Welcome to Gaia! ::

The forests of Urania. They were vast and deep. You could be mistaken for believing that they covered all the surface.

If you looked out from where you stand, you cannot see past them. Even if you got as high as you could, you would not see anything but the trees. And if you could get as low as you could, you would only see roots.

But, at the center of the world, there was a large area of mostly stone. It was on the outskirts of this area that you now stood, on ground of a fine and dark dirt. It is as if you stand on the last bit of ground before the untamed wilderness.

This area leads to the Land Ward.

———

“Welcome to Urania. This sphere here… well, it used to light up this section of the forest! Which section is this? Oh, yes. This is the Land Ward. Oh! I should explain why it’s called that. The constellation Taurus had that title on my world. But it also represented a clan, the Land clan, represented by the Bull. There was also three tribes under them, Boötes, the Herder; Crater, the Gatherer; and Sagitta, the Hunter.

See! They are right here on the sphere…

Oh, perhaps I should explain why I’m explaining all this.”

The senshi touches the sphere’s stars in a certain order. Nothing happens for a moment. And then you see the stars shift and move before forming the words:

Are you ready?

“You see, on my world, before I was allowed to leave and explore beyond Urania, I had to complete a challenge from each clan. Which I did! But, um, this thing doesn’t seem to remember that. It won’t let me turn on the light until I do it all over again! I mean… the two things — lighting the way and the challenge aren’t even connected! It must be broken…”

She looked sad and her wisp appeared and tried to comfort her by doing all it could which was spin around her head. Then she looked to you.

“And I was much stronger than… you see. I’m not at the same stage as I was then. So, if this does what I think it does, I’m going to need some help.”

Are you ready? Are you ready? Are you ready?

The stars keep reforming and asking the same thing over and over, like it’s broken or something and stuck on repeat. The wisp circles the sphere excitedly as if also asking…

Are you ready?


❂

As Daedalus leaned in to examine it, he can see that the sphere is very worse for wear.

It appears to be made of stone, but not any kind that appears on Earth. On its surface is engraved small, individual stars. If you look extra close, you can see that those stars have small holes in them.

It appears that, at least at one time, it had been perfectly round. A perfect sphere. But there is a chunk in the back that you couldn’t see before that seems to have fallen off.

“The Land was always about the balance between nature and civilization. The old ways versus the new. A blending, if you will. Agriculture, animal husbandry, hunting. Their tests were usually pretty varied. Hrm…”

Urania had to think about it for a moment.

“A puzzle and a fight! I remember one was a riddle. One involved a battle with a bull and a maze. I can’t remember the last one.”


❂

“Let’s go!” She said as she placed her hand on the sphere.

Urania was glad to have another senshi like herself to help.

The sphere lights up, but barely. It’s almost impossible to tell. The light is so faint. Then you hear a small voice, like a bell:

Welcome to the test of the Land!

The first test is from Sagitta, the Hunter:

Mates unbalanced,
Or so they seem;
But paired in tandem,
A deadly team.
She so gently round,
Him so firm and straight,
Yet when they are compounded,
Woe to them they hate.

What am I?

“It seems the riddle is first.”


❂

Urania thought for a second. A pair. One bent, one round. Though she was confused on why the objects were gendered. That just sounded dumb.

A bow and arrow would fit. Erytheia had that as his knight weapon. When he used it, the bow would bend, but the arrow would be straight.

“I think so. Yeah.” She responded to Daedalus before the sphere confirmed it.

The sphere responds by chiming:

Correct!

The second task is from Boötes, the Herder:

You must reach the end of the maze or defeat the bull.

Suddenly, all around you springs up walls. Each is very tall and made of a holographic material at first, but then solidifies before you. You can’t see over these walls and there are three paths before you.

Urania is nowhere to be seen.

You also hear the sound of hooves.


❂

“Daedalus!” Urania’s voice sounded quite a ways off, like she was very far away or there was more than one wall between them. “Are you in the maze, too?”

As you walk through the labyrinth, you notice that the walls are all the same. So is the ground below you. Everything is perfect and there is no way to tell which way to go. You can, however, hear the bull.

It pokes its head around a corner and you can see its large horns before you see its face. It appears almost spectral with glowing star-like eyes that star at you for a moment before it paws the earth with its hoof.

It charges.


❂

"I'm here!" Daedalus called back, and he moved to head towards where he thought her voice might be coming from--which was, it seemed, a very large mistake.

Because there, in front of him, was the bull.

"...And I found the monster!" There was a distinct edge of oh s**t to his tone, and it charged him--the good news was, he was quick on his feet, and also quick in a fight. His magic came to hand--and in that moment, it burst out of him, an explosion of power.

"Porgress Forward!" The dazing, disorienting quality of it, he hoped, would be enough to drive the bull away.

Honestly, it was lucky that his amgic had been enough to take the Bull out of play so quickly, because Daedalus felt totally winded after that, as if it had sucked all the energy out of him. Worse, his lungs burned--and for a moment, he had to double over and cough, covering his mouth and praying that it stayed a dry cough.

It took him a moment, even once it was done, to catch his breath and answer Urania's question.

"I think I defeated the Bull," he said, sounding mroe than a little breathless. "My magic--it came out stronger than usual." He smiled, wryly, as he moved closer to her. "A good fluctuation, for once." Whatever was wrong with his unstable power, upgrading hadn't fixed it, but at least this time it had benefited him and Urania.

Another cough racked its way out of his chest.

Alright, mostly benefited.

The malfunctioning of the sphere made Daedalus tense up, and he put a hand on Urania's arm.

"We should move, that looks dangerous."

Daedalus gave Urania a brief nod of acknowledgement. "I've..heard a few other reports of magic behaving strangely. I'd need more information before I came to a theory, but it doesn't seem to be entirely isolated."

But now, there was a problem before him. A mechanical problem. Gently, he squeezed Urania's arm, a gesture he hoped would be reassuring.

"I might not be familiar with this specific form of magic tech, and I'm no Mauvian," he said, as he reached into subspace and produced the multitool he'd received from Almadel, "but Ido know my way around a machine."

This wasn't the sort of familiar engines and clockwork that Daedalus knew by instinct--but it was still a machine, and he could still pull it over, seek a way to open it, and start getting his hands into the guts of it.

"A machine is a machine, in the end, and honestly, most things break in fairly predictable ways. I'd bet we have some frayed wiring, or a bad connection, or some other form of rot after all this time. Eminently fixable, probably."

He was in his element, and it showed.