Dreams ATTN: Solomon

[Aurin]

AURIN

 

Eyota walked to the clearing where he and Solomon had so long ago began the training that would lead his young friend to becoming a full wolfbrother; and tonight was the last step he must take in order to achieve his long sought goal. “Tonight is your final night of training; assuming you can make it through. We’ve spent a lot of time in the dream, and tonight you’ll have to use all your skills in order to see the dawn break over the mountains once again. Follow me.â€

 

Eyota stealed himself for what was to come next, gathering his will to himself and focusing his mind. He lead Solomon to a river bed; it ran with only a trickle of water. Eyota fixed the raging torrent in his mind and stepped back. “It’s time my friend.†Eyota stepped back from the river bed and the ground shifted plunging Solomon into the raging river that now over flowed the banks.

 

OOC: Alright come up with away to manipulate the dream. Remember Eyota is still stronger than you so the river is going to stay put. And simple is better. Have fun and sorry this took so long.

 

SOLOMON

 

OOC: Time for some cussing, methings. Sorry it took so long, but I've been pretty sick lately.

 

Did Aurin consider himself some kind of monk? The whole 'final test to the death' thing was, by Solomon's standards, an overblown concept, one best left to bards and stories. He wondered if he'd get some sort of medal after he crawled out of the fighting pits, or wherever Aurin was taking him. Come to think of it, where were they?

 

"It's time my friend."

 

Solomon spun around, realizing that he had been too preoccupied to keep an eye on the older kin.

 

"What? Time...oh...bollocks..."

 

There was a rushing sound in his ears, and the next thing he knew, he was flying head over heels under a torrent of water. He scrambled to recover, and managed to claw his way to the surface. Aurin might have heard something like 'Blood and bloody ashesssss..." as Solomon was swept away, if the river hadn't yet drowned out the imperiled youth. Down the river, however, Solomon was in dire straits. He wasn't a good swimmer, and he couldn't find a single smarmy remark to berate Aurin with. The river, however, was less of a problem. All he had to do was relax and focus, and in one swift motion, he raised his hand to pluck a stout rope from thin air. A knot tightened around his wrist, and another at the nearby tree he had selected. The combination of current and rope swung Solomon around like a ragdoll, until he finally could climb up on shore, gasping for air.

 

"Is that the best you have? Aurin? I know you're out there!"

 

Why couldn't tests be easy? Something involving food would have been so much better.

 

"And we need to discuss your choice of 'final tests'!"

 

AURIN

 

“If only that was all you had to over come my friend.†Eyota concentrated again and the ground around Solomon began to squirm; the grass began like blades and they grew larger wrapping themselves around his ankles and crawling up his legs. The vines began coming from the trees like snakes on the hunt.

 

OOC: Alright this one is short on my part; but you have to escape this one and come up with a few other surprises that Eyota has up his sleeve for you. So have fun with this and then you’ll have another post or two and you’re done.

[Shadow]

"Vines? You trying to...trying...what are these bloody things!"

 

Solomon's voice had changed from mirth to anger by the time he realized that he couldn't free either of his feet. Despite his best efforts, the vines held fast. His face contorted with rage, and then the vines in front of him exploded in a pillar of fire. In a flash, most of the foliage was consumed, leaving a black scar where Aurin's dastardly plant trap had enclosed the unfortunate pupil. There was a slight pause, and then Sol burst from plume of smoke his little flash-fire had produced. There was a glance in Aurin's direction, and then he bounded off into the trees.

 

It was quiet for a moment, as Solomon tried to sneak up on his tormentor, but Aurin wasn't a tracker for nothing. Solomon had no sooner emerged from the woods before he saw his mentor, arms crossed, and looking disappointed.

 

"All that, and for what, Solomon?" Aurin voiced, discontentedly.

 

Vines began to grow again, entrapping Solomon a second time. He wasn't there long enough, instead vanishing altogether. Aurin wasn't confused long, however, and almost immediately turned around to confront his student, who certainly hadn't jumped far. What took him back, however, was the costume Solomon was wearing. He now faced a Saldean, fully dressed in feathers, from head to toe. The shirt, cloak, and even a mask, all made from feathers, like something right out of Ebou Dar. But nobody wore anything made purely from pitch-black ravens' feathers.

 

"What, you didn't think I'd figured it out?" Solomon wheezed between dark laughter. "When have I ever needed more than one..." he continued, before being cut off by a sharp twang. Aurin hadn't been idle, and had carefully formed a large, springy tree branch. Solomon flew several feet before he managed to slow down, and he still tumbled head over heels.

 

"Aurin," he griped, "you are just no fun. Freaking you out..."

 

"You didn't try hard enough. This is a test, remember,†came the dry, matter-of-fact reply. Aurin was approaching rapidly, and the ground was rumbling. Neither of these were particularly good signs. Solomon managed to stand before he was back on his rear, and the ground seemed to drop away. Then, it shot right back up, as pillars of earth undulated in the tiny earthquake. Beneath, a gaping maw awaited, and Sol's little slice of earth began to tip over. As the pit grew closer, he gathered his wits and jumped, or rather flew. He landed at the edge, at with another withering glare at Aurin, donned a Warder's cloak and vanished into the trees. Aurin followed, but to no avail this time. There was no trail to follow, and the trees and shrubs made for a practically infinite number of hiding places.

 

"How about, instead of 'pitch Solomon like a tent', we play 'hide and go seek'?" Sol rasped from the trees, his voice seemingly echoing from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. "What are you going to do now? Burn the forest down?" Grating laughter followed. Oh, how he hoped Aurin wouldn't actually do that...