The landscape shifted around Iejiel until only Bryceton remained before him. Where had the other two gone? Where they panicking? Attempting to rush off after them? Or did they just decide that Bryceton wished to speak with Iejiel alone and leave it at that? Iejiel glanced around the area. It looked like the same place---sorta. The details were distorted. It was as if someone had general knowledge of the area, but have forgotten the details that would bring it all together. Where were they? He stood there in confusion for a few seconds before it hit him---the void. Someone was purposely trying to make the area look like the place they had been before they entered it, and it wasn't them that forgotten the little details but rather the void--itself--was having a hard time holding those details in place.
He turned his eyes towards the other male, whom pushed himself from the tree that he had been leaning against. The tree vanished---the void had no reason to strain to keep that detail. "I thought it would be better to speak in private." Bryce said in his thick accent. "I can't just hand the bond over to you."
"I know that." Iejiel told him. His thoughts going to Everleigh. He wanted to find her. No, he needed to find her. He couldn't...he pushed the thought aside. Now, wasn't the time to dwell on such thoughts. Now, was the time of action. He needed to do whatever it took to find her. "I'm not asking you to just hand it over. I am asking if there is any possible way to prove myself worthy of it."
The witch regarded Iejiel in utter silence for a few moments in such a way that made him feel stripped to his very soul. He dared not break Bryce's concentration---afraid if he did that he would lose any chance to the bond. Just as the witch's gaze was becoming too much to endure, he spoke. "I love Everleigh. I know that I haven't always done right by her, but one of my mistakes will not be handing this bond over to someone who I feel incapable of protecting her." Iejiel thought that Bryce was rejecting his request, but the witch rendered any protest he had as he continued to speak. "The fact that you are here shows me that you have a desire to protect her, but whether or not you are the right person to hold this bond remains to be seen."
"How do I prove that I am the right one?" Iejiel asked.
"Easy." Bryce said this word in such a manner that made it clear that it was far from that. "I want you to complete three tasks."
"What are they?"
"What are they? What are they?" Bryce repeated this question is slight disbelief. "Would you rather I give you one task at a time. You could be one of those heroes in the stories."
"No." Iejiel's voice was firm--unwavering. "This isn't a story, and if I wish to prove myself worthy of this bond than I need acknowledge that problems in real life doesn't wait in the shadows for another to be solved."
"Good. The fact that you accept this truth says much about you. Fine, I will give you all three tasks. There is no time limit on when they need to be completed, but part of the test will be completing them in a certain order. These tasks will represent protecting certain aspects of her, which are her soul, heart and mind. I will not tell you which task is for which aspect--mainly because I believe the tasks themselves make it clear which aspects they represent." The witch paused for a few moments---continuing as soon as Iejiel nodded his head towards him. "The first task is to bring me the head of noroci."
Could a noroci be killed? Was that even possible? Iejiel didn't think that Bryce would ask him to complete a task that couldn't be done--difficult yes, but not impossible. The real question wasn't whether or not a noroci could be killed, but how it could be done. There might be someone that might be able to aid him on this task. "Okay." He said--most to allow the witch to know he had heard the task.
"The second task is free someone from the dreamscape. I don't care who, but be careful not everyone or everything trapped inside the dreamscape are beneficent"
"And the third?" Iejiel inquired. He hadn't been surprised by the second task. Yes, he had no clue what the tasks were going to be before Bryceton mention them, but as soon as he did they made sense. They were difficult---if not seemingly impossible tasks--and he had a feeling that the last one was going to be no different.
"The third tasks is to travel to the mirror of truth and look at your own reflection."
Iejiel was floored by that final task. The mirror of truth? That was only a legend, wasn't it? The only thing that kept him from saying this thought aloud---just like with the noroci was the belief that the witch before him wouldn't assign him tasks that were impossible to complete. "Okay." He nodded his head firmly at this words. "The first thing I need to do is kill myself a noroci."
Those words caused Bryce to raise a brow, but he did not question Iejeil on why he choose that task first. If he had Iejiel would have told him because her soul was the core of whom Everleigh was, and without it she wouldn't exist. Instead, he merely said. "Talk to Astrea." Than the landscape shifted again, and Iejiel found himself standing exactly where he had been before he had entered the void. The only difference was Bryceton was no longer there.
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