Ariadne's Test - Part I

[Muryllis]

Another brilliant day dawned on the sparkling city of Aesir. It would, however, prove to be a tough one; Muryllis, the city's Master Spellweaver and chief instructor of apprentice mages, would soon be faced with yet another challenging test. The difficulty did not lie in the potential danger he faced from trigger-happy spellcasters - he was, after all, capable of disarming and silencing them if the need arose. His headaches would come from the difficult decision that would come soon after the finale of the testing. Muryllis would need to decide whether or not the student was fit for advancement; if not, that would mean more and more testings soon after - and some students did not have the ability to live with a failure to please a rusty old man.

That said, he stood in the middle of a grassy field created for the purpose of magical training and practice. Within it, he awaited his first student in quite a few months - a young girl named Ariadne, a Sorceress aspiring to become a master of the elements. Well then, lets see if she's worth my time as a student, he pondered, stretching and preparing for the long day ahead of him.

[Ariadne]

Ariadne walked into the courtyard. It was such a lovely morning. The sun was shining and you can hear the hummingbirds singing their lovely tune. Ariadne was in good spirits today. It was her first part of a test to see if she would be worth becoming an Elementalist. As Ariadne walked she saw a man in the of the courtyard sitting down. "That must be my instructor." Ariadne thought. Ariadne walked up to the man. She bowed in a form of respect. She then straightened out. "Hi! Im Ariadne. I was told to come here for my first test." Ariadne told the man cheerily.

[Muryllis]

Her cheerfulness did not affect him, though Muryllis knew that it would likely vanish once he had gotten deep into the testing. "Greetings," he began, and then decided that a pointless waste of time through formalities was not in their best interests. "We have a long day ahead of us, so I think it best that we begin now."

A lazy wave of his hand produced a sturdy mahogany table, on which rested an array of random objects. This array was made up of things ranging from rocks to spoons to sheets of paper, and would be used during the first part of Ariadne's testing. "To start," he said, "I ask you to perform a number of simple magical tasks - simple, at least, by my standards," he added.

"Lets see... start off by taking this parchment" - said parchment approached Ariadne and hovered at eye level - "and fold it into a perfect crane with only the use of magic. This will be necessary for later tests of skill; you may begin." Of course it seemed lame and boring... but that would soon change, and the girl would be wise to savor a lack of true challenge while it remained.

[Ariadne]

The man seem to not to be looking as forward to her testing as she was sincehe didnt properly greet her. The instructorstarted talking and explaining what she was to do. During his whole speech Ariadne just nodded. She found it rather useless to make a crane, but whatever she had to do what she had to do to become an elementalist. Ariadne grabbed the paper andplaced it on the table. She then sat down on the grass with her legs crossed. Ariadne looked at the paper one last time and closed her eyes as she remembered the steps to do a paper crane.

"Fold the square in half four times, from corner to corner and from side to side, and press down the creases firmly. Now work round the four sides folding (eight times) from the corners lining the side up against the corner-to-corner creases. Press the new creases firmly but only half way. When you have finished and open out the paper. Press up the side panels moving all four corners towards each other and shaping the paper so it makes a kind of tent on legs. Press a 'valley' fold in two opposite long panels and press down firmly. Your paper is now folded in a kite shape. By its point, lift up the unfolded panel facing upwards and bend it back across the top at its widest point. Turn the paper over and do the same with the other side. Your paper is now like a large diamond with 'legs'. You now have to make the 'legs' narrower, by folding each one inwards, along the dotted lines .Crease all four legs in the same way.Hold the right hand side closed and lift the left ', slowly and carefully, letting its fold reverse. Press at X to hold it in place. Now do the same thing with the right 'leg').Now gently pull out the wings into a position for a gliding flight. Underneath the paper bird you will see there is a small hole. Blow gently into this, holding the wing tips, so that the bird's body swells out. Finally, turn the end of the neck piece to form the bird's head. It should now sit on a flat surface with its wings outspread; or you can suspend it on a length of cotton to form part of a mobile." Ariadne remembered. While she was thinking the paper was folding and unfolding in turn of the instructions.

Ariadne opened her eyes and first looked at the Instuctor to see his _expression if she did it right or not. She was now to nervous to look at her crane.

[Muryllis]

Fumbling with an oddly-shaped glass object he hadn't worked with before (stupid alchemists), Muryllis barely turned his head when he felt the girl behind him finish her crane. With a twitch of an eyebrow, a fresh new stack of paper appeared, consisting of about ninety-nine fresh sheets. "Magical exercises," he muttered, "to get your brain working. Make ninty-nine more and line them up in ranks ten deep." Indeed, the difficult stuff had yet to begin. "The ability to manipulate objects such as paper in normal, physical ways," the man said, "is something you should be familiar with as a sorceress, given your association with the scholarly kind. Typical life skills," he rambled off, picking dirt and dust out of the latest glass contraption.

[Ariadne]

Ariadne stared at the Instructor shocked. "Nin...nine.ninety nine." Ariadne stuttered. He wanted her brain to explode. Ariadne wasnt as excited as she was before. She was rather let down. She thought she would do more hands-on work wich would deal with the elements not a stack of paper. Ariadne grabbed a piece of paper and placed it in front of her. She then looked at her paper crane and grinned it was perfect. Ariadne was in better hopes witht he whole paper crane ordeal and began again.

Fold the square in half four times, from corner to corner and from side to side, and press down the creases firmly...................Press a 'valley' fold in two opposite long panels and press down firmly. Your paper is now folded in a kite shape.............Crease all four legs in the same way.Hold the right hand side closed and lift the left ', slowly and carefully, letting its fold reverse. ..............Now gently pull out the wings into a position for a gliding flight. Underneath the paper bird you will see there is a small hole. Blow gently into this, holding the wing tips, so that the bird's body swells out....Finally, turn the end of the neck piece to form the bird's head. It should now sit on a flat surface with its wings outspread; or you can suspend it on a length of cotton to form part of a mobile. " She opened her eyes and blinked. She was done with one.....98 more to go.

Ariadne looked at the paper stacks and then back at the two cranes she has completed. "Now how can I complete 98 paper cranes in a short period of time?." Ariadne asked herself.

[Muryllis]

"With time, my dear Ariadne," he answered, even though the question was not for him. "Worry not, for, with repitition, it should come more quickly and efficiently. Say, by the thirtieth one you should get the hang of it." He smiled, knowing that his smugness would push some bad buttons in her. With a lack of interest in her anger, he grabbed himself a stack of paper - at least three hundred sheets thick - and began making his own army of cranes. These will come in handy later, he thought, blasting through them ten at a time. He made sure to use techniques that she couldn't - easy enough, since he had ages more experience than her - and simply used the Neuromancer's tactic of infusing each sheet with a mind of its own, programming it to fold itself. "Having fun?" he asked, already done with a third of the stack. "I see no reason why this should be so difficult; if you can fold a hundred cranes with your hands, as would a warrior, you should be able to do so easily, as would any other mage. Your first priority should be mental strength, Miss Ariadne, not physical. Now then, hustle, I am already through half my stack!"

[Ariadne]

Ariadne looked at her instructor skeptically and gave him a grim smile. "Showoff" Ariadne mumbled as he easily made his paper cranes. She wanted to burn his paper cranes with a flame of fire and turn them to ashes....just for being a show off. But she thought against it. Ariadne sighed. She had a long way to finish this task. She decided to do the cranes the old-fashion way........with her mind. Ariadne grabbed her stack of paper and set them horizontally in stacks of ten each. She then closed her eyes and started concentrating hard on the cranes. As she concentrated she felt her inner-chi growing. Her Chi then divided into mini-chi spheres. The chi then fused together with the paper and started making the paper cranes as the instruction ran through her head.

[Muryllis]

"Splendid," he said, all of his cranes complete as Ariadne plowed through her twentieth. Munching on a magical cookie that he had taken out of his belt pouch, he waited for her to finish before NOT rewarding her with a cookie of her own. "Not bad, but not good," he said, glancing with distaste at bad folds and crumpled edges. "It'll have to do, I'm afraid. Now then, for your next test." What would he have her do? The fun was only just beginning, and his goal was to wear her out before the grand finale.

Tossing all the cranes into a sack - with magic - he continued his speech. "Next in line," he said, popping the last of the paper cranes into the bag and sealing it, "is a test of your ability to strategize with magic. First of all, would you care to tell me which element you wish to persue first once - if - you pass my tests?

[Ariadne]

Ariadne heard him say "splendid." When she was sure she finished all of her cranes she opened her eyes and examined them. As the instructor said himself. They werent perfect, but who is anyways? Ariadne looked at her instructor happily. She couldnt wait for her next task. The paper cranes were going into a bag magically and Ariadne started to look at that with interest. She heard him asked her what elemnt would she like to persue. She turned her attention to her instructor once again and started thinking. "hmmmmm.....I would like to persue the element......of.............of.........WATER!" Ariadne said. Her last word coming out louder than she had expected. She blushed at her loudness. "I would like to persue the element of water." Ariadne said in her normal tone this time.

OOC::Why you had to go do that now....She didnt even get to take a bite out of it!!!How rude!! Atleast now I know who ttok the cookie from the cookie jar!!

[Muryllis]

((Who? Me? Naa, I simply conjure myself one when I need it ^.^))

The Master Spellweaver simply smirked at the young girl's eagerness in blurting out the answer. "When it comes to the intriguing arts of elementalism, the student's first sphere of mastery is usually based on their personality, their 'style' of emotion, if you would, when compared to the elements themselves. However, I know elementalists who have mastered their first sphere simply by desire; for instance, a passionate, romantic magician best suited for fire managed to overcome earth, perhaps using his own fiery passion to fuel his studies. An interesting thing, magic, is it not?"

Not bothering to wait for her reply, Muryllis proceeded to a generic picnic site, complete with a blanket and sandwiches, that had appeared behind him. Nearby stood a massive - even frightening - anthill, the kind found deep in the woods. The twigs and needles that formed it were covered with massive ants, and their scouts had just found the picnic site. Thoughts of food flashed through their tiny minds, thoughts that the old man could read easily.

"This anthill runs deep into the earth, populated by thousands, if not millions, of deadly - and very hungry - ants. Your task," he said, turning his head back to the picnic site, "is to defend these scrumptious sandwiches; I guarantee you that doing so by eating them will only net you a very painful death at the hands (jaws) of these ants." Indeed, it was a frightening prospect to behind being devoured by them - they measured between half an inch and an inch in length, and their sharp jaws had an air of strength to them. "I assure you that you are not their target; however, once you anger them enough, or if it is obvious to them that you are the one in the way of their lunch, they will go for you."

"You may begin," he concluded, himself striding over to the anthill and sitting down for an enlightening chat with the Queen. "Aah yes, you may as well have this," he added, pulling out a magic cookie and tossing it to her; he pulled out another one, broke off a piece, and drove his arm deep into the ant hill, probably giving it to the Queen and her servents. "You'll need the refreshment." Turning away, he began to discuss the tactics involved in defending the colony from invaders, pausing when the Queen offered her mental reply.

[Ariadne]

Ariadne listened to the Instructor as he rambled of about past Elementalist and their choice of first elements. He asked her a question and Ariadne was going to reply but then he continued talking not even waiting for her reply. "how rude" . Ariadne thought. The instructor then motioned her to an anthill behind them. When she set upon a look at the picnic she looked at her instuctor and gave him a quizical look."Now what am I supposed to do with that?" But as soon as that thought entered her mind. Ariadne noticed the ant-hill it wasnt just a regular ant-hill you see in front of a lawn. It was rather monstrous one. It seemed as no-one has attempted to stop the over-population of it. Ariadne listened to her instructor eagerly. As he finished explaining the task. Ariadne asked "May I use any object available with me?" Ariadne asked him. She had already many ideas on how to protect those sandwiches. But she may need the use of an item.

He then tossed her a cookie and sat next to the ant queen. Ariadne caught the cookie and took a bite out of it. "yummy" Ariadne mumbled. she then looked at her instructor waiting for his reply.

[Muryllis]

"Of course," he said, happy to see that his aggravated student was capable of thought. "However, try to refrain from lighting the anthill on fire; there's a fine Queen here for me to chat with, and these guys have more ways of getting out if the main structure is burnt." Before turning back to continue a discussion about the use of rotting animals and maggots to help defend the colony, he added, "And wouldn't try running with the food if I were you; I doubt the Grand Magi would allow me to pass you if they found monstrous ants crawling all over the city."

[Ariadne]

Ariadne laughed a bit at her instructors last comment. "Okay." Ariadne replied as she turned her attention on the picnic site. Ariadne rummaged through her cloak. Ariadne then rummaged though her cloak and found herself a shovel. She started digging around the picnic site. It steepnes of the hole wasnt too deep. It was just 6 inches deep and 10 inches wide. She dug up the surrounding of the site in a matter of minutes. She then sat on her knees. She then examined her work. She sat infront of her "hole" and closed her eyes she placed the palms of her hands facing the sky together. A large water-ball started forming on the palms of her hands. She then gently and slowly placed the water ball slowly inside of her "hole". Water soon filled the "hole". Ariadne opened her eyes and and stood up. She then jumped inside the picnic site. Ariadne looked at the flesh-eating ants and smiled.

[Muryllis]

"I'm a tad disturbed by your use of physical labor, but your ineptness with magic at the moment justifies that," he said, finishing his conversation with the Queen and standing up, brushing his robes off. "Either way, a fine display of strategy and skill. You may now proceed to the second portion of your testing, which I shall organize shortly. This is your break period; use it to its full extent, as the next portion shall make use of your skills on the spot; simply said, prepare for hell," he concluded, smiling.

With a sinister wave of his hand, the entire length - and depth - of the ant colony burst into flame; the crackling and squeeling of the creatures exoskeletons and the gasses passing through them filled his and Ariadne's ears. He smiled. "You may have your sandwiches if you wish." The girl's moat disappeared, replaced once more by lush grass; the ruins of the ant colony and its roasted inhabitants also disappeared.