{This post is part of the "Tell a Story To Me" contest by @calluna, the 9th iteration so far. Click here to see it... Been in school recently and had to get back to the tempo of everything, might see more art pieces coming your way Steemit... anyways, let's try two music-aides! The first (displayed as [1.]): "A Nap in Time" (Dimondium, YouTube); the second (displayed as [2.]): "Primer" and "Augury" (Determination the Purple Side by RichaardEB, YouTube)... Happy reading!}
- The Spirits' Cave Course -
[1.]
A witch-in-training flies in the quiet nighttime starry sky, almost majestic in her flight. A moon appears into her line of sight and she zooms towards it on her broom, not even slowing down to do an ærial barrel roll that she pulls off. Yet she has no audience to treat - only herself and her slight boredom. She then gets close enough to the crescent moon and lands on top of it, transforming her broom to her impish assistant named Red. The witch-in-training, Red and a bag of golden coins land on the crescent during their small descent
Upon landing, the witch-in-training summons her favorite bunny-doll and caresses it as she looks upon the World below. For which Red holds on tight to one side of the crescent moon and a little later stops grasping so hard as he begins to take in the view. Once calm in his passions, he twists his head to check on his master - seeing her smiling a bit and noting that it's appearing more often had made him smile back in return. He then checked on the pouch of golden coins, it certainly wasn't a lot for the game-dev contest they participated in - all thanks to a fatso in yellow - but they never had to pay rent as the town tax collector feared treading on the haunted mansion.
But that perturbed not his mind as they usually managed to far well on the outskirts of the town, but certainly their bewitching personalities made social relations less tense and they could enter into the town without much trouble now. Yet with all the passions released on a common fool, emotional exhaustion plagued the main residents and a social malaise would soon hit them all the next day. So came the great rest - tomorrow would've been a quiet day for the whole town anyways, which made rest more so appealing than ever. With such, they both gazed unto the World 'til midnight stroke the grandfather clock.
Upon that time, Red transformed into the broom and Ashley rode towards the haunted mansion below. Once inside the mansion, Red dropped the pouch in the main lobby as Ashley headed upstairs - readying herself to sleep as she magically changed into her night dress, consisting simply of a white night gown, red tie and tights. Whence Red jumped into the bed and all was quite in the room, she blew out the candlestick and hugged her bunny-doll to sleep. The night sky danced all throughout and played its own tunes with the help of the animals and forces of nature about.
The next day came in bright and early, both began to stretch out to the heavens as they wake amongst the mortal realm again. Red jumped out and took care of the morning chores as Ashley magicked into her common red dress and inspected the pouch of gold. The amount was rather less than what she or her other coworkers were promised, but after defeating him and splitting evenly amongst each other all that remained made this nuisance worth laughing about. Leaving it untouched, she checked up on Red and see if he was hanging in there - as always, nothing to worry about. With breakfast ready, they ate and chattered on yesterday's events - Red almost caught by surprise that she's more lively than usual, but the recent turn of events was exhilarating. Upon feasting the last grub, Red cleansed the kitchen as Ashley slipped into the basement library.
Red following suit soon after, Ashley roamed towards the book delivery spot - wanting to see if her delivery came through. Upon seeing that her order came through, she snagged it and skimmed through the pages to eventually spot a peculiar page. It was a canvas with the title of "The Spirits' Cave Course" and she sensed the magic pouring out this page - charming her unconsciousness deeply. Red finally in the library saw her eyes gleaming on the page and asked her:
"You seem rather attached to something, what you googling your eyes over?"
"The Spirits' Cave Course."
"Ash-Ashley! I know you defeated THE dark lord Hum Gre and later used hocus pocus on him to make him crave only for some good ole hugs, but... but -"
"Hmm? We've done crazier and more challenging pursuits."
"But this is THE Spirits' Cave Course, only the most experienced magic users get revealed this location! I don't know how it managed to find itself in that portal book!"
"Eh."
"Please don't tell me I have to come along."
"Of course, you're my ride... In fact, you're also my staff that I need to enter into the realm."
"Oh I hope you’re at least ready for the challenge!"
By that command, Red transformed himself into her staff and spun wildly around 'til it landed into her hands. Readying to enter into the course, her hair flashed white as she generated the energy needed to create a portal. With a flash of light striking the book, a portal was created and consumed Ashley as she held unto her staff while spinning around inside the tunnel. Moments later in some deep below ground, a portal opens and out comes Ashley falling - before splatting to the ground, she transforms the staff into a parasol and slows her decent to a graceful fall. Red transformed back to his imp form and gushed:
[2.]
"Oh wow! This place changed since last I came here, then again it is one of the more well-maintained courses."
"Hmm... Time to see if this course is meant for the best of the best."
"Guess there's no turning back, now begins the trials!"
As they began pacing towards the exit of the first room, spirits began crawling out of the wall. First merely showing up and attempting to emit chills down their spines, only Red shook in fear while Ashley registered not what seemed to her common in her early days as a witch-in-training. Later down the room, Red transformed into her staff and she had to lug it on her back - still determined to get to the exit as soon as possible. Then peering at the corners of her eyes, she noticed they still poured ceaselessly from the cave walls and they began to wise up to speaking - slowly voicing threats and intimidations, yet both types that're merely stock of the trade for her work. But then they started demeaning her and stopped restraining themselves from all forms of prejudice towards her - which for most would've cracked people, but for her only began to fluster her passions. Yet seeing the area were she can exact her anger, she pressed on forward and reached it - quiet fell on the room, which soon became flooded with pleas of mercy as her hair turned white, her eyes burning red and she positioned herself to face them.
Seeing what fell amongst her look, was the gaze of a sea of spirits. Then came a spirit, with a rather Revolutionary French appearance, in a tribunal manner spoke:
"Oh how these dæmon souls made their gravest mistake now to allot forgiveness to her! A witch-in-training here to make calls of forgiveness to souls that wronged her! Yet cruelty sharpened her vision of justice and forgiveness alike to forgive who's really innocent!... Only the guilty tremble!... Oh where are my matters, I am citizen Robespierre and I presume you are citizen Ashley. No?"
"Yes, citizen Robespierre. Now begins the tribunal?"
"I like to see the Terror be carried out - but better that the Terror strikes on the guilty only."
And Ashley raised her hand above head and leaned towards the sea to spot the spirits that were innocent - for their status shall be apparent as "citizen" Robespierre made clear "only the guilty tremble." Seeing the ones that imitated not the sea, she teleported them in front of "citizen" Robespierre and made her confirmation that the chosen selected were innocent and the rest guilty. Upon this, "citizen" Robespierre summoned an army of Revolutionary French partisans to his fray to arrest the guilty - "citizen" Ashley smirked but soon resumed her natural nonchalant face. Turning towards the innocent spirits, they one-by-one approached her to hand her aid that made the next room easier. The first blessing her sight that can pear through dark veils, the second blessing her energy and the third blessing her aide Red by extracting the fear out of him. In that moment, Red transformed back and landed on the ground - he was momentarily dazed and confused, but that scene made good laughter amongst the innocent spirits.
As Ashley helped him unto his feet, "citizen" Robespierre and the innocent spirits wished Ashley and Red luck in the next room. Both thanked them simply and moved on the next room with haste; as she reached the gate that lead to the next room, she noted what she saw was up ahead:
"Awesome!"
"Wh-what! That's an ancient skeletal Norse, fully geared and magical at that! It probably sees... oh wait, those blessings affect us as well - doesn't it?"
She nodded and told Red to transform himself into her broom as she readied her wand. Gulping at the thought of ground-ærial battling, he became her broom and Ashley mounted on ready for action. As soon as they both entered the arena, the dæmon roared which closed off the arena. Which she took the initiative by casting fireballs at the Norse but the skeletal smartly deflected them with the shield - now seeing that both arms were preoccupied, she casted a lightning bolt to the rear of him. As suspected, it jumped out of position - unexpected was the lunge coming straight towards her, axe primed for the swing. She swerved and rolled outta the way, barely missing by a hair-string - yet every second counted and she lodged fireballs at the Norse's back, effectively charring the skeletal spine but apparently not enough to make it cease fighting.
Whence the Norse landed on the ground, a floor crack formed – unsheathing their shield and axe and sticking their hands into the crack as to siphon the energy leaking into the room. Ashley spotting the leak, turned the broom around and readied her wand for a hexing. Shouting towards the skeleton:
"Pantalones Giganticus!... Oh no, not again!"
The skeleton began continually growing, which eventually came into contradiction with the cave’s integrity. Yet with all the cracks forming, magic poured in and healed the skeleton; which maddened Ashley and whitened her hair. Deciding that only one spell can unscrew this situation, she readied her wand again as she redirected the broom to charge straight at the growing Norse. Locking on perfectly for a critical hit, she shouted:
"Hocus pocus!"
And a beam of light came charging towards the skeleton, which made it try to dodge the light sphere. Yet failing to pull their body parts out of the ever-increasing and engulfing cracks, they braced for impact. Seeing the casting strike the skeleton which caused the skeleton to dwarf and the cracks to reverse their motion, she reverted back to herself as she landed the broom to the floor and Red transformed back into himself. Whence the light stopped pouring out crazily and the arena reopened, the skeletal steadied their stance and turned towards both of them in a jovial manner. Red commenting:
"Wow Ashley! First Hum Gre then this. Heh, who's next?"
Ashley although seeming not fazed by the outcome did felt happy that this was easily resolved before it escalated outta control. The skeleton finally able to walk, approached them and spoke:
"Ah, what a rather speedy and quick take-down - one of the fastest I felt in me years. So as a reward, lemme ready ye for the next room and offer myself as your companions 'til the course be o'er."
Upon this, the Norse opened the door and they entered into the next room. The Norse remarked that the current room and the last one are where most fail the course, yet the Norse saw she was unswayed by it but saw her aide Red quaking a bit. Striking banter at him as to clear his mind:
"An impish aide scar'd? Even after experiencin' the last fight and the first room? Certainly a very emotionally strong and healthy one for an imp."
"What are you trying to say?"
"Ho ho! I should've expected that, but I mean no offense - your types are rare, period."
"Eh - despite the teases and remarks I hear from him, he's rather sweet. Isn't that right, Red~?"
"Heh, even miss Ashley agrees with me. Don't you agree, Red~?"
"Oh I should've expected this after teasing you Ashley - though it's cute when you blush. Just gotta one-up you next time."
As they approached the next challenge, they all became puzzled on the whereabouts of the traps. The Norse scratching their head in confusement knowing the room was prepared mere hours ago then dreaded their realization. Suddenly Ashley and Red were yanked hard by the Norse as they began backtracking fast - the trap nearly activating on all of them, bouts of various types of arrows spewed outta that trap. Red froze in place, even after being placed down, and Ashley was shocked a little and resumed her normal nonchalant attitude. All noted that the arrow trap was set off, so Ashley probed the Norse if the traps reset themselves - to which a sound no was affirmed, and the Norse remarked that thankfully the trap makers didn't weave traps to a counter that would make it impossible to traverse to the next room.
Armed with these developments and seeing the end in sight, she snapped Red outta his fixed pose and Red suddenly knew to transform into a broom. With that transformation she and the Norse mounted unto the broom and flew towards the exit - with two pilots steering direction, they communicated on how best to avoid the traps. Though rocky at first with all the hails and lava spouts attempting contact, they began to flow rather nicely in the air and successfully dodged all the remaining traps consisting of vortexes and cannon fire. Floating on the steps towards the exit, they all began walking towards the gate and pushing it open to reveal a massive cavern. Before approaching the next room, the Norse looked back and scoffed:
"That room hath been too easy to complete?... wait! did you successfully condemn'd th' guilty 'n' spar'd the innocents back in th' first test?"
"Mhmm."
"That certainly be explainin' lots o' inconsistencies 'ere - half o' them other traps didn't went off. Heck, it makes sense now! Them spirits couldn't do their jobs 'ere - miss Ashley, you certainly trick'd them with yer innocent demeanor."
Blushing slightly and smirking a bit, Red noticed Ashley's face and snarled that she should become a judge. Blushing even more, but being ticked off, she gaffed off his comment and approached the next challenge - the Norse began to remark again:
"Oh wait, this test 'ere that be a real killa'. Miss Ashley, for all that I can do - this I simply can nae aid you with, I will simply appear walking by. Even then, same goes for yer imp aide - both o' us are dæmons... sowry."
Confused on the Norse's words she walked forward but, in a split second, found herself in white glowing realm. All around her were white puffs 'til she saw a younger, smaller version of herself in the distance - they both glanced at each other and walked towards each other, fixed on the shared appearance of one another. The "symbolic" version of her spoke, child-like:
"Who are you?"
This gave the... "conscious" Ashley shock, she didn't know what to respond. Yet "symbolic" Ashley probed on:
"I don't have as many friends as you... But you seem nice and maybe we can be friends?"
Another shock stroke "conscious" Ashley's spine, but “symbolic" Ashley yearning for a coherent answer became saddened and probed "conscious" Ashley further:
"Pretty please?!?"
"Wh-why... yes. Yes, we can be friends."
"Yay!"
With all the excitement, "symbolic" Ashley hugged "conscious" Ashley tight. Unfazed, she returned the gesture and comforted "symbolic" Ashley - and they embraced each other for a while, to the point where both silently wept. But then they were interrupted by a grey-black myst that appeared to be another Ashley, it gazed upon them and attempted to charm them to be friends with her as well. Although "conscious" Ashley knew that she would be whole with her incorporated, she felt off and "symbolic" Ashley knew that this very "real" Ashley was almost unrecognizable - much less differentiable in her many parts. Seeing rejection, "real" Ashley twitched her head sporadically and began burning a red flame in the eye sockets - worse that they sparked red lightning bolts out of it. "Real" Ashley began attacking the other versions of Ashley, with "conscious" Ashley sheltering "symbolic" Ashley from all the blows. Yet with every blow given, they all squealed and winced in pain - "real" Ashley ceased her attacks suddenly and retreated away from the huddled pair. Both "conscious" and "symbolic" Ashley looked at each other, they both whitened their hair and began to boil in rage - yet recognizing each other, they became dreary and sad for their very "real" counterpart.
Walking together to check up on her, they saw her crunched up and bawling her eyes out. Both lay their hands on her which made her cease crying to see both of them with a weary smile. Placing her hands over her heart, she jolted up and smiled uncontrollably - all three of them hugged each other which then jolted Ashley awake back in the Spirits' Cave Course. Red finally made it to the other side, not noticing Ashley had been on the floor those past seconds. As Ashley found her balance, she asked why - the Norse collected their thoughts together before giving a definitive answer, they were no psychologist but they knew the purpose and name of the room. Deciding to give the best answer they can give:
"Miss Ashley, you stumbl'd upon th' reverse mirror... I dunno how to explain such but from what I heard and what methinks about such... Thee hast been split into three fundamentals, testin' to see how stable your Subject was. Methinks that you've pass'd since thee hast came back rather quick."
[No music.]
Still confused on that prospect, she would dedicate pondering on this later. They all grouped up before entering the final room, the Norse unlocking such and opening it for the group to walk right in. The door cracked opened slowly and, as they got in, the gate doors shut quickly and loudly - shocking both Red and the Norse, but Ashley wasn't fazed as she was more intrigued in what stood in front of them all. When they all gazed a gazely stare at the figure, the figure became a white myst and sparked a blue flame to life while approaching the group that it looked upon. It finally reached them, the blue flame finally in place and the myst fully constituted - It appeared to cock Its flame to look at the Norse. Fully recognizing each other, they began to embrace each other and joked on what took them so long. It then looked at Ashley and Red, yet had trouble differentiating the two as It saw them as one. Itching to ask, It probed Ashley and Red:
"Hmm... It's like I see double, but I know this to be wrong as both of you are physically different - yet in spirit you bear the same constitution..."
Hearing information of that sort coming from It had made them both confused. Yet in oddity, they looked at each other and began to understand what was said. It seeing them both realizing then understood the constitutionality of their spirits, chiming in:
"Ah, I see you’re contractual partners that had long been more than mere acquaintances. In fact, an inseparable pair truly because you both give what you lack towards the other that doesn't want it – it’s cutesy... sorry for the obscurities, I should be doing my tasker of judging you - but this holy ecstasy of seeing another coworker had made me drop such. So with such, I shall judge you..."
Ashley, Red and the Norse anxiously awaited the next response from It - remarked first with:
"For a witch-in-training here and the fact that this course is a mere abridged version containing the essential tests, I must praise you highly. I do must point out the fault of the course's existence - not to suggest this was easy, but that we certainly could've brought in more challenge to where it was needed.... All that said, I do welcome you back anytime - more importantly, when you are a witch proper I can grant you to experience the course proper. But for now, I bless you on your great achievement and you both may now return back to your dwellings."
[1.]
With a portal opening, Ashley and Red waved goodbye to both of them - with them both returning the gesture. They found themselves in back in the main lobby and sighed a breath of relief. Peering outside to see that nighttime fell upon them - they decided to walk outside. With Ashley and Red stepping outside, they stumbled upon the mail deliverer who began trembling when realizing who lived at the mansion. She told the deliverer to calm down and just get it on with - which shocked them as they thought Ashley would use dark spells on them or use them as the ingredient she sought for her mean potions. They tried excusing their behaviour, and she nonchalantly interrupted them by saying that she heard every telltale and wants the mail like every other person. So, they calmed a bit and handed Ashley her mail, but, before the mail deliverer could go, Ashley asked what day it was and if anything wild happened. The deliverer stated the day’s date but didn't knew if anything wild happened - for which Ashley thanked them as she and Red went back inside to avoid perturbing the mail deliverer more.
With such, Ashley dropped the mail along with the pouch of gold and both ate something quick before night's rest. Eating rather nonchalantly and rather quietly, Red asked softly to Ashley:
"What we're going to do tomorrow? Another dimension hopping? Or maybe meet up with our fellow coworkers -"
"No. I think we should finally rest and enjoy tomorrow."
Red checked to see for any hint of sarcasm - this wouldn't be the first time she said one thing but meant something entirely different. But she noticed Red's inquisitiveness and decided to not toy with him by continuing on:
"Don't worry Red, what we're going to do when everyone's resting now?"
"I guess we haven't much to do... Hey want to see what that new gaming console is all about?"
"Eh - why not? Let's see what other game creators like us are making."
With tomorrow's plans settled, Red poofed himself on top of the bed, quickly sound asleep, and Ashley got herself in her night dress when getting into bed while summoning her bunny-doll into her hands. Starring at the night sky through her window, she smirked about today and had to admit this has been the best dimension hopping since. Deciding that she had a whole lazy day ahead of herself, she blew out the candlestick and caressed her bunny-doll to sleep. The night once again did its lovely melody while it danced away as long as it remained dominant in the sky.