Prodigy

Darkness. Pithar felt the void around him, unable to see anything. The cold ground underneath him sent shivers down his spine. Pithar sprung himself up only for his forehead to collide with something. Protecting his head this time, Pithar attempted to stand up again. He took it slowly, making sure to scout his surroundings using his free arm. His hand eventually found his head's assailant which felt unnervingly cold and metallic. His hand followed along the rest of the metallic structure until it just stopped. Pithar felt the sharpness of the spike's tip as he thanked his luck. Pithar's mind eventually drifted to the safety of his teammates as he began traversing the maze.

Unsure of the potential risk that may exist, Pithar moved with the shadow, avoiding all noise. Turning the corner, he rested his hand on the wall for a moment. The chill of the wall was replaced by a somewhat warm sensation resting upon his skin. Pithar jumped back readying himself in a fighting stance. Before Pithar made a move, the hall suddenly lit up revealing a crimson-haired youth standing before him.

The youth was unfazed by Pithar's attempted assault surprising Pithar a little. "Captain?" the boy asked him.

Slightly embarrassed by his actions, Pithar took a second to process the question. "Captain?" the boy asked him once again.

"I am," Pithar responded after snapping out of his daze. "I'm Pithar Pyreye, it's a pleasure to meet you. I don't believe I got the opportunity to catch your name earlier?"

"I'm Golith. Golith Huneer. A pleasure to be on this team." Golith answered.

"Glad to have you on the team Golith. Did you come across any of the other members?" Pithar asked.

Golith shook his head. Pithar stood there trying to figure out which of the three paths would be ideal. Having made a decision to proceed right, they moved forward until they eventually heard footsteps behind them. Pithar gestured Golith to snuff out the flame on his hand as darkness filled the halls again. Pulling Golith with him, Pithar ducked to the right heading into another path.

The two waited quietly as the footsteps got louder, stopping sporadically. After what Pithar estimated to be just a few feet away, the footsteps stopped entirely. Pithar was extremely patient, waiting for a few minutes as he controlled his breathing to minimize all noise originating from him. Finally, his patience paid off as the footsteps once again got louder.

Waiting for the right moment, Pithar struck out with his feet sweeping the mysterious figure off his feet. Pithar immediately jumped next to the figure ready to strike again. Golith illuminated the area as they discovered a slim youth lying on the ground with his hand protecting his face.

"D-Don't hurt me! P-Please!" he yelled out as Pithar backed off. Pithar kept a defensive stance as he observed the figure stand up. Pithar eased himself as he recognized the lad to be the allomancer he'd invited to his team.

Golith pulled him up from the ground after recognizing him as well. Pithar quickly apologized for knocking the boy down and introduced himself.

"I-I'm Melnath. I'm an allomancer. Th-thanks for choosing me." Melnath introduced himself with a stutter. He took a long breath to calm his nerves and continued, "I saw a light down the corridor an-and followed it, but it suddenly vanished. I guess that was this friend here." he said pointing to Golith.

"Then I moved forward slowly to make sure it wasn't a monster, but when I got here I found myself on the floor."

Pithar apologized once again for almost pummeling Melnath which he accepted a bit too quickly. Before the trio could converse any further, a shriek rang across the corridor prompting the group to dash towards it.

As the trio turned the corner, they discovered two girls clutching the wall with a pool of blood surrounding them. The sudden illumination of the darkness startled the girls as they prepared to cast a spell.

"Wait. Wait. No need to attack. I'm Pithar, your team leader. It's good that we found you two. Now we have the whole team together."

The girls allayed their worries and sighed in relief. "Why're you introducing yourself like I've never seen your face before. Come on now Pithar. Not cool. Are we strangers now?" the girl in the blue robe teased.

"Not sure. It did seem like it. The Freya I know wouldn't be shivering from a fear of the dark." Pithar mocked.

"First of all that wasn't me. It was Elektra. Right?" Freya said as she stared at the girl in the yellow robe. Elektra turned away refusing to answer, further teasing the fair-skinned girl who's cheeks adopted the color of cherries.

"Fine. Don't admit it. Just wait till we get out Pithar. I'm complaining to big sister later. Watch how she deals with you." Freya wagged her finger at Pithar attempting to threaten him.

"Alright. Alright. I'll apologize. No way that scream was yours. It was too high pitched for it to come from your mouth. You can't even sing notes that high." Pithar continued.

Freya walked up to him frustrated and clobbered him on the head. She went to hit him again, but Golith stepped in front of Pithar. "I don't think he's recovering from that one any time soon. We wouldn't want to take out our leader this early now would we." Golith reasoned.

"Fine. I won't murder him right now, but just wait until we get out of here. I'm going to freeze your chances of having a family." Freya threatened.

"Ok. Ok. Relax." Elektra intervened as she began patting Freya's head against her will. She succeeded in cooling Freya down just as Pithar stood back up.

"When'd you get so strong? That actually hurt." Pithar said as he massaged the side of his head.

"Oh please. Like that'd hurt you. I'd be more scared of a boulder cracking if you hit your head on it." Freya responded.

Pithar laughed at the remark, but his expression turned serious the next instant. He put a finger in front of his mouth causing the group to completely quiet down. Pithar nodded his head to the left signaling them to focus their attention to a shrill high-pitched screech which. "I guess that direction is out of the question," Pithar whispered to which everyone nodded.

"Let's head straight then," Pithar suggested as everyone nodded their heads again.

The group proceeded straight with no other paths being presented to them even after a few minutes of walking. Golith lighting the way in the front stopped causing Melnath to run into him and nearly fall to the ground if not for Pithar's support. Golith pointed ahead as the group saw an archway ahead of them embroidered with golden snakes.

Seeing an exit, Melnath took off. Pithar's eyes grew wide. "Freya. Cast Glacio. Aim it at Melnath's left foot and freeze it to the ground. NOW!" Pithar yelled.

The spell landed successfully just as Melnath had one foot out the archway. Pithar sprinted forward as the ice around Melnath's left foot cracked and he began to lean forward. Pithar dove towards the archway with half his body hanging out of the corridor to catch a falling Melnath at the last second.

Pithar struggled to grip the ground with his feet as bits of ice barred any opportunity for a proper foothold. With the jagged piece of ice left behind by Melnath's foot digging into his skin, Pithar tried to pull Melnath up unsuccessfully.

Golith had run forward when Pithar dove, finally reaching the two as he pulled Pithar's legs back. Finding a stable foothold, Golith tugged on Pithar's feet with extreme force. Melnath's head popped above the ground prompting Pithar to pull even harder using Golith for stability. The two girls after recovering from their daze rushed forward to help pull Melnath up once his torso had reached the ground. Finally, Melnath's entire body had been retrieved from certain doom as everyone sighed in relief.

"Th-thanks for saving me." Melnath bowed his head on the ground.

"No problem," Pithar responded turning towards the wall.

"Could you turn back this way really quickly Pithar?" Freya requested. Noticing his reluctance, she walked up to him and forcefully turned his body as blood oozed onto the ground.

"You idiot. Why're you trying to hide your injury. You thought I wouldn't notice? Last time I checked, the color of my ice was blue, not red." she yelled at him pointing to the jagged piece of ice near the edge.

"Open your robe," Freya commanded. "Actually. I'll do it myself" she said as she pulled open Pithar's robe exposing his upper body. Blood flowed out like an aggressive brook tinting the floors red.

"It's nothing to worry about. Just a little cut." Pithar laughed, pushing back the urge to cry.

"Just a small cut? I'd totally kill you right now if you weren't already dying. You have a laceration going from your hip to your neck!" Freya commented. "How do we fix this? I'm not letting you die before I get to do it myself."

"Hey. I told you it's nothing. Don't cry now. What I need you to do is cast Glacio Tenue. Just cast Glacio, keeping it as thin as possible. Surround your hands with it and pass the cold attribute onto the gash. It'll temporarily freeze the wound and stop the blood." Pithar instructed.

"It's so close to your heart. I could freeze it by accident." Freya's voice quivered.

"Just calm down. You can do it. I trust you. Line your hand along the gash as you move up and apply just a tiny bit of pressure." Pithar directed.

With her hand shivering, Freya managed to create an icy aura around her hands, but couldn't bring it any closer to Pithar. He grabbed onto her wrist and guided her along the wound as it slowly froze. Pithar could feel his hand freezing bit by bit, but he pushed through until the gash was fully frozen.

"See. I told you that you could do it." Pithar commended with a grin. "Now that it's frozen, Golith would you be able to melt the ice and burn the two sides of skin together? It'll be the same as sewing it closed."

Golith held the flame acting as their lantern in one hand as his other hand skillfully pinched together the wound, burning it slightly which created a seal. The blood flow had been stopped by the ice and the wound had been resealed by Golith.

"Thank you Golith!" Pithar cheered as he jumped up. "No problems at all. Just a small cut" As he said those words, Pithar tilted backward threatening to fall. Golith hastily grabbed him by the arm and Elektra moved behind him to cushion him.

"It'll be fine if I just rest a little. No need to worry too much. In the meantime, Golith could you scout out the abyss before us? We have to see if there even is a path we can proceed on." Pithar requested.

Golith walked to the edge of the corridor and increased the intensity of his flame to see more clearly. While looking for any signs of a platform, he noticed the ice which slowed Melnath's fall melting. The water mixed with blood reducing the thickness which caused it to flow over the edge. A tiny metal spike caught Golith's eye but disappeared to the void as he attempted to grab it.

Golith quickly glanced back to the group and saw Pithar grinning as he lay in Freya's lap disregarding his condition. Golith smiled and continued looking out the archway when something reflected the light of his flame.

~~~~~~

Aerin had woken up just moments ago. She looked around and found the four people she drafted all laying in weird angles near each other. Letting out a mischievous laugh, Aerin walked up to them and woke them up one by one. The group looked at each other awkwardly, not knowing anything about each other due to Aerin's randomness in selecting the group.

Silence. The group just kept looking at each other, all hoping the other would start the conversation. They helplessly looked towards their "leader" and were flabbergasted by her carefree attitude. She just walked around and kept looking around the room acting like a sightseer. Though no one said it out loud, the group seemed to have formed a collective opinion on their fate. "We're screwed".

Aerin finally turned around to face them. Expecting an introduction, the terramancer put forth his hand attempting to show his goodwill, but Aerin ignored it entirely.

"We don't have time for introductions at the moment. If we don't act right now, forget losing the trial, we'll lose our lives." Aerin stated.

"Lose our lives? What do you mean? We're in an extremely safe environment with no monsters around us. I think we were actually quite lucky." insisted the pyromancer.

"I don't have much time to explain. You'll just have to trust me. I can feel the air pressure intensifying as we speak. This place will collapse on us any moment now. Pyromancer, shoot a small ember at the left wall. Aim for the root of the thin piece of twine lining the wall. Make sure not to light anything else around it on fire." she instructed.

After a moment of hesitation, the Pyromancer executed the move with precision managing to hit the tip of the twine exactly. He wasn't sure what it would accomplish, but out of sheer respect for the trials and the position of their leader, he relented to her command.

They followed the twine as it burned, starting from the middle and reaching the top of the room they were in. The group watched as the last bits of ash fell along the wall when the twine fully burned through. They all looked at Aerin unsure of what the purpose of the earlier action was. The pyromancer opened his mouth to question her, but before any sound was made, the walls erupted in flames.

"Why're the walls aflame? I swear I only hit the tip of the twine. Nothing else should be burning right?" the pyromancer questioned. He turned his head find Aerin with a smile on her face. "Are you trying to kill us? Was that the goal all along?" he asked angrily.

"Of course not. Watch." Aerin replied as the wall they had previously seen disappeared. They were surrounded entirely by glass and something they'd never thought to be fatally dangerous until now, water.

"We're completely submerged. I'm not sure how deep we are, but it may be quite far off from solid ground from what I could deduct. I can feel bits of air and water seeping in from under us from cracks in the glass. The entire structure will collapse soon." Aerin explained.

"How did you find all this? None of us could sense something wrong. Also if the walls were made of fabric and a facade, why couldn't we just burn it down faster with widespread fireballs? The time we lost waiting for that twine to burn won't return." the terramancer questioned.

"The yellowish tint of the glass dome directly above us looks like a stained glass design. Normally, it wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary, but the drawing of the basilisk portrayed was missing some of its scales. The green used to color the scales also were chipped off on certain other scales. If you looked closer, the textured pattern of the chipped scales felt more like tears in fabric than stained glass. Due to this, the scales which missed some scales entirely were blue which stood out from the rest of the basilisk. Using that hint and the immense pressure I felt, I deducted that we were underwater." Aerin explained further.

The entire group had a dumbfounded look on there faces. It was simply hard to believe what Aerin had asserted, but as they looked up to observe the dome for themselves, they noticed a few bits of green scattered around.

'There no way. Right?' they all thought to themselves.

"Hey, does the dome feel closer than when we woke up or is it just me?" the hydromancer asked.

"It actually kind of does." responded the terramancer.

"The water level is increasing. The cracks within the glass beneath us are expanding in size. The longer we wait, the faster it'll collapse on us. Do you trust me now?" Aerin asked.

The four of them looked at each other and knew they had completely underestimated her. She had a more comprehensive understanding of their entire surroundings than they did even the platform they were standing on. Realizing their mistake, they nodded in unison acknowledging Aerin's capabilities.

"That's great. Terramancer, be ready to cast "Gi Obice" around us at any moment. Make sure it covers a radius that's one and a half times greater than your height. You have to use it as soon as I say to." Aerin commanded prompting the terramancer to nod.

"Pyromancer and hydromancer stand as close to the terramancer as possible. Don't get in the way of his casting, but make sure to not waste any space. Hydromancer, separate as many small blobs of water as you can from the pool near us. Cryomancer, create as many ice shards as possible using those blobs as fast as you can." Aerin instructed.

The duo of the hydromancer and cryomancer created ice shards at ridiculous speeds. They'd already created fifty miniature daggers of ice in a few minutes time. Noticing the exhaustion on the face of the two mages, Aerin pointed at half of the shards as they began moving under her control. This allowed the cryomancer to focus his energy on solely creating shards instead of maintaining each of the previous ones as well.

In another few minutes, the duo had successfully created over a hundred shards that flurried through the air above them. Aerin had taken control of more fragments over time as they created them and eventually managed to sustain them by herself.

Aerin moved towards the middle which the others took as a sign to bunch up close together. The touching of bodies may have been awkward normally, but with adrenaline rushing through them, they didn't think of it like that.

"Terramancer, NOW!" Aerin yelled.

The floor underneath them wrapped around creating an earthen ball.

"Strengthen the bottom with double the thickness!" Aerin commanded.

"But we'll sink!" the terramancer responded.

"Just trust me," Aerin replied calmly.

The terramancer layered another part of the ground onto the bottom as he saw Aerin flick her wrists to the side.

"K-tch. K-tch k-tch. K-tch k-tch k-tch k-tch k-tch k-tch." The cracks of the glass structure beneath them spread along the rest of the wall. The little cricks kept increasing in intensity until, "K-TCH". The final crack along the glass had decided the dome's fate. The water came gushing down like a waterfall. The team heard the water sloshing around them as they felt movement. A sudden burst of force from underneath them rocketed them up, but they had no way of traversing the ocean around them.

They felt themselves moving back down along with their hopes of survival just seconds after their initial rise. It was then that they noticed Aerin swirling her hands around rapidly. They began to ascend once again as the four mages looked at each other in disbelief.

'No way right? It can't be.' they thought in unison almost as if they were telemancers reading each other's mind.

While Aerin was in deep focus, the terramancer noticed that unlike them four, she wasn't holding her breath. He wanted to alert her of the limited air within the sphere around them but couldn't afford to break her focus.

The group managed to hold their breath for a few minutes, lasting surprisingly long, but one after another they succumbed to the pressure in their lungs. When taking a long breath to hold their breath once again, they realized that the air wasn't thin at all. In fact, it felt like the air was even purer than inside the dome.

No one spoke. By now they had realized two things. Their carefree leader was not to be underestimated and was far more intelligent than the rest of them combined. The second was her uncanny ability they refused to believe could exist. Not once during that entire scenario did she mention a spell out loud. They weren't even sure when she'd put up Tholos et Aether, which allowed them to breathe. They eventually put the pieces together to figure out that she was capable of a feat previously thought impossible. Aerin was able to cast without an incantation, something even the archmage was incapable of.

As the admiration for their captain grew to its peak, Aerin opened her eyes.

"We're on the surface," she said with a grin.