Wilder leaned back, frustrated. Well...shit. That hadn't been any kind of help at all. She looked between the three crystals, trying to work over what that vision had meant, what she was supposed to do. She could...knock the blue one over, move the yellow one? But had any of those visions actually shown her succeeding? For all she knew, they were fruitless attempts to do something.

She wanted to return to her first idea. Hopping off the pedestal with the pink crystal, she instead scrambled onto the middle empty one. She could see the dip it in, feeling at it with her paw, before she nodded to herself, sat down, and focused. The spell was intense and difficult to cast, and she was worried relying on it now, but she willed hard enough, pulling from her very core, to raise a crystal, right into the shape of the pedestal's notch.

The gem formed a little slowly and the final produce - a clear quartz crystal - wasn't as big or as perfectly shaped as the others, but hopefully it would do, if something was supposed to happen with that.

The stone formed, a silence reigning through the room. Only the soft hum of the crystals provided any feedback, and it was neutral: there was no surge of power to indicate one way or another if Wilder were doing the right thing.

It was remarkably unhelpful, but at least she wasn't dying...

@Wilder

Wilder frowned. Okay, that hadn't worked. Now there was a crystal stuck on this last pedestal and she sure hoped that it wasn't going to get in her way. Sitting down next to it, she stared at the three crystals again, wondering if Emuh was cackling about how stupid she was. At least she wasn't just straight failing every attempt.

She turned her attention back to the visions. She had been moving them around...maybe? But obviously she'd done something wrong with the pink one. Did she need to look further? Was there more that it was waiting to reveal?

She huffed and closed her eyes, willing more images to show her more - she was moving the crystals, but where would they go?

The images, this time, were slightly less clear--fleeting, flashes of color with vague shape. It wasn't entirely certain which vision was 'correct,' or even if some came together or were separate possible futures entirely. But it would, at least, be possible to make out the images of the golden light that cascaded from the center of the room, hovering over the pedestal there.

Wilder would see the pink stone on its side, and see herself pacing past, breathing as if to rest from some great effort.

She would hear her own voice--"You can talk?" in shock, though this came with no imagery; and again, the spears of crackling magic reaching for her body as she hissed her disapproval, trying--and failing--to flee.

Another future: all stones lying silent on the rock, flaring their colors, Wilder sitting at the center with a frustrated, lashing tail.

2/3

@Wilder

Wilder came out of the vision with less confusion then before. Despite the many threads of future possibilities that kept coming to her, she focused on the image of the golden light in the middle. It was no longer to her left but where the pink had once been.

She turned to the golden crystal and hopped off the pedestal, making her way over to the base. She reached out with her magic, grasping onto it and pulling it away from where it was floating. She moved it along, her eyes following it inch by inch, and when it got to the center pedestal, she had it nudge at her own made crystal, to move it out of the way to clatter on the ground so that it could take its place.

As the golden crystal reached the center of the room, it sped up--almost snapping into place above the pedestal as if drawn by magnetic force.

And--strangely--for the briefest moment, Wilder would feel as though another mind tried to touch hers. It was faint--the barest whisper of a voice, another mind brushing hers. But it was there. And it had, it seemed, come from the golden crystal as her magic had embraced its power and its form.

@Wilder

She was about to turn and go for one of the other crystals, then, when she felt a mind brush hers. She paused and turned towards its source - the soft, almost innocently glowing golden light of the crystals stared at her expectantly. She hesitated, and then sprang up onto the pedestal again. She reached with her magic to try and get a connection to whatever it was that she'd sensed, but nothing came of it. Still, she lingered next to the crystal, seemingly forgetting that it could, at any moment, straight up blow her up.

"Is someone there?" She asked, towards the crystal, but also around the room, looking around to see if there was someone else casting spells her way.

It felt, for a moment, as though something resonated in answer--but there were no words, only the faint whispering hum of the crystals' power. This power did intensify, again, the crackling which had been softening to a background sound growing hissingly louder.

Beyond that the room lay quiet. If Emuh watched--perhaps motionless and breathing softly, or shuffling impatiently in place--there was no sign, no sound to give him away. There was only the challenge, the crystals, the room--and Wilder.

@Wilder

She waited for a moment, the utter silence of this place almost off-putting and she once again reached for the link with Vaati for a bit of reassurance. It wasn't a demand for encouragement or words, just a need to feel like she wasn't alone.

After a few seconds of this, she focused back on the task at hand (or paw) and reached out again with her mind to connect with the crystal. This time she felt it like it was sliding into place, the magic gently grasping for what magical mind dwelled in this place.

The touch of magic found an echo: a resonance, a return voice thrumming through her mind. With it came the faintest sense of confusion, touched by a final note of sorrow.

"Who are... ah... We are new. Trapped. We remember... nothing. Only--oh... it is-... over. ...Goodbye." Already it was fading--as were the crystals. As were the pedestals, the light, the crackling wisps of magic--indeed the entire room was returning to a dim, bland light.

A flutter of black wings, and Emuh was again landing before her.

"FINALLY," he squawked, the magic around him shifting to pale twists of violet-pink. An enormous taloned foot shot out, claws reaching for her head, to touch and gently grasp. At once it felt as though a jolt of power surged through her--and away, leaving her feeling strangely empty.

That new sensation--being drained, hollowed out--would take time to fade. "YOU ARE DONE. NOW GO," he commanded, turning to hop away a few feet, before taking flight back through his cave.

The round door behind her, with its circles, slid back away--and the lights began to fade, leaving the little cave in empty darkness.

3/3

Wilder has Transcended. She is now a Transcendent Pupil, and may work her way back up to Transcendent Master. Upon attaining this rank, her player may post in Update Me to choose a Specialization (viewable in the Magic section of the Guidebook).

She has also learned the spell:

Astral Projection:

Transcendent Intensity Transformation. The user may project their entire personality, magical knowledge, and memories into either their familiar, or an incorporeal arcane phantasm. This can be controlled by the user to travel, communicate, cast spells, and if through a familiar, physically interact with the world. The user's body will be unaware and helpless for the duration. This spell can be used to escape death by allowing the user to take over the body of their familiar, instead--effectively killing the familiar in the process. Transcendent spells may be used once per thread.

@Wilder