ORIGIN

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Drawing water from itself turns out to be a rather poor effort. Fortunately, Polaris is moist enough so the train won't lose all sense of mobility, but a keen eye might see the skin begin to get suddenly... much less plush.

It seems the train's next intention is to trade one melodramatic tactic for another. It moves fully camouflaged through the crowd, though with its lack of moisture, the camouflage struggles to keep up and there is some lag, some glitching. Perhaps adding to the effect for some, perhaps taking away from it.

The train's path makes a loop around the center stage. If the next spell goes right, the entire room will be anxiously aware of this: a supernaturally implanted hyper-awareness of the position, but not what shape the next contestant is.

And perhaps that is an apt warning, given what is (hopefully) about to come next. The signal tails the motion of the train as it eventually winds into center stage, at which point, fail or success, win or lose, the most dramatic part of the performance will occur.

If we can even call this a performance.

For a moment, a perfectly camouflaged being stands in the center stage, and there is a dramatic silence. It lasts for a beat. Then another. Then another.

In this time, a portal to an infinity small fold in the galaxy is opened, for a single nanosecond. And it does. Nothing.

But the train seems satisfied. The camouflage is ripped away, and in bright, bold lettering, there is a familiar message written in some kind of runic.

ᚹᛖᛚᚲᛟᛗᛖ

The train stands there for a moment, flashing its colors in what is probably the most impressive display of its section of the show, before just... rolling away. Like nothing happened.

Well. Um. Who's next?

@Wilder (eat it up girl)

When her turn was up, Wilder stepped carefully out before the crowd. She'd done this before, a couple times. When she was a child and when she was...hm. The last time had not been her favorite experience. But the memories didn't sting now, in the ways that they had before, and when she cast her eyes to the judge's stand, she didn't fear that she would see Aure and Pride sitting there, like they had last time, only curious to see who was watching. The Overseer (ah, of course) sat and a few others seemed to turn a critical eye down, but she recognized no others.

It wouldn't have affected what she was going to do, either way. Her mind was somewhere else, rather then on who was watching her, who was judging. She had come up with this idea some days ago and had practiced and (hopefully) perfected it. It felt fitting, doing it in front of the Spire, and even a little strange with an Overseer's eye watching her from above. She wondered how it would be received, by those who already knew.

Time to begin.

"I am Wilder," she began, tail raised in greeting. "And I am going to tell you a story, a story that lives in all our histories, although few know its origins." She paused a moment and looked around, beginning a short pace, so that she spoke not just to the judge, but to all who were watching. "These caves are old, as I'm sure many of you know. Its history is that of blood, and war, these empty tunnels once rang with the screams and cries of beasts raised for battle. Monsters, bred and raised to fight, kill, and destroy. Chaos." As she spoke, she began threading magic into her words and lifting from where she paced came the sound of war - screams of monsters, clashing, bodies heavily throwing themselves against each other, roars of pain and fury...it was the sounds she had heard in Canis many cycles ago, and those she'd seen in visions of the old days. The cries of war, the roaring of valkhounds. "And then," she continued through the cacophony she raised, "Rebellion. Death." The roars changed their tenor, to something more angry, raising in volume for a moment, and then... "And then...silence." She cut off the magicka and the space went silent, distant echoes of her mimicry still bouncing around for a moment, before they, too, disappeared.

She let the silence hang for a moment, before continuing her story. "For a long time, there was nothing." Her voice was a little quieter now, softer, in the aftermath of the screams she had raised moments before. "For millennia, these caves were quiet, sleeping. There was nothing but the lingering, fading bloodstains, and the bad memories imprinted on the rocks. A history of violence that may never be scrubbed clean." She took a deep breath, as if to sigh, something mournful as she paused dramatically.

And then she turned with a sweep of her tail, and something light began to sparkled in the air. "But then..." As she turned on the spot, something appeared next to her. A ball of pale blue light that began to unfold and rise. A four-legged creature, with another four arms upon a risen torso. It was a silhouette, its features weren't clear, but it was obviously a centaur.

"Nature turned its eyes upon this forgotten nest." Her voice had risen again, from the quiet, mournful tone to something more hopeful and confident. "It saw our caves, empty, dark, nothing, and it saw hope and potential." As she spoke, the silhouette of Utzotl cantered slowly around her, as if thoughtful, occasionally making gentle motions with its arms, as if painting or running its hand through gently flowing water. There wasn't much of a face to it, as Wilder had never seen their image, but there was something so gentle in its movements.

"Nature itself could do little on its own, so it turned to Wisdom." The silhouette raised an arm suddenly and in the air above it, a pink and gold nebula swirled into existence and, from it, an owl rose. The two images began to step around each other, as if in a gentle dance, with Wilder off to the side, herself walking slowly around them. "With Natural Order creating the foundation, Wisdom - Autonomy - painted her life upon the canvas offered to her."

With the two figures of Utzotl and Hume stepping (and flying) around each other, Wilder's intent was to form a Spire between them, and many small crystalline animals from the ground beneath. But the magic began to slip and fail and she quickly veered herself in a different direction before she lost a handle on the cast she already had going. Her heart momentarily skipped a beat but she stayed on track.

"With wisdom at its side, that which it created was created with thought, feeling, and magic. Nature created the form, wisdom created the wonder."

She had the two turn and face the Spire not far from them, raising arms and wings before the crackling Skystone as she wrapped up her story, as if to raise it from the ground. "Together, they filled these caves with their miracles. Not for war, not for peace, but for the pure euphoria of being."

As she finished speaking, the two figures began to dissipate as the spell ended. Wilder quickly shifted it to that they disappeared into small orbs and stars, of prismatic blue and glittering pink. She was left alone before the crowd to finish her speech.

"They created us, the gembound, and gave us the gift of life without a tether, the freedom to forge our own paths. While they are not here to guide us, we do not need a leash - we are free, because they made us that way. We deserve to live." Hume's own words echoed in the last notes and she took a breath as her show wrapped up. She gave a small bow to the judges and nods to all the audience watching. "Thank you for listening!"

She was disappointed that the end hadn't quite gone the way she wanted, but things very rarely did. It was enough for her, that she had said what she could. She turned and stepped out of the spotlight, hoping that she hadn't crossed a line with that one.

@Gaheris

It was shameful to admit, but seeing the other contestants fail so... Dramatically, assuaged some of Gaheris' own self doubt. She was little more than an amateur herself. An amateur with ambitions that could kill her if she wasn't careful. But it was a risk she was willing - always willing - to take.

He would claw his way to greatness no matter the consequences. It was a journey he'd been born to undertake.

He arrived with burrowed object - a sack - inside were three mid-sized boulders, all a little bigger than a watermelon. Gaheris, with his willowy figure, struggled visibly to haul the sack into the ring. He took a beat to recompose, before beginning to deposit them in a row with a moderate amount of space between them. These would be his targets.

Introductions, introductions. The others had done this part far better than she had prepared for. "I bring little else but myself and my ambitions. I hope, in this moment, it shall suffice."

"I shall take a moment to caution onlookers. I aim to impress, not to injure - but the inherent instability of the magick I shall attempt to demonstrate is... Considerable. I hope to endanger no one but myself in this performance."

The first boulder. She approached carefully, a grace to her movements akin to a dancer. She rose to twos, wings outstretched, as she twirled with an odd amount of restraint. She let her iridescence catch in the dim light, the still air drag slowly against her fins, as if the layers of her body where a dress. The amount of steps it took, the languid movement of it all, it was all intentional. Every tensed muscle, all contact with the earth - it was stored around and inside her.

With all that build up, one would worry the pay off would be underwhelming. It threatened to be, the contact almost incidental. She brushed against the ball with her tail, with the gentleness of a golfer anticipating his next swing.

The boulder shot off like a bullet. The sound was incredible.

It took it a full ten seconds to make impact with a wall, the impact reverberating back to where the contest took place. Gaheris had to try very hard to brush the feat off as effortless, and to not hoot and holler and roll around in the dirt in sheer excitement and adrenaline. ahem.

He strode toward the second rock, pride evident in the melodrama of his every movement. He'd earned it, at least for a little while. This one he took in his bat-like wings, holding aloft as he sat back down on his haunches. His wings curled around himself, emphasising the object in his grasp. It held his full attention.

He took his time, lowering his body in a subtle, dramatic and anticipatory curl. His posture swept upward then, his wings scraping the earth as he flung his head backward. Then, his wings followed, and the rock place in them, hurled straight upward as his magick flared. This would be the first real risk he'd take.

But her luck held true. The rock held its arc a few metres above her head, before beginning its descent, threatening to collide with her nose. However, the invisible field stopped it inches before that fateful impact, and with a playful little boop, she sent the boulder into Orion's ceiling. It, too, collided with some force, and was audible to all present.

She was unsure how to approach this third trick yet. She wasn't even sure if it'd work - the knowledge of this spell had been in the back of her mind for what felt like an eternity. As if her summoning of this anomaly of physics had been innate, a destiny decided before she was born.

But she was no fool. She knew destiny did not exist, and that this spell was yet another thing she'd have to earn.

Gaheris approached the third rock, but stopped some distance away. He paused, staring blankly at his last victim. He then sat up again, for the last time, and spread his wings as far as they could go, as if to say BEHOLD. The rock began to clatter, unsettled by some invisible force.

It than to levitate, drawn upward to a point level with her chest. She took her sweet, sweet time with this spell, breaking down every step, drawing out every moment to milk it for every bit of tension she could. The rock then began crumbling with pressure, before shrinking. It was folding under its own weight.

With one final puff of dust and a resounding CRACK, the boulder that was there disappeared entirely, revealing what had developed in its wake. Reality itself warped sickeningly, the little light Orion had to offer being sucked in, forming a beautiful pale ring around the darkest of abysses. It howled - or rather, space howled around it. Air, drawn ruthlessly to the emptiness, ripped through Gaheris' long fins. She became wreathed in a great dust cloud as Orion rushed to fill the wound she'd torn - but not even the maelstrom could cloak the black hole. It stared outward at all those who'd perceive it, a single brilliant eye.

Her whole body seemed to shake with strain. In a final, jarring collapse, Gaheris collapsed forward, wings snapping together. The singularity disappeared in the blink of an eye, lest it pull in more than light, dust and gravel.

He let himself catch his breath, visibly shaken by this experience. He wasn't sure how to conclude after... that. He spoke anyways. "I shall re-iterate. I hath brought myself, my ambitions, and little else." He rose one last time, chest puffed toward the Overseer. A challenge.

"Did it suffice?"

A rhetorical. She made way for the next contestant.

@Yvan

Well, everyone was rather... serious. They had their stuff planned, and here Yvan was, glaive in hand and sort of just... standing there until it was his turn. He had to go after all that? Everyone had their own speeches and grandiose things. He was just here to cast magic.

Whatever. Just don't think about it. Don't think about how you're being so shown up right now.

Tensing his grip on his glaive, Yvan brought himself to the clearing, debris from the previous shows visible now that he was standing closer to it. 'Okay.' His tail flicked behind him and coiled in annoyed knots, blood rushing through his veins as he took in a deep breath.

With a flick of his weapon, he tapped the dull end on the ground, arm jerking in an attempt to send magic through it. Um. Brief bewilderment crossed his face and he tapped again, failing again, then grit his teeth and held his wings tighter.

Hopefully that wasn't too noticeable. All he could hear was the blood roaring in his ears as he concentrated, shuffling and turning in place to fully face everyone properly.

A deep, full-chested breath filled his lungs as he reared up on his hind legs, balanced precariously, and hoped upon hope to do what he planned on this time.

Forelimbs swept forward as he sparkled with pink lightning, the energy coalescing between his outspread toes and launching through the ground in rings of static when he struck with all his force. 'There!' His breathing came fast, worried yet excited. The air around him clung with a faint electricity; if he'd done better he could've been so much more impressive, but his magic wasn't usually visible. Not like this.

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Titivilus

Titivilus

ᚹᛖᛚᚲᛟᛗᛖ

Wilder

Wilder

Wilder

Gaheris

Gaheris

Gaheris

Yvan

Yvan