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“Itoldyouthatyou’dslayit,”EliyasaysasIslidebackontomyseatbesideher.
I pull my lips into a strained smile. “It came awfully close to smashing me apart.”
Eliya shakes her head. “You had it perfectly under control.”
“I’m not sure I did.”
“You at least looked like it.”
Magi teleport themselves down to the arena where Lorea waits to begin her battle. They callventrezand blow the remains of the golem out of the arena.
When the area is clear, Archmage Gidston calls, “Begin!”
Once more, the steel gate rumbles open. Lorea stands there at the center of the arena, anxiously waiting for the golem to charge out. She doesn’t have to wait long before the stone construct appears.
It lumbers toward her with heavy, purposeful strides. This golem is a perfect replica of the one I faced, with a pulsating crystal powering its every movement.
Like me, Lorea focuses her attention on the construct’s exposed core and blasts her magic at it. But her attack misses, and she is forced to teleport out of its reach. She repeats the same cycle over and over, teleporting around the arena and striking the golem with aether, until she eventually succeeds.
Her attack meets its target, and the crystal shatters. The golem explodes, chunks of rock bursting out in all directions. The crowd roars with applause, and then Archmage Gidston calls forth the next adept: Keion Bridwell.
One by one, the remaining adepts teleport down to the arena to fight a golem. Thankfully, no one dies and only one adept fails. Archmage Gidston had to intervene and stop the construct from killing him.
Soon, it’s Eliya’s turn. When her name is called, I grab her hand and give it a quick squeeze.
“Good luck,” I whisper.
Eliya grins at me. “I don’t need luck,” she declares, lifting her chin and placing her hands on her hips. “But thanks, anyway.”
With that, she teleports into the arena. She is the final adept to face the first round of the Trial of Magic.
At Archmage Gidston’s shout, the gate rolls open. Eliya doesn’t flinch. Nor does she gawk at the entrance, waiting for the golem to thunder out. Instead, she gathers aether into her fingers and calls, “Speculus!”
Two clones emerge from a flash of glittering light. Since they are all identical, I lose track of which is the real Eliya.
The construct emerges from the gate.
It pauses. Its glowing eyes scan over the three Eliyas who stand several yards apart from each other. The golem selects the middle Eliya and strides over to her, ignoring the other two.
All three begin casting. In unison, they cry outtelumand unleash their magic. The golem raises its arms, defending itself from the attack. Its enormous fists absorb her magic. When the barrage subsides, it continues toward its chosen Eliya.
With full force, its fists swing for her. I hold my breath, praying with all my heart it’s not the real Eliya. She makes no attempt to evade or defend herself. I fear Archmage Gidston might decide to intervene, disqualifying her from the Mage Trials, because there is no way of distinguishing which Eliya is real. I’m not even sure whether an accomplished mage could tell the difference.
Archmage Gidston doesn’t teleport herself down from the platform. She continues to lean over the balcony as she examines the fight below.
The golem’s fists slam into Eliya. She disperses into a shimmering cloud of aether.
I let out a sigh, the tension slackening in my shoulders.
I’m still unable to tell which of the remaining two is her. The construct’s attention flickers between them both. Then it charges to the one on the left.
Before the golem can reach its chosen Eliya, the two of them release their spells and cry out: “Tera!”
Their magic crashes into the ground directly beneath the construct, carving out an enormous ditch. Though it is impervious to magic, it isn’t invulnerable to the ground breaking under its feet.
Eliya flings aside the earth, and the golem crashes into the pit. It tries to scramble back out, but with its colossal weight, it is far from agile. Eliya seizes the advantage. Both she and the clone conjure another blast of aether.
By the time the stone construct hauls itself out of the hole, she has finished preparing a mighty spell.
