Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

Praetorum lay along an empty pier, his feet dipping lightly into the water of the harbor. With his eyes closed, and his head turned up to the Ashan sun, he looked for all the world like he had fallen asleep, with one hand tucked under his head to prop it up, and the other loosely grasping at the trident at his side.


The temptation was there, to be sure. The trial could not be considered warm by any stretch of the imagination, but even these meager scraps of sunlight currently peeking through the clouds was better than the frigid darkness of Cylus. Prae did not mind the cold as many of his kin did, but that didn't mean he particularly relished it. The idea of diving into the near freezing water.... well it wasn't as unpleasant a thought as it might have been several trials ago. But it was still going to be damned cold. 



Pushing himself upright, Prae sighed, soaking in the last few traces of sunlight as he secured his trident to the straps that wound over his back and shoulders, settling the weapon close to his spine. Then, shifting his weight, he slipped off of the pier, and into the water. 


For a few moments, he simply let himself sink into the harbor, eyes closed as he felt the chilly water settle over his hide, listened to the soft burble of it in his spark, trying to familiarize himself with the element. Then, stretching out his limbs and tail, Praetorum began to swim, webbed fingers and toes sweeping through the cold sea water. Or rather, sweeping against.


What Prae had unexpectedly discovered the other trial, was that his very first defiance mutation was... not immediately obvious. But sure enough, for all that he had seen no difference in himself, the water under his webbing, and around his tail, had taken on a nearly honey like consistency, while the water around the rest of his body was as thin as ever. When his arms swept around, webbing spread wide to catch water between them, it was like pushing himself off of a rock; Praetorum was able to propel himself far more rapidly through the water than he'd ever had before. 



Testing a theory, Praetorum twisted in the water, and kicked off to change directions, and to his delight, found that that too, was far easier than before.


Sort of. 



Prae swam around for some time, testing out his newfound mobility in the water. Swimming straight ahead was the easiest, it seemed; simple propulsion was exactly the same as it had always been, only now the water was more there for him to push against. Prae went faster, for longer, and with less energy. Easy as anything. 



Turning, though, now required something of a delicate touch, something Prae had never had much of when it came to swimming. It used to be, turning was simple. A twist of the torso, a flick of the tail, and Prae would just about manage to turn to one side or the other. Now though, that heavy handed sort of movement would send him into a dizzying spiral and end with him facing a random direction. 



It took some experimentation for him to figure out how much strength was required to make the turns he wanted, and by the time he gave up, he was still clumsy. Part of it was how easy it was to turn now, but much of it was simply that Prae had never had much control of his body in the water. Seriunus could, had been able to make such precise movments, darting around like a fish, while Prae had not so much learned to swim as he did learn to flail. 



It was something he would have to work on, he supposed. But there would be plenty of time for that in his future. Stretching his muscles, Prae let him self settle back in the water, floating, loose and relaxed on the surface with just his face sticking out to face the sun. 



Praetorum enjoyed a few trills like this, basking in the comfortable lap of the water against his hide as he relaxed.


Then something in his spark tightened.


Then the water began to churn.

The sudden, unexpected churning and frothing of the water was the first sign Praetorum got that something was wrong. The sudden yank at his legs was the second. Very nearly letting out a yelp before remembering to keep his air in his lungs where they belonged, Prae squirmed in alarm as the water grabbed at him, and went wild.


A powerful current pulled him away from the docks, sending him tumbling head over tail, and Praetorum did gasp then, the drag of the water forcing the air from his lungs. Before Praetorum could muster up the presence of mind to panic though, his head breached the water, and he sucked in a greedly lungful of air before being pulled under again. Twisting in the water, Prae tried to swim out of this... whatever it was, to no avail. The mutation seemed to have... disappeared, for lack of a better term. Gone inactive, maybe. The water under his webbing and tail was no longer any different than it was anywhere else.


Why would that disappear, Prae wondered as he tumbled through the water, dragged to and fro, deeper and deeper into the harbor? Was it that his mutation only worked in still waters? Prae's head breached the surface again, and he sucked in a breath again, thinking frantically. It just didn't make any sense. Maybe he had oversteped, without noticing. Or... what if this was still part of that new mutation? Edyn had warned him that these things were almost never purely good or bad, but a trade-off of some sorts. Although being able to swim slightly better didn't seem like a fair trade for nearly getting drowned at random. Another tug pulled Prae beneath the surface, and something in his memory clicked. 



It was like an undertow, Praetorum realized suddenly. He and his family were well familiar with them; one had almost killed his brother as a child, would have had Prae not spotted him in time and cried out for Vitaria. Escaping an undertow was difficult, he remembered being told, and now, with the water dragging him full force downwards and outwards, he finally understood, viscerally understood why. He didn't dare use defiance; if this was a form of overstepping— though it didn't feel like it— or was the dark side of his new mutation, using defiance seemed like it might make things worse



Twisting, Praetorum tried to swim sideways, not into or away from the current, to break free from it and ideally get to safety. Only one problem.


Unlike a natural undertow, this one seemed to be following him. No sooner had he managed to drag himself out of the current, that another one formed, again dragging him to fates only knew where. 



Prae gritted his teeth. There was nothing for it. He'd have to use defiance.

Reaching for the water, he cried out for it to stop. It didn't want to, it enjoyed moving and swirling and spinning and playing and—


STOP! Prae demanded, and the water went dead. 



Something in Prae's chest tightened, but he didn't dare stay still long enough for that whatever it was to start up again. I'm sorry, he whispered to the water as he swam back to the docks. I was scared. 



There was no response. His witchmark was back, and he was soon hauling himself up onto a pier again. But he didn't leave. 



I'm sorry, he told the water again, with no response. Shifting closer to the edge of the pier again, Prae let his legs dangle into the water, and tried to coax it into dancing around his legs. To his distress, it responded only sluggishly, less sweeping and more seeping as he directed it. Come on, Prae pleaded. I'll play with you, I promise. I just—  I thought I was going to drown.


That only seemed to make it worse. There was no response from the water, but he knew, his spark knew, somehow, that the water would never have let him drown. That it had only wanted to get him moving, not that it wanted to hurt him. 



Movement, Prae realized suddenly. The wind when he walked, the water when he swam; his spark wanted him to move. Prae swallowed heavily at the revelation. 



Please don't give me the silent treatment, he whispered to the water. I know what I did that you didn't like, I won't do it again. So please, won't you talk to me again?


That drew a response. The water around his ankles seemed almost to draw away from him, ever so briefly. You shouted at me, it sniffled weakly to him. And then it spoke no more to him that trial, no matter what he said to it. 



It was a very long time before Praetorum left that dock.