Khora's Final Test

            She stood pacing quietly in her room. She knew she should go, but she was so terribly nervous that rabbits, toads, bending robots, and beings made of pure barbeque sauce had been popping into random existence around her for the past few hours.

            Khora sighed and sat down, grabbing a rabbit and a sauce being, dipping the former into the latter, and taking a bite. Not even snack food could calm her today. Today; the biggest day of her life. The biggest day in the life of any Chaos Wizard who was fortunate enough to live long enough to get to the day that was so special that was, of course, today. Today was her test day.

            The Final Test.

            She stood again, her sweeping grey robes shuffling along the floor as she began her pacing once more. She had no idea what to expect. No Chaos Wizard ever did. It was said that, as each Chaos Wizard is unique, so is each test. That, of course, made sense to Khora, but she’d never been terribly confident in her skills and not knowing what she may be called upon to do made her all the more nervous. She didn’t want to die.

            Now you may be thinking, why would she die from a test? It’s simple. There are, at any given time, only a total of thirteen Chaos Wizards in any given world that I’ve been to. There are six that are generally given to being kind or benevolent, six that are generally quite quite sick, demented and given to evil, and one that is in the middle and has no strong feelings one way or another. Now, why this should be, I’ve never figured out. One would assume that, being Chaos and all, it should be a totally random number everywhere and every time, and yet, here we are. Due to their very nature, I can understand that few Chaos Wizards make it past the age of discovery; that time when their power awakens. Frequently, the people within a good five mile radius don’t survive their discovery either.

            Khora was one of my favorite students. She was sweet, good natured, and quite lovely. She’d pale, soft skin, delicate, quite fetching features, long, dark silk like hair, and a round face that almost always held a soft, shy smile. Her most fetching feature was her eyes; bright purple and just a bit larger than should be normal, but not so large as to be freakish. She, of course, never saw how lovely or talented she was, the curse of most people, I find. Today, she needed her confidence in a much larger supply than ever she’d had before, and she couldn’t summon anything at all. Still, after one final, good pace, she through her hands out, summoned the Chaos within, and banished all that she had accidently created in her panic. Her room quiet, she took a few deep breathes and let Q’omar’s natural magic teleport her to the Chaos Wizard training grounds, six miles outside of Q’omar’s forest.

            She materialized with a slight “pop!” next to me. I bowed and smiled to her. She returned my welcome in kind and tried not to shake.

            “You’re nervous,” I observed.

            She only nodded.

            I shrugged, nodding to her as I spoke. “Of course you are. This is the final test. The test that will tell me if you are to become a true Chaos Wizard, or if you are doomed to death or worse. With luck, you’ll simply fail the test and remain unchanged, able to try again, or retain what power you have and live a … er… well, for lack of a better word ‘normal’ life.”

            She didn’t find my words terribly encouraging. However, she did manage to ask a question. “Why is it that only Chaos Wizards have to take a test like this?”

            I smiled brightly, “An excellent question, my dear. An excellent question indeed!”  I began walking toward the final testing area. She followed slowly behind me, still trying not to shake from her fear. I felt for the girl, but I knew she’d pass the test. I knew she had it in her and that she would take the place of the currently dying Jen; a lovely woman who had fallen into the final stages of being a Chaos Wizard, which was total and complete madness and joy. “It’s really quite simple,” I answered. “There are few other magical arts that have the capacity to wipe out all existence if they mess up. So we must make certain that you are prepared for the power and the journey ahead. If not, well, then you can’t attain that which I have come to know, though I am not considered a true Chaos Wizard, and you remain a low level, incomplete initiate, unable to gain more power. Or you die. Most die. Few live. Some live, but, out of mercy, we kill them rather quickly.” I tsked, remembering a pile of goo I’d had confidence in. “Poor old, Gurber.”

            I smiled brightly, turning to her. “That probably won’t happen to you though, Khora. You’re quite an astute and bright young woman and you’ve been an excellent student, so I have high hopes for you! So, before we begin, let’s get the oral part out of the way, shall we?”

            She nodded and, with one last great surge of will and a deep breath she stopped shaking.

            “I am ready, Master Jacobar,” she said with a steady voice.

            “Well, there’s no need to call me Master, but, I appreciate the sentiment.” I smiled, putting my hand on her shoulder. “It will be fine, Khora. Trust me.” She returned my smile and I took on my most serious teacher face and began to walk around her, holding suspenders that appeared and were connected to nothing since I was in my dress robes, but stretched for me anyway. “Tell me, Khora. What is a Chaos Wizard?”

            She looked shocked. Certainly this wasn’t something she expected. I waved away the Spanish Inquisition as they attempted to pop out at her, so that she could concentrate on coming up with an answer. After a few moments, she spoke quietly and with great care.

            “Chaos Wizards are those people who are connected to the great and Primal Chaos that flows throughout the whole of everything; that which causes and is constant and unending change. We are blessed by Sur’Gol, the great God of Chaos, Penguins, and Eight Bit Mickey! With his blessing, training, skill, and a bit of luck, we draw upon the forces of Chaos to make that which seems impossible a reality.”

            My smile broadened considerably. “Very good! Yes, that is an excellent summation of what we are, my dear. Now, that was the easy part. The next is difficult. Think carefully on this… Do you want to take the final test?”

            Strange music began to fill the air. It was dangerous music, and one of my personal favorite scores. Khora jumped, as shocked at the question as much as the music. She knew the song as well as I did, since we were both fans of the movie series it came from. The song was entitled Final Test and it was not used to inspire. She thought quietly as the music rose to a might crescendo, then to a quiet, dark, forboding lull, and finally back to a magnificent finish. She was shaking again. I hated doing it to her, but it had to be done. When the song finally eneded, she turned to me, trying to calm herself once more. I knew her response before she spoke, and was pleased to hear, “I want this, Jacobar. I want to finish it, no matter what happens. I will take the Test.”

            “As you wish,” I responded. With a wave of my hand a large stand appeared before us, coming to just chest height on the five foot nothing frame of Khora. She stared at it and the only thing on it, a pencil.

            “Levitate the pencil,” I instructed.

            She looked at me.

            She looked at the pencil.

            She looked back at me.

            Her mouth opened and closed several times as her brain tried to work out what was going on. I always loved this part. I tried to hide my bemused smile, trying ever to keep my teacher face on. Finally, after about a minute, my student found her voice.

            “I don’t understand,” was all she could manage.

            I was happy to explain. “I am happy to explain,” I said. “You see, we are Chaos Wizards. In a very literal sense, with enough luck and skill, there is nothing we cannot do. We can create worlds, galaxies, life, death, whatever we desire. We have awe inspiring power. To be able to use such immense, and let’s face it, unpredictable power for such a minor task is the epitome of control. Does that help?”

            Her eyes widened with realization. The thoughts she’d had, most of them involving fighting very nasty things, or creating something incredible, fell away. One of the first thing she’d done was to levitate a pencil. She had not, at the time, understood why I was so pleased that she had done such a random thing with such ease. She knew what she was doing. She understood the finer points of Chaos, and with a slight gesture, the pencil lifted off the podium, hovered for a few moments, then, with a flipping flourish, it gently returned to its resting place. Nothing else happened. She had very successfully accomplished her final test. I felt old Jen smile and shuffle off her mortal coil, something I would never do, and smiled softly knowing the final secret to being a Chaos Wizard, and her ultimate reward. She was quite happy now, and would be forever.

            I turned to Khora, beaming. “Congratulations, Khora Knight! You are now, and officially, one of the thirteen. You are a Chaos Wizard. May Sur’Gol bless you with all that you need, and still keep you surprised and happy without jump scares if he’s not bored.”

            Khora was near tears, but managed to bow a bit. I shook my head. “Oh, none of that!” I embraced her warmly. The bond between student and teacher for Chaos Wizards is something very special, that never goes away. It is almost that of parent and child, and she knew it, and we shared the hug for a while before she stood back, wiping away tears. I smiled at her.

            “Your journey is just beginning, you know,” I said with a grin. “There’s so much out there for you now, my lady. Things you can’t imagine. I have a gift for you. I’m borrowing from a friend who owes me a favor…”

            I snapped my fingers and strange whoosing sound repeated itself as a simple blue police box appeared.

            “Why don’t you go out and see what the Universe and Sur’Gol have to offer?” I suggested with a wink.

            Khora leapt up and hugged me tightly around my neck before she dashed in. The box began to fade away with that same strange noise. I waved my hand, bringing music for her, to send her on her way. I knew she’d have fun on her adventures. I only hoped she was good at running.