"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

Celeste~

...*The use of magic is permitted, weapons are not. Good luck, for any questions, remain at the front to ask me."

Well then, that was it. Our faces were highlighted in a hologram above the square we were each meant to be in, everyone quickly made their way to their designated spot and waited for the Trials to begin.

The walls slowly closed.

The air was tense as we all awaited our future. With a click the walls shut and we were left to ourselves.

An opening appeared in the walls which I believed the animatronics would be coming from. I braced for, remembering all I had been taught about magic and readied for battle.

While I was already at a disadvantage, being not the wealthiest person in the world, I had another disadvantage that would make this all a bit harder for me.

Others had the privilege of being trained by the people that gave them the powers they had. With a decent idea of how their specific power manifested, it was easier for them to gain a grasp on their power, and possibly turn it into more ways to attack if powerful enough.

Some even had powers that were identical to their parents. They could easily hone in on their magic and would easily be at an advantage during the Trial Chambers.

I didn't have that privilege. My parents had died when I was younger. My mum in a car crash and my dad from the drugs he took to cope with my mums death. They didn't get a change to teach me anything because before the age of five I didn't have any magic yet.

I knew that they wielded ice, water and energy; they would show me all the time when we were playing with each other. That's about it though, that's all I know.

The main powers that began to surface at around 14 were energy. I could create blasts of it that did decent damage and that I could aim relatively well.

Most with powers that involved hurling damage did so with ease, it was one of the easier skills to learn.

Amy and Sauk had taught me, it was a breeze to learn. Amy could hurl fire balls as so she taught me how to direct my energy into a ball to attack.

**Three, two, one, Go. Round one begins."

Suddenly, three metal figures came rushing towards me. They were about halfway to me when one of them hurls a ball of fire at me, it was decently fast but one I could definitely avoid.

While I was caught off guard, their slow pace made it easy for me to gain control.

Charging, I hurled three balls of energy at the figures.

All of them tumbled over with ease, though I didn't celebrate too early, I knew what was coming and I knew that it was definitely going to get worse from here.

**Round one Complete, Round two begins shortly."

Surprised that was all that was in round one. Definitely a tester round.

Five figures came from the same spot to charge at me once more. This time one had a sword and two had hurled blasts of fire at me, this time both stronger and faster.

Taking the risk, I decided to use a ball of my energy to counter the fire that was thrown at me. Luckily, the balls were thrown by the two who were right next to eachother, meaning that I could hit two birds with one stone.

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My power surpassed that of their flames and darted through the fire. Eliminating the heat and killing those who threw it.

By the time I was done the other three were in reasonable distance to me.

A quick splash of ice darts easily rendered them useless. They all laid on the floor unmoving and I awaited the next round.

This one wasn't too bad either but I could definitely feel the heat increasing.

I took a moment to catch my breath before I heard.

**Round two complete, round three begins shortly."

Not wanting to take the risk of being of caught off guard, I quickly readied myself for attack.

Suddenly, a blast of power hit me from behind, I stumbled but managed to stay on my feet as I turned around to look at the suspect.

three figurines were charging at me and had clearly had time to do so as they were nearly right in front of me.

Not wanting to use up all of my energy I swiftly released a shower of water to give some distance between me and the animatronics. the pause in their movement giving me enough time to manifest an ice sword and slice the heads of the three figures. They collapsed and fell to the ground and I noticed how heavily they fell this time.

I had thought that each round would be the same for everybody. But from the way this was designed, it couldn't be. The rounds increased too much in difficulty to be the same for everyone, what hurt me in this round would of killed someone who could of only survived the second. I was guessing it was to speed up this whole process and to not wear anyone down fighting multiple figures on a level that can't challenge them.

So we really wouldn't know where we ranked until the last minute. Smart.

I did a 360 to check for any more animatronic, from the direction they first came from, 4 more figures came at me with weapons. I hurled a blast of energy that they all managed to hurl back at me by all using their swords to deflect.

I sent sharp ice balls at their hands, making one of their drop their sword. I hurled water to distract them and to make them loose their footing as I quickly grabbed the dropped sword.

Before getting up completely I stabbed the sword through the knew of one of the robots, it fell to the ground as I stood tall and sliced the others head once again.

**Round three complete, round four begins shortly

I took deep breaths and braced for battle again, Spinning, I noticed the animatronics coming at me from all directions, while they were far, I sent shards of ice from my fingertips, accurately aiming for their necks, their power point. They were quicker this time so I only got down 4 out of the 8, I sliced the ones behind me as I spun, taking them all out.

They dropped to the floor and I was satisfied. I was getting the hang of this.

Unfortunately my sword broke. I guess the strength of the sword from round three didn't match the strength of the soldiers from round four because they broke right on impact. Dangerous call.

This continued on until about round 9. where the difficulty got increased to the point where every solider had a sword and was hurling weapons and magic at me.

I didn't tap out myself although I would have if they didn't beat me to it.

I guess they weren't lying, whether you tap out or not doesn't really matter because the judges weren't letting you get seriously harmed and would probably tap you out the same time you planned to.

I had a minute to catch my breath as the walls opened once again.

Even though the Magic practitioners weren't letting us get killed, minor damages still occurred. I wasn't badly hurt.

Just very damaged. A couple slices and spots that would definitely bruise but aside from that I was fine.

Chloe and Markan seemed to have simlar injuries to me, I watched them as they stretched away their achey limbs and made my way to them as we were all leaving.

"How do you think you guys did?" Markan was the first to speak.

"So desperate to know where you rank, how about a how are you first?" Chloe replied

I laughed and said "I don't think we can compare ranks, the difficulty increased way too quickly for it to be the same for everyone."

"I was thinking that too, they really didn't waste any time upping the ante." Replied Markan

"At all" Stated Chloe

"I think I did okay though, I did my best after all, what else can we all do but that." Pray.

"Exactly."

Surprisingly it was already 10:30 by the time we were done. We had to wait for a few more walls to open behind us before we could go.

When everyone was finished, we followed our tour guide back to the student section of the Campsite.

Some went to refill on carbs and we all decided to follow, feeling peckish after the battles.

Now was served lunch, with various breads and pastries to choose from, along with their famous display of all meats.

I quickly built myself a chicken wrap and waited for Chloe and Markan who, per usual m, picked a dish that was multitudes more classy than mine.

It was a long day. So after eating and exploring the parts of the building that were open, around 12pm, we decided to go back to our accommodation for today. We had rocky days ahead, and like everyone else, we were exhausted.