Chapter 14: TRIAL BY RHINO
After disentangling himself from the knot like way he'd gotten himself onto Jared, most likely from tossing and turning due to that nightmare, Azaire left the tent first followed by Jared.
They were traveling in the open and needed to be able to be mobile at a moments notice. Jared went to the pit were the campfire had been burning last night and started it back up and started on breakfast.
Azaire took his turn to get to watch Jared as he worked seemingly without anything better to do although there were surely other things he could be doing at the moment.
Before long mouthwatering smells wafted up from the cooking pot Jared manned, and these smells are what woke up Titania and master Talya and almost as an afterthought Azaire pulled his brother from the ring still half-asleep but slightly alert after his brother's random hand grabbed his hair and pulled him through space.
Roran after inhaling the divine scent of their breakfast shook off the last remnant of sleep as he hurried to a good seating spot close to the pot that had bewitched everyone so.
And it was only one more minute before the food was ready to be served. As Jared handed out bowls of the divine smelling 5-meat stew, he made sure Azaire was the first to be served. Not that this escaped anyone's notice but with a roll of the eyes this was ignored in favor of the delicious meal.
"Hey, nice shirt! Midas right? I'm more a Decker fan myself," Titania for once deciding to make small talk seemed to get excited after noticing Roran's T-Shirt which he had worn to bed last night and after being yanked out of bed, and space, by his brother he hadn't had time to change and hide his embarrassing hobby.
The shirt he wore was of the main character from his current favorite anime:
"My Superhero Boarding School"
And the once underdog slowly turning pro-hero of the story.
Instead of feeling embarrassed after having Titania admit her own shared interests Roran was ecstatic.
"Decker is okay and I'll admit he has done some surprising growth in the series, at first I thought he would be some lame stepping stone for Midas but then he grew right along to and now I'm more then satisfied with him being the actual rival/friend character he was made out to be at the beginning!"
Titania nods very sagely despite the conversation they were having as she replied.
"I know. I know! I always knew he was going to be special and never doubted him once but I'll admit when it started out he seemed like he was too static and wasn't really developing but if you can read between the lines...."
And with that the pleasant quiet breakfast was overtaken by a king and a blacksmith's discussion about their favorite anime and the characters in them.
Azaire who had gotten used to his brother's hobby wasn't bothered, master Talya who seemed to be thinking malicious thoughts seemed to preoccupied to care, and in Jared's eyes only Azaire was worth putting much attention too.
So no one tried to interject or stop the conversation until breakfast was done and master Talya finally stood up with a dangerous shine in her eye's that looked something like excitement or mania.
Maybe both.
"Alright then we've all had good sleep,good food, and good conversation! Time to get a move on, we have a special stop not far from here!"
Master Talya seemed to be really excited about something and for some reason everyone was a little worried about that, but without too much argument they quickly packed up and got on their horses that Azaire retrieved from the ring.
"We won't be riding too long this time so no riding along in the ring this time Roran," master Talya sounded stern but it was clear her mind was still elsewhere.
Roran who did not have any intention of doing so from the beginning didn't pay her any mind as he made sure to ride next to Titania and talk about all their different favorite anime and such things.
Meanwhile Azaire and Jared rode next to each other and talked about Azaire's favorite flowers and animals as Skye rode on the back of Jared's Pegasus and slept through it.
Master Tayla quickly realized she was left alone to sche...ahem....finish planning the rest of the test.
They rode on like this for another mile or two before they started to near a more rocky area of the desert. Master Talya seemed to get even more excited at the change of scenery.
After a little more riding into this area she stopped them and had them dismount. After Azaire "stabled" the horses inside his ring master Talya turned to him with a creepy shine in her eye's.
"Well naw darlin' ! Time to show your stuff!"
As she said so she handed Azaire a shiny gold and red scroll with characters from the ancient language of the Diamond Kingdom: Chinese.
With a suspiciously eager encouraging gesture, Azaire swallowed the lump in his throat and opened the scroll and began to read.
After Azaire began reading the scroll master Talya raised her hand and green sound wave like bursts of energy radiated from her hand pulsating evenly.
It was not at first clear what she was doing or what the scroll was for, but as Azaire read he realized it was a mystic technique inscribed into the scroll whose purpose was to both help kick start a beginner who is attempting to learn to utilize Ki, and it was also an explanation of what Ki life energy was and what it symbolized.
Ki is structure. Not just any structure, but structure for the living. Almost all living things had structure that they relied on to survive, whether flexible or inflexible.
Creatures and plants with things like bone and bark and such were inflexible and although normally seen as more advantageous they were really only as strong as those without bones or with flimsy stems because to each side went advantages and disadvantages that would determine how one lived.
To master Ki is to control one's structure and to be able to define their form no matter what shape they chose to take. This scroll in particular was designed for humanoid sentient's with bones and some type of skeletal system and as Azaire felt the mysticism seep into his bones he also became aware of what this "awakening" would really require and understood what the terrifying glint in his master's eyes were.
She hardly ever showed it but Azaire knew from experience his master had a bit of a hidden sadistic side and as Azaire was having this discovery the other's were beginning to have a discovery of their own.
The ground had started to vibrate and the vibrations got bigger and bigger as whatever was coming seemed to grow closer and soon everyone had noticed it, but before anyone could say or do much master Talya was there behind Azaire.
And while keeping one pulsing hand in the air she grabbed Azaire by the scruff of the neck and threw him nearly twenty feet forward toward the vibrations and in the distance the others just began to see what had been making all that racket.
As a shiny horn clearly made of precious gems came forward quickly. Followed by the tar black skinned body that sparkled with clusters of precious gems all across it's rhinoceros shaped form. Coming into view was a Rhinestone Rhinoceros and not just any rhinestone rhinoceros from the amethyst colored shine of it's horn it was already at the Advanced level.
The threat level for this beast would take someone from at least the late stages of the enlightenment realm to contest. This was a death wish but Azaire had already read enough to understand what was going on.
Awakening Ki can only be done with the help of the mystic energy from the script if he puts his life on the line otherwise the mystic script wouldn't be nearly enough to cause an awakening.
"Your first trial has been determined to be...TRIAL BY RHINO! Survive for two minutes or die a very premature death! On your head hangs the consequences! I tried to warn you but now I can only wish you luck dear Azzy!"
As everyone finally started to understand what was going on suddenly with a wave of her hand Roran passed out and Jared who had already began to rush forward was pushed solidly against the ground by gravity itself as the gravity around him grew unbearably heavy and he struggled to lift his head.
The rhinoceros was almost right onto Azaire and it looked like it had gone berserk as it began to swing it's head mid charge with a horn attack that would decapitate Azaire with ease.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone