“Um, what’s going on here?” Ada asked with surprise. She wasn’t frightened and she noticed her eyes could see perfectly well even in the dark. The female mage who a dozen paces away from her had put on a pair of steampunkish metal spectacles and was pacing back and forth. The woman would occasionally raise her head to glance at Ada while concentrating on a book she held in her hand. The book had no title but it was obviously magical since it emitted a faint shade of violet.

Perhaps the contents of the book are only legible due to the light it emits? It would be like trying to read words on a dim screen of a cellphone still set to night mode when the phone was actually in bright sunshine. This would explain why the ambient light was removed.

The woman raised her head and stared at her. Her sardonic and loud voice boomed across the room. “I see that you don’t have nyctophobia. Not a deity of the light then…”

Deity of the light? Are there gods out there who are afraid of things that even a mortal isn’t? Ada thought this was unexpectedly absurd. For most of her life, she had never understood why some people had irrational fears like that of the dark. Any story of monsters under the bed or ghosts that came out in the dark fell on deaf ears even as a child. Past the age of six, their existence to her were considered nearly impossible from a logical standpoint. Even if they did exist, she could see no correlation between their presence and the amount of illumination. In fact, on this particular common phobia, she felt the opposite: she preferred it. Ah, those long hours after everyone else is asleep and the world is so quiet that the only sound would be the typing on my computer in utter darkness.

“Well, if this is meant to be part of the test, it’s really not that impressive. Are you just going to throw one thing after another to see if I have a phobia? Just to let you know I actually don’t have any fear of rats. I just didn’t want them crawling over me.”

The voice continued in the same tone. “I did not think you did though your method was a little extreme. How about just using water next time if you wished to simply wash them away? That would be just as effective. The chemical you used to have such an awful smell.”

“I was careful enough to use a low concentration but yea…I probably went overboard there with that. The usage of just water to inundate the hallway completely slipped my mind.”

“Water … slipped? My, aren’t you amusing?”

“That was a completely unintentional pun.”

The woman gave a condescending smile. “If puns are your strong point, alchemy certainly isn’t one. Arbon has certainly given us an interesting one here.”

“He’s an interesting man himself.” Ada countered. Do they know that he’s a deity as well?

“That’s one description though a more apt one might be insufferable,” she said sardonically.

This was surprising. Ada had thought since Arbon asked this woman to test her that she must be a close confidante of Arbon. However, by her tone, it was obvious that Arbon and this mage were hardly the best of friends. I really don’t want to get into the politics of this place. Let’s just do my trial, get access to the resources that we need here and then leave to fulfill Ayula’s quest. Simple right?

The woman continued. “He also has a tendency to not keep secrets well though he thinks he does.”

“What has he told you about me? And if we’re going to talk, why are we doing it in pitch black? I don’t mind it but you can’t even see me.”

After a slight pause, she answered. “Let me answer your first question after the real tests conclude. As far as your second question, this compendium here requires darkness to read. I can see perfectly fine. Did you think I put on these spectacles for no purpose?”

“After seeing just a few items that you’ve at your Academy, that was probably a rhetorical question.”

The woman nodded and her lips pulled back a bit in a smile of pride. “Yes, I’m glad you realize that. We do hold the most magical artifacts anywhere on the continent. Not even the Northern King can argue with that. Much less the rabble that’s out there in the commoner cities.”

Ada ventured a guess. “You’re nobility then?”

The mage cleared her throat dramatically and nodded. “Forgive my manners. Introductions are in order. I am Lady Eilin Sawina of the House of Sawina but most people here just call me Master Sawina. My brother currently sits as a Councilor at Oseta. I am one of the seven mages of the Board of the Unseen Academy, the formal name for the Academy of Exicoza.”

“My name is Ada. I am a Divine.”

“A Divine of what exactly?”

“That I cannot tell you until after I pass your tests.”

If she isn’t going to tell me what Arbon told her, why should I give away anything that could just make the test harder?

As if reading Ada’s mind, Eilin nodded. “Perhaps a wise move since I am the one who is creating the test. I would hope there will be a fair trial of your immeasurable talents such as that water wave.”

Ada had a hard time telling from her tone whether the mage was indicating sarcasm or genuine respect when she emphasized the word immeasurable but given what she has heard so far, she would put a bet on the former. Putting that thought aside as relevant, she replied. “I would hope to show what I am capable of without causing any more damage.”

“There’s no need to worry about that. I said a test. It’s not a battle.”

Maybe she’s going to give me a math problem which would be harder than what the Goddess of Life gave me? That could be fun.

Eilin continued unaware of Ada’s thoughts. “You do look like you belong in a library more than a battlefield. I venture a guess that your alignment is more akin to that of Arbon’s”

“You’re aware that he is a demigod?”

“Yes, he tried to keep a secret and failed. It’s been at least a decade now since we discovered this and he still thinks we’re in the dark.”

Ada widened her eyes in surprise. The mage didn’t lose a beat and continued. “I also want to inform you that Arbon has implied you’re a full-fledged goddess and not just a demigod. His never said it directly but his vagueness on how you were created made it all too clear. And no, before you inquire further, I’ll tell you now that I still do not plan to give you any specifics of what exactly he told me about you.”

Ada opened her mouth but Eilin just continued. “Also, we have a different set of tests for higher Divinities. There’s no reason why you should be tested at the level of a demigod when you’re actually a true goddess. He did say you’re extremely intelligent though from the little I have seen I have some doubts.”

“That remains to be seen,” Ada retorted.

Eilin ignored her. “I do have to warn you. If you fail, there will be consequences which even you won’t be able to escape from. At the very best, if you fail, you will be trapped for a very long time.”

“As long as this test is not impossible, I believe I can do it,” Ada replied with more confidence than she actually felt.

Being lectured in the dark in a strange chamber by a prick who implied that Ada could genuinely be hurt since she was likely to fail was not how she wanted to spend a beautiful morning. Her past self as a mortal would be in a nervous wreck right now. As a goddess, she felt just a bit unsettled.

“Ready? Let us begin.”

Without waiting for Ada to reply, the woman waved her hand in one swift motion and the book started glowing. It was also growing. Or rather she felt the book enlarging and wrapping around her. Mysteriously enough, Eilin was still just standing there so maybe all this was just in her head. Before she could deduce what was actually happening, the book has surrounded her and it was a terrifying moment when the covers shut around her.

All was dark but a different kind of dark. Nothing changed for a full ten seconds. Suddenly, there was light again. She looked around expecting some exotic magical place. Instead, there was still just darkness except for a glowing white trail with a width about a foot across. It stretched far into the distance. She took a moment to gather her bearings and seeing that there was nowhere else to go and no sign of the book, there wasn’t much else to do except to follow the path.

“Before I start though, let me set my timer and ensure my pedometer is on.” Ada suspected that this might be an intellectual test at the end of this since the woman has implied as much. She looked at the smart watch on her right wrist. Through all this time, it was still there wrapped. She wondered if this could be considered another Divine Artifact since it was the device that led her to this world. She wondered why she hasn’t thought of investigating the watch earlier; maybe there were new functionalities that could help her aside from the original manufacturer’s intentions.

I’ll do this after I get back. For now, let me just reset the stopwatch and pedometer.

She walked slowly and ensured that each step she took was the same distance. After a few moments of this, she realized she was slowly ascending. The path appeared to be in the shape of a spiral of some sort that wound itself tighter and tighter. A conical spiral but of what variety? Not a Not a hyperbolic one since it wasn’t so steep. Or maybe the floor projection was a logarithmic spiral? Perhaps it was just a plane spiral. That would make things much easier. It was very hard to gauge without being able to tell the height at any given point. She thought about the parametric equations of a conic spiral and a few equations floated in her head.

After precisely 37 minutes and 24 seconds of climbing, she finally neared the apex. Around the last little corner she went and saw in front of her four glowing cubes of iridescent color each about the size of a shoe box. Now what?

“You must leave one of the boxes left here and leave another box at the beginning of the path where you first started. Those are the terminal points. For the remaining two boxes, you must place them at places on the path where they will be equidistant from each other and the closest terminal point.”

Eilin’s voice suddenly emanated from all directions and pounded loudly into her ears. If she was mortal, she would have instantly had a headache. As a goddess though, she found it merely annoying. She couldn’t see the mage and she doubted the woman was actually here but maybe she could get some clarification. “Do you mean the path length between their positions or do you mean the actual shortest distance between them in 3D space?”

“Does it matter?”

Ada gritted her teeth to avoid throwing back a very rude retort. She was at the mercy of this mage at the moment when Eilin was likely holding the book right now. “Yes, it does.”

Ada thought she heard the mage stifling a yawn before the reply came. “Distance along the path.”

Ada smiled. This was going to be a little annoying but perfectly doable.