Three and a half months after Jess and Beth had started their training, it was finally the day before the Searcher Trial. As they went to bed that night, they each began to try and assess if they were ready for what lay ahead of them on the following day.

Beth stared at her hand. As her eyes moved downwards, they came to see all of the various bruises and scrapes that she had earned over these hard months of training. It was almost surreal that she was finally just on the precipice of the thing that she had been waiting for for so long now. She could still remember when she had first arrived and learned about searchers, her eyes had become so full of wonder at the idea of being able to travel all over the world, but now all that she felt was dread.

Jess had conquered almost all of their fear at this point and while she didn’t like to lie to them, Beth had started pretending that she was much more okay and ready for the trial than she really was. She had started out lying hoping that, eventually, it would stop being a lie, but it never did, at least not completely.

At this point, Beth had absolutely no doubts in her mind that Jess would pass the trial. While neither of them were sure what exactly the trial was, they could make some guesses and Jess was preparing for many different circumstances, making sure to train as many skills as they could.

When it came to their tutoring of each other, Jess had made far more progress than Beth had. Beth knew that she was the problem, while sensing could be taught, she also knew that there was a certain predisposition that often influenced the level of skill that could be achieved and Beth was certain that she just didn’t have that. No matter how hard she tried, there was unfortunately a cap to what she could achieve. Despite that, she had been able to come a great distance and was now infinitely more competent than when they had started their training.

When it came to Jess though, they were a natural. Things had started relatively rough, with Jess pretty much unable to use magic to any high degree, but as time went on, their doubts had disappeared and they had become far more adept at tuning out the pull of their eyes. Now they were able to harness a great amount of power and were becoming more proficient with each passing day. They had even continued to develop their primal essence, but there was something missing. There was still something they needed to push them over the edge to finally break through that barrier and harness the whole of their primal power, but Beth was sure they would find that soon.

With doubts swimming through her head, Beth spent the entire night tossing and turning, trying her hardest to get to sleep, but failing over and over again. Eventually, she gave up and just began to meditate in the middle of her room, practicing her sensing since she couldn’t sleep. To her surprise, while meditating, she began to drift off to sleep and before she knew it, she was slumped over on the floor, snoring softly.

-

The next morning, Beth woke up to a knock at her door. She peeled herself off the floor, massaging her head, the floor not providing the most comfortable resting place for the night. Sluggishly, she made her way to the door and slowly opened it, being greeted by the blinding light of the new day and the excited face of her friend. Jess was dressed in a somewhat more casual outfit to their usual robes. They were wearing a brown sleeveless cropped top with gold trim along the bottom. Their midriff was exposed and just below it they were wearing a simple green skirt that was attached to the top with brown straps. For once, both of their boots were the same size, both of them going up to around their knees. They gave Beth a confused look, eyeing her up and down before stepping inside.

“You know, I know they gave us free rein of our outfit for the trial, but I’m fairly certain that was so we could wear whatever would make us most comfortable. And, while I’m sure PJs are very comfortable, but I don’t know if they’re too appropriate…” Jess offered.

Beth looked down and groaned slightly. “Sorry… I was having trouble sleeping last night… I fell asleep meditating in the middle of the night… What time is it?”

“Uh… Late. The trial is in an hour and a half…” Jess explained.

Beth’s eyes widened and she quickly bolted off towards the bathroom, stripping along the way before jumping in to the shower and beginning to clear herself as thoroughly and quickly as she could.

“Jessie, could you maybe pick me out an outfit…?” Beth called from the shower.

“I guess so… What are you looking for?”

“I dunno! Just something easy to move in that isn’t too revealing, okay?” Beth called back.

Jess raised an eyebrow and began to rummage through their friend’s closet, eventually deciding on a simple brown shit with a gold ring around the middle and a pair of tan cargo shorts. As Beth came out of the shower, Jess offered her the clothing and she quickly redressed and the two bolted out of the door, racing down the road to make sure that they were on time.

“Why’d you have so much trouble sleeping last night? I thought you weren’t really feeling very nervous about the trial…” Jess asked as they ran along the path.

Beth sighed. She didn’t have the energy to lie and at this point and it didn’t really matter much. “Well… about that… I’ve actually been super nervous this whole time and I kinda thought that if I pretended I was okay, maybe I’d eventually be okay, but it didn’t really work and with the trial looming closer, I was honestly super on edge last night…” Beth blurted out.

Jess rolled their eyes. “Took you long enough to tell me… I was starting to get worried you never would…”

Beth turned to them, a bit shocked. “What? How did you know I was nervous…?”

Jess stared blankly back and sighed. “Don’t you remember all the lessons I’ve been teaching you about sensing and auras? I’m really good at reading auras and you are not at all good at concealing your aura, so your emotions are on pretty full display for me. That’s why I kept saying it was totally okay if you were feeling anxious whenever you said you weren’t…”

Beth avoided their gaze, her shoulders slumping. She had been such an idiot. She should have just told Jess and maybe they could have helped her, but she had to try and keep up her unbudging exterior. “I’m sorry…”

Jess nudged her and smiled softly. “Don’t be so afraid to tell me how you’re feeling, okay?”

Beth nodded and the two continued on mostly in contented silence. After about an hour, they finally reached the center village which was arranged in a grand manner in honor of the searcher trials. The families of all of the participants were gathered all around the tree, cheering and waiting for the opening ceremony to start.

As Beth and Jess entered the central village, they made their way to the stage that was set up in front of the entrance to the central shrine. They took their seat in the two remaining empty seats just behind the podium where Silvia was standing.

“You two are cutting it a little close, aren’t you?” Silvia called back in a hushed voice.

“I’m sorry, ma’am. I overslept…” Beth admitted.

Silvia sighed and nodded. “At least you’re here. It’s time to start.”

With that, she stepped forward and began to address the crowds. “Good morning, everyone! It is my honor to welcome you to this year’s searcher trial! We have quite a wide array of participants this year and I am very excited at the prospect of having them searching for us. As searchers, they will be tasked with making their way around the world and searching for the fragments of the Heart of Nature which was split thanks to the fractures many years ago. It is a great honor for them to serve us in this way and with each new pair of hands, we get closer and closer to making the world whole once again! However, the world is a dangerous place and recovering the fragments is just as much so, so we have these trials in place to ensure that those going out in the world are properly equipped to deal with what the world has to offer,” Silvia called.

Beth and Jess sat at attention, listening as Silvia began to go over the history of the searchers and how she herself used to perform the duty as well before she couldn’t any longer, thanks to the birth of her child. Jess turned a bit red as Silvia began to gush about them, saying how proud she was as a mother to have her child participating in the searcher trials this year. Eventually, once she had finished, she handed things off to a young man dressed in formal attire that looked like her was about to go fight in some big battle.

“Hello, everyone, as Silvia said, my name is Kirie and I will be the proctor for this year’s searcher trial. For those of you that don’t know…” he turned his attention back to the trial participants, “the searcher trial consists of three stages that you or your group will make their way through. These stages are aimed to not only test your strength and abilities as a person, but to test your qualities as an earth apprentice and to ensure that you will be able to help us in the search for heart fragments. Is that understood?”

The participants all nodded as he continued on. “You will be given two hours to complete the entire trial, but I highly doubt that you all will need the full time. If you do not complete the trial within the time limit, you will be disqualified and will have to retake the trial again next year. The first group that will go will be the three participants that are taking on the trial solo. We will then move on to the four two person groups and then the one three person group. Is that understood?”

The participants once again nodded, this time, the Kirie didn’t continue talking and simply motioned forward the first of the solo participants. She was a short girl with frizzy brown hair who seemed to have a boundless amount of excitement. Kirie handed her a small gold badge with a green spherical gem in the center and instructed her on the use of it before ushering her off to the entrance where she made her way inside.

Forty-five minutes later, the girl came out, now covered in dirt, cuts, and some light bruises. Despite her injuries, she was still smiling from ear to ear.

“Congratulations on your completion of the searcher trial. You have no officially become a searcher,” Kirie said before holding out his hand for the badge which was now glowing. He tapped the center and the gem folded outwards in to the shape of a rose. He handed the badge back to the girl who pinned it to her shirt before sitting back down.

After that, the participants continued to go one by one. Most of them passed except for one person who exited the shrine without the gem glowing. They hadn’t expended their whole time limit, but they had apparently simply given up on the second trial. Eventually, once all of the solo participants were done, Kirie motioned for Beth and Jess to step up. They shot up out of their seats and made their way over to Kirie who handed them each a badge.

“This badge is very important. It serves several purposes for this trial. First of all, the gem will slowly change color until it is completely red. When it turns red, your time is up and you will be locked out of the trial. An exit will appear for you and you will return the badge to me. Additionally, if, at any point during the trial, you wish to forfeit, you can simply tap the gem four times in a row and an exit will appear. If you complete the trial, the badge will begin to glow and as you’ve seen, you will present it to me,” he explained before motioning to the entrance to the shrine. “Present the badge to the altar and it will open up the entrance to the first stage of the trial.”

Jess and Beth nodded and made their way in to the shrine which was decorated for the occasion with vibrant, ornamental banners and special flowers. The two walked up to the altar in the center of the room. The ground began to rumble and the altar moved to the side, a massive cave entrance having formed where it was.

Beth looked to Jess and swallowed. “Are you ready?”

Jess took her hand and smiled. “I’m ready. Let’s do this.”

The two descended in to the cave below, ready for what might await them.