Levi knitted his eyebrows as he used the surrounding noise to form a sound bridge connecting him to the stage. Then, he pressed his index finger into the bridge and focused deeply on mapping it.
This was a technique he had refined over the past month... one that allowed him to visualize sound waves down to their tiniest crevices and reconstruct their structure by layering other noises on top.
He applied this skill to the IIthorien inscriptions and symbols etched across the stage, forming a perfect three-dimensional auditory image of the surface... one he recreated in front of his mind's eye.
Then, he began analyzing the writings... desperately searching for a way to shift the trial from testing light resistance in the eyes to measuring his body's endurance instead.
Levi understood the principle. The stage, like most other totems, responded to spoken incantations. A command phrase activated the mechanism... and if he could find and alter it, he might just survive.
