Chapter 3: The Song-Wind City

Novac was about to walk out the door when Lesedi's suggestion gave him pause. He realized that if he were to survive, he'd need every advantage this world provided. "The city can wait,"he decided. "Time to discover if I possess magic."

AJ practically danced through the streets of Nantambu on their way to Magaambya. Singing songs in her mind and imagining what she could do with all this freedom, she would stop here and there to wave at passers-by. Freedom is a wonderful gift. It's not as though it cost me nothing, but I will rectify that. And it doesn't come without expectations, but must I care about expectations when they are simply to do what I want to do? Who cares if I'm serving someone else's ends? This is my story, and I'm going to make it wrap this world into it, not the other way around. Hearing Lesedi's explanation elicited little more than a smile and a nod. It was all that she expected and felt from that being.

"Transitioning realities and bodies. Gods bestowing us with visions. I guess we're the chosen ones after all. Arshea told me to be myself, and I will make the world a better place. Fitting for a god of freedom and expression. We're on the same page. What about you and Calistria, Novac? She sounds a little extreme for how I've come to know you."

Thoughts wandering once more to her own desires, there was only a brief pause before she said more.

"Magic is good, and harnessing it is great. But I also need money. I want to hire expensive tailors. This rugged gear helped me through the jungle, but I need to look how I want to look. This ain't it. The Black Crowned Crane is a really cool name for a place, so I want to check that out for sure. I was always a clumsy oaf in the other world, never knowing how to dance. I want to change that here. And as we get stronger, we're gonna help people. The jungle was terrifying, genuinely, but we have to get stronger if we're to do the great things the deities here expect us to do."

Her mouth was running a mile a minute, overflowing with her thoughts and desires.

Al cocked his head to the side, deep in thought while stroking his beard.

"Thank you for the information, Lesedi. Seems like you were on the right track from the beginning, AJ."

Hmm, I wonder what Erastil would make of my travels so far … I wonder if I’m meant to choose a community of my own.

Al stretched his arms as he mumbled to himself,
"Doesn’t sound too bad, as far as gods go in mythology."

Now to Lesedi, he asked "So what does this testing involve? So far my magic seems to be linked with the power of the land itself, if that helps."

Dalton smiled at how excited AJ was since her vision. It reminded him just a bit how excited his daughter's would get at times. A small bit of sadness there at the thought perhaps he might not see them again. Dalton was not sure what his plans were - other than apparently lots martial arts.

"I have been able to tap into some inner power, but mostly just to punch things harder."

No weapons then. He didn't know much about magic but he couldn't help but wonder how powerful you had to be to construct such a convincing illusion. "Here we go" Novac said and entered the room.

Dalton looked suspiciously at the setup. Looked vaguely like one of those "American Ninja Warrior" torture obstacles. He smiled to himself, he could probably do pretty well in one of those events now. A far cry from being out of breath when climbing the stairs. Still, it was good that he had never been afraid of heights.

"Wax on, wax off" he mumbled as he moved into position. No, he was not going to do some stupid one foot crane pose, this was going to be hard enough, but perhaps he should consider practicing the real crane technique. Dalton had this odd mixture of memories, a blend of couch potato watching the Matrix and a master critiquing how wrong all the moves were. He sometimes watched those youtube videos on real fighters breaking down Hollywood action sequences. Perhaps if he ever got back to Earth he would have a new career. Of course, he would be fat, old and slow again.

Stepping into position, he centered himself, his breathing slowing, his eyes going slightly out of focus for a second before returning to normal.

A gust of wind caught him, he fought against the wind just as a projectile flashed by his face. He lost his balance and nearly fell off the pole.

"Failing right out of the gate - nice!" he chastised himself.

Dalton realized he had focused too much on balance, too much on fighting the obstacles - as he settled back, he focused instead on his breathing. Some part of his mind told him the balance would come only when he himself was balanced. He could not tell if it was his own voice, or that of the being who had visited him the night before.

Dalton focused on that inner source of strength he had used in combat on instinct, pushed out the distractions until they were just bits of dust. Instead of fighting the wind for balance, he flowed with the gusts, subtle adjustments became graceful turns as he allowed the wind to surround him, as distractions flowed past, or were nudged away with a casual turn or pivot. His mind was at peace... his will focused not on the trial or even the pole, but on himself - he slowly lost track of time as the maelstrom raged around him.

Al thoughtfully tried to invoke his connection to the earth, as sweat began to bead on his forehead from his effort.

Having identified and soothed the source of the plant’s corruption, Al still couldn’t clean them all up, struggling under the weight of the large plants.

And this is an illusion? Here goes again.

After a long time, Al was able to clear the plant matter and successfully complete his task. He smiled with relief and he looked around the room, unsure of what to do next.

"A test of power? That's exciting!" AJ grinned at Lesedi. However, it didn't take long to discover that the arena crafted for her was nothing of the sort. This was no obstacle course to cut loose on and unleash as much destruction as possible, but something with nuance. Excitement tempered into caution and anxiety, recognizing the illusions of harmless pedestrians as the true challenges she would face with her abilities. The risk of harming people provided a sobering effect over the ecstasy of overwhelming power. "Yeah, okay. I get it. I'm a danger to people. Let's get it under wraps before I hurt somebody like I hurt Novac."

The budding pyromancer rotated, trying to get a good grasp on the surroundings in the arena. Observing the illusions, the supernatural seed of knowledge that was placed in her mind poured information about magic and otherworldly power. Her face suddenly stern with seriousness and flames wreathing her hands, she charged forth.

"Let's fucking go!"

Growing more and more frustrated Novac keeps trying.

Finally Novac overcomes the confusion and breaks the trap.

Blasting targets apart and setting fire to everything around her was simple enough, but it was a lot more difficult when trying to avoid civilians. Dodging the gouts of flame bursting from hidden traps was surprisingly easier than she expected, at least. Just as AJ thought she was getting somewhere with finishing this challenge, the haze of smoke began to sting her eyes. The stench eluded her awareness under the heavy focus of the other tasks she was initially committed to.

"Damn it!"

It was already difficult to make out what was a target and what wasn't. Narrowing her eyes and growling with growing frustration and panic, she prepared another onslaught of blazing rays. But it didn't seem to matter. More time, more fire, more smoke. Screaming and throwing waves of heat around like a mad-woman, she was exhausted and defeated by the time the trial was over. The task may have been complete, but the knowledge of how terrible her performance was sat crushingly upon her shoulders. When the others finally saw her, her eyes were irritated with the sting of smoke and she carried a terrible cough.

"All I'm good at is torching everything around me... No precision what-so-ever."

Novac was about to comment on AJ's difficulty finishing her task, but he decided to keep quiet after his own less-than-stellar performance. In fact, he was still seething over it. "Well, Lesedi, I'm ready for the next test when you are."

"Combat prowess and teamwork... well so far it usually goes - I rush in and get bitten by something... after that it varies. Actually sometimes Novac gets bitten first. Honestly - we all really just get bit by a lot of damn things. AJ and Al have gotten pretty good at patching us back up and I seem to be picking up somethings along those lines."

Dalton smiled slightly and shook his head.

"We are not going to get bitten are we? I would be nice to avoid that for a day."

Dalton laughed, "Refreshing change I guess - although I did get cut with a rusty knife as soon as we arrived. I really need to not keep track, it is getting to be a long list."

Al felt confident after completing his trials. He nodded along with Dalton’s assessment of their team strategy and began to stretch.

Laughing slightly, Al exclaimed "Can’t be any worse than the plant monster, eh?"