Serenity watched as Russ gathered the things he needed from around Liam’s house. It took a while, but Liam did seem to have pretty much everything Russ needed.

“Where does he keep the new candles? I really don’t want to reuse candles for this. Especially not ones that were used for a different ritual.” Russ was on his third search of the cabinets where Liam had kept most of his supplies when he finally said what he was looking for.

“Closet under the stairs. Towards the back; there’s probably some winter clothes in the way, but there wasn’t room in the cabinets for them.” Serenity spoke without thinking. That was where the candles had been for years.

Russ stared at him and muttered, “Don’t ask … just don’t ask…” before turning towards the closet.

Serenity was puzzled for a moment before he realized he’d just offhandedly answered a question he had no way of knowing the answer to other than having absorbed Liam. He was never going to use that ability unless he had to.

He knew better than to say never without a qualifier. That was just tempting Fate … or, more likely, Tyche. He wished he hadn’t attracted her attention, but there wasn’t much he could do about it now.

The ritual itself was mostly a fairly standard investiture ritual - a way to let a group recognize each other on sight as a member of the group, without the need to have met before. Most of the rest was ceremonial, to feed the human need to create meaning. In that way, it wasn’t any different from many Earth ceremonies, except that the method of recognition was magical instead of a pin or recognition phrase.

Vengeance had learned about some similar rituals during his studies, and had even been through a few. Serenity wasn’t sure if he still bore the residue, but he hoped it wouldn’t ever come up. Serenity didn’t want to be bound to a group he hadn’t - this time at least - chosen to join.

The oath was the same one Russ had already asked, though he also had Rissa swear to work towards the best possible future, work with her Guardian, and avoid sending him into unnecessary danger. Breaking the oath on either part would remove the recognition from both and mark the one who broke the oath so that others sworn in would be able to tell. It was based on intent, and Serenity suspected it required the intent to break the oath; simply making a mistake would not be enough.

It was an elegant little ritual tied up in a noticeably longer ceremony. Serenity had to give credit to the ritual designer; whoever it was really knew their rituals and also knew how to design one where the important elements would be preserved even if the ‘why’ was lost. That last part was difficult.

Serenity didn’t think Russ knew which bits were active and which were for show, but he really seemed to mean everything. That was important for the ritual; it meant the ritual would work even if the conditions weren’t perfect, because the Intent was there.

To Serenity, it was worth even more than that. Russ not only belonged to this organization, whatever it was called - surely it couldn’t just be called the Guardians? - he believed in it, and he expected Serenity to believe in it, too. For now, Serenity couldn’t. He could believe in the mission to guard Rissa, but he didn’t know enough to buy more than that. Hopefully, that would be enough.

As interesting and important as that was on a practical level, Serenity didn’t see anything particularly magically interesting until near the end of the ritual. He also hadn’t seen anything that would be connected with the so-called Guardian Sea.

Russ stepped into the circle with Serenity, then placed a small white glowing ball - pulled out of nowhere - above the tip of each of the four candles around the circle. They floated on top of the flame for a moment, then shimmered and disappeared. That was interesting.

Serenity could see more than just the ball; each had been a tiny magical storage box that held a wisp of power. The entire feeling of the ritual changed; there was a sense of pressure and attention that hadn’t been there before. Serenity had watched Russ create the ritual; there wasn’t anything there that would cause it, which meant the entire effect was from the wisps released when the balls were destroyed by fire. What was in them? It had to be something innately connected to whoever was creating the effect.

A moment later, he realized it wasn’t “whoever”; it was “wherever”. He stood on a grassy plain on a beautiful day. Only he and Russ were there; Rissa and Phoebe had been left behind. There was the same sense of pressure, but it was even stronger and seemed to be coming from the landscape.

Russ jerked his head towards the area ahead of them and a little to the left. “Go ahead, Serenity. I’ll be here when you’re done.” When Serenity started to speak, Russ shook his head. “No, I won’t tell you anything more. This is your trial, not mine. If we’d had more time, perhaps, but I don’t know what to tell you to expect.”

Serenity smiled ruefully. Of course he couldn’t; it was never simple.

Serenity walked forward, in the direction Russ had indicated. He vaguely realized when the ground changed from grass-covered fields to slabs of dry stone and the open air became a cave. The footing was still good and he continued even as the pressure and temperature increased until he saw a figure ahead of him. The figure seemed to be made of hot, fiery stone itself. “You don’t discourage easily, do you?”

Serenity smiled as he came to a comfortable talking distance and stopped. Being this close to the other being was uncomfortable, even with his heat resistance; he didn’t want to think about what it would be like without it. “No, I don’t. Are you here to stop me or guide me, or is it something else?”

The being didn’t answer the question. “Very few initiates make it this far. Certainly none with as little Guardian training as you have. At least half attack immediately; the other half have usually been warned. Were you? I will know if you speak falsely.”

Serenity shook his head. “Russ said he didn’t know what to expect, so he wouldn’t say anything.”

“One of Russ’s students. He rarely gives any hints, but that is better. Did you know he’s trained nearly half the living Guardians?”

While the being that seemed as much magma as stone spoke, the surroundings changed. Still heavy, the temperature dropped. It felt almost cool for a moment, though Serenity suspected it was still as hot as a hot summer’s day near the flaming being. Serenity noticed that although its surface still looked liquid, some of the surface seemed to start getting darker.

Serenity shook his head. He’d been pretty sure Russ had trained people before, but half? That meant that either Russ did a lot of training or there weren’t many living Guardians. “Do Guardians die frequently?”

“It happens. I don’t know how frequently.” The being didn’t sound interested in the question. “Congratulations on passing the first two tests. Since you chose not to fight me, I still need to evaluate that. For the first fight, do not use magic; this is a test of your physical capability.”

Serenity was standing on a dirt floor. It was flat enough to feel like a floor even though it was under the open sky and had occasional tufts of grass poking up here and there. Serenity recognized some of what was going on.

Dream logic.

He was probably still standing with Russ in the ritual circle; this was taking place somewhere else in a place that didn’t really exist. Still, he needed to treat it as approximately real; it was entirely possible to have death or injury in a vision have the same effect in reality.

A goblin charged at him from the distance and Serenity pulled his naginata from nowhere and killed it. Another came, and another. They came more often, then they started coming in groups. Eventually, Serenity was in a mass melee of himself against more goblins than he could count. He simply kept killing and waited for it to end.

Eventually, between one stroke and the next, the goblins vanished along with their bodies and gear. Serenity wasn’t sure if his injuries would have been healed or not, since they’d all healed immediately after he took them. He did notice that the healing he’d used wasn’t immediately restored, even though the damage to his clothing and armor was repaired.

There was a second round much like the first, though it featured wolves instead of goblins. It was a little more difficult, since Serenity had to get a solid blow to a vital location to kill a wolf; the goblins seemed to bleed out quickly, but the wolves didn’t. He picked up far fewer small injuries, but the ones he did take were worse. That didn’t matter much, since even the larger injuries almost immediately healed.

There was no way a normal person could have made it through the first two rounds without magic. Serenity had a sinking feeling that the fighting was adapting itself to him. He’d have to pass some arbitrary standard that was somehow adjusted based on his own ability. He could only hope it was adjusted correctly.

The third round started with a single elephant-sized lizard. It had metal claws strapped to its forefeet, but was otherwise naked. It circled Serenity instead of immediately attacking the way the goblins had, and kept watching him long after the wolves had attacked.

Serenity watched it move and waited. Seeing how the unfamiliar beast moved was a good first step in figuring out how to fight it, and if this weren’t a test it would also give him some insight into how aggressive the creature was. Many creatures - especially beasts, but even lower-Tier monsters - would choose not to fight if they weren’t sure of the outcome.

“Do you always give your enemies the initiative?” The surprisingly deep, sonorous voice came from the elephant-lizard.

Serenity felt a grin crease his face. Unlike when he was dealing with humans, he didn’t bother to limit it to the width of a human smile, and he didn’t hide his teeth. “No. Are you my enemy or just my current opponent?”

“Good question. To first blood, then?” The lizard paused in his circling until Serenity agreed.

The lizard started to charge in, but planted one of his feet and slid into a tail-whip. Serenity had seen similar moves before and threw himself to the ground, ducking under the tail. He might have been able to leap it, but he wasn’t certain so he went for the sure thing, even though the recovery was more difficult.

As the tail swept over him, Serenity angled his naginata to catch the flesh of the tail. It pulled the weapon out of his grasp and flung it away, but the naginata still sliced deep into the flesh of its tail.

No blood fell. Serenity watched the lizard as it backed up and seemed to ready itself to charge again. He shook his head, stepped back, and used his dagger to slice a shallow injury along his arm, through the armor. He held the bloody dagger up so his opponent could see and the lizard seemed to laugh before it vanished.

Serenity stood inside the cave again, next to the molten rock creature. “On to the next-” The creature stopped before continuing in a shocked voice. “Where did you get that dagger?”

Serenity looked down at it. He hadn’t thought about where it came from. It was the ritual dagger he’d carried for centuries in the future that didn’t happen. “It’s just a tool.” The blood was gone from the dagger; that was one of its useful properties. It was always ready to use.

It was the dream logic at play again; he’d needed a dagger to do what he planned, so he had the one he was the most familiar with.

“You manifested an artifact and it’s just a tool,” the magma muttered. “Clearly we don’t need to test that, then. Or that. Or … no, not that either. Still. You’re clearly not using magic actively, yet something is enhancing you. Not greatly, but it’s there. What is it?”

“Enhancing me?” Serenity wasn’t doing anything, and he wasn’t wearing any attribute-boosting gear, so what could it mean? “Do you mean the attributes the Voice grants?”

“Order’s Voice has reached Earth?”

When Serenity nodded, the rocklike being seemed to deflate a bit. “Then we are in deeper trouble than I thought.”