Hagumi waited silently as Ardal began to speak, explaining The Sven Wonders. It was true that she, Hagumi, had heard of the trials before, but standing there, in the here and now made their explanation bare full weight. "What makes Seraphim unique," Hagumi began, her ice blue eyes moving slowly from one council member's face to another, coming to rest finally on Ardal. "Is it our beauty? Our wings? No... For there is beauty in all races, and wings are found on many creatures, sentient and non alike. What makes Seraphim unique is our magic, and the ability for each of us to harness it to a degree." Pausing, Hagumi unfurled her wings, her pristine white feathers gleaming softly in the light as she stretched out her right hand. A small ball of energy formed in the air above Hagumi's open palm, tiny arcs of blue-white energy making the palm sized perfectly round sphere of energy sparkle brightly and shimmering as it pulsed rhythmically with Hagumi's ice magic. 

"Torva has seen this once, long ago," Hagumi replied with a small smile, her words directed to Torva, though her eyes never left the council members faces. "It is but a tiny fraction of the magic I have been gifted with... Ice..." Hagumi then paused again, allowing the ice-globe to vanish in a silent shower of sparkling light. Closing her eyes,, Hagumi began to draw upon her reserves, the air surrounding her dropping to a frigid cold; then plummeting to a bone numbing chill. Wisps og fog swirled around Hagumi's body as she drew Doragon from her sheath and pointed the blade toward the ceiling. Hagumi rose slowly into the air until she were roughly haft-way between the chamber's floor and ceiling. "Frozen Heavens... blizzard," Hagumi whispered, and as the words fell from her lips, those gathered would feel a tug on their bodies as the very moisture within was pulled forth to add to Hagumi's spell. Clouds, dark and grey, full of ice and snow formed above Hagumi swirling first clockwise and then counterclockwise... moments passed... before a blinding white flash of light obscured Hagumi and as it cleared, Dorgan hovered above her, the ice dragon drawfing the ice mage, its beating wings adding to the primal fury of Hgaumi's blizzard spell.

The room became engulfed in what could only be described as a white out... a blizzard of ice and snow with its full fury at the centre where Hagumi hovered. Further and further Hagumi pushed herself, drawing first mana from deep inside herself; then her very life essence causing the storm's winds to howl with a fury as if they were alive while the spell itself covered everything in its sphere in a layer of bitterly cold ice and snow, the spell skating on the razor thin edge of being lethal. Gathering herself again, Hagumi channeled a spell into her wings, her soft snow white feathers becoming encased in a layer of glistening blue-white ice, each moment causing the young mage's wings to become heavier and harder to move. At last, with to much weight to bare, Hagumi dropped to the floor, the winds around her dying to a still as she struck the chamber floor in a kneeling position, her chest heaving with each deep breath of air Hagumi drew, the strain of the trials showing on her now very pale face.

Opening her eyes slowly, tiny bits of ice falling from her eyelids, Hagumi met Ardal's gaze. A hard shiver chased itself up and down Hagumi's spine as she felt the stabbing cold and pain from the fourth trial shoot through her wings and then through her body. Placing hr right hand on the floor, Hagumi pushed herself back to her feet, a small cry escaping her lips as she did so, more ice dropping from her lips, body and wings. Folding her right hand over her left, Hagumi closed her eyes yet again and turned her thoughts to her next ordeal, reversing what she had done to her wings. Ever so slowly the ice began to thaw, dropping from Hagumi's wings along with some of her feathers, the ice shattering silently as it struck the chamber floor. After what seemed forever, the last chunk of ice fell away, leaving Hagumi's wings free... she now again on one bended knee, a sheen of sweat covering her body causing her robes to cling to Hagumi's shivering form and her usually tidy golden blonde hair hang wetly about her face. A command spoken in a strained, wavering whisper dismissed Doragon, the mighty ice dragon vanishing in a silent explosion of blinding blue-white light leaving Hagumi once again alone near the centre of the council chamber.

"I have to do it," Hagumi thought, a sharp spike of pain stabbing at her heart as she gazed sadly at the tightly bound wolf daeva. "That could be Torva someday," Hagumi thought, a tear forming at he corner of her left eye as she knelt to pick up the dagger, doing her best to push aside the daeva's snarls and growls as it stared at she and the others gathered about with the rage of feralism in its eyes. Looking down at the blade in her hand, Hagumi shook her head back and forth, pushing roughly aside her thoughts of Torva and what come to pass. "The needs of the many," Hagumi whispered as she placed cold steel to the wolf's throat, Hagumi forcing her hand to become still, though she yet was feeling the effects of the previous trials and it was taking all her strength and will to remain standing and conscious. "I am sorry... If you can understand me.. I am sorry.. Please rest in peace now." Hagumi spoke before with a single swift stroke she slit the wolf daeva's throat in a shower of bright crimson coloured blood which sprayed across her face, neck and robe as the daeva fell to the floor, his life leaving his body in a pool of blood.

Dropping the dagger by the now dead wolf daeva's body, Hagumi turned to Ardal on slightly trembling steps. Placing her right hand on Arach's hilt, Hagumi wrapped her fingers around the mighty weapon, feeling keenly the power which flowed through the blade. It was, as Ardal had said, the opposite of her magic, fierce, hot, chaotic. With great effort, Hagumi pushed her weariness and pain aside, all she had worked for would come to this... She had to succeed, for Torva, the daeva, for her own people, and even for the humans... if she failed... Forcing all other thoughts from her mind with a forceful shake of her head, Hagumi focused her mind on Arach. As their magics collided, sparks of ice and fire energy arced from Arach's blade, the air around Hagumi bitter cold at one moment and then suffocatingly hot the next. "Arach, please lend me your power," Hagumi whispered as she again dropped to one knee before using Arach to pull herself upright again. Through vision which alternated between crystal clarity and a fog like haze, Hagumi saw Arach's balde come alive, tongues of fire replacing ice as the winter like chill in the room turned to a comforting summer like warmth. "Have I... succeeded? Just a little more... Is it enough?" Hagumi wondered aloud, lifting her gaze to Ardal, as she felt the last of her energy leave her form, flowing like so much water, and she collapsed into darkness.