[Trial commencing]
With the timer hitting zero it switches to announce the trial before starting another timer.
[19:59]
From his vantage point up in the air Kyle gets a look at what appeared to attack him, or not?
Two large groups, one filled of little green gremlins led in the front by a larger bulky armed soldier. And the other a group of hairy hyena like bipedal creatures, with a particularly disturbing one holding a makeshift staff of bones standing at the rear.
They share no words or even spare a second thought before attacking each other at first glance.
'Were they even coming for me or were they just coming here for a fight?' he shudders, surprised and disgusted at the carnage and blood shed he is witnessing between the two groups.
Even though it had only been a matter of seconds fog starts to roll back into the area the owls had flown up through.
'Great a bad view now, how am I going to know when the fight is over now? The timer is good I guess, it was accurate for the start of this battle. There is also all the screaming but when they get exhausted that's probably going to stop.'
Taking his time to now better check his surroundings an oddity appears. There is no sun in sight, yet he can see semi clearly in this dark environment.
[17:04]
Noticing a small orb higher up in the canopy Kyle can see a soft glow piercing even this dense fog.
Wanting to get a better view of whatever object this may be Kyle quietly commands his parliament to go higher.
Right before gaining altitude Kyle's left arm jerks downward suddenly causing the sturdy stick to fall into the midst of the combat.
Reeling from the shock of believing he had fallen Kyle's turns his head to see what caused this situation.
Noticing one owl flying slightly farther away from him he glimpses two more owls closely by, 'Are they rotating who carries me? Damn I heard owls are smart but to think they did it on their own.'
Understanding their goal Kyle tightens his grip on his rock as the owl on his right clocks out of his shift. Leaving the central owl for last so that any drop in his centre of mass is delayed until the rejuvenated birds take their place.
With the airborne group flying higher to investigate the glow they miss an alarming scene.
With goblins and kobolds going at it in earnest most miss a stick falling and planting itself in the centre of their battlefield, all but the kobold mage in the rear. Confusedly sparing a glance above he sees naught but the fog before firing off a fireball at the hobgoblin soldier causing carnage in the middle of the kobold ranks.
Feeling the intense heat coming towards him the large brute swings his great-sword in a wide arc cleaving a handful of kobold in half. Quickly grabbing one half of a now dead kobold he hurls it at the large fireball, prematurely detonating it.
Boom!
The resounding explosion expels the fog from their immediate surroundings. Tearing a shallow crater in the ground and snapping the sturdy stick into two with one half still lodged in the ground and the other being blown towards the base of the large tree Kyle rested at.
Seeing the hobgoblin live his large fireball with some burns the kobold changes his tactics to instead shoot smaller fireballs in a barrage.
Not all the fireballs ended up targeting the hobgoblin due to the speed they were formed, causing some to have terrible accuracy. Some flew into the dense goblin horde. Others landed amongst his own minions.
Unfortunately for the tiny goblins these fiery fastballs are still lethal for those it hits. Even those around the explosions get sent flying be it into allies, enemies or the trees. Few get trampled to death by those concerned with their own life and death. But for one extremely unfortunate goblin this blast sent him hurtling straight into the now thick jagged spike embedded into the ground and roots.
And this goblin was only the first of a few to suffer this unfortunate fate.
'Was that an explosion? How is there an explosion in this forest. No I mean how can those little guys make an explosion, they didn't even have clothes. Oh wait yeah magic, man why magic?', ponders our gentleman while watching the timer tick.
[13:44]
Around one hundred meters off the floor branches become clear, spanning across the gap between trees creating a bridge of sorts. Not only that but the view of the glowing orb gets clearer.
Unfortunately the light is only visible at one particular angle but one thing for certain is that it definitely isn't the sun as Kyle can't even clearly see the canopy yet. It also has carvings or a strange texturing on its surface.
'A treasured fruit of the sea? A lightbulb? Not magic right, why would it be textured like that? Even though it's so bright to get through all this fog it doesn't really sting that bad staring at it.'
Creeping quietly along the trees trunk and up the thick branches that have started to appear was an inconspicuous spider.
Having adapted to living in the low light over generations, this spider uses thin threads spread across its hunting grounds around its web to feel when prey or predators snap them.
Lost in thought about the mysterious light source this said spider takes into view what snapped her string. All she can see though is fog being dispersed over her.
Unsure if she should pounce due to how many strings were broken so swiftly, whether it be a large hunter or a pack.
Until one thing makes her want to take the chance, a strange being she has seen being carried away by three birds. Followed by more birds, small in number. Prepared but still erred on the side of caution she lunges off the branch at one owl trailing behind.