|
All but one answered the riddle correctly, and the sphinx felt a moment of pity for the stallion whose answer fell short of the mark. It was thoughtful, creative, but wrong. Perhaps some other time, some other day he would be worthy of a magic someone else had to offer, but she could not suffer a second failure.
It was not in her nature.
So it was to the almost reptilian-pelted stallion she spoke mentally first, her voice soft as she dared. "I am sorry, light one, but I cannot bestow my gift to you." Her eyes met his, apology in her lavender pools, before she moved on.
To the minds of the painted mare, and her friend, a simple denial. "You were separate before you noticed each other. A friend's counsel is not always the wisest. I cannot bestow my gift upon one who would forego inner wisdom for the influence of another so easily," the ancient creature said, her words clear but not delivered harshly. Both mares had good qualities within themselves, but they too easily came together and lost bits of themselves in doing so. At least for this test. She could not judge beyond these moments she observed.
The female unicorn with the feline was her next recipient of rejection. "Your pride is far too great, your impatience a beacon to your desperate need for inner growth. A child whines petulantly when a task takes too long; an adult suffers with the knowledge of reward at the end of a lengthy, arduous labor - of which this is neither." She would not reward a sense of self-importance.
The two that had answered last in this round of riddling, the mystical creature elected to allow one more chance to prove their worth. The drunkard of a male seemed to possess a strange amount of spot-on self-assessment, while the young female with the fox creature was motivated by the desire for betterment. These qualities were two the sphinx could offer her magic to. In both of their minds, she spoke.
"Only you two remain. I pose to you now a question that is only a riddle if you do not know yourself well: Why are you worthy?"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Those who were eliminated in Round 2:
Kahlua
Alysanne
Ciceron
Delinne
Those who remain:
Rostislav
Merida
Ciceron was the only to answer incorrectly, thus resulting in elimination. Everyone else was subjected to a dice roll, and those who rolled an odd number were eliminated. Prior refusals were not taken into account in the second roll, as it was deemed to be too much of an advantage to include them repeatedly.
As two remain, the winner will be decided purely by dice roll for complete random fairness.
Round 3 begins now. You have 72 hours from now to respond.
|
.svg/2000px-Google_Chrome_icon_(2011).svg.png){kind=icon}
⇒
[DROP] Chthonic Rites [Earth/Water Magic Drop]
