Kaelem sat at the edge of his seat; Neryssa and Selkor watched on as he finished his mental preparations. He knew that the trial would involve a reflection of himself, his mind was racing with various scenarios as he tried to figure out how exactly he could approach fighting himself.

He hadn’t really refined a particular style, he had just gone with the flow so far. Utilizing what he thought was best in the moment. But what would be best when he was fighting himself?

After some deliberation, he finally decided he was ready, he surmised that he would never truly be ready. He looked at them both, not realizing how much time had passed. Smiling awkwardly he pointed his hands towards the orb and began focusing his power.

In a sensation that felt like he was nodding off to sleep, when he raised his head Kaelem was in the center of an arena. No longer sat at the desk, he checked his surroundings. He was standing on a tiled white floor, the arena itself was a large circle, with a void beyond it.

That’s when he felt the presence opposite him, an expressionless mimic of himself. It stood as he stood and it looked the same too. The mimic wore the same blue robe he had bought in Lordstone with Olrik and Annara, his navy scarf over its shoulders.

Without warning, the mimic’s hand shot forward. Runes of light formed in the air as it conjured an array of brilliant shards, spread in an arc above its head they shot forwards towards Kaelem in a spectrum of color.

Kaelem barely raised his shield in time, deflecting the shards of light as they flew off into the void. They had hit him with enough force to send him skidding backwards. The moment Kaelem steadied himself, he noticed the mimic had already prepared another spell.

Intricate glyphs spiraling up its arms, the mimic pulled its arms back as if drawing breath before pushing them forwards. Unleashing a storm of flaming arrows.

Kaelem hastily countered the barrage of arrows, contorting the air to create a gust that burst outwards, forcing the arrows off course. The mimic was relentless, following immediately with a spear made of lightning which flew towards Kaelem at a blistering speed.

Thinking on his feet he recalled the various runes in the Foundations of Magic book. He folded the space around the spear, causing it to collapse in on itself before it reappeared going in the opposite direction. He had managed to turn the mimic’s attack against itself.

“Remarkable, it’s not that he lacks an affinity. It’s as if magic itself is his affinity.” Neryssa said in disbelief as she and Selkor observed the trial from her office, both of them watching the orb intently.

Selkor grinned proudly, “it’s not just his affinity, before I met him a few weeks ago the kid hadn’t even awoken his magic.”

Neryssa couldn’t believe what she was witnessing, even if Selkor was the best teacher in the world(he wasn’t). Kaelem’s display already transcended talent.

Kaelem continued to battle the mimic, every move one of them made the other had the perfect answer. The only issue was that Kaelem couldn’t recall everything he had learned in the book, so he found the mimic was using runes he recognized only when he saw them in the air.

‘Is there any way you can tell me what spell is being cast?’ he asked the spirit, ducking out of the way of a fireball.

The mimic drew back as it began to draw out a new spell circle.

[Vine Lash]

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Vines erupted from the mimic’s spell circle, snaking through the air, lashing out towards Kaelem with sharp, thorned tips.

Kaelem’s eyes narrowed, his hands glowing with a faint purple light as he tried experimenting with a new combination of runes. Layering air and arcane runes together, he created a razor-thin scythe of shimmering wind that sliced cleanly through the vines.

The mimic continued to adapt, drawing out earth runes as a solid wall of rock erupted between them, obscuring Kaelem’s view.

[Stone Wall]

‘Perfect, thank you.’ Kaelem took the moment of respite to acknowledge the spirit’s help.

Kaelem began his counter attack, etching runes into the air as he combined explosive force with compressed air. Directing the spell at the stone wall, it shattered and exploded outward. Sending the broken up wall of rocks towards the mimic who had been standing behind it.

The mimic responded in kind, taking control of the rocks in the air and twisting them into jagged projectiles. It then launched them forward towards Kaelem.

[Stalactite]

Kaelem sidestepped, channeling fire in one hand and earth in the other. He began twisting them together in an attempt to create a more advanced element. A flash of fire spat out at the mimic, surrounded by dust. However as it traveled towards the mimic the flames began to darken, combining with the dust to take on a molten quality. The mimic barely avoided the stream of molten lava, raising a wave of shadows from the ground to absorb the heat.

[Wall of Shadow]

Watching Kaelem evolve his technique in the middle of the duel, the mimic also grew bolder. Drawing out lightning and water, it weaved bolts of electricity through a flowing sphere of water that hovered above its head.

[Charged Water Ball]

The ball of water flew towards Kaelem, moving at an incredible speed for its size. Kaelem once again imitated Selkor, creating a shimmering dome in front of him. As the water hit the dome it froze, creating a shell of ice in front of Kaelem.

The spell was still above Kaelem’s mastery, but thanks to his ever expanding pool of magic to draw upon it no longer drained him completely. However at that moment he noticed the mimic was showing no signs of fatigue at all.

Deciding that using the elements would turn this into a battle of endurance he would inevitably lose, he dared to try a new approach.

Drawing deeply from his arcane power, he shaped an orb of pure energy. Infusing it with a mixture of air and shadow runes, a combination he wasn’t sure would work, but cleared his mind to focus on the intent of the spell.

He threw it forward; the orb shimmered with a dark luminescence. As it approached the mimic it broke into smaller, faster fragments that tore through the mimic’s barrier. Each fragment struck with an impact that left a shockwave, forcing the mimic to step back for the first time.

Feeling himself falter, he decided it was time to go all out. He didn’t have to win this duel; he just had to prove his worth.

‘It’s time to end this, don’t you think?’ he thought, the spirit’s agreement clear as he began to feel her power surge through him.

A dark, ethereal glow enveloped his body. Kaelem felt his feet leave the floor as he began to hover a few inches off the ground.

His hands moved instinctively with the spirit’s guidance, drawing on power he himself had little knowledge of. Ethereal chains erupted from the ground around the mimic, weaving together as they formed a lattice that slammed down over the mimic.

It struggled to produce another barrier in time, but as it did the chains began to burn with a blue glow. Melting through the barrier with an intense heat empowered by the spirit’s magic. The void above the arena began to fracture, reality itself shattering before Kaelem’s eyes as the world dissolved into shards of magic.

Kaelem was jolted back to reality, his seat rocking as if he had just fallen from the air. He was breathless and sweating, his entire body aching.

Neryssa’s eyes widened with astonishment, her voice cracking slightly.

“Extraordinary… nobody has ever defeated their reflection.”

Selkor, on the other hand, wore a smug grin, clapping his hands with pride.

“Well done, Kaelem,” Neryssa said, her awe evident. “Not only have you passed the trial - you’ve surpassed it. I only feel sorry for your teachers, robbed of such an outstanding display.”

Neryssa slowly rose from her seat, still in disbelief at what she had just witnessed. Kaelem’s rate of growth was such that he had just exceeded himself in the time frame of the trial.

“Let me formally welcome you to Eldritch Academy.”