Leval Lamrue

Leval focused the beam of light from his gloves trying to make sense of the rather messy handwriting of the old map in his hands. The fog rolling between the trees was incredibly dense, making what was already a rather difficult task into a near impossible one, as the fog hungrily ate in the light. Leval glanced up with his beam carefully examining the area around him, noises barely audible in the forest kept causing shivers of electricity to course down his body, raising the minuscule hairs on the back of his neck. ‘Paces,’ he thought letting out a muted sigh, ‘Who the hell still uses paces as a form of measurement?’ The shopkeeper had definitely swindled him. Leval had expected as much, but the prospect of a shortcut of Rosewood had been too much to resist. Now, rather than being the first one to enter the halls of knowledge from his dreams, he was three hours behind schedule.

A strange shape by a nearby tree caught his eye causing him to spin around gasping. A large scaled bird was crumpled against the towering tree, its neck smashed into the side leaving a red stain on the surrounding forest floor. “Oh god, it looks like it was hit by a sledgehammer- what could have done this?” Leval’s hazel eyes began to flit side to side, his shivering getting worse. Of course, he known that Rosewood was a strange place filled with “gifted” children, but it hadn't really hit him until now what he might be facing. Leval closed his eyes and imagined the knowledge he could find there. Books upon books, soaring towers filled with knowledge, and teachers that could answer every question burning in his mind about this world. His breathing stilled as he regained control, with one hand he reached to the bird and closed its eyes, before standing. 

Leval looked around him, or as much he could with the fog blocking most everything from view. His right hand idly played with the bouncy tuft of brown hair as he looked for a way one of here, his left hand still clutching the useless map. The first test, he decided, was to get out of this forest. He moved his right hand down and turned on his gloves to their highest intensity. It didn’t provide much in the way of visibility, but it was enough. His eyes caught on to distinctive marks on the ground, a straight line churning up the earth where it based and the distinct impression of footprints all headed the same direction He smiled at the earth and straightened, thought still dwarfed by his surroundings.

“Well no time like the present.” Leval furrowed his brow and reach deep inside himself touching the source of his gift. Around him, light bent and writhed, shaping itself to his desires and layered itself around him. Where he had stood a moment before, there was a huge man, body made of nothing but muscle, holding a two handed clay-more in his hands. To Leval, however, nothing had changed except for a faint imprint in the air around him that let him know the power was working. He moved his hand through it, pleased with its in substantial form. ‘This will make anyone think twice about messing with me.’

The massive human illusion moved forward, keeping perfect pace with Leval's motions looking confident while inside, Leval maintained a nervous grin. The light was growing clearer  and fog seemed to be thinning out steadily. And then Leval felt the air rush out of his lungs. The sight of the magnificent tower before him, the knowledge he could never find in the books of traders, and the waterfalls providing a beautiful backdrop to the scene. 

And that's when a bolt of force slammed into Leval’s back, knocking the wind out of him and casting him forward into the stump of tree. He hit it with a resounding crack and fire lanced through his shoulder and he heard a distinctive pop. He let out a yelp filled with pain and shock. The illusionary appearance mimicked his actions though the sound of impact was much lower than it should have been for a man of his size. He wrenched his eyes open and looked over to where the blow had come from. A figure in a dark clothes covering his entire body stood behind him raising its hand for another blow. ‘Oh god oh god oh god,’ Leval thought as he scrambled back behind the trunk. The area had seemed fine before, no sign of earlier fighting. ‘Is this because I’m late?’ the mad thought raced across his mind.

Another bolt of force slammed through the tree making a fist sized hole through the tree itself and straight through his illusory head. The illusion quickly reformed as Leval stared, not breathing at the blast that would've taken his head. He heard the distinctive sound of feet approaching. ‘Run. Gotta run.’ His panic took over and he began racing through the trees, but quickly tripped on a fallen branch. He twisted his neck around, the figure behind him was approaching rapidly almost seeming to glide across the ground. Desperate, he reached for his magic once again, feeling the strength of it course through his body. His illusory image grew massive towering above him, 15 feet tall, muscles bulging and coursed with veins, wielding a blade almost as tall as him. The image roared with savage fury bringing the figure up short staring up as the illusion lifted the blade above his head and begin to bring it crashing down. The figure raised its hands to block the blade, and as he did so Leval came up from below, screaming wildly, and stabbed the sharp end of the branch he had tripped over into the figure with his good arm. The figure jolted almost as if it were surprised and disappeared into a puff of dark smoke, dissipating rapidly into the foggy air.

Leval rolled onto his back, his chest rising and falling rapidly, filling his air with good, life giving air. "Congratulations Leval Lamrue. You have successfully completed to final step for you acceptance into Rosewood. Performance rank: C"

‘...a test? Really?’ Leval rolled onto his stomach and blanched. The adrenaline in his system was fading and the pain in his shoulder was beginning to throb. He put his shoulder against and nearby tree, took a steadying breath, and lunged forward. His vision burst into bright white and agony caused stars to explode in his mind. Nevertheless, he felt his shoulder click back into place. After a few moments of recovery, he flexed his fingers, testing to make sure everything was still working. Somewhere in the confusion he had lost his map. Leval quickly reduced the size of his illusion to the hulking 6’6 brute, but did away with the sword. Then, at last, he strode through the gates mounting excitement propelling him forward.