Calling the next component a keystone was a bit of a misnomer, he actually needed two of the keystones and they would act as a meridian. His master explained it to him that the purpose was to split the circle into two halves, in a sense creating two poles that would each give different effects. Once completed the circle would then need to be tested to determine which side was negative or positive, which in turn would be the side to add filters or fonts respectively.
What Wa’djinnabi had in mind was to use a pair of small river stones that he found in the stream. Not an ideal set of objects but they appeared to be nearly identical and were about the right size. Keystones could in theory be any material, not just stone, though either by tradition or practicality, they often were made from stone. If Djinn had his way he would use a cast metal keystone with the glyph already embossed or carved into the mold. He figured that the metal would stand up better against the energetic forces that would be coursing through the completed structure. He would simply have to make do for now since he had neither the expertise to make it himself nor the money to get a smith to commission for it.
He set the stones on the table and took a moment to plan out his next move. The stones were a dark blue with white veins of some opalescent material tracing across the rim of the round flat surface. It had a bit of heft and looked like it would make for great skipping stones if he had the inclination to do so, all the while being thin enough to make it suitable for his purposes. What really struck him was how the two stones were nearly identical, as if cleaved from the same cylindrical stone and then worn down by the river. He just hoped that they wouldn’t be too difficult to carve into. Since he was not in any way a stone carver nor did he have any of the proper tools, he would have to settle with his crude rendition of the beautiful arumenic script for change. Djinn had heard his master mention that the symbol on the stone was a glyph, but he did not really know what that meant. To him, he just knew that it had some sort of symbolic link to the magic that he would end up changing whatever he intended to change. He tested the edge of his knife and doubtfully looked at the stone he intended to start with. He lightly scored the surface with the first line in the symbol and frowned at the white line. This was going to be a long process and he did not want to make a mistake.
It did not take long for him to sketch out a blocky, crude version of the symbol. It somewhat pained him that had to reduce the graceful curves and intricate lines down into straight, angular groves but he would have to make do. Fortunately his father was not here or he would have been slapped upside the head for his mangling of the proud language that he had been mercilessly taught. He scratched his head with a middle arm in sympathetic pain that a memory conjured. The process of actually carving the stone was long and grueling however. He ran the tip of the blade along the same line over and over until it was deep enough to hold its shape without being wipes away. If he had any real skill in carving or if he had the proper tools perhaps his grooves would have all been the same depth, but since he was neither the stone seemed… uneven. Though it was legible and any user of the arumenic language would be able to clearly see what djinn was trying to portray, which he hoped was enough. He spent the next few hours finishing off that stone and carving out the other. When he had finally finished, he sucked a small gash on his finger and admired his work. He got excited about finishing up and the blade slipped and cut open the side of an index. At least he now had way to activate the circle; the keystone required an offering of blood to initiate the process of transmutation. The final addition was a set of lines to both of his keystones that would denote the polarity once he ran a few transmutation tests.
Next he would need to set them into the wires. He had a couple of choices to make. He could try and drill holes into each flat edge of the stones and insert the D wire into keystone. This would require halving the wire with his axe and figuring out some way to drill into stone, which would in turn eat up many hours as he worked the material. The other option, the option that he ultimately decided to go with, was to use the stiffness of the wire to his advantage and sort of wrap the stones into like some sort of setting. He could in theory use the tension to keep it in place. That had the downside of the stones popping off the structure if the wire was bent in the wrong way but it also let him get away with not having to spend quite as much effort as his other option. At least, he hoped it would work.
He began with the midpoint of the wire and started curving the wire around the edge of the coin like stone.
A little less than halfway he bent the wire to cut across the face of the stone, the face without the glyph with the wire facing towards the intended center of the circle, before he bent the wire again and curved it around the rim again. He found that with trial and error, that by bending the wire more than necessary curve that the stone rim had, he could keep the stone in its setting like position with tension alone.
To get the other stone into position would require a similar method but using the two end points of the D-wire. He used his thumb and fist to curve the metal around the stones, giving a hard bent at the point where the keystone met the wire. In a way it mirrored the other keystone in that if you drew a line between both endpoints it would make the same sort of zigzagging shape. It looked like some large, very odd ring made from wire and smooth river stone. He checked to make sure he had the correct orientation and the lines on the glyphs denoting polarity were lined up before he sat back with a grin.
Now it was time to test the circle. Only what to use as chargers and what to transmutate?
Word Count: 1169
