Shrouded in Darkness

Two days passed in a flash and soon it was time for Adeline to finally take on the trial. On a morning as cold as any other, Adeline laid peacefully on her rustic bed, stray rays of sunlight rested on her skin. Peeking past the door frame, Constance stood, watching Adeline gently breathe in her sleep.

"I wish I could aid you..." she sighed faintly.

The administrator trial was a necessary task for all fairies to overcome, allowing them to gain an understanding and develop a domain over their given magical element. However, for a progenitor fairy, the trial had a far more significant meaning. In a sense, the awakening of a progenitor fairy is akin to the birth of an entire racial offshoot of the species, that would bolster the variety and capabilities of the race forevermore. Of course, for such large rewards, the progenitors must face trials of astronomical difficulty.

Not long passed before Adeline began stirring in her sleep. Her vision gradually cleared as her long, raven eyelashes lazily batted open. Looking over to the nearby window, she noted the sun had risen significantly into the sky, suggesting the time was well into the morning. Remembering the importance of the day, Adeline decided not to dally and hurried to exit her bed. As she did, she noticed Constance waiting for her by the door frame,

"Go-od... morning"

"A pleasant morning to you as well. If you would allow me to be frank, we do not have a great deal of time as your trial must begin once the sun has reached its peak. Let us begin preparations immediately!" explained Constance. Adeline, having just woken up, found herself struggling to eep up with Constance's impossible pace.

"It's still morning, how is she running about like this" thought Adeline as we dragged back and forth throughout the entire house by Constance. Having spent all her time since she had woken up inside her room, Adeline had yet to see any of the many rooms in Constance's irregular tree house. Although her room was quite large, possessing all the necessary components for her to survive, it's design was quite rustic and simplistic in a way that she could now see was not reflective of the rest of the premises. As she travelled through the expansive corridors, the sizeable dining room, the various bedrooms the only thing coming to Adeline's mind was a single word, Grand. It was as if she was traversing some aristocratic estate, with the detailed floral trimmings, the intimidating pillars and overwhelmingly high ceilings.

Eventually, Adeline found herself at the centre of a large circular room. Along the wall was a railing that spanned the entire circumference of the room, entirely occupied by hangers carrying a plethora of different items of clothing. Beneath the hanging clothes was a similarly built rack carrying various forms of footwear.

"Welcome to my walk-in. It's quite the collection if I do say so myself. For a child as adorable as you, it's such a disservice that you've been in that nightdress since you've come here. At least for your trial I'll dress you up in something more befitting. This will be the first time that most people will se you after all" said Constance. Not waiting for Adeline's reaction, Constance immediately rushed off towards a set of dresses and began inspecting them. Not sure of what to do, Adeline made her way around the room mindlessly passing the countless outfits spread through the room.

"So excessive! There is no way these dresses are comfortable to wear day to day. I wonder if I can find some jeans or sweatpants" she mused as she idly moved through the room. Dodging Constance's attempts to dress her in one of many heavily bejeweled princess dresses, Adeline finally settled on a pair of flexible burgundy leather pants and a sleeveless pale-eggshell blouse.

"What an uninspired outfit! An adorable girl such as you needs frills! and bows! and jewels! you're plain dress sense is simply injustice!"

"Bu-t.. I li-ke... this most..."

"Ahh, you're such a strange child. Fine, you can wear this today but one day I will get you in a princess dress, I promise you that!" stated Constance with a pout unbecoming of her mature face.

At last leaving the house, Adeline was finally able to admire the building in it's entirety. Although she had gleamed it's general tree trunk nature already when looking through her window, she felt far more impressed as she was dwarfed by the enormous shadow of the glowing, lively tree. Despite an entire mansion being located inside, the integrity of the exterior of the building remained pristine, with a vitality that was inconceivable for a hollow trunk-ed tree. The rest of the landscape did not lose out, and as Adeline walked through the vibrant meadows while accompanied by a majestic green-haired fairy she could not help but think she had been reborn into a fantastical fairy tale.

It did not take long for Adeline to be awoken from her rose tinted trance. Not far from Constance's compound was a large stone altar where many fairies were congregated as they awaited the arrival of their matriarch as well as the trial participant. Excitement was palpable within the cloud, as they were all aware of the magnitude of this particular trial. The altar itself was a significantly grand affair. A large circle of stone pillars surrounded the altar grounds, with a circular moat lining the interior of the circle. In the very center was an imposing stone pyramid, with detailed runes etched onto every side.

"Well, that certainly looks ominous" thought Adeline as she approached the altar grounds. She could barely acknowledge the crowd as she was entirely distracted by the significant pressure she could feel exuded by the altar. As she stood face to face with the stone pyramid, she looked up to see that the sun had just reached it's highest point. A great deal of energy could be seen coagulating at the surface of the sun, before it shot down, connecting directly to the tip of the pyramid. The energy quickly seeped through the structure, brightly illuminating the runes that lined the pyramid.

"Good luck! It will be painful and difficult, but I'm sure you can persevere!" said Constance from Adeline's side before she began making her way to the crowd, that awaited just behind the pillars. Adeline barely picked up on Constance's well wishes as the light that began propagating from the pyramid had also began coursing through her body. Unbeknownst to her, her eyes began exuding pure light and her body stiffened as the energy seemed to grasp onto every fiber of her being, tearing it apart and combining with it. The feeling was excruciating, an all encompassing pain the refused to even allow her to lose consciousness. It was akin to a fire meticulously incinerating every individual atom in her body, before reconstituting it repeatedly.

But this was far from the end of the trial for Adeline. As quickly as her entire being was shrouded in light, she was abruptly shrouded in darkness. The pain only subdued slightly, enough for Adeline to be able to slightly grasp the change that occurred around her. The trees, the crowd, the altar the light, it was all gone. All that surrounded her now was an infinitely dark void. Adeline found herself in a position that had become all to familiar to her as of late, she was helpless and alone, surrounded by an infinite darkness that she was entirely incapable of tackling. Remaining calm was no longer a concern for Adeline as she found herself quickly losing her mental grasp to her panic. But, before her mental state could sink too far, a voice that seemed to be emitted from every position surrounding her suddenly addressed her,

"O' wandering soul, welcome to my trial. I care not for what you once were, for what you are now is a custodian for the life blood of our world. A large role with large responsibilities. Now prove your worth!"