Our Chaotic Order

13: Tests and Torture

"Hmm... true... then order a familiar into the Ether Realm, and summon them back." She nodded, compromising.

I bowed my head and opened my grimoire, summoning Rasp, ordering him into the still-open crack his mother had made.

It closed behind him, and she raised an eyebrow again. "Two Phoenix's?"

"The second was his mother. I snatched him just as he was born, so I hatched him. Very lucky, honestly. I hadn't known anything about magic, so Mirage helped me." I shrugged, and then began reciting my first summon, Dylan Thomas; it rolled off my tongue like smoke, the words sounding unnaturally silky even to me as I spoke them, but that's didn't stop me.

I spoke the last words, and the crack appeared, then exploded, making me flinch as a man made of fire launched through it, landing on the edge of the circle, bouncing backwards.

Several other beings attempted to get through, but I threw a neutral rune of force at them, and they were tossed back, my mental determination and concentration powerful in its own right.

The crack healed, and I smiled at Rasp. "Hello, Rasp. Sorry about all of this."

He blinked, and slowly nodded, his flaming locks turning into real hair, but still flame red, and with small tongues of fire licking from his roots into the air, smoking gently. His old feathers burned and destroyed themselves, leaving him completely naked, so Mirage appeared next to him, and whispered in his ear, prompting him to nod slowly.

Pants appeared on his frame, and I laughed. "Well done, Mirage." I said, and cut the edge of the circle. They re-entered my grimoire, and I closed it with a thunk that echoed with a resounding finality.

I ate some chocolate from my pocket to quell the tiredness that was seeping into my bones from the mana exertion, and Master Lon smiled. "Well done. You pass... I think that's all of your current classes, hmm? Master Dion?" She asked the Seventh man.

He hummed. "Halfway finished, and you haven't disappointed yet. Very well. Master Cortez?" He asked the fifth man, a giant fellow with muscles that strained against the leather and fur clothes he'd wrapped around them.

He hummed, and nodded. "What do you know about making magical weapons and armors?" He asked simply.

"Uhm... I made a bracelet, recently, that absorbed godly lifhtning, and stored it in the astral plane, covered in containment runes, for a friend of mine, Daniel Thorn... his godly gift of lightning was out of control, so the bracelet absorbs energy from his lightning, stores it, and allows him to use it at his discretion." I swallowed the frog in my throats and simply spoke up after a moment of indecision.

He hummed, a deep, Vibrating sound that echoed in my chest, making my ribs buzz. "I see... what materials did you use?" He questioned further.

"Tungsten and quartz, it was a torc." I nodded. He hummed again, and I held up a hand. "Is there a way for that not to make my ribs vibrate? It's highly distracting." I asked guiltily.

He blinked, then laughed, a giant, booming sound that vibrated the very stones under me, before he finally stopped. He breathed deep, and sighed. "My apologies, I know of no way for my voice to stop making your bones quiver. It is simply how my voice is."

"Ah." I sighed.

"Mm. And as for Daniel, he is my grandson, and I am very aware of his... problem. That you have helped him, however, does not ingratiate you to me in the terms of this test, understood?" He asked sharply, his squinted eyes narrowing slightly further.

"Uhm... yes sir? That explains the voice, actually. Thor, thunder, booming voice, all makes sense now." I nodded.

He grinned. "Good. Now. Back to the test... you chose very common, and honestly, slightly substandard ingredients. Why? Silver would have been a better conductor, and Diamond would've been a better storage."