Ray

Ray acted, surrounding himself in yellow glitter as he shot out attacks at the monsters. The monsters were powerful, but they still had a hard time fighting Ray when he set their surroundings on fire.

But the puppy wasn't done, it began walking forwards, heading right for the fire. Ray followed it, stepping in front of it as he conjured ice and shielded the puppy. The vest worked overtime, blocking the fire as Ray stepped through.

A scoff sounded in Ray's mind as he stepped through, right into five barking wolves. Reacting at his best speed, Ray shot out brown glitter, blocking the wolves as he tried to burn them. The wolves didn't catch fire easily, forcing him to change tactics. A few metal spears might work. And they did, their skin turning out to be too thin to face the falling metal.

The puppy continued walking, paying little attention to him or the fights. Ray followed, ready to protect the puppy, but no monsters came. No, this time the threat came from the sky. A swooping eagle nearly picked the puppy off the road before Ray could push it away with some violet glitter.

A flock of eagles descended, acting uncharacteristically to bite at him. Ray reacted, conjuring violet glitter to push them away as he followed the puppy. The eagles were too many to kill without risking the puppy, so Ray would have to make do with just shooing them away with air.

A few minutes later, they arrived at the castle, leaving what looked like hundreds of eagles on the road. The next stage awaited. What was it that he had to fight? A Dragon-Phoenix.

Ray headed towards the castle, following the puppy that was yipping at the tower that contained its 'mistress'. Why the Fae spirit had decided to base this on children's stories was something he struggled to understand. Perhaps it was for ease of understanding? The test was meant for children, after all.

The space in front of Ray froze as a voice spoke into his head.

"No, I was just fascinated with Human stories, they're so simple, but have enthralled people for millennia. I wonder if the Human 'ancestors' had a deep understanding of child psychology…" Ray stopped in shock. The bloody Fae spirit was reading his mind? At least, he presumed it was the Fae spirit.

"I am a very old telepathic Fae that is casting a massive illusion using tens of millions of mana. What made you think I wasn't reading your mind?" the Fae spirit quipped back.

"A basic respect for privacy? Are you supposed to be talking to me anyway?" Ray asked.

"Well, I am supposed to aid those that may have disabilities. How much disability they have is, of course, decided by me. The Trial is to help Fae transition into adulthood, not fail them. At least, the one run by the Fae Kingdom is. The Fae Empire had a different test." the Fae spirit said.

"Wait, does that mean that the test can change? And if it's just set by the government, then what's stopping them from just barring Fae from becoming adults?" Ray asked, confused by the system.

"I think you misunderstand the nature of the test." the Fae spirit said. "I have deemed you to have an informational disability, you are in dire need of information."

"The Trial is where an older Fae helps a younger one come into their power. In the olden times, Fae used to come into power more naturally. The process was dangerous to both the Fae and those around them, so the Trial was started, where I will now push you into adulthood.

A Fae failing is when the Fae spirit deems them too immature to handle their power, or when their magic is too weak. Didn't you choose your path before coming to the Trial anyway? Do you have some intellectual disability I need to know about?" the Fae spirit asked.

"No, it's just that Norman interfered back then. I didn't trigger the Trial myself." Ray replied.

The Fae spirit was silent for a second, as if Ray's news had shocked him. "I know you don't realize what you just said, but it is quite important. The Fae council strictly controls who trigger the Trial and when, for obvious reasons. The chances of someone misusing their ability is too high. I will have to report his Norman to the council."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Ray gulped, feeling a bit guilty that he'd exposed Norman. In his defense, he didn’t know it was illegal. "Does it count if Norman probably didn't know of the law? Or thought he wasn't covered by it?"

"The law has been in place since the times of the Fae Empire, who is this Norman that he wouldn't know of this?" the Fae spirit asked.

"Norman's real name is Norrelius, he told me that he was an ancestor of the path of peace." Ray said.

"Hmm, you are correct then. A path ancestor is an old position that was allowed to carry out the Trial." the Fae spirit said. Ray felt a headache coming on, as if something was cutting into his head. "But the position is something reserved for the Fae Princes of the Empire! Fae that had crossed Tier 30 itself! Are you telling me you met one of them?"

"I don't know!" Ray said, clutching his head as the headache intensified. Why did people love giving him headaches like this?

"How interesting, you are telling the truth." the Fae spirit said as the attack disappeared. What was it with people wanting to cut into his head? Ray wondered if he shouldn't invest in some mind protection charms, they had to be in high demand with all these people running around peeping into people's brains.

"I would recommend that you get a few mind protecting charms, at least till you learn the art of mental defense. In the days of the Fae Empire, mind reading was a mandatory course in the military academy. The Fae Kingdom, at least, will be rife with mind readers that may decide to use such techniques if you displease them..

I will have to notify the council that one of the Fae princes is here, though I doubt I will get through to them. Can I presume he is injured?" the Fae spirit said.

"Yes, and can we please talk later? I have a sister to save." Ray said.

"Yes, yes, go fight the Dragon-phoenix. And since you are probably unaware of this, a Dragon-phoenix duel wields water and fire, can multi cast, and is very fast in the sky." the Fae spirit cackled as the illusion restarted and Ray prepared to fight.

A screech sounded from the sky as a round ball plummeted to the ground.

"I am the bad dragon that kidnapped your princess! Come battle me for her life!" a childish voice said into Ray's mind as tongues of fire shot out at him. Ray dodged back, spraying blue glitter at the fire. A failure. The fire was more powerful than the blue glitter, normal water was barely able to suppress it.

Wait a second, a Fae spirit obsessed with Human stories and a baby Dragon-phoenix that wanted to be a 'bad dragon'. Ray found the premise awfully similar…

"Is that all you have, knight? Why do you insist on using that brittle wand when you can use your sword? Do you not think me worthy?" the dragon said as walls of water surrounded Ray, pushing him into position as a huge spiral of fire rushed towards him.

Ray tried to resist, but it was futile. The fire was just too powerful. But Ray wasn't done, he pointed his wand at the fire, and conjured as much blue glitter as he could. The water would hopefully push the fire away, and not let it target him.

But it did not go as he wished. The fire continued to progress as Ray poured more and more mana into the wand. The water finally matched the fire, but Ray could feel his mana flowing away at over a thousand mana per second. In less than a minute, he would be out of mana, and thus out of the fight.

"Why do you fight me? I am not a knight!" Ray said, desperately attempting to communicate with the dragon.

"Are you not here to free the princess? Did the knight finding hound not bring you here?" the dragon kid countered, its smug voice grating as Ray felt his wand twist under the pressure of the mana. The poor thing wasn't meant to channel a thousand mana per second.

"Yes, but I am no knight! I have not the power to fight you! I surrender!" Ray screamed as the fire suddenly vanished. The bloated dragon settled down on the ground, its wings folding as it looked disappointed. Ray still felt that this Trial was a little too kiddish…but at least that meant that the murderous dragon wasn't going to kill him. In real life, he'd already be dead.

'Oh dear, why must you compare the Trial to the outside world? The Trial is for children, and I can't exactly expect you to fight a Dragon-phoenix on your own." The voice of the Fae spirit said into Ray's head. At least he confirmed that he wasn't supposed to defeat his thing. How did you even defeat it? The strength of those elements was abnormal.

"Why do you surrender so fast? I want to fight! But I can't now" the dragon said, looking very dejected. Ray knew exactly what to do, he would talk with the dragon, who clearly was more interested in fame, and persuade it to use a different way to get fame. Perhaps there was some other criteria that led to the troll?

The illusion turned blank for a moment before reforming, this time in front of a smelly cave.

"Well, you said you were in a hurry. But I am making the next part of the trial harder, and less guessable. I don't want you guessing the entire thing again." the Fae spirit said. At least that meant time saved, and Ray didn't have to test his persuasion skills on a baby dragon.