[The Midnight Gem] Insights into the Darkness

by **Farris** on July 13th, 2018, 9:20 pm

17th of Summer, 518 - Early Morning

Upon arrival into the Midnight Gem, Farris was quite struck with how lovely the place truly was. He'd had an odd experience with the Kelvic, Kelski to say the least, but never would he have expected her to have a home like this. Her storefront was neat and organized, and if Farris held any interest in valuable jewels and aesthetics to place on his person, she'd certainly get his business. However, it simply wasn't the case, and so, after a second look around the top floor he'd descend down the staircase and make his way to the basement, where he was certain that he'd have the space to practice in peace.

Peace. The word struck Farris as out of place in his vocabulary whilst living in Sunberth. Often, the city was rife with some kind of trouble, be it gangsters shaking down locals or prying eyes in the distance taking an unnatural interest where they believed gold could be acquired. Safety was an oddity and yet in the moment, there was a clarity and peace that the mage hadn't felt since before his departure from Ravok. A smile cast upon his features as he loosed his rucksack from his shoulders. He'd open it to loose his journal and the pen he'd brought with him before setting everything aside to provide himself an ample space to concentrate. He wondered to himself if, perhaps, he'd see Kelski in her home, but he neither sought to greet the woman nor alert her to his presence.

The room fell away to darkness as Farris' eyes closed. He lifted his chin, feeling the muscles in his jaw flex as the position change caused them to shift. An easy breath filled Farris' lungs as he placed his palms on his knees, seated crosslegged. From this point, he turned his attention fully inward. Breaths carried in a rhythmic pace, two seconds in between each one as he began to pull. Djed flowed throughout the pathways in his body, the energy of the soul coming easily as the mage manipulated it more and more. His thoughts and recent experiences filled the emptiness of thought. Meeting Kelski, his struggles with lightning, his move to Sunberth in past seasons. He thought back towards his time in Ravok before at last he pulled in earnest.

With the sensation of manipulating his djed came an end to stray thoughts. His hands rose of their own accord, his fingers interweaving as the image of a portal came into light. The blackness of thought was replaced with the chill of the Void. Years before, he'd contemplated the thought of utter darkness and solitude. The death of his father had taken the young man into a further practice of Voiding during the mourning period, but he'd never advanced further, the association created deterring him from repetitive indulgence in the discipline.

The image of Farris' father came to mind of its own volition, and before he'd begun to assemble the portal, he found himself growing distracted. His thoughts were plagued with the visage of his father, his experiences flooding. A single tear welled as he filled his lungs with air, followed shortly by his weaving. Between his hands, which had begun to create arching, parallel motions to one another, a tear formed. The rift into the void was tiny, blackness spilling into the transparent air. Farris nearly heard the sound of the air ripping asunder, welcoming emptiness into its fold as the portal grew larger still. As long as his middle finger, the portal began to adopt a circular shape, completing its full shape in the space of about half a chime. The portal was small and no pull could be felt from it. Farris, however, did not see the shape at all. Rather, he imagined the rift in his thoughts. In his mind's eye, however, the rift had a significantly harsher pull. His thoughts were swept into the Void, the tear dried upon his features as his father, Kelski, and the bolts of lightning fired in the past were swept up into it. His heart seemed to swell in his chest before it too was pulled into the torrential pull of the abyss. He'd let a breath fall from his lips as his fingers flexed, balling into fists as he felt his heart grow into ease. Rather than the somber mood that had come with his indulgence into the past, his mind cleared and began to focus on the task at hand.

The Void between his hands pulsed with the slight pull that had formed within it. A soft 'whoosh' broke the absolute silence of his solitude, a current formed as air sought to fill the endless void, creating a tiny, but audible current within the room. Farris opened his eyes at last, a curious expression set upon his features as he looked upon the portal he had created. Perfectly circular in shape, the gateway into the Void was almost beautiful in a way. His lips curved into a grin as he continued to let djed flow into his palms, the gateway stable and maintained as he let his observations follow.

by **Farris** on July 13th, 2018, 9:41 pm

Once the stable portal was completed, Farris was surprised to see the size of it. No longer than his middle finger, he knew he'd created larger portals before. Rather than be satisfied with what he had done, he sought for more. Greater pastures and a firmer understanding were his goals, his reason for practice. In truth, without the lofty goals of furthering his understanding of the arcane, Farris could hardly consider his existence to have significance. He was like the Void, static and fleeting, his goals and aspirations rather bare without the arcane to create a purpose within him.

The mage found that his life was, in truth, hardly worth living. His only connection was taken from him in Ravok, and he had no friends or family to speak of. Kelski was a fascinating diversion from the reality that there was nothing keeping him motivated. Thoughts were rife as he maintained the portal, adding nothing and taking nothing from it until he reached a point of dissatisfaction. The direction his thoughts had taken was incredibly negative, and he found that his inaction with the portal before him was turning his mood further towards the deary and sad.

Farris squirmed in his seated position as he sought to clear his mind of negativity and instead push forward. The Void waned just slightly, shrinking before an influx of djed poured from the depths of Farris' soul. The elation of casting quickly kicked in. A groan parted the Voider's lips as he stretched his fingers. He'd let a slow, steady movement accompany his casting, the portal waxing with the administration. His father tore from his thoughts yet again as a thrilling wave of pleasure cast upon his senses. He drew his hands back, the Void left in its place two feet away from Farris' chest as he scooted back another foot from the portal. It grew half an inch wider, the sound of the current withering away as the rift expanded to the size of his palm. Five chimes passed as the portal waxed and waned, his concentration on the task expelling the doubt and past from his mind as he observed the portal with a measure of satisfaction. He dare not expand the portal to larger than the size of his palm, and instead kept the rift in stasis with the intent on studying it.

"It beats with the pulse of the caster's djed, waxing and waning like a living object..." he noted before weakening the flow of djed to the portal with the intent of being witness to the result. As expected, the portal immediately began to shrink before, at last, it disappeared entirely. Farris wasn't so adept at Voiding that he could control just how much it could shrink, it seemed. A frown cast upon his features as he contemplated the idea. He'd then reach behind him towards the journal he prized above all of his other possessions. He'd reach for his pen, as well, intent on taking note of what had transpired before continuing on.

'17 Summer, 518

Voiding proves itself to be an awkward discipline. Working best while the mind is unclouded, it seems I can't help the unconscious association I have with this particular discipline and Father. He plagues my thoughts so much these days, but I hardly have this issue with Reimancy. Is it a parallel? Do I subconsciously compare the Void to how it felt when he vanished?'

As he finished taking his notes, he let a sigh of disappointment escaped him. Neither his father nor Sagallius, the god the both of them had worshiped together would sympathize with this grief. But, he couldn't help it! Such wounds often did not heal so quickly, and this study above all else he associated with the man. He sought to file away his grief and continue his study, fully intent upon letting the matter stay where it belonged: The past.

by **Farris** on July 13th, 2018, 10:02 pm

It was harder than Farris initially thought it would be to cast his thoughts aside, and the contemplation of the Void, perhaps, would assist him in the endeavor. He recalled back to his initiation, where he'd spent days without food and with minimal water, sitting in his room deprived of his possessions. Farris' father had shut him away during the initiation process, instructed the boy to think of nothing but the idea of absolute emptiness.

The idea of having to sit in a room and do nothing for days had seemed easier than the immense physical trauma of his Reimancy initiation and yet he felt he'd have infinitely preferred the momentary pain and suffering to the extended solitude and contemplation that he'd been instructed to do. When, at last he'd created that Void, the relief of being allowed to leave that room was the greatest thing of all, and certainly, he'd use the memory of it now to his advantage. A breath pulled into the mage's lungs as he let stray thoughts and ideas withered away. His eyes fell shut as he imagined the abyss of the Void, the blackness spilling into his heart and washing him of his doubts as his lips uncurved from a frown he'd failed to notice creeping upon his features.

When the contemplation set fully into his thoughts, Farris felt his fingers lift, at last feeling justified into letting djed fall into the equation. He released a breath he'd been holding as his hands began to create a marked path in the air in front of him. His fingers stretched and relaxed, djed flowing through from his chest and coalescing at his fingertips. It poured from those exit points, a surge of delight cast upon his senses before he willed it into non-existence.

Rather than allowing himself to get caught up in the utter, divine joy of casting he encouraged himself to remain silent and unfeeling, his heart cold and hard as he contemplated the idea of the Void just as the tears formed in the air in between his fingertips. As that rift swept into creation, Farris' movements ceased. His posture was straight, his hands about a foot away from one another as the rip leading into the Void grew wider. Four inches long, it began to expand vertically. This entry into the Void was distinct from the last, instead bound to adopt an ovular shape, twice as long as it was tall, with little pull emanating from it.

"Voiding is so repetitive. It seems so incredibly linear, and yet the complexity of what it leads to and how one comes into understanding it is intensely complicated... The usage of djed is strange with it, requiring a maintenance of the norm and holding to position that Reimancy doesn't need. It's... calming," he mused, letting his fingers flex and relax in the very same rhythm that the pulsing rift waxed and waned. He found himself breathing at the very same pace, gray eyes looking into the portal he'd created. The Void, though he'd been told was privy to strange and incredibly dangerous inhabitants was otherwise empty, unchanging and because of it so incredibly fascinating.

The neutral expression upon Farris' features dwindled away, leaving an eagerness in his piercing gray gaze. He was glad for the safety of the Midnight Gem and had every intention of furthering his understanding of everything that was the magicks he currently had access to. The idea of learning another seemed foreign to him, though he knew a great deal of others did, indeed, exist. "One step at a time," he'd say with a laugh as he maintained the portal. He wanted to study it with the Sight of an Aurist, but currently lacked the faith in his ability to multi-task with this particular combination of magic. Perhaps, however, he could do something else... With the next thought cast within his mind, Farris resolved to try something and thus, closed the portal. He'd give himself a ten chime respite before continuing on.

by **Farris** on July 13th, 2018, 10:25 pm

With the ten chimes Farris allotted himself for rest and contemplation, he'd flip open the journal he'd already written into once. His pen in hand, he struggled to gather his thoughts before at last, pen came to paper and his ideas began to unfold.

'Portals into the Void are stagnant at this point in my understanding of it. My father urged me not to underestimate the potential of the discipline and I'm certainly going to heed his advice. But I can't help but find myself struggle with continuing on. I keep finding my thoughts drawn to darkness, a nagging disappointment. Is Voiding bringing to light flaws in my character? A somber nature? I can't say, but I'll need be careful otherwise these doubts might turn into a more worrying condition.'

Once the thoughts were expressed into his journal, Farris put the book back where he'd set it. He let his thoughts drift away from observations and insights into his own mind and instead drift back towards the Void and the formation of its portals. The process of creating the rifts was simple enough, and so Farris set about to creating the motions needed to begin. His hands moved in a rhythmic pace in front of his chest before he let them set in place a foot apart. Djed ripped from the confines of his soul and poured into his fingertips. It seemed to heed his command faster, simpler. Reimancy had the habit of creating a lag between want and task, the creation of Res a barrier between the two that required to be overcome. In Voiding, he found his djed moving faster, but it took far longer to come to fruition. Cracks formed in the air before his eyes as he willed the portal into creation. Several ticks passed with little effect but a tease before the djed pried apart the rift and created space in between the air of Mizahar and the entry point into the Void itself.

The rift waxed and pulsed erratically, the beat of his heart increasing as he set more and more djed to task. He could feel his mind locked into focus, his senses dimmed to the burst of sensation. A chill tore down the mage's spine as his eyes fell shut. He'd bit his lip, his thoughts pushing to surface. 'More,' he heard in his empty mind as the rift expanded to the size of his balled fist. 'More,' he'd hear again as his eyes opened. Farris' features twisted to form a wide grin as he fueled the task with more djed still. The size of his hand, the portal was wider than he'd created in the past, with more and more effort being required to keep it active. A pull was clear from it, and the fabric of Farris' shirt lifted from his skin, clearly set upon making its way into the portal. Elation set upon his senses as the fabric was suspended, his grin widening as the thought came again. 'More,'

'MORE,' screamed a foreign presence in his mind. The chill of pleasure that had come with casting seemed to wax further, delight cast within cool gray eyes. It took the mage several moments to realize what the voice was, and though the Whispers were a sign of overgiving he was fully intent on completing his analysis of the portal before ceasing his efforts. The pull that was enacted on the fabric of his shirt was weak and fleeting to say the least, but never had Farris lifted anything with Voiding. The potential was immediately clear to the young wizard and so, he'd let the portal dissipate. Farris noticed a piece of his shirt was missing and was quite disappointed in the fact that he'd need get a replacement. His fingers were twitching, his thoughts hollow and his breath somewhat baited as he went over in his mind what had transpired. Once he collected his thoughts, he rose from his seated position and collected his possessions. With a satisfied laugh, he'd stow his items in his ruck sack before making his way towards the Fence to begin his shift for the day.