50th of Fall, 513 AV
It all came back to this. It always seemed to come back to this, to the Void and the newest power granted to her. She needed to understand it, to actually possess real power over the bridging of two dimensions. Small portals were fine and well, but unless she actually new her current limits in terms of how large she could make a portal than she wasn't going to advance.
Annalisa Marin was currently sitting in her chair at the small side table granted to her, alone with only candle light to illuminate her. Her grey eyes flicker in the light, seemingly she was deep in introspection and thought. She knew what she wanted to do today, to test the limits of her control over the Void as well as experiment with just how powerful it could currently be at this point. It was a daunting exercise, especially when simply creating a Portal was difficult at this stage. However Anna had faith that it was very doable, hopefully without the threat of overgiving looming over her head.
For now she wasn't going to cast anything, not until the plan of action was solid and firmly grounded. The first thing she wanted to do was to actually test the Portal to see if it would move if she directed it to do so. The next experiment would revolve around Pull and giving it actual direction rather than making it Omni-directional. The initial experiments before actually expanding on the Portal itself would be kept to small sized Portals, as it would minimize the drain upon her Djed.
The really difficult part would be actually expanding upon the portal itself and keeping it stable. It would like sap quite a bit of Djed from her, as the drain upon Djed was directly proportional to the size of the Portal. The additional factors, such as Pull added more towards the overall drain. Anna was hoping to minimalize the drain by simply cutting off how much Pull she added, which was another reason for the idea of giving the force a direction. The other being that she would much rather NOT end up Voiding herself when she could finally handle larger Portals.
The wizard finally nodded, satisfied with her current plan of action and ready to actually get down to the actual business of casting. She leaned further back in her chair and closed her eyes, beginning to cycle her breathing. Meditation often helped in the process of personal magic use, the most obvious use being that it helped to sharpen one's overall focus upon the task at hand. Voiding required much of her focus, just generating a portal was quite the task in and of itself.
As always Anna took deep breaths in through her nose and released them out through her mouth, slowly so as to control the flow and intake of air into her lungs. Focusing on the act of breathing seemed a trivial thing, however it greatly assisted in clearing one's mind as measuring each breath diverted attention away from distracting thoughts. The automatic responses of the body, and their continued function, relied on actively thinking about carrying them out.
Soon enough she could feel the clutter begin to disappear as her mind was slowly emptied of less than important thoughts, things that would distract from the act of casting. Personal magic was something of an exercise of the spirit, it required inner strength and tranquility and was more about personal limitations rather than complex theories and equations. World Magic was thus rather inferior, in Anna's mind. The realm of World Magic would always have its limits, things that it simply couldn't do no matter how much the mage wanted. In the end it was rather static, no matter how far a master wanted to stretch its boundaries they were limited by resources and the nature of their science. Personal Magic lacked those limits, if one wanted to keep going they could. It was always organic, ever changing and ever evolving with the user. In using this magic, one learned more about the self and just how powerful they could become.
Anna finished her meditations, her grey eyes opening and her right hand stretching out before her. Her fingers were curled upwards and the wizard's focus was upon a space above her palm, staring at apparently nothing for the longest time. First things first, the incantations.
"Sutla Gug. Gug Sutla."
"Sutla Gug. Gug Sutla."
"Sutla Gug. Gug Sutla."
Anna repeated the phrase over and over, the intervals of pause controlled and seemingly synchronized. Her eyes were still locked upon that one space in the air above her palm, the flickering candle light casting the shadows of her fingers upon the spot. It contributed to what she wanted, rather than taking away or obscuring it. What she wanted to create was darkness in its purest form, a place where light entered only to be swallowed up.
"Sutla Gug. Gug Sutla."
"Sutla Gug. Gug Sutla."
"Sutla Gug. Gug Sutla."
Anna willed her Djed to move under her hand, the vital energy being the key to actually bridging This Side to The Other Side. As soon as it was gathered the wizard willed the energy upwards, commanding it to empty out the directed space. At first nothing happened, which was better than having accidently generated res. It took patience, she needed to simply let the magic do its work and keep her focus.
After about forty ticks Anna felt a surge of Djed leaving her and being absorbed by a tiny black dot that formed above her hand. Quickly she fed the new born Portal more of her Djed, willing it to expand until it was about the size of a fingernail. She needed it to be small at first for her initial research, she Djed expenditure needed to be kept to a minimum. The wizard let out a relieved sigh and prepared herself for the next phase of the experiment.
