Solo A Trail Traveled Part IV

[Moritz Craven]

1 Winter 520(continued)

Aja smiled at Moritz, as if expecting such an answer.

"That is probably wise, not the best idea to accept a random power or gift from someone without fully understanding it. And often gifts are that only in name, and no more free than anything else. As for me, I truly do consider it a gift, one given freely to you. You can use it as you will, though from what I understand of you I think you will use it well. I offer it as a hand of friendship, of family, but don't expect anything in return."

"As for your question... The name of the ability is Pathfinding. Those who practice it are called Iraso. It is sort of an... On or off type thing. When you are initiated you will become an Iraso, your eyes will be changed in such a way you can use Iraso vision. That is the reason for the eye glowing, its when they have activated their Iraso vision. Once they do that, they can then Pathfind."

Moritz heard the words, but had some trouble understanding. Iraso. Pathfinding. Pathfind. Iraso vision. It was all very odd, and he was not sure he understood fully.

"So... You are initiated, and your eyes are changed... And you gain the ability to activate... Iraso vision. That Iraso vision lets you use the ability of Pathfinding, to Pathfind... So I guess... The action is to Pathfind, or Pathfinding, and the people who use it are Iraso... And doing it through Iraso vision... I sort of understand. Its a bit confusing though."

Aja laughed, taking a moment to catch her breath as she smiled and chuckled.

"That is to say the least. Yes, it is rather tricky. But I think you have the basic concept understood, at least as far as what I have explained to you."

"Right... So that is what it is called. The names. But what exactly does it do? And its not only people who can use it? You said you shared this ability with all of your family here, how do animals use it?"

"Ah, good question. So you might have gotten it from the name, but Pathfinding is about just that. Finding and following a path. At its base Iraso vision lets you see djed. That stuff that makes up everything. You can see the djed of everything, of bodies, forms, everything. Even to an extent its density. Though that will come later. Everything has djed. People, animals, objects, even the dirt and rock of the mountain has djed. Though some more than others. With Iraso vision you can see all of it. But by the nature of doing that, it does something else. Djed remants. When you walk around, move from home to here, go places, do things, you are leaving djed remants everywhere. And with Iraso vision you can see those remnants and follow them. That is how Pathfinding works."

Moritz frowned, not in anger but in concentration, as he tried to understand.

"So... Everything has djed... And when you walk around, you leave little bits of that djed behind. And with this ability you can see those bits, and use it to track along where things were or have been. Kind of like... Whats the word... Breadcrumbs? Everyone is walking around leaving little djed crumbs behind them. Only no one can see it, so no one notices. But with this special vision, this change of the eyes... You are able to see those djed crumbs."

WC: 588

[Moritz Craven]

Aja smiled, laughing again at Moritz comment.

"Djed crumbs, I don't think I've heard it called that before. But accurate enough I suppose. Your mind works in odd ways Moritz. Accurate, but odd. Anyways, as for the animals, they use it the same as anyone else. Honestly, I've spent my life around animals, particularly Iraso animals, and I think I've come to understand them well. When a person, or in your case a kelvic person, becomes an Iraso, they gain that ability. But with animals who are usually less intelligent than a person, I think something more happens. It also enhances their thinking, or their mind in some ways. Not to make them like a human in thinking, but more than a normal animal at least. Less than a kelvic, but more than a normal animal of that kind."

Moritz pondered on this, considering the ramifications. It was true that he as a kelvic was intelligent, though Okomo in general were rather intelligent... So was the main factor the base animal, or the nature of being a kelvic? He had not met many other kelvic so he was unsure how intelligent they were. But in this case becoming an Iraso also had a similar effect, albeit a lesser one. It was an odd connection, two different magics which both had an affect in some manners on the intellect of those affected... He did not know much on magic, mainly Spiritism, but two different workings of magic having similar effect seemed something to him.

Then something else occurred to him. He had only heard the upsides, what the ability could do. But what were the downsides?

"That does seem interesting, being able to do that. But... What are the downsides? You did say there were some, didn't you?"

Aja nodded, smiling again, looking from Moritz to one of her animal companions and back to Moritz.

"Yes, there are a few risks. Mainly in the initiation. Sometimes things go wrong when being initiated. When I was younger, less skilled, I had more mistakes in passing on the ability. But I would say that is less of a worry now that I am more skilled. It is quite rare now. When it does happen... Well the most common thing would be to make the person blind. I am altering and affecting the djed in the persons eyes when making them an Iraso, if that goes wrong going blind would be an obvious reaction. And more rarely but at times peoples minds are affected. I am less sure on that one why. But like I said, I am far more skilled at it now, so such issues are not likely. It has been years since I have had such an incident, and I was younger and less skilled then. And as you can see I have many I have succeeded with."

Making an odd sound with her mouth Aja called out. At first nothing seemed to happen, but a few moments later their was motion. Moritz saw this was an animal, a goat, one that was carefully making its way over. At first nothing seemed wrong, but then Moritz noticed how its feet were moving about oddly. Then he saw its eyes and realized why. Its eyes were a pale white hue, and did not seem to see anything. It was blind.

"This is Bertha. She's a bit older, but that is not why she is blind. She was young when I tried to initiate her. She is my last failure at an initiation. As I said, it is not without risk, but such incidences are much less common."

WC: 605

[Moritz Craven]

Moritz looked down at the goat, seeing it while knowing it could not see him. Being blinded was a great risk, losing ones sight was quite a thing to have happen to you.

The question then was how much he trusted Aja? She seemed honest enough, and had not seen her hold to any deception. Even on matters they did not agree on. If she said the risk was low, that she was skilled enough to do it well... Then he trusted her. It was not something he had to overly think on, the logic was simple. He trusted Aja, her word, that she was being truthful. He trusted her skill. And so he trusted what she said and what she said what she could do safely.

But even more so, he trusted Aja as a person. Seeing the blinded goat did not deter him, in fact it did the opposite. She could have abandoned the goat then and there, after failing it. After blinding it. Instead she had kept it with her, a part of her pack, letting it live its full life. It was good to know then that Aja did not abandon her family, even when things went poorly. Even when she failed them.

He liked to think he would have done the same in that situation, but he knew he had no way of knowing unless it did happen to him. And from what she said the more skilled one was at Pathfinding, the better the chance of safely initiating someone. So even if he became an Iraso, he did not think he would be initiating anyone for a long time.

"I have thought over what you said. And my choice is to accept your offered gift. If you are willing to initiate me, to confer your gift to me... Then I accept."

A bit surprised by Moritz seemingly sudden decision, Aja smiled and nodded.

"Good. And as I said, I will take care to do it safely. Oh, and there is one other thing you should consider. I do not know if you are a mage, or can use personal magic. I myself can, for instance morphing. Personal magic uses the djed of the person casting it. It can be quite draining, and even dangerous if used without restraint. Pathfinding, using your Iraso vision, is likewise an ability that draws upon your own personal djed. Admittedly to a much lesser extent, I don't think you are at risk if you use it a lot. But if you use it with another personal magic, Pathfinding and something else also drawing on your personal djed, then that is something you must watch out for. So bear that in mind, alright?"

Moritz nodded, considering her words as he did whenever anyone spoke. Personal magic...

"Is Iraso vision then a personal magic also? And I am not sure what it would be called, its type, but I can use Spiritism. Making soulmist, and dealing with ghosts, and the like. Would that be a problem?"

Aja shook her head, though less concisely than other times.

"I do not think so, at least I do not think I would call it a personal magic. Iraso is an ability, which draws on your own personal djed. Some might call it a personal magic, but I think it is simply more similar to that than others, but not in and of itself a personal magic. More so... It is its own thing. But I suppose if it needed to be placed, that is where I would."

"As for Spiritism, making soulmist, I do not think that is a personal magic, it works differently in my understanding. Though I only know a bit about it from my own dealings with such users. So I don't think using it and Iraso vision would be a problem. When I say personal magic I mean more like others that directly drain ones own djed to fuel its power. Like morphing, which uses magic to change ones body and form. Anyways, come sit, and we will begin."

WC: 679

[Moritz Craven]

Moritz took a few steps and sat on the ground opposite Aja. Aja for her part took a seat, one of the hounds with her using that as an opportunity to rub against her. Clearly, to Mortiz mind, looking to be petted. They might be more in some ways than a normal dog, but they were still dogs.

Aja chuckled and gave the hound a scratch on the head that got its tail wagging, before turning back to Moritz.

"Now, for your part you just need to stare into my eyes. And if possible try to blink as little as possible. As I said the ability works through the eyes, and that is also how it is passed on. So just focus on my eyes."

Now that he had been told not to blink Moritz found he needed to, and did so several times. After that though, as Aja chuckled again, he worked to keep his eyes open. That done he focused as told on Aja's eyes. The color. The shape. The explosion of hues that was her mark of being an Iraso. There was much depth to them. Then as Aja activated her ability, the markings began to glow on her eyes.

Aja, clearly needing to be closer, moved towards Moritz while continuing to lock gazes with him. By the the time she had stopped moving closer Aja's knees were bumping into Moritz, and they were right on top of each other. Or nearly so.

For a few moments nothing seemed to happen, and Moritz was left with nothing to do but stare into Aja's eyes. So far as he could tell nothing had changed, and the longer he waited the more his eyes started to itch. Mortiz was left to assume that the fact he could not blink right then made him need to do it even more, he was fairly certain he did not normally blink so often and so it seemed logical his attempt not to was making him want to more.

As Moritz was considering this, still staring into Aja's eyes, he noticed something. A light, or more like a line of light. He was fairly certain it had not been there before. He could not quite say what color the light was, simply light in general, but the way it traveled in such a fine line straight towards him seemed odd. After a moment the line became more clear, a clear line of light cutting through the sky. It was then Moritz reasoned out that this was likely a sign of the initiation.

After a moment another line appeared, and another, till there was a solid beam of complex light weaving out from Aja's face and into his own. Then his eyes began to itch, making him want to blink even worse, as if little bits of something were pricking them. Not painfully so, but a similar sensation. Or at least the closest Mortiz could compare the sensation to, for it did not really have an equivalent he had experienced before.

Moritz soon lost track of time, painfully aware of the need to blink but little else. Lights, eyes, blinking, no don't blink you can't blink.... Moritz mind turned from one thing to another, his mind wandering but his vision focused as instructed. It could have been chimes, or perhaps bells. Or it could have been, more likely, moments.

And then all at once the sensations stopped, and the lights faded. A few more moments and the burst of color in Aja's eyes faded away to normal, no longer glowing, and Aja let out a long sigh. Reaching forward with both hands Aja grabbed Moritz face, pulling him close and looking at him from different angles. Or in truth looking at his eyes from different angles.

"Mmm... Mmm hmm... Right... Looks good. Color, the markings, came in nicely. Looks a bit odd with your eyes but... Oh, you can blink, we are done. It looks like it worked, no problems. Congratulations."

And with that Moritz flopped onto his back, blinking more in those next few moments than he felt he had blinked his entire life before that moment.

WC: 694

[Moritz Craven]

Lying on the hard ground, Moritz spent a few moments with his eyes closed and enjoying the sensation. After the time spent unable to blink, however long it had been, Moritz was glad to be done and through it.

Carefully he opened his eyes, looking about as he did. He could not find any issue with his sight, and was able to see clearly enough, which seemed a positive sign. He was not blind at least, that seemed something Moritz could confirm. As for the other effects, he was unsure how or if he could tell if those had occurred. And now thinking on it, he had not realized before... But had the possible side effects been only possible on failure, which did not seem to have happened from what Aja said, but in general possible? He was not blind, but could the other issues occur if the initiation went well?

Mortiz was unsure, and only then was realizing he had not thought to ask. Nothing else seemed different though, and he felt like himself. The world still looked the same and... He felt the same. Or at least he thought he did, but then if he did not how would he know?

While he had been lazing on the ground Aja had moved off a bit, and had rummaged through a pack on her horse. A horse? Moritz took another moment to look, realizing he had not seen that animal before. Had it come up while they were working?

As he turned back to see Aja approaching he realized she had something in her hand, a small mirror. Holding it up Aja showed Moritz his reflection, which for the first time he could recall had been noticeably changed.

He already had odd colored hair from his nature as an Okomo, his pelt matching his human hair. But now... His eyes were different. At the core was still the square goat like eyes. But now there were also a explosion or perhaps corona of colors around his pupil. His eyes were not just one color, the single color of his pupil, but now his eyes held the explosion of swishes contrasting against his normal color palette.

At the moment at least they were not glowing, which explained why nothing seemed to be happening. He was not currently using the new ability.

"Well... That's good then. That nothing went wrong. How do I... How do I turn it on?"

Aja smiled and laughed, motioning for Moritz to sit as she took a spot on the ground again.

"We will probably need to do more lessons, but for starters you just need to learn how to turn it off and on. That is your first task. Once you have gotten decent at that, we can press onward with things. With time and practice you will be able to do more. For now... Meditation. Calm yourself, focus on your eyes, achieve your centering, and then pull your Iraso vision forth from within your eyes. Some day it will be like opening or closing a door, easy, commonplace. For now, concentrate."

Moritz nodded, focusing as he had been told. First he closed his eyes, focusing in on his breathing. His breath. Calming himself. Pushing away distractions. He took in and let out a few breaths. Once he felt suitably calm, he focused on his eyes. He mentally pictured the new burst of color around his pupils, and then imagined them flaring to life like he had seen happen with Aja and the other animals about them. Breath in, slowly, breath out.

Another breath, and then picturing a surge of force and out from his eyes as he exhaled a flow of power. Of strength. Of focus. And then he opened his eyes.

As he did he felt something, but more importantly he saw something. He could still see what he normally saw, but now there was something else atop it. It was like everything was made of sparkling motes of light, solid chunks, little specks, giant dull wads, of light. Aja shone brightly before him, a solid mass of djed and light in his Iraso vision. Around them were the animals, some larger and some smaller. None were as bright as Aja, but each had a depth to their light. To their djed. To their wondrous bodies alight with power.

Moritz choked on his breath, amazed at everything he was seeing. It was a lot to take in at once, but already he was seeing differences. Aja was more potent in her djed than the others, that was quite clear to see. The animals were duller by comparison, but bright compared to the ground. But even that had a dull shine to it, not totally dead or devoid of djed. Even the ground had djed. Dirt. Rock. To Moritz it was seeing the world anew, a new possibility he had never before seen.

His breath catching for a moment, Moritz finally spoke. From his voice it was clear he was in awe of the sight.

"I can see. I can see... So much more. Like... Like I was blind before, and only now see."

WC: 860

[Moritz Craven]

Grade Award!

Name: Moritz Craven
XP Award:

• Arcanology 2
• Interrogation 2
• Logic 4
• Meditation 1
• Observation 1
• Pathfinding 1
• Rhetoric 1
• Socialization 1

Lores:

• Introduction to Pathfinding
• Pathfinding: Users are called Iraso
• Pathfinding: Initiation changes the eyes appearance
• Pathfinding: Practiced via Iraso vision
• Pathfinding: Eyes glow when Iraso vision used
• Pathfinding: Has lots of verbs/nouns that are similar
• Pathfinding: About Following Paths
• Pathfinding: Lets one see Djed
• Everything has Djed
• Pathfinding: Things/People leave behind Djed remnants
• Pathfinding: Iraso vision makes Djed remnants visible
• Pathfinding: Like following Djed crumbs
• Pathfinding: Allows Initiation on Animals
• Pathfinding: Enhances Minds of Animals Initiated
• Pathfinding: Initiation comes with Risks (Blindness, mind alteration)
• Pathfinding: More risky the less skilled the Initiator
• Pathfinding: Initiation alters and affects the recipients eyes Djed
• Aja: Does not forget her mistakes
• Aja: Does not abandon her friends
• Personal Magic: Draws on the practitioners Djed
• Pathfinding: Is a Personal magic in that it draws on the users Djed
• Pathfinding: Less Djed intensive magic type
• Morphing: Is a Personal magic like Pathfinding
• Morphing: Uses magic to change ones body and form
• Pathfinding: Experiencing its Initiation
• Pathfinding: Initiation through the eyes
• Pathfinding: Start by learning to turn Iraso sight on/off
• Pathfinding: Once more skilled easy to turn on/off
• Meditation: Calming ones breathing to start
• Meditation: Using for magic visualization
• Pathfinding: Seeing with Iraso vision for the first time
• Pathfinding: Iraso vision a sight atop normal sight
• Pathfinding: Depth and Brightness to Djed
• Pathfinding: People's Djed is deeper/brighter than animals

Penalties & Awards: Initiation Into Pathfinding