Book 2: The Trialborn Legacy

An hour later they were ushered out of the room by a swarm of ominously-buzzing drones. Zavier's clothes were mottled with holes and barely hanging on, but at least he didn't have to walk through this place in the nude and barefoot. They were forced into a hallway that seemed to turn unexpectedly in ways that should have had it doubling back on itself, yet never did. The featureless walls were unbroken by doors, windows, or art, and Zavier's experimental attempts to send his chain through it just found it ricocheting off in a shower of sparks.

They turned into a long stretch that showed variation for the first time. The white marble floors and white painted walls ended ahead of them, something standing at the dead end. They approached warily, Zavier both relieved and nervous when he saw that it was another tablet on a pedestal.

"The drones are gone," Tess said, looking behind them.

"Welp, either they're letting us go or they know there's no going back," Zavier replied.

"I think we all know which one it is," Tess said as she stepped to look over his shoulder at the tablet. "What do we have?"

The tablet showed four clip art style icons, one of a flame, another of a drop of water, the next of a cloud and swirling lines meant to indicate wind, and another of a mountain. Zavier waved the kids over, the four of them crowding around the tablet.

"Okay," Zavier started. "I think obviously whatever comes next is going to feature these elements pretty heavily. I'd personally like to veto fire right now."

Head nods all around. None of them would have wanted to experience any literal trials by fire anyway, but the memories of the electrical attacks definitely closed that option off for all of them.

"What about water?" Cass asked.

"I'm not mad at it," Luna said, "but I really don't want to drown. That seems like one we can't do much about."

"I feel that way about air," Tess chimed in. "Wind we could handle, even if it's throwing stuff at us, but I'd be willing to bet that this place could take the air away just as easily as it gives it to us. Of all the things we could survive, I think suffocating would be the one we can do the least about. It's not like we can bring in air."

Zavier's eyebrow cocked up at that, mind racing. He dropped his expression back to neutral immediately, not wanting to give whoever was watching any hints to his ideas.

"Okay, well I really don't think we should do earth," Cass argued. "I don't see a lot of things 'earth' could mean other than burying us or smashing us between the walls or something. You're strong, mom, but not 'hold up a mountain' strong."

"Well that just got us nowhere," Luna sighed.

They all jumped when a loud ticking started up again. "Damn it!" Zavier said as the ticking sped up faster and faster. He'd learned the rate of speed at which it sped up by now and knew they only had a bit over a second left. He jabbed out and touched the pad just as the buzzer chimed. The ticking went away and the wall in front of them slid open to reveal a massive, empty room.

Power Station, Level 1: Trials of the Elementals

"What did you choose?" Tess asked as they stepped into the room.

Before he could answer there was a deep thump as Zavier walked into an invisible barrier, rebounding to land on his backside against the now-closed door.

"Huh, I guess the room isn't empty," Tess surveyed the room with her hands on her hips.

"Rude!" Zavier said and grabbed her leg and butt, pulling himself up.

She slapped his hands away with a laugh. "This is not the time for that, you big baby!"

"Fine, fine - you're right. Okay, so I guess it's invisible barrier time. Can anyone feel how big this space is?"

They all threw their arms out like mimes, prodding the air around them until they had discovered that they were in a small square no bigger than five feet in each direction.

"Okay, what do we do now?"

Everyone considered Luna's question. Tess squinted into the distance. "Guys, I think I see something over there," she stepped back and pointed to a spot directly across from them at the far end of the airplane-hangar sized room.

"I don't see anything," Zavier replied with his own squint.

"Me either."

"Yeah, I don't see anything either, mom," Cass said.

Tess stepped forward and pushed her forehead against the invisible barrier, cupping her hands around her eyes. "It's there. Looks like some sort of typewriter or something on an end table or something. The rest of this place looks empty though."

"Hey mom, look at this!" Luna's voice was excited as she did what appeared to be a sideways shimmy for no discernable reason. She stopped when it was obvious her shoulder impacted something. "I found a hallway!"

Cass walked over, his hands tracing along the wall in front of him until one shoulder was stopped, but the other wasn't. "It's skinny," he said. "I can't fit through facing forwards, but it feels like I'll be able to when I'm sideways." He turned and his words proved true, following Luna into the space as she was off in another direction.

The family moved like this for fifteen minutes, spaced out and looking silly as they followed each other in odd directions. The pathways opened up, narrowed, turned unexpectedly, or even doubled back with only a small pane of invisible glass between them. They'd even run into paths that had multiple openings.

"This lost its charm a few turns back," Zavier said. "It's bad enough that we can't see the walls, it's even worse that you can't even scratch them."

Tess nodded without turning her head. She'd tried to scratch the glass with Claw and Shimmer to mark their route, but neither had done the slightest bit of damage. Their plan to visually map out the area was stymied. As befits the most annoying maze in history, Zavier thought. He was memorizing it as they went, but that didn't help any of the others find their way through, and he was currently bringing up the rear.

Lost to his internal grumblings he walked into Tess's back unexpectedly. "Woah! What is happening?"

"We're stuck," Cass said.

Tess looked back over her shoulder at him. "Luna can't find an opening."

"Honey!" Zavier said loudly, "Did you try the corners too? Reach around and see if there are any openings in the wall that might not be at hand height!"

"No dad, those thoughts never occurred to me! I'm so glad you're here to help!"

"I think that was sarcasm," Zavier whispered to Tess.

"I think you might be right," she whispered back.

There was a sound then, a bubbling that reached their ears. They looked around in fear, not knowing what this thing would throw at them next. When Zavier felt something cold on his ankles he looked down and realized his fear. "Shit! Tess! I forgot to tell you, I chose water!"

"Oh god," was her only reply as they all looked down at the water rising out of the floor.