The Witches' Road - Pixie's Trial
Oct. 31st, 2025 03:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xp_clea posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
xp_logsCan Pixie take down the savage beast?
Clea already had her purple magical ball ready to go but nothing in sight. It was quiet. "I don't see them. But we should be on guard and hurry to the next one." The ball faded and was replaced with swirling magic around her fingers tips. "How is everyone holding up?"
There was a little sugar in Rictor's tank at this stretch of the Road. Though his trial had not yet begun and he did not know what it would entail, the ones they had accomplished had visibly invigorated him. He held his head high and took each step down the mysterious road with confidence. "Let them come," he proclaimed, "We can beat them."
Amanda was quiet, still processing what had just transpired. "We're halfway through," she said at last, almost contemplatively. "You're all doing a bloody great job. Let's get this finished."
Topaz was looking around, scanning the trees around them with her eyes and her empathy. "Nobody's nearby that I can tell. Let's take advantage of the quiet."
Of course she was also very aware of the people around her - their exhaustion, their determination, their uncertainty... She raised an eyebrow at Amanda and tilted her head slightly, as if to silently ask Are you okay?
Amanda caught Topaz' eye and nodded back. I'm good. She hadn't been ready for so much of her past to be revealed to her students - past and present - but it was also kind of freeing, in a way.
Pixie breathed deeply, eyes closed, trying to center herself. Just halfway to go. A rumbling growl broke the stillness, and her all-black eyes fluttered open. She saw nothing.
"I'm alright," she said, belatedly answering her friend, "but... did you hear that?" Deeper in the woods, something was stirring.
Clea stood up straight and looked in the direction of the howling, which the road was leading towards. "As long as it isn't one of those Seven." Clea listened again as another howl echoed in the dark forest.
They continued down the road, surprisingly the growling and howling's seemed to grow softer. As they turned a bend, another door stood in the center of the road.
"Whose lucky door is that?" Clea said as they came up to the door.
Rictor kept his head high even as the disappointment grew. Nothing of this door's design spoke to him or even hinted it could possibly be his. He would have to wait, but how much longer? Biting back a sigh, he shook his head. "It's not mine."
"I think it's mine," Pixie said softly, reaching out. Something about the ancient wood beneath her fingers just felt right. The rest of the door shimmered into view: an arch of glowing moss above, unevenly-cut stones framing it, and beyond that, the curve of an enormous tree trunk.
The door in the tree swung open and she stepped into a clearing. A clearing within a tree within a forest, because the Witches' Road didn't care for logic. She could still hear the howling, now barely a whisper. Even as the sound grew fainter, she felt that they were drawing closer to whatever was making it.
“What do you think it is?”
Emily on her own would have chosen to walk away from the weird howling but she wasn’t about to leave the others, even had she been in a place to do so.
Mostly this meant trying not to get in anyone’s way, or let instincts make her run. Still, she moved slightly closer to the group, she didn’t want to get lost, or left behind. “Or who?”
"Topaz, can you sense anything?" Clea looked over at her friend. "I can barely hear it."
"Not human," Topaz reported, head tilted like she was trying to listen. "I can't quite get a read on it... it's angry, I think?"
"So it could be another one of the Seven," Amanda suggested. "And even if it's not, it's probably got it in for us. Everyone stay on your guard." Light glimmered around her hands as she called up her power.
It was easy to redirect his frustration back to the Seven now that the Road had passed him over again, so Rictor followed suit, reaching down with his gift to prepare a welcome for the murderous witches.
A creature emerged from the mist that clung to the edges of the clearing. The hound's coat was a spectral white, its ears tipped in red, and it moved with an awkward, dragging gait. One of its legs hung strangely, barely touching the ground. It bared its teeth and hissed a whisper of a growl that nonetheless carried a warning. Its yellow eyes were wild, and every muscle was tensed for attack.
"Hey, easy...." said Pixie, backing away slowly. It didn't look like one of the Seven, and she had a strange feeling that maybe it wouldn't harm her.
The hound shot forward and she twisted out of its path. Maybe she was wrong!
She released a blast of pink energy, which struck the creature's side and.... promptly fizzled into nothingness.
"Pixie!" Clea watched as the hound lunged for her friend and that the pink energy fizzled out. Purple magic grew in Clea's hands before she unleashed it and it too fizzled out, not even harming the hound.
"Bollocks!" Amanda cast a shield between the hound and Pixie. Or at least she tried; the magic sputtered out like a firework in the rain and she looked at her hands in shock.
Topaz summoned up whips of magical energy, intent on trying to restrain the thing. But they fizzled out before wrapping around the beast's legs. "Seriously?"
"Magic beast on a magic road, maybe we should not attack with magic?" Easy for Rictor to say when that was not even an option for him. But despite the creature's apparent injury, it deftly maneuvered away from the fissure the young mutant opened beneath it.
Emily was a little more limited than some of the others here but that didn’t mean she couldn’t give it the old college try. She looked around and found a somewhat convenient stick just off to the side of the road.
She picked it up and offered it to the others “Maybe we could hit it with this?”
The beast responded to that suggestion with a glare of eyes and a whisper of a growl, before it bounded forward and snatched the stick from Emily's hands. The wood splintered between those massive jaws and it advanced on the girl, hackles rising.
"That's enough of that," came Amanda's voice and Emily found herself safe inside the bubble of her shielding spell. "What kind of monster is this thing, anyway?"
"It's not really a monster," Pixie said slowly. The mist-white creature had seemed almost dog-like with the stick in its mouth. But it wasn't a dog, either. Those red-tipped ears, that unearthly whisper of a howl... "It's fae. Cŵn Annwn."
The hound of the underworld circled her, still favoring one leg. It was provoking her, but it wasn't really attacking, was it? It was trying to get her to do something.
Pixie held out her hands, palms up. "I see you're hurt. But our magic won't work on you--only fae magic, I suppose--and seeing as I'm only half fae--"
It growled softly again, cutting off her stammering. "Okay, let me help."
If this was the underworld, maybe she could tap into her fae nature. She was in a clearing inside a tree within a door, after all. If she stopped trying to define her boundaries and just let go....
A heaving sob tore from her chest and she stumbled into a crouch. In that moment, she realized how tightly she'd been holding herself shut. It was like she'd sealed her faerie magic inside a hollow tree, and now the protective bark binding it shut was ripped away. It hurt like hell, but the power pouring from her center was a balm over the ragged edges.
The air shifted as if the clearing was breathing with her. The hound's red-tipped ears twitched and it eyed her... expectantly?
The faerie magic flowed to Pixie's fingers, illuminating them with an otherwordly glow. She thought it'd be streaked with black, tainted by her demon magic, but it was a bright rose gold. She slowly reached for the creature's injured leg. It snarled, but Pixie didn't flinch and it did not draw away. She didn't know any spell, any means to command it, but she didn't need to. The moment she made contact, her desire to soothe flowed through her and the magic bloomed.
Cŵn Annwn dropped its leg to the ground, shifting its weight to balance itself properly. With a dip of its head, it turned and bounded off. It howled, louder now, as it fled into the distance.
Pixie sat hard on the ground. "I did it."
"Nicely done," Topaz said, watching the beast run away. "Certainly a lot better than trying to fight it."
Remarkably, Amanda actually blew a raspberry in response to Topaz’ remark. “Yeah, yeah, lesson learned. Good job, Pixie.”
Clea knelt down next to Pixie and looked in the direction of the growing howling, "You did." A door appeared near them that would lead them out of trial and back onto the Road.
Emily had a sudden urge to start singing ‘Yellow brick road’ or whatever it was called by Elton John but instead she pulled the door open and gestured for everyone to go through.
Clea already had her purple magical ball ready to go but nothing in sight. It was quiet. "I don't see them. But we should be on guard and hurry to the next one." The ball faded and was replaced with swirling magic around her fingers tips. "How is everyone holding up?"
There was a little sugar in Rictor's tank at this stretch of the Road. Though his trial had not yet begun and he did not know what it would entail, the ones they had accomplished had visibly invigorated him. He held his head high and took each step down the mysterious road with confidence. "Let them come," he proclaimed, "We can beat them."
Amanda was quiet, still processing what had just transpired. "We're halfway through," she said at last, almost contemplatively. "You're all doing a bloody great job. Let's get this finished."
Topaz was looking around, scanning the trees around them with her eyes and her empathy. "Nobody's nearby that I can tell. Let's take advantage of the quiet."
Of course she was also very aware of the people around her - their exhaustion, their determination, their uncertainty... She raised an eyebrow at Amanda and tilted her head slightly, as if to silently ask Are you okay?
Amanda caught Topaz' eye and nodded back. I'm good. She hadn't been ready for so much of her past to be revealed to her students - past and present - but it was also kind of freeing, in a way.
Pixie breathed deeply, eyes closed, trying to center herself. Just halfway to go. A rumbling growl broke the stillness, and her all-black eyes fluttered open. She saw nothing.
"I'm alright," she said, belatedly answering her friend, "but... did you hear that?" Deeper in the woods, something was stirring.
Clea stood up straight and looked in the direction of the howling, which the road was leading towards. "As long as it isn't one of those Seven." Clea listened again as another howl echoed in the dark forest.
They continued down the road, surprisingly the growling and howling's seemed to grow softer. As they turned a bend, another door stood in the center of the road.
"Whose lucky door is that?" Clea said as they came up to the door.
Rictor kept his head high even as the disappointment grew. Nothing of this door's design spoke to him or even hinted it could possibly be his. He would have to wait, but how much longer? Biting back a sigh, he shook his head. "It's not mine."
"I think it's mine," Pixie said softly, reaching out. Something about the ancient wood beneath her fingers just felt right. The rest of the door shimmered into view: an arch of glowing moss above, unevenly-cut stones framing it, and beyond that, the curve of an enormous tree trunk.
The door in the tree swung open and she stepped into a clearing. A clearing within a tree within a forest, because the Witches' Road didn't care for logic. She could still hear the howling, now barely a whisper. Even as the sound grew fainter, she felt that they were drawing closer to whatever was making it.
“What do you think it is?”
Emily on her own would have chosen to walk away from the weird howling but she wasn’t about to leave the others, even had she been in a place to do so.
Mostly this meant trying not to get in anyone’s way, or let instincts make her run. Still, she moved slightly closer to the group, she didn’t want to get lost, or left behind. “Or who?”
"Topaz, can you sense anything?" Clea looked over at her friend. "I can barely hear it."
"Not human," Topaz reported, head tilted like she was trying to listen. "I can't quite get a read on it... it's angry, I think?"
"So it could be another one of the Seven," Amanda suggested. "And even if it's not, it's probably got it in for us. Everyone stay on your guard." Light glimmered around her hands as she called up her power.
It was easy to redirect his frustration back to the Seven now that the Road had passed him over again, so Rictor followed suit, reaching down with his gift to prepare a welcome for the murderous witches.
A creature emerged from the mist that clung to the edges of the clearing. The hound's coat was a spectral white, its ears tipped in red, and it moved with an awkward, dragging gait. One of its legs hung strangely, barely touching the ground. It bared its teeth and hissed a whisper of a growl that nonetheless carried a warning. Its yellow eyes were wild, and every muscle was tensed for attack.
"Hey, easy...." said Pixie, backing away slowly. It didn't look like one of the Seven, and she had a strange feeling that maybe it wouldn't harm her.
The hound shot forward and she twisted out of its path. Maybe she was wrong!
She released a blast of pink energy, which struck the creature's side and.... promptly fizzled into nothingness.
"Pixie!" Clea watched as the hound lunged for her friend and that the pink energy fizzled out. Purple magic grew in Clea's hands before she unleashed it and it too fizzled out, not even harming the hound.
"Bollocks!" Amanda cast a shield between the hound and Pixie. Or at least she tried; the magic sputtered out like a firework in the rain and she looked at her hands in shock.
Topaz summoned up whips of magical energy, intent on trying to restrain the thing. But they fizzled out before wrapping around the beast's legs. "Seriously?"
"Magic beast on a magic road, maybe we should not attack with magic?" Easy for Rictor to say when that was not even an option for him. But despite the creature's apparent injury, it deftly maneuvered away from the fissure the young mutant opened beneath it.
Emily was a little more limited than some of the others here but that didn’t mean she couldn’t give it the old college try. She looked around and found a somewhat convenient stick just off to the side of the road.
She picked it up and offered it to the others “Maybe we could hit it with this?”
The beast responded to that suggestion with a glare of eyes and a whisper of a growl, before it bounded forward and snatched the stick from Emily's hands. The wood splintered between those massive jaws and it advanced on the girl, hackles rising.
"That's enough of that," came Amanda's voice and Emily found herself safe inside the bubble of her shielding spell. "What kind of monster is this thing, anyway?"
"It's not really a monster," Pixie said slowly. The mist-white creature had seemed almost dog-like with the stick in its mouth. But it wasn't a dog, either. Those red-tipped ears, that unearthly whisper of a howl... "It's fae. Cŵn Annwn."
The hound of the underworld circled her, still favoring one leg. It was provoking her, but it wasn't really attacking, was it? It was trying to get her to do something.
Pixie held out her hands, palms up. "I see you're hurt. But our magic won't work on you--only fae magic, I suppose--and seeing as I'm only half fae--"
It growled softly again, cutting off her stammering. "Okay, let me help."
If this was the underworld, maybe she could tap into her fae nature. She was in a clearing inside a tree within a door, after all. If she stopped trying to define her boundaries and just let go....
A heaving sob tore from her chest and she stumbled into a crouch. In that moment, she realized how tightly she'd been holding herself shut. It was like she'd sealed her faerie magic inside a hollow tree, and now the protective bark binding it shut was ripped away. It hurt like hell, but the power pouring from her center was a balm over the ragged edges.
The air shifted as if the clearing was breathing with her. The hound's red-tipped ears twitched and it eyed her... expectantly?
The faerie magic flowed to Pixie's fingers, illuminating them with an otherwordly glow. She thought it'd be streaked with black, tainted by her demon magic, but it was a bright rose gold. She slowly reached for the creature's injured leg. It snarled, but Pixie didn't flinch and it did not draw away. She didn't know any spell, any means to command it, but she didn't need to. The moment she made contact, her desire to soothe flowed through her and the magic bloomed.
Cŵn Annwn dropped its leg to the ground, shifting its weight to balance itself properly. With a dip of its head, it turned and bounded off. It howled, louder now, as it fled into the distance.
Pixie sat hard on the ground. "I did it."
"Nicely done," Topaz said, watching the beast run away. "Certainly a lot better than trying to fight it."
Remarkably, Amanda actually blew a raspberry in response to Topaz’ remark. “Yeah, yeah, lesson learned. Good job, Pixie.”
Clea knelt down next to Pixie and looked in the direction of the growing howling, "You did." A door appeared near them that would lead them out of trial and back onto the Road.
Emily had a sudden urge to start singing ‘Yellow brick road’ or whatever it was called by Elton John but instead she pulled the door open and gestured for everyone to go through.
no subject
Date: 2025-11-14 04:08 am (UTC)