Restless Dead (Rayage)

[Miro]

4th day of Spring, 513 AV

Miro had yet again called Rayage out to the Testing Grounds, the Prairie, as per their usual. It was time again for their training, but this time they would focus hard on the Flux. For long now his apprentice had been practicing as instructed. Bells of meditation, physical training, all to growi closer to his body, or bodies as it was. It was good the Nuit had switched to a fresh vessel. Not only was it fresh and strong, but he could feel the difference between them. In his previous body, he had been given the experience of a redirection, and now again in this new body he would be given the experience again. Things would be taken further now, for it was time the apprentice started in on this new path. No longer would Flux training consist of pointless disciplining. Some easy way to shut his master's mouth, allowing him to go through the motions without much though. Whether the undead knew it or not, he had indeed developed discipline.

The fact that Rayage could even go through their training sessions without giving it much thought was proof of this. It had become routine for him. That he could progress though their sessions half-committed was proof of this. It was now high time to put all of this to some purpose. The master would take steps to accelerate and push his apprentice towards initiation from here. And as such, their lessons would increase in intensity. The wizard took some time to prepare his lessons plan. "Alright, okay, let's see here. Meditation first to tune in and try to sense his pathways, like we have been practicing. Then the glyph so he knows what the flow feels like. Then after, another session of meditation. While I am storing the spell, I will have Rayage observe using Auristics. And when he is meditating, I will help things along with Hypnotism, talk him through it. From there, physical training, and tough too. I will add weights, push his body hard, to the edge even, so that he might discover its inner workings and limits. Yes, sounds perfect"

The Chained One tapped his staff hard onto the ground and gave a grunt of confidence. For now he would wait for Rayage, but still he needed to prepare himself. He closed his eyes and tuned himself with his body's pathways. Then opened them and redirected Djed from his legs to his right arm. He swung Ionu's Light with power at his side with force, then set his Djed to rest. And again, in an instant, a redirection from his arm to his right leg. He lifted it high with a powerful kick that snapped to a still as quickly as it moved. And again he put his Djed Flux to rest as he lowered his leg. If his student was to get the training needed, he would need his teacher in his prime. The wizard would continue training until his arrival.

[Rayage]

Practice, it makes perfect right? Rayage had been training just like Miro had instructed for the past season, and it was this day which the boy sent for him to once again venture into the Prairie. The nuit was growing confident in his powers of Reimancy, and spent some time reading tomes on the magic discipline Flux. She had basic theoretical knowledge, and was wondering what the Miro had planned for them today. Really, it was a welcome ‘distraction’ from her Alchemy experiments. Ever since Project Vinonen began she started feeling more fulfilled and happy, and despite the mishaps encountered in overseeing such an ambitious project it was getting done, slowly but surely.

Rayage tried to keep up with the training régime every day, but alas there were only so many hours in a day and she was a very busy nuit. Though she did give it a good effort, and she wondered if Miro would be able to notice. She was guessing not, but she has been wrong before. Unfortunately. Smiling widely she waved at the figure in the distance, ”Miro.” she called out. The nuit was in a good mood today, even Ray had those days, yes. The Alchemist was also eager to further her knowledge on personal magic. The magic of the world was at her fingertips. She understood the logical, cut and dry approach to many of the worldly magics. It was the uncertainty and almost unpredictable nature of personal magic which put her on edge. She only knew a few, and Miro was teaching her a lot. For that she was glad. She couldn’t help but to smile every time she saw the boy. If she had ever had a child, she would hope that it would be like him.

As she approached closer, ”So, what is it today?” she asked, ”More Reimancy?” she pulled her arm about in front of her in that gesture of hers, ”Or something else?” she asked, seeming eager to get started. However, she just wanted to get this phase of the day over with. She wanted to return to precious Project Vinonen.

”Though, more importantly, how is the island treating you?” she asked, ”It is a paradise.” she exclaimed, ”How’ve you been?” she bombarded him with questions and concerns, all the while drawing on the hypnotic power within her, measuring it out in careful proportions as she planned her spell. She wanted Miro to feel that she actually cared behind the questions. That was easy enough, she decided, and it would be just the kind of thing to prepare him for future manipulations. Besides, people do stupid things to protect the people they care about… She could use his power to her advantage. She just needed to plot out her spell, and gradually, oh so gently, prompt the boy into caring for her. It was the perfect plan, and so she went to set it into action. She would need a new protector, after all, Wrenmae is not here.

Meditating on the feeling which she wanted to produce, she focused on the joy she felt when working Alchemy and unraveling the mysteries of the universe through discoveries in world magic. She focused on the dedication put into her work, the tirelessness of every action, and finally she focused on the tender care she put in her research notes when transcribing the reactions and what exactly happened. These feelings, all bottled up, were ready to be released, each into their own emotional response, each going hand in hand together, ”I wanted to thank you for teaching me so much, Miro.” she said, each word punctuated, infected, carrying djed laced with the emotions summoned by the wizards very mind. It was a sincere thank you, and one filled with so much emotion.

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[Miro]

Rayage arrived, seemingly in a pleasant mood. He asked what was the agenda today, how Miro was doing, pleasantries of that sort. It was quite refreshing, though the undead was not quite in the mood to speak of such things. "I am fine, quite fine, sure, but we have work to do." For a few moments his apprenticed gathered himself, then thanked his master for tutoring him. It brought him a deep inspired feeling of pride, and that made him happy. "Of course, but we are far from done. If you are really thankful, then show it by learning what I have to teach. I am not going to be satisfied until you are capable of manipulating your Djed Flux. Able to perform a redirection on command."

The Reimancer planted his staff to rest firmly on the ground. All in all he was quite enchanted by Rayage's cheery mood, but could not convey weakness to the disciple. Instead he turned inwards, more or less, to his Familiar. "Care to take bets on him Ender? I'll bet he is ready to learn the Flux." However his Familiar laughed, a harrowing twisted cackle, the kind that causes the hair on the back of one's neck to stand. "That corpse is weak! Bah, pathetic as a Lightfacer! I'll bet now, you won't ever see this Alchemist able to handle the Flux, or even Reimancy properly for that matter. I am sure the fool can pick up a trick here or there, but most animals are capable of that. Just make sure to give him a treat and he will obey. He will not learn the Flux, and by the end of this season, he will burn himself to cinders with his own Reimancy. It was quite the twisted answer, but an easy bet to win. And who could resist a challenge issued with such a cocksure attitude?

"I'll force him to initiate into the Flux by the end of the day, and see to it that he never burns. Let's say I am wrong though. If he can't learn, I'll take orders from you for a day. That means, you say kill, I do it. Sounds good, yeah? And further more, let's say you are right. Say he burns to death by the end of the season like you so boldy claim. If that is the case, I'll take orders from you forevermore. I'll be your slave, oh great master Ender!" Miro grinned and snickered slightly. He loved the snarky tone used in declaring him great master.

Ender of course was brimming with a confidence that could only have been borrowed from his master. "You know this wretch is but a distraction from what truly your heart desires. Deep down, you know it to be true, indeed you do. One day I will have all of this faith you put into this man, but I will not need to send pretty words your way. But feats of greatness that could only be rivaled by you yourself. You will respect me for my actions, not how sweet I can make my voice sound. We both know this for a fact. Eventually he will buckle under the pressure of your greatness, run out of gifts to give, and stop amusing you. You will eventually break your toy, turn loose your pet. Pray to your gods that I haven't turned my back on you by then."

The wizard tried hard to mask his grin as he took steps to walk behind Rayage. He held his staff out and prodded him in the back. "Kneel," he said with a callous inflection. Ionu's Light was pressed firmly against the nape of his neck. "Now, concentrate hard, very hard. Remember the feeling of the redirection I had you experience. Attempt to sense the pathways within your body. Every movement you make, it is a tinge of fluctuation within your pathways. Each command you issue to your muscles travels along these channels, and it is the most natural thing in the world. Your body has lungs, so breath. And when you do...feel. Your entire body's pathways will sway with the breathing. It is like a breeze that causes a cold rush of excitement, then a calm of stillness, over and over."

Miro flowed a medley of Hypnotism spells through the tip of his staff into his disciple to set the mood. First an array of emotional responses. Each spell cast took a while to gather and shape the Djed before channeling it, but they were going to be there for a while. He took his sweet time to ensure that the full effect was received. Each casting was fueled for a while before tapering off, to ensure the effect had a lasting impression. To obtain a connection to the pathways, one must find an inner harmony with the body and mind. Peace, relaxation, confidence, determination, each of these powerful emotions were flown in to settle his mind. Then the suggestions, some push in the right direction. "My mind is at peace," the first, followed by, "My body is at peace," and finally "My mind and body are in perfect harmony." He removed his staff and let the apprentice brew for a moment longer on the spells and proceeded on with his lesson.

"Imagine your body is not flesh and bone, but rivers of Djed that are all connected. Just Djed streams throughout your body. Pathways. All in the shape of your vessel, the intermediary connection between your astral and physical body. Now take it a step further, and imagine the body and these pathways as one. They are connected to your every muscle, and most importantly to your mind. For now, these rivers of Djed are calm, only ever rushing as your mind commands, yet never overflowing. You may cause them to vibrate with a rush of excitement, but the wave only moves along the river, never taking the water with it. When one is able to find a harmony and sense these pathways, they can control their flow, cause them to gather, build Djed. Move the water from one river to flow into another. The Flux. Just take some time, meditate on this, draw yourself closer to your body. Look deep within yourself, feel the connected pathways that make up your very essence. When it is you feel that connection your first step of initiation will be complete. Though do not rush. Take your time. We are not going anywhere for a while."

For now he would start with this, but the next step was already clear in mind. The Nuit apprentice was an Aurist, and this was a valuable tool. As Miro had it planned, the initiate would attune himself with the master and observe him making use of the Flux. It would teach him much, and push him closer to understanding the imbalance it put on the body, and the lesson of discipline that came with it. Much like in Animation where for an automata to learn to move, it must also know what it is to be still; his apprentice would need to learn that in order to create imbalance, he would need to truly understand balance. For the Flux was entirely about give and take, and if abused, it could cause the user to crash.

[Rayage]

Rayage only smirked as he listened to and obeyed Miro. It had been a long time since he found himself kneeling before any wizard, especially one so young, but he was quick to find that out that perhaps his views on youth were bias and that youth does not equate to immaturity and lack of magical discipline. This Flux, this magic of the body, will be the second personal magic which the wizard would have learned from this boy, this prodigy. That fact filled him even more with joy and compassion for Miro, but more so respect. Miro was not just any post valterrian wizard, he was something else entirely.

He needed to remember, to recall what it felt like, what the flux felt like from the experience he had last season. His mind was racing to recall exactly what it felt like, like both weakness and strength at the same time. Where one thing gets enhanced, the other withers with the power, and it all is granted by djeds influence, it is all possible by drawing and flowing djed through the internal pathways of the body. Every movement is caused by an initiation of the pathways, these ‘paths of power’ within the body, directing and empowering it.

Rayage remembered it. He felt it in his mind as the memory came to him. The surging of an almost electric power through his body. He felt it as he remembered it, and remembered how he felt it, the two were intertwined in his mind, as sometimes he had trouble separating imagination from reality and vice versa. The waves of hypnotic djed furthered his mood and helped him recall in further detail as he grew more confident in himself, and relaxed. A silent determination built inside him as he went over the memories again and again, remembering and building up the feeling inside him and as he remembered he listened to Miro’s further explanation of the flux.

Listening further he followed along wordlessly, silent, but observant. Picturing his body having a multitude of pathways, rivers as Miro described them, and he followed along trying to emerge himself in the experience. He compared this to how he was initiated into Hypnotism. He need to picture, to understand, to focus on his body and its movements, or rather what caused the movements of the body, the pathways which all energy and actions are directed upon.

The nuit began to 'breathe' following the instructions further. The act itself was awkward, unbecoming of the nuit. He did not need to breathe, so why did he follow this silly notion? Suspending all disbelief he continued to draw in air, feeling his dead lungs expand. Breathing out was a little harder as the tissue was stale and stiff, but he managed. It had been centuries since he had done this and he was woefully out of practice.

He took his time. He took his time with the visualizations, and taking in all the information granted to him by Miro. He took his time analyzing, tumbling the data in his mind and making sense of it. With each passing moment he was struggling to understand what was given to him, but also in the process of understanding and recalling. It was how the nuit learned. How he learned to learn. It was the learning process.

Then he came upon a realization, and his hand twitched. His hand twitched, and he felt it, or at least he thought he did. He felt the djed command his hand to move, the thought to move it was followed by a surge of energy to move it. That was what Miro was talking about. Clenching his hand, he felt the muscles tighten up and relax as he unclenched them, and every time he felt it, an energy moving through his body. It was a subtle force, something that he did not immediately recognize, something which would have gone unnoticed if not for the state he was in.

x

[Miro]

Miro could tell that Rayage was onto something, finally understanding. He nodded at his apprentice with a smirk. For a long while they waited, Rayage only twitching every once in a while. Though his body was still, it was obvious his mind was hard at work. He was discovering a part of himself he had never felt before. The first sense of the pathways was one thing, but to be able to constantly be in touch with them, that was another. It would come and go for a novice, but what mattered was that he could find it on command.

When it seemed that the realization had been made, the wizard stopped their session. "Well done, I can tell you've done it. This is all I require of you, since I see how difficult it has been. Now only do you need to repeat this daily until it becomes natural for you. When you no longer need to meditate to experience harmony with your pathways, you will be able to learn application of the magic. Actually redirecting your Djed flux, that will still take great concentration, be far from fluid. Most of the time you will have to stop and announce your attack, but it can still have application."

The undead reached his hand out to help the Nuit to his feet. "I do think it is time I introduced your next level of Reimancy training however. Now that you have the basics under control, we can move onto putting them to the test. This will be tough, but you shall manage. It will start out easy, but in time we will increase your trials. The basics of it are simple though, as well as the variables. In the most brief explanation, I create targets, you strike them. Variables include the distance, speed and number of the targets. And since Reimancy is so costly, we can only put in so much training in a day. However we shall push a little further each day."

Miro gave a half shrug. "We should really start today, but only if you are up to it. Learning to properly throw a fireball is important, but it can wait. We will only strike one static target at a time, from close range too. If that seems too daunting a task however, let us just retire to your lab. There we can discuss philosophy, eternal life, and plans of glorious and immeasurable grandeur at length." He gave a mocking snarl. "I want to see you get serious about your training. Practice in Reimancy is key, for there will come a day when you will need to use it. An unskilled caster will end his fight torn apart from overgiving. A trained one will tear only his target apart."

"It is all for naught, and you know this. The Nuit doesn't have what it takes to be a personal wizard, even with you forcing greatness down his throat. You literally did this, and his only thanks were spiteful words. And even in realizing why it was to be done, he now bears a grudge. The grudge you intended, but the resistance did not. He has not dedicated to you, and he will not. He wishes to stop being weak, but those who are weak are born that way. The corpse will never be anything but slow and useless outside of his cage. Without his lab he might as well just lay motionless and rot."

[Rayage]

Rayage was relieved when Miro praised her. She smiled and nodded. Learning a new magic was going to be difficult, especially one as in tune with the body as Flux. She needed practice, but according the Miro learning how to feel and properly learn to use the pathways will take time, and in her state, being as she is, she expected that it would take a bit longer as well. However, she did not let that take a chunk out of her enthusiasm of learning new magic, especially personal magic.

Now wasn’t the time to think about that though, as her mind was redirected to reimancy training. She listened and tried to visualize the test as Miro explained it. He would create the targets and she would attempt to hit them with reimancy. The wizard was right, it was simple enough. When Miro raised a snide remark of retiring to the lab to talk about philosophy sarcastically the nuit frowned, and shook her head, ”I’m ready” she said, her resolve as steel-like as the cloak she wore. She wasn’t going to back down, especially to a challenge presented to her by Miro. He was but a boy after all. She was an ancient nuit with centuries of experience and knowledge. She would soon be able to tear her enemy apart, just like Miro said. Not only that, but she would be smart about it as well. These thoughts made a cruel smile spread across her face, and in her eyes a glimpse of ancient insanity. It was this insanity which drove all wizards, and it was this insanity which presented itself in all her Alchemy. It would now be infecting her other magics as well. If she wanted power, she would have to give in to her inner voices, and take it.

She readied herself and took a few steps away from Miro, turning her back to him before turning around facing him. Striking a stance, the wizard put her feet shoulder width apart and firmly grounded herself. If she were human it would be this time where she would take a deep breath in and try to slow her mind, concentrate on casting, but without the need the breathe she slowed her thoughts by counting slowly in her mind one, two, three… all the way to six. Once six was reached she would start over, and once her mind was slowed enough and she felt relaxed the nuit nodded towards Miro, ”Ready,” she called to him.

As she spoke that word she took from herself what she could afford in djed, cutting it away from her soul, mentally ripping it, and transmuting it into res. Slowly red res started to trickle down her arm and hover in front of her. Right above her chest area a small sphere of res formed, no larger than her neck from Miros point of view. It was impressive in its own, as she used no gestures to aid herself in the collection of res or the formation of the sphere, but then again a sphere was a simple shape, was it not? She was not yet ready to form more complex shapes, but she had spheres down by now, however shaky the suspended ball would be. It would wobble slightly, her concentration not entirely focused on maintaining the shape as she was trying to anticipate where her first target would be.

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