Suddenly the statue comes to life, “Welcome future Sentinel. I am Sentinel Ullys. I was the first Sentinel chosen by our lord, The Ruler. He imparted a piece of wisdom that I pass onto you now. When faced with impossible odds, perform the impossible. I know how it sounds, but the lesson is simple. A sentinel is meant to stand against all odds and rise above it. It is our duty. Your duty. Stand tall Sentinel.” and then the statue freezes back in the pose it originally was in.

Cass stares at the statue, “Hey Smiley, I kinda feel bad.”

“Why?”

“This is clearly a very important thing for them and we are just here. I mean, it’s pretty obvious that Ruler is doing this because of you.”

Smiley thinks for a moment, “Is it bad? They clearly follow Ruler and he wished for this so isn’t that like being chosen by god? To them, I mean.”

“I suppose that’s fair.” Cass says as he lights the fuze with one of the many lit candles around the shrine and tosses the smoke bomb into the metal bowl in front of the statue.

Cass hears a loud horn blare from the town and heads back down the building, making his sweet time to reach the town before reverting back and struggling the rest of the way to the arena. 

Led back in by the green knight, Cass enters the arena to massive applause and Herc’s massive grin. In the center of the arena, they placed a massive circular floor table with pillows and sitting at the table is another old knight in all red this time.

Herc stands at the table, “Cass has passed the first trial!” He said as they removed the straps from his body. “Now the second begins.” Herc leads Cass to the table where the old knight hands him a small stone cup filled with rainbow colored liquid.

Cass takes the cup and sips the contents. Herc addresses the crowd but as he does, his words slow to a snail's pace. The world melts away and Cass is enveloped in darkness.

He sits in the cold darkness until cold drops of water tap his face. He opens his eyes and finds himself on a bench overlooking the ocean.

“Do you remember when I used to take you here?”

Cass looks to the voice and sees that it belongs to his grandfather. “Grandpa? What’s happening?”

“You are dreaming. A lucid dream of sorts.”

“Why this? Why here?” Cass says as he studies his grandfather’s face.

“Kid. It’s your dream.”

“Right. I’m starting to remember now. I clung onto these memories as my world got darker.”

His grandfather looks at him with sadness in his eyes. “Would you mind telling me about it? I missed out on a lot, it seems.”

“Well, you passed back in the early 2000’s. That was over 80 years ago. The world got really small but that was okay. We invented so many things but then the planet wasn’t doing so great. While trying to fix that, a lot of people died. Now, everyone lives in walled off cities or in the wastelands of ruins where you barely survive or go insane. I lost hope and kinda removed myself from life. I clung to the past and couldn’t move on.”

Cass’ grandfather looks around, “This feels like something!”

Cass chuckles, “Yeah, I met a strange guy and he changed my world. He opened my eyes again.”

“That’s good. Do you know why you came here?”

“I think so. I had to look back to see how far I’ve come.”

“And what do you need to do now?”

Cass stands up, “I have to charge forward and see what life has to offer now. See all of it. Take it all and never regret a second.” he walks to the cliff’s edge and his grandfather stands beside him.

“In other words?”

Cass looks to his grandfather and smiles, “A leap of faith. It was good seeing you.”

“Good luck.”

Cass hugs his grandfather before leaping from the edge and plummeting into the dark abyss below and snapping back into his body.

Herc looks him in the eye and smiles, “The second trial is passed!”

Cass stands up, a little woozy, “What’s the third? Also, I thought you said these would be dangerous?”

Herc turns to Cass, “Each trial is challenging but really, only the last one is dangerous.”

Herc moves to the edge of the arena and bows to Ruler.

‘Smiley, when did he get back?’

‘I was out when you were. He must be here to see if you’ll fail or not.’

A crew of green and blue knights move the sitting area out from the arena. Herc stands and faces Cass. The same red knight from earlier stands at his side.

The red knight holds up a megaphone, “The final test begins now! To pass his final trial and ascend to sentinel status, Cass must defeat a fellow Sentinel in hand to hand combat! Chosen by our lord himself, Sentinel Herc will carry out this duty!”

The arena is cleared and the battle is set to begin. “Are you sure you wish to go through with this? I won’t go easy.”

Cass takes a deep breath and summons his armor form. “Fully ready. Come at me.”

A loud bang of a bell being struck rings out across the arena and Herc vanishes. In a blink of an eye, Hercs fist lands directly on Cass’ core, sending him crashing into the wall. 

Cass collapses while coughing and sees that Herc’s fist is imprinted into his chest. He pops the imprint out and fully launches himself at Herc. Cass twists his arm and swings his fist into Hercs core while aiming upward.

Herc lifts off the ground and Cass rears his leg back and slams it into his chest, sending him flying into the air. 

Cass launches into the air to deliver a devastating blow to Herc but his leg is caught. “I moved really fast so you tried to eliminate my speed. It’s smart but you underestimate me!” He says as he tosses Cass into the ground, then uses his falling momentum, he lands his knee onto Cass’ stomach.

All the air shoots out of his lungs and he begins to lose consciousness. “Take what life has.” Cass wheezes out as he reverts.

Herc starts to walk away but stops as golden light radiates from behind him.

Cass reaches deep within. He begins to transform into his cheetah form and his black knight form. He sinks deep within his mind and forces those two to bond but not just bond. He unlocks a hidden will. The true piece of his power. 

Herc turns to see a golden knight rise from the crater. “Don’t count me out just yet.”

Cass flickers and in a split second, is underneath Herc. he performs a fury of blows equal to the might of a thousand arrows piercing the Sentinels armor.

“Well done, Sentinel.” Herc manages to say before losing all consciousness.

Ruler stands from his throne and floats down to Cass. “Well done, warrior.” he then shakes his hand and pulls him in close. “I see Smiley chose well.”

As Cass pulls his arm away, he sees that a small crown appears in the wheel on his hand. “So, can I take the Funguys with me now?”

Ruler scoffs, “Do what you want. I couldn’t care any less about them.” he said as he flickered out and left a robot form in his place.

“I did wonder how he could shake my hand and all. Hey, Herc, are you okay?” Cass said as he poked Herc.

“I will be, brother.” he groaned. 

“That’s good. I have to go and bring the little guys back to the Troop now so I’ll see you later.” Cass says as he starts to walk away but stops for a moment, “and thank you Herc. This has been very enlightening.”

Cass heads toward the exit but the door ignites in flame and a loud screech echoes across the sky as a streak of flame slams into the arena.

A man bathed in flames marches toward Cass but is stopped as six knights surround him and Herc puts a hand on his shoulder.

“Hellfire, you know you can’t just land here. It’s a sacred place.”

As the flames are whisked away by the wind, the man’s appearance is clear.

He’s a tall handsome man with slicked back black hair and two massive rams horns. A full red leather jacket and red jeans and boots.

“He killed my second in command. Blood for blood, Herc.” 

“Well, I know nothing about that but he was just made a Sentinel so you can’t just fight him unless you aim to declare war on all of us.”

Cass walks over to the pair. “In my defense, Infernus attacked me first and then chased me down. I tried to leave but he wouldn’t stop.”

Herc looks at both of them. “How about we settle this peacefully? Instead of blood, a favor is owed?”