[Flashback] Fists in Darkness (Solo)

[Eridanus]

Day 29, Summer of 509 AV
Nightfall
The Stone Gardens, Syliras

The surroundings was quiet, the majority of tourists and visitors having left the place. The calm stone and serene trees were gently illuminated by the faint flickering of torches scattered infrequently throughout the sprawling location. Enough for basic navigation, but not enough for tasks that require proper light. The darkness held the advantage of making people here more inconspicuous, and it was for this purpose that the ethaefal found himself sitting cross-legged in a far-off corner of the gardens that few people venture.

Opening his eyes, he noticed that it was already dark, though he already instinctively knew this when halfway in his meditation his form suddenly began changing. The sudden unparalleled clarity of his mind that spoke of echos of past life memories had jolted him from his meditative trance, and was the clearest sign of his transformation, and of course the nightfall that resulted in this daily occurrence.

Standing up with a sigh, he heard the soft crack of muscles flexing and getting into place after an afternoon of silent meditation, of getting in touch with himself. Shrugging his shoulders to get a proper blood circulation around, he took a cursory glance of the area. Fueling djed into his eyes, he briefly scanned the area, seeking the flare of an aura that signified a sentient being.

Nothing.

Everything in the world had djed, with only the capacity for djed that marked the difference in their spiritual state. As such, there was a mild glow of djed that emanated from the stone walls, and the slightly brighter cloud of djed that formed the aura of the various living shrubbery and flora that decorated the area.

He did not detect the clear spark of a fellow human, or at least he could not find one within the range of his auristics that was granted to him by his current proficiency. Shutting down the flow of djed into his eyes, he nodded again to himself, taking out a quill and an ink-well that he bought earlier in the Grand Bazaar.

[Eridanus]

Remembering the experiments he conducted back in Zeltiva, he began to draw a single triangle with the ink on the his palm. With this series of glyphs he hoped to produce higher density djed that he could use to shape higher quality shields, and so the work of drawing began.

The apex of the triangle pointed to his middle finger, while the opposite of it lay across the his wrist. He drew the outlines of the glyph large enough to cover the skin then started to glyph according to the outline.

It was a many-to-one switch sigil that he planned for form and he used the shape as a guideline to trace. This allowed him to place the various component glyphs that formed the complicated design precisely by using the crude triangle as an outline. The basic components of the sigil was soon drawn, but he needed to task the glyph appropriately.

Printing a smaller glyph within the switch, he approximated the reach of the sigil to the djed that would be flowing within his body, and proceeded to write the words 'djed' and 'inside' in Nader-Canoch to further clarify his purpose.

He then drew several lines from the sigil, and these would form the outline for his next series of glyphs. He drew them such that they had an equivalent interval between them, yet covering the circumference of his arm.

[Eridanus]

When he was done, he began replacing the rough lines with actual sigils, starting with the smaller openings that were closer to the switch, that formed a sort of funnel that opened up when stretched towards his body. When completed these paths' entrances would fully cover the entire circumference of his arm, and these paths acted as a funnel to channel the flowing djed into the djed multiplexer that was the switch sigil drawn on his wrist.

After that, he then drew a single path from the tip of his triangular switch that proceeded towards his palm. This single line would carry the result of the processing of djed through the switch, and would contain several times the density of the djed that he would produce. This would ensure a more intense djed when compared to the same volume of djed extracted normally.

Connecting the path sigil leading from the output of the switch to his palm, and at the end of the path sigil he drew a large circle around his left palm. He then filled in this circle with sigils that would form a large barrier glyph meant to hold djed in. He ended by patching any possible flaws in the design between the output path and barrier to complete the glyph layout.

Putting the quill aside, he began to concentrate on his breathing, pulling on the djed that formed his astral body as he willed the flow towards his left arm.

[Eridanus]

Pushing the djed out from his arm, he felt a coldness grip his body from the sudden extraction of djed that was due to his glyph. Yet, the floating expression of his astral body that was held within the barrier sigil was little compared to the exhaustion he felt. However, the floating piece of djed glowed brightly to him, a visualization that spoke of power contained in its tiny form.

This was the result of highly dense djed, and his attempt at using glyphing to purify and refine the djed he extracted into a more compact form succeeded.

Grinning in satisfaction, he treated this floating djed as clay, using both palms to squash and flatten it like pancake. The ink that served as the glyphs that channeled this production crumbled and evaporated, such was the perishable nature of glyphing. That did not matter, for their job was already done.

Focusing on the next step of the shielding process, Eridanus furrowed his brows in concentration as he divided the two shields to cover both fists. Unlike normal djed, this highly refined djed was harder to shape, and was similar to hard rubber than the soft clay that djed normally was.

Grunting in effort, he kneaded the djed until it fitted both his hands from the wrist onwards like gloves, using each hand to pat and shape the shields such that they were as consistent as he could at his level of proficiency.

[Eridanus]

When that was done, he had to decide on an appropriate tasking. Recalling the idea he had earlier in the day, he wanted to try maintaining his concentration on the shields while doing another activity that required concentration as well. Being able to multitask would mark the next milestone in his mental fortitude and flexibility.

His fingers whirred into motion, picking and arranging the individual djed threads in the rudimentary shields covering each hand, seeking to form the pattern that would announce a general task. As practice, he did not start the actual tasking right away, instead going on a detour.

First he arranged the astral tapestry of his shields in a generic pattern that would be the basic template for tasking against sense. His ultimate goal was the blocking of light, but he would do so in a round-about manner, going through the various senses by modifying each pattern in the appropriate corners of the shields.

There was not much difference in tasking, only in the intricacies of the pattern, and he started first by tasking the shields against sound. Before the tasking was finalized and the shield allowed to set in in that function, he modified the djed threads again, now tasking it against smell. The shield glowed blue as it began to solidify, but again he tweaked the threads, now adjusting the final threads that would task it against light.

The shield glowed once more, but this time he allowed the final design to set in, and the area around his wrists flickered black. Normally it would be disturbing to see a sight like this, it was like sticking one's fingers into the void visually-speaking. However, in the night it was like having invisible hands, and if he was able to engage in hand to hand combat while maintaining these shields it would be quite advantageous to him.

[Eridanus]

Keeping his focus on the shields, he slowly settled into an unarmed stance, raising both hands. As his hands were now as dark as the night, he could not rely on his sight instead he had to rely on his feelings of knowing where his palms were. A single hand punched out, returning to its position quickly.

Eridanus found that sight highly disorienting, for he found himself unable to judge the reach of his attacks. His palms were all but invisible to him, and so he had to maintain a reasonable estimate as to the reach of his strikes through experience.

The shields flickered, and for a moment he caught the sight of his palms, forcing him to stop single-mindedly linger on this topic and to sustain his focus on the shields. He had not generally tried to maintain shields for so long, but he was sure that with sufficient focus and the high density djed used to form these shields he would be able to extend the duration of his shields.

Another punch, followed by a kick. As his legs were still visible, he used the reach of his kicks as a benchmark to estimate the reach of his punches, and that suited him quite well. The ethaefal began to increase the speed and intensity of his strikes, taking care to maintain a watchful eye on the shields to keep them activated. If he became engrossed in his martial training it was inevitable that the magic would die.

[Eridanus]

Shifting the angle of his body, he changed from a right-hand stance to a left-handed one, taking time to ensure his familiarity with both sides. Ambidexterity in combat meant flexibility, and even as he sought ambidexterity in armed combat, he also sought to apply this adaptability to his fists. After all, he was born with two hands for a reason; favoring one above the other was a wasteful crime.

His practice was one of silence, his body moving soundlessly as he stepped on the ground lightly, only the soft swish of his strikes and kicks could be heard as he blazed through the cool night air. Sweat began to form as his body warmed up, but his mind maintained that meticulous focus always, taking care to always dedicate half of his focus on the maintenance of the shields.

He was starting to get used to the reach of his strikes with 'invisible' palms, and after a few more strikes in the air that ended with an uppercut, he stopped for a moment to take a breather, noticing that the blackness was beginning to fade away. The pale skin could be seen through a sort of translucent darkness.

Taking up the quill, he began to write a series of glyphs all over the shields that spoke of longevity. Various words of Nader-Canoch that he knew of that represented life and eternity were written on the shields, the ink flashing as it was absorbed into the djed structure of the shields. This was meant to lengthen the duration of the shields as much as his knowledge in glyphing allowed, and it was this adaptability and utility of glyphs that made it such a useful discipline.

The application of these glyphs would retard the deconstruction of the shields, and using the remaining time he had before the shields disappeared he hastened the speed of his training, hoping to get his body as accustomed as he could to fighting in such a condition.

[Eridanus]

A strike here, an elbow jab there followed by an upwards palm strike. He now went into combination attacks, utilizing the possible invisibility of his palms to deliver attacks that seemingly came from nowhere. Of course, the opponent would be able to judge his punches from the visible part of his skin from the wrist upwards, but when entangled closely the opponent would not be able to tell the exact location of his palms, and that meant that he could exploit this disadvantage.

The shields flickered again, and Eridanus could tell that they were going to break down soon even with the glyphs that extended the duration of the shields. This was the limit of his magic, and he had to submit to that. For now, he would do what he could in getting as much as he could out of this session, and so he built up the speed of his strikes again, now turning into a whirlwind of attacks that resulted in a flurry that moved at lightning quick speeds.

As he jabbed the air in front of him before unleashing a roundhouse kick, he brought his hands back up in front of him in a defensive manoeuvre again, realizing that his palms were now fully visible. The shields had finally broken down. This signified the end of his little session, and he knew that it would be fruitless to attempt it again, for the exhaustion brought by his djed usage would not allow him to do so.

He would have to try again another day with sufficient rest and sustenance, and that was perfectly fine with him. Sitting down cross-legged again, he closed his eyes, feeling the sustenance that the moonlight was bestowing on him as he brought his breathing to a calm and steady pace, dropping back again into deep meditation.

[Emblem]

Congratulations! You Get Glorious Experience! Eridanus Skills Glyphing- 5 XP Shielding- 4 XP Drawing- 3 XP Unarmed Combat- 2 XP Meditation- 1 XP Lores Losing Sight of One's Movements Location: Stone Gardens Glyphing: Increasing Shield Duration Shielding: Shaping Shields Sense Tasking: Sight Sense Tasking: Sound Sense Tasking: Smell Comments : Nice training thread Eri! The lore that needs upgrading will be upgraded when you reach a competent level in the skill. If there are any other questions shoot me a PM!