"Enter."
Alexander slowly pushed the heavy wooden door open, as his eyes adjusted to the dimly lit room, the first thing he saw was his father Alexius sitting in his Bronze and Wood Throne at the head of the room. "Come Alexander." Alexander began to shuffle his feet again in the direction of his father. "Are you come to endure the challenge of the Warrior?" Alexius smiled at his son with expectation in his eyes.
"Yes father, I have come at your request." He slowly approached the center of the room. There was a chamber there with only one exit, inside a variety of colors representing the mana of the wild elements. "Alexander, if you can contain just one strand of the wild mana in your body and cycle it to completion your first task shall be complete." Alexius gestured toward the chamber and slowly the magical barrier opened to allow his son entrance.
Alexius, was seated and looked to be relaxed, however, his stomach was in knots and his heart was pounding like a hammer! "Hopefully my son does better than the last few times he has attempted to make challenge.
Alexander stepped toward the chamber and entered through the magical barrier door. Moving to the center of the chamber he took a deep slow breath as his father instructed and closed his eyes. As he felt the air around him with his heart and mind, several strands of wild mana swirled around him. He began to mentally pull them toward himself, the mana began to dance around him and avoid his attempts to control them.
Alexander began to become more forceful in controlling this mana, everyone knew he had a temper like his fathers, the only difference... his father was a strong man who could take action when angered. As he pulled at the strands of wild mana, they began to race around him even faster almost as if in a frenzy. He felt one of the strands inching closer and focused specifically on that one. As soon as he stopped pulling in the other mana they all stopped as if frozen in time.
He continued to pull the mana toward him, beginning to finally see color forming in the mana, it was Purple! Lightning Mana! "How can I get so lucky?!" Once the purple strand was close to his navel, where mana is absorbed by mages, it began to react in a wild and violent manner circling around him like a purple planet revolving around the sun. When he had enough of waiting he opened his eyes and reached out to grab the mana in his hand. "AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Alexander screamed out as his hand closed around the mana. He was unable to open his hand and let go, currents of electricity were flowing through his whole body making him begin to lose his consciousness. Suddenly, he felt a tiny explosion in his hand and the purple mana shot off to rejoin all the other strands.
Looking down, Alexander sees his hand, blown apart and mangled as if in a meat grinder. Blood spilling out onto the floor, he began to feel nauseous and light headed. The copper smell of blood fills his nostrils causing him to empty his breakfast onto the floor, soon after he collapsed from blood loss. When he fell he went face down in his own vomit and blood.
His father looked depressed and disappointed at the same time. Both of his brothers, Garin and Dahl, looked on with smirks on their face. Their weak brother failed once again, they hoped their father would finally give up on Alexander. "A waste of time and a good bloodline." Snarled Garin while Dahl wasn't quite as mean he still despised Alexander.