The Third Trial (Job, Solo, Private)

"Mages come in all shapes and sizes. Where one may falter at something, another may excel."

Several weeks had gone by in the blink of an eye. Well, not literally of course. The days just seemed to pass right on by at a speed that Samira could not keep track of. A new day would start, and before she knew it the sun would be setting with the moon beginning to settle into its position as the nightly light resource for the dark sky above. The first two spirit trials that had been given to her were passed and had been put behind her. The first concerning the restoration of the country Seven from a corrupting magic. The spirit incarnation of An Dagda was now hers as a result. An odd soul that many would find humorous and enjoyable company. The second was one that took place within her mind as she faced the past memories that were consuming her. Almost she had lost herself to them and her feelings of abandonment before the spirit of Vishnu had shown up to put her to the test. He passed her, although technically a loophole had been taken. His own curiosity had made him overlook it and allow himself to be called upon whenever Samira needed him for guidance or for his abilities.

With those two trials passed and with the spirits from them now added to her collection that left three more that lied ahead to be done at any given moment. Samira had already grown tired of them. There was little point to it anymore for herself as far as she was concerned. They would only be taken to put a stop to whatever aftermath would come should she refuse to and ultimately allow her dark and uncontrolled chaos serpent spirit to be freed and remain loose to wreck havoc on the world. Many powerful mages existed that could put a stop to him perhaps. The Wizard Saints, the guild masters of every guild, their aces, those that were guildless for whatever reason but had much power of their own. A powerful lineup that she was sure could take care of the problem if something were to happen to her.

It was not their problem to worry about, however. It was her own. Her problem, her business, her burden, her responsibility. One she did not desire to be hers but was hers all the same. It would be foolish, selfish, and quite unlike her to assume someone else would take care of it should she give up. Another trait that was unlike her, at least before her friend and partner’s disappearance. She had given up once already, and while it did create the opportunity for the second trial to commence it still brought shame upon her own pride. Never again could she allow that to happen. If only to have some similarity to who she was before. One attribute of herself that she would keep above the others would be her unwillingness to give up. The rest she could live without. The remaining trials would be taken, and the seal would either be strengthened or she would find some way to have that spirit under her control permanently. There would be no failure regardless of how little she cared for it all.

Unfortunately, the timing of the remaining trials was not hers to decide. When asked to take the third soon after the second she had been denied by the two spirits she had recently claimed. It was not up to them either, but of the remaining three that had tests and trials of their own. The fourth, Odin, from what she had been told had plans for her that would not come to pass for a while yet. He had a schedule to keep and was too excited for it to change his mind. The fifth, Ma’at, followed a strict system. She did not mind her trial coming at anytime provided Samira complete them in order, and that spirit’s trial came in dead last. As for the third… Well, she had been told he was the finicky sort. According to An Dagda and Vishnu, he could be unpredictable and claim it was time for the trial at the most inconvenient time. That or he would simply wait until the last minute before the seal was completely broken, adding another challenge to the trials in the form of trying to complete the last three in time. Thankfully, there was the chance Odin would bug the hell out of him if he took too long due to whatever he himself had in store for his own trial. Samira questioned it when it was brought up, but put it behind her quick enough. That one came after, and so the third trial she had to worry about first. Whenever and whatever that would be.

In the weeks that passed Samira kept to herself and away from the other members of the guild. Due to the complications of what happened before the second trial she did not want to be around anyone or even the hall itself in case her magic got out of control again and the spirit was let loose to cause what he did best: chaos. She spent her time on the land mass of Pandora, exploring it and charting new areas to provide more information for an actual detailed map. Some ruins had been discovered, cave systems, the species of monsters and their patterns were also taken note of for future reference and for safety precautions. Basically anything and everything she could think of in order to pass the time and still be useful to her guild even though she stayed away from it.

The distraction worked, and thanks to her spirits, she was not really classified as some loner that hung out in the wilderness likely going crazy and losing her mind. No. They kept her company enough just as they always had. Never would they leave or betray her unlike some others in the past that had done that. Her trust with people was now slim and almost nonexistent as a cause from that little tidbit of her history. That even went towards guild members she had known for quite a while. To say she could trust others outside of the guild would be laughable in her current state of mind. Perhaps one day the amount of trust she had on people would change and go back to the way it was; everyone having it until it was broken. A story for another time one could suppose. For now, the summoner would not spend the next day or two with her fellow guild members or with random people she did not know at all. It would be spent with spirits, hers and others, as the third trial went on.

"Mages come in all shapes and sizes. Where one may falter at something, another may excel."

The morning started early for Samira as she was already up and ready to start her day by the time the sun began to rise over the trees of Pandora. The night before she had stopped and camped out near a set of ruins some of the natives of Pandora had pointed out to her. It was quiet throughout the night as far as she knew. A couple of her spirits had stayed outside their realm to keep watch and ensure some random beast didn’t make its way over and cause her harm. Even as she began to clean up her belongings things around her were still and quiet. Either the creatures of the land were sleeping or they did not like the nearby ruins. Somehow, with her luck, she considered the latter to be much more likely. Not all monsters were the type to sleep at night. Rather, many of them became active by nightfall and found their prey as they hunted the unsuspecting during the night.

‘OH! We are finally getting to explore again!’ The spirit incarnation of the goddess of venom, Serqet, shouted cheerfully in Samira’s mind. So early, and yet still so annoyingly hyperactive. The summoner cringed as the words echoed in her head. She was somewhat of an early bird herself and had no issues with getting up and being active at the hours of dawn, but to be so cheerful was another story. Even she as someone that enjoyed exploring ruins and other ancient structures couldn’t force herself to show such enthusiasm so early.

‘Yeah, yeah. More trudging around in useless old buildings and underground labyrinths of death. How exciting. Let me guess, you are going to write every single thing in that journal of yours and make us be the ones to pay attention and keep you alive from the instant death mechanics.’ Another voice that was heavily filled with sarcasm and the attitude of a smart ass. That voice belonging to the wind swordsman incarnation of Susano. His demeanor was always of that category and was nothing new to Samira.

”Naturally,” she replied, vocally rather than mentally, and seemingly un-phased by his comment. Those spirits of hers needed something to do since she wasn’t really taking on traditional jobs anymore. She had tried at first, but they were all so ridiculous and oftentimes over glorified fetch quests. Taking care of things on Pandora was preferable for now. How long that lasted who really knew? The fact was, the spirits would get lazy if she never used them so they may as well make sure she doesn’t run into traps or the like while she busies herself with obtaining information and writing it down. It made perfect sense to her.

’Ridiculous! The spirit incarnation of Kali hissed angrily. ’Call on me when there is actual action and kills to be made. Raiding ruins, making charts, socializing with the primitives here. We were not made for these things, and you have surpassed them. You should be joining those that fight, not do the tasks of some lowly insignificant wizard.’ Samira sighed hopelessly as she felt the presence of that spirit leave her mind. There was no arguing with that one. It was just easier to accept her opinion and move on, no matter how wrong she thought the comment was. Fighting everyday of her life was not necessary and also not something she was interested in. Only when it was needed did she care to do it. There was also nothing wrong with spending her time in the way she was, nor were they the tasks for low ranking mages. She was deep enough within Pandora that many of that category would have been killed by just one of the beasts nearby. Really only the high ranking mages had a place there.

The camping supplies and such disappeared into a poof of colored particles as Samira picked them up, sending them back to the storage area of her many spirits. ”We will return to our normal activities soon. There are not that many mages within the guild that can travel this far without getting killed or lost, and of those few even less are willing. That is a very basic fact. Do try to get over yourselves and behave. You make it sound as if I have done absolutely nothing in years and do not deserve the break from constant madness.”

’Oh, dear. She seems to have finally gotten annoyed with us. How about we stop poking her before she bites?’

’Yep, she’s pissy. Better stop before she shuts off the link and then makes me annoyed. I don’t feel like going into lecture mode today.’

’Oh! OH! Can I be the one to help out with the protecting the summoner from sudden death because she’s too busy sticking her nose into her journal or looking at some useless old stuff that no one can tell what it is task? I think I’d be good at it! No one else seems to want to do it either so that means I get to by default, right? RIGHT?!’ Serqet was even more enthusiastic and hyper than she was a moment ago and had seemed to entirely ignore the fusing and tension of the conversation only seconds ago. The other spirits within the mindspace sweat dropped, and Susano’s palm met his own forehead. ’Something went very wrong with your creation, didn’t it? No way was your original like that.’ The reply the wind spirit was given was just a shrug of Serqet’s shoulders and her humming three sounds in the “I don’t know” sequence.

Samira mostly ignored the comments being made. The tone of voice and the word usage of the spirits when speaking to her was very normal and far from strange. Really it could have passed for one of the more pleasant conversations. ”The answer is no,” she replied in such a tone that implied she would not be changing her mind. Allowing the more fun and curious spirit loose within ancient ruins that was probably filled with traps and who knows what else was a recipe for disaster. The green-haired woman turned with the intention to press on and make a start towards her task for the day. ”You know all too well that you-” She had just been about to explain her reasoning for the decline in the venom spirit’s request when she ran right into a large spirit that was standing right behind her. The moment she walked into his round belly she was bounced right off of it and sent backwards to land on the ground, crying out in alarm as she did before her landing that resulted in an “oof.”

"Mages come in all shapes and sizes. Where one may falter at something, another may excel."

“Whoops, I suppose I should have said something. I didn’t know you were that oblivious to my presence. HA!” The familiar voice of An Dagda reached her ears, his bellowing laughter annoying her further. Her eyes had closed during the fall, but upon hearing him and recovering they opened and her sight confirmed that it was indeed the spirit from the first trial. A twitching eyebrow was her only response at first. Honestly! He was a spirit now much like her others and should have stayed in her head or celestial realm until called. Apparently he was going to go by his own set of rules still even after forming a contract with her. A pity. There were already enough spirits in her collection that were far from controlled and restrained and now another had been added. ”Was there something you needed? Aside from blocking my path, of course.” Now she just needed Vishnu to appear to show that even he was beyond her full control and did as he wanted.

“It is not something we need, but what you need,” another spoke, the voice being very calm, soothing, and tranquil, the voice of Vishnu. Needless to say, Samira could only sigh as an animated sweat drop appeared at the side of her head. Just her luck that he would appear to prove her inner argument with herself about her own luck. She was considered as one of the more powerful summoners in Fiore and yet she could not get a full handle on all of her spirits. Embarrassing really. ”What I need is to be left alone.” Samira stated bluntly as she stood up fully, wiping away the dirt that had attached itself to her clothes as she did so. ”I had plans today, and you have already delayed me enough. Do return to the celestial realm or wherever it was before you came here. I do not require your assistance at this time.”

A mini portal then opened, its creation allowing her to access the storage the camping supplies had gone to. Only that time she was using it to remove items rather than sending them away. Reaching inside, the summoner pulled out a pair of metal discs that served as weapons. Rare was it that she made use of them, but it was best to be prepared for once instead of being nagged at her spirits for once again leaving them behind.

Once she had connected them in much the same way her keyring was Samira stepped to the side in an effort to go around An Dagda. With a grin the spirit also stepped to the side to once again block her way. She moved the other way and he followed. Crossing his arms over his chest he looked down at her with heavily amused eyes while chuckling. Irritation was beginning to form even more so than it had already for the summoner. The urge to roll her eyes was fought and she bit her tongue to prevent herself from saying something she should not. Rather instead she turned around and began to walk away from him. An Dagda’s eyes widened slightly at how she would just up and leave. “Hold on! You could at least listen to us first!” His hand had reached out towards her as he spoke, grabbing her shoulders and spinning her around to face him. The sudden movement put a look of surprise on her face, and she could only blink as a reaction until her mind fully processed what had happened. Then those green eyes of hers narrowed further. Still she remained passive and stood there, looking as if she was going to take his request to stay and listen to anything he had to say. How wrong he was.

A victory smile was on his face, thinking he had achieved the accomplishment of getting her to stay. “Oh, good! Now lets see…“ The elbow of one arm moved to vertically rest on the other arm, using the free hand to rub through the beard growing on his chin. His dark eyes shifted to the side as he began to think on how to move on with the conversation and explain why he was interrupting her plans for the day. Samira stood there for a few moments listening to his mutterings of vocal thought. Eventually her tolerance levels had been depleted and she had, had enough. ”Sorry, but I have no intention on remaining here waiting for you to plan your words. You should have thought about this beforehand.” The words were curt, and her expression showed that she was un-phased by the barricade the spirit had become. She had a plan to go right through him, and it didn’t even require a spirit to loan her their power.

During the second trial there was a moment when she crossed a line in her abilities and had managed to unlock more power. Strange really, but since the trial took place in her mind she could only assume there were mental barriers that had blocked her from being able to use it before. As unfortunate as it was though, she had not practiced much in using any of them, although she knew of what she could do. One such ability was being put into play right at that moment. Her body shimmered and begun to fade, becoming slightly transparent as it shifted partially into the celestial realm. What did this ability allow her to do? Well, as one could have guessed with such a ghostly appearance, it allowed her to go through solid objects and obstacles. The current spirit being one such obstacle at that very moment.

Without another word being spoken from her, Samira walked right through An Dagda and kept walking towards the old ruins in front of her. There was great relief that it had worked and did not backfire in some way, but she made sure not to let it show on her face. From behind her she could hear An Dagda calling for her to wait, along with muttering to himself on how she could even do that to begin with. A quirky fellow that was easily distracted and had a short attention span it seemed. Such traits worked in her favor at that moment as he did not even bother to go after her due to his confusion over the strange ability she had just used. Did Vishnu really not inform him of some of her new powers? Did none of her other spirits? Strange. Was he really so awkward that even the spirits avoided him at all costs?

"Mages come in all shapes and sizes. Where one may falter at something, another may excel."

"Summoner," the calm voice of Vishnu could be heard once more. Now that she realized it, the blue-skinned spirit with the most obnoxious personality of fake tranquility had yet to make an actual appearance. His spoken words could be heard just fine, but so could any other spirit contracted with her that remained un-summoned. Normally it was something to be ignored because of that fact. However, his voice was not in her mind at all. There was an obvious difference, at least for one that was so used to having voices in her head. Samira did not stop though. Vishnu went ignored as she continued her way to the ruin's entrance.

He had called out again, but that too had gone ignored. Soon, things had gone quiet. Peculiar. She stopped her steps and dared take a moment to turn her head and look behind her. An Dagda was gone. "Huh." Ignoring him and Vishnu had actually worked.

'Oi! Don't you go thinking you can do that with all of us!' The silence was broken as her normal spirits began to make comments of their own again. 'Come to think of it, why did they leave so suddenly anyway? I figured they’d be more stubborn and annoying.'

'Like you, brother?'

'Hey! I'm not annoying. Samira is the one who's stubborn. Do you even remember half the crap we have had to deal with?'

"Actually I do find it strange you all know nothing. Do none of them communicate with you?"

'Depends,' spoke up Ra, being as vague as ever.

'Going to add anything more to that?' The silence that came from the sun spirit indicated a firm no. 'Figures. Back to secrets.'

"It does not matter. If it were that important they would have remained. No doubt they just insist on torturing and wasting my time much like you all do."

By that point Samira had reached the entrance of the ruins, which strangely had a large set of stone doors that were very intact, although obviously showed their age by the plant life that was growing on them as well as the small cracks along the intricate and fancy decor that had been carved into them. Samira pulled out her iLac, using the small magical tech device to take a few snapshots to be used as reference and research later on. Now came the harder part: opening the doors or finding another way inside. There were no obvious mechanisms that connected to the stone doors that she could see, and leaning forward with her palms pressed against it and pushing with all her strength proved that forcing it open that way was not going to work either. Three options remained. One was obviously using the ability she had just used to pass through An Dagda. That one she threw out completely. The new power was still new to her and the last thing she wanted was to end up stuck in the middle of the stone doors. One other option was to just use the tactic that was often used while in her best friend's company; blast it open with powerful explosives or power.

"Hmm," Samira ran her hand through her hair as she thought about that one. It was often effective in the past. A shame she lacked the explosives and equipment that could accomplish it. A few of her spirits could get the job done, but let's be real. There was a much simpler, quieter, and much safer method. Her lips formed into a sly smirk as the idea came to her. All she really needed to do was use Janus, the avatar of the god of portals. That would get her through those pesky doors! Using him could be categorized as cheating, and once in the past she had used him in order to cheat her way through another set of doors that would normally only open if a set of riddles were answered correctly. Taking that sort of action was a terrible error on her part. An ally with her had gotten injured from the consequences of her cheating, and she had rarely used Janus since. There were no allies around currently though, only herself stood there. Only herself would be harmed and punished if the result was less than pleasant like before. Samira could handle that risk much more easily.

The ancient silver key that belonged to the spirit master of portals was taken from her keyring. ‘Oh, dear, you are going through with this again?’ The kind and old gentlemanly voice of Janus spoke in her mind as she raised his key to call on him. ”This would not be the first time I have used your abilities for this. The last time was an error.” Samira replied casually to further indicate to him that she cared not for the consequences that may arise. ‘And the time before that, my dear?’ She frowned, knowing full well what he meant. The time she had been injured instead of an ally. Back then she had not been alone like she was right then. She bit her lip as she contemplated. Really anything could happen to her while she was in those ruins and no one would know. Samira was alone aside from her spirits, and just then she had begun to feel it and take notice after ignoring it for as long as she had. Those feelings were pushed aside and her eyes hardened with determination. ”Another error,” she said right before slashing the key in the air in front of her to cut and create a rift between her home realm and the celestial one.

“Open, gate of the Avatar, God of Portals! Janus!” With her call to him the spirit portal was created and from it materialized the spirit of portals, clad in silver and gold just as he always was. As a spirit that looked more mechanical than anything else it was a little more than difficult to find different attire after all. His blue glowing eyes looked down at Samira with full concern within them. Hopelessly he could only sigh and shake his head. There was no use arguing. Then a thought hit him, and as a smile formed on his face Samira was already looking at him suspiciously. ”What are you thinking?” She asked, placing a hand on her own hip.

”I had an idea!.”

”An idea?”

”Yes! I will take a moment to see what lies beyond that door before making the portal! To ensure your safety, of course.”

”That really is not-” Her sentence could not even be finished before the portal spirit waltzed right up to the stone doors and poked his head through, his body going through the stone as a mini portal was made just big enough for his head to slip through. ”Oh my! This is no good at all!”

”Janus…”

The spirit brought his head back from the portal and looked at the summoner with a shake of his head. ”Oh no. I cannot possibly allow you to go in there. Far too dangerous.”

”I will be-” Cut off again as he stuck his head through the portal once more.

”…Janus…” Samira could feel her eyebrows twitching even though she was doing her best to remain calm and collected throughout his tactic of having her change his mind. He ignored her as he went on and on at the things he saw. Some of it so overly exaggerated that it was clear that he had to be making it up. That or the natives of Pandora were very unique and very odd. Probably with a pinch of insane and twisted. Yeah, he was probably making it all up. ”JANUS!”

His rambling came to a halt and he focused once more on the summoner with a rather innocent look upon his face, as if he clearly thought the made up descriptions of the dangers right at the door were one hundred percent believable and he had done no lying whatsoever. ”Hm? Yeeesss?”

"The portal, please." Samira tried to sound as nice and patient as she possibly could while making the request. How nice of her to have even kept her inner thoughts to herself even though she could have scolded him for refusing to do as told. As annoying as it was she knew very well that he was only looking out for her. It was no longer required really, but still appreciated, at least in thought.

Janus frowned even more in disappointment before forcing a sheepish grin. "That didn't work at all, did it?" Samira just shook her head, having no need or desire to do more. Such a question with an obvious answer did not warrant much effort for a full reply. "Oh, very well." He stepped back from the stone doorway and held his hand out in its direction. Pale blue energy began to materialize as he channeled his magic, swirling in a circular pattern and growing. After a few more seconds a full portal exploded into existence in a bright and flashy burst of energy. It was a portal meant to take Samira through the door it was placed on and allow her to reach the other side. Thus far, nothing of consequence happened with the making of the portal. Excellent. All according to plan with absolutely nothing to worry about. "Thank you, Janus," she told him with a small smile before walking up to the newly created portal. She looked back at the spirit saying, "once I am through you may return to your normal obligations," just before stepping halfway into the portal. ”Are you sure you really want to go through there?”

Samira gave a small sigh. One of many that have occurred already at the very start of her day. ”Janus-” She was cut off mid-sentence when he spoke up again. ”I was just checking! Also… you may not want to thank me just yet.” That response was a rather confusing one. His tone had even suggested that there was some reluctance to accept her being grateful for his services. Odd. Normally he disappeared before he could be thanked properly so maybe he just wasn’t used to it. The word usage though… that was concerning. Oh well. He was an oddball as far as she was concerned. Most of her spirits were. Shrugging her shoulders, Samira fully turned to face the portal and step the rest of the way through. Once she had disappeared, the portal became smaller and smaller, shrinking inward towards its center until it was nothing and leaving no evidence that it had existed in the first place. ”She is going to be terribly unhappy when she finds out.”

"Mages come in all shapes and sizes. Where one may falter at something, another may excel."

“It was necessary to change the portal’s destination at the last second.” Vishnu spoke, materializing in swirling magic particles to stand right beside the portal master. “She has become stubborn lately, and I worried that she would not have come with us. Tricking her to the location of the third trial was the best option.” After saying that his neutral frowned expression turned into an annoyed scowl. The lower set of arms folded across his chest while an arm from the second pair reached over and whacked Janus on his helmet covered head. Even though covered the hit on the head was still felt since the helmet was more a part of him rather than a form of armor. His hands reached up to cover his head in protection from another whack while yelling in mild pain. ”Ow! What was that for? I am an old spirit, you know. You should be gentle and not hit me.”

“I am older than you are…” Vishru retorted. “That was also for your attempts to change her mind. I would rather not waste time trying to figure out another way to trick her there. Or to listen to Zeus’ complaints for her tardiness. He would have been very offended if she did not show up at all.”

”And I would rather not have to listen to her complaints when she sees me next. I fear it would not be pleasant. Good thing I do not plan to be in there when she finds out where that portal actually led to.”

“Indeed. She will be less than amused. If she calls on you, you should ignore her. Only when she completes the trial will she be allowed to leave that realm. By the way, that means passing. I do not think she will be alive if she fails.” Vishnu then vanished, leaving a wide eyed portal spirit by himself. ”Oh, dear. Another one of those life or death scenarios. They really should think about putting an easy casual mode for these sorts of things.” He too then vanished. The link between him and Samira was then cut off so he could not hear her. Only by calling him would they be able to communicate, and to that he planned on not answering. It was safer for him that way. He was much too old to face the wrath of an angry summoner, and of course his age was too high to take part in a trial on the hardcore death mode setting. Really he was no older than any of the other spirits, but everyone should just overlook that fact and give into his delusions.

Near instantly Samira had reached the other side of the portal. The magical wormhole appeared in the new location, starting small and spreading outward to be big enough to match its original on the other side. The green-haired woman stepped out, confident at first, but then she realized something was very wrong and a confused and hesitant expression crossed her features. One blink of the eyes as she looked to her left. ”Um…” Two blinks as she turned her head to set her gaze on the right. ”This is…” Then she set her focus on the middle and stared straight ahead, blinking three times. ”I have made a terrible mistake.”

Yes, yet another mistake had been made. Instead of ending up on the other side of the doorway that led into the set of ruins that she wanted to explore she had ended up somewhere else entirely. She could have said Janus was right on what was on the other side of his portal except for the fact it didn’t match any of the things he had said was there. What on Earthland had happened?! Was there some sort of disturbance in the magic? An error? A rebound? Some sort of magic barrier that prevented the cheating tactic to access the ruins? Janus setting the location to be different than what she had wanted was last on the list. She trusted the spirit a great deal. He had his flaws and did make a habit of vanishing when battles took place, but he was at least trustworthy.

So, where did the gullible summoner end up? Somewhere in the celestial realm, of course! It was obvious it was not the normal one though for the normal spirits. Where she was currently was specifically tailored to be what the spirit that made it his home wanted. The only reason Samira could even tell it was a part of the celestial realm was because she had seen other locations similar to that one. Try as they might to hide the obnoxious amount of stars they still existed. Dimmer as a bright sky covered them, but still existed and shined through the covering. Still, the spirit connected with the area was unknown.

From what she could see while looking around she was on some sort of floating structure in the sky. It was pretty to look at actually. Each part of the structure was white in color, but had gold and pale blue decorations to really make the structure and platforms stand out among the mass of clouds around it. There were several smaller parts, but for some reason there were no bridges. Well, if it was a structure in the sky then most likely the spirits that took residence there had means of flying anyway. There was simply no need for bridges for them. For her though… well that could have been problematic. Then again she didn’t plan on sticking around anyway. As interesting as a sky city in the sky was it had not been her original destination. She wanted to get back to the ruins and do what she had planned to do for her day. Not start some other grand adventure that was not on her agenda! Samira was also a bit suspicious and her senses were telling her to get out of there. An Dagda and Vishnu had left very easily and now a portal given by what was normally a trustworthy and well behaved spirit led to somewhere unknown. Yeah, something was going on.

Samira turned right back around with the thought of taking the portal to exit the new area and get back to where she originally was on Pandora. A thought that should have been made quicker. As soon as she finished her turn the portal vanished, leaving her to stare dumbfounded at the white clouded scenery. ”Janus, this is not the right location and the portal disappeared. Reopen it.” Her demand was met with only silence. Further investigation on the matter told her that the link between herself and the portal spirit was currently turned off and broken. ”Where is Janus?” She inquired of her other spirits that still remained connected with her and were lounging around her mind space.

’Beats me. He doesn’t communicate with us often.’

’That is because the last time he was here you challenged him to a duel after he defeated you in a game of… what was the name? Go Fish?’

’Yeah, and I got the comment that he was too old to be taking part in duels!’

’You’re kind of a sore loser, huh?’

’WHAT?! I am not!’

’Nope. Just stupid. You do know the moment you charged in Janus would have just opened up a portal to send you to god knows where, right? Even I wouldn’t bother trying to fight him.’

”Can you all please get back to the point? Do any of you know what is going on?”

’The next trial. Good luck.’

”The next trial?” Samira repeated quietly to herself. That did make sense considering the arrivals of both An Dagda and Vishnu, but why take so long to tell her that? And why trick her into doing it? She would have delayed it, of course, but going about it the way they did was just rude! Even ruder than that were the spirit connections with her all blipping out from her mind one by one. The green colored eyes of hers widened at the first few, but by the time it reached a couple of dozen they narrowed in anger and annoyance. ”Hey!” The remaining ones were disappearing even quicker than the ones before them to escape from having to explain and hear her. ”You cannot just leave me here! Does this not go against the contracts of being constant watchers?! You all give me a scolding every time I shut my side of the link off!” Then the last link went out. Really the only one that probably remained was the link between herself and that mentally unstable serpent of chaos. She couldn’t really tell since he came and went whenever he pleased. To hell with him anyway. If a spirit was going to remain in her head she would rather it not be that one. ”Honestly!” Samira stamped her foot and screamed. Did other summoners have as much trouble as she did with hers, or was she just lucky enough to be given a lifelong challenge?

"Mages come in all shapes and sizes. Where one may falter at something, another may excel."

”Actually in certain circumstances the contracts can be edited to some degree.”

Samira turned around upon hearing the voice behind her. It was familiar, belonging to a spirit that kept her contracts in order. Why she had a spirit that was near worthless in battle and worked like an over glorified secretary that sparkled she didn’t know. It was a spirit that was beneficial to have where paperwork was concerned and for guild matters that required organization but… just why? The summoner‘s facial expression went blank and her gaze shifted over to the side. ”They really do not expect me to handle this trial with just you, do they?”

”Wha- Hey!” Jing Wei, the lowly spirit secretary, puffed her cheeks at that remark. ”I’ll have you know that I am only here because I was told to be here. I don’t care about these trial thingy majiggies.”

“Yes, you were told to be here for a purpose. You should probably get to it so we can move on.” Vishnu appeared with the same old neutral and near emotionless expression Samira was used to seeing. Then came An Dagda with a large grin on his face the moment he appeared. “HAHA! Did you like that surprise of ending up here?”

”No,” Samira stated bluntly, disappointing the larger spirit but only for a few seconds before he brightened up again. ”It was dishonest and could have been put on-”

“Shush!” An Dagda interrupted her, sounding serious and allowing his laid back attitude to disappear. He turned his head slightly and tilted it, as if he were trying to hear something. “Hmmm.”

“What is-” Vishnu began to question but was shushed as well. He stayed silent since he thought there was something serious going on. In truth, he knew little about the home of the spirit who was next in line to give a trial. Perhaps An Dagda had sensed danger and knew something that he did not. While he and his brethren were all technically allies Zeus was one to take offense easily. They could have stepped on a crack on the ground and he would probably get angry at them for not having the consideration to avoid them. The two other spirits and Samira stayed silent and watched him. Tension began to grow within the area as they waited for an explanation and waited for something to happen. Their alertness became extreme and with the silence of themselves only the echoing strong winds of the sky could be heard.

An Dagda snapped his fingers a few times. The other three beings around him blinked and rose some eyebrows. “Hmmm.” He snapped again. Still he seemed displeased. “Uaithne!” At his angered call a soft music began to play. The sound of the instrument being used was that of a harp, a sound and song that was supposed to follow An Dagda wherever he went yet for some reason everyone just realized that it had not been playing. “AHA! That’s better!” Now all was right in the world for him. For the other three they could hardly believe that they took him seriously for even a moment and had wasted time. ”Is testing my levels of patience from all of this ridiculousness my trial?”

“No.” Vishnu answered as he whacked An Dagda on the head twice with his two right hands. He ignored the comments of the other spirit and looked towards Samira. “Your trial is supposed to be given by Zeus. I am unsure as to why he has yet to make an appearance other than he does as he pleases whenever he desires. We could be standing here all day.” As if that line were some sort of queue a bolt of lightning struck and hit a giant floating orb on the ground that was nearby and in front of them. They all turned to stare at it and within moments a giant image of the spirit that was late to the party appeared. It was not his real form, that much could be certain. The form was even semi-transparent.

“He looks angrier than normal,” An Dagda whispered to Vishnu as the clouds began to darken and a storm was quickly being created around them for added effect. “He just likes to intimidate. Although for what purpose confuses me. He knows that it would not work on us, and the summoner has a few storm spirits already.”

”Seems to me he just likes trying to look cool. By the way, aren’t we supposed to be on a mountain or something? That’s where his original supposedly lives.”

“A mountain is not as grand as a floating sky fortress, apparently.”

”Are we not supposed to be listening to what he has to say?” The generated image of Zeus had begun speaking already, but the whispers were distracting her from the booming voice. The storm also did not help honestly as it only added annoying background sound that was unnecessary. It also seemed quite disrespectful to ignore what was being said entirely. If she was supposed to do a sort of trial to impress him she did not need a black mark to her name for already not listening to greetings, instructions, and warnings.

“What for?” Vishnu replied, shrugging his shoulders. “It is only a recording.”

”He… records messages rather than come himself?”

“Consider that as his opinion of you. He does not believe that you would pass his trial and considers this a waste of time. I had expected more from him, but really if he bothered with this I suppose I can let it slide. It is better than nothing.”

“I would rather have the nothing really. This only reminds me that I don’t have a recording system.” An Dagda materialized his mace and threw it in the direction of the messaging orb. It collided with it, cracking it as it forced itself to lodge within it, and in an electrified explosion the orb was destroyed. The talking image recording of Zeus disappeared as did the storm effects as the clouds returned to their pure white and fluffy looking state.

“Now he really does have a reason to be angry. He will demand payment for that destroyed object.”

“Bah!”

”Right….” Well that was interesting. Now back to business. The spirit with the pig-tailed hairstyle went back to focusing on Samira and summoned a scroll within her hands. She held one end of it and allowed the other to fall to the ground and roll. And roll. And roll. An Dagda and Samira watched as the magic paper rolled all the way to the edge of the platform and fall until it disappeared in the clouds below them. ”So lets get to why I am here! I just need you to sign right here on this line, Samira.” Jing Wei held the paper to the summoner’s face as she pointed to a tiny line on it. Then she materialized a pen and handed it to her.

”What am I signing exactly?”

”Oh, you know, the usual. This just covers why the others aren’t in your head watching over you and all that good stuff that we have ignored in the past and led me to having waaaaayyy too much paper work as a result. I’m a busy spirit and don’t need more of that in my life! This also covers that they will still come at your call so you can use them for this trial even if they aren’t connected with you.”

”Oh, I see. Well I can understand that, I suppose.” Samira took the pen in one hand and held onto the paper with the other. In no time at all her name was neatly written on the tiny line. ”There. Is that all?” Jing Wei grinned and took firm hold of the top half of the scroll. The lower half was called back and the paper that had fallen over the edge of the platform made its way back up to once again connect with the other half in a nice fully rolled up scroll. ”Yep! By the way I also have to let you know that this does give permission for Zeus to allow your death or kill you himself should you fail his trial. He is also allowed to cheat and call all of the shots. Have fun and good luck!” The secretary spirit then disappeared into particles before she could face the fury of her summoner for taking advantage of her gullible personality that was often present among those she trusted. Twice she had been tricked in one day by her spirits.

”Wha? Jing!“

’Always read the fine print fully!’ And with that said even her mind link was cut off from Samira.

"Mages come in all shapes and sizes. Where one may falter at something, another may excel."

"Fine print?" Samira muttered, doing what she could to keep her anger in check. At most times she was very calm and collected. Where her spirits were concerned they were able to push several of the right buttons to make her tick. "She's right you know." An Dagda stated with a carefree grin and cheerful voice as if signing that contract was no big deal. Then again, for him it really wasn't. Only she was affected by it! "None of my spirits ever did things like this until you two came along." A death glare was sent at the two remaining spirits as she said those words. "Hmm, they must be no fun then." More eyetwitches as Samira once more restrained herself.

"We had to orchestrate this so the trial could take place. You would have refused to proceed as well have refused to sign the temporary contract. Zeus also refused to conduct this test without this condition being met."

"If you think about it you would have died sooner or later anyway. If you die here no harm done. It's just quicker. If you pass you get a chance to live longer. We're doing you a favor!"

At that those words Samira took a long and deep breath. There was no point in arguing now. She was stuck there in more ways than one now. Janus wouldn’t come on her call, but she did have other ways of leaving. Assuming she even could. Trying it to see would be a high chance of forfeiting the trial and her life. “All right," she said, her tone of voice now much calmer to match the state of her nerves. "What is this trial then? I assume one of you were told since Zeus has yet to tell me himself."

An Dagda nodded. "Of course!" He then turned towards Vishnu and motioned for the other spirit to speak. At that Vishnu stared blankly.

"Why are you looking at me? I thought you talked to him."

An Dagda shook his head. "Nope!"

"So, you do not know what the summoner is supposed to do then?" Another head shake from the larger of the two spirits. An Dagda then looked as if he remembered something with his face brightening up and lifting his hand to form a victory fist. "I got it!" Then the hand went to his beard covered chin in disappointment as he shook his head again. "No. That's not it." Then his hands went to his hips. "Well I guess we should have listened to that recording after all! Let's replay it."

"You destroyed it!"

"Oh, that's right. Well there is just one thing left to do!" An Dagda put his hands on Samira's shoulders and spun her around before beginning to push her forward and further into the sky fortress. "Move along and just figure things out as they come!"

"We will be coming along as guides of sorts," Vishnu added, slowly following behind them.

"You two are doing a splendid job so far..."

"Now is not the time to be picky. Hmm." The task of pushing his summoner along came to a halt when they reached a fork in the path. An Dagda looked to the left and then to the right. Each path looked identical; a lovely little ramp that circled upward. Surely they connected to something else above then. There wasn't a middle path as that mainly served as a placement for a giant rounded pillar that the side ramps went around.

An Dagda turned Samira so she was facing the left side and began to push her along forward and up the ramp. She didn't even bother struggling and just allowed him to do the “leading.” "Do you even know where we are going?"

"Of course I do!" Said just as the top of the ramp was reached where it ended up as a dead end. Unless one wanted to sky dive off the structure and see how long it took to reach the ground anyway. "He lies." Vishnu commented from his place behind them, naturally speaking an obvious observation. ”Well I doubt we have missed anything. We left the entrance, took a straightforward ramp, and are now here.” Samira begun looking around, taking notice once again of the other floating structures of the fortress within the cloudy sky. ”Perhaps we need to get to one of those over there,” she suggested while pointing to the nearest one that was over towards the right and slightly above them.

“Hm, that does seem possible.” An Dagda replied, for once getting serious as he crossed his arms over his chest and looked at the other floating structures as well. “I can’t fly though.”

“None of us can.”

”Well, not directly,” Samira informed them while pulling the keyring from the loop of her shorts and holding the large collection of keys up. There were a couple of spirits she could call on to help when it came with air travel. Cupid’s magic allowed her to have a set of wings of her own while Vishnu and An Dagda could ride on Kukulkan. The feathered serpent would probably be displeased with such a request, but she would just have to deal with it. ”I will summon Cupid and Kuku to help us here.” Such confidence her words held for surely the idea would work. Samira stepped towards the edge of the platform and held out the first key to summon Kukulkan. As unfortunate as it was, the serpent did not reveal herself. There was not even any magic being released from the key. She blinked, confused by it. The serpent had an attitude on most occasions but she would never refuse a call. Another time the summoner called to the spirit with the same rate of success. Then she switched to Cupid’s key and got the same results. Her ability to call them was not working.

Samira turned back towards the two spirits that were standing behind her, looking as puzzled as she was. ”I thought the contract said that I would still be able to call on my other spirits?”

“That… is what we were told.”

“HA! Zeus probably added something else that we weren’t told about. That little- OW!” A bolt of lighting randomly shot from above the trio and struck An Dagda. It wasn’t enough to do any serious damage for a spirit like him, but was enough to shut his mouth and stop whatever insult he was going to say. “Ah have it your way! Way too damn sensitive if you ask me.”

“Moving on,” Vishnu started to say, not even bothering to acknowledge that his companion had just been struck by lightning. Even Samira barely gave much of a reaction. He was a tad bit annoying and deserved it just a little bit. “I think the issue we have run into is that using a flying spirit can count as cheating. Look at those structures,” he then pointed towards each one. “Technically we could skip right over these smaller ones and head straight for the larger one far in the distance. He wants us to waste time by exploring them all and finding a route to the bigger one. That is my best guess.”

”An interesting theory, but how do we even get to them then?”

“That is where my guess ends.”

”Hmm.” Samira looked over the edge of the platform and tried to focus on anything and everything that was around. There had to be some way. As luck would have it a sort of mini tornado spun its way over, passing their platform and moving onto another. It wasn’t the closest one but it was still a new location for them to reach. She watched a bit longer and another one passed by going in another direction. ”I… think I may have an idea. Although I am slightly hesitant to try it.”

“You are not truly thinking of jumping into one of those and using that as a method of travel, are you?”

”Well….”

"Mages come in all shapes and sizes. Where one may falter at something, another may excel."

“I refuse to take part in such madness.”

“I like this idea! Sounds like a real thrilling ride with a hint of possible death. Lets do it!”

”Wait! Not so faAASSTT!” One of the mini tornados passed by and the summoner found herself thrown off the edge of the platform and right into the middle of it. She wasn’t exactly ready to take on that leap of faith. She wasn’t even sure if it was possible for it to even work! Her scream was short lived, but not by death of a massive heart attack. The little tornado had actually caught her and she was hovering within its center. That moment of calmness was also short lived. The moment she allowed herself to relax she realized that the little tornado was not moving. At all. It spun around in place. There was a slight moment of terror as another mini tornado came closer. Her screaming started up again as the mini tornado that held her in the air tossed her at the passing one, and the process repeated until she was at one of the other floating platforms. Which one it was she didn’t know. She was just thankful enough that it was over and she was not falling in an endless sky realm. ”That was actually a terrible idea…” She muttered to herself once her frozen state of terror had passed.

As for An Dagda’s travels across the sky, he leapt into the next mini tornado that passed by with great enthusiasm. The tornado caught him, of course, but it began to sink from the heavy weight of the spirit. Vishnu watched and looked down as An Dagda disappeared beneath the sea of clouds. Then his gaze rose to watch as his fellow spirit reappeared, shooting up from the clouds and towards the platform Samira was on. More mini tornadoes must have joined up down there to give the extra boost required. Now it was his turn…

Back with Samira An Dagda came crashing down near her. He did not have as much of a smooth landing for he was facedown on the floor upon impact. The summoner cringed, almost feeling sorry for him. At least she was tossed to land on her feet. ”Are you alright?“ He had mentioned he was never better, face still planted onto the floor. “Honestly.“ With a hopeless shake of her head, she walked over and knelt down to help him up. It was during that, that she noticed the multi-armed spirit had not joined them yet. “Where is Vishnu?” Her head turned to look behind her to see magic particles swarming from the platform they had just left and towards the new one. They connected with the edge and then began to take the shape of a bridge. A few more seconds and the particles burst in a flash of light, leaving a solid bridge that would have been safe enough to walk on had it been there before. Before long Vishnu calmly made his way across it and safely reached the other platform without the need for a hectic ride on mini tornadoes.

An Dagda quickly stood up and confronted the ever so calm spirit. “Just how did you manage to get across to easily? Where did that bridge come from?! You were supposed to join in on the fun ride!”

“That is hardly fun for me. Either way those smaller orbs that were on the edge of the platform were there for more than decoration. They are apparently switches. One just happened to be a bridge mechanism.”

“How did you even figure that out? They had nothing on them to indicate they had any purpose to them!”

”I agree. Normally I could have picked up on something like that. I do have experience with that sort of thing. Even I could not tell them apart from normal décor. Just how did you figure that out?” Samira’s inquiry was done while trying to straighten out that long green hair of hers that had gotten all over the place and tangled from the short trip across.

“It was…accidental,” he replied, his eyes shifting over to the side and not going into any detail on how it was accomplished, accident or not. Vishnu could feel the stares and coughed awkwardly. Hopefully the two would not press for more information. To make further sure they did not he moved the conversation along. “We now know how to operate the bridges between these floating buildings. I suggest we make use of them instead of your solution.” During his moment of talking the bridge he had used disappeared in a swirl of small lights that faded into the clouds. None of them thought anything of it. There was no reason to go back the way they came, after all. They needed to go ahead and had fully intended to make it there. So, they proceeded. Further into the newest plat formed structure they ventured, finding only something that rose a few eyebrows and caused deep frowns. In front of them was not one “decorative” orb switch, but three.

Seven. Hours. Later.

The floating platforms that made up most of the sky fortress served an additional purpose other than being part of the architecture. They were actually part of a puzzle that the spirit incarnation of Zeus had designed. If the recording had been listened to they would have known such a thing most likely. Alas, after the second hour of passing from platform to platform the trio found themselves right back at the beginning and no where near the larger main structure that was off in the distance. Some time was spent taking other paths and in different orders. As an additional bit of challenge, An Dagda and Vishnu declined to help. The puzzle had to be something Samira had to solve on her own without their help. Only in battle could spirits be used to aid her, and even then those particular two were blacklisted. As more time went on it seemed to be a hopeless endeavor with taking the puzzle seriously. Really it was beginning to seem impossible.

At one point they had even made it to the larger platform but before relief began to set in they were warped back to the very beginning. The conclusion after the rage? They were on a timer. No matter if they reached the destination or not, if they did not do it in a timely fashion then they had to start over. To make matters worse, the floating structures shifted and moved positions. A sort of randomizer effect so they couldn’t just use the exact same path they used before but faster. Yet throughout that horrible puzzle they endured. The right path had been taken and they had done it within the time limit but just barely. A second more and they would be restarting it again.

“I hate puzzles… who allowed him to use them in his trial?!”

“Samira did, remember? He was also given permission to cheat. Due to this I am surprised there was a solution at all. I had predicted we would be repeating it until the summoner died from lack of nutrition, exhaustion, or suicide.”

”You had no faith in my ability to solve it then, I see.”

“That was not my point. You cannot have faith in the abilities of one to find a solution if one does not exist to find in the first place. You already know he does not want you to pass. The fact you made it past the first obstacle at all continues to worry me. It should not have been possible.”

”Nonsense. There is always a solution. If I could not figure out the correct path for the puzzle then I would have come up with something entirely. Something he would not have thought of to make a counter for.”

“You seem to think such a thing exists.”

”I have been in the company of a few that used such unexpected methods before. You could say at times it shows that it has rubbed off on me. As a last resort, of course.”

“Naturally.”

"Mages come in all shapes and sizes. Where one may falter at something, another may excel."

With the annoying puzzle down they continued walking along to explore the larger sky structure. What they would find they were unsure of, they didn’t even have the slightest idea of what to look for. Again, another point where the recording would have proved useful. Their conversation also continued. In a weird way the third trial was allowing Samira to bond with her two newest spirits. Her other spirits were very important to her and mattered a great deal. However, An Dagda and Vishnu were part of a set of spirits that anyone of her bloodline could summon. They were important in a very different way. With them Samira felt a little more connected with those of her heritage even if she did not really know anyone else that was a part of it or her true family history. Perhaps the closer she got to them then the more information they would share with her should she ask. It was a shame the third one disliked her from the very start. He would probably be just as annoying to deal with and just as difficult as his trial… should she pass anyway.

”Something is strange about this place.” Samira stated as she continued walking, entering a wide area that had several sets of fancy golden pillars scattered about and a second level that could be seen past the fancy railings. Nothing else was in the room at all aside from a crystal flooring that had such a pristine shine that their reflections were easily seen as if they were mirrors.

“You just now thought that? I was missing my forest realm around four hours ago!”

”No.” Samira halted her steps and glanced behind her. Then she shifted her gaze all around. Something was starting to not feel right at all. Caution and the feeling of danger was coursing through her. Something was causing it, but she wasn’t sure what. ”That is not it. Have you not noticed? There has not been a single creature or person anywhere. Would he really have such a fortress just for himself?”

“Probably. His ego is large enough to think a smaller space for himself is an insult.”

“True. But then he would have no one to show it off too. He did have elementals as pets last I checked though. Strange is it that we have not seen any thus far.”

”Elementals? As pets?”

“Among other things. He does experiment.”

They continued, thinking no more of the fortress that was void of all life aside from themselves. That changed once they had reached the middle. There was a strange sound as if something took a breath, but was raspy and didn‘t sound all that human. Then a bolt of lightning came down from somewhere on the second level, not striking either summoner or spirit but rather the floor. Before they could react and begin to look for the source the room reacted to that electrified move and became filled with miniature tornadoes like they had seen at the beginning, but not entirely. The current ones were sparking with electric energy, possibly being dangerous to the touch. Samira was not going to find out for herself by touching one. Then again, she didn’t have to because the answer was seen only a few seconds later.

A mini tornado formed right beside An Dagda. It moved sideways and the spirit was unfortunately right in its path. When the two touched the spirit yelled in pain from the expected shock, and even more so when the tornado pushed him into another, repeating the process of being passed around and getting electrified until he smacked against a wall at the far side of the room. Even there it was not safe though and the spirit’s eyes grew wide when he saw several of the tornadoes coming along to greet him. He swiftly recovered his footing and bolted out of there. “AGAIN! WHO ALLOWED HIM TO DO THIS?! I AM NOT THE ONE DOING A TRIAL HERE!!!”

Samira and Vishnu handled the obstacle with a little more… grace. Just by watching the first few seconds of An Dagda’s demonstration they got a good idea of what they had to do. It was easy really. Make it through the room and to the other side while watching out for the mini tornadoes. Touching just one would result in a harmful chain reaction that put you at a random location in the room. They both decided that ride was not for them. The two of them ignored their flailing companion that was running around the room for his very survival and kept focused on trying to traverse the room safely. As unfortunate as it was, they were eventually separated as one of the mini tornadoes cut by, and then another, and then another. There would be no catching up. They all had to find their own path across. It took some time but both Vishnu and Samira had made it, with Vishnu reaching the end first and then Samira a few minutes later. An Dagda never did reach it. Not correctly anyway. He had created a chain reaction so stupendously long and complex that he reached the other side with unintentional success. Needless to say, the spirit was sizzling and smoking from all of the attacks, and his hair and beard had become pointed from the effect. The other two couldn’t even make themselves laugh. It was so ridiculously stupid and embarrassing to witness.

“Stupid puzzle room,” An Dagda muttered as he fixed his appearance and even healed himself from the damage he had obtained. “You have a time spirit. Why didn’t you call him to stop that nonsense so I- I mean we- could get across?”

”Kukulkan and Cupid did not answer my call when I intended to fly my way around the first puzzle. I had my doubts on Chronos appearing if I had planned to use him to cheat through the other one. Besides, Vishnu and I made it through okay.”

“Ooo yeah, you two made it all fine and dandy.” An Dagda rolled his eyes.

“Please stop complaining. We have all made it to the end. Lets continue.”

At the end of the tornado room obstacle was a large diamond shaped opening for the small group to go through. Once they had walked through it there was yet another ramp that went up the sides of a massive pillar, spiraling around and around all the way until it disappeared into a gathering of grey clouds and could no longer be seen. How far up it went they were not sure on. What they could guess from the flickering lightning and rumbles of thunder that they would be walking right up into a storm. That expectation did not alarm them or even cause them to slow down. Samira took a step onto the spiraling ramp without a word to the other two. They followed. Vishnu also said nothing, but An Dagda grumbled as they began to make their way up. His words had gone ignored. One thing they all could agree on though was that they were ready for the trial to reach its end so they could leave the place entirely.

The journey up took a great deal of time. Well over an hour, perhaps two. No one was keeping track aside from An Dagda counting his steps along the way. The further up they went, the further into the storm they also entered. Their position on the fancy walkway  was safe though as they had come to find out. While the winds picked up and the lightning struck around them they remained unharmed. An invisible barrier was around it that prevented the storm from reaching them. Well, probably from reaching and destroying the  walkway. It was more within reason that they were an after thought.

At the top was nothing extraordinary. No tricks. No puzzles. Nothing too suspicious at all. The trio reached what was a very small room with a portal being the only thing inside. One could say that was surely a trick of some sort in disguise and that by taking it they would start yet another puzzle. However, after the first two both Samira and Vishnu kept their eyes opened for anything of that nature. Nothing they had seen would be connected to the portal as a trick. Therefore it was within reason that it genuinely led to the next location. Wherever that was. Prepared to find out, they stepped through it one at a time with Samira in the lead.

"Mages come in all shapes and sizes. Where one may falter at something, another may excel."

Samira stepped through the other side of the portal to find herself standing on yet another floating structure but this one different than any of the others. It was shaped into a thin circular ring. The wide center was completely gone and the clouds below could be seen, as well as other rings that were like the one she was on but lower in their place within the sky. There were also a few squared platforms further out at different points around the main circular one. Other than that there was no logical purpose for them that she could see or an obvious direction to go to in order to proceed further into the fortress. It had to be the end point of the trial. The final room.

Vishnu and An Dagda appeared behind her and took their places at her side. “I should have known,” Vishnu commented and then turned to look over Samira and towards An Dagda. “Come, we have been given instruction to watch from elsewhere.”

“What? I didn’t hear anything.”

“You know everyone trusts me with information more than you. This way.”

”Hold on. Wait!” Samira reached out and grabbed one of Vishnu’s arms and forced him to partially turn around to look at her. ”Where are you going? And watch what?”

“Our company is no longer required. You have reached the end successfully. As much as I would like to stay here to watch you complete the final task moving away is more safer. Good luck, summoner. May you pass this trial to mark your worth for the fourth that awaits you.” Vishnu took steps forward with Samira having no choice but to let him go. An Dagda passed by, following Vishnu to wherever they needed to go now. He was sure to give her an encouraging and confident grin as he did. It didn’t really help, but the thought was nice enough and appreciated. A small portal then appeared for them to take so they could watch from a safer distance. Where that was Samira couldn’t really tell. The portal had also disappeared the moment they both stepped into it. That left her completely alone, but not for long.

“SO YOU HAVE MADE IT THIS FAR, HAVE YOU?!”

The deep voice boomed and echoed throughout the area, bringing with it high winds that blew her long green hair back and caused some very painful ears. Good lord was that volume overdone and not necessary at all. From what she could assume it was the voice of Zeus and it was quite unfortunate that his manner of speaking continued. “IMPOSSIBLE! YOU MUST HAVE GOTTEN LUCKY! WELL HERE IS WHERE THAT STOPS. YOUR FINAL OBSTACLE WILL BE HERE AND HERE IS WHERE YOU WILL FAIL AS I HAVE PREDICTED!!!” The clouds became darker and the storm from the other section of the fortress appeared for added effect. As he spoke thunder struck. Samira was far from intimidated and could really only stare blankly while covering her ears and cursing the spirit for daring to mess up her hair.

”Excuse me.” She spoke, quietly at first. It was not heard as the spirit that had yet to reveal himself went on to make a long speech that was making her ears bleed. Figuratively, of course, but it was only a matter of time before it became literally. “EXCUSE ME!!!” Every loud sound had stopped, the thunderstorm magically paused, and even the wind ceased to exist. Well that was unexpected. Samira put on a small, innocent smile and cutely tilted her head to the side. ”Could you maybe perhaps tone down the volume of your voice just a bit? Please?” There was a moment of silence and stillness that ended up making Samira nervous. She had a few storm and wind spirits already and had witnessed this before. It was the calm before the storm. Anytime now Zeus was going to show his anger, she could feel it as the tension and silence grew. Several lightning strikes landed near her and heavily damaged the ground she stood on, breaking parts of it off. The storm continued rolling in and worsened. Rain was brought with it and the thunder escalated as Zeus went on to speak about how offended he was and how dare she yell at him. A pity really. All she wanted was to make sure she didn’t go deaf during the trial and actually have a use for her ears besides holding her hair behind them.

He claimed that introductions were over and that the final phase was beginning. In the center of the ring the clouds swirled and formed into something that was partially human shaped but giant sized. A head with pale yellow glowing eyes, torso, arms, but that was about it as the bottom half was comprised of swirling clouds that continued further down into the unknown. It was a powerful storm elemental from what she had been told. Logical as it sparked in much the same way as the mini tornadoes of the second obstacle. Her task was to defeat the oversized pet of his. For normal people that would have been quite the task and the opponent concerning and intimidating. Samira could only blink. Seriously? ”I can use any of my spirits for this, correct?”

“THEY ARE ALLOWED TO ANSWER YOUR CALL FOR BATTLE!”

”I see. That is fortunate for me.”

The battle began but it was over within seconds. Saying that she was allowed to use her spirits for battle was actually a terrible thing for him to do and not because she planned to use her battle oriented ones. One of her last resorts was called on, and the reason it was a last resort was because it was practically cheating. The one thing Zeus did not want her to do with the other obstacles he had unintentionally given his permission to do with the current one. Loki, the spirit incarnation of the god of tricks had been called. The sinister looking jester spirit grinned once he appeared. He was no battle spirit at all and normally did what he could to stay out of it. In instances like this though it was too good to pass up. He approved of rubbing in the fact he was allowed to help his summoner cheat. Nothing needed to be said to him at all. Only for one purpose was he ever summoned and it was obvious who the opponent was. ”One shrunken elemental coming right up.”

“WHAT?!!!!”

With a snap of the jester’s fingers the once giant elemental became much smaller very quickly. At the end of the transformation it was barely two inches tall and the lightning attack it sent towards the summoner did nothing but cause a light tickle.

“NO!!!”

”I have technically defeated my opponent. In no way can it do anything against me in this form. Can I return to Pandora now?”

“YOU CHEATED! HE IS NOT A BATTLE SPIRIT!”

”You said I could use any spirit to aid me in battle. I assumed you knew what they all were capable of.”

“I DID NOT ACTUALLY THINK YOU WOULD COMPLETELY BYPASS THE FIGHTING!”

“Oh dear, there was your mistake. We run on a different set of logic. Why fight when you can just skip all of that dangerous stuff with one simple spell?“

“THAT WAS ONLY PHASE ONE!”

”Phases? You mentioned nothing about phases. I defeated it, I have passed.

“I SAY WHEN YOU HAVE PASSED! THIS BATTLE IS BEING RESET AND PLACED ON A MORE DIFFICULT SETTING!”

”Why do I feel as if I am living in some horrible and clichéd video game?”

“SILCENCE! NOW COWER BEFORE MY ALMIGHTY CREATION AND KNOW THAT DOOM IS UPON YOU!”

The tiny elemental then grew in size, but returned to the one it had before it did not do. Rather, it grew to be even more massive. Samira could even feel that its power had been increased as well. She could barely even stay standing up as the winds from the elemental’s presence pushed against her and forced her nearly over the edge of the circular platform. ”Looks like this is getting to be more than I planned on helping with. Back I go then!” Loki then poofed from existence. His help was no longer required. Never try the same trick twice, after all.

"Mages come in all shapes and sizes. Where one may falter at something, another may excel."

”The normal way it is then. Chronos, Nu Wa, Camazotz.” One by one the spirits came at her call. With her connection with them becoming stronger and being able to access a new form of magic because of it, she could bypass the normal ritualistic summoning process entirely when she needed it. The longer version she used normally was just done by habit and personal preference. Currently, the situation did not allow for that, especially given she was summoning multiple spirits. As for herself, she took on the powers of Amaterasu for her own.

The rain grew stronger and made it harder to see, but thankfully the elemental was a huge target. The plan had been for Chronos to use his time abilities to stop the elemental from moving. From there the other two spirits and herself would attack the target and eliminate it quickly within that time. Nu Wa, while a Lamia and probably couldn’t reach the large elemental for melee attacks, had a powerful ranged attack that could be used. Camazotz was a flier and could easily reach it despite the storm. He also served as a way to disorient and confuse the elemental should it still remain after the effects of Chronos’ magic wore off. Something was very wrong, however.

The time stop was very ineffective on the elemental and when the creature took notice of the move it swerved its fist and smacked the time spirit away. He burst into particles upon impact. The power increase was mighty indeed. The other two spirits were more mobile and able to move quickly enough after seeing the fate of their fellow spirit, but their attacks proved to be just as weak against it. Nu Wa’s floating crystals combined to send a blast of energy at the foe but it only bounced back towards her. Narrowly did she escape her own attack in time. Camazotz’s disorienting back up plan also did not work and the bat was being swatted at as if he were a fly. As for Samira, she used Ama’s power to call down a pillar of light that should have done damage to it. At the end of it she could only see that it did nothing. The attacks were not working at all.

The elemental so far ignored her and was sending blasts of lightning at the two spirits. Samira took hold of her chakrams and used the opportunity to attack again. Once more an ability that belonged to the light spirit was used. If magical attacks would not work then perhaps physical. In a flash of light Samira teleported herself to be right where the elemental was; the center. Normally one would fall straight on down due to gravity, but she quickly activated the next ability that increased her speed by a large margin and several times she began attacking and teleporting. Unfortunately, the speed was too much and it took her some time to notice that she was actually in danger. Only by feeling pain herself did she realize that being close to the elemental was deadly. She was receiving cuts just as quickly as she was giving them. Then the elemental’s body burst with a jolt of lightning that hit her and made her cry out and scream just before a gust of powerful wind sent her flying away.

Samira landed harshly on the ringed platform but the heavy rain had made it very slippery, and she slid all the way towards and over the edge. The edge had been grabbed with one hand as she went over, and the summoner held on for dear life. She reached up, grabbing the edge with her other hand and attempted to pull herself up. Little progress was being made due to her slipping and nearly losing her grip whenever she tried. ”Samira! Hold on, dear!” Nu Wa slithered over, evading the attacks made against her with elegant ease while also calling out to her fellow spirit to keep the elemental distracted. The lamia spirit pulled Samira up and from there the summoner called on He Bo to heal her injuries. Magic attacks bounced right off the thing. Was she and her spirits really supposed to get in close and hope they could do some physical damage before getting themselves destroyed in the process? Such a speed she was certain did not exist given she was already using a really quick one and still had to feel the consequences. It was the only option though. Maybe if they all did it together.

Standing fully, Samira glared at the elemental and watched as it attacked her bat spirit. The hit landed, one of many Camazotz likely received while being a distraction, and he too poofed into particles. ”Gate of the Avatar!” As she raised her arm above her the clouds above her began to swirl and create a large magic portal that connected to the part of the celestial realm her spirits called home. It was their gate, and she had become advanced enough to hold it open for a lengthy period of time. This allowed for all of her summons to come through. And so they did. Each spirit that had not yet been summoned appeared long enough to make a single attack against the elemental before disappearing back through their gate to reappear again a bit later. Assuming they even could. Many had to have taken some damage. Of course, the elemental had to have as well and had to have felt it. She was not some summoner that only had a select few at her disposal. Samira was a master summoner with many!

The tactic seemed to have effect. She watched as the elemental struggled against the onslaught of attacks and she watched it begin to move weakly and sluggishly. That was ruined when Zeus himself appeared beside the elemental with a disgusting smirk on his face. “IT IS NOT OVER YET!” After those words the storm spirit turned and released his own magic energy and sent it right into the elemental. The thing returned to how it was before, although with even more increased power levels now that it had the magic energy of a spirit. He really did want her to fail. There would be no end to it no matter how many times she defeated the thing or came close. Only when she lost would he be satisfied. Still she persisted, again and again, depleting her magic power a great deal in the process and tiring herself out. Even Nu Wa eventually found her way back to the celestial world from her depleted energy.

"Mages come in all shapes and sizes. Where one may falter at something, another may excel."

’You are overlooking something,’ a voice spoke inside her head. ‘Keep moving and reply to me with your mind.’ The voice was familiar, but she had only heard it once. The spirit that was speaking to her in her mind belonged to the newest key she obtained, the Zodiac spirit Sagittarius. She had not had possession of his key for very long nor had any reason to call on him. Actually, how was it that he was able to speak with her at that time anyhow? All links should have been severed due to the contract she signed at the beginning.

’You really over think things. The answer is very basic. I am not of the same set as your other spirits and so that contract you signed does not apply to me. I have been watching this entire time. Do not be too angry with me for not helping in any way. I did not want to give myself away before this moment.’

Samira had done as told and kept moving to avoid the attacks of the elemental, circling around the ring and allowing the gate to work as a distraction even though it was no longer working. ’What moment is that? You can clearly see nothing I do is going to work. He will keep resetting the fight and make it more difficult each time.’

’Overthinking. You are to defeat the elemental but it was not said how. Zeus has revealed himself. Defeat its master and it will no longer be controlled or reset.’

’You really think he would allow me to pass with a tactic like that?’

’He will have no choice. Vishnu will force it to end the moment Zeus can do nothing.’

’Lovely. Now how do you propose I actually defeat him? I would need a spirit that is capable of doing it in one shot.’

‘Well… I do not really like to brag, but you could use my power, you know. I am more fitting as a weapon though. You have used this power before in the past if your memories are correct.’

’Yes, on the second trial. I have not used it since. I am unaware if he even knows about it.’

’Doubtful. I suggest using it either way. Summoning me normally would give it away.’

’Right.’ The conversation came to an end as did her attempts at running around in a giant circle. Using most of what was left of her magical energy, she called upon the Zodiac spirit but in weapon form rather than activating his portal for his true self. As the archer constellation his weapon form was that of a bow. Perfect really since that was a weapon she knew how to use the most. She could feel the Zodiac’s power coursing through it as she turned around to face the direction where Zeus was hovering. A magic arrow appeared within the bow, already equipped and ready to be released. Taking aim she did not bother with. From what she had seen before in her dream world when first meeting him the attack that would be set loose would be wide enough to hit him regardless of how off she was. The arrow was released and so was a powerful blast of energy that sailed behind the magical arrow. It was much too quick for the spirit to notice it in time for a counter.

The blast hit its intended target and even the elemental as well. For a second it looked as if the magic immunity was still in full effect, but as soon as Zeus was destroyed from the energy of the blast that effect disappeared as well. The body of the elemental deteriorated into several small pieces and then those pieces broke apart until there was nothing left. Samira lowered the bow and waited. A strong expectation of the fight resetting again existed within her mind and she was preparing herself for it. Nothing happened though. The storm went away and all signs of the opponent’s magic was gone. Her own spirit gate then closed as she forced it out of the realm. No longer did she feel it was needed. A great sigh of relief was made and she closed her eyes. When they opened she saw that she was no longer standing on the circular ring of the sky fortress. Instead, she was back at the entrance of the ruins on Pandora.

’Zeus will be angry for quite some time and will hold a grudge. Other than that, I am informing you that you have passed. Congratulations, summoner. Two more await you in the future.’ Vishnu informed her mentally.

"Finally!" It was with great relief that the unplanned event had reached its end and that she was very much still alive. It was a thought if she technically should be given that was practically another cheating mechanic to use, but oh well. Her success was already confirmed. "By the way, did he find out about his destroyed message machine?" There was a tiny bit of morbid curiosity to know just how much trouble An Dagda was in for destroying it. Perhaps being angered by that would cause Zeus to not be that angry at her. There was a moment of silence and for a second she thought Vishnu would not answer.

'He did...'

"Why the pause?"

'It turns out that message had no hints whatsoever for anything we would run into. It was merely a lengthy speech telling us to get out because we were unworthy to be in his presence.'

"You smacked him on the head, didn't you?"

'Repeatedly. He is now quite angry with me as well. That is none of your concern, however. I suggest you rest.' And with that he left her mind.

The bow of Sagittarius was still in Samira's hands, as was the clothing change from Ama’s power. Both were dismissed immediately after the news and small conversation. Now that, that mess was over she could do what she originally wanted to. She had been working on that trial for so long though that it would soon get dark, and she had honestly lost all interest in exploring the ruins. Maybe tomorrow. Or maybe it was about time she got back to the guild. A thought to be pondered about and saved for the next day.