The Witches' Road - Emily's Trial
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xp_logsDown, down, down the Road, down the Witches' Road... It's not long before the group encounters their first Trial.
NOTE: This log takes place between The Ritual and Topaz' Trial.
With a final push the door was closed. The magic that made the outline started to fade until nothing but a solid wall was there. Breathing heavily and stuffing the grimoire back in her side pack Clea looked at the group. "We are here." And nodded towards the stairs that led down.
Amanda cast a worried look towards the door, even if there was nothing there now, her thoughts with those facing the Seven. "We band of buggered," she muttered under her breath as she took the lead, boots echoing hollowly on the winding wooden staircase.
Emily had heard but chose not to say anything, way too happy to be away from the psycho witches to look a gift path in the mouth. Not that she'd say any of that, given how insane that sounded in her own head. She chewed at her bottom lip for a moment before squaring her shoulders and turning to the others.
"We should probably start walking?"
"Right. Nothing else for it, is there?" Pixie began half-walking, half-fluttering down the stairs--then stopped short when the view opened up.
A forest stretched before them. The black trunks of ancient trees twisted into even deeper shadows. But it wasn't fully dark. Bioluminescent fungi clung to the branches and fireflies flitted through the gloom. And if she looked closely, a path wound its way between the roots of the giant trees, illuminated by small lanterns.
Topaz peeked around Pixie, tilting her head. "This would almost be pretty if I wasn't certain that everything down this road probably wants to kill us."
"What is down this road, anyway? What do the legends say?" Rictor paused a moment to reach for the ground, literally and metaphorically. It was ground, all right. Earth-like enough that he was sure he could call to it, but not so sure it would listen and respond.
"A witch and her mom found herself in a similar situation and turned to the Witches' Road for answers." Clea also paused and reached down to the ground beside Rictor. "Magic. It is weaved into everything and everything is magic here."
"Or at least that's what the book we found says," added Amanda. "Basically, the idea is, you win the trials, you get what you want." She shrugged into her jacket and began walking down the faerie path, deeply uncomfortable. She couldn't feel a city down here and the awareness that she was running on a finite source of magic frightened her in a way she hadn't felt since the Dark Phoenix.
If it hadn’t been for the monsters chasing them Emily might have felt a little excitement. It wasn’t every day you got to go on an almost storybook adventure. This road and the magic teeming around them definitely had all the qualities of ‘mythic’.
She wondered what would be asked of them before the end.
The trees grew less dense as they progressed down the road, suggesting they were reaching the end of this enchanted forest. An acrid aroma met them, stronger with every step forward. "Does it smell like . . ." Rictor paused and sniffed the air. "Fire?"
Topaz sniffed as well and nodded. "That's definitely fire. Can a magic forest catch on fire?"
That would be their luck.
In the distance a door appeared and from the looks of it seemed to be the source of where the smell was coming from. "A door. On the road ahead." Clea pointed out as they got closer. "Strange."
As they drew nearer, they could see smoke oozing through the cracks of the door and an orange glow from underneath. Amanda frowned and reached out tentatively to touch the wood with her fingertips. It was cool, as was the handle. She stepped back, and peered around the edge of the door... and there was nothing. No path, no trees, just blackness. With a sigh, she looked back at the small group. "Whatever's on the other side of this door, it's the only option."
Emily had been hearing a whisper as soon as the door appeared, almost inaudible at first but now it was almost a language if she could just listen closely enough. She moved toward the sound, pausing when it got softer and changing direction until she was right in front of the door. She still couldn't quite make out what was being said but she got the strangest feeling if she just went through, something remarkable would greet her on the other side. Not pausing to question her own intuition, she reached for the handle and turned it, pushing the door wide.
"Okay. So it is a lot bigger on the inside." Clea walked through the door and coughed as the smoke was spreading as the village in front of them was on fire and the source of that fire was towards the center.
"Hello? Is there anybody here?" No response to Rictor's alarm but the roaring of the inferno, and he prayed that did not mean they were too late to find survivors. He called out again, straining his ears to pick up any reply, but still nothing.
Pixie covered her mouth with her hand as they made their way toward the village center. It smelled real, and the heat intensified as they drew closer. Yet something was definitely off. "Be alert," she said, more to herself than the others.
Amanda had been about to remonstrate with Emily being so rash as to be first through the door, but caught a glimpse of the almost rapt expression on the Australian's face. "It looks like this might be Emily's Trial," she suggested to the others. "Give her room to move, but watch her back and keep her safe. We don't know what's expected here."
#Fear#, #Confusion#, #Anger#
Emily felt each emotion in turn, followed by whispers that built from barely there to a cacophony that somehow continued to be a whisper.
“I can’t understand you.” Emily called out as she continued forward on the path only to slip and scramble backward as what could only be called a twister of fire appeared ahead of them.
What? That couldn’t be what she was hearing. Something like that wouldn’t whisper, it was too immense, overpowering. What the hell was going on?
"Bloody hell," Topaz muttered, raising her hands as if to try and shield everyone. She hoped they didn't have to actually fight that thing. A lot of people would be unhappy if someone came back in an urn.
Rictor's protective instincts kicked in, too, and he stepped up right behind the youngest witch, ready to pull her out of harm's way if the fire monster so much as flickered wrongly. "Emily, it would be very good for all of us if you could tell us what is happening . . ."
“I don’t...” Emily stated, trying to make sense of what she was hearing. It was overwhelming, and her hair started to flicker in concert with the elemental in front of her.
That was what it was, wasn’t it? A spirit of fire…but why was it afraid?
“It’s scared. It feels overwhelmed. It doesn’t know what to do.”
Now that sounded familiar. Amanda moved to Emily's side and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "It sounds like it needs someone to help it," she said quietly, calmly, despite the searing heat on her face. "Someone who understands what it's like to not know what to do or who to trust. It's speaking to you... how about you take a deep breath, close your eyes and listen?"
#Please. Let me help you? Will you tell me what's wrong?#
Emily closed her eyes in order to better hear the whisper, almost like how people turned down the radio in order to better drive sometimes. It made little sense but sometimes taking out one sense made the others so much stronger. If she could just reach the elemental, maybe she could find out what it was that she was meant to do here.
Clea watched the fire twister closely. "Do you need to get closer?" Clea hated that idea, the heat from this distance was enough to keep them back, but it was Em's Trial and Clea would support her.
“Maybe? It’s hard to hear it this far out.”
Emily screwed up whatever she could have her courage and moved closer, squinting her eyes as the heat became almost unbearable. If this had been back home she’d have been headed the other way, on the look out for the local fireies.
‘Please, I don’t want to hurt you’ Emily thought at it.
She met what she thought were its eyes and tried her hardest to radiate sincerity.
It took a moment, but the elemental seemed to shrink with each second, and its feelings changed.
#Lonely. So alone. #
“You’re not alone.”
The fire twister had shrunk to almost person size now and Emily spread her arms, trying to think the idea of a hug at it.
Amanda caught her breath. "Em, be careful."
Emily took the last step, stumbling forward as she slung her arms around shoulders that had been the size of a forest but now looked much like her own. The elemental flickered for a moment, before it reached its own arms up and embraced the Australian, and then merged as one.
“I…” Emily didn’t know what to say to the others. It wasn’t every day that you subsumed an elemental. “I think it was just me. My magic, I mean.” She couldn’t say why she knew that, only that the idea had come upon her the moment she hugged the elemental.
Amanda let out a breath she hadn't been aware she was holding, in a long sigh of relief. "And you're all right?"
Emily was quiet as she thought about it for a moment before she slowly nodded her head.
“I think so. It, um. I think it was me?”
"So you had a bonding moment with your magic," Topaz said slowly, looking around as she spoke. "And your magic manifests as elemental shapeshifting..." She looked to the left and saw shapes shifting in the rubble. Then three little rock monsters came stumbling out of the shadows, wandering around in circles and walking into each other.
“Oh, um. I guess?” Emily watched the rock creatures, the whisper that had been a roar now a grumble as if from deep underground. Was this, earth? “Rictor, can you hear them too?”
He could hear the grinding of stone on stone as these critters moved, the soft vibrations through the ground with every step they took. But he could not Hear them in the way Emily had perceived the fire elemental. If they spoke to him, too, it was the polite greeting to a passerby, not the grand welcome back of a long-absent friend.
"They don't speak to me," he answered, looking down so his long hair hid his reddening face.
Clea watched the little rock monsters, "What are they telling you Em?"
“They don’t want to be forgotten.”
Emily bent at the waist and scooped up several of the rock creatures into another hug. Who knew the power of love would save the day? Certainly she felt like the answer here was accepting the disparate parts of her magic and integrating it.
“You’re important, I promise.”
The creatures whispered happiness and started to fade, going back to where they belonged. She wasn’t surprised when a door suddenly appeared, and looked like the one to her room back at the mansion.
NOTE: This log takes place between The Ritual and Topaz' Trial.
With a final push the door was closed. The magic that made the outline started to fade until nothing but a solid wall was there. Breathing heavily and stuffing the grimoire back in her side pack Clea looked at the group. "We are here." And nodded towards the stairs that led down.
Amanda cast a worried look towards the door, even if there was nothing there now, her thoughts with those facing the Seven. "We band of buggered," she muttered under her breath as she took the lead, boots echoing hollowly on the winding wooden staircase.
Emily had heard but chose not to say anything, way too happy to be away from the psycho witches to look a gift path in the mouth. Not that she'd say any of that, given how insane that sounded in her own head. She chewed at her bottom lip for a moment before squaring her shoulders and turning to the others.
"We should probably start walking?"
"Right. Nothing else for it, is there?" Pixie began half-walking, half-fluttering down the stairs--then stopped short when the view opened up.
A forest stretched before them. The black trunks of ancient trees twisted into even deeper shadows. But it wasn't fully dark. Bioluminescent fungi clung to the branches and fireflies flitted through the gloom. And if she looked closely, a path wound its way between the roots of the giant trees, illuminated by small lanterns.
Topaz peeked around Pixie, tilting her head. "This would almost be pretty if I wasn't certain that everything down this road probably wants to kill us."
"What is down this road, anyway? What do the legends say?" Rictor paused a moment to reach for the ground, literally and metaphorically. It was ground, all right. Earth-like enough that he was sure he could call to it, but not so sure it would listen and respond.
"A witch and her mom found herself in a similar situation and turned to the Witches' Road for answers." Clea also paused and reached down to the ground beside Rictor. "Magic. It is weaved into everything and everything is magic here."
"Or at least that's what the book we found says," added Amanda. "Basically, the idea is, you win the trials, you get what you want." She shrugged into her jacket and began walking down the faerie path, deeply uncomfortable. She couldn't feel a city down here and the awareness that she was running on a finite source of magic frightened her in a way she hadn't felt since the Dark Phoenix.
If it hadn’t been for the monsters chasing them Emily might have felt a little excitement. It wasn’t every day you got to go on an almost storybook adventure. This road and the magic teeming around them definitely had all the qualities of ‘mythic’.
She wondered what would be asked of them before the end.
The trees grew less dense as they progressed down the road, suggesting they were reaching the end of this enchanted forest. An acrid aroma met them, stronger with every step forward. "Does it smell like . . ." Rictor paused and sniffed the air. "Fire?"
Topaz sniffed as well and nodded. "That's definitely fire. Can a magic forest catch on fire?"
That would be their luck.
In the distance a door appeared and from the looks of it seemed to be the source of where the smell was coming from. "A door. On the road ahead." Clea pointed out as they got closer. "Strange."
As they drew nearer, they could see smoke oozing through the cracks of the door and an orange glow from underneath. Amanda frowned and reached out tentatively to touch the wood with her fingertips. It was cool, as was the handle. She stepped back, and peered around the edge of the door... and there was nothing. No path, no trees, just blackness. With a sigh, she looked back at the small group. "Whatever's on the other side of this door, it's the only option."
Emily had been hearing a whisper as soon as the door appeared, almost inaudible at first but now it was almost a language if she could just listen closely enough. She moved toward the sound, pausing when it got softer and changing direction until she was right in front of the door. She still couldn't quite make out what was being said but she got the strangest feeling if she just went through, something remarkable would greet her on the other side. Not pausing to question her own intuition, she reached for the handle and turned it, pushing the door wide.
"Okay. So it is a lot bigger on the inside." Clea walked through the door and coughed as the smoke was spreading as the village in front of them was on fire and the source of that fire was towards the center.
"Hello? Is there anybody here?" No response to Rictor's alarm but the roaring of the inferno, and he prayed that did not mean they were too late to find survivors. He called out again, straining his ears to pick up any reply, but still nothing.
Pixie covered her mouth with her hand as they made their way toward the village center. It smelled real, and the heat intensified as they drew closer. Yet something was definitely off. "Be alert," she said, more to herself than the others.
Amanda had been about to remonstrate with Emily being so rash as to be first through the door, but caught a glimpse of the almost rapt expression on the Australian's face. "It looks like this might be Emily's Trial," she suggested to the others. "Give her room to move, but watch her back and keep her safe. We don't know what's expected here."
#Fear#, #Confusion#, #Anger#
Emily felt each emotion in turn, followed by whispers that built from barely there to a cacophony that somehow continued to be a whisper.
“I can’t understand you.” Emily called out as she continued forward on the path only to slip and scramble backward as what could only be called a twister of fire appeared ahead of them.
What? That couldn’t be what she was hearing. Something like that wouldn’t whisper, it was too immense, overpowering. What the hell was going on?
"Bloody hell," Topaz muttered, raising her hands as if to try and shield everyone. She hoped they didn't have to actually fight that thing. A lot of people would be unhappy if someone came back in an urn.
Rictor's protective instincts kicked in, too, and he stepped up right behind the youngest witch, ready to pull her out of harm's way if the fire monster so much as flickered wrongly. "Emily, it would be very good for all of us if you could tell us what is happening . . ."
“I don’t...” Emily stated, trying to make sense of what she was hearing. It was overwhelming, and her hair started to flicker in concert with the elemental in front of her.
That was what it was, wasn’t it? A spirit of fire…but why was it afraid?
“It’s scared. It feels overwhelmed. It doesn’t know what to do.”
Now that sounded familiar. Amanda moved to Emily's side and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "It sounds like it needs someone to help it," she said quietly, calmly, despite the searing heat on her face. "Someone who understands what it's like to not know what to do or who to trust. It's speaking to you... how about you take a deep breath, close your eyes and listen?"
#Please. Let me help you? Will you tell me what's wrong?#
Emily closed her eyes in order to better hear the whisper, almost like how people turned down the radio in order to better drive sometimes. It made little sense but sometimes taking out one sense made the others so much stronger. If she could just reach the elemental, maybe she could find out what it was that she was meant to do here.
Clea watched the fire twister closely. "Do you need to get closer?" Clea hated that idea, the heat from this distance was enough to keep them back, but it was Em's Trial and Clea would support her.
“Maybe? It’s hard to hear it this far out.”
Emily screwed up whatever she could have her courage and moved closer, squinting her eyes as the heat became almost unbearable. If this had been back home she’d have been headed the other way, on the look out for the local fireies.
‘Please, I don’t want to hurt you’ Emily thought at it.
She met what she thought were its eyes and tried her hardest to radiate sincerity.
It took a moment, but the elemental seemed to shrink with each second, and its feelings changed.
#Lonely. So alone. #
“You’re not alone.”
The fire twister had shrunk to almost person size now and Emily spread her arms, trying to think the idea of a hug at it.
Amanda caught her breath. "Em, be careful."
Emily took the last step, stumbling forward as she slung her arms around shoulders that had been the size of a forest but now looked much like her own. The elemental flickered for a moment, before it reached its own arms up and embraced the Australian, and then merged as one.
“I…” Emily didn’t know what to say to the others. It wasn’t every day that you subsumed an elemental. “I think it was just me. My magic, I mean.” She couldn’t say why she knew that, only that the idea had come upon her the moment she hugged the elemental.
Amanda let out a breath she hadn't been aware she was holding, in a long sigh of relief. "And you're all right?"
Emily was quiet as she thought about it for a moment before she slowly nodded her head.
“I think so. It, um. I think it was me?”
"So you had a bonding moment with your magic," Topaz said slowly, looking around as she spoke. "And your magic manifests as elemental shapeshifting..." She looked to the left and saw shapes shifting in the rubble. Then three little rock monsters came stumbling out of the shadows, wandering around in circles and walking into each other.
“Oh, um. I guess?” Emily watched the rock creatures, the whisper that had been a roar now a grumble as if from deep underground. Was this, earth? “Rictor, can you hear them too?”
He could hear the grinding of stone on stone as these critters moved, the soft vibrations through the ground with every step they took. But he could not Hear them in the way Emily had perceived the fire elemental. If they spoke to him, too, it was the polite greeting to a passerby, not the grand welcome back of a long-absent friend.
"They don't speak to me," he answered, looking down so his long hair hid his reddening face.
Clea watched the little rock monsters, "What are they telling you Em?"
“They don’t want to be forgotten.”
Emily bent at the waist and scooped up several of the rock creatures into another hug. Who knew the power of love would save the day? Certainly she felt like the answer here was accepting the disparate parts of her magic and integrating it.
“You’re important, I promise.”
The creatures whispered happiness and started to fade, going back to where they belonged. She wasn’t surprised when a door suddenly appeared, and looked like the one to her room back at the mansion.
