Solo [Aoren's Apartment] Lessons in Glyphing Pt. II

[Aoren]

6th of Autumn, 513 AV
16th Bell

Glyphs.

They were more complicated than Aoren cared to admit. They were more daunting to draw than he had the patience to attempt. They were, when all politeness was put aside, a pain in Aoren’s ass. He refused to give up though. If there was anything that was true about Aoren it was that he was persistent when it came to the pursuit of knowledge. Once he had undertaken a certain course of study he absolutely downright refused to abandon it simply because things got difficult.

Dangerous was one thing but danger lessened once competency of the skill in question became more prevalent. Glyphing however was proving to be Aoren’s greatest challenge in his scholarly pursuits. He could say that reimancy came with some fluidity to him. He understood the wild nature of the elements because on a deeper level the ability to flow with them appealed to him. He could breathe in a current of air just as easily as he could expel it from his lungs. He could conjure fire with a flick of his wrist because there was a spark in him that he understood. Water was even becoming easy to manipulate because like water Aoren tended to flow with a natural grace and continuous motion in every day life.

Even Shielding was slowly starting to make sense to the Drykas now that he understood its most basic principles. He could cast a Shield upon a window pane and tell it to block light. It might take him a while to cast the Shield but he could do it with some manner of efficiency.

Glyphing?

That was another matter entirely. Despite the difficulties the magic was posing he was taking another go at it. There he sat within his apartment scribbling in his book or doodling on bits of parchment attempting to gain some semblance of greater understanding of the magic that so eluded him. It was frustrating at times but he was determined to wield the magic with more proficiency.

Aoren began the slow, daunting process of drawing his Focus. Dipping his quill into the ink vial situated right next to him he carefully set about tracing the lines of the intricate pattern onto the surface of the parchment. With due diligence he drew a coin sized circle on the center of the parchment. He was thankful of the fact that he had spent a great deal of time working on the actual method of drawing a circle. There were many times when his circles actually took the shape of ovals or his hand wobbled slightly because he was gripping the quill too tightly. On the same token he sometimes snapped the quill in half because he was trying to steady his hand and ended up gripping the quill so tightly it broke. He couldn’t recall how many times he’d practiced just drawing shapes.

[Aoren]

Once he was satisfied with the shape of his circle Aoren began to draw curved lines angling slightly away from the central circle situated on the parchment. He was careful with his strokes not wanting to deviate from the freeform flow of the lines too much as it would detract from the effectiveness of his Focus. He dipped the quill into the ink vial once again. Aoren shifted the parchment rotating it so that he could steadily draw the wavy lines jutting out from the central circle in a close to an even pattern as possible.

Little by little heart of Aoren’s Focus was being shaped. To an onlooker the Focus would appear to be a sunburst. It reflected Aoren’s personal views on magic as a means of shining light into an otherwise dark place. Magic was a tool to be used for the benefit of all rather than leverage to accumulate more power for mere power’s sake. It had taken him a long time to figure out just what shape resonated with him the most.

There was a definitive art in finding the shapes of Glyphs that most closely depicted a wizard’s view on magic. When Aoren had begun studying Glyphing he had copied the Glyphs that he’d seen in the tomes he’d learned from when he was younger. Those Glyphs had proven less than effective. As he’d grown in his understanding of the magic so too did his understanding of just how important the shapes of the Glyphs were to the wizard who created them.

While all wizards possess an innate understanding of Glyphs they were as unique as the personality of the one who drew it in their appearance. It was the purpose that rang true through each Glyph and that purpose could only be effectively conveyed when it was given adequate form.

Aoren sat back in his chair flexing his wrist when finally his Focus was complete. He rubbed at the back of his hand trying to get stiffness out of the muscles. He’d been keeping a very keen amount of attention on how steady his hand was moving. If he made even the slightest mistake in the drawing process of forming the Glyph it would have been rendered useless.

Aoren did not possess the skill to do these things quickly or effectively in haste. He likened the process of learning Glyphing to that of learning to write the common alphabet. Each letter had a definitive shape. Each Glyph given a specific purpose also needed a shape for that reason Aoren was in the process of forming his own “Glyphabet”. It was a largely trial and error process but the fundamental idea behind it was to enable him to catalog the variety of Glyphs he could create for different purposes. Thus far it was proving a very slow, slow, slow process.

[Aoren]

The purpose of today’s Glyph? To do nothing more than to store magic.

His Focus was not yet complete however. Without dipping his quill into the ink vial he measured just a miniscule amount of space away from the sunburst then with the residual ink left on the quill he made a marker. Dipping the quill he placed the tip of the pen onto the paper and with careful motions made a larger circle around the sunburst. As he drew the larger circle he thought about the purpose of a Focus and how it functioned.

“A single, large glyph that stores magic. When magic flows into the Focus, it disappears until released.” That was the rudimentary function of a Focus but there was a little more to it than that. A Focus created without a Barrier would release the magic almost instantaneously acting much like a mirror that just reflected the magic back at wherever it came from. That was not what Aoren had in mind.

When he’d finished the second circle he made another one just a few spaces around that one only slightly larger than the one immediately surrounding the sunburst. Once finished Aoren began filling in the space between the two larger circles with a crisscrossing circular pattern. Finally Aoren completed the foundations of the Glyph’s Focus by beginning the barrier that would help to contain the magic he would store into the Focus itself.

Rotating the parchment so that he could get a better angle on drawing the runes he set about writing them in a circular pattern around the Focus serving not just as a written barrier but as a visual one too. Aoren had memorized basic runes from some of the tomes he’d read when he was grasping at the very early principles of the world magic. He had none of his own but the written runes still served his purpose even if the drawn part of the Glyph was unique to his own style. When the Barrier was complete Aoren set down his quill pen studying the drawing he’d scrawled onto the parchment.

It was rigid. That much was obvious. He hadn’t allow much freedom of movement throughout the whole of the drawing. He didn’t want to allow freedom. He wasn’t yet comfortable enough with the magic in general to leave room for error. His hand was beginning to cramp and his lower back was starting to ache because he’d been seated so long doing nothing but drawing on the parchment. He wasn’t yet finished though. With a sigh he scooted himself up closer to the desk doing his best to maintain good posture so that he alleviated some of the stress off of his lower back. Picking up his quill once again he dipped it into the inkwell setting it down upon the surface of the parchment in the upper right hands corner.

[Aoren]

Slowly Aoren drew a small triangular rune he knew held the meaning of “control, or dominate” when translated in the corner. Within the triangle he wrote a rune that when spoken aloud roughly meant “light”. That would be the trigger word for this rudimentary scroll. When he was finished scribbling the runes onto the parchment Aoren stood up stretching his back and twisting his torso to work the kinks out of his stiff muscles. He slid his chair away from the table then picked up the parchment setting it on the cold stone floor. He didn’t want to risk burning any of his furniture or a fire spreading too fast and destroying his apartment if what he was about to try failed.

Stepping away from the parchment he took a deep breath reaching for the spark within himself he recognized as his closest relation to the element of fire. Without having to devote much effort into manipulating his Djed he conjured his Res in the palm of his hand separating it into two distinct layers. He then ignited the outer most layer creating a small flame no larger than a candle flame. He was probably only a foot away from the parchment resting on the floor. With a flick of his thoughts the flame began to float slowly, deliberately toward the parchment.

As the magic neared the rudimentary scroll the runes on its surface began to glow matching the azure hue of the fire drifting toward it. Slowly Aoren willed the candle sized flame above the Focus centered on the parchment. With his hands he made a slow lowering gesture and the small flickering fire mimicked the movement until it touched the surface of the parchment. Aoren held his breath. The rune glowed brighter and the candle flame lowered down into the Focus passing through it, being drawn into the Focus like a moth to a flame. There was a flash and then the flame that Aoren had conjured was gone.

He waited.

He waited some more.

Nothing happened.

“Haha! Yes! Success! Finally! I did it. I contained mag—“ His words were cut short when suddenly the runes on the surface of the parchment glowed a cerulean blue. Aoren’s attention immediately went to his scroll. The small flame appeared once more moving with the same diligent slowness as it had when it had been placed into the Focus. It lingered there for a moment and Aoren failed to realize that his Barrier had failed. His trigger had failed. He was simply captivated the display of magic before him.

[Aoren]

That was when both the parchment and the small flame flared blindingly bright. Aoren covered his eyes with his hand. There was a popping noise and when he removed his hand he saw the fire he’d conjured with his reimancy consume the parchment then blink out of existence. When the light cleared all that was left was the fire in the hearth and a pile of ash on his floor. Aoren sighed in frustration.

His scroll had failed. He realized that now. The magic hadn’t been contained it had only been amplified in its intensity and the whole of the scroll was destroyed in the process. He ran his hands over his face.

“Oh well. Back to the drawing board. Just keep at it, Aoren. You’ll get there eventually.” He knew he would. He just needed to put more time and effort into the shaping of his Glyphs. Which is exactly what he would keep doing. With another sheet of parchment he carefully swept the ashes of his failed scroll into the hearth making certain not to let the one he was using as a makeshift broom catch fire. Aoren then seated himself back at his table. He picked up his inkwell shaking it slightly to get a good idea of how much ink was left inside. It would not be long before he needed to pay a visit to the Scrivener’s Booth in the Great Bazaar to purchase more ink.

With as much patience as he could muster he took a deep breath, picked up his quill pen, dipped it into the ink vial and set about making yet another scroll that would attempt to contain magic effectively. He would get there and he wouldn’t rest until he managed to do it successfully. Carefully he started drawing his Focus yet again. He had to take brief rest periods during its construction as his hand was really start to pain him from the amount of conscious effort he was making to keep it steady. Aoren drew the lines of the sunburst, he made the crisscrossing rings around it. He then wrote the Barrier runes around that.

When he’d finally finished writing the Barrier in place he paused scanning the drawing on the surface of the parchment. He was checking very carefully to see if there was even the slightest flaw in his Glyph’s design. He could see it clearly in his head. He could see the shapes. He could see the runes that needed to be written around the central Focus. He even knew the meaning of each rune that he’d written to act as a Barrier. That was when it struck Aoren. The crisscrossing pattern connecting the two outer Focus rings.

[Aoren]

Could that be redirecting the flow of magic to rebound upon itself? He wasn’t entirely certain but it was worth a shot at trying to figure out. Aoren set aside the scroll he’d just completed. He was going to hate himself later if what he was about to try proved to be a complete failure. More specifically his hands was going to hate him as the cramp was beginning to distract him as well as the ache in his lower back from gradually slouching over the parchment.

Aoren adjusted his posture. He planted his feet firmly on the floor beneath his table and set to work on drawing a third scroll. He’d probably been at this task for several hours. Drawing Glyphs took an extensive amount of time with Aoren. He estimated it probably took him two bells just to effectively make one completed Glyph on the surface of a parchment.

This time when Aoren went to make the crisscrossing ring connecting the two outer Focus circles he went for a more zigzag lightning bolt pattern. When he saw the magic in his mind he envisioned the majority of it being contained within the sunburst itself with the residual energy from the magic being captured by the pattern between the two outer Focus circles.

With the crisscross pattern the magic was being woven up and down and around within the circles eventually crossing over and rebounding upon itself. With the lightning bolt pattern it was still being bounced between the two Focus circles but in a singular flow thus by the time the magic caught up to itself it was already leaving room to continue flowing around and around in the circle.

Aoren had no idea if such a concept would hold true. This test would tell.

[Aoren]

Setting the parchment in the exact same place as the first failed one had been Aoren conjured his small flickering flame yet again. The reason he was moving so slowly and using only the smallest of flames was obvious to him. If the magic being propelled into the Focus was expelled at the exact same speed it stood to reason that if something was lowered slowly and carefully into the Focus it would move just as slowly when it was pushed out of it. Thus far that had held true as evidenced by the failed scroll not but a few bells ago.

This would be Aoren’s last attempt for the day. If this method failed he would have to completely scrap his whole approach to containing magic with a Glyph in general. He would have to find a new form for the Focus and everything. That took a lot of studying and a lot of time. While Aoren was willing to do that it would prove very, very frustrating.
Carefully he lowered his candle sized flame into the Focus. The runes on the parchment glowed to match the blue hue of his magically conjured fire. Just as with the previous Glyph the parchment flared brightly before his fire was stored within the Focus. Aoren waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Nothing happened. Elation filled Aoren he walked up to the parchment picking it up a bright smile on his face.

“Finally!” Or not.

The trigger rune on the parchment flared brightly and the entire thing burst into flame. Aoren yelped dropping the scroll immediately as it was quickly reduced to falling ash. He stomped on where the remnants of the parchment landed quickly trying to prevent a fire from spreading around his apartment. When the miniscule fire was out he stepped back rubbing the palms of his hands. He wasn’t horribly burned. Just startled. If anything he was suffering from wounded pride.

His scroll had failed.

“Well…not entirely. The Trigger and the Barrier failed to work properly. The Focus seems to be working just fine. It’s storing magic and expelling it just like it’s supposed to.” He sighed as he thought over those things to himself. He was only mildly pleased with that fact. He wouldn’t be forced to go back to the drawing board. Not completely at least. He wasn’t being made to scrap his entire attempt at creating magic scrolls but he certainly needed to find the right combination of Barrier Runes and Trigger Runes to effectively keep the magic contained.

He could contain the magic. He just needed to work out on how to keep it contained. That was a task for another day however. Rubbing his hands over his face he sighed tiredly then set about cleaning up the mess he’d made.

“Progress, Aoren. You’re making progress. Just keep telling yourself that.” He would get there. It would just take time and effort like everything else.

[Taylani]

XP Award!

Aoren:

XP Award:

• +3 drawing
• +4 glyphing
• +3 reimancy

Lore:

• The difficulty of Glyphing
• Glyphing: An art to find the shape most resonate with one’s own view.
• Glyphing: storing Magic

Notes:

Comments :

Glyphing might be hard to write about, but you wrote about it a lot bettern then I could. Please remember to delete/edit your grade request, and as always please feel free to pm me with any concerns about your grade..

TAYLANI