Candidate: Morgana
Date: Unrecorded
OBSERVATION
Morgana kept her gaze forward, but kept a keen magical sense about herself, not sure what to expect for her judgment, and entrance into the League. Her sister, Kayle, had already passed her test, and Morgana was not about to be out-done by her sister, blinded by the light she had sworn to uphold.
She looked at her own hand for a moment, and sighed. The dark magics had been cruel to her outer beauty in several regards. However, she had her beliefs, and would pay any price to defend them.
Morgana slowly lifts her gaze upward, finding the text that she was sure Kayle saw as well: The truest opponent lies within.
"My one question about that line... What is the opponent inside?" Morgana levels her gaze, and with a telekinetic magical push, opens the doors that were her last gate between herself and her judgment; as well as her chance to defeat Kayle. Inside she saw only pitch-black darkness, which she walked into without a second thought, immediately feeling at home within the shadows.
REVELATION
Morgana had closed her eyes as she felt the darkness shift. It wasn't plain shadows anymore. No, this to her felt like it was a heavy burden, like she was trying to carry wings of lead instead of feathers on her back. She opened her eyes again, and saw herself at an abandoned altar for a long-extinct cult. She studied her surroundings. They seemed familiar, but something else was off. She couldn't sense anything through the magic-heavy shadows that surrounded her and the altar. On the altar was a single tome, it would have been perfectly centered once opened. She extended her hand to reach out to the weathered tome, bound in black chains that almost seemed to burn with black fire, yet would not penetrate the thin, black leather cover that otherwise bound the secrets within. She reached out, feeling like it was her purpose to touch the tome, before she suddenly froze.
Her arm wasn't the purplish color it was supposed to be.
She surveyed more of herself upon noticing, and saw that she was in what was once her angelic sorceress garb. She even took a quick look back at her wings, trying to curve them forward enough to see, only to further confirm to her that they were back to their form of dove-like wings, the same ones she had before she had realized what her people were doing to the lesser creatures of her home world.
Her oppressive people... The memory created a surge of hatred within her heart. Immediately, as if sensing her intent, the chains burning with black fire surrounding the tome undid themselves, quickly stretching themselves across the altar in an odd pattern. That was when she realized where... no, when she was. She was reliving her memory of when she dedicated herself to the dark magics that her people condemned, and when her transformation had begun.
She reached for the tome to open it, knowing that once she did, she would be have the powers that she was sure would help her achieve her goals of stopping the oppression her people were pushing onto the lesser beings of her home. As soon as she got within one foot of the tome's cover, the chains that had once been secured to the altar by their own magics had lashed out and wrapped themselves along her forearm, that being all that they could reach for the time. She pushed forward, trying to open the tome. The only result was the chains on her arm multiplying, and spreading across her skin, like a creature of slime that devoured its prey by enveloping its own body around the hapless victim. She knew she wanted the power, the power to defend her beliefs. However, with more resistance forward towards the tome, the more the chains bound her, soon covering all of her arm, most of her torso, part of her wing, and most of her neck. She was about to consider pulling back, when the tome suddenly seemed to stand up on its own, the image of a demonic maw twisting, as if preparing to speak.
"Why do you wish to join the league?" the tome said in a voice that didn't seem at all malicious or demonic in nature.
"I want to destroy my sister! I want to bring down those fools who think that higher power means higher class!" Morgan replied, not moving an inch.
"That is part of the truth, however it is not totally accurate either. Tell me, truthfully and accurately, why you wish to join the league." the tome responded in a level tone that still offered no maliciousness, but definitely a tone of dissatisfaction with the given answer.
"I... I..." Morgana started to stammer. Her heart felt like it was in turmoil. Even if she hated her sister for siding against her, Kayle was still born from the same flesh, blood, and light that she was. Even if she didn't like Kayle, she still loved her deep within. "I want the power to defend my beliefs, and to stand up for what I believe is just." As she said the last phrase, the chains loosened, and her hand slowly came in contact with the book, which settled into her arm, the toothy mouth smiling widely, clearly satisfied now. "How does it feel to expose your true inner desires?"
"I feel like the darkness that had once blinded me has been lifted. That the darkness I see with is not evil by nature, but by how it is used. That is the case with any power. Thank you." While it didn't seem in Morgana's nature to be thankful in such a sincere manner, the book's lock undid itself, preparing to open.
"Welcome to the League, Morgana of the Fallen Angels." The book said before it opened itself, and the chains that once bound her consumed into the pages, as well as the surrounding shadows as a light shone down upon her. This wasn't a light that had its own agenda, this was a light of truth that reminded her that differing views aren't necessarily wrong. Before her now stood another set of double doors, the corrupted angelic body she knew as her own in place again, as she stepped forward to the door, and pushed it open with just her bare hands, entering the league.