Shadowcast

Entrance Exam: Part 4

Alusius looked down at the wolf-eared girl who materialized out of the aether before his very eyes. Assuredly, as a wizard, he was accustomed to such unnatural entrances. Yet, the abrupt nature of her appearance left him quite startled.

"Er... hi?" He lowered his handmade crossbow.

The girl leapt back and conjured a set of arcane glyphs in front of her. It took her only a moment to realize that Alusius posed no threat to her. She dismissed her glyphs and stood up, rubbing the grass stains out of her trousers. Her round, purplish-gray face was flecked with singe marks and bits of plant matter.

"Hi," she said, "You're also taking the test?"

"The entrance exam, yes," Alusius replied, "Apologies. I'm not especially skilled with introductions, so I'd like to move quickly through this. I'm from House Ruzicka. My name is Alusius."

"W-Wendy," the girl stammered, "Wendy Volk."

____________________________

Wendy was relieved to meet someone who hated introductions as much as she did.

"W-Wendy," she stammered, "Wendy Volk." Her eyes warily took in every inch of him. His dark, blue-tinted skin and sharp, oddly delicate figures. His snowy white hair cropped short on the sides. His robe-like black tunic, the likes of which Wendy had only seen in the foreign affairs section of the newspaper. She couldn't help but notice the strange-looking crossbow in Alusius's hands. Bringing it up would mean more conversation, though, so Wendy decided not to ask about it.

Alusius looked confused. "I wonder what we should do next."

Wendy hated making decisions. "What do you want to do?"

"Ladies first."

"Okay." Wendy's focus kept coming back to the ancient-looking stone temple in the middle of the clearing. "Let's go there."

"Into the temple?"

"Yes?"

"That may be a good idea," Alusius said, starting down the cracked path toward the base of the temple. An opening in the wall led down into the temple's shadowy depths. A line of unintelligible writing hung ominously over the doorway.

"Can you read that?" she asked Alusius.

"Not yet." Alusius took a book from his belt and flipped through a few pages. "This one should suffice." With a wave of his hand and a few chanted words, Alusius's eyes lit up with a cold blue glow. "It says... 'Here lies the Maker's final gift.'"

"What does that mean?"

"Honestly, I've no idea."

"If it's a gift, we might be able to use it."

"Perhaps," Alusius said as the light slowly faded from his eyes, "In any case, we should ensure it won't hurt anyone." Alusius led the way into the temple. He glanced back at her. "You're a Shifter, yes?"

Wendy froze for a second. She felt like she'd run head-first into a wall. Usually, people didn't ask her about her race. "Y-yes."

"So you won't need extra light."

"Um... yeah. Right. Do you need light?"

Alusius gave her a smile as they descended into darkness. The reflective backs of his eyes flashed in the last of the light. "My ancestors lived their whole lives in the dark. I can manage."

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Author's Note: 

That Alusius character... I wonder what his deal is?