Serenity Academy

Chapter Eight: The Occulus

A bright light slammed into Kyroth before total darkness embraced him. He could feel his body moving, lifting each hand up to his face, not even a shadow of his hand appearing in his eyes. Momentary fear that he had become blind filled him as he frantically reached out trying to find anything he could get a hold of but instead fumbled until he fell to his knees.

"This is just a test." Kyroth whispered to himself as he placed a hand on the ground and pushed himself up to his feet. With uneven breaths, his heart pumping rapidly he took each step one at a time pushing his way through the darkness. He could feel liquid in his hands as he had been clenching them so hard his nails had cut into them.

After what seemed like forever the room shifted and he found himself standing in the middle of a large well lit room. Rows of weapons were lined up around him, so many that to be honest he barely knew what half of them actually were let alone how you would be able to use them. A flash of green caught his eyes as he looked up to find words being written into the air. "Choose any weapon you wish, or choose nothing."

"Anything huh." Kyroth stated as he started to look around the room, he found magical weapons that when he picked them up would burst to life with fire or lightning. Fearful of them he would replace them continuing his search of the room. What seemed like hours later something caught his eye. Pulling it out of the pile he found that it was his dagger sheathe and daggers he had left back in his room. Smiling he slipped the belt back on strapping it back in place.

Felling so much better due to having the daggers back he walked back to the starting area surprised to find that the air was shimmering where the words had been. As he approached the shimmering area shifted and started to form a typical door however it was made out of what looked to be smoke. It actually looked just like the door to his room, a stab of homesickness washed over him as he reached out and pulled the door open. It was weightless as it pulled open, through the doorway was a whole new place.

Stepping through he turned to get his bearings, the door dissolving with the wind. Kyroth had found himself half way up a mountain. In front of him was the greatest view he had ever seen, forests and plains rolled out far below. Rivers snaked through dividing them, birds could be seen flying through the sky diving in and out of the wind streams. A smile of pure bless formed on his face before he turned seeing a lush forest.

Cobblestone rocks had been placed at the base of the forest, leading further inside. Looking around nothing else stood out, shrugging he started down the path. It wound its way through the forest, only changing when it ran into a river. A perfect stone bridge went over the river allowing him to cover it. Animals would cross his path at various intervals deer, wolves, squirrels, even creatures he had never seen before would peek out and then vanish again.

Finally the path took a sharp turn and pushing through thick foliage Kyroth found himself at what looked to be an Alter made of white stone. Eight smaller circles were found in the middle of it, a obelisk of white stone rose up from behind the alter. Tentatively he stepped onto the alter and a voice filled the area. The voice was graceful and serene, she sounded slightly like his mother but had a few others voices mixed in with it.

"You are at the final part, you must choose two of the elements that you wish to not have. All you need to do is walk over the circle of the element and place your hand on it extinguishing it." With the final words the circles lit up a illusion of what they represented flashing to life above them at about chest level to Kyroth.

Fire was symbolized by a red flame that flickered in the wind. Next to it was a orb of electricity that looked like it was trying to escape the area with quick flashes. Beside the ball of lightning, a tornado was floating throwing leafs and dirt in Kyroth's direction. Moving to the next one he saw a ball of pure dark violet energy that seemed to pulse, the area around it dimming for a moment before brightening back up. The gentle noise of water falling could be heard when he looked at the water circle, it had a waterfall falling from out of nowhere. A shard of ice was next, hanging in the middle of the air, white fog came off of it creating a small haze. A tiny tree growing out of a cliff wall could be seen, representing earths body and growth. Last but not least was a giant ball of white light. Kyroth could barely look at it longer then a few seconds before his eyes started to hurt.