The icy depths of the ocean caressed her flesh as Priscilla swam unimpeded through them. Her hair fluttered behind her as she set her sights on a brightly luminescent pearl that shined a multi-coloured light around a draconic altar that lay in ruin in the blackened water. It pulsed with harmonious rhythm that drew her towards it. Aquatic serpents blindsided her as they rushed out from the murky water that surrounded her. One of the creatures gnashed its teeth with ferocity as it snapped at her legs. Priscilla twirled in the water with incredulous fluidity, her calf glowed forming a pattern as she kicked out a sharp icicle that formed on the tip of her foot towards the beast's mouth. The serpent instinctively bit into the ice, feeling a numbing chill course through its mouth. It roared with indignation as its body curled, sending its tail slamming at Priscilla's waist, she lunged back avoiding it just barely. She then sent herself towards the creature forming a blade of ice in her hand. She slashed down at the serpent's scaley hide, but this was its home ground, it wriggled free easily and struck her hard, as she hurled towards a coral formation that lay beneath them.
As her body slammed against the rigid coral, blood dripped down her lips. She squinted her eyes unimpressed as she stared down at the serpents that swam circles above her. The woman wasn't one to let the provocation go lightly, she clapped her hands together as multiple patterns illuminated across her body, she screamed as long blades of ice surrounded her hands like gauntlets. Water swirled around her feet, with a burst she quickly jolted— her body propelled upward towards the serpents, she set her sight on the closest one, slicing up with a fury at the creature's underbelly. The blade of ice ripped through its less durable underside easily as she lifted herself past the blood and gore that covered her dress. She smirked a condescending smile as she eyed the other two creatures. The two separated, attempting to flank her from top and bottom, but she wasn't one to give them that chance— she quickly lunged upwards pushing her body down as her fist came into contact with the second serpent.
The ice stabbed into the scaly hide, lodging itself between the cracks, she broke free, leaving the ice impaling the beast as she twirled in the water sending her other hand at its face. The creature roared from the injury shifting abruptly— but it only made it worse for the beast as its face neared Priscilla and her blade impaled it through the eye, directly into its head. She grit her teeth as the little maneuver injured her wrist, she felt the stinging pain of fractured bone, but she had to persist— for there was one creature left. It circled above, having fallen back after its brethren died at the hands of the terrifying mortal, it gazed at her monstrous form, clad in its brethren's blood eyeing her for a weakness, a point where it could attack— but it saw none.
Even for a beast it had instincts and intellect, it knew— it couldn't beat the woman. It turned tail and began to swim towards the pearl at a rapid pace. Priscilla went after it, she was focused and determined, she couldn't let it reach there first, she pushed herself, but her focus blinded her from her surroundings— another serpent lunged at her back, it lay hidden amongst the coral formations that coated the underbelly of the seabed, it snapped at her leg eliciting a scream from the woman. Blood gushed out of it, intertwining with the murky water, she flailed in retaliation thrusting the fragmented blade of ice that she had previously broken off at the creature's forehead. She viciously punched it with fury, but in her moment of distraction the serpent that was escaping returned and slammed her with its tail. She found herself in a bad state as she pushed herself beyond her limit, it became increasingly difficult to keep her powers coursing through her body, the injuries piled up and the exhaustion weighed on her with intensity. She mustered all the strength she could to create an overwhelming blast of wind and water behind her— her bones creaked as the weight of the water clashed with the pressure of her movement, but she had just enough momentum to reach the serpent before it ran again. She kicked its teeth in with all the adrenaline her body could muster, slamming its jaw shut. Quickly she twirled swirling the water around her at a flurry, giving her some added momentum for her fist to penetrate the beast's hide, cutting its body in half.
Her vision blurred as she found herself on the ground of Zae-Rin's garden panting like a dog.
''I shouldn't need to tell you this, but you nearly failed there. You were too greedy, your vision too narrow as they played around you. You must do better, child. You have limitless opportunities at your disposal, but you've already become so accustomed to a few, that you find yourself missing out key details. Your thinking is clever, but at times rigid. Do you think such an attitude can save your life if you were surrounded by hundreds or thousands of armored guards? You're not aiming to have a picnic in the Empire, are you? So continue thinking! You're smart enough, so stop rushing, stop worrying about the future before dealing with the now!'' Zae-Rin scolded the girl relentlessly. Despite her growing continuously through repeated trials it simply wasn't enough for the woman. But in reality it made sense, for she knew that overconfidence against unknown enemies is the quickest pitfall to bring one to the brink of ruin. The girl had to do better, she simply had to. Perfection was difficult to achieve, and striking a balance with the manifestations a challenge, but if she was so weak as to give up when things became difficult, then— she should just give up and surrender herself to the beyond.
''Sorry, Rin!'' the girl replied with a tinge of sadness in her voice. ''I got a little overconfident there... I thought since no one came after the first and second fell that I'd be fine. It was my mistake.''
''Foolish!'' Rin chided. ''You can never know what's lying under the surface, you have to be constantly aware of your surroundings to avoid being stabbed in the back when you least expect it. Your wariness needs to increase. Never trust solely on what your eyes can see, else you'll be blinded before you know it.''
''For wild creatures it is the same, why attack it with desperate ferocity when you know that it's a mindless creature. Give it a false sense of security, make it reveal its weaknesses to you. If you seemed pressured it may have summoned the hidden serpent far sooner. If you chipped at them carefully, you could've exploited all three of them with a few flicks of your wrist. It's not a matter of just overconfidence, your tactics as a whole need to progress.'' she added.
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Using her powers Zae-Rin was able to manifest things which were hard to fathom for Priscilla, despite having similar powers of her own. The scenes and creatures she made filled her with curiosity and wonder, which also cost her as she would momentarily lose focus amidst the shifting scenes placed before her. She really wondered about the life Rin lived, the woman seemed truly incredible. Priscilla had studied for a decade learning the history and geography of the Empire and the areas around it, yet despite it she had never seen or heard of any of the places or creatures she created. Priscilla really began to wonder, how did such a woman find herself entrapped in this abyssal purgatory neither dead nor alive.
Priscilla sat on the marble bench and took an apple to bite into it, as she chewed the fruit she stared star-struck at Rin. ''Honestly, you're quite incredible, Rin!'' she paused before asking softly. ''Just how long have you trained to have such freedom when manifesting your powers?''
''Silly child.'' Zae-Rin chuckled. ''I've told you before, I've had all of the time in the world to manifest my powers. I also began training them while I was still alive, so it resulted in an easier time adapting. This place may be close to the source, it also makes it far easier to actually utilize your gift, but at the same time it's challenging you in a way that the living realm doesn't. If you used your markings in the Empire you'd find it far more difficult for the world tries to snuff out that which does not belong. However that also makes it so when you actually do develop your powers, you have a far larger capacity to control them as a result.''
''Don't worry about this. You must keep training, as far as the living realm goes, you'll get to develop your powers there after.'' she added before lighting the markings on her body. ''It's time, this time be more careful.''
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Priscilla felt the weightless embrace of Rin's powers as her vision momentarily blurred again, before she felt the grass beneath her feet as she stepped forward. In front of her a ruinous valley loomed, an antiquity of an ancient era left to decay and crumble with the passage of time. Men emerged from the valley clad in primitive rawhide, while wielding spears of bone and obsidian. At the peak of the ruin women and children dance around a pillar of flame. They beat vigorously on drums of wood and hide as they circled, chanting a mysterious hymn.
The woman's gaze narrowed as she eyed the people at the top, and those who approached her at the bottom. She lowered her body, slapping her hands against the ground manifesting two earthen daggers from the land beneath her, she readied her body and prepared herself for an intense battle. But the men halted their approach as they saw her perform her magic, they hissed their tongues in a strange language she couldn't recognize, the pace of the drumming above intensifying as the flame warped in intensity. The once crimson flames took on a somber violet hue as a beast's head manifested from the flames. It walked out from the flames with a large lion's torso on display, with the head of a snake and wings of a hawk, its narrow pupils stared venomously at the woman as the creature congealed into a physical construct. The men knelt on the ground, spears lowered as they prayed towards it.
Priscilla found herself tense up at the sight of the creature forming, Rin wasn't going easy on her this time at all. This beast seemed far smarter than the previous ones, and its silent gaze oozed with a palpable viciousness that none of the others had, paired with its massive size it made the beast seem far more intimidating than any before it. Beads of sweat rolled down her brow as she focused her strength onto the markings on her body, for the first time she summoned the darkness manifesting a shrouded veil that cloaked her body with its embrace. Her eyes blazed with fiery determination as she set her limbs aflame, awaiting the creature's approach. This time she would not fail. She would not disappoint Rin's expectations. She wracked her brain for every combination she could muster, ice and earth, wind and flame, water and darkness, the elements roiled around her in a frenzy. The girl was blinded by fear, the fear of failure overpowered her senses. She pushed herself to the brink of collapse before the creature even attacked, but maybe that was Zae-Rin's goal all along.
The more setbacks the girl faced, the more she'd adapt to her powers. Having only smooth battles that proved to be no challenge at all, would only inflate her ego and make her susceptible to harm. Sometimes harsh circumstances, were the best to nurture a strong person, that's what Rin believed in, and that's how she decided to test Priscilla.
The creature hissed with perverse confidence as its hind legs lunged off the ruinous peak, its wings flapped as it hovered down towards her at a hastened pace. Its snake-like head hissed as its momentum increased, the sheer pressure from its descent sent the wind surging around her, her hair billowed in the wind as she positioned her body, awaiting to receive the beast. It lunged with its head, a clever attempt to bite her— nick her at least, with its venomous mouth, but Priscilla's body weaved and dodged as she rode the breezy wind like a leaf, she maneuvered herself past the creature sending an enforced kick out at its muscular side. The flames that coated it charred a print onto its rugged body, singing the fur on it. It caused the creature to howl as it flapped its wings, rotating its body to strike her with its own legs. She reacted striking with her arm, but the force of the massive beast pushed her back as she crashed against a tree. She avoided harm— just barely, as the barriers that coated her body nulled the force that sent her flying. She launched herself off the tree, flying forwards again as she surged the flames that surrounded her, she wrapped her earthen daggers in the flame as she lunged at the creature's long neck with her forceful advance. The creature wasn't a slouch— it reacted fast and dodged albeit just barely, her dagger briefly scratched the side of its neck drawing blood— nowhere near enough to defeat it however.
The beast coiled its neck tightly, protecting its vital points as it flew up and away from the fierce woman. It opened its large mouth wide, condensing a spark of power at a small point at the back of its throat. Priscilla's gaze narrowed in confusion as she looked up at it, but before she could think flames erupted from the creature's mouth. They descended hastily towards the woman without warning. Her thoughts floundered quickly as she lit up several patterns on her body— she pulsated her aura manifesting all the power that she could muster, she condensed the water in the atmosphere forming a multi-layered bubble in front of her that clashed with the encroaching flame breath's advance. The sound of boiling water filled the valley as the flame pierced through layer after layer of her makeshift barrier. Before her bubble could burst— the flames went out and the creature closed its mouth.
It was a momentary relief, but Priscilla knew the battle wasn't over yet— this creature would need a far more forceful touch, and an idea sparked in her mind, ready to strike.