The Ninth Trial

[advisories]

Who: everyone
When: Day 18, starting just after dawn
Where: The Hermit's Tent, and all around

[This morning as the sun begins to pour through the train's windows, there's the tremor that signals a Trial.]

Come hither, Heroes. Prove thy worth. Or something like that!

[It's the same older man's voice from the sixth trial, and outside is the same fortune teller's stall. Today the front flap is lifted to show a normal interior -- there's a wooden table, carved with geometric patterns and painted in bright colours, lit by teal-coloured carved candles.

At the table sits a man of indeterminate age, somewhere between 30 and 60. He's wearing what appear to be monk's robes, teal with patterned trimming. In front of him is a crystal ball and a stack of bingo cards, along with a stand-up sign bearing the rules of this Trial.

Across the top in large font, it says:

Icebreaker Bingo

Good luck and have fun!]

Comments

[nihilmancy]

Let's exchange nicknames.

[bad_crowmance]

Sounds good to me! I can call you "H."

[nihilmancy]

That's boring. I'm going to call you Magpie.

[bad_crowmance]

I've already decided. Going for another bird name, huh?

[nihilmancy]

An annoying bird, yes.

[bad_crowmance]

Ouch! If you're not careful, you might really hurt my feelings.

[ He's smiling despite his words. ]

[nihilmancy]

I wasn't lying about being a sadist.

Want to see if you can outrace a flying girl?

[bad_crowmance]

[ He pounds his fist into his other hand. ]

Sounds like fun!

[nihilmancy]

[Floats off the ground and starts heading outside.]

Flying is pretty fun sometimes, I guess.

[bad_crowmance]

It's a pretty impressive skill.

[nihilmancy]

[But then she goes back to the ground and walks the rest of the way.]

Tires me out, though.

[bad_crowmance]

That's not a surprise, either. How do you do it-- some kind of magic?

[nihilmancy]

That's right. It's a form of Star magic, which is concerned with space and movement.

[bad_crowmance]

How does it work?

[nihilmancy]

I must speak words of power- even if just in my mind, form the patterns of mana, and breathe it through my three souls. Then I become an image of the cosmos through imitation, wandering the heavens like a lost star.

[bad_crowmance]

[ Wait. ]

Three souls?

[nihilmancy]

Blood Soul, Bone Soul, Breath Soul. Well, different cultures call them by different names, but that's the shape of it, as far as we know.

[bad_crowmance]

The entire concept sounds completely unfamiliar to me.

[nihilmancy]

Somehow the idea of basic metaphysical concepts only being a local point of view has ceased to be surprising to me.

[bad_crowmance]

It's interesting, though, how many different ways there are to think about things.

[nihilmancy]

The souls are real. I feel them whenever I use magic. But maybe they're only real for me.

[Floating into the air again.]

We'll race to the tree line.

[bad_crowmance]

I can't feel my soul at all, I just assume it's there. On the count of three?

[nihilmancy]

The question of whence consciousness and perception arises is a fascin-

ah, yes, the race! On the count of three.

[bad_crowmance]

[ He casually slides himself into position. ]

One!

[nihilmancy]

[Smooths her unnecessarily ruffled skirts.]

Two.