by Krika on Tue Jul 02, 2013 3:01 pm
The Exam
Meanwhile, in an entirely different location......
A blast of flame exploded in a corridor, accompanied and followed by howls of pain. In the meantime, a thin figure darted away from the wispy bits of flame that lingered on the scorched stone, and darted around several corners before freezing completely still. A frantic scrabbling of his hands hid a glowing red crystal in a fold of his tattered cloak, and he paused, listening. A couple whufflings came from the direction he had come from, and started moving away, as the corridor faded into silence, save for muffled gasping of breath from the figure.
After a couple of moments, he steadied himself on a wooden staff, and let the red crystal swing free, before unscrewing the lid of a large clay pot he carried slung around his neck. He untwisted the cap, letting flickering light spring out of the top, followed by a small creature resembling either a bird crossed with a drake, made out of fire. It flapped up near the figure's head, and made a sound that would have been a chirp on a normal creature, except that it sounded like a snap of flames. The figure checked a second small item hung around his neck, several thin pieces of crystal in the shape of a loop, attached to a piece of wood. Currently about half of the crystals were glowing faintly, whilst the others were dark, aside from the reflected light.
The figure sighed, and wandered off down the corridor, the firebird following him. Well Fern, you are halfway done. Better not fail now.
-----
A thin figure in a teal robe raced through several well lit corridors, accidentally running into several other figures in red and orange robes along the way. With several mumbled apologies he continued, eventually finding his way to a particular door in the hallway, and unlatching it, somehow managing to not drop the several tomes that he was carrying with him, and all but tripped inside the room, dropping the tomes on a table just inside the door, before collapsing into a wooden chair.
The two other people in the room watched the entrance with varying levels of amusement. To his left was another guy in a teal robe, with a shock of wild red hair, and pointed eyes that glittered green with the amusement that was plastered over his face. Opposite him was a girl wearing an orange robe, her long brown hair in the slightly unkempt state of one who has spent a significant amount of time studying, with annoyance and amusement vying for attention on her face.
The guy spoke up first. "Fern, you do know that you don't HAVE to show up exactly on time? It's not like you don't have, I don't know, 4 days left to get yourself together."
Fern sighed, and began to collect his books together, getting pieces of paper out and arranged. "Yes, but I would like to get this finished as fast as possible, so that unlike you, I am not doing everything at the last minute." The other guy opened his mouth to say something else, but the girl interrupted him. "Nutter, if you're going to be snarky would you kindly do that somewhere else? I'm going to need to get through modifying a couple of my spells to minimize the aura interference, and I'm willing to bet that Fern needs my help with something."
Nutter rolled his eyes in mock exasperation. "Maire, you have four months before your exam!" Another glare from Maire, and an annoyed glance from Fern, who had almost finished setting up his notes and books, and he threw his hands up in defeat. "Fine, I'll be productive!"
"Thanks kindly." Maire replied sweetly, and turned to Fern, an inquisitive look on her face. He passed her a piece of parchment with a ritual circle sketched on it. "Well, for starters, it is going to be fire-aligned, and I am not sure that I have the proper channels for it, since the only practical one I have done so far was a lot less wild to work with." She nodded, and took the page, scanning over it pensively. "Well, for starters you might have to tweak these bits here assuming that you've got a Meldron-based array....."
Nutter sighed, and from inside a tome pulled out a much smaller book, and flipped it open to a bookmarked page, before kicking back and starting to read it.
-----
A few days later, Fern headed out of the building, following a stamped dirt pathway toward a large stone building (though not as large or extensive as the one he had exited). He looked around, a wistful expression on his face. Set on a mountainside, the immediate area consisted of several stone buildings of almost comically large proportions, set a good distance apart from each other, with the natural forested area filling in most of the spaces between them. A bit farther down the mountain was a flat area, cleared of debris, with ward-stones setting it off from the rest of the area around it. It looked like there were some people doing something down in it, possibly an Elemental class, or maybe one of the dueling clubs that kept cropping up.
He headed down toward one of the smaller buildings, with several glass-covered extremities attached to the sides. He found a side-door marked with plaque that had a flask carved into it, and slipped inside the building. He passed by several rooms filled with beakers, flasks, stoves, and other odd-shaped pieces of glass equipment, as well as up a flight of stairs before he found another door with the name "Malato Korvac" inscribed on it, and knocked on it. After an awkward minute of waiting, he sighed, and gave the door a couple resonant wacks with his fist.
This finally got a response, and a hurried "Coming!" from the room. A couple of moments later, the door opened a crack to reveal a very disheveled blonde-haired guy in a brown robe that was obviously thrown on in a hurry. His eyes widened at Fern, before he broke into a relieved grin. "Ah, Fern! Sorry about that, I was just, well, sorta occupied at the moment." Fern sighed, and rubbed his hands in his face. "But you do have them, correct?" He nodded enthusiastically. "Yes yes, do come in while I go grab them!"
He opened the door wide, gesturing to Fern to enter. With some trepidation, he stepped into the room, and gave it a cursory glance. Like the living quarters of most alchemists, it was littered with items ranging from simple glass vials to preserved pieces of animals he had probably never heard of. While Fern stepped in carefully, doing his best not to step on anything, Malato weaved through the room with the practice of someone who long ago memorized where everything was. He paused for a moment to stick his head in a side-door. "Sorry lass, business calls for a moment. I'll be back in shortly, don't worry!" He turned his head, and gave a sly wink in Fern's direction before onward. Fern sighed, and stopped trying to pick his way through the room, not wishing to intrude on whoever was in the room.
After a short minute of rummaging around in what appeared to be a storage chamber, Malato emerged carrying a small sack that jingled as he handed it over to Fern, who checked inside, confirming that it carried about a dozen vials of varying colored substances. "They're all there, and marked. Stink bombs, a restorative, couple of flash-bangs.....everything you asked for." Fern nodded, and hooked the bag to his belt, and pulled out small purse, and counted out a couple of coins, depositing it in Malato's outstretched hand. "Pleasure doing business with you Mal. Now, if you do not mind, I will be leaving you to your...business."
Mal winked. "Oh, there's no business here. Just delicious, wonderful pleasure..."
Fern fled the room post-haste.
-----
The next day, Fern was once again running through the corridors, which thanks to the early hour weren't very populated, which had the fortunate effect of not giving him many chances to run into someone. Unlike his similar trip of a couple days ago, he was dressed in a very practical robe, with a red crystal hanging around his neck, and a cloak that, like his robe, had multiple pockets sewn into it, many filled. He carried a simple wooden staff with him, whilst his belt had multiple pouches attached to it. His steps took him down multiple flights of stairs, eventually emerging into the lowest level of the building, where he arrived in a small anti-chamber, with a wooden door that was decorated with ornate drawings, which were easily recognizable as the achievements of the greatest archmages of the past. To the left of the door, Maire and Nutter were standing.
Fern paused, leaning against a wall, catching his breath after his frantic run. "You know, neither of you had to show up this early." Maire rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Why wouldn't we be here? This is your first Exam, and we both want to wish you good luck in person!" "Except that I wanted to sleep in..." Nutter started, before being cut off by a glare from Maire. "..but yes, we do want to wish you good luck."
Finally catching his breath, Fern stood up and stretched, working out the last kinks that his reckless run hadn't gotten loosened up. "Thanks guys. I hope I do well as well. I mean, failing wouldn't be bad of course, but it would be embarrassing." Nutter ruffled Fern's hair, grinning at his nervous friend. "Do it right or don't do it, right?" "Something like that," he replied, grinning. Nutter continued to ruffle his hair, necessitating a duck to get out of reach, which put him into a vice-like hug from Maire. After a couple of moments of gasping for breath on his part, she released him and glared directly into his eyes, though the soft smile on her face showed a different side. "You can do this. Don't fail." He smiled back. "Oh, I think I will be fine."
Nutter ruined the moment with a well-timed retching noise. "Alright, mushy stuff out of the way, so you'd better get going. I presume there IS a reason you were running, after all." Nodding, Fern headed toward the door, dodging a last grab at his hair by Nutter, and stood before it for a moment, taking a couple of deep breaths, before reaching forward and pulling the door open. After a quick glace back at his two friends, he stepped through the door, pulling it shut behind him.
Nutter yawned, and stretched his arms, turning to leave. "Whelp, I'm off to get more sleep. Feel free to wait out here if you want to." He left the room, followed a moment later by Maire.
-----
The room he entered in requires some description. It was circular, about a hundred feet wide, with 13 pillars about 10 feet out from each of the wall, each one decorated with motifs related to a different school of magic, with lighting crystals built into the designs providing illumination to the room as a whole. They each shot upward toward the domes ceiling, whose center was maybe 150 feet up. The dome itself had a large mural made of colored glass in the shape of the college's symbol, which had a tunnel behind it cut through the bedrock of the mountain to the surface, allowing the sun at its current position to shine perfectly down it to light up the design. This also had the added benefit of shining the light in Fern's eyes, making it difficult to make out the three black-robed figures standing around the center of the floor. As he approached them, the stepped back to allow him to reach the center, and see that a stairway was cut into the floor, winding down into darkness.
"Fern, you have been judged worthy to take the exam." the one on the right began. "This exam has produced the highest quality of mages for generations. Every mage that has graduated from the college has passed this exam. While you are in no true danger, you may very well be injured, or incapacitated. However, barring extreme danger, the test cannot end until the full 6 hours have elapsed. Do you understand what it is that you are about to attempt?" Fern gulped, and responded with "Yes."
The one on the left began to speak. "The purpose of this exam is two-fold. Firstly, it is a chance to show that you know the practical skills to use your magic in a real-world environment. Secondly, it is a chance to show your ability to innovate spells beyond what you have been taught, and put them to use. Do you understand what is required of you?" Fern nodded, and responded with another "Yes."
The one in the middle finally spoke. "During the exam, you will be confined to the tunnels under the college. All exits have been sealed, and you will only be able to leave once the full duration of 6 hours has passed. You will have to survive in the tunnels until then, under your own skill. No assistance will be offered, except in a life threatening situation, which has not occurred in over 60 years." The figure stepped forward, handing him a necklace, on which was attached a small loop with a dozen crystal disks threaded onto it. "This will mark your passage of time. When they are all lit, and only then, the door will open again. Do you understand your task?" Fern swallowed and managed to squeak out a "Yes."
They all looked at each other, and then back and Fern. This time, they all spoke as one. "Then are you ready and prepared for the test?" Fern forced himself to nod, and say the final "Yes", which came out with more conviction that perhaps he felt. The three figures stepped backwards from the stairway into darkness, and following the obvious signal, he started his way downward.
-----
He reached a large landing, in square room maybe 15 feet on a side. On the other side of the room, a dark door yawned. There were a couple of glowing crystals set in the walls that illuminated the room, but the light didn't extend past the doorway, giving the impression of a simple wall of blackness.
The landing was certainly big enough for the summoning and binding. Probably an intentional deal on their part, Fern realized. This was a place for a mage to limber up, and get everything at the ready. And for him, at least, to perform his summoning. Pulling out a piece of chalk and a paper with a carefully drawn ritual circle on it, he began scribing it onto the floor.
About 10 minutes later, he finished the triple-check, and placed the components (bird bones and feathers, as well as a small, magically sensitive gem) into the center, and stepped back to look over the finished product. It was composed of two main circles, the inner one about a two feet across, while the outer one extended the radius by about a foot. While lines from one didn't crossover into the other, they did share a border, and several intersection points with the lines inside each circle on that border.
And now it was time to perform the summoning.
He sat down into a mediation pose at the edge, and began breathing slowly, rhythmically, slowly moving his perceptions out of his body and focused inward, toward his center. Deep in there rested a glowing feeling, an aura that made his body tingle as he reached for it. He began drawing on it, first in a trickle, slowly thickening into a stream that he directed toward his hands, letting them be filled with power. It hurt, almost like he'd stuck his hands into ice-cold water, but he persisted, letting the power hit the bursting point, before he opened his eyes, and slapped the edge of the circle.
His power released into the circle, causing the lines to burst into a bright white light. Inside the center, the red gem, activated by the sudden influx of magic into the area burst into flame. The flames swirled over the bones and feathers, beginning to burn the feathers and scorch the bones. He felt the magic settle over the construct, as it formed the initial array. After a minute of mental checking, he was satisfied that it was fully formed. Now to give it the push.
"Ik roep de geest Nethis! Door mijn kracht, en door mijn naam en de naam van Nethis, roep ik uw geest te vormen! Door mijn naam van Calan Markovitch, ik uw geest roepen naar me, Nethis!" The burning flame in the middle sudden boosted in intensity, consuming the bones and any remnants of feathers in a flash. A large piece of flame split off from the main fire, and shot upward a few feet in the air, where it hovered, floating. The red gem crack and shattered, the flame it produced going out.
"Door mijn kracht en mijn naam en de naam van Nethis, Ik bind je aan mij! Door mijn naam van Calan Markovitch, door mijn macht, Ik bind Nethis om mezelf!" The floating flame sudden convulsed (if flame could be said to convulse). Magical energies flowed around it, pushing it inward and concentrating it into a less-ragged and shifting shape. He felt a burning sensation on his wrist, but he ignored it.
"Nethis, Ik Calan Markovitch bel je naar mijn kant! Door mijn naam en mijn macht, roep ik jullie op mij! Nethis Ik bel je!" He felt a sudden release, and a surge of power left him, draining into the circle. The glowing lines flared up in intensity for a split second, before disappearing entirely, leaving slight scorch marks but otherwise no sign that they had been there. The flame condensed down into a tiny brilliant spark, before exploding outward into roughly egg-shaped mass of flame, maybe a foot in length. Two wing-like structures sprouted from the sides of it, and two streaks of flame at the larger end darkened to bright blue fire.
Fern collapsed onto the ground, breathing heavily as he felt energy start to creep back into his body. Summonings and Bindings were always power-heavy affairs, and he'd need a short rest before he felt ready to head into the tunnels. He sat back against a wall, and looked up at his new Summon. It flew around above his head, very much reminiscent in behavior like a bird, albight one made entirely out of fire. After a couple circles above him, it flopped down onto the stone, where it rested. Fern closed his eyes, and felt back inside him for his power. Finding the spot, he felt a connection extending out from it, a connection that as he traced it back, flooded with fire magic.
He opened his eyes and looked at his wrist, where an odd black tattoo consisting of intricately lined circular segments, almost like bracelets tattooed onto him. The area between the first and second was colored a dark, almost brown green. The space between the second and third was now a brilliant, bright red. He grinned, looking at the firebird sitting on the ground in front of him. "Well Nethis, nice to meet you." The firebird chirped, and took off again, leaving behind a scorched spot on the stone where it had been resting. "Well, that is good to note. Don't let it touch anything flammable." He touched a wide-mouthed stone flask attached to his belt. It seemed that it wouldn't be dead weight anymore.
-----
He started down into the tunnels, with Nethis flitting around his head, providing a torch-like flickering light to the steady red provided by the gem around his neck which he held up in front of him. When he was a couple steps down the tunnel, he heard a grinding sound, and spun around to find a stone door sliding shut on the room he had just left. It ground shut with a solid finality, leaving him off in a dead-end tunnel. "No turning back now...." He turned back to the tunnel in front of him, and moved onward, carefully watching the tunnel for anything that could jump out at him. A couple of minutes down the tunnel, and another corridor split off from it, leading off into the darkness. He looked around at them, checking both of them, and with a shrug, headed down the new corridor.
Sometime later, he was still walking through the corridors, without much having happened. Two of the crystals had lit up, so he knew he was making progress (six crystals and six hours to survive meant that one crystal likely equaled one hour of time spent in here). He'd brought enough food and water to survive, so he wasn't really wanting for that, although he would need to have a good meal afterwards. He could only hope that the crystals would help him find the way out, since he was well and truly lost by now. He'd tried backtracking a few times, but he'd run across intersections that he hadn't passed on the way forward, and after some trial and error, he had given up.
He turned another corner, and was about to continue onward when he heard a faint sound. A sound that was not caused by him or Nethis. He froze in place, ears straining. The sound approached him, getting slowly louder. He slowly turned around, too look behind him.
There were three eyes peering out of the darkness at him. Not three pairs - three eyes, one placed slightly higher than the other. A low growl emerged from the darkness, and the creature slowly emerged into the light of his crystal. It looked like a wolf covered in dark grey, almost black, fur were it not for several details, which Fern's mind very quickly picked up on as he scrambled to figure out what to do. Firstly, it had a third eye, placed in it's forehead between two regular ones. Secondly, it's paws appeared to be much closer to graspers than paws. And finally....it's mouth was triangle, with two sets of lower jaws, placed opposite each other. And it was open, having stopped growling, but there was a slight by steady drip of saliva coming from it's mouth.
Both entities stared at each other in silence, waiting to see what the other would do. Nethis flapped nervously, if it could be said to be nervous, next to Fern. A long minute passed as they looked at each other. Fern took a slow, careful step backwards, stepping away from the creature. The creature took a step forward, keeping the distance between them. Fern took another careful step back. The creature took a step forward. Fern took another step back. The creature took a step forward.
This obviously wasn't working. Fern considered his options. He could try and run away, but without some sort of head-start, the creature would be able to catch him really easily. And he really do much right now for fear of breaking the stand-off, and causing it to jump at him. He scrabbled around in his pockets for a moment, before grabbing a bit of jerky. He carefully put his hand out in front of him waving the bit of jerky in front of the creature's eyes. One of the eyes tracked the hand, while the other two stayed firmly on him. I hope this works.... With a quick flick of his hand he tossed the piece of jerky past the creature, into the darkness. The creature shifted it's head so that one eye could follow the path as it fell, but the opposite eye remained fixed on Fern.
Frowning internally at this failure, he considered his next options. He started rooting around for another few pieces of jerky, when Nethis, who he had previously been ignoring, made a little diving swoop just a little too close to the side of his head. Fern reflexively jerked away from the sudden heat, an act which took his eyes off of the creature for a split second. The creature leaped at him.
Several things happened very quickly. Fern dived to the side, trying to avoid the diving creature. Nethis, on the other hand, spurred by Fern's adrenaline rush and fear bleeding over the connection between them, dived at the creature. Fern barely managed to avoid the creature's dive, which tore part of his cloak off, and scrambled to his feet. The creature in the meantime, was about to launch another assault, when Nethis dropped into it's face, beating it's wings onto the creature's face. The creature shied away from the firebird, screeching in what appeared to be pain as it scrabbled against it's face, trying to keep the firebird away from it's eyes.
Not wanting to push his luck, Fern ran, mentally calling to Nethis to follow him, which the firebird did after a moment. He dashed down the corridor away from the creature, which didn't seem to be following him immediately, as a quick look behind him showed. Fortunate for him, at least, since he didn't fancy his chances of trying to outrun them.
It was about ten minutes when he stopped running, and leaned against the wall, breathing very heavily. Up until now, he'd had it pretty easy, and for that he was thankful. Now he'd have to try and watch for these creatures, and make sure he wasn't taken by surprise, because in quantities larger than one, that would pretty much be the end of him. He would need to be prepared, or at least ready.
First things first - he needed to check something. He grabbed a large jar that had been bouncing around on his waist, and unclipped the lid, and looked up to where Nethis was currently hovering near the ceiling. "Come here you!" He gestured at the open lid. After a moment of was appeared to be confusion, Nethis dived down to the jar, and after another moment of examining the opening, dived inside. Fern fastened the lid on the jar, and then left it alone, watching the jar and listening for anything that could be nearby. After a minute, he unfastened the lid. "Alright, out you." The firebird flew out of the jar, seemingly relieved at being released. Experiment success. Normally, he'd consider Nethis a bit of a hazard, given that it was a firebird, but now he knew that he could successfully hide it, which would be helpful.
A short time later, after continuing down the corridors, he heard the growling again, this time coming from both in front of and behind him. Great. Just great. He rooted around in his pockets, and pulled out a small stink bomb. Hopefully this would be helpful. Hefting it, he considered which way to run. Either way would have him trying to get past at least a couple of those creatures so.....left it would be. He tensed up, checking left and right as he waited for the creatures to catch up with him.
Once again, the first things that he saw were the triple eyes. This time, however, there were maybe 4 or 5 sets, and on both sides of him. The creatures slowly paced into the very edge of the light, all staring at him and growling. Revising his direction to right (there was one more creature to his left than his right), he took a deep breath, and prepared to violate common sense and dive straight toward the things that wanted to hurt him.
Fortunately for leaving his common sense unviolated, he was beaten to the punch as two of the creatures on his left jumped him. Not quite expecting this, he instinctively rolled with the impacts, managing to retain some level of control over his position. The creature's claws managed to grab a hold of his cloak, ripping it some as he tore it away, but otherwise avoiding them hitting fleshy bits. He punched one as he rolled, landing a lucky hit on the jaw of one of them, causing it to scrabble back for a moment in pain. Taking advantage of this, he launched himself from the ground into a sprint at the now weakened left side, smashing the stink bomb down behind him.
The stink bomb cracked, releasing a small cloud of greenish mist that stank to high heaven. The creatures in the immediate vicinity of the explosion shied away from the smoke, trying to stay away from the slowly expanding cloud. A moment later, Nethis, slightly behind it's Summoner's thought process, flew past them, diving through the upper edge of the cloud in the process.
The result was instant and bright. The gas was apparently very flammable, and it showed this property with explosive results. Fern stumbled and swore at the sudden burst of heat and flames that blossomed behind him, whilst the creatures panicked and ran, two of them slightly on fire from being at effectively ground zero. Fern skidded around a corner, and pressed flat, listening for incoming paws. Hearing none, he peaked around the corner, and ducked slightly as Nethis blithely flew around the corner as well. The flames having disappeared, he looked up at Nethis, and then down at the corridor. The firebird, apparently either unaware or uncaring of what had just happened, fluttered around near the ceiling.
He took a moment, and went back to the site of the explosion, keeping an ear out for the creatures, even if he doubted they'd be coming this way for a while. He knelt down and examined the scorched floor, before looking back up at Nethis as a slow grin emerged on his face.
"Well. This is interesting to know."
-----
And so the time passed, in a blur of running, dark corridors, and the occasional fiery explosion. He hadn't checked the crystal timepiece much during the first couple of hours, but now it felt like he kept glancing at it every couple of minutes, waiting for the last crystal to go out. As much as he was managing to survive, and use the various tools and materials he had brought with him to good effect, he was running low on them - he'd used up the flash-bangs and the restorative draught, and only had three of the stink explosives left.
The creatures, whatever they were, had become more dangerous now. They had learned his tricks, and were getting a lot harder to fight off. He had almost lost his left hand after one of them had noticed him about to throw a flash bang, and tried to get it away from him, while another time they had waited for him to waste a stink explosive, and then chased him after the blast died down. He'd gotten a deep cut on his arm that time, and he suspected that they might be tracking him easier after the good sample of his scent said blood had provided. Certainly, their ambushes had seemed to become slightly more dangerous after the fact.
The crystal timepiece suddenly glowed brightly, before fading into a pale glow. Confused, he picked it up and examined it. As he turned it over, the brightness alternately faded or grew brighter, at most reaching the brightness it was at before, but going down to no light at all. After some experimentation, he determined that the brightness depended on which direction it pointed on a horizontal circle. Pointing in a certain direction (currently into a wall) made it glow the brightest while the opposite direction made it completely dark. His best guess was that the light pointed him in the direction of the exit. It certainly made sense given that he needed to get out of here somehow, but finding paths that followed it would be tricky, especially if the creatures realized what he was trying to do and blocked him. Still, it was good to have a set goal.
And as it turned out, whether through luck or otherwise, there seemed to be a pretty direct set of tunnels that led where the crystal was telling him to go. Still, it was not long before he heard the growling of the creatures behind him, a sound that encouraged him to try and run faster. Hefting one of his stink explosives, he smashed it behind him, hoping to discourage them from the pursuit. While they did seem to be slowed down, they did not break off the chase. He skidded around a corner, and saw light up ahead, glorious light. Unfortunately skidding around a corner did no do wonders for his speed, and before he could start down the final corridor, he was smashed into the ground as one of the creatures tackled into him.
He felt the creature's claws dig into his back, although he didn't think it was enough to cause serious damage. He tried to roll over, to dislodge the creature somehow, but this was hampered by another one that bit into his arm and pulled, apparently trying to tear it off. The resultant surge of pain sent higher doses of adrenaline through his system that gave him the strength to tear his arm away from the creature's mouth, though he felt white-hot lines of pain as the teeth scored deep cuts in his arm. The creature on his back hand managed to tear off his cloak, but the sudden movement on his part dislodged it's grip on him, enough that he finally managed to roll over a little. As he did so, he heard the noise of pottery breaking, followed immediately by a whispered "Ohhh boy."
The creatures all flinched back as the greenish smoke of the stink explosives began to leak out from underneath Fern, who clamped his mouth shut as he staggered to his feet, managing to achieve enough balance to stand up, and checking the creatures, saw Nethis flapping around one's face, harassing it. Unfortunately, the moment it took him to see this was also the moment it took another one of the creatures, who apparently wasn't bothered as much by the stink, to tackle him to the ground for the second time in under a minute.
It growled in his face, giving him a face-full of hot stinky air and drool, in addition to the growing stench from the stink explosives. The creature leaned in, and he closed his eyes as he prepared to get a face-full of teeth. Oh gods oh gods oh gods not now not now.... With what he fully expected to be his last breath, he screamed.
"NETHIS! DO SOMETHING!"
The firebird, reacting to the sheer terror and energy that arced down the connection between it and it's Summoner, left the creature it had been bothering, and dived straight toward the one on top of Fern. As it dived, it began to burn brighter, the the very center of it's body being driven to the edge of blue flame. It dived onto the back of the creature straddling Fern....and exploded into a brilliant fireball the width of the corridor, igniting the stink explosive to further increase the size of the explosive.
-----
The three figures stood in the same large chamber as before, watching the entrance. The six hours had been up for a good 20 minutes now, and they hadn't gotten any signal that the student had been rendered unconscious, so for the moment they simply stood, patiently waiting for Fern to emerge. If he emerged.
He did emerge. Staggering up the steps, barely able to stay on his feet, his cloak mostly gone, and what was left of it was on fire along with various pieces of clothing and his hair, several deep cuts on his arms dripping blood onto the floor, and with what appeared to be bite marks on his head. Staggering to a halt in front of the three figures with the swaying air of one who was only staying upright through a combination of extreme effort and luck, he gave them the best grin he could under the circumstances.
"So this means I passed, yes?"
-----
Nutter and Maire visited him in the healing halls after the healers had pronounced him no longer in any immediate danger. Both of them were obviously torn between congratulating him, and fussing over him (Nutter leaning toward the first, Maire the second). After the obligatory "Are you alright?" "I am going to be in here for at least a week, what do you think?" exchange, Nutter asked the loaded question.
"So you passed on your first Exam. I told you there was nothing to worry about!" Fern rolled his eyes at this, whilst Maire punched Nutter in the arm. "Yes, and I am in the healing halls for a week just to recover. I am fairly sure this qualifies as 'something to worry about'." "Yes, but..." "Nutter, hush up and let him rest on his success." The larger guy threw up his hands in the face of Maire's glare, but nonetheless hushed up. "See, I did say I thought you were capable of doing it on your first try, right?" "You also said that about yourself." "Well, there's always an element of luck involved, isn't there?" "Obviously Fern stole yours." Nutter dodged the reactionary punch, and grinned, reaching out to pretend-ruffle the air a couple of inches above Fern's head.
"Good on you Fern, good on you." He grinned and nodded. "I am a fully-fledged Summoner. Now I actually have to figure out what to do with myself." "Well, you could always stick around, learn more and maybe give Nutter here the help he needs to pass..." "...or you could not be boring and go and see the world!"
Fern grinned and relaxed back into his bed. He'd find something to do, of that he was certain.
Last edited by
Krika on Mon Aug 12, 2013 7:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Krika
>Narra has tiny jerk people in her socks.
>We are affirming our collective jerkhood by committing genocide on them.
Guyshane
>I'm going to read the logs and pray that that sentence makes more sense in context
>No
>No it does not