As the minutes past Kat kept her fire burning by supplying it with a bit of energy every now and again. It wasn't draining in the slightest, but she was unsure how to balance it exactly. Too much and the area around her started to freeze, and that was a clear waste, but she was also scared of falling in the other direction and risking the orb unfreezing. Never did it get close at all to unfreezing though, not even a slight crack in the orb.
Even the few times that Kat tried to wrench her hand free she seemed more liable to break it from force then slip her hands out cleanly, but the ice held, perhaps a bit too well. The others were also doing fine. Dusk had fixed his water into a short orbit pulling the water around him. Despite the transition this seemed to ease the strain on the man if the lessened shaking in his fingers was proof of anything. Jack meanwhile just stood around calmly with his cup. There was a small sigil on the side that lit up occasionally, but it was clearly no issue for the man.
After further minutes had passed the orbs all reconstituted themselves. Dusk's broke free of his control and reformed above his hand hovering in place for a whole five seconds before it dropped. Kat's simply slid upwards around her hands and remoulded itself. Now granted, it was still on fire, but there was no issue holding it.
Then came the moment of truth for Jack. To the surprise of the onlookers his cup exploded, shards of rock flying everywhere as water sprayed out like it had finally escaped a pressurised contain. Kat tuned her vision to the max to watch it all unfolding but just before the water fell halfway to the ground it froze in mid-air and travelled back up to hover in front of Jack's hand
He was however only given a split second before the orb dropped. Jack scrambled to catch it in time, and while he succeeded a pained look crossed his face as the shards from cup were pressed into his hands by the weight of the orb.
Jack grit his teeth and moved it against his chest pressing hard with his left hand. Quickly wiping down his right he then switched hands and did the same with his left revealing a few cuts and stretches that didn't look serious but couldn't have been comfortable in the slightest.
*Ouch, that's not going to be pleasant. Reminds me of the time I had gravel stuck in my hands… and the rest of me after that crash landing. Then again, this is hardly comparable, it was much easier for me to heal from that.**
"Well… that's… hmm" Thyme stumbled a little over his words before changing into mages robes and a big hat that covered his eyes.
"In my professional and highly informed opinion on the subject of magic artefacts spanning centuries of ground-breaking research I can tell you with absolute certainty… I have no idea how that happened" said Thyme from under his hat.
"Aren't ya supposed to know these things?" asked Jack
"Well… these orbs were mostly a prototype anyway; I'm testing out a few new enchantments with them. To be honest the whole changing it to water thing wasn't something I thought I could do so I'm glad this all worked" said Thyme
"Wait, you gave us untested magical artefacts? Do you even understand the dire consequences of using such advanced magic without proper understanding" said Dusk
Thyme turned to Dusk, hat covering its face and robes cover its hands "Does this look like the face of a man that doesn't understand what he's doing"
*Well… when you put it that way* "Yes, you do at the moment" said Kat
"Hmm" said Thyme
Thyme promptly lifted off its hat and cut off its head. Holding the head in its left hand. Thyme then put the hat back on the neck and rotated just the head to face Kat. "How about now? Do I look like someone who takes pointless risks?"
"Yes" said Kat
"Hmmm" said Thyme. Thyme returned the head to the proper place and took out a pair of googly eyes. Placing them on the front of the hat where Thyme's eyes would be, if the hat wasn't covering them, Thyme once again asked "How about now? Do I look like I'm taking this seriously?"
*You know what?* "Yes Thyme, you truly convey the sense that you have explored and understood the consequences of all your actions"
"So Thyme" said Dusk with a much deeper voice than usual "What was the worst that could happen with these" Dusk held his orb up high in just the one hand, though carefully keeping an eye on it just in case it was going to start it's next strange activity.
"Well, I mean no permanent damage. Perhaps the loss of a few limbs, maybe an eye or two, or three" said Thyme
"How could it make us lose three eyes?" asked Jack
"By making you grow a third then destroying the lot" said Thyme, googly eyes wobbling as the hat turned to face Jack.
"Thyme, how can you justify using something so dangerous?" asked Dusk
"Well Dusk, ma boy, that's simple. I'm confident I have enough mana to make an army of you with enough spare to also raise a town for the lot of them to live in afterwards. Such a minor injury like a missing arm is nothing to me" said Thyme
*Wait what?* The statement shocked Kat somewhat. *I knew he was powerful, but, just how much stronger really is Thyme? I saw him raise the maze, but I thought that was just hidden underground. And the obstacle course, that was all trees for the most part except the sawblades… Yet, if he really can raise a town from scratch or create an army of clones how far does that power really go…*
"Hey, Nixilei, how hard is it to make a copy of someone?" asked Kat
"How rude Kat, I could tell you myself if you wish to know" said Thyme twisting the hat to face Kat once again.
"Ah, sorry Thyme but I'm not sure your perspective will help me get this into context properly" said Kat
"Hmm, spose that's true. Well then carry on" said Thyme.
Nixilei looked shaken at this and bit her lip as she stared down at Kat with a slightly off look in her eyes.
"Look, um Kat, can I maybe go over this another time…" said Nixilei looking shockingly put-off by the question
"Ah, yeah sure, I mean it wasn't that important" said Kat. *Why does this of all things have her flustered? She's answered all my dumb questions before. What makes the difference? Is it because Thyme jumped in or something else?*
It was at that moment Kat heard a click and felt something around her wrists. Looking down the orb had stretched out shackles to bind her hands together. *Ok now what's the point of this? Isn't it hard to let go of it now?*
That was when the second change occurred, a blinding white sigil appeared on top of everyone's orb and started turning. I have a bad feeling. A loud crack like a whip sounded as air exploded from the sigil in question started Kat on a turn.
Kat's arms snapped to full length and the orb seemed angled to keep her spinning in place indefinitely… if she were human. Instead her wings and tail messed with this royally, her wings which used to be resting lazily behind her were now trailing awkwardly behind her. With her balance thrown off Kat wobbled uncontrollably, only her tails instinctual need to keep her balanced kept her from simply falling over immediately but it was a losing battle
Kat tried desperately to shut her wings and regain some form of stability but the awkward angle she found her left wing in made it much harder to close. To fully shut it she'd have to first extend it out catching the full brunt of the wing before bringing it in to keep it from dragging behind her.
*Shit, and I can't use my hands to help pull it, my tail is doing it's best what the heck is the plan here.* The speed didn't let up. Kat kept rotating at an impressive speed, and while her vision could keep up her legs were having a tough time.
*Ok, um, shit Kat think. What's the solution to all my problems* Kat tried pushing demonic energy into her wings and while she could feel them getting stronger this didn't help at all. In fact it only made things worse as she felt herself lifting slightly off the ground and loosing what little stability she had.
*Crap… New plan, NOW!* Pushing her energy away from her wings and into her tail she instantly felt the change. Where before it was making tiny adjustments as her body fought to regain control now it made huge sweeping changes that edged her closer and closer to stability with each passing second