The next trial they chose was located south. The cave was lit this time. As they entered, once again, the cave entrance sealed, and the Trial of Wisdom begun.

THIS ONE’S KINDA HARD, IF YOU CAN’T READ. SO, GOOD LUCK!

A sturdy wooden table fell with a loud CRASH with a sheet of paper placed neatly on it. Birdhead picked it up. Peculiar squiggles were written on it.  “Uugh, I can’t read this.”

Myrtlelana looked at the paper, scowling. “Me neither…What about the smartest mythicimal in our team, Beakfall?”

“Let’s see,” he said.

Beakfall took the piece of paper in his claws, and as everyone expected, read:

“There is a poison in this world which none can bear, hold it, and you will succeed.
The power is made by the strong scales of an ancient dragon,
The effect by the everlasting strength of a Endura shroom,
The mystic glow by the powerful tear of a legendary dragon
And lastly, a feather of the Ancient, for extra effect. That’s all.”

“Hmm, what now? Where are the materials?” Melody pointed to the empty table.

A little test tube seemed to appear from nowhere – simply by some sort of complex movement through time and space – on the table, with a label saying, ‘Potion.’ Four stone monoliths with ancient engravings rose with a deep rumble from the ground.

Beakfall stared at them one by one.

“They’re riddles,” he said.

“Oh no,” Zelda moaned and pretended to faint.

The hippogriff turned to look at one on Birdhead’s right, which was also the one closest to the sealed entrance.

“From the Phoenixia’s left wing, look to the last phoenix king.
Who was he? Is his spirit is free?”

Birdhead looked with confusion at the others.

“Phoenixes don’t have kings! They never had one!”

“Hey! They will,” Zelda snapped. “You should know, mate.”

Peachu seemed to think for a moment in a world of clouds, but suddenly flapped her wings excitedly.

“Ha ha!”

Beakfall grinned, and Lionessfire shrugged, obviously as confused as Birdhead was.

“That the last phoenix king was the Hajime
His spirit trapped in time, for he
Last King was not free.”

Zelda sang the words in a light, sweet tune.

I SWEAR THAT SONG WAS MADE A DECADE AFTER HAJIME BECAME KING, WHICH IS A CENTURY AWAY FROM NOW. I’VE NEVER SEEN OR HEARD OF SUCH A GREAT PROPHET BEFORE – ASIDE FROM ME AND I’M NOT BOASTING.

The occamy snorted and stared at the monolith.

“Birdhead, you have to say it.”

The phoenix gave a worried glance as a reply.

“But that’s the FUTURE you’re talking about…Hajime doesn’t exist yet, and he might not!”

“I’m a prophet: a prophet of exceptional abilities, like Deku noted.”

“How is you prophetional abilities supposed to be wisdom?”

Zelda looked dismayed.

“Being a prophet is a complicated thing. You need to know a lot, and you need to concentrate. Most of the times it’s wisdom to know what’s going to happen in the future. Being one isn’t simply being born as one, it’s nothing like that! You must become one yourself, and it’s hard.”

Birdhead groaned, and simply said, “Hajime, his was spirit trapped in time.”

The monolith sunk to the ground, and the phoenix thought he had failed. Instead, a bowl of rough, brown slates in the shape of a round-edged triangles took its place. Peachu inspected it and grinned.

“Ancient dragon scales! Yahoo!”

Melody hurriedly went to grab the test tube lying on the table, and ushered Birdhead to place the scales into the glass object. While they did that, Beakfall turned to look at another monolith, left of the first one they read.

The red, the blue, and lastly the gold:
Which one will the Hero hold?

Lionessfire frowned.

“What is that on about? The red, the blue, and lastly the gold?”

Beakfall looked with wonder at the stone slate.

“Red is Power. Blue, Wisdom. Gold? …Courage.”

Zelda looked at him.

“REEALLY? What are you on about now?”

“The Fires? A prophet like you should know.”

The hippogriff read the monolith once again.

“The Fire of Power is too far into the future for us to know. The Fire of Wisdom is connected to the Courage, and Hajime was said to have spiritual power over it. The Courage is the flame we are about to acquire – Or, shall I say, Birdhead is going to.”

“So – The gold, I assume?” Peachu asked.

“Was Hajime a hero? And how do we know about the Fire of Power?” Zelda noted.

“In my visions, Hajime was just a young, innocent and quite peculiar phoenix. Not…exactly a hero, in a way, but a respected leader, but…he may have been a hero? I do not exactly know.”

Birdhead poked the monolith.

“Hey, what happens if we get this wrong?”

YOU START AGAIN. DOES THAT SATISFY YOU?

“NO! Uugh, annoying Dragon Lords.”

EXCUSE ME. I AM NOT ANNOYING!

“I get you. It is gold isn’t it though?”

“BIRDHEAD! We didn’t even…”

Melody was cut off by the monolith slowly moving to the ground with a noisy rumble, until there was only a bowl – or was it a teaspoon, of clear, reflective water. But was it? Birdhead leant forward and sniffed it.

“Salty,” he commented.

Zelda snatched the bowl from under Birdhead’s beak and dumped it into the test tube.

“Rude!” the phoenix yelled.

“Hurry up, hurry up.”

Beakfall read out the next monolith.

When the last of the four shall hide,
It ends what, which trial it will glide?

Peachu hit the monolith.

“What was THAT for?” the hippogriff frowned.

“WHAT FOR THE FLUTTERPEACHES’ SAKE DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!”

ANYONE WANT A HINT? WELL, AS A MATTER OF FACT, THE ‘TRIAL’ IS ONE OF THE TRIALS SET UP AT DRAGON’S GROVE.

“Oooh,” Lionessfire said. “So Power, Wisdom, and Courage, right? But what does ‘the four’ mean?”

Melody sat down, shrugging.

Beakfall pointed at the monolith and stared at Birdhead.

The phoenix gawked at him.

“Four monoliths?”

Zelda face lit up.

“That’s right! Four monoliths in this Trial! So once the last monolith hides…”

“The Trial of Wisdom shall end!”

NEXT TIME, BEAKFALL, YOU WAIT FOR THE OTHERS TO FIGURE IT OUT FIRST!

The third monolith sank to the ground, and an orange-yellow piece appeared in its place. Melody snatched it and dumped it in the test tube, assuming it was a piece of Endura carrot.

The hippogriff read out the last and final monolith:

The Ash is power, hatred and malice:
What drove what to this madness?

“It’s talking about ASHGLE isn’t it?”

Birdhead stabbed the monolith with his wingtips.

“Hmm, time to revise what I read…” Zelda muttered and started to quietly drone on and on about what she had read from her scrolls.

The phoenix watched Beakfall yawn as he thought aloud.

“In phoenix legend, we say Ashgle was born with too much ash within him. Er…I think I forgot the rest.”

Zelda gave up on memorising and started to try and predict the future.

“HUH?”

The yell was so sudden all the Mythicals paused to listen.

“Ashgle is a guy named Kosuke…And he’s the father of HAJIME!”

Birdhead stared at Zelda.

“He was driven mad by bullies in phoenix school…”

Suddenly, everyone in the cave, and Birdhead even thought the Dragon Lord, was listening to the occamy.

“Kosuke grew up in Sky Phoenixia, two centuries ago. He was arrogant but shy and was bullied by many during his school years. He lived and relived this life for another two centuries, until he met a female phoenix, Cherry, that stood up to the bullies.”

“It was to late. Cherry delayed the turning, but the bad side started to take over – the good fragment covered by hatred. Ash took over his life. He threated Phoenixia and wiped life entirely from most phoenixes and almost destroyed the land. Cherry perished and resurrected when this event occurred. She gave birth and disappeared five years later.”

Taking the story as an answer, even though Birdhead had not even started to repeat it, the monolith sunk down to the ground, leaving a pale-yellow feather behind.

INTERESTING. EVEN I DID NOT KNOW THAT ASHGLE WAS ONCE A PHOENIX NAMED KOSUKE, RISING SUN.

Without taking notice of the Dragon Lord’s booming voice, Melody reached forward and took the feather, dropping it into the test tube. The contents inside immediately blurred and started to zip around the glass surface. Soon, it seemed that the poison had stirred itself, turning into a thick, lilac liquid.

“Looks right to me,” Birdhead said.

Melody handed the potion to Birdhead, and they waited. Moments passed, and the phoenix thought they had failed.

Instead, the cave entrance opened, and a Courage Orb gently floated down to the doorway. Birdhead reached to catch it. “SUCCESS! Well, that’s lucky we have a prophet and a super-intelligent hippogriff in our team.”

“And you, too. You’re a great leader,” Beakfall said quietly.

“Oh. Thanks,” Birdhead said, turning red, and approached the Courage Flame.

“Ready?” he asked.

“YES!” the Mythicals chorused.

He dumped the Orb into the hot fire.

It froze.

It, the fire, literally, froze, into pure ice.

The ice turned into a pale shade of blue, and suddenly, the Frost Wing formed, its eyes deep violet. His scales were spiky, and he grew horns on every part of his body, including the wings. The fire turned back to its normal orangish-red shade as the Wing left the Fountain.

“I AM THE FROST WING! FACE ME, I HAVE THE MOST POWERFUL ICE IN THIS KINGDOM!”

Birdhead shot a burst of flames.

But with the most powerful ice, the Wing stopped the attack with a frozen  shield.

Instinctively, the Mythicals, of whom could breathe fire, (Birdhead, Melody, Myrtlelana, Beakfall and Lionessfire) roared with and spit out a ginormous laser of powerful fire.

It hit the Wing, ripping through his shield. He screamed but shook the pain off with a simple shake. As revenge, he shot out a powerful blast of cursed ice to the team.

“DUCK!” yelled Beakfall. “IT’S CURSED ICE!”

The Frost Wing aimed another attack, one like the Fire Wing’s. He swiped his arm, sending large, frost spikes at the Mythicals. Myrtlelana swiped her wing with haste, once again deflecting it back at the Wing. In his distracted pose, the team of seven charged at the fallen Wing and melted him to a pool of icy water, leaving its spirit to fly free.

ONE: YOU MYTHICIMALS ARE OVERPOWERED. TWO: THERE IS ONE LAST TRIAL, THE TRIAL OF COURAGE. IT TESTS YOU YOUR WISDOM, BUT MAINLY WHETHER YOU CAN BEAR THE SIGHTS OF FEAR.

WILL YOU DO IT?