Path of the Pioneers

"It sounds like you did all that could be expected of you, and then some." She sighs, "Josephine Cirix is one of the strongest of the normal awakened, and you wounded her. That's an achievement to be proud of. Still, what rotten-"

"Time's up." A spritely voice chimes in, "She's dreadfully short on time, and the trial must continue." They say. My master glances over at my other side, eyes widening a touch.

"Stella?" She asks, reaching out with a single hand. "Is that really you?"

I turn my head just in time to see Stella nod. "Yup. It's me, Morgan." She says, an almost imperceptible amount of respect put into her tone when she speaks my master's name. But not the sort of respect that one might give another that they revere - no, it gives me the same feeling as a parent and child. Not identical - but close. "I know how important this is," she continues, "but time is being burned away far too quickly. Morgan, please give Sybil her trial."

My eyes turn back to look at my master, and I watch as her fingers seem to shuffle around - almost grasping at something invisible. There's a certain pain in her expression. "Of course.." She says, "Of course. The trial is key - you have someone to save, and yourself..." Her voice is hollow, even though all the words are being spilled from her lips with ease. She's not thinking about those words, though, she's thinking about something else.

The clapping of her hands rings out throughout the room, and my eyes are suddenly assaulted by a flash of white. The wood below fades, turning into that brilliant void that promptly spreads out to consume the rest of the room in a matter of seconds. The assault on my senses continues, her fingers snapping and a field of flowers springing out from beneath me, shifting the ground all the way to the horizon. Eventually, the burst of color flows upward from the edge of what's visible, a blue sky bleeding into the white.

There's a comfortable, almost warm breeze, and a floral scent in the air. It feels real, even though I saw this place appear from nothing. As far as I can tell, Stella disappeared in the excitement.

"This is a simple one." My master smiles over at me, arms overhead as she stretches them. For her age, she's scarily flexible. "Your final trial in order to succeed me."

I have a bad feeling about it.

"Have a duel with your aging, elderly master." She laughs, "It should be simple - and besides, I want to see how much you've improved."

She spent about two hours detailing just how powerful she once was. In fact... Hadn't she mentioned bringing down stars? I've grown stronger since seeing her last, of course - but I have limits!

"What's that look for, Sybil?" She says, "Oh-" She sticks her hands out toward me, "No, no... You're not going to be fighting me at my peak, Sybil." A somber smirk creeps onto her lips, "No- if you'll recall, I'm just a left-over scrap. A fight between us will be an equal one, or an overwhelming victory on your-" My master puts a hand to her mouth, cutting herself off - as if she said something she shouldn't have.

She clears her throat, quickly changing the subject by saying "Right, should we begin?"

I try to gather my thoughts for a moment, but it's worthless. Maybe it was the intention of whatever force controls awakening, but it seems like I've hardly had a moment of rest. I'm not a weak, frail girl anymore, though - no, I don't think I ever was. I just didn't see things for what they were.

I nod, my senses expanding outward as [Aesthesia] activates.

My master's left hand shoots out, and I raise up on the balls of my feet just in case I need to dive out of the way of some catastrophic spell. It could be terrible lightning, flames that could melt through stone, a geyser of water that could cut right through me- or... My eyes widen as I feel a pulse of air coming towards me along with a cone-shaped mass of mana- this is the trick she used against Savagery!

The specifics weren't clear to me, but she could use the First Fundamental Principle in order to manipulate air trapped within an area of mana. That air would be vibrated until it became harmful to the one inside of it. She had made it out to be a particularly dangerous attack- and I'm certain I remember her mentioning that it could kill some people outright.

Rather than placing faith in mana stemming from my body, I rely on what's more comfortable in the moment - my hands. They fly out, energy streaming from them in order to integrate into the air in front of me. I know that I can dodge her attack, but it'd be pointless- worthless. I can dispel her attack outright.

I just have to be brave.

With my mana integrated into it, I can feel my master trying to cause ripples in the air. I can also feel my mana pressing against hers, competing for superiority. Sparks fly off of the boundary between the two, as if they refuse to exist in the same space. Squeezing down with my hands, I keep a firm grip on the air itself, stilling those slowly-generating ripples. She grins, her hand dropping as she abandons the strategy.

"Not bad, Sybil! You really have learned Integration!" She leaps back, stomping heavily with her right foot as she lands. There's a rumbling in the earth, and she begins to slowly work her hands around one another, "There's always more to learn, though, apprentice~"

Her mana is working its way into the earth below her, and I can feel it: something. Something in the dirt is working its way towards me, but I'm clueless as to what it is. Either way, I'll be at a disadvantage if I can't get back on the offensive.

"You aren't just some back-line mage, Sybil." Adeline? I almost turn my head back to face her, but then I quickly remember that I'm in the midst of a heated battle against my master. My focus should be on that, first and foremost. "Take the fight to her - run her down and put the pressure on her with your dagger skills. Jemith trained you well, didn't they?"

My feet press down against the grass and I take off into a full sprint, straight toward the arbiter of my trial. At the first sign of danger, I'll assess if I can block it, dodge it, or otherwise-

The rumbling comes to a head underneath me, something finally entering [Aesthesia]'s range. The earth below me ruptures, a hollow, square pillar rising up around me - and I am at its center. It’s a cage, just barely large enough to contain me. Through it, I can sense a build-up of mana coming from my master.

There's no mana stemming from the box - it's likely just solidified dirt. A few threads go out from my side, running lines along one of the box's walls - [Transmutation]. A half-second later, I give it a firm push, activate [Cloak of Shadows] and scramble out before I'm struck dead by whatever power my master decides to use next. As luck would have it, I'm a couple meters out from the box before a half-dozen bolts of lightning strike down where I was standing only a moment ago.

Thunder and the sounds of crashing debris shake me to my core, my ears ringing. My hearing wasn't dampened that badly, though. Fortunately.

"A vanishing act?" My master quips, "You've become quite the entertainer, Sybil."

I continue to close the distance between us, circling around as I get closer - it would be a waste if she caught me in the end. Ten meters, nine meters, eight...

Mana erupts from my hand, directed out toward my master. The veil that Tanascáil had granted me fades away, and a rod of energy flies toward her torso - the very center. She whips around to face me, but she's just a bit too slow. The spear collides with her.

With a simple activation, the energy will burst out into dozens of thorns and-

I watch in shock as a few dozen threads slash through the spear. It dissipates, and she clutches at the fresh wound in her chest. She's grimacing. But, through my ringing ears, I think that I might hear restrained laughter.