“THE TRIALS OF TYRONIUS ARE ABOUT TO BEGIN!” A disembodied voice bellowed from within the forest. Then, what looked like a snake with wings appeared. It ignited itself on fire and spat some glowing green liquid.

“Iris, Forcefield!” I yelled, myself casting Forcefield as well. The green liquid started to eat through our combined Forcefield, and we quickly replenished it. Then, I simultaneously cast Firestorm and Lightning Discharge, bringing down the snake, but then 9 more of the snakes appeared.

Iris, I think it’s time for your sonic roar. I exclaimed open-eyed.

On it.

Iris roared, causing all of the winged snakes to fall to the ground. I used that distraction to use Hurricane, sucking them together so I could use Lightning Discharge on all of them. Finally, all of them perished, and the same disembodied voice stated, “You have passed the first trial, the test of strength. NOW THE SECOND TRIAL!”

I felt an intense pain in my head. It felt like someone kept on stabbing my head with a spear, pulling it out, and stabbing again. I was about to scream when I realized that I couldn’t move. Iris, help!!!! I attempted to cry out both mentally and physically. However, I did not hear any response. Iris?!

Then, I felt a shuffling in my brain as if some random thing was sorting through the files of my brain. Suddenly, the feeling paused, but then it quickly resumed. Then, something started clenching inside my head.

My head burned with pain, and the entire consciousness spilled out. I forced myself to strengthen my mental guard, and I closed up my mind.

Suddenly, the clenching stopped, and my consciousness returned to inside my head. My brain relaxed in the newfound peacefulness.

“Well done, you have passed the second trial; you have endured … suffering that was removed from your consciousness, but that is a story for another time. However, you still have one more trial to go.” The disembodied voice spoke again.

“Wait! Tell me more!” I pleaded, but the disembodied voice did not speak.

I guess now I have to complete the third and last trial! I thought bitterly to myself.

Then, all of a sudden, I appeared in a different world. Everyone around seemed sad, so I asked, “What’s wrong?”

“A rock from the Fovistes has blocked up our city’s gates, and it seems indestructible! Our strongest artillery and mages have attempted to break it, but nothing works! Now we are cut off from our food supplies!” A woman sobbed.

“Let me try,” I stated firmly.

“You may try, but it is likely for you to fail,” A frail-looking man hobbled up next to the woman. “Many have tried, but all have failed.”

I stared at him with determination. “I can do it.” I ran to the gates, then I saw a giant boulder behind the black gates.

It stretched around the city, and it also seemed to touch the sky, so it was impossible to fly over the boulder. I sent multiple Lightning Discharges, and Iris sent some acid, which ate away at the rock, but the boulder instantly regenerated and went back to the original size.

I sent Fireballs, Lightning Discharges, and Acid Splatters on the boulder, and then I used Growth on the plants below the boulder to attempt plant erosion. Iris breathed fire and acid on the rock. It wore away much of the rock, and we saw a crystal appear, but then the rock instantly regenerated.

We kept trying our best to break the rock, but it kept regenerating. We cast our spells and then meditated to regain our energy, but the rock never broke. Wait, Iris, I think the crystal is controlling the regeneration. We need to destroy half of the rock and then destroy the crystal.

We blasted through the stone, and I used Hurricane and Lightning Discharge on the crystal, hoping the Hurricane would remain intact when the rock regenerated so that the Lightning Discharge would keep closing in on the crystal to destroy it. We repeated that exactly 153 times, but it never worked. “All right Iris, last try.” I sent the Lightning Discharge and Hurricane in, but I was not expecting anything to happen.

A few seconds later, we heard a buzzing sound, and my instinct was to duck, and it soon proved to be correct as the stone exploded, beams of light and stone exploding from all sides of it. The rock crumbled, revealing that the crystal had been successfully destroyed. “We did it!” I cheered, giving Iris a high five on her claws.

Soon, we were teleported back to the forest, and this time, a dragon stood in front of us. I had no idea who it was, but Iris knelt and bowed. The Great One. I am honored to be granted the sight of you. May I have permission to call you by name?

I hate formalities. You may call me Thiro if you would like to. The dragon, now known as Thiro, announced.

“You are Thiro? Tyronius’s dragon?” I asked stupidly.

I DO NOT BELONG TO ANYONE!!!!! I MERELY ALLOW HIM TO RIDE ME!!! Thiro boomed.

S-s-sorry. I blubbered.

It is fine. Just don’t make that mistake again! Thiro growled.

Great One - I mean Thiro - may I ask, what are you doing here? Iris questioned.

I was the one dictating the 2nd trial and I was the one who teleported you to the 3rd trial. I meditate in the center of Dásos tis Dýnamis with Tyronius, and we practice every day. His skills are very honed, and my claws have gotten much sharper. We are both able to defeat nearly anyone in the whole world, but we are unwilling to fight unless challenged because we do not like unnecessary death and destruction. Thiro explained.

Ah, that makes sense. I mused.

Let me bring you two to see Tyronius. Thiro beckoned for us to follow him. However, just when we entered the clearing, 8 people jumped out, 2 in front, 2 from the left, 2 from the right, and 2 from the back. Thiro calmly stated: This is your 4th trial.

What?! Wasn’t there only 3 trials? I asked.

True heroes are prepared for anything. You should’ve always been on guard and therefore you would not be surprised. Thiro responded.

Iris, how should we tackle this? I asked her.

I think it’s time to ambush the ambushers. She smirked.

We created a forcefield around us, and all of them bounced off. “Charge!!!!!” One of them yelled, and all came at me waving their swords.

“Iris, Firestorm!” I called, then used Lightning Discharge. All of them stumbled backward.

“Kid, it’s been a long time since we had a worthy opponent like you. We will still defeat you though.” The leader smirked, then yelled, “Everyone, use your element!”

All of them cast at the same time, and lightning, fire, water, ice, metal, rocks, wood, and crystals were all sent at me. I obliterated the rocks, wood, and crystals, but the metal, water, ice, lightning, and fire were still coming at me. I cast Growth to create plants to absorb the water, and Iris breathed fire to cause the ice to melt. Then, I sent water to put out the fire.

However, the lightning and metal were still coming straight at us, but the lightning was following the metal. Iris, I think I have a risky plan that could work. How about we try to get the metal away from us and use it as a lightning rod?

Good plan.

Iris and I created a forcefield, which we didn’t expend all our energy on, as we only needed to deflect the metal, but then we had to grow a plant. The metal bounced off the forcefield, which was quickly grabbed by the Wisteria vines that I had just grown. The lightning was directed to the metal trapped in the Wisteria vines, and the lightning was negated.

“Very nice strategy. May I ask you, how many forms of Elementalism do you hold?” The leader asked.

“What’s Elementalism?” I answered with a question, confused about what Elementalism was.

“WHAT?!!! YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT ELEMENTALISM IS?!!!!” They roared in unison.

“Ummm...uhhhh… yeah… what is it? ” I responded nervously.

“Elementalism is controlling the elements without using as much of your energy. Magic requires a quarter of the energy required to do the same thing without magic. If you ignited a match using magic, you would use a quarter of the energy required to ignite a match without magic. But if you use Elementalism to ignite the match, you would use, like, no energy.” The leader explained.

“Wow, that sounds powerful, but I have a question, how do you learn Elementalism?” I asked.

“You CAN’T learn Elementalism; you can only be born with it. If you win this battle, you can ask Thiro and Tyronius to test you for skills in Elementalism. But anyway, let's resume our battle.” The leader stretched and they got back into battle formation.

“All right Iris, you know what strategy I’m thinking about, right? You know, the one we used against the Uminoli?” I grinned, and she nodded. “All right, Iris, Firestorm!” As expected, and according to plan, they all retreated into a tiny formation, thinking that in the tightly bunched circle, they couldn’t be penetrated.

They all held up a shield, saying, “These shields can deflect magic, so you can’t hit us!”

I smirked, silently thanking them for the information. I teleported into their midst, and they all turned at me in surprise. “Where did he come from?!” One of them yelled. I merely waved, and then sent a giant wave at them. Then, I cast my signature move: Casting Hurricane and then Lightning Discharge. Then, I teleported away and awaited my victory.

When the carnage cleared, they were still alive and breathing, and I thought that I couldn’t defeat them, and then Thiro announced, Mensal, you have passed the 4th trial. You may be wondering how you won even though your enemies are still alive. Well, that’s because they are immortal. Your goal was to knock at least 6 of them out, but you knocked all of them out, so you have passed with flying colors. Congratulations, now you may meet with Tyronius!

I have a question, though. Thiro, can you examine me for Elementalism abilities? I asked.

You have fire Elementalism, but you do have other elemental abilities, you just don’t have Elementalism in them, which is strange. However, it seems that both you and the dragon Iris have fire Elementalism, but only know how to use it in spell form, so Tyronius and I can teach how to fully harness the power of fire Elementalism. Thiro informed me, and I agreed.

I’m so excited! I thought to Iris.