He was already feeling the strain of his magic use.

...Hell.

Pride glanced back at the new pedestal, and at once made what he hoped was the right assumption: the rock had to be moved over to that. Okay.

He could do that--he hoped. He shot his gaze back to the white rock, and suppressed his impatience, his urge to just grab it and haul it over with his mind. Too risky. I can't risk that, he insisted to himself, and tried again to translocate it the safe way.

The rock at Pride's hooves vanished. In its place sat a glimmering white one, giving off bright diamond-clear light.

Between Pride and the pillar at the other end of the room--the empty one--a number of floating rocks began to rise and hover, entirely blocking his path. They were held in place, it seemed, by magic: but too heavy to simply be shunted aside. The stag would have to find some other way to get the rock where it seemed to need to go.

Somewhere--everywhere--in the room, Emuh's beak clicked thoughtfully as he watched.

Pride stared, and took a breath. Okay, so there were rocks now floating in his way. He could... try to translocate the stone past, or just mentally push it through the barriers--a telekinetic grip should do it--but in truth, they were now partially blocking both movement and vision. He couldn't really see where it was he had to take the stone to.

The white stag leaned down, carefully touching the stone with his nose. When it didn't sting him or the like, he picked it up in his teeth, and looked again toward the rocks ahead. Perhaps a magical singularity could clear them-? This in his mind, he concentrated.

A black hole flared up at the center of the field ahead--not as strong as he'd have liked... but perhaps it would at least clear his path for him. Just... enough of a path.

Most of the rocks remained untouched, a tad too far from the relatively weak singularity. But enough were drawn in, sucked into its lightless pinhole depth and crushed away with an unpleasant series of crunches, to clear a path for Pride.

It was narrow. There were still hovering boulders throughout the playing field, in his way, but he could squeeze through now, at least.

The empty pillar awaited. But before it, now, a thin barrier of crystal began to rise: growing up around it, blocking it from Pride.

Another test, perhaps; and one that a black hole would also destroy, but at the risk, were it not precise, of taking the pillar with it.

The ground again rumbled, the cracks spreading further.
2/3

Worry spiked into fear.

The ground was shattering.

Pride leapt forward, racing with clattering hooves, the white stone gripped in his teeth. He pushed his way, squeezing here and there, through the stones--ignoring the screeching chatters of the Echoing Grays now far behind him. His run was still a limp, and he winced at the pain, but the boulders prevented full speed regardless. He kept his concentration as best he could, eyes on the pillar ahead--until a thin barrier began to erect between he and it.

Annoyance, almost indignation, spiked through him. That wasn't fair-! He'd made it this far, passed these foolish tests; how often could this damned owl keep changing the rules? His magicka lashed out, fierce, in an attempt to simply remove the barrier. If the owl could toy with reality, then why couldn't he-?

If he can do that, then so can I, he thought.

The crystalline barrier--even as the floor continued to slowly disintegrate--seemed to fade and shift. Parts of it vanished, or reformed, distorted and atop other parts. A simple kick could likely clear it, now, its entire form not removed from reality, as the white stag had desired, but half-unmade.

Above, the black owl-beast gave a short cry of indignation, itself, but fell quiet; it was fair. It was, after all, a test, and Pride was proving his worth.

The stag had made it: all that remained was to smash the barrier, and place the stone. And that would be no challenge. The owl descended, the rocks behind the stag vanishing slowly, Emuh waiting for Pride to finish.

3/3

Ears flattened back at the harsh sound the owl made. At the screeching, enraged, of the Lessers. Pride reached the distorted barrier, his breath coming fast, his heart racing in his chest. Hooves kicked out at the stone, shattering it, and he placed the white shining rock atop its pedestal.

He then turned, looking around with wide eyes, waiting for whatever happened next.

Was there another step-? Or had he finished whatever the black owl wanted him to do?

All around, the room began to distort and twist, the rock reforming beneath Pride's hooves. The gap closed. Violet-gray became brown, the cracks smoothing over. The Echoing Gray, the floating stones, the pillars--all vanished.

He was left in a plain, brown room, dimly-lit, the black owl-beast hovering above him: standing, but vastly tall. "GOOD," the owl hooted, glaring at the stag. "YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO UNDO MY ROCK. BUT YOU HAVE EARNED YOUR TRANSCENDENCE. YOU HAVE PROVEN YOUR WORTH, AS DID THE ONE THAT CAME BEFORE YOU." As if to, rather nastily, point out that Pride hadn't been first.

The owl cackled, a grating screech, and then spread its wings. Their shadow fell across Pride, and Emuh's eyes seemed to flare with impossible, blinding green: and the magicka that burst forth from him rocked into Pride strong enough to make it feel, for a moment, that the stag might simply explode, unable to contain it. It was a burning, swelling sensation, rising through him and pulsing through every particle of his body, almost too intense to bear.

Yet it swiftly faded, leaving Pride drained, as though all his magicka, all his power, had been taken from him.

But something remained. The stag would note, at once, a sense of new potential... as if a vessel had been emptied, but enlarged, so that it could refill with far more than it had held before. And some new knowledge lurked at the edge of Pride's mind, a teasing promise waiting to be unlocked.

"NOW GO. NO MORE QUESTIONS! -YOU HAVE ANSWERED THEM YOURSELF," Emuh boomed--and flapped his wings, a blast of wind shoving Pride from his cave.

What's happening-? What is this?! He hardly had time to think, his body burning, twisting, swelling--and he staggered, wondering in horror at the magnitude of the mistake he'd clearly made. Yet before he could do much more than realize, it was fading: a horrid, pulsing sense of emptiness searing every cell.

He stood legs braced, head low, gasping for breath--and then a wind had thrust him out of the cave.

He hardly heard Emuh's words, barely registered them; he didn't notice much of the chrysalis that lay nearby, nor did he recognize it or realize what had happened, now that he himself had gone through something so traumatic to his body.

The white stag struggled to stay standing, blinking. He tried to briefly soothe the frantic familiar along his link, Mischief battering at his mind with worry. She was coming, he knew; but he had no reason to stop her, now.

He swayed, and tried to take stock of his body.

...His magic was weakened. He could feel that. And yet--the potential for more was there, now. As if a limb had been shattered, but would grow back more strongly than before. It hurt, but there was a strange strength in it. And... what was this, that tickled at the back of his mind? Some new spell? He couldn't make it out, and he reached for it, tentatively, with what little magicka reserves remained.

What is this? he wondered. It was like finding a diamond lying on the floor--no, a diamond splinter in one's flesh. It didn't belong there. It hadn't been there before. Yet it was something precious, no discarded trash but a treasure, and he wasn't sure how it had come to be.

The magicka flickered up, then faltered, and he grimaced as he realized just how weakened he now was. This would take... time, to correct.

This was bad. But first--rest. Rest, and drink, and food.

Pride turned and staggered from the doorway, barely able to keep his feet--resolving to get somewhere safe as soon and as fast as he could.

exit Pride