The Thirtieth Trial

[hot_mess_express]

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?

Comments

Re: ENDGAME

[bestbrotherever]

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.

Re: ENDGAME

[tobluerafters]

[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?

Re: ENDGAME

[bestbrotherever]

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.

Re: ENDGAME

[tobluerafters]

...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?

Re: ENDGAME

[bestbrotherever]

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

Re: ENDGAME

[tobluerafters]

[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.]