auroraexpress | The Thirtieth Trial

Who: Trial players
When: Day 63, morning
Where: Trial zone

[The trial zone doesn't exactly appear to be inthe best shape. It's the ruins of an old building, something once grand, perhaps a castle, with a strange statue of sorts with six spheres leading to a large seventh on a pedestal. It's possible t see a forest beyond the walls, though find a way out to that seems impossible, and plants have overgrown almost everything.]

[On the statue's pedestal is an inscription:
Three tribes that brought a storm,
Winter brought them to task.
Eventually things would become warm,
What in return did springtime ask?]

[Not so far beyond it appears to be stairs leading down into the earth. And to the side of that is a throne.]

[And on the throne is....someone new in Senna colors? Though perhaps the hair is enough of a give away. Though those with a keen eye may yet notice she's still wearing her geode still, with the distinctive cutie mark still on it.]

[She's lounged across the throne, legs kicked over one side, elbow resting on the other, head in hand.]

I'm bored. [And she offers a grin that has a dangerous glint to it.]

How about we play a game?

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[Smiling through the pain and ambivalent thoughts of reasons behind suddenly no frostbite.]

I am, along with my partner, I hope. [He cocks his head.] You look somewhat more blue. Did you experience the ice cave as well?

We should keep an eye out for any sign of Solar.

That's wonderful to hear! I hope we win so many sparks for this! [There isn't much concern for Loki's injuries; he's a god, he'll be fine.]

I did have to go through the ice cave. There were very scary monsters in there, but Cat told me about her family and I talked about making soup and we were able to get the door to open up again!

Oh, is Solar in there, too? I didn't know if anyone else from Senna got put in there...

There is more at stake here than sparks.

We heard the monsters more than saw them. Physical contact and cooperation appeared to be the key for our escape.

Solar... or a part of her... is the one running the trial, I believe.

[He tilts his head.] What do you mean?

That makes sense. It definitely seemed that the more we worked together, the less danger we were in. Mostly. [He pouts.] But sometimes those rooms were pretty mean.

[Now that makes him stop and look at Loki with an honest frown.] ... What do you mean by that?

For the first three rooms, I believe we were being encouraged to have one go ahead and leave the other behind, and that for both to progress we must share pain. That likely would have left a selfish partner trapped in the final room.

[Loki sighs.]

The demon who is running the trials... she has Solar's memory and her intelligence, but not her heart. She still considers herself Solar, but there must be a way to get the Solar we know back from whatever has happened to her. I had hopes that by defying the easy path and working together, it might be enough to help her.

...Oh. [Klarion glances to the side. Suddenly a very real situation presents itself to his eyes, and he finds he's glad he didn't dismiss Cat at any time throughout the trial as unnecessary.]

I saw a monster at the beginning, it pushed me into the trial room but... [He bites his bottom lip.] That cannot be Solar. Why would she make us suffer like this?

If it is the one who was on the throne, she is Solar, at least in part. I spoke with her enough to be sure of it. She thinks she is Solar at her best.

I am not certain why she is doing this. Perhaps she was corrupted by Malice. Or she has a darkness inside her that took a chance to escape

[Maybe he should be feeling upset about it, but the more he thinks about it, the angrier he gets.]

But there were so many things that were just unfair about that trial! How is that even allowed?

[If it really was her, wouldn't Solar at least care if her teammates were getting hurt? Loki actually did get hurt. And while Klarion didn't bleed, he still felt quite a bit of pain. Now the pain was elsewhere.]

The Thirtieth Trial

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