"I promised my mother that I would learn to be a wizard like her." Cas said crossing her arms. She wasn't leaving. Not after having come all this way.

Bristlebane considered the question, what was a good enough reason to convince this mysterious wizard. Because i want to probably wasn't good enough, he could lie, but he got the feeling lying to this man was a very bad idea. Come to think of it why did he want to learn magic so bad that he would wander aimlessly in a forest and face a Chimera to do so. Because i already know everything else wasn't a very good answer either. Bristlebane pondered searching himself for the real reason he wanted this, finally somewhat unsure of himself he manged to stammer out, "Because, because I want to have the power to control my own fate, and make a difference."

Anna laughs at Ven's comments. Then she turns to the wizard, her icy blue eyes full of sadness and pain. "I want to be able to heal my older brother's spine so that he can run and hunt again, because maybe then my brothers will find me of more use to them than they... currently do. Maybe then they'll let me have some freedom." Her mouth trembles, and she crosses her arms around her waist and bows her head so no one can see the tears sliding down her cheeks. Her fifteenth brother, Alexander, was the only one who was ever nice to her. He had tried to teach her crossbow and longbow and javelin, and had helped her make her sling and taught her how to make the ammunition. But their lessons had to stop when the boys were out hunting and they came rushing home carrying a grievously injured Alex. They claimed it was an accident, that he had been thrown from his horse and trampled, but the bruises were all in the shape of her brothers' bootprints. And then, without Alex to protect her, the other boys had... No. Better not to think about it. Better not to think about it or you'll panic the next time Ven touches you. Better not to think about it or you'll wake up screaming in the middle of the night and you'll have to explain to everyone.

Hearing Anna's reason for being here caused Ven to feel pity, but he quickly dismissed those feelings, well-knowing that they'll do nothing for her. Instead, he gently placed his right hand on her shoulder, as if to console her before he turned to look the Wizard right in the eyes, his own displaying his determination. "I've come here so I can be able to fight for my friends. I'm also hoping that by learning magic, I would be able to track down my parents. I'm certain that I could speak for all of us here and say that we didn't come all this way just to turn back." Ven states, faintly shaking due to the sudden rush of emotion he feels.

He would raise an eyebrow at their responses "...hm... so you all choose to do a lot of things yourself instead of just going the easy way and paying for a wizard to do what you wished for...." he takes a puff of his smoke and look to those who haven't spoke "I take it all of your reasons are fairly similar to these ones..." he scratches his chin "I'm going to give you one last chance... your last chance to leave and forget about this idea..." he says with a serious look "there is no turning back once the ceremony is preformed, in the eyes of the world you will be dead until you finish your training... you would be nothing more than my property you could say... for I will have control of your lives until I announce you as a full fledge mage and remove your apprenticeship" he stats to them and slams his foot down and a huge magic circle forms behind him "if you wish to chance your mind and leave then leave.. if your will is unchanged then step into the circle behind me" he says "and once everyone one is decided I'll start the ceremony. prepare yourselves for pain so unbelievable you'll wish you made the choice to leave." he says with an almost evil grin. allowing the chimera to jump down and walk around look up at everyone, the lion part making a cute meow at them.

Autumn jumped a little when he suddenly stomped his foot. She listened quietly to his words. Well, she wasn't too good on the pain aspect but she owed this to her father. She had seen him in pain many times, be it physical or mental so it was only right that she bare some pain to. She had made a promise to herself and to her mother in the sky that she would provide for him as he has done for her multiple times. She could't turn back now. Yes, her father would welcome her back with open arms and tell her that it just wasn't the right path for her but she wouldn't be able to look into his eyes without feeling shame and wondering what would had happened should she have stayed. A mew caused her to look down. She smiled, crouching down to gently pet the Chimera. She then stood and faced the Wizard. Her decision made, Autumn kept her head high and walked past the others and into the circle, turning to face the group, eyes shining with determination.

Dad abandoned mom and I because mom was a wizard. This is my one chance I have to prove myself to my mother. Cas thought as she walked forward into the circle. She wouldn't be bothered by any pain. She would stay strong because her mother had gone through this too.

Anna flinched at Ven's hand touching her shoulder, but she forced herself to relax. She lightly reached up and twisted her fingers through Ven's for a moment, forcing a smile onto her face. But then it was gone and her bright blue eyes trained on the wizard's. She didn't hesitate and stepped into the circle. "Master Wizard, you threaten that we will appear to be dead to the world. Does it not occur to you that maybe being dead is a good thing, at least for some of us? You threaten that we will be in unimaginable pain, but do you really think that any of us hasn't experienced more pain than we aught to, in order to be driven to become wizards?" She asked him, trying to put on a show of bravado, but her voice was trembling. She was absolutely terrified of the man and was sure she was going to pay for posing those questions. But she legitimately wanted to know. She expected to be glad about her brothers thinking she was dead, but instead, all she felt was terror. Alex would hear. Poor, frail, sick Alex would hear, and it would break his heart. And her other brothers would kill him, either directly or by just... not caring about him. And it would be her fault. But she couldn't back out now, she couldn't she wouldn't she didn't dare. Rather than panic and flee she beckoned to the others to come across into the circle with her. In particular she wanted Ven to come over and wrap his arms around her again. She'd felt safe when he'd found her freezing, when she was nearly dead from her fall and the dip in the river. She'd felt safe when they were being chased by the Chimera, even. She hadn't been unafraid of anything since her father died. But she had been when they had been running together.

Solomon trembled as he listened to the Wizard speak. Pain . . . he was not used to pain or hardship. Doubts began to form in his head. What if this isn't worth it? He thought this and was about to look behind him when an image flashed in his eyes. An image of a girl with green eyes so full of knowledge and power, they felt like they pierced straight through you and looked into your soul. Her image, embedded so deeply into his mind, of her looking so magnificent and proud. He remembered wanting so badly to understand that greatness. Glaring and seething with anger at himself for even daring to hesitate, Solomon clenched his fists and practically slammed his foot into the magic circle. "Throw me anything! Pain, suffering, loneliness, it doesn't matter!" he declared, for himself and others to hear. "Let all of that and more come, you will never shake my resolve!" "Hear my words! Solomon Roan Laes will become a Wizard among Wizards, no matter how long it takes, no matter how hard the course! This I swear on the damnation of my everlasting soul!"

"Heh, I can't chicken out now. This has been a bridge I intended on crossing for a while.." Ven states as he walks over unto the circle, now standing beside Anna. "I'm glad I'm not going alone." He says, smiling at her and the others. After seeing everyone else's display of bravery, he felt even more determined to reach his goal. He could care less about the road being long and harsh. He'd do whatever it takes to make his dream of tracking down his parents a reality.

James didn't say anything more, and just walked over to the circle. He looked around at the others who wanted to be apprentices. Some of them looked more capable than others, and a few just looked like the only thing they could handle is being a healer.

Bristlebane silently walked into the circle. He had no itention of stopping now, no matter what was waiting for him, he was praticlly dead to the world anyway, a nobody, with nobody who cared about him.

It seemed that everyone was giving there reasons and everyone wasn't ready to give up. Izumi was surely one of the weakest and smallest looking boys there. He even though some of the girls were stronger than him. He was glad he didn't have to state his own reason for coming here and that he didn't have to throw out any words of encouragement. Not only was Izumi bad at public speaking, but even in small groups, he liked to stay as quiet as possible. Let the wizard bring whatever he wishes to. I have seen the raw power of pain anyways. Izumi knew that the wizard probably heard his thought, but he paid no mind to it. Izumi slowly distanced himself away from the group, he didn't trust to many of the, even the girl that had saved him prior to the events that were unfolding now.

As the apprentices made their decisions the wizard would grin some but when Anna said those questions, his expression entirely changes "...you all know nothing about pain... nothing about what it takes" he says, his voice deepened "...you never killed what ment everything to you... with your own hands... you never had to watch your loved ones die in your own hands... by your own hands...." he states he looks to the apprentices his eyes are blood red, as the circle activates with energy surging from it like crazy "The pain your about to experience is nothing but a bug bite to what I have experienced.... most of those who become mages lose something they care for.. because they became wizards for the wrong reasons" he states his voice still no longer friendly as the energy surges and grabs ahold of each of the apprentices by their necks and raises them into the air, more energy grabbing their wrists and ankle spreading their arms and legs out, as they feel intense pain on the outside of their bodies "if you think it's already painful then I got bad knews for you.. it gets worse" he stats with almost an evil and angry grin as needles suddenly appear all around them "first Needles infused with magical energies are called... then their inserted into 6 locations on the person.. the forehead.. the arms.. the legs.. and the body.. and they send surges of magic into the person... intense strong magic.. to release the locks on their body and allow magic to go through this..... only half of the apprentices who have gone through this have survived" he says turning away and starting to simply walk away from them as the needles been to position them selves and push "it'll take over an hour for the needles to enter the body.. their not that sharp, then it'll take over three hours for the energy to break through your bodies.... so enjoy four hours of endless pain" he says "you wont pass out because the magic circle wont let you.. now for your will to truly be tested... live or die that is up to yourselves, your welcome to pass out once it's over." he suddenly vanishes. [Note: you don't need to do any big post or anything here, just something small if you wish, sense it's pretty much going to be a time skip to when it's over]

"Oh fun..." Cas muttered, grinding her teeth together.

Bristlebane's smile almost faded at the news of their impending tourture. Oh well, it wasn't like he hadn't been tortured before, he gritted his teeth as the needles slowly began thier work. He would not fail, he would not become part of the wortheless half that died during this, he wouldn't even make a sound, as he stood in silent agony.

Autumn felt her eyes widen as the man described what awaited them. She gasped as tendrils rose out of the circle and grabbed those within it. Acting on instinct, the girl began thrashing before she took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. Needles appeared around them and she gasped again, fighting the urge to try and escape. As the points started piercing her flesh a whimper escaped before she bit her lip and kept quiet, squeezing her eyes closed. This is for father. You're doing this for father. She repeated over and over like a mantra, her fathers smiling face envisioned in her mind's eye. As the pain flooded through her a cry escaped before she could stop it, tears flowing down her cheeks as she whimpered again. As the pain increased she gasped for breath, trying to calm down. She could do. She had to. For father. She could go through pain for him. She would. Her hands were clenched into fists, her nails digging into her palms so hard that they broke through the skin and blood began dripping to the ground. That small pain was insignificant to the pain she was currently experiencing and hardly even registered in her pain-wracked brain. She was also biting her lip to keep from releasing her cries so hard that that too was bleeding, the drops of blood rolling her chin. She took shuddering breaths, body tensed as the agony flowed through her veins and embedded inside her very bones. They had to endure four hours of this?! She could do it. She could. Her thoughts then faded away, replaced by endless pain.

After the hours would of passed, the circle would deactivate allowing the apprentices to fall to the ground.. the needles vanishing....The wizard would appear out from the shadows without the chimera this time "...impressive" he would say.

Bristlebane fell to his knees finally releashed from the agony. Breathing heavily he lay down exhausted from the painful ordeal. He glanced upwards at the wizard in the shadows, "So... *huff* can I like, *huff* shoot fireballs now?" he said simoulatansly wanting to take a nap forever and wanting to expiriment with his new "magic powers"

Ventus fell to the floor with a smile on his face, trying his best to catch his breathe after having endured four hours of continuous pain. The sword on his back seemed extremely heavy now, for he barely had the strength to pick himself up and stand, swaying slightly as he got back up on his feet. "Man, what a rush...no pain, no gain, right? Hehe.." He stated, continuing to slightly trip over himself every now and then as he looked around at the others, trying to see if anyone else managed to remain conscious after their recent ordeal.

No...Must..Must stay awake... As the pain intensified Autumn could feel her consciousness fading away bit by bit. She couldn't! She had to stay strong! She gasped for breath, tears still coursing down her red cheeks. She could do this, she had to. For father. This was all for father! The image of his face was slipping away and she tried to grasp onto it desperately but it fell away and all that was left was unimaginable pain. Her head lulled forward, the tears dripping to the ground below her feet. Suddenly the circle faded away, the tendrils disappearing. Autumn dropped to the ground like a stone, crying out hoarsely when she hit the unforgiving ground harshly. Her head struck a rock partially sticking out of the ground as she landed. She laid there, dazed, in pain and bleeding from a head wound. She tried to make her limbs move but they were unresponsive, the muscles still twitching in the after effects of the pain.