Disclaimer: Sadly I still don't own dungeons & dragons, though it would be cool if I did.

Sephirothxx - Thanks for continuing to review. And sorry this chapter took too long, but I got it up by Sunday like I told you I would.

Anbu713 - Took you long enough. You know I'm too lazy to completly spell check the entire chapter, but I did catch and fix a few mistakes in this one. What's wrong with gods talking to an elf, it's just different but it could still happen, think of all the times Mystra talks to Elminster. The dialouge gets a bit more natural towards the end of this chapter, I'm still working on that part though.

Enough of this on to Chapter 3!

Chapter 3

The Trials Begin

Thamior sat in the cave he was now using as a home, and had been using as a home for the past ten years, looking through his spellbook. Thamior was still seventeen, though his birthday was in two days. He had read the letter the day after he left his home and his parents had died, and he remembered well what his mother had said to him before she left with his father to fight the orcs and goblins. "Go to the place detailed in the letter when you are eighteen and no sooner," her voice rang clearly in his head even after ten years.

In the ten years of solitude he had dedicated himself almost fully to learning the spells in his mother's spellbook, and he was now able to cast all of them and a few that weren't in her spellbook. Thus he had attained the same level of spell casting as his mother had before her death. He had gone to a town that was located just a few miles from the forest and used his magic to do simple tasks for some of the villagers and in return they paid him. And with that gold Thamior bought books that contained some of the older and forgotten spells in Faerûn. He also used some of the gold to have one of the other wizards in the town, which was called Miet, to teach him some of the more complicated spells that he couldn't learn on his own. The town and the forest were located to the south of the mighty Anauroch desert, in the kingdom of Cormyr.

He also asked the wizard who helped him learn new spells and perfect old ones to tell him what the ring, that he found in the drawer of his mother's desk, did because he knew that it had to be magical.

"This is indeed a magical ring. You see the black opal suggests that it has to deal with darkness, and after further study it was revealed that the ring granted the wearer permanent darkvision," the wizard had said after Thamior returned to retrieve the ring which he had left in the wizards care overnight.

The ring never left Thamior's finger once he knew what it did, and after wearing it for a while he found that he could activate and deactivate the ability whenever he wanted the darkvision on or off.

Other then that Thamior rarely left the cave, preferring the solitude with which he could practice his spell without any interruptions. Also he never left the cave when he was reading his mother's research books, so that no one else would be able to learn the secrets that his mother had guarded. And the majority of the pages in the books were used to completely describe her secret spell combo technique, and how she had perfected it.

And with only two days left until he had to go to this shack and do who knows what, he was taking extra time to prepare himself for the worst.

OoOoOoOo

It was time. Two days of preparing for today had finally passed and Thamior was eighteen years old. And today he would follow the directions in the letter and go to the shack deep within the forest.

He was certain that he would need some spells in one way or another for this so before he left his cave he sat down a looked over his spellbook, and picking out the spells that would be most useful. He would have picked them all but he could not memorize that many spells at one time so he chose some of the more useful spells or the ones that he preferred to use and was thus better with them than with others.

Once he was finished preparing his spells he put the spell component belt around his waist, and grabbed his quarterstaff; which he had been practicing with whenever he wasn't practicing his spell casting. He also checked his finger just to be certain that he had his ring. Thamior grabbed the letter to make sure that he wouldn't get lost and was about to step out of the cave when he remembered some other useful items that might come in handy on this trip. So he went back to the cubby in the very back of the cave and took a few scrolls, each with a spell written on it, that he had scribed over the years and then left the cave.

Once outside in the bright daylight Thamior looked over the letter and realized that the directions used his old house as a starting point, but he decided that he shouldn't go back to that place. He instead picked one of the landmarks out of the letter that he knew very well from his many travels through the forest and used it as the starting point to the shack in place of the tree that was once his home.

On his way through the forest he saw many birds and other animals that he recognized, and wished at that time more than any other time that he had his father's ability to speak to the animals. He didn't know of course that due to some of the side affects from living in the Arcane Forest for so long many of the animals could speak common, they just chose not to so as to not draw unwanted attention to themselves.

He ambled on absentmindedly following the directions in the letter, but putting most of his attention to admiring the beauty of this forest. When suddenly he walked unknowingly into a clearing and didn't realize it until he noticed that there sun was significantly brighter here and the lack of trees on every side of him. When he took the time to look around the clearing he saw the shack in the center and checked the letter to make sure it was the right place, 'Yep, this is the place,' Thamior thought to himself as he walked to the door.

'Wonder what's inside,' he thought to himself again as he went to knock on the door.

But before his hand made contact with the wooden door a voice from inside the shack said, "Enter."

Thamior opened the door and looked instantly upon the wizard sitting in his comfy chair just as he waved his hand over the mirror dispelling the image of Thamior that he could now look upon.

"Ah, a scrying device, that explains it," Thamior said looking at the mirror.

"Yes, it allows me to see all within the confines of the forest," the wizard replied as Thamior carefully scrutinized the entire shack with a glance.

In that one glance Thamior took in the bookshelves that coated every inch of each wall, the piles of tomes and scrolls scattered across the room, and the lone desk with the wizard behind it. He even noticed the gray owl that was perched on one of the bookshelves, whom most people tended to miss for some reason or other.

"Welcome young Thamior, I take it you know why you are here," Nexal said as he silently praised Thamior on his good observation skills.

"Not a clue, my parents only told me that I had to come here when I turned eighteen."

"Well we can't have you taking the trials without knowing why," the owl said as it woke up startling Thamior.

"You can talk!" Thamior said incredulously.

"Of course Graycloak can talk, what did you expect from an animal that has lived within the forest, the Arcane Forest, his whole life," Nexal said almost surprised that Thamior hadn't been told anything else.

"Ok, I guess I can understand that. But what are these trials," Thamior said looking back to Nexal, "And who are you."

"I am the wizard, Nexal, the one who created this forest. But as I told your parents the gods, except Mystra of course, feared the forests power so I was imprisoned here to watch over it. This way the forests power didn't fall into the wrong hands. So, I am trapped here for all eternity, or until I can find another person that can take my place," Nexal said pausing to think about how he wanted to phrase the next part.

Taking the pause to mean that Nexal was finished Thamior said, "At least it's a nice place to live. But that still doesn't explain why I'm here."

"Well, since this forest was created purely from magical energies it passes some arcane arts or talents that are related to the arcane arts to anyone born within the forest. And you were the first person to whom these abilities have been passed. As I'm sure you know, from your visits to Miet, there is a war raging on between the dragons"

"Of course, that's all any one talks about these days. There's even been sightings of some battles around here," Thamior said sounding truly interested.

"That's because the dragons are mere pawns in the war, there is one being that wishes to control this forest and is using the evil dragons either to take the forest or as a distraction," Nexal said somewhat sadly.

"You mean there's good and evil dragons? And how can someone control a dragon let alone a whole bunch of them?" Thamior questioned.

"Well of course there are good and evil dragons. Sure everyone thinks they're all evil, but that's only because no one ever took the time to talk to any of them. Plus there are many types of dragons that most people don't even know about, or didn't until this war started. And you're right to question how someone can control a dragon, because they have minds of iron and they're will is damn near impossible to break," the wise wizard said.

"This person must be a very powerful being, who is he?" Thamior asked, ever full of questions.

"Well, I only know what the gods were willing to share with me. But they made it quite clear that if this person, or whatever he is, gets control of this forest he will breed an army of spell casters that will rival the chosen of Mystra and the Magister combined. The gods fear that they would not even be able to easily stop such an army without suffering from great loses. And that my friend is why they have asked me to train you in the ways of wizardry so that you might be able to stand against this foe before he reaches his full potential," Nexal said in another lengthy explanation.

"Alright, does that mean that I have to become your apprentice or something, because I learn just fine without a master," Thamior said knowing that the wizard could only scry on things within the forest with that mirror.

"We'll just see about that. You will first have to take the trials, and if you can pass them then no you will not have to be my apprentice. But there are a few things that I would like to teach you and possibly learn from you before you leave from this forest," Nexal said as he thought about finally learning that technique after ten years.

"Fine with me. What kind of trials are these?" inquired Thamior.

"They will be a series of tests to check your ability with the arcane arts, and to overall test your abilities as a wizard," Nexal answered. "And we can begin whenever you want."

"Since I spent the last two days preparing for today I might as well get the first trial over with now," Thamior said and then added, "I can take just one of the trials now and another one tomorrow and so on?"

"Yes, you can take as many trials as you want today and take the rest tomorrow or however many days you want," Nexal said.

"You should know that the trials get increasingly harder as you take more of them," Graycloak said, butting into the conversation for only the second time.

"Ok, then I'll take the first trial now and see how taxing it is on me before I decide whether or not to continue," Thamior said waiting to be instructed as to what to do for the first trial.

"Fair enough. The first trial will test how strong you spells are, and you will receive further instructions when we get to the testing place," Nexal said as he stood up. He walked to the center of the shack and went through a complicated incantation, and when the last syllable was spoken a portal appeared in front of him with a wave of his hand. "The testing place is just through this portal," he added as he stepped through.

Thamior hesitated for a moment before he stepped through the newly appeared portal.

"Welcome, this a controlled environment much like the chamber behind the portrait in your old house, and I can change it with a mere thought. Although it was designed not to react to the thoughts of any but myself," Nexal said as Thamior oriented himself to the new place.

They were standing in a desert and Thamior asked, "How is this desert going to help me show you the strength of my spells?"

"It's not this is where I went the last time I used the portal, it's the Anauroch desert if you're wondering. Give me a second to prepare the setting for the test," Nexal said as a look of contemplation came over his face.

After a few moments the desert gave way to a lush forest with trees that were not short but not tall either, and they decently thick.

"You want to see how strong my fireball spell is right?" Thamior asked drawing the conclusion of trees to be burnt thus showing how strong he was with fire spells.

"Wrong. The first part of this trial is to knock one of the trees over with a wind spell," Nexal said simply as he conjured up a chair and sat down waiting for Thamior to complete the task.

"Knock it down with one wind spell?" Thamior asked.

"If you can, otherwise think of another way. So in a sense you are kind of taking trial one and two at the same time. Trial two tests how well you can use your spells uniquely," Nexal said simply.

"Alright," Thamior said as he thought about how he would tackle this test.

He thought about all the spells he had prepared and the spells that he had on scrolls, singling out the few wind spells. He only prepared two wind spells, since he didn't use them very often, and only had one wind spell on a scroll. One was gust of wind, the other was wind wall, and the one on the scroll was another gust of wind spell. This left little room for error.

Thamior decided to simply test the brut strength of his gust of wind spell, since he had another one to fall back on if this one failed. He used the one from the scroll first just in case he had made a mistake in scribing it.

He took the scroll out and recited the arcane syllables and went through the necessary hand motions. As he said the final syllable with all the strength he could put into his voice he pushed out with both hands, palms facing towards the tree, also using as much strength as he could behind the push.

His timing was perfect. The last syllable of the incantation was spoken exactly at the pinnacle of his push and a gust of wind burst forth and hit the tree.

Of course these trees could not be knocked down by simply throwing some wind at them. Though Thamior's spell did make the tree shake slightly.

'Well, that didn't work too well,' Thamior thought, trying to think of another way to knock down the tree, 'Obviously this approach has to be a bit more complex. Maybe if I combine the two spells…'

Without finishing the thought Thamior looked inside his mind to find his wind wall spell. He went through the necessary castings, but altered the spell a bit. Instead of being surrounded by a wall of wind Thamior shaped the spell so that it was but a small rectangle of wind right in front of him.

Then he started the casting of the other wind wall spell. As the final syllable left his lips and escaped on the wind he pushed his hands out once again.

This time the gust of wind hit the wind wall in front of Thamior but instead of stopping the gust of wind merely took the wind wall with it. Thus, making the gust much stronger.

Nexal smiled to himself as he watched Thamior interesting spell combination. And Graycloak hooted from his perch on Nexal's shoulder.

The wind zipped toward the targeted tree. It hit with a resounding boom, followed quickly by a crack as the tree was split.

The tree was starting to fall, only problem was that it was falling toward Thamior, and he didn't have time to react since he was still trying to catch his breath from his spellcasting.

Nexal saw the tree falling but did nothing.

As the tree was about to hit Thamior Nexal willed it away and it vanished.

"Good, you managed to knock a tree down, very creatively I might add. But you didn't take into account which way the tree was going to fall down," Graycloak said always taking the role of the critic.

"That thought never even crossed my mind," Thamior said truthfully. "What's the next test?"

"Do u want to rest and prepare new spells before the next trial? Once I tell you what the trial is you cannot wait until tomorrow," Nexal chimed in.

"No I'll take one more trial."

"Very well," Nexal replied. He went back into thought and conjured up a mighty storm.

Rain poured down from the heavens and soaked everything in sight except the two mages and the owl. When the storm finally stopped the forest was waterlogged.

"What the hell am I supposed to do now?" Thamior asked truly not understanding what this trial would have him doing.

"Patience my friend. You must now start a forest fire using any of your spells," Nexal said simply as Graycloak gave a hoot that sounded much like laughter.

"Right, a forest fire, shouldn't be too hard," Thamior said as he looked within his mind for one of his three prepared fireball spells.

The spell was cast and sent straight into the forest to hit the closest trees. But the trees were so waterlogged that they did not catch fire and Thamior's spell sizzled to nothingness.

'That explains the rain, but I never would have guessed that it would affect the spell that much. Maybe if I try using it,' Thamior thought, 'There's a first time for everything.'

Thamior picked out another fireball and cast it but let the final syllable of the spell hang on his tongue. And quickly starting the casting of his last fireball spell.

'Yes, I get to see that wonderful technique once again,' Nexal thought to himself still wanting to see that creative spell technique after ten years.

The casting of the second fireball spell was in place; all that remained was to say the final syllable of each spell. 'I hope this works,' Thamior thought as he said the arcane syllable to trigger the first spell.

The fireball headed to the same spot that the other had went, but stopped right before it made contact with the forest. As the ball of fire loomed on the edge of the forest, stopped by Thamior's will, the second fireball was sent right into it.

There was a mighty explosion as the two spells met that shook the very ground of the extra dimensional room the two mages were in.

As the explosion faded and the mingled dust and steam drifted above the trees the two mages could see that the trees still did not catch fire.

"What the hell are these trees made of? Any other forest would have been set ablaze by that, no matter how waterlogged the trees were," Thamior thought aloud.

Nexal's reply was simple and to the point, "Think."

Thamior did just that. He sat down on the dry circle of earth around him, and thought.

'Fire doesn't work, even using my mother's special spell combo. What the hell would set a forest drenched with water on fire? Why the hell would that wizard summon a storm over the forest if not to test my fireball's power? Wait a minute, that was no storm, that was only rain. A storm would have had rain…thunder…and lightning. That's it!' and with that final thought Thamior jumped up.

"Took him long enough," Graycloak whispered into Nexal's ear, "Maybe he's not as smart as we first gave him credit for."

"Relax my old friend. He might be a bit slow but I'm sure he has a few tricks up his sleeve for later."

Thamior, ignorant to the conversation behind him, checked his spells; hoping he prepared the spell he needed. And there it was, he went through the casting of the spell and pointed his fingertips at the tree closest to him.

As the last syllable drifted off his lips a bolt of lightning leaped from his fingertips and tore through the forest. It set every tree that it past ablaze.

As the bolt reached it's limit it faded away, and Thamior turned to Nexal.

"Took awhile but you still figured it out," Graycloak said to Thamior still being the critic.

"Are you going to try the next trial now or tomorrow?" Nexal replied not commenting on Thamior performance.

"Well, that trial took a few more spells then I would have liked," Thamior said undecided as to whether or not he wanted to take the next test now. GRUMBLE. "Guess my stomach decided for me. I think I'll take you up on that offer of a hot meal."

"Very well," Nexal said rather simply as he waved his hand to call the portal.

The portal rose out of the ground and the two mages stepped through back into Nexal's little hut.

"You really should look into some kind of expansion on this 'house' of yours," Thamior told Nexal as the disorientation from teleporting wore off.

"Go scan the forest while I attend to our guest," Nexal said to Graycloak and then turned to respond to Thamior's comment, "Why would I do that when I can just do this."

Thamior was slightly confused by the comment at first the he realized that this was a power wizard right here and the meaning of the statement dawned on him.

He idea was strengthened further when Nexal went to one of the bookshelves and pulled on one of the books. It didn't come off the shelf however; it just swung out as if it was attached to the shelf with a hinge.

With the lever being pulled the bookshelf moved to the side, right through the bookshelf next to it and revealing the rune covered handle less door behind it.

'This is one powerful wizard indeed the door must lead to another extra dimensional pocket,' Thamior thought to himself. "What are the runes for?" he said to Nexal.

"They open the door since there isn't a handle."

Nexal ran his hand over some of the runes and skipping over others, reading each one that his fingers crossed. As he read the last rune the door swung inward revealing, as Thamior thought, another extra dimensional pocket. Only this one was a richly furnished house.

'A powerful wizard indeed,' Thamior thought yet again for what he knew wouldn't be the last time at this rate.

There was so much in the house that Thamior realized that he wouldn't be able to see everything right away. Instead of being lined with bookshelves the walls were covered with all sorts of magical items.

As they walked into the kitchen Nexal waved his hand again, but this time two steaming bowls of stew appeared.

'I think I'm going to like my stay here,' Thamior thought always thinking of something and never thinking of nothing.

"Eat up," Nexal said as he sat down before continuing, "Then I'll show you your room and you can prepare the spells you deem necessary for tomorrow."

"Alrighty then," Thamior said, needing no further encouragement he sat down and eat his stew.

The two ate their food and then Nexal got up and showed Thamior to his room so that he could prepare his spells and rest in peace.

"This is my room?" Thamior asked as he looked over the room. It had nice bed; he hadn't slept in a nice bed for ten years, a desk with a candle for his spell book to sit upon. And dotting the walls were various paintings

"For the time that you spend with me, yes," Nexal said as he took his leave, closing the door behind him.

"I could get used to this place. Maybe I will stick around for awhile."

Thamior sat down at the desk, took his spell book out of one of his many pockets, and opened. He set about preparing spells in place of the ones he already used today, and replacing some of his other spells.

Once he was satisfied with the spells he had he laid down on the bed. It had been so long since he last slept in a real bed that he was asleep before his head even hit the pillow.

OoOoOoOo

"Rise and shine you lazy bum," Nexal said as he opened the door to Thamior's room finding still sleeping.

"It's too early."

"Too bad, we have to get an early start if you're going to finish this trial and perhaps the next today."

"What is the next trial anyway?"

"It's a maze, so to speak. Really all you have to do is get the item at the end, it's not actually a maze," Nexal said as Thamior jumped out of bed fully awake and ready to start.

Well there you have it, chapter 3 is finally up and done. I'll try harder to get the next chapter up sooner but I can't make any guarentees. Sorry for the clifhanger but it seemed like the best spot to end the chapter.