What else could he say? Sergi did love to be didactic, a small part of him that wasn't entirely consumed by pain and terror thought.

"Yes sir."

The Reverend gestured at the side door, which Orgull knew opened into a small torture chamber. 

He walked there of his own will, opened the door. His hands did not shake, they did not shake, he was in control. If he walked towards this himself then it was choosing it, so it was the dignified decision of a Chosen of Asmodeus, not the actions of a scared child. 

The chamber was laid out to the standard pattern he could have drawn from memory. Though the equipment was of finer quality than what the students got to work with, some effort had been made to clean the flagstones (though flecks of blood and char were visible in the cracks). A comfortable leather wingback armchair, matching those in the Reverend’s private rooms, and a small bookcase, added a homey touch.

A wizard he didn't recognize was sat on a much less comfortable chair by the brazier, looking bored. 

He took off his robes and hung them by the door. His skin pimpled in the cold. 

Sergi looked at him with clinical detachment.

"Your holy symbol as well"

That was somehow worse.

He stood there, skin pimpling from the cold.

He wasn't cold for long.

Orgull had been a competent enough student, but he had never quite appreciated the gap with what a senior Chosen could do.

He felt oddly detached. Like he was watching a demonstration in class. Surely he was on the other side of the room, behind Sergi watching him work, noting the technique, not in front of him. There was some confusion he needed to snap out of, some mistake or trick of perspective. 

“What did you do wrong?”

“I damaged property that properly belongs to Asmodeus, sir.”

“Repeating back what you are told may have been enough at school boy, but you are a Chosen now.

Explain what you did wrong.

Demonstrate your understanding”

There was more pain.

Orgull had always secretly feared pain. He knew that was a weak and pathetic thing but he did. He didn’t know if he was strong enough to endure.

But Asmodeus had Chosen him. Asmodeus wouldn’t have Chosen him if he was a weakling destined to die here. Asmodeus wouldn't have granted him the Domain of Trickery if it could only lead to death.

Asmodeus must have known this would happen, and allowed it, so that he might learn. So he could demonstrate what he was worth. 

As the flames died down the pain did as well. A little.

He breathed in and out. Regaining his composure. He focused on the feeling of being Chosen, the feeling of connection and recognition.

“My error was that I transgressed the hierarchy of the Church. The discipline of novices is the prerogative of their teachers. Even if my classmates needed to be humbled, that was not my task, or my right.

I... I thought I knew better than the Church.”

Reverend Sergi had moved at some point, and now was standing next to him. Orgull had fallen to his knees and Sergi had his hand on his shoulder steadying him. Despite the burns underneath the hand felt cool.

“That you did. What else?

Think boy. You are not just a novice now. If you leave my office today it will be as a full acolyte. You need to see the bigger picture. 

Breathe in and out, then tell me.”

So there was a chance he could leave here alive. He’d dared to hope.

Of course there was, this was all Asmodeus’s plan.

That cool hand wasn’t quite the touch of Asmodeus but it did help.

What else. What else. 

Oh. Shit.

“I didn’t think of the consequences of my actions beyond the domain of petty student competition. I didn’t think about how it would disrupt the plans of my betters, and the consequences of that. And….”

Thinking about Sergi’s expression standing behind the younger priest in finer robes who had been sent by the Church in Egorian.

“I… embarrassed you didn’t I. You and the rest of the faculty. Having your students perform badly in front of the examiners reflects badly on you.” 

“And, its not just about us here at the seminary even. The Most High commanded these tests, sent the examiners by teleport at great expense.”

A gaping hole in the bottom of his stomach now.

“She cares about having accurate results. Because her plans for the priesthood need that information for some reason.

Eiseth’s tits, have I annoyed the Most High even?”

Sergi actually laughed at that.

“Not quite. She doesn’t pay us that much personal attention. This will be a footnote to a footnote of a report her secretary will summarize for her.

You are far from the first student to sabotage their classmates. Though your methods were certainly….” a small smile “…splashier than most.”

Orgull chuckled weakly. That seemed to be expected.

“Most novices will limit themselves to a few personal rivals, scorpions in the bed, knives in the dark and such. Youthful hijinks are tolerated provided they keep it reasonably discrete.

Few would have realized that making your move bigger and flashier would, paradoxically, make it harder to tie to any particular perpetrator or target, what with all the different little schemes your classmates were up to. Sometimes it’s best to burn down the whole town so no-one realizes you were just aiming for the temple.

Even I wouldn’t have been certain it was you if we hadn’t been monitoring the kitchens.”

A sigh.

“Your. Focus. Remains. Too. Narrow.” He squeezed Orgull’s shoulder with each word, the burnt skin cracking under the pressure.

 “We had the most important visitors of the year dining with us my boy. The Chief Examiner is a fifth-circle with many rivals in Egorian who would dearly love to poison her. Of course we were monitoring the kitchens.

You are fortunate that the meals were separate enough it was clear you weren’t aiming for her, or you’d have died on the spot.”

“You are wondering I suppose why we didn’t stop you then?”

_{He’d mostly been focused on the pain in his body and the gaping pit of horror in his stomach.}