The doorway was nothing spectacular: it simply was an arch chipped into the stone, leading into a gullet of seemingly-infinite darkness. No sounds of life—so characteristic of the Cave at large—rustled from within. It was almost like Tunnel K, impossibly barren and dreary. All that was missing was the mist. Note the lack of impending dread on that list, as Garnet-Delta was sure to start feeling as if something were—

"EMUH SEES YOU."
The massive owl-beast dissolved into a bout of hooting laughter behind the invisible little beastie.

Toxic eyes fixed on it like a twin pair of spotlights, leering down over a hooked beak. He gave it an appraising once-over. The entropic cascade of his quills melted away, transmuting into a cloying sanguine mass creeping over them.

His voice lost all its mirth as he spoke again, "WHY DO YOU BOTHER EMUH?" Eyes narrowed, feathers rustling and shifting against his flanks.

The owl-beast cocked his head one way, then to the opposite. An appraising glance quickly soured, but business was business—and this one could prove to be interesting in a test. It certainly lacked the blind bravado of some other contestants. "OF COURSE EMUH WOULD," he crowed regardless, eyes narrowed, before he sprung to oh-so-dutifully offer an answer.

"A HALL OF TRIALS." He whisked his way forward, talons barely grazing the ground. "A PROVING GROUND." Large as he was, the arch's girth swallowed him until he was little but eyes. "TEST OF WILL AND MIGHT AND MAGIC."

With no small amount of flair, Emuh threw his wings outward, the inky-black feathers catching the dim light.

"THIS," he crowed, "IS THE PLACE OF ASCENSION."

Emuh lurched forward, shadow falling harshly upon Garnet-Delta, and offered, "YOU-HOO SUCCEED AND BECOME ASCENDANT, OR YOU-HOO-HOO FAIL AND SUFFER. EMUH DOES NOT CARE." A subtle shrug accompanied the last part, more verbal than physical.

Putrescent green orbs, unmoving from the little beast, cooled abruptly; "WILL YOU MAKE AN ATTEMPT, THEN, OR WILL YOU-HOO FLEE?"

(Two could play at the ego game.)

Simply success or fail, indeed.

Emuh shuffled his wings as one adjusts their coat, a peal of crowing laughter barking out of his chest. "OOH-HOO-HOO, EMUH BEST NOT DISAPPOINT?" Putrescent eyes narrowed, voice dropping low, "LIKEWISE." He strode forward once, looming even as Garnet-Delta took to the air. The preparation did not go unnoticed.

The illusion of blood dripped off the owl-beast's slick black feathers, and spattered against the ground as he spun on his heel. Talons ground against the earth as inky wings spread wide and carried him into the corridor's oppressive darkness. There was little but a trace of him to be seen, and not even magically enhanced sight could pierce that blackness.

As with every trial, there was the grind of stone-on-stone, the earth churning and yielding its way into an entirely new shape. The stink of iron and the sound of liquid sloshing filled the air. Then—silence.

—
The hall bloomed into dim lighting, cast shadows intense, but faded. A path roughly as long as a gymnasium and two-thirds as wide stretched out in front of the airborne Garnet-Delta. On either side of it was what may as well be bottomless pits.

Along the path were a series of... contraptions:

The first was what appeared to be a large ring of jagged, rusted metal teeth surrounding a flat plate. Its base seemed to be perfectly blended into the floor, unmovable. Atop the plate was a stone bowl filled with a vaguely sweet-smelling, white liquid. It would perhaps be... startlingly appetizing. One could barely see the ridges of some shiny object in the middle of the bowl.

The second was a fairly big stone—flat on the bottom side—held up by a sturdy-looking piece of wood. A string, pulled taut, was attached to the stick, and tied to its end was a gleaming bit of gemstone: cherry-red, crystalline and jagged on the top side, and in the shape of a circle.

The third was a simple box. A loop small enough to fit snugly around the Overseer's neck sat in the only open side of it; it was attached to a thin line and a stake, which was then attached to a scraggly-looking, bent tree that was incredibly out of place. Something glittered from inside the box.

Directly in front of the cat hybrid was a wide, raised pedestal with three circular impressions, approximately the size of one's palm and an inch deep.

All down the corridor, there were various—and familiar—Lessers milling about: tunnel runners, walleyes, bush rabbits, oh my! Each of them kept a careful eye on their surroundings, unwilling to relax for a single second.

... and, there was a more sinister sort of presence—like the feeling of being watched. But, was that just Emuh... ?

Delta's magic took root in the walleye's bloodstream, and it drove deep. The rabbit shrieked as it moved without its own commands, limbs spasming in a poor attempt to regain control. Its eyes flashed their whites, rolling in their sockets. A cacophony of fretful noise echoed from the other Lessers as they scattered, looking for an apparent assailant—but, they saw only the feline hybrid perched innocuously atop the stone pedestal.

Situated before the trap, the walleye stretched its neck out, buck teeth seeking out the edge of the gemstone with confidence only a creature under another's influence could have.

The garnet's control slipped just as it found a good grasp, and the walleye bolted. A limb tangled up into the line connected to the red gemstone, and with a horrific snap! the stick propping it up broke.

The falling stone's crashing muffled the terrified screech of the rabbit as it was crushed, and the disc-shaped stone rolled away from the growing pool of blood beneath it.

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