Azura’s eyes opened to a lush green forest, filled with leaves and vines. The dense vegetation expanded as far as the eye could see, which given how dense it was, wasn’t more than 15 ft. He scanned the area looking for anything he could use to figure out what he was doing here. “So either the trials do in fact take your memory of the fact it’s a trial, or I’m in round 2 with the guardian of the forest.” He said unable to remember what he was doing here. The last thing he remembered was fighting the water spirit, since he wasn’t dead, he assumed this was part of the trials.
“Oh of course!! This is the trial that makes soooo much more sense” A boy around his age barely over 4 ft spoke excitedly. He was wearing a furry brown one piece suit with a hoodie designed like a bear head “Man this is so exciting!!!! Can you believe we are doing the trials” the boy was practically jumping everywhere, the sheer weight of his enthusiasm making Azura feel exhausted. “Oh I almost forgot!!! My name is Roran, nice to meetcha”
Azura stared at the hand that the young boy extended out to him. He hesitantly grabbed the hand of the still bouncing boy and shook it. “My name is Azura Silver, but just call me Azura.”
“Oh!!! I’ve heard that name before…” He put his hand to his chin and narrowed his eyes. His eyes burst open. “Oh I remember I heard a rumor that you fought a dragon, and you came to the school covered in its blood.” He said stars in his brown eyes.
“What? I came covered in my own blood, after barely surviving a “clash” with a water elemental, and believe me calling it a clash is generous.” Azura said, rolling his eyes. He knew how rumors tended to get out of hand, but that was ridiculous. A dragon… please even pro mages couldn’t handle a dragon so easily.
“Wow really!! That’s awesome, I doubt I would survive against a water elemental. I’d probably drown super fast.” He talked quickly.
Azura just thanked whoever was out there that the boy was at least talking quietly. As much as Roran seemed like a reckless fool, he was actually being incredibly vigilant, he had been subtly looking around the whole time. “We should get going, whatever the trial is, we aren’t going to figure it out by standing around.” Azura said while walking off in a random direction.
“Don’t you think we should find some high ground to scan the area?” Roran said, following after Azura.
“Normally yes, but look around the branches and leaves are too thick, we have no idea what’s up there and frankly I don’t feel like destroying a huge patch of forest just for a view of more leaves.” He didn’t like this. If he had to guess, then the trial was probably about being able to adapt. Katy was nowhere to be found, and he was paired with a complete stranger, who despite giving a commoner introduction had a fairly impressive passive mana output. “So if we are going to be working together I’m goi-” He stopped mid sentence putting his left arm up in a defensive stance after hearing a loud snap echo throughout the woods.
Roran also tensed, but didn’t change his stance at all. Not even a second after the booming sound a large lizard burst into their field of vision. The lizard was blue with black stripes and acid green eyes. Its limbs were as thick as tree trunks and its scales looked harder than steel. It released a terrifying screech that would have paralyzed a regular person with fear.
“Phew it’s just a lazian salamander, I was worried for a minute” Azura said, relaxing only slightly but still keeping his guard up. He debated on whether to attack it or wait to see what his current partner could do. The choice was taken from him as a feminine yell came from the trees as a girl in gleaming bronze and gold armor rushed out of the trees and pierced their spear right through the lizard's neck. Azura and Roran both relaxed as the lizard let out a dying squeal.
“Oh yay!!! Now we have 3!!” Roran’s exuberance was back, as if it never left. Azura looked at the newcomer, she wore far more armor than he did, wearing a whole set of it. Her blonde hair in a ponytail that reached her lower back. Despite how ferociously she killed the monster she wore a shy smile and her bright blue eyes were tinged with embarrassment.
“Make it 4, not that I particularly want to be stuck with you.” A blonde boy with a brilliant black and gold cloak walked out from the trees a decorated sheath strapped to his side, a gold pommel with a blood red ruby at its center sticking out from it. “I suppose I should introduce myself. I am Gareth Leone” His voice dripping with arrogance that showed just as clearly in his forest green eyes..
The Girl pulled her spear from the monster's neck and strapped it to her back. “Oh umm.. M-my name is Luna…” Her voice was barely audible, Azura had to strain his ears just to make it out.
“Oh!!! I’m Roran, nice to meet you!!” In stark contrast to the shy girl Roran was bouncing up and down with what Azura was quickly starting to believe, was infinite energy.
Azura put his hand to his head, he was starting to get a headache from all this. “I’m Azura Silver, I suppose we’ll all be working together for the time being.” It wasn’t beyond his expectations that he and Katy would be separated during the trials, but he wished she was here. If for nothing else than at least to have a familiar face to share his annoyance with. “So, anyone found any clues on what the trial actually is?”
Gareth rolled his eyes. “You call yourself a noble, and you can’t even figure out something like that?” Gareth spoke haughtily. “The trial is obviously for us to find our way back to the academy.”
Azura laughed, great the noble was going to be a special kind of annoying.
“You find something funny.” Gareth spoke, not bothering to hide his agitation.
Azura stopped laughing. “I mean yeah. You said something that stupid while acting all full of yourself.” Gareth scowled at him and opened his mouth to speak, but Azura cut him off. “We aren’t in a real place, or rather this isn’t a location that one can just leave. If you would focus for just a second it’s obvious we are in an illusory world created by some kind of spell.”
Gareth looked at him angrily. “And what makes you think that? I haven’t felt any distortions in the natural mana.”
Azura sighed, great stuck with amateurs.
To Azura’s surprise it was Roran that spoke next. “Exactly! If we were in a real area like this, there would be all kinds of fluctuations in the flow of natural mana, the fact it’s so calm is proof enough that this place is fake. If I had to guess I would say this place is a complex spell between no less than 5 mages, using a complex array of shards to create this area inside of a certain space!! In other words our goal isn’t to leave, but to break the spell!! Honestly this kind of spell is exactly the reason I wanted to enter the academy, isn’t it amazing?!!”
Azura and the others looked at Roran in shock. Azura learned a valuable lesson, not to underestimate anyone taking the trials, no matter how silly and childish they may appear.
“My thoughts exactly. Unfortunately I don’t know if it’s safe to just break it ourselves, it’s likely they have a task we need to complete to free ourselves, since not many have a skillset that would let them escape without inside help.”
“So I suppose you saying that means you do?” Gareth said with a frown across his face.
Azura closed his eyes to focus. “I specialize in spirit magic, so manipulating the natural mana in an area is kind of my specialty. Not to say it would be easy, this spell is made solid. I could break it, but it may take me a while.” He opened his eyes. “That being said it looks like the mana is flowing eastwards from here. The big question is should we follow it, or head to its origin?”
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Luna stepped forward. “I-I think w-we should head to its origin.” Her voice, little more than a whisper. “The origin should be where the spell originates, r-right?” She looked down.
Gareth scoffed. “Obviously, but there is no guarantee the origin is where the trial is, it could very well be towards the outside.”
Luna took a step back uncertainly. “O-oh I see.”
Azura patted her back. “Hey relax, I think you’re right. The origin is probably the safer bet, because frankly aside from splitting up there isn’t a way to check both. Worse case even if the center of the mana isn't the right place it would still be the best place to break out of the spell from.” He said as he began heading west against the flow of mana.
Gareth scowled. “Don’t you think we should come to a consensus before you walk off?” he crossed his arms, and glared at Azura.
“Well I think heading toward the origin is a good idea!!” Roran hopped in stepping between Azura and Gareth. “Besides, we definitely don’t want to split up. We have no idea what else is in here.”
Gareth begrudgingly nodded, and they all followed after Azura. “Fine whatever, but either way we are going to need to know what each of us can do. I specialize in elemental magic, especially for offense.”
Yup this guy was a noble all right, gave enough info to work, but vague enough to not give too much away. Azura was about to speak when Roran piped in.
“Oh yeah!! I specialize in physical enhancement, and a special branch of elemental magic I call obliteration. Essentially I use fire and earth to…” Roran went on excitedly about exactly what his magic did and how it worked. The details were so complicated even Azura had a hard time following them.
“OK I think we get the gist, Roran.” Azura cut him off, worried he wasn’t going to stop.
Luna cleared her throat. “Ummmm I can use a variation of light magic called clairvoyance. It allows me to see weak points in enemies, and sense where everything is and how it’s moving, as long as it’s within range.” She spoke, her voice was still shy, but at least her stuttering seems to have abated.
Azura kept a cool expression, but internally he was impressed. He had quite the team here, a good variety of abilities, that complimented each other rather well. “Well guess that just leaves me.” He turned around and started walking backwards so he could face them. “My abilities are mostly for support, as I said earlier I specialize in spirit magic especially the enchantment branch.”
Gareth looked surprised, until he started laughing. “A noble wasting their time on useless magic like that. Hah your parents must be so ashamed.” His permanent scowl had finally abated, replaced by a mocking grin.
Azura shrugged and turned back around. “Yeah my father said that too.” He paused for a little to give it a little dramatic effect. “At least, at first.”
Roran perked up. “Ooh what does that mean? When you said you fought an elemental I had assumed you used some kind of powerful magic, how did you fight it with enchantment magic? Magic items are fine and all, but you can just buy them from artificers, so you must have something else right?!”
Wow Roran could be that energetic even while accidentally insulting someone. Azura was looking forward to showing everyone what enchantment could really do. “Guess you’ll have to wait and see.” After that he went quiet and ignored the others as they chatted, well as Roran chatted and Gareth got a word or two in here and there.
They walked for nearly an hour before the endless expanse of trees and vegetation finally abated, to reveal a huge flat grassy plain that extended out of sight. The only thing breaking the view down the vast expanse was a giant pyramid that even from several miles away still looked absurdly huge. The pyramid almost looked like a bunch of sandstone rectangles reaching towards the sky, each slab just a little smaller than the last.
Azura was the first to break the silent awe that the sight had left them in. “So, could be wrong, but I’m thinking that’s our goal.” He began walking again, the breathtaking view having made him pause.
Gareth shook his head as if breaking out of a trance. “Wow really, you think. Surely a giant, clearly magical Pyramid is merely a coincidence.”
Azura smirked, well he may be a jerk, but at least he had a sense of humor, but he could do sarcasm too. “You sure? It’s just a hunch, but I think The giant magical pyramid is important.” He smiled a fake smile so bright even he almost believed it.
Gareth was about to respond, but Roran beat him to it. “You guys can squabble later! Don’t you want to go up and inspect it!!” He then proceeded to burst forward releasing mana to accelerate to extremely fast speeds far faster than a normal human could handle.
Azura along with the others looked surprised for only a fraction of a second before they all burst after him. Azura was actually really impressed Roran was probably faster than him without his enchantments, and the other 2 seemed to be keeping up just fine. “Hey wait up will you, we have no idea what kind of traps-” He cut off as Roran made it to the pyramid, and 2 giant stone golems rose up from the ground. They were as tall as a building, and roughly humanoid. Jagged edges all over their bodies.
Roran didn’t even slow down as he jumped towards one of the golems the moment he touched it it’s upper body was completely obliterated in an instant, leaving only it’s legs behind. Roran got flung back from the air pressure created by his attack doing a flip and sliding across the ground, his bear hood whipping around wildly. Azura was surprised to note that Roran's hair was a lime green color, it was longer than he would have expected, reaching all the way down to his jacket.
Azura and the others caught up to Roran, and Azura started to scold him. “Jeez, I get that you specialize in combat, but running ahead still isn’t a good idea. We were put in here together for a reason.” He spoke harshly hoping Roran would get the point, and Roran to his credit did look sheepish.
“Sorry, I guess I got a little exc-” Roran was cut off as the golem he had destroyed reformed as if nothing had happened. “Oh yeah, that makes sense. I was thinking golems were suspiciously easy to deal with!!” And just like that his excitement was back.
Man Azura really missed Katy right now he could use some rational allies. The Golems weren’t moving, they were simply standing in front of the entrance, silent guards, still as statues. Azura didn’t think the goal was to destroy them. Roran's spell had been plenty powerful, so he couldn’t imagine the school could expect offensive spells more powerful than that.
Gareth spoke up after analyzing the golems. “We can probably blast right past them, a quick spell to destroy each of them, and then rush to the entrance.”
Azura nodded. “Sounds good. You and Roran specialize in offensive magic, so you take the golems, try and destroy them in a way that doesn’t stop you from moving forward, but I’ll pull you guys toward the entrance if you slow down.” Everyone nodded at him ready to go. “Alright let’s do this!” Then they all burst forward in sync rushing the golems.
The golems finally moved, the one on the left Swinging its massive arms at the group, the hand alone easily bigger than all of them put together.
Gareth struck first, shooting out a lightning bolt at the golem. The bolt was far stronger than the one Azura had accidentally released back in the forest. However to their surprise a whole opened up in the golem letting the lightning bolt fly off into the sky before the golem reformed and finished its attack, causing them to jump out of the way to avoid being crushed.
“These things aren’t golems, they're puppets.” Luna said, raising her voice for the first time since he heard her yell. “Something is controlling them, we need to find the source. She said as she pulled out her spear her eyes aglow with an unnatural light, as she gracefully wove around the attacks of both of the giant golems.
Azura raised a brow, so that’s how clairvoyance works, fascinating. “Hold them off!! If you buy me a little time I can find out what’s controlling them.” He honestly had expected an argument, but not even Gareth said a word of complaint as they all began fending off the rock monstrosities. Azura began mumbling to himself as he set his hand on the ground, blue and silver symbols rushing out from the point of contact. The symbols flowed like a wave moving and changing continuously as Azura’s eyes began to glow and a silver fire surrounded them.
The others watched in shock as the symbols spread even covering them and the golem. Their eyes widened as the symbols covered them, making them feel stronger, faster, better. With the new rush of power they suddenly found dealing with the golems who had begun to move even slower to be a total cakewalk.
Azura smirked as his symbols finally surrounded the golems, with one last pulse of mana the golems both fell apart leaving a pile of rocks in their place. “Don’t go near them, that’s an anti-magic field. Head for the entrance, but give the rocks space!!” He yelled as he ran towards the entrance.
The others followed after him, but Gareth yelled out. “What about the thing controlling them!”
They had almost made it to the entrance only 30 feet left. “Whoever they are would experience a feedback shock, when I disabled their familiar, we have no time to waste, so we should skip it.” He looked forward, noticing the dirt by the entrance begin to churn. “Roran, you’re up.”
Roran jumped in front of the group, raising his hands as rock spikes rushed towards them. The group didn’t even slow down as Roran reduced the rock to dust with a swift but powerful blast of magic.
Immediately After they all made it into the pyramid Azura quickly turned around and put his hand on the ground, gauntlet glowing a ruddy orange as a rock wall sealed the entrance. They all released a sigh of relief and began to take in their surroundings. They were in a slightly cramped and dimly lit hallway with torches lining the walls every 5 ft.
Azura sighed again. “You know when they said the trials would take several days, I thought they just meant that the trials would take place over several days, not that an individual trial might take more than 24 hours.” He frowned, feeling the walls and trying to get a grasp of why the mana here felt so strange.