It had given itself a few days - that was all. Days to rest and recover at least a part of its mind. It knew, though, that it had left something behind in the nightmares, something had broken in itself and it would never be recovered. But for some odd reason, V-Ruby-One found itself okay with that. It was a fractured, broken thing but it felt more whole then it had in a very long time. Perhaps its entire life.

Because it felt purpose now.

It approached the place where it knew Emuh to reside. It was blatantly obvious to it, now, that its own inability to keep control of its own Chaos was becoming a problem. Perhaps this...would be the cure. Or at least an anodyne. Or, if anything, backup if it thought it was going to chrysalize again away from the Spire.

It stood, silent for a while, oddly so, before the focus slid back into its eyes and it called out, "Emuh. I am here to transcend."

The giant, rams-horned owl that landed before V-Ruby-One was silent for a moment, looking it up and down. Emuh examined claws and dark wisteria fur (which had somehow initially struck him as a pinky-purple, but on second viewing, was most definitely dark, subtle, lustrous even), and then snorted; the sparking electricity that danced across his ragged feathers switched abruptly to dripping, rancid Oil.

"OOH-HOO. WHAT A DISASTER." It sounded like an insult, yet somehow, not. "CANNOT SLEEP. MUST STAY NEAR THE SPIRE. REBELLIOUS LIMBS AND BURNING FLESH! SPARK-SEIZED MUSCLES AND WAKING DREAMS! -WAS THIS CHOICE, OR ACCIDENTAL?!" and here the owl cawed a harsh, rough laugh.

After a moment, Emuh stepped aside. "LET US SEE HOW WELL YOU CONTROL THESE THINGS!"

Wings flared, and Emuh vanished into the alcove. "COME! CHALLENGE YOURSELF AGAINST EMUH'S TRIAL!" The voice rang as though through a far larger space: and indeed the moment V-Ruby-One stepped inside, the shadows would seem to swallow it.

The room shifted, changing: a broad, flat plane, only dimly lit, extending off toward infinite horizons. The place smelled of old bones and dust. The only sound came from far below Ruby-One's feet, far below the plane of stone beneath them: a soft and distant scuttling.

V-Ruby-One's Trial of Transcendence has begun.

@V-Ruby-One

Its nostrils flared and something spiteful burned in its eyes at Emuh's comment. Did he know? Without it realizing, its lip curled and the beast in it screamed to DESTROY. SHOW HIM HIS PLACE! but it knew better. This was a foolish indulge that it would not be taking to - if it wanted the power it had come for, then it needed to behave.

At least, for now. It simply glared at Emuh, lips curling over black teeth and letting out a low warning growl, just enough to barely satisfy the roiling hate and anger churning in its gut. But it did not attack, instead bottling the fury - it would be released soon within the trial. "Chaos was not my choice, if that is what you are asking." Of course, it was quite its choice to feed into it, and those were choices it could not go back on now.

Would it even want to?

It turned and stepped past Emuh and into the dark space, blinking in the dim light, knowing that the faint glow that came with its body would potentially stand out against enemies that might be in this space.

The sound of scuttling beneath its feet caught its attention immediately and it looked down, snarling. Time to begin.

It didn't know what was down there - it didn't care. It was part of a trial, some created thing for this purpose, and so V-Ruby-One would DESTROY IT. The chaos it had been holding tight within at this moment surged and a stomp of a foot upon the ground sent its black magic into the rock, to break it apart and perhaps collapse any tunnels beneath its feet. Shut up the scuttling.

Almost at once, the earth split wide. The ground cracked before V-Ruby-One, and then the rift split, spreading rapidly. It would be a moment of precarious balance, of the rock beneath its claws shuddering and shoving upward--and then it fell still.

A ravine yawned deep and black below it.

And... things moved, down there. The scuttling was now louder, and deep below--forty feet? Fifty?--the faintest silhouettes were visible now and then as they passed through what very little light reached them from above.

Now and then, sets of glowing eyes and maws shifted upward, narrowing, snarling, as though they would love nothing more than to reach V-Ruby-One and tear it apart. In fact, they looked... rather like it.

"DOES IT RECOGNIZE THEM? DOES IT KNOW HOW TO SPLIT ITSELF IN TWO? DOES IT KNOW THAT ONE CAN FIGHT THE OTHERS? ...IF IT CAN CONTROL THEM... OR WILL IT RESORT TO ITS MAGICS? -CAN IT CONTROL THOSE? WHO KNOWS? ...WHO?"

1/3

@V-Ruby-One

The precarious balance for a moment set V-Ruby-One into a a state of panic. Had it lost control already, would it send itself tumbling into the abyss? But then the rocks stopped moving and it had its footing still. Enough footing that it felt comfortable standing close to the edge, leaning forward to look at what was below.

It knew of fission. A little bit. But it had never attempted such a thing itself. WHY NOT? MORE OF US, MORE CHAOS!! But it had an answer ready - because it had hated its chaos for most of its life. It was only coming to terms with it now because of the visions and the wars and the purpose instilled within it. Still, the sight of what looked like copies of it, that it had not willingly made, sent a violent disgust through its body and a raging hatred that was so comfortable and welcoming, an old friend embracing its shoulders.

THEY ARE NOT OURS! WE DID NOT CREATE THEM!! AND SO THEY MUST DIE!! It snarled its agreement, paying little attention to what Emuh was screaming in favor of dropping to its knees and gripping the edges of the ravine.

Eyes gleamed as it willed the things to burn. It was so far away, though, out of its reach, almost, that the fire it created was weak, an ember, but it was something.

Content Warning
This post contains potentially sensitive material:

gore

It wasn't... much. It was cold, it was violet fire, it was enough to flare downward and for a moment it seemed as though it had gone out. Certainly it was far too far away--forty or fifty feet for a weak spell. But it did flare briefly upon touching one of the clots of fur and Oil below, and reignited in a weak spark and flickering purple flame.

All of the eyes swivelled upward. Every single creature stopped.

It had been enough, at least, to provide light: enough to show V-Ruby-One what it was that they were facing. Dozens of themselves, but misshapen: crooked, missing parts, slicked with oil. One had a skull half-exposed as though the flesh had burned or rotted away. Another had a tongue lolling out where the lower jaw was missing--and it leered, grinning upward. Others shambled, or limped; one dragged itself, entrails smearing black Oil behind it, its entire bottom half missing entirely.

To destroy them--be it merciful, or filled with hatred--V-Ruby-One would require a more powerful magic.

2/3

@V-Ruby-One

They didn't burn. They weren't destroyed. But it could see them and it hated them, hated them for existing, hated them for looking at it with such malice when they were copies of IT. It hated them, oh it hated every one of them, from their misshapen bodies and cracked jaws to the leering eyes and the grins like they were mocking it.

NOT US. NOT V-RUBY-ONE, NOT HELION! DESTROY!! CONSUME!!! ERUPT!! ERUPT!!

ERUPT!!!

And it did just that, with a ferocious roar, fire and ash and smoke and lightning erupted from its body, raining its devastation down upon the broken fissions that it so hated, even as Helion SCREAMED as the oil dripping from its own body lit on fire and seared burns into its skin, burning away bits of fur and flesh, but not so much that it was dying.

RELISH IN IT. YOU ARE CHAOS!! And it did, it loved the burn, it loved the instability. It came with destruction, it came with death of its enemies. For a moment, it was back in the blood-red wars, where every blow that fell upon its hide was euphoria, every injury it suffered was intoxicating. It grinned and rode through the agony with joy, clenching its teeth in a wild, feral grin as it watched them burn.

At first, what fell--plummeting into the steep, dark gap below--didn't seem enough to kill everything. It was brutal, yes. Devastating, even: plunging rocks shrouded in Chaotic flame tumbled down like meteors. It was a showcase of the power of Chaos, and in the distance, even Emuh made a croak of approval. Still, only a few of the creatures were struck... at first. These collapsed, howling in frustrated rage, in agony. But more stood, rushing in.

Yet now the magic seemed to escalate, as though something else entirely had taken by its spell--or been taken by it--and added to its power. Massive Chaos fireballs formed in the darkness above V-Ruby-One, rushing downward in roaring crackles. Some struck the sides of the ravine. In moments, the entire ravine was collapsing: filled with violet fire, the cracks of neon green lightning shattering stone from its edges and its walls. The screams of pain and fury echoed upward, and the glimpse of dozens of copies of V-Ruby-One dying in flame, or crushed by tumbles of rocks, or seized or even burst open by lightning, proved a vision of horror all its own. The roar of destruction filled the ravine, and V-Ruby-One's ears, and the entire room-

...And then it all faded. The lights brightened. The ground had smoothed over. The fire vanished--and now Emuh was landing before V-Ruby-One, looking it up and down as if assessing. A nod, as the same violet flame crackled down along its feathers, and then it stuck out a taloned foot to rap the beast at its chin. "WELL DONE!" Emuh crowed, even as the sense of falling struck V-Ruby-One. It felt as though the world was falling away beneath it. As though its magicka were being hollowed out, scooped away to leave an empty place that grew larger by the minute.

"PERHAPS NOT WELL-CONTROLLED, BUT CHAOS IS INNATE IN ITSELF! NOW GO. -GET OUT," Emuh added, and a blast of Black Winds shoved at V-Ruby-One, aiming it for the open door.

3/3

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

It has also learned the spell:

Font of Corruption:

Transcendent Intensity Manipulation. Impart a portion of the user's magic to convert an object or small body of water into black Oilstone or Oil as a true source of Corruption. This Font will corrupt anything nearby over time, granting Corruption Points and providing a place for corrupted Gembound to stabilize. Transcendent spells may be used once per thread.

@V-Ruby-One

It would not have been satisfied with only a few of the copies being destroyed - had its own spell not proved sufficient enough, it would have continued past the end of the trial it would have continued to burn and devastate until NONE were left. But then from the unseen sky, chaos rained down, flaming meteors bolstered its own magic and the screams and cries of its enemies below was a sweet melody as it gripped the edge of the rock and hissed.

Yes. YES. What beautiful destruction, what glorious chaos! It was the storm of war, visions of nightmares, it fed its endless craving, emptied the part that had been hollowed out, and it was no mere nightmare. It was Emuh's power, it could feel the heat and the static in the air, it could hear the screams ripping into its mind as if they were its own.

THIS IS WHAT WE WERE MAD FOR!! Yes, yes it is!! This was right this was real...

And then it was ending. The room faded and there was nothing but the ram-horned owl landing before it again. It blinked, staring, its mind not quite catching up to reality, and then it was hollowing out, and it didn't know what to do but lash out, its magic shifting and warping into something not quite right - it felt its saliva thicken for a second, but it made no moves to bite or use it, just staggered back with a hiss.

But it knew what this was, it wasn't a fool. The moment of panic dissipated and suddenly it was being thrust out of the room. It stumbled the rest of the way, tumbling to a stop, and sat up quickly, a bruise on its pride from the suddenness of its leave, but Emuh was gone. The room of Transcendence closed.

It was still for a moment, glaring at the closed door, but it was a slight that it could forgive - after all, it had passed his test and now had more within it. It felt hollow, weak, but it had been told already of this - Azrael had passed the knowledge to it long ago. It would be hollow for a while, but then it would be so much more. It rose to its feet slowly and made to stalk back to Draco, holding its chest with one hand as it cast its mind back to its test, relishing in it, reliving it in memory. YES. We will be CHAOS!!
*exit