ORIGIN

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Amazon glanced at the Masked Merchant as he spoke of rewards. She personally didn't care too much about "learning great magic". She was, after all, currently incapable of such. Knowledge and power? Not important. All that mattered was the possibility that her reward for surviving would be time. Perhaps infinite time, but she would be content if it was simply rolled back to the beginning, if she was given the same amount of time she was hatched with. That would be enough for her.

She set off into the desert at a surprisingly swift pace. The heat was pressing down on her, but she found that she didn't really mind it too much. Finally her claws seemed to have found a terrain that they very much enjoyed and she seemed to glide through the sand. She held her head high, finally a little proud of herself. The others would probably think of her as a pushover, too weak to make it through, but she was keeping pace with them fine and felt little discomfort as she made her way to the other end of the sands.

EDIT: roll for: make it through the desert safely and unnoticed

Amazon will be moving on

Mayngo felt uneasy, beginning to have second thoughts. He could never forgive himself if a Gembound was hurt, even killed, and he didn't help, but now Vinnie was coming into the Trial as well, and putting himself at risk.

But he couldn't change his mind, now, and so he listened to the Merchant. He wasn't interested in magic, wasn't very good at it, either. But Power? Perhaps it was strength? He was always open to being stronger, to being able to help others, more, to being able to fight.

And then... go, and he began to run forward. And it was hot, ridiculously so. He was a creature made for the forest, for shade and rain, not this insane dryness and heat. The Fossa began to pant almost as soon as he was on the sands, high stepping as they burned at his feet. They hurt, and he was certain they'd be charred by the time this was over.

And "SHIT!" there was a (thankfully pitifully small) sandworm lunging up at him from an angle. He lowered his head and rammed it with the skull-helmet, and kept running as it was flung aside, intending on getting away from where it had fallen.

Mayngo will be staying behind

Reseda glanced up at the Merchent, slowly pushing her way up to the group, revealing herself from the shadows. She glanced down at Amazon, her tongue flitting out for just a second before she smirked. "Hey there, squirt. Long time no see." Her eyes rolled over to the rest of the present gembounds, but made no comment or showed no interest to any of them. She was here to win. She was here for the power that the Merchant was offering her.

So as soon as possible, she set off, trudging through the sand.

Immediately she began feeling the effects of the heat. She was fine with the warm heat, but this scorching, dry burn was terrible. She took a deep breath and on the sigh out, magic was released around her, cooling the air around her skin (and only around her), making it at least bearable as she made her way through the sand.

She glanced back as a sound reached her ear and looked up. Two of the fliers were falling out of the sky, vulture-like creatures, stabbing and pecking at their bodies. She looked away and smirked to herself. Two less to worry about.

Reseda will be moving on

Styx stood tall, ragged ears pointed towards the Merchant. Something about it (he? them?) set his hackles to rising, and he stared it down as it spoke. He had little interest in magic, although he supposed it would be useful in teaching Gemlings.

And then they were sent off. The dog set off at a trot, not a lope. It was hot, and he began to pant. If he ran, it would be even hotter, he knew, and slow and steady wins the race.

And then there was a Sandworm leaped for him. He didn't make a sound, dropping to his stomach so that it cleared his head, dropping back to the sands. This time, when he rose to his paws, he broke into a lope to get away.

Speech. Thought.
Styx will be staying behind

As soon as the merchant lowered the barrier, Asimona set off. She was too hot. This was a mistake. Even the chilling aura she released wasn't enough to keep the surface of her skin cold enough. If only this was some kind of challenge set in ice-topped mountains with raging blizzards and cold, gray stone instead of a vast desert with unbearable heat and scorching hot sand. She panted as she pushed through, trying her best to release enough magic to keep herself cool.

But even with her superior size, she was falling behind the ground, trying to keep her energy output steady instead of using everything at once. They were ahead of her now and she panted as she tried to speed up her pace to catch up. There was a sudden shift in the sand beneath her, but she didn't take notice. That was a mistake.

She staggered forward as something erupted from beneath her. She hissed with surprise and then roared with pain as a gigantic worm smashed into the scales on the underside of her body. It didn't penetrate skin, but she'd probably be bruising from the force and she wondered if one of the massive scales had cracked.

She spat and hissed and clawed at the thing before she toppled to the side and over, facing the giant snake, big enough to be a match for her.

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags:
notes:

'This is a bad idea this is a bad idea this is a bad idea.'

The dog stood stock still, staring wide eyed at the Merchant. He was hunch-backed, tail between his legs, licking his lips nervously. Yoosung wanted nothing more than to turn tail and flee in the opposite direction, but that wasn't possible anymore.

So when the Merchant said, [i]go[/], he went, only stopping long enough to cast a Will o' The Wisp that glowed incredibly brightly. Only then did he bolt out onto the sands, haunch still dropped, tail between his legs, running as fast as he could.

I've been on a lonely tripdragging along a lonely shadow

Yoosung is continuing on

Death be my dignityExecute hemlock philosophyPoison fills the cup of the carpenter

Go, the Merchant said, and the Cobra was off. He worked to uncoil himself, loop after loop of muscle coming undone, before finally he was making his way across the sands.

It was hot, very much so, and he tasted the air, tasting the vultures in the air and the blood and the heat. And then there was a sandworm upon him.

He hissed, flaring his hood, and lunged forward to strike it with his fangs. Barely was he able to dodge it, twisting and coiling to wrap himself around the massive beast. It snapped at him, and they rolled across the sands in a tangle of coils and scales.

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

Ru waits, and watches the surge of gembound that flow forth, as if this were a race. They keep them all in their line of sight-or atleast tries to before they go over the dunes. The heat and wind hits it like a sandworm, unforseen, unforgiving, and with the force of a falling boulder. They sighed, a brief puff of air, nearly cool in the heat of Hydra, and readied their magicka.

They close their eyes, and then they pull at the atmosphere. For a moment they nearly fail to grasp it, it has been too long since they last readied a spell. But, almost miraculously, a backdraft forms, a familiar sensation, the wind whipping at their hide. It opened its eyes, expirementally trotting forward. It placed its hooves seperately, softly, slow and sure steps in the sands sped up by gusts of air.

Death waited for the slightest lapse in concentration. They noted with a mixture of amusement and dissapointment the gembound who were already being attacked in the time it took for them to ready their spell. Ru would help them, hope this would be their first lesson on Hydra. At the very least, an injured gembound was a easier target than itself.

Ru is staying behind

Quartz Eight-Six-Zero listened quietly as the Masked Merchant spoke. He didn't say anything, only glancing at those around him briefly before turning his gaze back to the entrance. As the entrance was opened, he tensed. He had forgotten how hot it was, and he could feel it even now.

Slowly, hesitatingly, he stepped out. It was hot. Unbearably so. He was not really made for temperatures such as this, but he'd have to do as well as he could.

Faintly, he could recall that noises seemed to attract the Sandworms. If he walked slowly, quietly, maybe he could get pass safely...If he didn't die from exhaustion first. And hopefully, his skin wouldn't burn too bad.

As he walked, he noticed many escaping unscathed...while others began to fall victim to Sandworms and vultures. He winced in sympathy, but he couldn't afford to stay behind. He noticed some others staying to - hopefully - help. With that thought in mind, he began to continue forward. At least he had succeeded and nothing was coming after him.

Eight-Six-Zero is moving forward

As the trial began, as the last of them left the tunnel, one of the untouched chrysalises stirred. It was out of the way of the rest--a slick black crack half-hidden under dust, oily in appearance. As it cracked apart, its shards falling away, a massive spider-limbed creature picked its way out.

It came to stand, after a moment, alongside the Masked Merchant, watching. A stretch of a limb, a flex of a fore-foot, and the faint spasm there told him that he'd been asleep longer than he dared imagine.

He hulked over the Merchant--easily double his height--yet he ignored him, for the most part, his neon yellow-green eyes picking out the distant shapes of the Trial's participants.

A rough, growling sigh escaped him. Heat again, sand--and sandworms--he didn't care how long it had been; this was always unpleasant. Though watching them struggle is worth it, he thought idly.

Vargas looked to the Merchant, shaking himself, his scales and muscles glinting in the bright light.

"I feel I've been asleep longer than before," he growled. But it seemed to be business as usual, and so he looked forward, again. He stretched one limb, then another, preparing. "How many of them out there? Any casualties yet?"

His voice was callously indifferent.

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Amazon

Mayngo

Reseda

Styx

Asimona

Yoosung

Naja

Quartz Five-Two-Four

Magnus

Vargas