Free The Testing by Jonathan Moeller

appeared next to the stone chairs. “You may proceed to the next.” 
    Rachaelis rose. Another wave of dizziness washed over her, worse than before. She was pushing herself too hard, using too much magical power. Sooner or later her strength would fail.
    “A moment,” said Nazim. “Listen to me, child. You are doing well. Many Initiates do not make it this far. But the worst is to come. Do you understand? Keep your wits about you, and your guard up. That is all I can say.”
    Rachaelis nodded.
    “Good luck,” said Nazim, “and may the gods of my people watch over you.”
    She stepped into the archway.
    The silver light vanished, and Rachaelis stood in another domed chamber. Three blocks of stone stood in the center of the room, rough-cut and unfinished. Besides the blocks stood Talvin, the First Magister himself. His blue eyes focused upon her. 
    “The seventh trial of the Testing, Initiate,” said Talvin. “You have demonstrated how to defend your mind from magical attack. However, your thoughts can be used as a weapon in a cruder, if a no less effective, sense. You will now defend yourself from this weapon, or you shall die.”
    He gestured, and one of the blocks floated into the air. It hovered for a moment, and then Talvin gestured. The massive stone hurtled towards Rachaelis, heavy enough to smash her to a bloody paste against the wall.
    But she had realized what was happening the moment Talvin began speaking, and her own spell was ready. Her thoughts focused, as if a her will had became a third hand, and she bent her mind upon the block. It was too heavy to stop by main force. So her will slapped it instead, altering its course enough that it smashed into the wall with a tremendous crash. Rachaelis felt the vibration in her teeth, and dust fell from the ceiling, but the block missed her. 
    Again Talvin flung a block at her, and again, and both times Rachaelis deflected the stones with her will, smashing them into the walls. 
    When the last echoes died away, Talvin spoke. “You have passed the seventh trial, Initiate. Proceed to the next.”
    The usual archway appeared next to Talvin, and she walked into it. 
    The astraljump released her, and Rachaelis shrieked in sudden surprise.
    She stood on a narrow pinnacle of wet stone, barely two feet across. The pinnacle jutted out of a vast chasm, its depths disappearing into blackness. Yawning voids opened up all around her, and Rachaelis felt dizzy, and not just from exhaustion. Wind whipped out of the black depths, tugging at her hair and chilling the sweat on her skin. In the wall of the chasm, nearly a hundred yards away, Rachaelis saw the lighted outline of the stone archway. 
    Her feet started to slide, and for an awful moment Rachaelis thought she would go hurtling into the black abyss. She dug in her toes and strained, and the movement stopped. 
    “The eight trial of the Testing, Initiate,” said Talvin’s voice, booming from nowhere. “Adepts can use astraljump spells to transport from place to place, a skill that requires great precision and fine control. Astraljump to the archway.”
    He didn’t say what would happen if she failed. He didn't have to. She wondered how many shattered bones lay at the bottom of the chasm. It looked like the ledge before the archway was barely a yard across. That could be a problem. Rachaelis had plenty of magical strength, but her fine control had never been quite as fine would have liked…
    No. Don’t think about that.
    She focused upon the far archway, held its image in her mind. Astraljumps worked by forming a sort of shortcut across the astral world, letting the caster move quickly from one spot to another, and it was imperative that she maintain an accurate mental image of her destination.
    Otherwise she might miss. 
    She concentrated, and held the image in her mind for a full minute. Then she summoned the power and cast the astraljump spell. Silver light enfolded her, followed by a wrenching sense of