, he could hardly believe what he found. It was a big room with a high ceiling that was supported by immense columns from which hung multiple lanterns. In the middle of this grand room was a large empty space in which an enormous and colorfully painted wooden wheel stood. Beside said wheel, someone stood casually awaiting Emp. That someone was easy to recognize since it was one of the very few people Emp knew and still wore the most eccentric clothing he could imagine. It was Luck.

"Luck? What are you doing here?"

"Emperor! Come, I will tell you. Welcome to my trial chamber!"

Luck raised his arms in the air as if to present something extraordinary to Emp but nothing happened. Emp got nearer as a still beaming Luck explained summarily what was going on.

"Each god has a trial chamber, or a dungeon if you prefer the term, I hear death seekers love that one. When someone finds it, the god to which it belongs tests the finder to see if they are worthy. The challenge is usually linked to what the god is ruling over and the reward for completing it as well. If you manage to defeat a challenge, you are awarded that god's blessing as well as a powerful artifact. Do you still follow me?"

"Yes, I think I get it, so your challenge is about the wheel I suppose."

The giant wooden wheel was painted as strangely as Luck's clothing, with many colors changing over and over again in small sections of the wheel. It was maintained in the air from behind to not block the view of the front where dozens of names where written. (1)

"Exactly, I am Luck after all! Here's how it works. You will have to make the wheel turn. Whatever names end up at the top of the wheel when it stops turning, just below the small arrow up there, is what you will get. If my name end up just below the arrow you win my trial! If the name of a god for which you already have the blessing end up up there, you win as well! But, if the name of any other god stops bellow the arrow, I will change places with him and you will have to do that god's trial instead, do you get it?"

"All those names belong to gods? There are so many?"

"There are many more than that, they just didn't fit on the wheel. To be fair, all those names aside from mine will change at random intervals because there are enough names for a good dozen wheels like that one. So, will you make it spin?"

"Very well, I will."

Emp gripped the edge of the wheel and gave it a good spin. Luck seemed really disappointed as if he had already failed. He couldn't see how making a wheel spin made for a challenge but on the other hand, he had to admit that it was definitely all about luck. Was he perhaps supposed to spin the wheel in a very precise manner to get what he wanted? Maybe he should have thought about it more but it was too late now, he could only wait and see the result.

He looked at the colors and names change nonstop until finally the wheel slowed and stopped on the name "Space".

"Hoho, Space uh? Well, good luck Emperor and remember, you have to create your own luck."

"Uh, Thanks?"

Before he had the time to thank him properly or even think about telling him goodbye, Luck had already disappeared with his wheel.

Emp stayed there staring at the empty room for a good minute trying to understand what he was supposed to do now before a door appeared out of nowhere in front of him.

The door-frame was standing up without anything holding it, immobile in front of him and holding an ordinary wooden door. There wasn't anything around it nor behind it.

As he wondered what was that door about, the iron doorknob turned by itself and the door opened towards him to let a man enter the trial room.

The first thing Emp noticed about him where his ample green clothes with golden borders. They were even looser than those that Sage wore, so much so that the arms of his shirt rubbed the ground and his pants hid his feet completely, even while walking. His long blonde hair was as ridiculous as his clothes. They were as long as the hairs of Love, but his were scrapping the ground like a long yellow snake. In fact, not only his hair and clothes, the entirety his being felt long. His fingers, his face, his teeth, his nose, they all seemed abnormally long. It looked like he had been stretched by two giants, each holding an end of him and pulling as hard as they could. Despite his strange air, he didn't seem scary at all, he had a benevolent smile and welcomed Emperor with a wave of his hand when he got in. He closed the door behind him without minding his hairs but even if Emperor could have swore they got stuck in the door as he closed it, it somehow did not happen. He looked back to Emperor and spoke.

"? ?? ?????, ??????? ??? ?? ?? ?????!"

Emp didn't understand what he just said. He made a frown and decided to apologize for not understanding in case the god would take offence.

"I am sorry but I do not understand what you are saying."

The man made a surprised expression before he touched his nose and spoke again.

"The noble language of the south! That's one we don't hear often."

"Are there many? Languages I mean."

"Yes, of course, noble languages, common languages, sacred languages, dead languages, crude languages and all sorts of tiny languages almost no one ever speaks."

"And the one I use is rare?"

"Usually, only the nobles on the very south of the continents use that language but even them can speak the common tongue normally."

"Do I need it? How do I learn a new tongue?"

"I don't know, probably by hearing it a lot. Or you could try your luck with a language god."

"Is there one? Where is he?"

"I do not have the right to tell you and also, before you continue to bury me under your questions, could we instead go on with my trial?"

Emp wasn't against it and nodded to signify it to him.

"So, as I was saying, welcome young man, my name is Space and this," He said while showing him the door. "is my trial."

He once again opened the door and Emp saw with astonishment that there was a well lit corridor on the other side. It seemed very long and all the way at the end, he could barely see another door. How was it possible, there wasn't anything around the door, how could there be a corridor there?

"The challenge is simple and once started, you will have one hour to complete it. All you have to do is to reach the door on the other side, at the end of that passage. In case you are wondering, there is nothing dangerous inside."

"That's all?"

"Yes, that's all but do not trust what you see, it's a good way to fail any trial. Everybody tells me how simple it looks but very few ever managed to reach that door. Your hour starts right now."

Space made a hourglass appear and turned it around in his hand to start the one hour countdown.

It seemed very simple but if it was that hard, there was probably some kind of trick. If he wanted to find the solution quickly, he needed to understand the problem quickly as well.

He didn't lose any time and immediately went to the door. First he sent his hand behind the door-frame to make sure there was nothing there, it was fascinating. He then stepped inside and found himself in the corridor that shouldn't be there. There was nothing unusual about it.

Since nothing appeared abnormal at a glance, he started running toward the other side. He ran and ran but after a quarter of the allowed time, he didn't feel like he had neared the door at all. He threw a quick look behind him and discovered exactly what he had feared, the entrance was just there, he had made no progress at all.

He had ran for fifteen minutes but had not made a single step forward! No wonder only few made it to the other side, that was unfair! How was he supposed to get to the other side if it was impossible to progress? (2)

He only needed a few steps to get back out of the corridor. He went around and saw that from the other side, there was nothing inside the frame, no corridor, only a view of Space and the entrance of the room. He chose to go through the frame from there, hoping he would find himself at the end of the corridor anyway but sadly, it did not work.

"It was well thought young man but that isn't the answer." Said Space while touching his nose.

Saddened, Emp turned around and looked into the passage once again. Was he supposed to run even faster and hope to reach the other side before the time limit? Emp took a quick look at the hourglass and saw he still had more than half the time left. He urged himself to think of something else than running. The answer couldn't possibly be it. That would have been a question of confidence or raw leg strength instead of space.

Luck had told him that the trials were linked to the god giving them, the answer was for sure about space. He ought to have missed something in there. He got inside once again and observed everything in details.

The corridor was made out of sculpted white marble. The ceiling was held by pillars in the shape of inverted boots of which the soles where touching said ceiling at regular intervals. From each boot dangled a lantern that lighted powerfully the passage.

Was the shape of the pillars a clue? What did it mean? As he was thinking about it, he wondered what happened to the entrance when he advanced in the corridor. The first time he went through, he had only seen that at the end, the door was just behind him, he had not seen how it reacted to his movement. He should have walked backwards to examine the entrance's reaction.

He put all his attention to the entrance door and started walking backwards to see by what miracle was the door able to stay just behind him. He made twenty steps but everything seemed to react as it was supposed to. The door was getting further away like it should. He continued to move backwards and the first pair of pillars appeared at the edge of his vision.

Had he found the solution by accident? If he turned around now, would he find himself nearer to the goal or would he lose all his progress? How was he supposed to know if it was really working or not?

Too scared at the idea of doing it all over again, he did not turn around and pursued his backward advance. Ten steps, twenty steps, a hundred steps, two hundred steps, more and more pillars appeared and the entrance got further and further away. As excitement swelled inside him, he moved faster and faster until after what seemed like forever, his back hit something.

Full of joy, he almost turned around to look at the exit door but stopped himself just in time. It would have been really dumb to turn around now to discover that he had not moved forward at all. He blindly looked for the doorknob behind him by groping at random until he finally grasped it. He turned the knob quickly and passed the door to find himself staring at the same door-frame he had seen earlier while looking from behind the door. Had he made it or had he failed? Was he supposed to end up here? He threw a panicked look at Space on his left. The god smiled and answered his silent question while storing the hourglass away.

"You did it!"

Emp let out a sigh of relief and Space asked him how he had found out the answer.

"I just wondered how the door behind me was able to stay so close to me so I tried to keep watch on it while I was moving."

"..."

Space was looking at him with a gaze meaning he lacked the words to express himself before he exploded in frustration.

"You didn't even find the solution! You just got lucky! That's absurd!"

"Does this mean I failed?" Asked Emp, a little sad.

"No." Answered the god, dispirited. "You still won. It's just disappointing to work on a riddle just to have it resolved by accident. Anyway, what is your name young man?"

"Emperor, sir."

"Ha yes, I heard about you! Well met Emperor. As I said earlier, I am Space, the more likable brother of Time. I suppose Luck told you that I need to reward you now that you defeated my trial."

Emp nodded. He was eager to find out what that god had in reserve for him.

"Great, so I will give you your rewards and then we'll talk about rules."

He wondered what kind of rule Space was talking about but didn't have the time to ask before Space continued.

"So, first of all, here is the treasure you win for completing the challenge. I was inspired by a pair of queens I met a long time ago."

He got a finger-long metal stake out of nowhere, stabbed it in Emp's shoulder without flinching and left it there.

Emp yelled of surprise and pain. He quickly reacted by back stepping to put some distance between him and Space. He put his hand on the new wound vainly trying to stop the pain. What was happening?

The pain spread throughout his body in an instant as if the stake had pierced him from side to side. The pain was so intense that Emp lost the strength in his legs and collapsed in front of Space. It felt as if a flame consumed him from the inside out. Before he had the time to understand what was happening, the pain was already gone and everything was back to normal. He looked at his shoulder but the stake was nowhere to be found.

(1) It's just a big TV show wheel with a bunch of names on it instead of money.

(2) Everybody love that stairway in super Mario 64.