The Trials Are a Mess 1/2
Luciel looked toward the basilisk, but kept his gaze lowered so he would not meet its eyes. He had no intention of being petrified again the instant he moved. His mind worked quickly, searching for a way to get closer. The problem was obvious; the chest was wrapped securely within the coils of the enormous creature before him.
On the other side, Dee watched Luciel with cold patience. Suddenly, she let out a sharp hiss and struck the ground a couple of times with her tail.
That snapped Luciel out of his thoughts. He focused entirely on the creature, still careful not to raise his eyes toward hers. He felt his body begin to stiffen again, as if the petrification were trying to seize him once more. But before he could fall, the sensation vanished and he regained control. Absolute surprise crossed his face. Even without looking directly at her, it seemed the basilisk could petrify him anyway. That only made things worse.
Luciel frowned, confused, studying the creature from beneath lowered lashes. The basilisk kept staring at him, hissing softly while tapping the ground with her tail, almost as if she were trying to say something.
"She's saying she wants to play; if you don't catch her, she petrifies you."
The voice echoed suddenly from the commentator's booth and carried across the entire stadium. A wave of confusion spread through the stands, including Ludo, who turned in shock to find a boy of about twelve, dressed in Hogwarts robes, standing right beside him with his microphone in hand.
"Eh? When did you get here?" Ludo asked, unable to hide his bewilderment.
"Mm? Just now," Tommy replied calmly, looking at him as if nothing at all were strange.
Ludo blinked several times. He had no idea when the boy had approached, let alone how he had taken the microphone from him. He shook his head quickly.
"Wait, what do you mean, 'if you don't catch her, she petrifies you'?"
"It's a game we made up. One person has to touch the other before getting petrified. In this case, Dee petrifies you with her gaze. That's basically it; touch her before she does," Tommy explained with complete ease. "Oh, and we made some rules so Dee can't cheat and petrify you forever. She can only do it for ten seconds to move away, and she can't petrify you again for one second after that."
"Hold on, can anyone even do much in one second?" Ludo shot back immediately.
"Well… I can," Tommy said, pointing at himself. "That's why we're tied fifty to fifty. Dee's pretty good. Still, she said she'd give him two seconds so it wouldn't be too hard," he added proudly.
Ludo stared at the boy in disbelief. Setting aside the fact that he apparently played petrification games with a giant serpent, he had far too many questions. But this was not the time.
"Wait, is it even legal to help the competitor?" he asked, glancing toward the judges for approval. Before any of them could answer, Tommy spoke again.
"But I'm not helping the competitor; I'm helping Dee communicate," he said lightly.
That left Ludo with very little to argue.
"Well… that actually makes some sense," he muttered, scratching his head. He glanced at the serpent, then turned to say something else to Tommy.
The boy was gone.
Ludo looked around and spotted him several meters away near the professors' stand, now cheering for the basilisk to swallow the Beauxbatons champion in one bite.
"What… how…?" Ludo turned his head back and forth as if expecting to find another identical child. But no; it was the same one.
"Well, it seems this trial just turned into a game. I'm rather curious to see how it unfolds," Newt commented with a faint smile, just as Ludo was beginning to recover from his confusion.
Luciel wore a similarly unsettled expression. He had heard the explanation of the game as well, and the situation was unsettling. A trial against a creature this dangerous, reduced to a child's game. Even so, it was not entirely a bad thing for him.
He let out a slow breath, sheathed his sword wand, and finally lifted his gaze, looking directly at the fifteen meter basilisk.
"So that's what you want. A game? If I win, you give me the key and the chest?" he asked, with the strange feeling that the creature understood him. At the same time, the fact that she was granting him two seconds to make it "easier" stung his pride just a little.
The basilisk nodded.
"Fine. Then I'll play," Luciel replied, more relaxed now, his calm smile returning. After all, a fifteen meter serpent playing tag was not something one saw every day.
He then turned toward the commentator's booth.
"Please give the signal to start again," he said before settling into a runner's stance.
"Ah… yes." Ludo cleared his throat. "Three, two, one… begin!"
Luciel shot forward like an arrow.
Many in the stands widened their eyes at the speed a human body could reach. Or perhaps a speed not many humans could reach.
Maybe he was not entirely human after all.
Obviously, even two seconds were far too little.
Luciel did not manage to touch Dee before he was petrified, freezing in place barely two meters away from her. However, unlike before, his body did not collapse immediately. He remained standing in a runner's stance, proving he had calculated the exact instant he would be petrified to get as close as possible without wasting time falling to the ground.
A small wave of surprised murmurs rippled through the crowd.
Luciel stared at the basilisk, able to move only his eyes, a faint glint of amusement flickering in them. But his expression shifted at once when he saw the enormous serpent slither away with startling speed, retreating almost to the edge of the arena.
The scrape of her scales against the sand rang loudly across the stadium.
Not even the full ten seconds had passed when Luciel felt the petrification release its grip on his body. The strategy he had envisioned, closing the distance in two or three petrifications at most, shattered before him. His smile turned slightly strained as the serpent watched him, as though she were enjoying this.
"Oh," Luciel murmured under his breath, realizing it would not be that simple.
Yet instead of frustration, he looked a little more entertained than he had expected.
"Good. Good. That's what a trial should be," he said, locking eyes with the basilisk, who waited patiently for him to move so she could petrify him again and retreat.
Luciel chose to see that as a trace of respect.
Or perhaps the basilisk was simply having fun as well.
He inhaled slowly, letting the air fill his lungs, then released it just as calmly. His breathing settled into a steady rhythm.
"Good," he repeated, straightening up and beginning to stretch in front of everyone. Many watched in confusion as he took advantage of the fact that the serpent was not petrifying him.
Then he started bouncing lightly in place, arms moving in rhythm. Each jump grew faster than the last, and little by little all expression drained from his face until it was completely serious, utterly focused. When his feet touched the ground after the final jump, not a trace of amusement remained in his eyes.
As if he had stepped off a springboard, he launched forward at a speed far greater than before. In his mind, he counted each second with precision.
One… two…
As the second hit, he suddenly lowered his body and dragged one hand across the ground, flinging sand toward Dee. The dirt burst in front of her face, clouding her vision for a brief instant.
Luciel used those seconds with near inhuman speed. The crowd could not hold back their shouts as his hand stretched toward the tip of Dee's tail.
But just before he could reach it, his body stiffened again.
This time he fell, rolling across the sand and ending up coated in dust. From the ground, unable to move, he watched the massive tail slide swiftly away from him.
"So close!" Ludo shouted, along with many in the stands who had become completely absorbed in the game without even realizing it.
The ten seconds passed quickly. Dee now waited at the far end of the arena, watching Luciel.
He rose with a serious expression, brushing the dust from his clothes while staring back at her.
Once again, he repeated the same routine; moving his body, giving a few light jumps, preparing himself. The crowd followed every motion, cheering louder with each attempt.
"Well, who would have expected the second trial to turn into a game?" Ludo commented as the spectators urged Luciel on to catch the enormous serpent.
"These youngsters keep surprising us with how clever they are, don't they?" Newt said with a faint smile, studying the basilisk closely. "They always find a way to surprise us," he added., referring to magical creatures in general. After all, if anyone could say that with certainty, it was him.