Amaris lightly tapped at her bottom lip with the knuckle of her first finger as she set to work trying to place the new information. Unfortunately, Maddie’s guess of the raven potentially connecting to the Noila’s family crest didn’t set off any immediate bells.

“Seems that I’m still missing something then, but what could it be?” She asked aloud, though more for herself than for her partner. Thinking about the second statement with the raven standing in for the princess only served to confuse the vampress more. Instead of just two sentences reading true all three of them did, something that didn’t change no matter which royal Amaris tried to swap the aforementioned raven for. There had to be something about the riddle the countess was misunderstanding, but what?

I don’t have time for this! I have to solve this quickly. It is my job to protect Maddie, I will NOT let her down. The countess’ voice seemed to echo back to her within her mind, repeating over and over until the words began to fall apart and only ‘I’ remained.

Somewhere along the way, Amaris had forgotten the tasks were meant to be a team effort. Each of them had knowledge or experience the other did not, different perspectives that would allow them both to reach distances much further than either could alone. This didn’t just stop at figuring out which direction to walk or what color bell to select but extended to the simple things, how to walk and think. Amaris had made so many assumptions about the riddle that she had forgotten to include the one person she was supposed to be able to trust the most.

“Alright Maddie, I need to borrow your mind for a moment. Please listen to my words carefully and let me know your thoughts. I get the feeling I might be too close to this to look at it objectively.” The images of her previous partners flashed through her mind again, quickly pushed away as Amaris worked to recall the words spoken to her by the snake.

Quickly but clearly, Amaris relayed the information of the rules, as well as each of the three statements, to her partner and then waited. Despite the ticking clock, Amaris couldn’t help but to keep her mind focused on what responses her partner might have for her. She just hoped it might contain some kind of clue instead of the ever growing list of questions Amaris seemed to find herself entangled in.

---

---

Interacting with:

Time seemed to pass as he awaited a response from Victor or just to simply hear his voice. It was a weird moment in time for him where everything felt as if it was moving so fast, the walls of fog closing in on them as their whispered voices grew louder. Yet for some reason this moment seemed to stretch on for an eternity, the waiting was drawing out every second that now felt like minutes and minutes into hours as anticipation ran rampant in Salem and he awaited to hear Victor speak and hopefully the challenge completed. There was finally a sound, his partner had said his mothers name and nothing had happened as of yet. He wasn't sure if anything had changed over in Victor's view but from where Salem sat there was nothing discernable save for the pale girl sat before him. There was another pregnant pause; another word; then another pause. This was killing Salem as he watched the fog roll in and finally a name was spoken.

Salem looked at the girl before him, the picture in one hand and the mook in the other. Who was she to Victor? And why such hesitation in saying her name? "Are you Sarah Rift?" He asked her with a pleasant voice of a host. He knew she wouldn't respond, couldn't respond, as the illusion had stayed silent thus far. He wanted to ask her more, who she was, why she was here, and what was she to Victor? There were many questions that flooded his mind and all of which he knew Victor wouldn't answer. Again, if Salem was to constantly deal with mental assailants then perhaps it was best he knew as little as possible of the trouble pasts that brought his partner sorrow. As much of a boon as they may be, they would also be a hindrance and liability for Victor.

---

Max paused while Aaron continued his explanation, his hand hovering above the skull in feigned anticipation. Hearing that the Retriever got his ass handed to him was a fun little upside to this whole stupid test, but that only meant the Aaron he’d be fighting would be even more annoying than the real one. At least the gimmick to this test seemed simple enough. If the illusionary coin responded to his magic like it was metal, he’d likely be able to snatch it without any hassle, and barring that, all he had to do to was get under some Noila lackey’s skin to have the coin literally handed to him. That wasn’t a challenge; it was a Tuesday afternoon.

The mage turned his head to Eris in order to snidely ask permission to enter, but the words died in his throat as Aaron continued. What the fuck, was some asshole mage poking around in his head? Max turned a silent, contemplative glare on Aaron. Going off right now wouldn’t solve anything, and losing composure in front of two leeches was naive at best. If the clones were that unstable and easy to read, he’d probably have ammo to fire back with later anyway.

“Clone me sounds like a bitch. If all I have to do is make some whiny caricature of Aaron cry, I can’t see this taking too long,” Max muttered as he turned his gaze back on Eris, putting on his best Ismene impression without actively sounding mocking, “Shall I go in now?”

Now that was what Eris wanted to hear. That said, he hoped the kid would be able to keep his head--he was pretty sure he had seen regular Sunny give him bruises--but a verbal battle did assuage any concern. Taking a step away from the skull, he gestured to it. “I’ll be expecting you back shortly,” He replied cheerfully.

Max gave a small nod and, with a deep breath, slapped his hand down on the skull. He really hoped this wouldn’t be like the teleportation spell at the beginning of the exam; throwing off his cool right at the start would be a hassle.



Max felt emotions slam into his chest and nearly burst out. They spun around far too quickly to pull apart, meshing into one massive crippling need for validation. He needed every eye on him now. Accomplishment was little more than a means to validate himself in a world that refused to give him the time of day, that thought of him as little more than a convenient stepping stool, a plaything to pick up and discard. The violent need to return that in kind filled him and then hopeless attraction that hurt more than it didn’t but it was inevitable.

The world went dark. There was shuffling, a cough, a sneeze, and then he was in the spotlight on a stage without dimensions. People in grey spoke and talked and moved on stage but no one paid him any mind. They passed in and out of focus to the cheering of an invisible crowd and roses would fall in sheets and pass right through the laquered wood. Suddenly, a voice called “Cut, cut, cut!” The greys faded away, leaving only Eris rolling his eyes. The blade he carried earlier sat in its scabbard on it’s hip and the clawed glove gesticulated wildly in front of him.

“You are killing me, Maximillian! It’s only a few lines!” Eris groaned, his hand sliding down his face. “All you have to do is the same crap you do every day: be mean, be angry, throw in a little light sarcasm, and together you concoct the perfect tongue lashing. You’re just saying it to your parents, it’s not like you can fuck that relationship up anymore than you already have. What’s a little more, Wells?” Half a gold coin hung around his neck on a silver chain.

Fuck. The feeling at the beginning was clearly a clue into the clone’s psyche if Aaron’s explanation was anything to go on, but Max never expected the other mage to be so… needy. Was Aaron really that eager for some vampire - for every vampire - to deign to acknowledge him like the pitiful little mutt he is?

When the world came into being around him, Max only got more confused. A stage? Was Aaron that fake that his subconscious was a fucking play? Or was this a facet of Max’s subconscious? The sunlit meadow could’ve gone either way, but this didn’t seem to fit either of the mages. Max watched the strange figures passing by with caution, unsure if they were about to attack him. All that talk of light bending and illusions and whatever Aaron was going on about last time they sparred already made him wary, but coupled with the strangeness of this whole situation, he was on high alert.

Until he heard a voice.

This wasn’t Aaron.

Fuck, he actually had no idea what made Eris tick. Evidently he wanted attention, but what was Max supposed to do with that? Eris wasn’t so hard to beat when he was playing word games and dancing around societal convention but if the leech was actively trying to kill him, with weapons that didn’t feel like metal, at that? He could only say ‘attention whore’ so creatively. His own clone sounded incredibly fragile comparative to himself, so he could only hope clone-Eris would start cracking immediately.

Max’s saving grace here was that Eris seemed intent to talk first. Maybe if he played along with whatever weird scenario he’d been dropped in, the vampire wouldn’t start swinging.

“Sorry Eric, directing might just not be your strong suit. Can you feed me my lines again?”

Eris let out a sigh, rolling his eyes as he gestured to one of the grey people. He muttered something unintelligible, and was promptly handed a script. “Alright, we’ll take it from the top,” He announced, the lights on Max dimming somewhat as Eris flipped to the appropriate page. “Your line is: ‘I’m like this on purpose.’ Do you remember the rest? Actually you know what, I might as well give you the lines before so you know where we are.”

Clearing his throat, the blonde sat up. “Pay attention and repeat after me: ‘I lash out because it’s easier than admitting how weak I am. If you had any ounce of dignity, you’d do something.’ And then…” He gestured towards one of the extras on stage.

A voice Max would recognize as his mother’s replied, “Why are you so cruel?”

“And that’s when you say ‘I’m like this on purpose’ and continue,” Eris rested the script on his lap, looking back at the mage. “Alright, once again, action!”

Oh, he wasn’t pulling any punches. Max was gonna play around for a bit, maybe strike a few stupid poses, but he already had his ‘in’ and letting Eris sit here and talk down to him was only going to gas the leech up.

“Hang on, hang on; I think I see the issue. Your writing’s boring. It’s all wordy and pretentious. Try something lowbrow, something cutting. I’m not feeling my own character here,” Max started with feigned concern, as if he were trying to deliver actual criticism on the script, “What self-important theater nerd are you trying to impress with this again? You really shouldn’t demean yourself like that.”

He almost mentioned slapstick, but he figured that would be an invitation to actually get slapped around. Maybe he should attack costuming next; Eris was really into his appearance. Would that be enough? Hopefully Eris would give him a specific name to dig in with, somebody’s attention had to be more important to him than others. Plus that jackass deserved it for trying to drag his mom into this.

The blonde blinked slowly, turning his face away from Max. One of the people muttered something, and Eris clucked his tongue. “Dim the lights more, I think the heat is getting to him,” He called out, the lights turning into a cooler white. “Did you forget who wrote this?”

Without waiting for confirmation, the script appeared in the closest person’s hands, holding it out for Max to see. The title was ‘Innermost Thoughts’ followed by the author’s name: Maxwell Alderman.

“I told you the writing would suffer, but you insisted that no one knew you better than yourself,” Eris waved the extra away, flipping through the script. “If you’re not feeling that scene, though, we can go ahead to page eighteen. Lights!”

Once the lights brightened, they turned a royal blue, the stage taking on a more somber mood. “Alright, this one isn’t just for you, it’s for the light crew to practice, too. Start at the line, ‘The resignation is what I hate the most. I can act stubborn all I want, but the truth is that I can’t do anything. That’s just a fact of life.’ And then!” He snapped his fingers, the color turning indigo. “You continue with ‘It’s what I deserve.’ And then pause for dramatic effect.”

Max wrinkled his nose as the script was presented to him. The fact that this illusion even suggested he’d ever write something so contrived bothered him more than whatever nonsense Eris was peddling. Well, the part about him deserving this was pretty annoying, but still negligible. If he stayed on the defense, Eris was unlikely to slip, but what else was he supposed to attack him on?

“I think the most insulting part of this is that you slapped my name on this sentimental crap,” Max groaned as he gestured to the script. Eris thrived in false pretenses - he was a fucking actor. Max could only win when he strips away all the facades and starts talking bluntly, but doing that here meant he was likely going to get rushed by an angry vampire and whatever other deathtraps this stage was hiding.

If Eris had to get close to hit him though, he might have a chance to just snag the coin. It wasn’t like the injuries were real, in any case. He hoped they didn’t hurt like they were real either, but he wasn’t going to hold his breath on that one.

“Let’s cut the bullshit; you’re gonna call me a whiny loser, I’m gonna call you an egotist, and the crowd is only going to clap because they’re just a made up extension of you. They’re not even real. It’s fake validation. In fact, I’m the only person here that can validate you, so you’re tearing me down because you know I won’t do that.”

He braced himself preemptively for any sudden movements from the vampire, though Max assumed he’d get at least a bit of a back and forth before any fighting started. The important part was to look in control, Eris wanted him flustered.

Chartreuse eyes turned icy at Max’s words, but the blonde closed his eyes for a second. Eris let out a rather loud, clearly fake gasp, his left hand clutching the coin while the other went to his forehead as he looked distressed. “Oh no! You’ve stated the obvious! My one weakness!” He blubbered for a few seconds, his expression relaxing into a smile as he made himself comfortable in his seat, his chin resting on the palm of his hand. “See, you’re on the right track, but on the wrong train. None of this has anything to do with me--shameful, really--but I am willingly giving you the validation you need.”

The lights turned into a warm yellow, and Max could hear Aaron’s voice repeating a line he had said to him previously: “Standing your ground like that is only going to make it worse, especially in your position.”

“Why else would you be so angry at yourself? You just can’t face the truth,” He informed him with a sense of glee to his words. “You’re not even on the same level as the Retriever. You’re worse than he is--at the very least he knows his place and accepts it. And what do you do? Put up this angry tantrum and hurt everyone around you, including the ones you love most, just because you know if you can’t change anything.”

The lights colored violet, his mother’s voice somberly saying, “You’ve been distant all week.”

Eris clucked his tongue again, shaking his head. “Did you really have to pull away from your own mother like that?” For once there was no joy, no teasing, his expression one of pity as he looked at Max.

Max rolled his eyes dismissively. Eris was really reaching here, which was annoying but not insurmountable. As long as he kept on the attack, they’d at the very least be stuck arguing here all day in a stalemate.

“I don’t need validation from some actor. That’s the difference between us, I don’t care what people think about me.” If Max was good at anything, it was doubling down on questionable things he’d already said. Call it spite, call it a coping mechanism; it didn’t matter. If he had to be an asshole to his mom to make Eris flounder, so be it. “Stop pulling memories out of your hat trying to reach for some emotional connection you can exploit. They don’t matter anymore than you do, and you’re just another vampire to me. Hell, you’re like that to everybody. Who honestly values some guy who plays pretend for a living?”

The mage made sure to keep his body language as dismissive as possible. He should’ve picked up on it sooner judging by their talk in the forest; Eris hated being ignored. Negative attention was still attention, so his usual strategy wouldn’t be so effective. Nice trick, whatever mind-reading jackass designed this test, give Max the one person here that he had to not go off on to win.

Eris listened carefully, nodding along for the most part. He raised his eyebrows at the end, Max’s question seemingly lingering, and at that he frowned. “I have an answer to that. And I’ll give you one if you answer my question,” He seemingly offered an olive branch, his free hand gesturing to the crowd.

The faces became familiar if he looked closely enough, each one looking angrier than the next. As the lights on Max suddenly turned off, the place was plunged into darkness for a few seconds until a spotlight shined on one of the grey people next to Eris. It was clear that he and everyone else in the crowd now had Max’s face. This one, however, didn’t share the anger, instead looking completely distraught.

“Who are you?” Eris asked. “An unlikeable asshole that doesn’t have to care? A scared and confused kid hidden by anger? At least, that’s what the rest of us see.”

Behind Eris, the rest of the faces became clearer, ranging from people in Max’s class to his family. Each one had their eyes on him, unmoving as Eris stood from his seat, joining them in staring at him.

“Who are you?” He repeated his question.

Well, that was creepy. Not that he didn’t see something like that coming, but it was still creepy. But it proved an important point; Eris couldn’t hurt him. He didn’t even remember half of these people’s names. Eris was screwed.

Max spread his arms in a highly exaggerated shrug, and he even dared a lopsided smirk. “I’m just Max. Slap whatever labels you want on me, it’s water off a raincoat.” No argument, but no concession either. They’d both give Eris a small victory, but blowing off the question left him powerless.

“Your turn.”

For a second, Eris seemed disappointed as he looked at Max. After some time though, he looked back at the crowd, gesturing to them. A familiar looking brunette and blonde stepped to the front--Ismene and Antigone--followed closely by a blonde and a redhead Max wouldn’t recognize. On his other side, Varis hovered for a moment before disappearing into the crowd, replaced with another man Max wouldn’t know.

“My family values me,” He replied in earnest, although the crowd shifted again, turning once more into the faceless people. They remained in place for a moment before Eris gave them a wave of dismissal, to which they slowly disappeared as he walked forward. He jumped up on the stage, walking over to Max and stopping in front of him.

“I’ll give you some unwanted advice that I’m sure you won’t take,” He stated, ruffling the mage’s hair before his hands reached behind his neck. “You’re not alone anymore. I’m here with you, if you want it. I’m sure I’m not the only one, either.” He took off the coin, hanging it in front of him for Max to take as he gave him a sincere smile. “At the very least, be just a little kinder to the people around you. It will be worth it, I promise.”

Max tensed imperceptibly as Eris approached, expecting a sucker punch or something. Instead, he got something arguably worse - weird sympathy. It took everything in him not to shiver. The mage snapped out of his daze when Eris held out the coin. That was… easier than expected. And just when he had worked up the courage to plug his fingers in his ears and yell ‘I’m ignoring you’ over and over again too.

“Hmmph. I told you Eris, you’re not important enough for me to hate you,” He grumbled as he snatched the coin from the vampire. The clone was being nice, so Max figured he’d at least give him half a compl- uh. Something nic- no. Something not entirely and overtly insulting? That worked. Besides, this thing probably just stopped existing once he left the skull anyway.



Max took a moment to collect himself upon reappearing in the forest, his head swivelling side to side as he made sure the test didn’t have a part two or something. His hand was tightly clutching the coin, and he could easily feel the metal resonating inside his fist. Still, he opened his fingers and poked at the coin with his other hand, as if to confirm it was real. Where’d it even come from?!

As much as he would’ve liked to deny anything happened in there and blow it off - and if questioned about it, he was definitely going to omit some parts - there was a unique opportunity here, and Max figured wasting it would be pointless. Clone-Eris was probably laughing at him, somewhere, but Ismene would probably get on his ass if she ever found out Max wasted his good deed of the day here.

The mage approached Eris, keeping himself reserved but not outright cowardly. He needed to keep his behavior off enough that Eris would notice but not so off that Varis would pick up on it too.

“A word, please, before you go in? I’d rather not embarrass myself in front of the count,” He requested quietly, doing his best to have his eyes read ‘urgent’ while his body language read ‘I’m a submissive tool’.

Eris was pleasantly surprised that Wells had popped out so quickly, his own strategy adjusting in his head. Well, it proved Sunny’s point at least--he would make sure to go in with that in mind. That said, considering their intention to go in together, he was sure Varis would say something he shouldn’t and end up pissing both clones off, so he was ready for that, too. That said, what Eris didn’t expect was Wells asking him for a moment.

He caught his jaw dropping as he gave Varis a slight look, deciding not to wait too long as he gestured off to the side. Once the pair were far away enough, Eris inspected the kid for a moment. No scratches at all, these illusions really were something. “What is it?” He asked.

Max leaned in toward Eris’ ear, lowering his voice as much as he could on the off-chance Varis’ super hearing was good enough to pick up him whispering.

“I didn’t get the Retriever in there - fuck you and your clone, by the way - so if you two manage to go in together, you might have him to deal with. Either way, they’re really fucking talkative, so I suggest you try squeezing dirt out of Cinnamon’s clone, he won’t be able to reciprocate with your copy.” He shifted back a bit after he finished, but kept himself close for the time being in case Eris had any finishing remarks or questions. Max had no idea what the hell was going on between them, but no vampire in their right mind would pass up free ammo for an inevitable power play.

Well this was a thing. An unexpected thing, but a thing nonetheless. Eris had absolutely no idea how to respond. It wasn’t so much the fact at what he said, but rather the fact that the kid was--dare he say--suggesting something that would actually benefit him. It was mind boggling, really, to the point where he genuinely just stood there for a few seconds.

After that, though, Eris looked behind him, and then back, trying to figure out why the kid was telling him this. Was this the clone and he had actually failed? No, he had the coin, this was the real Maxibald. But he couldn’t go discouraging this sort of thing, then he would lose what tiny sliver of trust (was this trust?) Wells had in him. Which, you know, he didn’t even know was a thing until now.

Finally, Eris lightly patted Max’s shoulder. “I’ll keep that in mind,” He replied first and foremost, withdrawing his hand as he finally decided to ask, “Why are you telling me this?”

Max let out a low growl in irritation. Couldn’t he have just said thanks and been on his way? A nod of affirmation? A simple ‘don’t tell me what to do, fucker’? Now he had to explain himself. He resumed his stance near the side of Eris’ head, muttering tersely, “Don’t get smug, when you get played like a fiddle, I do too.”

He didn’t bother waiting for a reply that time; instead he simply turned around and slumped back against a tree. Aaron had the right idea, groveling in the dirt like an idiot. A chance to rest while the vampires were inside the skull was ideal, given they wouldn’t be wasting time they could be spending on travel anyway.

---

@Achronum@Obscene Symphony

Varis watched the mage’s little display upon his return with some skepticism but that wasn’t much of a concern of his. If the boy was anything to go by, he was just embarrassed and Eris hadn’t trained his mage well enough to remember it wasn’t his place to feel those sorts of things. Varis clicked his tongue in disapproval. Eris was playing far too nicely with this boy but considering his curious indulgences of his other mage, the competent one whatever her name was, Varis couldn’t say he was surprised. Perhaps he had some odd method that produced mages of that other one’s ability. If that was the case, Varis might consider lending the boy over to Eris for training every now and then. Speaking of training...

“You may stand.” Varis told the kneeling mage. “When we are out of this ordeal, remind me to have you contact Malek. I don’t feel like hearing nails on a chalkboard but I do need something from my vault.” Varis sent Eris an inquisitive look when he returned, all bubbling confidence as usual. Whatever his mage told him must have put him in a good mood so Varis would let it slide for now.

“No better time than the present I suppose.” Varis agreed with Eris and stretched his hand out in tandem with the other, vanishing as his hand made contact.

Interacting with: @Obscene Symphony @Scribe of Thoth [Hero]

That the beast was not only sentient but also able to speak was not a possibility that had crossed his mind. Ben would have shown remorse, but seeing its transformation did little to deter him from his original decision. Of course its accusation that he didn't think of consequences was completely absurd; Ben went into this knowing full well that there was a battle to be had. He could take whatever was thrown his way with confidence.

As he reached to ready a second arrow, he watched as the beast threw the harp. To his abject horror, he realized it wasn't heading for him. How hypocritical and predictable, so quick to call him on his haste when it acted exactly as Ben expected. The nerve of some creatures! Dropping the arrow, he brandished the blade with his right hand and backed up several paces. As the harp neared, he narrowed his eyes as his stance went low. He swung once with the broad side of the sword, sending the harp away from Lilie. He kept the sword in hand as he readied another aarow, eyeing the beast warily. The idea of close combat wasn't one he was fond of, but this could prove difficult if he wasn't careful.

"I'd ask for your forgiveness, but I believe I'll save it for the end of this skirmish," Ben said. "A test of might calls for action, you'd have me stand here and do nothing while you attack my defenseless mage?"

The question came as he stood his ground. It was more of a formality and a minor apology than anything, and he sincerely doubted anything would come of it. But if he did get an answer, perhaps he would get a hint at its weakness.

Max seemed to take the report in stride - outwardly, at least - and while Aaron dared to hope that meant that the horrible things his clone had been spouting had just been designed to shock him, he wouldn’t dismiss the possibility that they actually reflected his… whatever they were. Aims? He hoped not; for whatever reason he’d actually taken a liking to the guy, and even aside from his horror at the thought of him murdering his master, he’d hate to see his head chopped off for something so utterly pointless.

Things were quiet while Max was gone, Aaron taking advantage of the chance to rest. He was honestly surprised no one had anything to say about his second report. He must have been sufficiently detailed to satisfy Varis - one thing finally done right tonight. Max wasn’t gone long, though, and soon enough he popped back out just as suddenly as he’d disappeared.

Aaron snuck a glance at him from his place on the ground, only to be utterly shocked by what he saw; Max, with posture subdued, politely asking his master for a moment. A stark contrast from his attitude prior to his trial, to say the least, not to mention his attitude from every other moment of every night. That alone would raise some eyebrows, not to mention the secrecy. What, Aaron had to report his experience in agonizing detail and Max got away with a few whispers? Different masters, he supposed, but he was surprised that Varis didn’t have anything to say about it. Or maybe he did, judging by that incredulous look on his face when he told Aaron to stand.

Varis’ order seemed a little out-of-the-blue, but Aaron made a mental note to complete it nonetheless. Malek was the senior mage of Varis’ household, technically the estate archivist if memory served, but in his head Aaron always considered him a sort of informal majordomo, judging by the broad range of matters Varis tended to contact him over. Aaron didn’t have the slightest clue what Varis would need the man for now, let alone what here would have reminded him of it, but he’d leave his questions for when they finally got out of these woods.

He offered a polite bow of the head and a quiet “Yes, Master,” in response before stepping back as the two vampires approached the skull. Varis surprised him a bit when he placed his hand on the thing without a moment’s hesitation, and they both vanished, leaving him and Max alone.

All was quiet for a moment after they disappeared. When they didn’t instantly reappear, Aaron let his posture relax, cracking the hand warmers in his pockets - apparently his gloves had been warmer than he gave them credit for. He had every intention of waiting for the vampires’ return in silence - it didn’t even feel awkward with Max anymore - but eventually, despite having done his best on numerous occasions to quash the feeling outright, his curiosity got the better of him.

“So how’d that go?” He asked curiously, turning a bit to face Max. “Did I give you much trouble? You weren’t gone long.”

Max barely acknowledged Aaron, going back to being as aloof as ever once the two vampires had disappeared. Of course the Retriever wanted to talk, why wouldn’t he? If this was about whatever bullshit they pulled out of his head to make that clone, Max was considering actually getting the fight with Aaron he’d been expecting in the skull. Surely he’d get at least a hit or two in before Eris popped back out and started laughing at him.

“Nah, you waxed poetic about your innermost woes and then started crying,” He lied effortlessly, “Never would’ve expected someone like you to be hiding something like that.” Shot in the dark, but somebody as repressed as Aaron had to have something he was ashamed of bottled up inside him. Granted, it was probably something fucking lame like ‘one time I forgot to fold master’s socks the way he wanted them!’ that was haunting him, but it wasn’t like Max had anything to lose here.

Hm. Maybe these clones were on the simplistic side. Aaron chose to take that as reassurance; if his clone acted that out of character then maybe all that stuff Max’s had been saying was just wild speculation meant to shock him. Unless Max was just bullshiitting him - hard to tell, really, and it wasn’t like he expected Max to come out and say he got his ass kicked - he didn’t expect to be able to coax a straight answer out of the man when Eris and Varis could pop back into existence at any moment. Or at all, for that matter.

“Is that so,” he commented dismissively, opting not to take the bait and instead casting a glance back at the skull. After a moment, he let out a ghost of a laugh. “Is that what you skulked off to tell Eris then? I would have expected a bit more of a triumphant return.” Or a bit more smug, at least. With at least a handful more snide little insults.

Max clicked his tongue, offering a tight-lipped exhale in vague amusement, “You didn’t even flinch. You’re such a fucking tool.” That, or completely shameless, which was definitely a possibility given how Aaron usually conducted himself. Possibly both.

“I got Eric, not you. Which means Cinnamon is getting you by process of elimination. So, y’know, have fun with that conversation.” He wasn’t sure how open the Retriever was with Varis, but he couldn’t imagine Varis would pass up the chance to psychoanalyze him later even if the leech spent the whole time in the skull dodging sunlight beams instead of talking. “And before you try saying anything; no, I didn’t get my ass kicked by a D-list actor. That conversation was about something else and I didn’t want anyone butting in.”

Aaron let out a real laugh that time, shaking his head. Maybe Max’s clone wasn’t that far off after all. Max getting Eris though, that changed things a bit. Apparently the theory of mage vs mage and vampire vs vampire could be thrown out, and he had to admit that Max’s prediction didn’t sit well with him.

“I’m sure he can differentiate between what I do and what some exaggerated clone does,” he reasoned, more for his own benefit than Max’s, even if he didn’t entirely believe it himself. Things that crossed Varis tended to end up falling on him - the handprints on his arm were proof enough of that - and he was sure this would be no different. He had to laugh again. “And I suppose it’d be dumb to hope he somehow ends up facing himself.”

He shook his head again, spinning his ring in his pocket, before finally shrugging. “In any case, if my clone spouts off as outlandishly as yours did, he might just come out in a better mood than he went in.”

So Aaron didn’t know yet. Interesting. He didn’t know what that asshole clone of his was saying and how much was an exaggeration, but dwelling on it sounded like a quick way to end up in some sentimental nonsense about feelings. Better to change the subject.

“Dunno about yours, but our riddle said something about facing others.” Max held up a finger as he spoke to illustrate his point, “Now, that could still be accomplished if Eric fought you - it’s our riddle, after all - but this is a bonding exercise at its core. Along with whatever prank Ryner’s pulling on the uptight vamps, anyway. Varis getting himself doesn’t solve anything unless he’s living in extreme denial in every corner of his subconscious.”

Max brought up a second finger, “But, if I’m wrong on that, each of these matchups seems deliberate. I’m the only one you couldn’t melt in a handful of seconds, so you got me. Eric’s the only one I can’t talk down in the first few retorts, so I got him. Granted, both leeches can probably talk your pansy ass down, but Eric would have more trouble with Cinnamon than you.” A third finger came up, “Plus, it plays into the prank hypothesis for Varis to get beat up by his submissive little pet.”

His deductive skills weren’t as spot on as he’d have liked them to be today, but he couldn’t think of any reason why anyone would luck out and get themselves. The answer would be too easy to anyone with even a hint of introspective ability.

The comment about Varis facing himself had been mostly wishful thinking, but Max did bring up a few interesting points. He could easily see Princess Ryner getting a kick out of Varis having to face a more powerful version of him, though the other side of that was that she should know to expect Varis to take out that kind of frustration on him when he got back. Maybe she expected them to come out of this challenge understanding each other better, or something. Or maybe she just didn’t care so long as she got her jollies out of it.

He pushed that thought aside in favour of a different line of inquiry. “If this one is deliberate, do you think the whole test is contrived?” he asked, “Or was it luck that we ended up in the same challenge? You’d think it was deliberate since it’s our clones in this challenge, but what if one of us had gotten a challenge wrong and gone the wrong way? Do you think maybe instead of being pre-planned, it might just generate in the image of whoever happened to come across it?”

That would throw a wrench into Max’s interpretation, but he supposed however they matched pairs might also be generated on the fly. Hell, they were probably all being closely monitored, with mages behind the scenes ready to make adjustments if need be. It was all very unnecessary, if you asked him. “And how exactly is this testing our night vision, anyway?” he added, a bit of frustration finally coming out. “I haven’t even had my spell active since we found this clearing, and it’s not much of a Mortal Psychology test when one of the vampires is facing the other.”

“This isn’t testing night vision. That’s a farce to justify the whole exercise.” Max grumbled. The ulterior motive was obvious from the onset, but given the content of the test had literally nothing to do with magic at all, let alone the spell they were being tested on, there was no doubt in his mind that this was planned extensively.

“I don’t think every single test was tailored to each individual pair, that’d take way too fucking long. But I think the start positions were deliberately set so that each pair only had a few options that they could move in, and I think certain tests were planned more than others.” Max pointed to the skull accusingly, “Take this one. I dunno how long it takes to probe someone’s head and make a clone with all their memories, but I doubt these things can be conjured effortlessly.”

“Now, assuming one of the pairs hadn’t shown up, there’s probably a few different ways this test could go.” Probably just Max vs Eris and vice versa, and likewise for the other two. Still serves the bonding exercise purpose, it’s just not as ideal as the matchups would be with four people. “That, or they have way too many mind mages with too much time on their hands running this thing and making decisions on the fly for each pair. Which seems like a recipe for someone to fuck up an illusion.”

At least, he assumed. He had no idea how any of this magic shit worked; hell, he could barely handle basic affinity magic at this point. Though it was a little unsettling to think some jackass hiding behind a tree - if you’re hearing this, asshole, you better hope I don’t see you - could pry that into his head so casually. Even if he did decide to make his clone a complete bitch. Seriously, clone-Eris was pulling out people from his memory even Max didn’t know he knew!

Aaron nearly groaned; he’d had similar suspicions, but he wasn’t excited to have them confirmed. For the umpteeth time that night he wondered why the Princess was so insistent on bonding and introspection and emotional honesty. Sure, maybe those things were important for his arcane major, but why for this? And why in front of people? It was bad enough he’d have to open up in private with a mental magic instructor sworn by royal oath to secrecy, why did his Spell Theory grade hinge on doing the same thing in the forest with who-knew-how-many administrators watching? And Varis?!

Sighing, he pinched the bridge of his nose, uninterested in dwelling on the topic. “Too many mind mages with too much time on their hands might not even be too far from the truth,” he commented, remembering what Hannah had told him about the Hive. “Apparently the Mental majors are a little crew who link their minds up together like some kind of horrible privacy-bypassing mental group chat, I wouldn’t be surprised if they had a hand in this too.”

What the fuck, some shithead that was barely older than him might have a hand in this? At least with faculty, there was a certain level of professionalism they were more or less held to. Max didn’t need a reason not to talk to people to begin with, but now he was definitely avoiding any of those mental major fucks. The whole setup was fucking creepy and anyone that willingly agreed to that was likewise fucking creepy.

“You’re telling me there’s a decent chance we’re all getting clowned on psychic social media right now?” Max groaned. He didn’t need random people he’d never met talking about him. Hell, he’d been putting off looking up his own name on the internet just in case Eris’ following had picked up on his existence yet. At the very least, they had to have seen his appearance if not his name by now. He wasn’t sure if the negative attention or the horny attention - let’s be real, somebody had to have thought it by now - would be worse. Probably the latter. Definitely the latter.

“If I catch some self-important TA poking around in my head you can say goodbye to your kneecaps, asshole!” Max shouted up into the sky. He had no idea how they were being monitored or who was doing it, but it was cathartic to yell at his unseen enemy. Wasn’t like impoliteness on his part was going to come as much of a shock to anyone that spent any time in his mind.

A chuckle escaped Aaron, though he wouldn’t deny that the prospect was unsettling at best. But someone had to have been in his head for Max’s clone to so efficiently dig into issues he barely admitted to himself. Or was he just that much more outward with them than he thought? If that was the alternative, he’d almost prefer the mental mages.

Almost.

“I would hope they didn’t let students pull the strings, but with Her Highness’ penchant for inclusion and participation, I wouldn’t make any promises either,” he admitted, tone somewhere between exasperated and annoyed. He’d taken on the Mental major specifically to protect himself from people meddling in his head, but here it was, not just incidental but part of the test, before he even had the chance to learn to defend himself? Bit of a dirty trick if you asked him. He was surprised the Princess would sign off on such a blatant invasion of privacy.

He cast a weary look at the skull; the enthusiasm for magic that had pumped him up at the beginning was long gone, fatigue from the night’s events washing over him. At least all traces of his fight with Max had disappeared, but his arm still throbbed and his head still hurt from earlier, and he didn’t know how long that concealer Varis gave him would hold before the full force of the circles under his eyes showed through. Despite knowing some variety of tantrum was waiting for him when he and Varis finally got out of the woods, above all he just wanted to be done with it already.

“Let’s just hope this is the last challenge involving a deep dive into our heads and that they don’t take too much longer getting through it,” he concluded, pinching the bridge of his nose. He made a mental note to recommend adding Advil to those little kits they gave out to students.

“Eric already agreed to make a beeline for the exit after this. I can only hope we don’t get dicked around too much if we choose to ignore the rest of the extra credit,” Max huffed as he lowered himself into a squat and pulled out a granola bar he’d swiped from the staging area. “What about you guys? Was this optional for you too or are we butting into your test here?”

That could explain why they crossed paths, if the extra credit was simply to take on other people’s tests as well. It would promote teamwork or whatever corny crap this test was supposed to do, plus reduce the amount of work the planners had to do by throwing a bunch of people in the same test together. If that was the case, Max was definitely not in favor of raising his grade anymore. Running into even more insufferable leeches wasn’t worth any grade they could possibly give him, especially if he had to work with some wild card he knew nothing about rather than known variables like Retriever and Cinnamon.

“Coming this way was optional for you two?” Aaron asked, a bit of jealousy pricking at the back of his mind at the prospect of just charging to the end. But Varis would accept nothing less than perfection even in his state, and even if he wanted to just get everything over with, Aaron would have to admit that doing anything less than his best wouldn’t sit well with him either.

“This way was our only option, unless I misunderstood something. We had a bizarre challenge and at the end of that, it just pointed us here.” Damn, that meant this was probably extra credit for Max and Eris, but required for him and Varis. By his count that meant they hadn’t encountered any optional challenges yet, much to his chagrin.

That meant mindfuckery wasn’t delegated solely to the extra credit, great. Max wasn’t exactly thrilled that he might end up in another situation like this as a mandatory part of the exam, but at least that lent credence to his theory that crossovers happened only during the extra credit. Not that he could really call one occurence proof of anything, but he was hopeful. All four of them would likely get the same directions after this, and he definitely didn’t need a bigger party than that skulking through a forest with him. Good news was, he could hypothetically have Aaron guide all three of them if he ever got tired of spellcasting. At least until they broke off to go for bonus points.

“This better be the only part of the test that’s this annoying. Clone-Eric really wanted to be my friend there at the end, it was creepy.” Max toyed with the discarded wrapper of his granola bar while he talked, levitating it in increasingly elaborate patterns out of boredom.

Aaron watched the wrapper float around for a moment before responding. “Yeah, yours got pretty chummy too for a minute there,” he droned, cracking a smirk. “Before he turned literally everything into knives.”

Max grimaced in distaste as Aaron started speaking, but was cut off before he could protest. He still couldn’t tell how exaggerated these copies were. There was a bit of truth in there, in any case. He eventually gave a resigned nod in place of any retort, “Mm. I was gonna accuse you of being full of shit but that second part sounds right. Eris didn’t even try hitting me, but you got a whole ass fight.”

“Lucky me,” Aaron sighed. “You also melted Dawn, made a whip out of liquid metal and turned those metal orbs into literal volcanoes,” he crossed his arms, though he couldn’t help but keep on smirking. “And melted the coin, too. Even clone you is a spiteful bastard.”

Max let out an amused snort. Admittedly, that sounded pretty sick. What would Aaron’s clone have done to him? Give him a headache from all the flashing lights? The coin melting was just genius, too. Fuck, maybe these clones were accurate, if a bit dramatic.

“And they said I needed to go take arcane classes. Pfft. You know more about this than I do, how long’s it take to pull that kind of shit off?” Melting shit on demand at the very least would be useful. Feliks was shaping his cane into whatever the hell he wanted, so Max saw no reason why he couldn’t turn the metal he was wearing into a multipurpose solution to fucking everything too.

“Probably three or four years, give or take,” Aaron made an educated guess. Metal was a tertiary affinity if he remembered correctly, so it might roughly coincide with his own progression, assuming what he saw the clone doing was to be the apex of Max’s power. “I think unless you want to do something really specialized, you’re supposed to more or less realize your full potential by the time your tenure here is up.”

Too long, he wanted instant gratification. Whatever, it beat studying painstakingly for years and years only to master fucking growing weeds or whatever Flower Boy was going to do. And that wasn’t even the worst affinity, Max was sure.

“That’s handy, I guess. Just in time to start my public debut off right by turning some paparazzi fuck’s camera into nails and feeding it to him.” Max mused half-jokingly. He was fully committed to his initial plan of flinging chairs at Eris’ fans until they decided to leave him alone if they ever approached him. “What about you? Your affinity’s pretty useless for vampire shoe shining. Varis gonna put you to work assassinating his rivals or something?”

Not that Max had any idea what use Eris had even considered for him. Assistant secretary - was Ismene even his secretary? He had no idea what anyone under Eris did besides listen to him whine, honestly - was his best guess, and metal magic was at least tangentially useful pretty much anywhere, but most mages seemed like they were wasting their talents.

All the more reason for those complacent fucks to be ashamed of themselves.

Aaron shrugged. “No idea,” he admitted, though he didn’t seem too put out by it. “Assassinating, spying on people, espionage, could be anything.” The possibilities of his affinity really were wide, ranging from sunlight to illusions, enhanced vision, proxies he could see through, and even pseudo-teleportation by turning himself into light, if his instructor was to be believed. But Varis had never uttered a word about his plans for it, or any future plans for that matter - aside from one, but that wasn’t magic-related and not generally a topic for polite conversation. “There are a lot of ways my affinity could go, assuming I can hang onto it.”

“Fuck, you don’t think I’m gonna get put on special effects, do you?” Max wondered aloud. Did Eris do his own stunts? Was Eris even in movies that had stunts or was the most intense action scene in his typical casting a thrilling fight with the female lead’s mother?

“And what’s ‘hang onto it’ supposed to mean? Do affinities change or something?” That was news to him, honestly. He hoped not, because he didn’t see the point in practicing so much if he was going to end up something else in a few years. That wouldn’t even make sense.

“Not usually, but in my infinite wisdom I chose the only Arcane major that comes with a risk of affinity loss,” Aaron retorted a little sharply, though it was aimed more at himself than at Max. He’d made up his mind, yes, but he still wasn’t at all fond of the risks involved.

Max just blinked at him incredulously. That was a thing? He couldn’t really blame Aaron, given how fucking useless a light affinity must be to some guy that thinks vampires can do no wrong, but that still sounded like a dumb move. What major even was that, anyway?

“Why?” Was all he uttered, dumbfounded.

Aaron had to laugh again, if only at the irony. “To protect myself from exactly this sort of thing,” he replied, waving lazily at the clearing around them. “Plus, Lady Sinnenodel collects mental mages like dolls, and I’m not interested in anyone crawling around in my head.”

Ugh, he wanted to be one of those people. Honestly, affinity loss served those nosy fucks right, and now that Max knew mental magic was a cope for people with shitty affinities anyway, he liked them even less.

“May I offer you a kneecap removing implement in these trying times?” Max asked as one of his vambraces unlocked and floated over to Aaron, “I think they’d be just as good at getting people out of your head without fucking your magic beyond repair.”

“As tempting as that offer is, my Lady might not take kindly to it,” Aaron half-joked, sounding tired. He poked the vambrace where it hovered, watching absently when it floated away, like a leaf on water. “You’d think the sword would ward people off, but apparently not.” He added, dumbstruck, hand once more falling where his pommel should have been and coming up empty.

“She can lose her kneecaps too, I don’t discriminate. That’s sexist, Aaron.” Max let the vambrace lethargically drift for a few moments before dragging it back to reassemble itself around his arm.

“And it’s the attitude. It’s not enough to look like you can beat somebody up, you gotta look that way in spirit too. Beat people down with sheer force of personality before you even start beating them physically.” He was explaining this horribly, but it wasn’t like he was trying to give actual advice either. Still, he couldn’t say he took Aaron particularly seriously even if the other mage had dropped him before. He just acted so… harmless.

“Yeah, that’s just what I need,” Aaron chided, “to be frightening people away when I’m supposed to be making connections.” He could hear it now: ‘Boy, you’ve somehow downgraded from the charisma of a rock to that of a porcupine. Honestly, I’d expect more if I didn’t already know you were hopelessly spoiled in your home life. How the rest of your family manages to stumble through life without giving rise to national scandals is a mystery.’ Not that he’d ever say that out loud, even if Varis wasn’t around. That was tactless.

“Oh, did Cinnamon put you on friendship duty? Otherwise, I think you’re just wasting your time. No, I think you’re wasting your time either way, but at least with the former you can pretend you’re privy to whatever stupid politicking he’s doing.” Max’s gaze flickered briefly back to the skull. They were due back soon and as funny as it’d be to watch their reactions to the mages shittalking them, he’d probably catch more flak from that than he’d gain in amusement.

Who knew what Varis wanted from him anymore? His expectations should have been simple, but be it out of stress or sheer stupidity, Aaron never seemed to be able to get much more than the basics right. But he wouldn’t launch into that now - or ever, probably - and instead followed Max’s gaze to the skull, eyes lingering on it. The message was clear enough, and Max was right. Best to end that conversation before anyone came back.

“Maybe,” he muttered absently, letting silence fall back over the dead clearing as they waited for the vampires to reappear.

---

---

Interacting with:@ReusableSword

Salem sat there for a few moments, letting what little mist and silence there was cling in the air. He stood up quietly as he looked towards the deer trail that now lay before them. "You may want to grab the remainder of that sorrow there so that we can proceed onto the next task at hand. Maybe on the walk there we can talk about who I was just viewing and why." He knew there was a lot he hadn't known about Victor, but the idea that he may of imprisoned or chained up another mage was definitely unsettling. He had believed him to be different than other Astorios, simply playing a part in the grand scheme of things but...to imprison someone. Salem needed to shake these ideas out of his head and focus on his exam. Too much time had already been killed on this simple puzzle and they needed to make up for it quickly.

Once he was able to rid himself of those wretched thoughts he had come to a realization. The scream they had heard before was no longer. He had been so focused on the task at hand he had forgotten the person who was potentially crying for help. Either it was someone viewing a gruesome illusion conjured by the test and their partners emotions, or it was an attack and the killer had finished their work. For his sake he hoped that it was the former. As Salem was about to proceed forward he'd noticed that Victor's eyes were no longer clouded. He couldn't depend on how long that may last and went back to the previous arrangement they had in the event his eyes went black once more. "Move at a faster speed. We have a lot of ground to make up for if we are to succeed in tonight's trials."

Uncertainty wasn’t a familiar feeling to Varis and it ate at him from the inside out. He tried to yank his hand off the skull but it wouldn’t move. It chewed its way up his arm and into his stomach where it boiled and bubbled away like acid. He felt simultaneously like vomiting and eating everything in sight and there was no end. He felt dirty and unwanted and unworthy of everything in his life. He knew he didn’t deserve it. He’d still be home, he’d still have a brother, he’d still be doing what he loved.

Varis snatched his hand back as the scene changed. A statue of Landar Starag dominated the marble room, smoke curling out of the censer in one hand and scroll in the other. Otherwise the room was empty, only a few black slabs contrasting the white marble. The names of Landar Starag and his immediate family were carved into them. A small oak box sat on the bench in the middle of the room, a cloth laid out under it. Inside, two hauntingly familiar blades rested. They were curved and sharp and had a symbol on their hilts that was unfamiliar. A bow with a snake carved along its length rested next to it along with a quiver of arrows.

The sound of rain pounding against the roof nearly covered the cold, empty laughter from the entryway. Aaron leaned against the wall next to the door, arms crossed and Dawn on his hip. He reached up, one hand toying idly with half a gold coin hanging from a chain around his neck, though his glassy black eyes bored into Varis’; an unsettling sight from a mage who usually kept his gaze on the floor.

“Got bored of looking too much like yourself? Wanted to relive the glory days, huh?” Aaron waved at the statue. “I have to say, it’s entertaining to watch you look down your nose at everyone when you still can’t bear to look in the mirror. Or… maybe a little sad. You’ve only worn this one for a century. Wait, not even that!” Aaron laughed again, the sound bouncing off the walls. “Though I suppose I can understand. No one stays pretty for long drenched in the blood of the ones they love.”

Varis took a step back as if he’d been slapped. The difference between the boy’s normally docile behavior and this thing wearing his image was… jarring, even if half the things spewing out of his mouth were utter gibberish. Yet, he couldn’t help the twist of guilt in his chest at the accusation though Varis couldn’t ever remember loving anyone, much less getting his hands dirty with their blood. Regardless, no mage was going to speak to him like that and get away with it.

“How dare you.” Varis snapped, stepping towards Aaron. “You watch your tone, you insolent brat. Who exactly do you think you are?”

The image of Aaron only laughed again, shoulders quaking as the room filled with the sound. One hand fell lazily onto Dawn’s pommel, but he looked no more tense than before. “Who am I?” He laughed again, though his gaze remained cold. “Who are you, to presume to ask? My pedigree may well be longer than yours by now!”

Aaron squinted at Varis for a moment. “Do you even know anymore? Or have you tucked that away too, deep down and calcified over alongside the hunger and the inside of that lovely box?” He tapped his chin for a moment, but shook his head. “No, no, that can’t be where you hid it. You dredge that up every time your tie’s crooked. Honestly, I do a better job of coping with failure than you do.”

“What nonsense are you speaking?” Varis demanded. “Your lineage only commands respect because you're the lapdogs of the Noilas. If it hadn’t been for them, vampires would have wiped the lot of you out ages ago and what did manage to survive would be nothing but slaves for us to feed on. I don’t presume anything.” He took another step towards Aaron, fists curling into balls. Something inside him felt uneasy, trying to twist and turn and pull away but Varis wasn’t going to let some mage talk down to him, pedigree be damned.

“I am the heir to the Sinnenodel family and head of the third oldest bloodline of them. If you know what’s good for you boy,” Varis spat as he continued stomping towards Aaron. “You’ll remember your place before I am forced to remind you myself!”

“Please, Master, remind me,” Aaron mocked, spreading his arms and performing a theatrical bow that brought him nearly nose-to-nose with Varis. “I have often wondered what trick you must have up your sleeve to feel safe grinding this under your heel.” Without warning, a concentrated beam of sunlight shot out from one of Aaron’s palms, slicing Varis’ left ear almost perfectly in half and setting the surrounding hair on fire.

“Look at that!” He exclaimed gleefully, flicking the hair away from his own left ear to reveal his scar. “Now we match!”

Varis had all intentions of cutting off whatever snide remark the boy was going to make but he screamed. His ear burned and he stumbled backwards, eyes wide in horror and fear, and he tripped over the bench, snatching up the cloth from under the box and trying desperately to pat out the fire. His back hit the statue’s foot and he trembled as he stared at Aaron. Varis was terrified, even more than when his Lady sent her summons. She, at the very least, had to keep him alive.

Aaron did not.

“What is wrong with you?” Varis sputtered weakly. “Attacking a vampire will have consequences, whether I walk out of here or not!”

“Oh, but it never does, does it?” Aaron cooed, putting on a face of absolutely false sympathy. His eyes glittered with amusement. “Not for anyone who matters, anyway. Besides, if you’re going after people just for a little sunlight burn, I should be at the bottom of your list.”

He shook his head. “You know if you blew the whistle on her you could probably escape before she got to you, right? Or… okay, maybe fifty-fifty. But that’s not what you want.” Aaron shrugged, sighing blissfully. “Far be it from me to judge. I know very well the appeal of soaking up the pain in silence. It shuts up that voice in the back of your head for a little while when you know you’re getting what you deserve.”

“That’s… That’s not true.” Varis’ voice was smaller than he cared for but he pushed on anyway. “I have plans. I know what I’m doing! A century of pain is nothing compared to an eternity of satisfaction!” And while he did sincerely believe that, Varis’ excuses felt flimsy even to his own ears. This terrifying fake was just trying to mess with him, rile him up so he couldn’t figure out the challenge. That was it. It was all a lie!

But the swirling doubt and guilt in his stomach knew the truth in Aaron’s words.

“I’ve done nothing to deserve any of this!” Varis argued. “I’ve only done what I’ve needed to. My family got what they deserved. Any self respecting vampire would do the same and maybe if you ever grew a backbone, you’d do it too!”

“If I grow a backbone, it won't be my mother and siblings under the knife,” Aaron corrected, wagging a finger at Varis like a misbehaving child. “That you can pretend you don’t face a reckoning is an admirable performance, I'll give you that. But don't kid yourself. The truth is in everything you do. It's not the scars that keep you away from the mirror; you're afraid if you look you'll see the ones you betrayed, see the shock on Ramelvik’s face and that look in Yvaine’s eyes. You're scared that if you utter a kind word it’ll end in a shower of blood and screaming, just like it always does. So you slap them all away. Stars only know you couldn't do much more than that.”

Aaron chuckled coldly, but when he looked back, all pretense of humour was gone, leaving only a piercing, vicious glare behind. “You know the truth. Your skin fits you like a cheap suit and you wish you could be free of it; but it's unbecoming to hate yourself, so, like everything else, you make others do it for you.”

Varis could only gape as Aaron’s words stirred something awful inside him. He couldn’t stop the tears if he tried and the sobs wracked his body as he tried to push himself further away and shut everything out. He had no idea why it hurt so much. He had no idea who Yvaine even was. He didn’t even like that filthy Marivaldi! Varis hadn’t even done much work! The Lord was already forgetting meals; Varis just gave him a tiny push. There was absolutely no explanation for why he felt like screaming and crying and shutting down all at the same time, there was no explanation for this bone-deep sorrow he felt, no explanation for the tears and the pain.

Varis' frustration rose as he struggled with emotions he couldn’t call his own. It rose in equal measure to everything else and he glared at Aaron through the blood running from his solid black eyes. Varis was cornered; escape was clearly not an option and Varis needed an outlet for everything churning inside him. He was an animal pushed back onto a corner so he fell back on his favored coping mechanism. “Of course it won’t be your family under the blade.” Venom dripped from his words as he spat them through the tears. “It’ll be Ryner and the Queen and Nox because they’re the ones who threw you away like the garbage you are. I know Ryner coddles you and professes her care for you but it’s a lie. You’re a pathetic excuse for Starag. Could you imagine how Landar would feel if he could see you right now? He’d probably ask to execute you himself.”

Aaron was quiet for a moment, pensive, before shaking his head. “Am I meant to be shocked? None of that is exactly news to me,” he replied, a bit of melancholy sneaking into his formerly sharp tone. “They’ve made all that very clear, as have you. Why repeat yourself? It's not like you to waste your energy.”

“Because it works and you aren’t worth the energy to think of something new. If the old way works, why bother changing it?” Varis snapped. He much preferred the boy this way than before. Apparently, he was still little Aaron on the inside. The magic just gave him a bit of confidence and that made Varis feel much better. Tearing people down was something that made him feel better and he had quite a bit to unload on this clone. “Do you know what I first thought when I opened that letter? Right before I made you kneel in front of the entire student body and those pet bodyguards of Ryner’s? I saw your name and thought to myself, “Oh that’s the game.” Ryner herself specifically planned this for you, boy. Planned to watch you break and bend just to see how far you’ll snap.” Varis struggled to his feet, one hand still clapped over his ear and the other holding onto Landar for support. The tears were still flowing freely but at least the trembling had stopped.

“You know, I asked her when she first came to me about this why you. You were the last male heir and I had no idea why she would jeopardize centuries of work.” Varis laughed, although it came out more hysterical than genuine. “Apparently, they already have plans! Whichever of your vapid relatives that serves Alder is set to get pregnant soon enough. I wonder, will they even let you keep your name?”

Aaron was characteristically composed when Varis resumed his tirade, though with each new secret that surfaced, his expression ticked more and more from carefully neutral to openly mortified. He went pale, chest heaving as his breathing grew ragged. His grip on Dawn tightened until his knuckles were white, and tears shone in his glassy black eyes.

“I…” he gasped weakly, taking a moment to find his voice. “I fucking knew it.”

He paused only long enough for a sharp inhale, shifting anxiously on his feet as tears began to fall. “I thought—I tried to convince myself that it was some kind of slick political move, but I knew it couldn’t be. But Dora? I— they told me she was infertile! Sun and stars, what lengths did they go to just to safely dispose of me?!”

His hands rose to the sides of his head, eyes wide as the terrible realization dawned on him. “Aaron Martoch…” he murmured, voice trembling along with the rest of his body. He shook his head violently, straightening with rage shining through his burgeoning panic attack.

“I was fucking perfect!” he screamed, voice tearing through the room and bouncing off the walls. “I crossed every T and dotted every I they told me to, I knelt on stones for days and bit my tongue when they beat me, hurled myself at Lucan until I was half-dead, all for them! Because I loved them!” Tears flowed freely, but anger clearly dominated him. “But perfect isn’t good enough!”

He made a beeline for Varis, absolute murder in his eyes, but just as he neared enough for a blow, he stopped, mere inches from the Count’s face. “Perfect isn’t good enough for you, not good enough for the Queen, not good enough for Ryner, and most of all, perfect isn’t good enough for this bastard— looking— down on me!” He drew back his arm, but rather than striking Varis, he turned, accenting each word with a powerful left hook to the Landar statue’s jaw.

The bones in Aaron’s fingers cracked and popped against the stone, blood staining the marble, before he finally stopped. Shoulders heaving, when he looked back at Varis his face bore only a few specks of blood and a look of somber determination. “And at the end of it all, I won’t even get to come back here, will I?”

Aaron straightened, stepping back. In one smooth motion he drew his blade, jaw set even as his breath grew ragged. The point of the blade settled under Varis’ chin.

“So why draw this shit out any longer if the destination’s the same?”

Faster than Varis would expect, Aaron drew back for what looked like a killing blow; but rather than deliver it, he drew the edge across his own throat, cutting almost to the bone until blood spewed out like a putrid fountain and he collapsed, Dawn clattering to the floor. The body laid there a moment, its face a picture of emptiness, before it faded away. The coin around its neck dropped to the floor with a metallic ting, unguarded.

Varis gaped at the sight. Frankly, he’d been concerned for a second until the clone started punching the statue. He wiped the blood that sprayed on his face off with his hand, bringing some up to his mouth to taste while he contemplated the coin. He’d forgotten that this was a challenge. He felt raw and vulnerable and he just wanted out.

At least the boy did the deed himself. Varis was very close to walking out and finding someone to do it for him.

Varis gagged and coughed violently as the searing spiciness of the boy’s blood made his mouth feel on fire. If this was how suicide made the boy feel, he’d have to make sure he was well away from it if he ever tried. Varis snatched up the coin as he coughed and the clearing snapped back into view, only the lingering feeling of tears and the ghost of burn on his tongue remaining. Varis stared down at the coin for a few contemplative moments. All those things the clone spouted had been... odd. He barely understood half of it but it had hurt in a way he’d never hurt before. He turned and looked at the skull.

Unlike the other challenge where he’d been filled with rage, this one left him feeling empty. He put the coin in his pocket and checked his ear, sighing in relief when he found it whole again. He placed his hand on the skull again, flinching but he’d never admit it. Nothing happened so he picked it up and turned it over a few times. It was well made and frankly, Varis would normally keep something like this for him home. One of the wings had an empty spot. Perhaps he’d ask Ryner for the name of the artist who made it.

Varis made his way back to the others with the skull in hand. He looked over the others. The mages clearly decided to sulk in silence the entire time. Varis didn’t particularly care if the boy made nice with Eris’ pet, he didn’t need anything from him after all, but he should have at least made some overtures. Varis made a mental note to speak with him about it later. But the mages were nothing but a blip on his radar when he caught sight of Eris. No purposely cultivated air of ease, no flippant smile, no charming demeanor. His carefully maintained facade had been dropped and the real vampire was out to play.

How interesting.

“Now that we’re finished with this unpleasant business, it’s time we’re away.” Varis handed his mage his half of the coin and returned the one he’d taken from the boy. They would indeed be having a conversation when they returned to his dorm, absently brushing feeling his ear. “Figure out what to do with those, boy. I doubt they’re meant to stay in two pieces. And now that you’ll receive full marks, we can finally quit this horrid forest. I for one am looking forward to a relaxing rest of my evening. Would you care to join, Eris?”

Aaron’s eyes had more or less glazed over once his and Max’s conversation died down, staring somewhere in the vague direction of the skull. He blinked a few times when Eris popped into view, his vision clearing just in time to see the vampire turn his back on the mages, apparently looking at something and trying to hide it. The coin, maybe? Frankly, Aaron wasn’t particularly interested in whatever it was, but it was strange enough to see the actor behaving so sheepishly that he couldn’t help but take notice. Judging by how he pulled down his sleeve almost bashfully when he turned back, Aaron figured he must have been checking for wounds; maybe he was just embarrassed about having been injured in his trial.

Still, seeing the actor embarrassed about anything—especially considering the various compromising positions Aaron had borne witness to in the past and sun and stars why did those memories have to pop back up again—was downright bizarre, and the strangeness didn’t stop there. Much like Max, he’d dropped his usual persona on reappearance, losing his usual swagger and striking the flippant tone from his voice. Aaron was reasonably sure Max’s change in demeanour had been an act, considering he was regular old Max when they spoke, but Eris seemed sincere. And angry. What happened in there?

Whatever it was, he still apparently won his encounter, if the coin half was any indication. Varis popped out shortly afterwards, and Aaron gave the Count his undivided attention even as he completely ignored the rest of them, examining the skull. He was surprised, however, to see Varis touching his ear; the Count wasn’t one for offhand gestures, and seeing as he also generally avoided touching his face, it certainly wasn’t an accident. He must have been checking for injuries too, then. Aaron’s own hand came up to tug his left ear out of habit, fingers running over his scar as they had a thousand times before. As they did, the grim realization struck him that if it had been his clone in there with Varis, the placement of that particular injury might have been deliberate.

He only hoped that the clone hadn’t gone into detail as to why.

When Varis eventually deigned to rejoin them, he brought the skull with him, though Aaron was more interested in the coin halves, accepting them with a curt bow of the head. At least they seemed to match, identical in size and with similar engravings; he wasn’t sure how they’d deal with it if even after all that grief, they ended up with mismatched coins or something. But luckily they didn’t have to deal with that, and a two-piece puzzle wasn’t much of a puzzle at all, Aaron ready to push the two halves together when he heard Varis invite Eris to their dorm once the test was over.

He probably wouldn’t have paused—it was hardly a remarkable request, and Eris was at their dorm enough that Aaron was used to him kicking around—if not for the response; or, rather, the lack of one. Despite often lamenting his busy lifestyle, Eris usually jumped at any offer Varis gave him, generally accepting immediately, and without question. But this time, he paused, and when a long moment passed and he finally answered, his acceptance was barely above a murmur. Hell, he didn’t even glance Varis’ way. The display was so bizarre Aaron had to consciously stop himself from staring, and he felt a pang of pity in his chest. Eris’ ordeal must have really shaken him up for him to respond so… lethargically.

Wanting to spare the actor a little bit of pride, Aaron returned his attention to the coins, matching the cut sides together. They fused seamlessly as soon as they touched, revealing the image engraved on the newly-whole coin’s face. It was just a small feather, much to Aaron’s relief; no more emblems of other houses to get Varis worked up.

“Tiltoure,” he murmured, holding off on updating Varis about the coin until he was addressed. In the meantime, he looked around the clearing, checking for any new instructions that might have appeared now that the challenge seemed to be over.

The countess could hear the multiplying panic in Maddie’s voice as she responded. She could do little more than imagine the water rising from the cracks in her containment, her mortal body slowly shutting down as the cold set in. Amaris was just about out of time, and yet even with Maddie’s help she still found herself at a loss for words.

How could it be that the answer was only a singular lie rather than the two the rules had mentioned before? Was there some sort of clue Maddie had that she did not, or had she allowed the circumstances to muddle her mind so much? As it was, from Maddie’s point of view, the only part she had personal stake in was the final statement but she didn’t find herself in agreement with it. Amaris wished she could believe it was the lie, but it was difficult for her to see it the same way.

Perhaps she had not broken the trust between her and Maddie but she had not given the mage much of a reason to trust her. Not to mention the past partners she couldn’t even bring herself to look in the eyes, how could she expect Maddie to trust her after such horrific failures.

It was never their trust you lost. Amaris thought to herself softly. Through it all, Amaris had been beating herself up over events that had been outside of her control only to end up projecting her own feelings onto her lost companions. It was the trust she had in herself that she had lost and because of it her partner was facing freezing or drowning while she sat playing the self pity game. Clenching her fists tightly, Amaris decided to put her faith in Maddie’s sincerity and spoke.

“Alright then serpent, a decision has been made. ‘One partner now, two partners past, lack all trust in you’ is the lie.” The countess’ hands remained tightly closed as she waited for something, anything, to happen.

---

Max watched Eris with interest once the vampire had rematerialized in front of them. At first, he'd figured the leech was just disoriented after the whole ordeal, but he wasn't perking back up. What's more was Cinnamon wasn't with him, which meant they didn't manage to go in together as they'd hoped. Eris had the coin, so he couldn't be distraught over losing, and given how resilient his clone was to Max attacking it, he doubted clone-Varis could do much better to the real thing.

Assuming Eris followed the plan, the only explanation was that he heard something he didn't want to.

When the vampire addressed him directly, Max curled in a finger, levitating the other half of the coin into his outstretched hand. With a second swoop of his hand, one of his vambraces unlocked and took its place back on Eris' outstretched arm, since Max was pretty sure the vamps would be blind again the moment they stepped out of the clearing.

"Gimme it, I'll figure it out," Max mumbled unenthusiastically. He was tempted to pry, but with Aaron present, he was pretty much out of opportunities. What he really wanted to do was tell Eris to pull himself together, but Cinnamon reappeared before he got the chance.

...With a sex proposition. Of course.

Varis wasn't stupid, he had to have figured out how the matchups played out by now, and he likewise had to have noticed Eris acting weird. If this leech was half as crafty as he thought he was, this was less a casual fling and more an excuse to interrogate Eris on what he learned under the facade of pillow-talk. And Eris, having no self control, was going to take him up on his offer and fumble gracelessly right into every intellectual trap the Sinnenodel set.

"Sure,"

Idiot. At least he hesitated before immediately jumping at the offer like a sick puppy. A for effort, F for performance. If the actor wasn't, well, an actor, Max would've been concerned enough to start coming up with excuses to delay the leech, but he assumed a consummate liar like Eris could keep his head together well enough for one night.

Seeing Aaron preparing to leave, Max stood up and likewise pressed his two coin halves together. He pulled on them after the fusion to make sure they really were stuck together, then tucked the coin into his pocket along with the wrapper he'd been playing with. There'd be a buffer period of them walking back to campus inbetween now and whatever encounter Varis had planned for later, which would hopefully let Eris recover and not say anything dumb. In hindsight, he couldn't believe he was actually making plans to protect that horny moron, but this scheme was at least partially his brainchild, and like hell was he going to let some pretentious fuck like Cinnamon outmaneuver him with his dick after it worked out.

---

@Hero@Achronum@Obscene Symphony

Salem was silent as they continued to move, speaking only for direction. Victor was well aware that the answer he gave him wasn’t the best but at the very least it would shut him up about it until after this test was done. Soon the duo came to a stop and the location of what was their next test. The count listened closely to the words Salem spoke and took a few minutes to think.

“Hmm, ‘to whom walks amidst Time’s tangled web, look close at that which walks removed.’ Definitely talking about us and something that neither of us walk with or live with.” Another pause as he continued to think, “Three keys to enlightenment of our kind-Might, Majesty, and Mastery-and yet not all three command them. Pick the light that guides their way and keep it safe on your way to have your diligence paid in kind. Stay to the right as it shines.” Repeating it aloud again. “One to choose, stay to the right? A maze perhaps. Or only when it shines, three keys to enlightenment, three choices paid in kind. Well which ever we choose we will be tested. But might doesn’t solve everything even if we are good at it.” Again another pause. "boar for strength, Ocean Wave for majesty, and Flower for mastery."

“Majesty is lacking with both of us but still there and neither of us have mastered anything. The last part is just in case we are running low on time. I haven’t felt the temperature change dramatically yet and it will get colder before the dawn. Choose Mastery and let’s take the path on the right. I’m sure it will be fun.” He answered with a smile, these tests are taxing but a challenge he wasn’t expecting.

@Trainerblue192

Looking around the clearing revealed a compass, much like the one they’d been shown when they first arrived in the forest, written in glowing blue on the front of the skull’s former pedestal. Not finding any other clues, Aaron returned his attention to the coin, examining the front again before flipping it over to assess the back. There, unsurprisingly, was their next instruction: The night does end when the sun ascends to where your escape does start. But if you fancy another round, follow where the moon does descend.

After nodding down at the coin and pocketing it, Aaron’s attention was seized by the sound of cracking. He looked around the clearing, assuming the sound had been a twig or something snapping to signal the arrival of another pair, but found no such intruders. All he saw was Max assembling his coin, Eris as sullen as before, and Varis, strangely silent. Odd, usually he had a few more things to say when he made plans, as much as Aaron knew he detested unexpected visitors. He watched Varis for a moment, puzzled, until he noticed the tense set of his posture.

Aaron watched apprehensively a moment more, but when Varis started feeling around the skull, all was made clear. He must have lost his vision again; probably when the coin halves fused together, in retrospect. Since the vampires’ vision had returned upon entering the clearing, Aaron had expected them to lose it once more when they left, but for the millionth time he was shown that assumptions could never be trusted.

Watching the colourful lightshow as Varis reduced the skull to powder made him flinch—not that he’d admit it—and his arm throbbed as if on cue, reminding him of just how much force the vampire could put behind his grip. He stepped forward immediately on the Count’s “suggestion”, of course, but this time he had Varis take his uninjured arm, hoping to give the sore one a break. Varis clamped on like a vice anyway, and Aaron carefully withheld a painful hiss behind his teeth, extra careful now to keep any outward expressions of discomfort to himself.

With his free hand, Aaron produced the coin from his pocket and read its instructions aloud to Varis. Deciding that the thoroughly unamused tone of Varis’ voice meant he was serious about skipping whatever other challenges might await them, he concluded, “Seems like we’re going East, Master.”

A vulnerability for a vulnerability. That much did cause Ben to hesitate even if it wasn't entirely intended. He had been eager to test his might but now he wasn't entirely sure it had been the right call. While he would be the first to admit his rush to freely take advantage of his regained sight had come from good intentions, maybe he should have considered there be another way to test his might. It was disappointing, he would have much rather resorted to combat than stand around contemplating the 'true' meaning of might. As if constantly picking apart a vampire's words weren't enough, The bitter thought crossed his mind.

That being said, every thought had to be put aside as the beast decided to act once more. Its actions were certainly contradictory to its words, but that could have been the point? Ben was just a touch confused.

Dropping the arrow for the moment, he decided to take a gamble to decipher its first statement. He did deflect the hit to the head, not entirely fond of getting his face smashed in or desiring to know what it was like to rearrange his face. However, he would let the earth aimed at his chest to hit as he decided that he would show vulnerability in hopes that the beast would get some sort of vulnerability for him to take advantage of. Getting hit square in the chest was quite the experience, his lung and ribs unappreciative of the action. To his credit, he somehow remained standing for all of two seconds before the pain set in, his posture betraying his calm demeanor as he let out the smallest of groans.

"Might is strength. Might is power. With power in hand, you're granted the ability to do as you please," He said, his grip on the sword tightened as he stood straight. "Would you disagree with that?"