James slowly made his way forward, head low and wings tucked in tightly, heart beating like a rabbit's, quick and fast with anxiety. He was nervous, that was for sure, despite Comet waiting in the tunnel for him, waiting on his return.

And his success.

Oh how he desperately hoped it was a puzzle and not trying to Mindscream some poor animal into killing itself. He'd turn around right then and there if that were to happen. He didn't ache for this new magic, this new purpose, that easily.

"Emuh?", he called out, as loud as he could without shouting, "I've come to bargain- I've come to take your test!"

He knew that Pride took it, that Comet took it, and that they'd both succeeded and become more powerful than before. If James could harness such a thing, then perhaps he could protect the ones he loved even better than he was now. He could become a teacher like he always wanted, and learn a spell from each element he knew of, and be able to demonstrate and help children learn the building blocks needed to become excellent spellcasters.

It would take time, but he knew he could do it, and it all started here.

He hoped Tahi and Comet and Kaimana and Pride would be proud. He hoped he succeeded.

"... I've come to take your test!"

Without so much a shift in the Place of Ascension's shadows, toxic-green eyes peeled open. They leered from high above the horse, tilting this way and that. Emuh's voice croaked, "HAVE YOU, NOW?" The sickly film dissipated from his slick black feathers, and a violet aura flickered off the quills. A low whisper surrounded him.

"HM, YES," the massive owl hooted, "YOU HAVE, AND YOU SHALL."

He took to the darkness before James could even mouth the word what?—if he did. Every wingbeat was silent, leaving the corridor deathly-still for a moment...

... then, the room began to shift underfoot.

—
What little light James had for visibility disappeared behind the walls rising around him. Stone ground against stone, and the peculiar sounds of gemstone splitting and gurgling wetness filled the air. A surprisingly sterile scent filled the air, followed by a faint musky odor.

A single orb-light fizzled on. It flickered at first, but grew steady in its glow. A glow which illuminated James's new confines: a box with solid walls and a ceiling. The roof was higher up than the room was wide, but there was not enough room to get a running start. Each wall was smooth and solid except for the one in front of him, which was a sheet of clear crystal.

Behind the window were three smaller cages. They were just as bare and smooth as the horse's, but the back wall curved down and out of sight. Each opening fell into a box that was situated beneath their respective cage. On the bottom of each box was a circular button—or were they plates... ?

From left to right, the cages contained what might be recognized as a Frostbiter, Lurker, and a Golden Charger. The first and last seemed to be posturing at nothing; the Lurker simply coiled in its place, staring straight ahead with great wariness. None of them noticed James standing there.

@James

James flinched at the appearance of eyes, tail swishing nervously. He exhaled and went to speak before the other did first, and disappeared again. His head raised and his head twitched back in confusion, before he felt the earth shift under his feet.

He whirled around, wings fluttering in alarm as the walls raised, but before he could take flight, they were much too high to scale, and there wasn't enough room for a takeoff. He was trapped.

"You're fine, you're fine," he mumbled, facing one of the walls and backing up, his rump bumping into something smoother than stone.

The darkness leeched away, the scent of the place changing, and he froze, light slowly filling the room.

He turned, slowly, and stared at the serpents, wondering how they got there and what purpose they served. He shifted nervously and analyzed the plates, the boxes, and the glass itself. Clear, which was weird, and thin enough to see through. He stayed still and just watched, biting at the inside of his cheek, considering his options.

Try to break the glass. Try to get the snakes to fall out of their openings. Try to get the snakes to break the glass?

... Perhaps he'd try option two, he didn't want to hurt his legs or get crystal shards embedded in his legs, and he didn't want to do that to the snakes, either. Perhaps he could frighten one into going towards the opening in the back.

And no dice. He let his head fall and inhaled, frustration immediately making itself known.

The stallion's magic bounced harmlessly off the serpent; it stayed where it was, still posturing and hissing straight ahead.

He had more chances, but the slow grinding of the window was an ominous warning. It lowered slowly, only an inch per minute—for now. Stagnant air blew in through the miniscule crack.

@James

James was mostly smart. Once that window lowered, the snakes would be let out into his section of the room. And that would mean a bite, and then... death.

He inhaled and exhaled, trying to calm himself. He had time! He had plenty of opportunities to do this right, to scare the snake onto that plate and... do something. What those plates did would be discovered soon enought.

The magic, this time, took hold on the Frostbiter. Trying to scare the thing probably wouldn't work, but if James could trick it into striking and falling down that hole, it would be better, so he mimicked the sound of prey, the squeaking of a mouse, the panicked cries of an injured bird. Taking a page out of the Quarry's book. He tried to make it seem like there was prey, something worth striking at, something worth eating or attacking.

The frostbiter jolted away in an instant. It was captured by the sudden sound of mice and birds, but peering about yielded no results. Fangs bared at the glass and a tail smacked against it, but the gesture didn't seem entirely aimed at James. Perhaps its reflection in the window... ?

Either way, the snake ventured back in search of these prey items it could hear so clearly, coming from all directions at once. A startled puff escaped it as it tumbled down the chute, falling directly onto the plate. It coiled up and lunged at thin air.

The plate, now with a weight on it, ground so that it was flush with the floor. There was no immediate reward for James's intuition.

1/3

@James

Well, the plate didn't do anything, but it seemed to depress, so it had to be a button of some kind. Perhaps all three had to have weight on them. At least it was one less snake to worry about for now. Now all he had to do was trick the other two into moving. The Lurker seemed like the least likely to be moved, at least at that moment. He'd save that one for last.

He focused on the Charger instead, and from it's appearance, it seemed to be the one that his daughter had brought home once, thankfully dead. It was armored, and like the Frostbiter, posing at nothing. Perhaps it could be exploited in the same way, by trickery. It was worth a shot.

The spell failed again and James' heart started to race. The Charger and the Frostbiter seemed to be the most dangerous snakes, judging by the way they reared and posed, suggesting that they lashed out and struck, most likely with venom, like a few snakes he'd seen in Eridanus during his brief time there. The one in the middle was thick and heavily muscles, like a constrictor, and as long as it didn't get around his neck, he would probably be fine.

Miss.

The window lowered a little faster, now. The lurker tilted its head upwards to regard the shift with a dimwitted indifference.

@James

James was getting nervous, now. Of course, should anything happen, he could cast his shield spell and reluctantly stomp the snakes to death, should they prove aggressive and dangerous. He didn't want to, he didn't even want to frighten them too much. He'd killed a rabbit once for his child to eat and he'd felt sick for days, and still woke up sometimes with guilt heavy in his chest. Over a sick rabbit.

But there was still a trial that needed to be passed. Failure wasn't an option. He was going to make his family proud, and he was going to come home with fresh abilities. Weakened, perhaps, but stronger in different ways.

The backlash was horrible.

His spell backfired and he couldn't even see or hear past the sudden screams of anguished lessers and greaters alike. He didn't know them, didn't recognize the voices, but it didn't matter.

James reared and slipped, falling onto his back and landing hard, thankfully snapping him out of it, but hurting himself in the process. He shook like a leaf as he rolled onto his side, slowly pushing himself up, blinking away tears.

After this, he was never using that spell again. His brain felt fried.

The window lowered faster and faster, providing a terrifying backdrop to the visions James had plagued himself with. It stuttered like the ticking of a clock.

The lurker stretched itself up, six eyes gleaming in the dim light the cage offered.

@James