Third of February, Hogwarts Castle, Room of Help, Evening.
Silently, however, as always, the door closed behind the boy's back, thereby cutting him off from the dark corridor that led to another part of the castle. A moment of darkness and the room was illuminated by torches hanging here and there that lit up at the "desire" of the room, or more precisely at the request of the spell that was cast on this room.
Barely loud footsteps and the rustling of clothes were all that spoke of Calder's presence in this room. Slowly he moved towards the center of the semicircular room, which resembled the Colosseum? And indeed, if you look closely, the room was made in the style of the Colosseum, or, well, the arena where the battles were held.
A high ceiling - which was impossible to see due to the darkness that hid it. Only gigantic, carved, square columns rushed into the darkness, getting lost somewhere there, in the heights. We will never know whether they have reached their goal, the ceiling.
There is a lot of free space - quite enough to accommodate all the inhabitants of the castle, and there will still be room for the same number of people. A flat floor - the material of which cannot be immediately defined. In some ways it looked like stone, like a rocky plateau, but not so hard and more even, in some ways it looked like earth or sand, as if it were actually a Colosseum for fighting, but not free-flowing, but more monolithic. What is noteworthy is that the air was not musty, not at all, the freshness of the morning was felt, although it was now evening. It's as if we are on the street and watching nature awakening, but this is not so.
Where is he here from? Unknown. To summarize, this room is a mystery that there is absolutely no time or desire to solve, at least at the moment.
"This is all for a reason," Kol thought, looking around the room, which was unlike any other he had ever been in. The "Eye" could not pick out anything that stood out or was special, both ordinary and magical. In the astral plane there was calm, a kind of magical silence, which in itself is interesting, because the concentration of mana was not small. Interestingly, but not unusually, the area around Hogue is also overrun with it. - There is a lot of free space - there is room to run around, the floor consists of a pliable material - just right for using charms on it, like transfiguration. The room is designed for combat or training. And the situation is suitable, even the atmosphere is different, it's preparing for a fight soon," the boy grinned slightly, finally approaching the goal of his journey.
The altar is the goal of his path. Monolithic, solid piece of volcanic glass in the shape of a triangle - obsidian. Runes ran across its entire surface, intertwining in a bizarre dance, creating unforgettable patterns that, alas, are very difficult to understand, if not impossible.
He didn't fit into this stop at all, like an artist who tried to add something of his own to another author's masterpiece, but nothing came of it. Or is this altar the main masterpiece, and the Colosseum is just an inexperienced "daub"? It is difficult to say unequivocally about this, but one thing can be said - they do not suit each other, literally at all. Two worlds, with completely different laws, that they tried to combine into one and, as usually happens, not successfully.
"However," the boy continues to reason, standing in front of the altar and examining it with magical vision, you never know? — What else can you expect from tests created in not the best times? I would say quite the opposite, in the dark. Dirt, pain, suffering, hunger, war, death, betrayal. All this was everywhere in those days. It's not for nothing that Beans pays so much attention to the goblin uprisings in history. Forewarned is forearmed. Although he himself no longer realizes what he is talking about, Calder, grinning at his thoughts, looked around the space next to the altar. "They are one of the most brutal creatures that magicians have encountered in history. Their very essence is blood, destruction and the subjugation of others. And how were the magicians able to drive them into such bondage? — Kol had been standing still for several minutes and talking about everything in the world, in an unsuccessful attempt to delay the future. - Okay, enough ranting. It's time," shaking his head, the boy immediately took on a completely different look.
A straight back, tense muscles, legs standing firmly on the ground, a body ready to break into battle at any moment, and of course the look. The eyes, burning with a gray-blue flame, inspired awe and, I would even say fear, to anyone who carelessly looked into them. All the power of magic and soul was concentrated in them. The eyes are the window to the soul, right? This is exactly what comes to mind once you look into them. After all, it cannot be any other way. The boy resembled a predator that would rush into battle as soon as danger appeared.
Desire-thought-goal and Will, all of this merged in an instant into a single lump, thereby causing an incredible flow of invisible, but still real mana, which, escaping from the guy's body, as if there had been a breakthrough of platinum, rushed from the boy to the altar. All the mana, whose amount was incredible for a freshman and this feat, was absorbed in one moment, as if it had never existed.
Everything was quiet, the surrounding mana was motionless, Calder was closely watching the altar, but he was impartial. So the seconds of anticipation flowed by in anticipation of something, until a voice broke the silence and the main action began.
"I am Calder Wilson," the boy began in a confident, mana-filled voice. The sounds of his voice reflected from the walls, creating an echo, thereby making his sound deeper and more mysterious. — Apprentice of the first star of the School of Metamorphism, I ask the Spirit to conduct an exam for increasing rank.
As soon as the words died down in silence, it all began. Magic, which had previously been inert and passive, suddenly rushed to the altar. In a matter of seconds, mana filled the altar, and Thoth, in turn, lit up with mystical flames of different colors. Blue, red, green and yellow. These colors burned in symbiosis, but did not intertwine, but only supported each other, preventing any of them from overpowering the other. Perfect balance. Like Yin and Yang, but with four components.
An instant and the flame froze, now it was a clot of plasma that, having separated from the altar, hovered in the air. Seconds flowed by, like plasticine, the plasma began to change, bend, and also tear. Until, in the end, an old man appeared in her place, the same one who took the previous exam from Calder.
"I see you have succeeded quite a lot on your path of becoming a magician," the Spirit began without opening his eyes. - Apparently, less than six months have passed, and you are already ready. What is this? Pride, arrogance, self-confidence, or a reasonable step up this ladder, what is called power? - At the last question, he opened his amazing lilac eyes and looked at the boy.
"Perhaps," Calder began a little later. - To some extent, power, but I prefer another name for this staircase.
- ABOUT? - the old man was surprised or pretended to be surprised. - And what would you call your staircase?
"If we put together everything that I strive for, then only one name comes to mind," the guy began his answer, confidently meeting the gaze of lilac eyes with his gray-blue eyes. — If there is a stairway to heaven, then I would call it the Ladder of Development. That's exactly it and no other way. After all, by acquiring knowledge and power, we develop, grow above ourselves, overcome our limits and destroy any obstacles in our path. This is my path and this is my destiny.
There was a deafening silence, no sound was heard, even the wind, which somehow appeared in this room, did not create any whistle, as if it was afraid of something or someone. Who will understand him?
There were two people in the room - old and young. One stood and the other hovered, one was alive and the other was not. So different, with different roads and paths. One is just at the beginning, and the second has long crossed the finish line. One has everything ahead, and the second is no longer interested in anything, because he has achieved what he dreamed of and strived for all his life. Or maybe this is just his imagination and there is no finish line or obstacle? Just one more destination before the countless others ahead? Maybe this is true, maybe not. Now we won't know the answer for sure. And this is not the time for this.
"Good answer," the Spirit finally said, after several tens of seconds of silence. "The most important thing is that you believe in him and walk along this path, and nothing else is needed," the look of his stern eyes warmed slightly, and sparks of the once extinguished flame began to dance in his eyes. With their existence, they began the process of melting the ice that has been living in this soul for centuries. The day will come when she will be freed from her shackles, although we don't know exactly when.
"From the moment you entered the room," the spirit changed the topic. "You and your magic have been subjected to various tests. First," he bent his first finger. "Only those who have achieved apprentice-level control over their magic can breathe in this room." You immediately noticed that the mana that was around us was not typical? - a nod was his answer. "That's what causes breathing problems." If there was insufficient control, you simply would not be able to breathe, stand and lose consciousness," the elder said with knowledge of the matter.
Calder, having heard this information, looked around the space of this room in a completely different way. He is already accustomed to constantly controlling his energy and releasing it in strictly defined quantities in order to correspond to his peers. Most likely because of this, he did not notice the influence of this room. What else could be a test, apart from, of course, the altar and pouring mana into it. Here even the smartest person will understand why this was done.
"Second," the spirit continued after Calder looked around the room and turned his gaze back to him. — Reserve. Here I think everything is clear. You poured Mana into the altar, and he determined its volume by the amount of mana poured in. Well, third," the third finger stood in a row next to the rest of its brothers. — A ritual phrase filled with mana. By pouring Manu into your voice, you broadcast it into the space of the room, and she analyzed it as control, and another way, but in this case, your conscious control over mana was determined," after finishing speaking, the elder looked at the young man again. Still, he didn't often come across such specimens, oh, not often. "I think we can now move on to the last test, right?" Any guesses what it is? - he asked out of pure curiosity.
"You don't need to think long about this," Calder shrugged. — The last thing is practice, and what else but combat can fully reveal practical skills, right? — and looked at him expectantly.
"That's right," the spirit nodded. - The fight will show how skillful you are. You have three minutes to prepare, after which your opponent will appear in front of you," having said this, the spirit began to disappear, but he said one last thing. - You must comply with only one condition - only the Gift of Metamorphism is allowed to be used in battle. There are no more restrictions," with the last word he melted in the wind, like exhaled steam from the mouth that flies away under gusts of wind.
"Okay," Calder thought, closing his eyes. - Three minutes to put yourself in full combat readiness. This is quite enough. All that remains is to find out who my opponent is?"
Whatever the guy thought, preparations were in full swing. In an instant the boy began to transform. His whole figure really swelled up, as if his muscles were pumped up with gel. The next moment it began to dry out, but much more slowly than it swelled. All his muscle fibers were tightly intertwined creating an incredibly strong frame. The skin became rougher, the facial features became sharper, and the aura, which was invisible to the ordinary eye, in an instant entwined the entire body and became so dense that it became visible in the normal sector in the form of a gray-blue spacesuit that fits the entire body.
It wasn't just mana that was involved. Prana and Psi also began to behave much more actively. The first one began to circulate almost ten times faster, it began to entwine every cell of the guy, making him much more tenacious and stronger than before.
The second one wove the entire brain and nervous system into one cocoon, which led to a material acceleration of thinking, as well as reaction speed.
"I'm ready," the creature's rough voice boomed. It felt like metal was starting to scrape against metal. Not the most pleasant feeling. - It's time to start, spirit.
As if in response to his words, two craters appeared in space. A carcass of four meters appeared from one. She was already familiar to the boy; it was a troll. The second creature was different. This was a kind of cross between a wolf and a human, but it was definitely not a werewolf. At least not the highest stage of development of this species.
"Dumb, slow, but strong. And also fast, sharp and with incredible instincts, but rather weak," Calder came to the logical conclusion after a brief analysis. - Troll, the least of the problems. The main thing is a damned werewolf, it's good that he's a damned one. I couldn't stand it against the normal one. What can we say about purebreds, leaders and true ones."
All these thoughts did not take even five seconds. That's how fast Kol was thinking at the moment.
"Good luck to you," said the quiet voice of the spirit.
These words served as a trigger. Events spun with incredible force.