Hal couldn't BELIEVE Wiz was doing his second tier Forces and Prime exam this way. It was crazy. But what the hell, it would probably be fun.
"Ok, is everybody ready?" Wizard asked, projecting his voice so everyone in the room could hear. The room in question was pretty cavernous, and tall. It had lots of building like structures on it, some tall like mini skyscrapers, some squat like small houses. There were lots of little places to hide and stand on.
Hal was currently in an open area in the front. There were at least a dozen other mages all around him, surrounding him. And in a moment, they would all be trying to kill him. Well, not KILL. But knock him flat anyway. Hal tensed. This was nuts.
But that didn't mean he wasn't looking forward to it. He clutched the amulet around his neck. Time to show everyone what he could REALLY do.
A chorus of 'ready's met Hal's ears.
Wizard nodded.
"Ok, Good then. Now remember, use stun/delay magic ONLY. Dan, this means you."
Dan suddenly popped into existence in front of where Wizard was standing by the door. His arms were crossed and he was frowning. "Fine, ruin ALL my fun." Then he turned to Hal and winked "Good Luck." With that, popped out of existence again.
Wizard projected his voice once more.
"OK ALL, WAIT FOR MY SIGNAL".
Then he turned to Hal.
"Ok Hal, you know what to do. Just find the small node, that will be somewhere in this room. There's a time limit of 10 minutes. This is for level 2 hermetic status, which all of your roommates have already achieved, so I'm told. The council decided to let you do it this way, instead of through a tournament since you completed that difficult mission. And believe me Hal, convincing them to let you do it this way was hard enough. They will be watching the whole affair using that wonder over there."
He pointed.
Hal furrowed his brow. Wonders were objects that had magic inside them. They could be used by anyone, regardless of skill, and with little fear of paradox backlashes. The thing Wiz was pointing to was a mirror. Hal had heard of it. Apparently if you had the master mirror, then you could see stuff coming from all the little mirrors.
Hadn't they ever heard of video cameras? Apparently the Hermetic council wasn't too big on modern technology.
"I will remain here as an observer, Hal. You may think of me as merely part of the playing field if you wish. Good luck. Remember, all you need do is find the node, and bring it to me. No need to get involved in unnecessary conflict. I would avoid getting knocked unconscious though, that could lower your chances." His mouth quirked with a sly smile.
Hal grunted.
"Tell that to THEM". He said, gesturing to the room. There was no one there anymore. Great. They were all going to try ambushing him. Super.
Wizard raised his hand.
"Level 2 Hermetic Examination… BEGIN!" p
Hal turned around and pulled out the little glass he used for Prime and peered into the group of buildings. He didn't see anything. No one was moving at all. Apparently they were going to wait for him.
He felt a little prick on the back of his neck though. It meant that either a node was nearby, or someone was using magic. Or both.
He walked cautiously towards the middle of the room where a few towering structures stood in a tight circle. Hal peered up at them as he approached.
"Yo, is anyone up there?" He called, cupping hands over his mouth.
No answer. p
"Uh, yeah. If any of you up there have a node, can you just throw it down here? It's prolly heavy. I'll just take it off your hands…".
Suddenly something fell on the ground behind him with a "clink". Surprised, Hal turned around. You gotta be kidding! Had someone really just-
It was a small round object, and looked like it was made of glass. Hal squinted at it through his looking glass. It was glowing faintly, and Hal thought he could make out a pattern of Prime inside. Was it really a node?
The Prime pattern inside increased in complexity and created a Forces pattern. Hal recognized it. That was no node. He better-
A moment later, a blinding light of pure white burst out of the small sphere in all directions, blinding Hal completely. But he was already jumping out of the way. He cancelled his own gravity and pushed off the floor hard. After about five seconds of zooming up the side of a building and trailing his fingers along its edges, he felt the wall of the building beside him give way to an edge. Then he let his hold on the amulet slip, and gravity gripped onto him once more. He grabbed the ledge, and pulled himself up. Whoever did that light thing would most likely follow it up with something else shortly.
Sure enough, there came a BOOM, from directly Below Hal a second later. It was a stun explosion. The pressure without the flame or heat. You simply summoned a light gas, like helium, and compressed it with surrounding heavier gas, and then let that heavier gas go. The gas inside blew out just like an explosion. That was probably Dan. He had shown the trick to Hal before, during his Prime training. Wizard thought it would be good for Hal to memorize the patterns for some common Force tricks, in case he ever went up against an opposing force mage.
That punk thought he was funny, giving Hal a fake node.
The light winked out below. Hal could see again. But there was no one there.
He stayed low, and crouched behind a little pillar thing that was on top of the building platform. He looked around the platform he was on. It was empty.
Hal squinted through his looking glass. His eyes widened. There were three people on the platform across from his. They all had books out that they were reading from. Between them there was what looked like a pre-prepared seal: a geometric pattern on paper. They were weaving something around it together, something huge.
He could see the Force pattern forming and affecting the air around him. The weave was heating and cooling the air rapidly, causing it to spin.
"Are they actually-" Hal began aloud, his eyes wide. He leapt for the edge, and let himself drop off.
He zoomed downward, the air flapping by his face and his stomach doing dances in his belly.
Suddenly the weave behind him coalesced.
It was a tornado. They made a freaking TORNADO right around him. It immediately tore into the building Hal had just dropped from. Debris was thrown everywhere. Hal pulled on his gravity through his amulet, forcing it to let got of him. Then he brought his feet in, and pushed off of the crumbling building.
He cruised through the air, moving out and down, due to the few seconds gravity had affected him. Gravity and inertia were good friends, after all.
The high speed winds were less than a couple yards away still, and he could feel that destructive force tearing through the building behind him as he soared out.
It was a really good idea to let himself be pulled toward the ground to get away form that thing. But it was still too dangerous. He had to get close to the ground before he let gravity take a hold of him again or he'd go splat when he got there.
Wizard was in front of him now, down below. Hal was already heading in that direction, flying through the air from his previous momentum
Behind him, that tornado was MOVING. It spun round and round with a roar, and its funnel tip traveled from the top of the building down, to the ground. It tore up the wooden floor in a line when it got there.
Just as the tornado was hitting another building practically right next to Hal, he let gravity hold him again. Unfortunately, the ground wasn't very close yet. He fell down to the floor, sliding and bouncing somewhat painfully right in front of Wizard.
"Hal, are you ok?" Wizard said, looking concerned
Debris from the second building flew everywhere around him.
This was insane, he had to-
Suddenly Hal got a weird feeling, like a tingling; a feeling of warmth.
He took the looking glass back out from where he had put it in his pocket just before jumping.
There was blue fire, a tiny amount. It came from Wizard's pocket.
Should've known.
He stood up, and walked towards Wizard as calmly as he could.
Which wasn't very. Since there was a freaking TORNADO behind him. p
Just as the tip was approaching, and Hal felt the winds picking him up off the ground, He jumped forward and put a hand into Wizard's pocket.
"Hey wiz. Here's your node." He shouted over the winds, without irony, trying not to notice what was quickly approaching him from behind.
Wizard smiled and put up a hand. The tornado dissipated, release chunks of concrete and wooden splinters to the ground in a tumult of roaring and shattering.
"Good Hal. You anticipated moves based on what you could see in the Pattern. And you used your understanding of gravity fairly well. You pass. Nice job."
Dan appeared beside Wizard.
He was laughing.
"Did you see that? That was some good work. And it wasn't even ME this time."
"Those crazy bastards, they could've KILLED me." Hal said, fuming. p
Dan gave him a knowing look.
"Obviously, you need a drink."