Walking into the crack in the hill, I felt the cold frigid air breeze through. Even though it was nominally freezing year long in the upper half of the lost forest, the air wasn't enough to kill of the wildlife until you go to the extreme north.
According to to my detail oriented teacher, Alviss, heat and life are delivered to the forest through two main mechanisms.
Rivers in this area bring nutrients and irrigation to many of the lands here. The rivers are also very warm causing heat to be transferred over long distances.
Alviss says under the ground there are a lot of volcanic vents that spider out all over the continent. Because of this there are also a lot of hot spots and mountainous areas that help prevent frigid ice storms from visiting us from off the coast.
I suspect some of these mountains to be volcanos considering the amount of minerals in Asgard but that's beside the point.
This all means that it's not cold enough to get frostbite most of the year but wearing nice furs is basically mandatory since strong gales breeze by a lot.
Especially that trip over the plains. We had to keep moving to keep warm.
All five of the elders though looked like they didn't feel a thing walking into the cave. I felt the chill on my breathe though.
As we walked in we saw Nix standing stalwart with spear in hand. He was decked in leather lined in wool for warmth. He stared directly at me as if he was trying to prove something.
[Competitive one isn't he]
I smiled at him with a cheeky grin.
I then looked around and almost as if in coordinated fashion, the elders encircled Nix leaving a perfectly clear spot for me to stand next to Tyr.
I slowly approached the spot. Honestly, I had no idea what to do. Luckily someone was nice enough to guide me.
"Loki, this is your first time assisting in a trial so let me help guide you."
This was Skaldi. I don't have a lot of interaction with her but clearly besides being a fierce warrior, she has a motherly side.
I nodded to her. "Look at how my mana and soul connect to everyone in this room. See how we join together."
The I watched as she lifted her hand and bits of mana escaped from her only to connect to Aegir who was next to her who continued to pass on this mana to Heimdall.
I'm astounded since spreading mana outside isn't normal for a warrior to do. I guess there's a reason for the requirement to be an elder to host the trial is more than just cultural.
As I was thinking the mana flowed from Heimdall all around to me. I was quick on the uptake when it came to mana and easily used my comparatively smaller figure to pass the mana back to Skaldi with my own mana laced in.
"Good now join in our chorus as we continue to pass our energies to each other." She then began to hum a long low pitched sound.
As she passed the mana around, the rest would join her in song. That was until we got to the second pass where tyr changed his pitch and I followed the change.
The cycle repeated itself as Tyr made changes to pitch. We speed up our cycle until it became seem less enough that I seemed to have an out of body experience. I could notice though that I had an intuitive connection with the rest of the generals. Tyr was clearly the leader and I had a weird subconscious feeling he was connected to Nix somehow.
This weird out of body experience was over quicker than I expected and the cycle suddenly stopped when Tyr stopped spreading the mana.
I opened my eyes to see Nix had already come to.
"He passed." Tyr muttered this matter of factly.
Tyr looked to me and continued, "if he breaks the illusion he passes and if we continue this process until all of us tore out he fails."
Oh shit so it was an endurance race for me.
Someone tapped my shoulder and then placed a barrel next to me.
My eyes gleaned and I didn't even need to ask who was behind me.
"I say it's time to celebrate," Aegir said.
To which I nodded and carefully opened the barrel.
I looked near by to see Sif running into the alcove with mugs from the carriage.
"You guys took forever! I have been waiting with these for you guys for over 10 minutes." She said this whole running over.
Ullr had a stone cold face. "Young lady, why is there an extra mug in your hand. Are you expecting to drink?"
I look at him and then pretend I don't see anything. She's only a year younger than me so I can't be caught in this cross fire.
I quickly snatch two mugs and pour some of that golden heroine into both.
As Ullr is chastising Sif and everyone is laughing at this point, I approach Nix with horn mug in hand.
"Congratulations warrior Nix on becoming an official warrior of the tribe," I said genuinely happy for him.
It's not everyday someone trains for years for one goal and he's already taking a few successful steps in that direction. I'm very proud of my friend.
He takes the mug and looks at me in the eyes and smiles brighter than I've ever seen.
[Whoa, the Ice cube can smile that bright. My retinas are burning]
"Thank you Prince Loki." He responded clinking our cups.
I then gave a mischievous smirk and whispered, "let's cause some trouble for these old guys as when we get older."
He laughed a bit, "don't you already cause enough trouble for them. Having them always on watch has to be a hassle for them."
I then take a big a big swig and put a hand on his shoulder, "you see Nix, with great power comes great responsibility and my responsibility is to cause as much problems for them through innovation. How else are we supposed to make the tribe better without a little mischief!"
He looked at me and sighed, "As your right hand man, I'll follow you anywhere even if your brain has been tainted by your namesake."
I smiled brightly too until Skaldi appeared behind us scarily. "Are you two troublemakers gonna stop whispering over here or am are you guys going to join the rest of us in setting up the fire for a small feast? We generals are busy!"
We both turned and nodded with postures like soldiers. Before she could say anything we scurried off drinking our fill and drinking setting up a fire with Sif who was clamoring for us to share our ale.
The generals toasted with us, laughed with us, and told us stories that night in the glade and under the stars.
I have never seen Nix so happy. I hope these happy days will continue.