Act III
Testing a Person [I]
Green, his assigned color was green, Bill noted as he stepped from the tube only to stop immediately.
He was standing on what may be considered a cliff but was in actuality a tower made of stone and plants as it stood without support in the air although there were similar towers scattered around his own, where he was standing was above the clouds with only enough room for Bill to walk three strides in any direction before coming to an edge. The entire thing was all surreal because how real everything felt- from the hard rock under his feet tilting in and out of dark soil packed together by stubborn roots to the sun beating down on him and the wind tugging his clothes along with the difficulties he had breathing from the height.
As there wasn't anything truly pressing- such as something trying to attack- he took a moment to just breath, trying to get used to the differing altitude, and check his map. The map was made up of a thick almost leathery substance- potentially to keep it from getting ruined by the elements- with sturdy colored threads weaving the actual map onto the leathery background, Bill noticed that swiping across the map made it shift to a different level- underground, ground, above ground and sky level- and that he was currently at sky level. He was in a region called 'Sun Towers' with his marker being west from his spot where the towers congregated to form 'Sun Island', a bit of digging into his pack produced an odd wristwatch-like thing that's 'watch' was a half-sphere with runes lining it's base, as tapping it produced a compass Bill opted to wear it.
With a drink of water- Charlie mentioned something about high altitudes and dehydration- Bill jumped from his tower to the next, pausing to regain his balance before continuing. Eventually he developed a rhythm that allowed him to continue on with out stopping after every jump, although he had to stop every so often to breath then drink water- it was during one of these breaks that Kristina Nicolette's voice echoed from nowhere and everywhere.
"Alright kiddies! Your thirty minute grace period it over- as of right now the Arena's hot!"
That's when the ground beneath him groaned and shifted, wobbling unstably before lurching harshly enough to knock Bill off his feet, forcing him to grip at the tilted platform- as the area he had been stand was once flat but now angled diagonally- with his feet scrambling for purchase. Everything stalled for a moment and Bill breathed a sigh of relief, of course that's when the entire structure buckled and started to collapse. Flicking out his wand he hurriedly levitated himself to a stable tower, regaining his breath as a tiny ping sounded and in glowing green words were written before him-
Spell Count: 349
Then the tower he was standing on started to collapse like the one he had been standing on forcing him to jump, this pattern continued until he realized that he had seventy-five seconds to rest on each tower before they refused to hold his weight. This was a terror on his lungs as he hadn't had nearly enough time to adapt to the altitude, leaving him heaving from an action that he could have completed with relative ease at ground level. He also had to take his water bottle out at one tower, jump, drink quickly at another tower, jump and put away the bottle at a third tower just to get a drink of water- this lead to a small bout of hiccups that did nothing for his breathing problems. During this time Nicolette's voice echoed once more.
"I hope you're enjoying the live arena, kiddies! This is your first update, there will be up to forty of them with four per day, now on to the news! No one's passed the finish line yet, seven have managed to complete a task and twelve have been declared 'dead', thus being removed from the arena. Hurry on Kiddies, only 234 hours until the end!"
Bill allowed himself a second to worry about Sirius before he jumped again and continued on.
Sun Island turned out to be multiple towers holding aloft a large, thick platform the platform had a thin layer of coarse, weedy grass with what could have been green trees with huge leaf branches standing proudly in the four directions with all the leaves angled to provide shade from the sun for a cluster of red flowers at the center of the island.
Bill, after making sure the thing wasn't collapsing on him, sank to the ground near a green tree taking deep, gasping breaths in great, lurching heaves until his breathing settled, at which point he took a long drink of water because he could. After a few seconds of debate, Bill decided that he should eat now while he could and placed his pack in front of him before digging into it. While Bill made sure that he had enough food to last him, he didn't pay much attention to which kinds of food he chose due to the food being packaged already and people pushing as they tried to get the food they wanted the most- many fought over desserts and larger dinners like steaks while Bill grabbed what he could regardless of what it was or how 'gourmet' the item was- though others did the same as Bill.
He ended up choosing a 'just add water' stew, the stew was held in a sealed bowl and upon taking off the lid Bill found both a fork and spoon strapped securely to the lid and runes engraved on the inside of the bowl. Not wanting to waste a spell, he poured water from his bottle and found that as soon as the water settled the runes activated to both heat and stir the stew until it was ready for consumption. Bill ate everything in the beef stew- from the carrots, celery and mushrooms to the potatoes, meat and onions- as he didn't know when he'd be able to eat again. He was rather impressed that, once he was finished, the runes glowed once more and vanished not only the bowl but the lid and utensils leaving him with nothing to worry about for clean up.
Now fed, watered and rested Bill took out his map and tapped on Sun Island to zoom in on his marker which hovered above the cluster of red flowers. Upon pressing the marker words appeared like they did with the spell count-
Acquire a Flora Stone
Bill, frowning a bit in confusion as to what a 'Flora Stone' was, packed away his things and walked towards the flowers, wand in hand as a precaution. A precaution that was well thought as the green trees shot out a yellow-green gas that engulfed the center of the island when he made it six feet from the flowers, he hastily casted a bubble-head charm-
Spell Count: 348
-and backed away once more. "What was that?" he managed, not really expecting an answer. He was surprised when his compass-watch-thing glowed yellow and wrote out before him an answer.
Death's Rose stays in a passive position until something wanders within six feet of it's heart at which point the towers release a toxic gas that can cause paralysis, intense nausea, distorted vision, numbness and balance issues.
Figuring he shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, Bill asked. "What's a Death's Rose?"
Apocalyptic Droseraceae, or commonly called Death's Rose, are large, carnivorous plants that grow at high altitudes with lots of sunlight. They have thick, sturdy roots that are adept to clinging to cliffs along.
"And the tree-things?"
Four tree-like 'Towers' that has three functions- retain enough energy from the sun to last the night, shade the 'Heart' and paralyze victims with it's toxin. Retaining energy is vital as Death's Rose does not do well in dark places, spending the entire day acquiring energy for night should this be interrupted long enough the plant will be unable to survive the night.
"The heart?"
One of the five parts that stay visible above ground, the Death's Rose's heart takes the form of a cluster of red hibiscus-like flowers. The heart appears to be multiple separate flowers above ground, bellow ground the roots of those flowers meet and tangle together into a ball-like structure that is referred to as the 'Flora Stone', the stone is connected to the rest of the plant by feeler-like vines that holds it aloft from the main body.
"What else should I know?"
At five feet from the heart the 'Mouths' rise from the ground, the mouths are tentacle-like in shape and movement but from the tip to around three to four feet in can split open to form jaws with hundreds of barbed hook-like teeth inside. Mouths are used to tear apart victims above the heart- as the heart retains it's color and health from the blood spilt on and around it- and consume the torn bodies which are shredded and broken down once swallowed and moving from the mouths to the main body. Like most plants, fire will cause great distress and the burning of a tower will cause the mouths to attack immediately while the rest of the towers release the toxic fog. Cutting the mouths will cause the towers to consistently release the toxin while the mouths may spray the acid used for digestion. The most efficient way to kill a Death's Rose is to separate it's heart from the rest of it, to do so the vines holding the Flora Stone must be severed.
"...Does this plant eat people?" Bill asked, if so it's definitely worse then being strangled by a Devil's Snare.
Death's Rose is nicknamed such as it consumes any living creature that contains blood. The plant is considered a Class Six threat.
"Lovely. One more thing, what are you?" Bill asked, he definitely wasn't stalling his inevitable confrontation with a man-eating plant which was definitely worse then mummies because at least in a tomb he knew to be on guard against innocent seeming things- if not for the marker being here for his task he wouldn't have bothered carrying his wand to walk towards a bunch of flowers.
Newest Archive Viable for Immigration. Or simply N.A.V.I.
"Right then." Bill muttered, pausing a moment for thought.
Ideally a Death's Rose would be taken on as a team, Bill mused, as it can attack in three different ways- gas, physical and acid- from multiple directions at the same time. At least a team of three so that each person could focus on one part- Towers, Mouths and Heart- but additional people to either clear the air or defend against acid would be a good idea- he wondered if a part of the test was about teamwork. Bill, however, was one person and there wasn't anyone in sight to assist him so he'd have to protect himself and so, after a moment of debate, he got to work. To be on the safe side Bill took fifteen rocks, carving three different series of runes into them- ignoring his spell count- then transfiguring fourteen into birds while the final one was transfigured into a horse.
Spell Count: 332
It seemed that runes counted as a single spell if done at once. Tucking that tidbit of information away, Bill sent the birds into the air with their instructions, checked his bubble-head charm then prodded the horse towards the flowers- he backed away when they reached seven feet, letting the horse continue on it's own. The gas filled the area again, the horse, having no protection, inhaled and staggered unsteadily before collapsing forwards with a panicked whinny. The Mouths sprung from the ground- seven in total, all tentacle-like with pale-green coloring and black hooked teeth- and three grabbed the horse, blood flowing as the hooked teeth tore into flesh to act as anchors as the horse was lifted, held the screaming, thrashing animal high above the flowers and pulled.
BOOM!
The three Mouths that had held the horse were reduced to bloodied stumps collapsed limply on the ground, yellow-green puss weeping from the useless limbs- the horse nowhere to be found. The four remaining Mouths shrieked, spitting out the puss- apparently acid- in every direction but four of the birds were dive bombing the Towers then, urinating on them. A small squelching noise sounded upon impact as the top-half of the birds pierced the Towers, a 'click' then the birds exploded in a burst of flame quickly catching the rest of the Towers on fire as the 'urine' was gasoline. Four more birds dove, these heading for the Mouths, rippling from live birds to metallic ones as the swooped and used their wings to chop of a good portion of the Mouths- causing them to fall limp and also ooze the puss- before shifting back to regular birds and returning to the flock.
Walking gingerly through the carnage- avoiding flame and puss- and sparing a regretful glace at the blood for his sacrificial horse, Bill made his way to the flowers, pulling a shovel from his belt and started digging once it returned to it's original size- the spell used being that the object would shrink when connected to the belt be return to normal once taken off. Upon finding the stone- a tangle of hair-like threads that were a deep, blood red- he used his enchanted neck knife- self cleaning, never dull, never break- to cut the vines, instantly making the pale green blob he saw connected to the vines fall still- he assumed it was part of the main body and it was thrashing in either pain or an attempt to protect itself- followed by the roots connecting to the flowers.
Flora Stone acquired, One task of Five completed
Tucking the stone into his pack and replacing the knife, Bill brought out his map once more finding that his next marker was south from him, in a region named 'Valley of Abatement'. He took a drink of water before jumping to a tower, stopping instantly and whirling back to the island when he heard a soft rumbling. The Death's Rose corpse was sucked into the island, the island itself crumbling together in a misshapen ball before righting out as a platform, four Towers sprung from the island followed by the red flowers that marked the Heart- all in all the island looked exactly as it did when he first arrived, it was very unnerving. He stared a moment at the innocent looking island before whistling to call the birds and continuing south.
"This is your second update ! No one's passed the finish line yet, fifteen have managed to complete a task, one has completed two and sixteen have been declared 'dead'-numbers are added to the first so don't freak out about 28 people failing, it just means four more have 'died' since the last update the same for the rest! Hurry on Kiddies, only 228 hours until the end!"
"This is you third update! No on the line, nineteen with a task complete, two with two tasks, seventeen dead- looks like you're getting the hang of things Kiddies! Good thing, only 222 hours left!"
Bill made it to the edge of the towers and valley as the third update sounded- hungry, panting and trembling from exhaustion- what seemed to be night approaching as the blue sky bled red, orange and purple. Deciding that he needed rest, Bill dug a hole and placed some wood inside- the valley had trees so getting wood was, not easy due to exhaustion but doable with his hatchet- then proceeded to create two wards, one around the fire pit the other around the pit and where he laid out his things.
Spell Count: 331
He set to making a fire- a skill long since learned as magic lighting can instigate traps in tombs- then laying out his bed roll, after he placed a food box into the fire- "heat consistently for up to seven hours"- then started in on a kind of ravioli soup as his dinner. It was as he was eating that Sirius called, "Bill Weasley."
"Yes?" Bill called as he dug his mirror from his pack.
Sirius looked as haggard as Bill felt after apparently eighteen hours of near constant movement; the man- from what Bill could see- had grime smeared on a portion of his face along with blood couldn't be his own do to the grey tinged coloring, his coat was scuffed badly but not torn, what seemed to be cobwebs clung to parts of his body, Bill saw the top half of a silver lantern peeking into view from where Sirius settled it beside him and a bowl balanced on a scruffy trouser covered knee also. "You complete a task?" Sirius asked, apparently making his own assessment.
"Yes," Bill answered after taking a bite of his food, going on to explain the Death's Rose incident- including N.A.V.I. incase the other had one also but hadn't known about it.
At the Animagus' grimace, the other was unaware of the helpful tool but had it after a quick inventory of his pack. "That would have been useful for my own task..."
Bill fell asleep listening to Sirius speak of absolute darkness that was only maneuverable due to enchanted goggles, shadow creatures that bled grey when cut yet burned like paper and a silver lantern bathing the darkness with a halo of light that acted as a safe haven from the shadow creatures.
N.A.V.I. - I couldn't help myself.
Also, I feel a bit bad about my little monster- I liked it (mentally named it "Sally" what that says about my perception of Sallies, I know not) and took a bit of time to create it. Originally Bill was going to face a nesting Wyvern but re-reading the description of the towers I saw the "packed together by stubborn roots" and was hit by the need to have a plant-based monster.
Now for what happened to Sirius-
August 29 (I) {Sirius}: Sirius started out underground in the region Black Abyss (which is dark but seeable during the 'grace period' but can't-see-my-own-nose dark when the arena's hot), he put on the goggles (a prankster expects the unexpected and life on the run teaches to be prepared) so he could see, he had to get through a group of Shades (Spell Count: 346) to reach a silver lantern which allowed him to pass through BA safely once turning it on (SC: 345), Padfoot (Animagus transformations don't register as a spell) carried the lantern from BA region to the Caverns where Sirius takes a break and checks on Bill. Sirius' color is purple.
I have a list of electives that Harry and Hermione might take at Frostwing, which do you think they'd be most interested in?
Uses of Magical Anomalies
Basic Illusionism
Introduction to the Elemental Arts
The Impact of Prejudices in the Magical Communities
Illusionism's Impact on the World
Practical Defense and Self-Preservation
The History of Necromancy
Basic Alchemy
How Language and Culture Alters the Use of Magic
On a completely unrelated note, has anyone heard the song "Call Me Loki" because I am now semi-addicted to it.