In the seconds that followed Vidar's announcement, Elysia's ability to read the room vanished. Her breath stuttered in her throat as she sent wave after wave of mana out from her feet and received nothing in return.

"R-Ris?"

She held herself stock still for a moment just listening. The rapid thud, thud, thudding of her heart drummed in her ears, but otherwise...silence.

"Salia?"

Nothing.

Don't panic, she reminded herself, before drawing deep breaths as Vidar's warning flashed through her mind. It's just void magic.

Akin to what most considered to be its counterpart, light magic, void was one of the only attributes that wasn't based solely in the physical realm. The majority of spells and enchantments that used void as their attribute were some sort of mental magic, typically illusions. Whatever was going on around her--it wasn't real.

Idris and Salia were still there. She couldn't see or hear them, but they were there.

Soft laughter echoed through the nothing, before a flash of mana flooded the room. Candles flared to life, reilluminating the office. And in the same, single heartbeat, Vidar reappeared in front of her. He was still perched on that railing, arms spread beside him, but the village behind him had vanished into an endless sea of black.

"Allura warned me you wouldn't be as simple as the regular brat," he mused.

Just Allura? No title? she wondered.

"It makes sense, I suppose. No mortal being made of mana is going to be captured so easily by an illusion--especially when I didn't weave you anything specific," he continued. His voice was contemplative, as if she were some puzzle the mage had yet to work out. "Those other two, a second circle fear charm is a challenging enough test. Any tower graduate should be able to escape such a simple, singular illusion. You, though...I can't put one of those on you, for reasons you're well aware of, I'm sure."

The answer to his words struck her immediately. As the title would imply, fear illusions made you face what you feared the most. Her stomach twisted into tight, intangible knots as her mind easily summoned what such a test might contain for her.

Still, Elysia narrowed her eyes. "I'm not scared to face myself."

Vidar's lips curled. "So, she does speak."

"I don't need special treatment," she continued, ignoring the blatant mocking edge to his voice. "I want the same test."

"Unfortunately for you, Allura forbade it," Vidar retorted. He waved his hand carelessly through the air. "A side-effect of my heritage, perhaps, but sometimes my illusions can capture people more thoroughly than anticipated. She feared what you might suffer if your mind fell too deep, too quickly."

Something flicked behind him as he spoke, dragging Elysia's eyes from his for the barest second. Awareness flooded her veins, stilling some of the fight from her voice as she found herself staring at multiple cream-tipped, black furred tails.

"You're a fox-spirit," she stated. An old one.

The kitsune's smile only grew. "Smart girl."

The overwhelming feeling of his mana when he first entered the classroom, Allura's rules, it all made sense in that single second. There had been too much for Talon to teach them to spend a lot of time on folklore, but he'd thought it important that they knew the races native to Yezi, at least. So, he'd touched on kitsune--mortal spirits that consisted as heavily of void and fire magic as Elysia did of fire and air.

They gained true sentience at the same age they gained a human form--one century. After that, most typically only saw the spirit's true body within the mental realm. Legend stated it was why one should always be careful when facing a kitsune, as their careful human disguise made it impossible to tell how many tails you were dealing with. Which was important when each tail that followed the first was a sign of mastery in their magic. A kitsune with nine-tails might be considered on-par with the oldest of fae.

Vidar had three.

"Do you still think you want me to test your courage, Elysia?" he continued, before poising his fingers thoughtfully against his lip. "If you insist despite knowing what I am...well, I could be persuaded. Insubordination is an occasional hobby of mine. Allura's face turns a wonderful shade of scarlet when I ignore her orders."

Kitsune were tricksters, liars, and trouble-makers. Thieves with minds as sharp as their tongues.

He likely meant it.

There was something soothing about it that tugged the last remnants of irritation from her mind. He was asking Elysia what she wanted like one mage to another, not an adult to a child. She'd recognize what he was--saw the danger--so, he wanted to know if she thought she could face it.

"No."

She didn't want to meet her memories. Not with the realism he could create. It would be stupid and reckless to think she was strong enough for that. One day she would be. But...not yet.

"Shame," he said.

Vidar's free hand rose from the railing as a flame flickered to life in the center of his palm. His smile didn't budge, but Elysia knew how fake it was, now. And the harder she stared, the more obvious other details became. The oddness of his red eyes were because the pupils were slit like the fox he was. His canines, visible when he spoke, were longer than a human's. The nails poised against his lip were sharper.

Black fox-ears were buried in his hair.

"Well, I did prepare something else for you."

The fire leapt from his fingers, sweeping dramatically through the air, before spiraling into a wolf-sized, twisting sphere. Within the second, the flames vanished, leaving behind an ash-colored wolf with coal-colored eyes.

"You've two options. One, break free of this illusion on your own. Or, two, beat my friend here. Magic won't work, he's as smoky as you are. It's the same rules your teammates have been given--just a different sort of spell. Nothing he does will leave damage on the real you--but, it will hurt. You can give up at any time, but that means failure."

Vidar dropped his hand back to the railing.

"What will you do, kid?"

Elysia's hand flew to the sword on her back. "I'll win."

"Very well."

He snapped his fingers and the wolf lunged.

Like before, Elysia sent her mana flaring out from her feet, even as she let the smoke take her body. The wolf snarled as it flew past her intangible body, before nearly skidding into the office desk behind her. She immediately reformed and spun a heel, sword swiping at its hind legs--only to uselessly fly through smoke much as it had done.

So, that was what he meant.

Vidar had made an illusionary creature that could mirror her skills. If she wanted to actually win, it had to be on swordplay alone. The creature couldn't attack her while intangible, but neither could she attack it. They would either endlessly dodge one another, or both have to stay solid.

She would likely lose if she tried that. Without her magic, the creature had her beat in size, speed, and strength.

So, how did she pass?

Elysia focused on twisting in and out of smoke and flesh, dodging and swinging in turn as she let her mana sink deeper and deeper into the tower around her.

If Vidar had posed two possible paths to winning, then there had to be a reason for it, didn't there?

The illusion had to be breakable.

Professor Talon's lessons flashed through her mind as she narrowly avoided the creature's claws tearing into her gut, only to harmlessly bury her blade in the floorboards seconds after it'd shifted its body intangible. Illusion charms were typically broken in one of four ways.

One: you found a hole in the charm and brute-forced your mana through it, collapsing the spell. Typically, it caused the magic to rebound on the original caster.

Elysia put distance between her and the wolf as her mana confirmed the obvious--there were no flaws in Vidar's spell. None that she could find at her level, at least. Which didn't mean they weren't there--she just wasn't skilled enough to find them. Void magic wasn't one of her attributes, nor was magic theory something she excelled in. Most of the academy books were barely within her reading level.

The wolf lunged forward again. She flooded wind mana into her feet, using it to boost her jump as she caught her hand on the wolf's head and flipped to its opposing side. Her blade sung through the air as she twisted about, just barely slicing through its flank before the monster vanished into smoke once again. Some of her earlier irritation returned as Vidar clapped.

"Fancy! I honestly didn't think you'd manage to spill a drop of blood, let alone several. I suppose I shouldn't doubt Camilla's influence, hm?"

She ignored him.

Two: you overwhelmed the spell. Impossible here. Vidar was gods only know how much older than her, a kitsune, and an Eclipse mage.

The wolf's claws caught her as it spun around. Crimson drenched her skin as she yelped, turning into smoke a second too late. Elysia resolidified and put distance between them once again, not wanting to risk another wound. Her ankle screamed as if it were truly bleeding.

"That looks painful."

"Shut up!"

Vidar clicked his tongue. "That's not very nice."

Neither are you!

Three: If the caster manifests in the illusion--hurt them. Typically, the pain would provide enough of a distraction for you to then have the option to perform the first method.

As nice as it sounded--that also wasn't an option, for the same reasons as the second.

That left her with one out. Elysia swung her blade around and--while flooding her body with mana to ensure it moved as she wanted--sunk it through her own foot. Vidar cursed.

The world shattered as real pain struck her senses.

She grimaced and tugged her blade free of her actual foot. As expected, blood gushed from the wound, caking her skin in seconds. Still, she pushed it from her mind, instead glancing up at her mentor with a raised brow.

"I broke the spell."

He was already halfway across the room, disbelief in his face as he dropped down to press his fingers against her wound. "You don't just pull a blade out--gods, kid. What the actual fuck?"

She frowned. "You said break it. So, I did."

"I left a hole!"

Oh.

"I couldn't find it," she told him honestly.

"Obviously!"

"El?!"

She started to turn to the voice, only to stop as Vidar tapped her ankle with an irritable, "stay still." Which was fine, since she could hear Idris scramble to his feet--how long had he been waiting?--before rushing to her side.

"Are you okay?"

"You're lucky your teammate is a healer," Vidar scolded. "Again, kid, what the fuck were you thinking?"

"Real pain is the easiest way to break an illusion," she informed them matter-of-factly as Idris' fingers lit up with light magic. "So, I gave myself real pain."

Vidar messaged his temple. "I'm beginning to understand why Allura said to be careful with you."

"I broke it," she pointed out stubbornly. "I didn't do anything wrong."

"You stabbed yourself."

"It didn't hurt that much," she argued.

"It didn't--" Vidar began, then cut himself off as something unreadable crossed his face. Realization, perhaps? "...right, kid. You might not get it, having...well, being you. But, that hurts more than you think it does. And it's more dangerous than you might realize. You're right, breaking an illusion with pain is the surest way--but, it's also one of the most dangerous. You could have severed something important. In the future, when you're with me, don't just leap to hurting yourself.

"I wouldn't make that a requirement to pass a test."

Elysia studied him for a moment.

Vidar, she realized, wasn't a bad teacher.

"Okay."

As Idris pulled his hands away from her now-scabbed over foot, Salia--who had been standing stock still, staring out at something unseen--gasped and doubled over. Her fingers flew to her temple and she groaned, before mumbling several unlady-like curses.

Vidar shook his head, amusement curling his lips as she stood. His crimson stained fingers carded through his fox-ear-free hair.

"Well, I guess that's it, then. The third pass. I'm stuck with you lot, and you're stuck with me. Welcome to the Tower."