The Trial of Wisdom (Tobias & Avamande)

[Aegis]

The Forest of Wisdom

Frost 88th, 121 AoS

Tobias and Avamande would find themselves facing each other, both having seemingly walked through the same door, yet exited in front of one another. And the doorways disappeared, or perhaps they never existed at all. The world was dark around the pair, and the air was heavy with humidity, filled with that scent of wet earth and rot. All around them were trees, extending in every direction, with a pathway behind Avamande, and another to Tobias' left. There was the chittering of insects, the chirping of birds, the rustling of small creatures in the brush, all heard and all remaining unseen.

A loud, wolf's howl echoed over the area, followed by a second, then a third, and it continued to increase until there were thousands of wolves howling. As they did, a rune carved itself into the foreheads of Avamande and Tobias, the color of fertile soil. With it, came a change in the world, a change in the forest. The wolf howls died off, and the wind continued to rustle through the trees. An observant look would reveal that the forest, diverse as many a forest are, was no longer. Instead, the same tree and the same bush and the same rock and the same moss was copied over and over and over throughout this endless forest. The paths looked exactly the same now, despite meandering off in different directions from one another.

Down the path from Avamande, a stump could be seen, in the far off distance, shrouded in shadow beneath the forest's canopy. To Tobias' left, the path ended in a maw of thorns and briars, each longer than the men's fingers. But it wasn't simply a change in the world. Avamande would find himself staring at himself and Tobias the same. When Avamande would command his body to move, Tobias would see his own body across from him move, and vice versa. Their minds were in each other's bodies. They would also find that they were connected, in a fashion. They both had access to each other's memories, each other's current state of emotion.

And then a wolf howled once more.

They would find they were connected to the wolf, to all of the thousands of wolves in this forest. And they were hungry, so hungry. Tobias and Avamande would be able to feel that strong sense of hunger and desperation from the thousands of identical wolves. They would be able to smell themselves through the wolves' noses. And they would be able to feel the paws stepping into the soft soil, as the wolves began to track the two men.

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	Please reply by February 22.

[Avamande]

Avamande smiled using Tobias' face as they realized what the Trial had done to the pair of them, excitement piercing through the downcast pallor that colored most of their emotions. Their own body moved of its own accord - no, of the other man's accord - and as they looked down at themselves they quickly realized that they were controlling that of the airship borne latecomer. The mechanism of action intrigued them, not to mention the reason for such a work. Had their minds been transferred? That was a feat near to Archmagic in its own right. Had their bodies been morphed, or their senses muddled to make them think that they had been changed? Such was far more within the bounds of known, albeit great, magicks. That did little to explain the connection between their minds however, the rigidly logical Hytori setting aside the disconcerting discovery that their companion was a Reconciliator of Zaichaer for the moment. They were, after all, upon the same errand of mercy.

The expanded sensation, that of the very hunger of the horde of wolves descending upon them, was also exceptional work but further from the center of their attention. Well. The wolves were paramount, but they had other concerns at the moment. Regardless of whether they were in a different body or not, their Runes of Magic might still work, tied as they were into the fabric of their soul. Experimentally, they raised their hand and attempted to create a Negation ward, testing the rules of the Trial. If they could still use their abilities, or if they were intended to try to use their, well, wisdom to try and puzzle out a solution to this predicament.

Still, they had the pieces in front of them. The wolves were tracking them, yes, but at the same time they could track the wolves. And perhaps... "Watch over me," Avamande said in Tobias' voice. "I have an idea." If they could feel the hunger in a wolf's stomach, and smell themselves through a wolf's nose, then maybe, just maybe, they could see through a wolf's eyes for the Essences of Judgement required to forge the Concept of Insight.

Shutting out the sensation of the body that was not their body, they did their best to through a thousand pairs of eyes.

[Tobias]

Tobias appeared to be confused as to where they were, he furrowed his eyebrows as he was able to decipher that he was standing in front of him, was he looking at the reflection of himself through the mirror? The horror was revealed as he looked down, to find he was wearing different clothing, his skin a completely different tone in colour, almost tanned like. He realised that his body had been switched with a Kalzastern Scrivener. Yet, the man had begun to think logically around the situation.

The man, Tiberius mentioned there was a trial before; that he had to face a test to save someone he didn't know. Why was he doing this? Was this all real? Tobias watched Avamande in his form walk towards him "Alright." He blinked as he looked behind him. He could feel the wolves were tracking them within this forest; those wolves might be the key to the area within "What's your idea?" Tobias asked in Avamande's voice. He could feel the hunger and the smell and yet the sense of danger that they were getting into. Especially with a pure stranger that he had no idea who he was, or what he was.

However, they were in this mess together so it seemed, although he remained watchful of Avamande in his form. He didn't know if he could fully trust the man, but yet he could feel that he had a logical presence. Eventually, Tobias would figure out the puzzle for a moment "If we're feeling their hunger, we can smell through them that means..." He narrowed his eyes in thought as he wondered if it was a silly thought. Perhaps he was clouded by the fact that he was in this dream world. Who knew?

[Aegis]

The Forest of Wisdom

As Avamande worked to create the Negation ward, they would find that the magic succeeded. And then some. The ward that was built in experiment would be far larger than what Avamande had intended to build, far stronger, longer lasting, and held to its tasking perfectly, blocking out every bit of light that attempted to pass through it.

And it pulled the requisite aether from Avamande to power the ward at these higher levels.

Then Avamande focused, attempting to peer through a thousand paid of wolfish eyes, while Tobias would be making a similar connection through their noses. For Avamande, it would be endless flashes of images, speeding past, as their mind was trying to keep up with what was being asked of it. Images of endless amounts of the same, identical trees and bushes and rocks. There were, however, a few glimpses of other things. A few paths that were different from their own, glimpses of the pair staring at one another, an unending blackness at the end of thorns.

Tobias, in Avamande's body, was being assaulted by the same two scents over and over. The first was the combined mingling of his own body's odor and that of Avamande's, far more powerful and pungent than Tobias would have ever experienced, even on his worst days. The other dominating scent though, was empty, overwhelming, and smelled like nothingness. True nothingness. It scared the wolves, for they had never known anything to have no scent whatsoever.

As they did this, Tobias' eyes, controlled by Avamande, would shift to take on those of the wolves they were peering through, while Avamande's face elongated into a wolfen snout, complete with the thin layer of fur and whiskers. As these physical changes took hold, the senses would adjust to match accordingly.

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	Please reply by March 1st.

[Avamande]

Avamande doubled over as a far more powerful ward was created than they had intended to make, their stores of aether drained at the sudden wall of *blackness* that opened up before them. They were even more confused than they would have been if the attempt had simply failed, the mage gasping for breath at the sudden and unexpected exertion.

Still, this could be useful. The ward, as tiring as it was to make, was perfect in ways that the Hytori simply could not ordinarily perform. In case of emergencies, perhaps the enhanced magic could prove itself useful. Experimentally, and with far more caution than before, they raised a hand to try and diminish the ward that they had established - merely to reduce it rather than abolish it. They were frankly concerned what would've happened if they had tried to do so.

Such concerns became far less important when the kaleidoscope of sensation battered down upon them, Avamande having not truly realized the scale of the wolf pack they were being pursued by until they tried to see through all of their eyes at once. Stubbornly, they doubled down upon their efforts, forcing themselves to try and peer deeper still. Focusing their attention upon the few paths that seemed to differ, they attempted to differentiate the senses of those wolves from the rest of the pack.

"Magical effects appear... enhanced, no accompanying increase in aether resources provided. Intriguing, and equal parts convenient and inconvenient. There are too many of them for their senses to be of much use, but perhaps acclimation will occur over time. Most of this place seems almost duplicated upon itself, but then, past the thorns, it all just stops." Curiously, they looked at their own face morph as Tobias wore their body, intrigued as their vision took on the sight of a wolf. "Fascinating. Continued use seems to cause changes in our forms as well. Perhaps if enough occurs then we'll be seen as pack mates instead of prey?"

[Tobias]

Tobias caught a wide-eyed glimpse in fascination as the negation ward that Avamande created. He wondered if he was just purely powerful, or if it was an effect of being within the trial at this very point in time. He was more confused as Avamande was, knowing that in his society, magic was heavily frowned upon. For him, it seemed to be a freedom of use.

Still, what Avamande did was useful, yet he wondered if his magic would have a similar effect. Tobias would channel his aether as he would concentrate and read the symphonies around him, wondering if there was some kind of link between the human and the wolverine. The wolves would continue to howl and snarl. The different musky scents of wolves would continue to assault their noses as they would transform between beast and man.

Still, Tobias continued to channel his mesmer abilities, in hopes of finding the answers within the wolves "I should be able to read symphonies at a higher accelerated rate, if that's the case, maybe that's the thing we need to do. Channel as much aether as we can so we can transform?" There was still an air of confusion. What was he doing here? How did he get into a dream that was completely irrelevant to his life. Was it a balance of fate that brought him here? Who knew. All he was focused on was saving whoever needed to be saving. Whoever it was. He didn't know him, but yet he was compelled to do the right thing.

The question tears inside him, weither it was the right thing in Zaichaer's eyes, and will he wake up from whatever this place would be?

[Aegis]

The Forest of Wisdom

As the wolves bore down on the pair, they would both begin to detect more and more wolves entering into the forest and joining the pack. The smell of the wolves disappeared and soon the began to be replaced by glowing white versions of themselves. And more and more wolves continued to fill this forest. They came through the trees, barking and jumping, racing past, around, over, and through Avamande and Tobias. They crashed through the Negation ward, shattering it entirely. As they went, they ran toward the thorny road. As each wolf disappeared into the darkness, the thorns retracted a bit more, and the darkness grew more distance.

This went on for some time, until a flash of light blinded the entire area, and Avamande and Tobias, in their original bodies now, would find themselves in a pristine, lush, viridescent forest. Everything was alive and animals were scurrying about, all looking at them, and for a long moment, the pair would be able to feel everything, were one with all of it. And then a pair of wolves came over, touched their snouts against the two, and they both disappeared entirely.