The beast prowled towards the edge of Polaris, where he had heard, once, of a tunnel. Where a master waited to test the worthy, test their strength in magic to make them stronger. And Azrael, always the one to push himself further and further, decided that it was time - time to accept the strength he desired. He wasn't sure how he felt about the weakening some had talked about, but if, in the end, it was worth it? Then so be it.

He could power through. He would become STRONG. There were others that had transcended first. Others that currently wielded magic greater then his. This was completely unacceptable. He would be stronger then them - stronger then ALL of them. Why? To protect himself. To prove his strength. To protect Forgraves and Banshy. To fight those he saw as worthy to fight. To bring the darkness with every step.

Stopping at the edge of the tunnel he sucked in a great breath and bellowed. "EMUH," he roared. "I AM HERE FOR YOUR TEST!"

Oh, he could sense that fiery rage as soon as the beast set foot in the Place of Ascension - and how mighty it was. Emuh's burning-bright eyes stared down as he swept out of the dark and came to loom over Azrael. "WHO ARE YOU?" Ram horns glinted in the not-too-distant light of Polaris as he tilted his head, feathers crackling like breaking ice, throwing shadows into the air.

Not even five seconds passed before he apparently had his answer.

The owl's wings unfurled from his sides, and he sneered, "YOU SHOULD HOPE THAT YOU ARE AS STRONG AS YOU ARE LOUD!" In a single beat of his wings, he was gone, and the room started to shift. The earth beneath Azrael churned, pushing him into the steadily darkening chamber. Creaking persisted around the gymnasium-sized room, echoing, and then there was nothing.

In a sudden flash, the walls lit up, a million baubles strung along them. The floor was strangely bare, aside from three tangles of old briars, branches, and vines.

Immediately before Azrael was a podium no higher than his own hip. It was completely smooth and rectangular, with a flat surface. Three circular discs were embedded into it, and each was split down the center by irregular lines. They didn't seem to serve any purpose on their own.

Besides, the demon had greater concerns. A low chittering - akin to the crackling of wood on a fire - was starting to rise across the room. One of the bushes shifted, a branch almost extending towards the excess of light. It sprawled, and the other two masses started to shift and sprawl too. They basked in the bauble-lights for a moment, tilting leaf-coated heads side to side to get an even distribution of light... ah - what was that?

Three beady little eyes peered at Azrael.

They rustled among themselves, rising up to reveal their semi-quadrupedal nature, and exploded into motion. The plant-beasts hurtled towards the demon, taking leaping strides at a breakneck pace.

@Azrael

Action. Thought. "Speech."

he could still feel the energy in the floor from when he was last here, and whether it was nerves or actual increase in energy from then, he found himself practically dancing on the floor from how it almost seemed to burn. reminded him of fire, flames licking at his paws and fur. like the monarch. hm. maybe dont think about that right now?

he padded a few feet behind azzy, watching him call out and emuh appear, and flinching back, giving azzy a supportive thumbs up, or as best he could with paws.

Azrael glanced back at Forgraves and Banshy when Emuh suddenly swooped down. His eyes widened with shock at the size of the creature - he really hadn't been expecting that. He quickly gathered himself however and stood up as tall as he could. "I am AZRAEL," he growled. He curled his lip at the owl's sneer. "I will SHOW YOU how strong I am!" He turned his gaze to the tunnel, unflinching when the ground began to shift. He looked back once more time at his two children and bared his teeth in a grin before turning back.

Azrael shielded his eyes at the sudden burst of light, growling as the darkness was rent and, as soon as he saw the bushes, he glared. They were going to be the problem, huh? Plants?

And then they were moving and Azrael snarled. They were moving, throwing themselves at him just as he was sucking in a breath. Burning heat raced up his throat and, upon an exhale followed by a roar, flame exploded from his mouth, straight at the strange creatures throwing themselves at him. He wanted darkness, he wanted the unforgiving black, but he didn't have time to turn out the lights, not with them rushing forward like that.

@Game Master Navy

Azrael's fire licked at the first plant-beast of the pack, sticking to the living wood. It stumbled back and leapt away from the worst of it with a breezy hiss. The boughs making up its ribs had been burnt away, revealing the glint of something golden and metallic.

Branches regrew in precious few seconds, and the plant-beasts went to make their move once more, all snapping splinters and hooked roots. The charging was bound to continue unless something changed...

@Azrael

Teeth ground together at the sight of the gold beneath the branches. Were they not real, then? Where they some kind of stone that only looked like wood?! He snarled as they got closer, eyeing the baubles against the wall. There was a reason they were they, and reaching for them. Perhaps they were somehow powered by the light.

Azrael was all too happy, then, to focus on the light, to plunge the entire cave into darkness, if only to feel more relaxed under cover of shadow, to refocus himself and ready for his own attack while the creatures charged.

@Game Master Navy

Azrael's magic snuffed out the baubles and plunged the room into pitch-black darkness. The hurried plant-beasts continued for a few seconds longer, but the time between each step grew longer and longer until there was noise from them at all. They were dead-silent and still.

The demon's cast gave him the time he needed to make his own move, whatever it may be.

1/3

@Azrael

As the sound of feet faded away, Azrael let out a great, deep laugh. "IS THAT IT?" he roared. "THAT IS ALL YOU HAVE? AFRAID OF THE DARK?" But the thought made him realize that it might not be a good idea, then, to create fire. It would be better to strike them down within the dark, rather then make more light for them to recharge with. Good thing he'd been learning more spells.

With another mighty roar, he lifted a foot and slammed it onto the ground. A loud rumbling noise started up and then, all of a sudden, the whole room was shaking, earth cracking and shattering under the force of Azrael's spell while he stood in the center, eyes burning with delighted fury as the sounds of destruction rung around him.

@Game Master Navy

The earth shook with a great deal of noise, cracks spiderwebbing across the otherwise bare floor. If only the demon could see further than a foot ahead of himself - with his own bioluminescence: there was a splintering crack! from above, and the sound of stone-plus-gravity tearing through branches. A stranged hiss rang through the last of the darkness...

... and that was the thing, hm... ? A spell of such intensity required great concentration to maintain. Emuh's voice crowed from beyond, "OO-HOO, DO YOU FEAR THE LIGHT?"

Azrael's darkness began to subside not even a minute into the earthquake, revealing the sight of a mangled plant-beast and a filthy, frankly terribly-made (but clearly golden) key lying in the rubble.

The remaining two plant-beasts basked in the returned light for only a minute before charging for the demon again.

@Comet

He could hear it happening, his earthquake tearing apart one of the plant-creatures. But he knew the darkness wasn't going to last long (Why can't it last longer?!) and was already ready for the light slowly returning. He spied the key lying in the remains of the plant creature and narrowed his eyes. So, that was it, then. He had never seen a key before, but perhaps it was important.

His lip curled and he snarled angrily at Emuh's taunting. "I FEAR NOTHING," he roared in response. With another pulse of magic, darkness once again shrouded the entire room, leaving only Azrael's glowing eyes and glowing chest visible.

@Game Master Navy