What sorcery be this(Miro)

[Shazvagrimkon]

16th of Fall, 511 AV

Grim had been captivated by the thought of magic ever since seeing Miro use it. Just the thought of being able to create things that were not there before and the strength and speed that he displayed were amazing. Hopefully it was something that could be taught to him and that he was able to do. He knew nothing about the topic but hopefully that would change today. After waking up early this morning, Grim grabbed his bag and sword and headed out. If he was lucky it would not take too long to find his way back to Miro’s home. Grim had no such luck though and walked the streets for a few hours until finally coming upon a street that seemed familiar to him. After walking down this street for a while he noticed the same house that his friend was at. Seeing this, he got excited and began running down to the home and knocked on the door anticipating the opening.

[Miro]

Miro was just waking up from a wonderful nap when suddenly he heard something. It was unusual, like somebody was hitting his door. What was happening? It didn't sound like somebody was trying to break in, but why would you want to attack a door? Miro walked up and quickly pulled it, moving back with the door. He peeped around the corner to see Shazvagrimkon. "Grim? Oh hi! What are you doing here?" Before he could answer, he took Grim by the arm and guided him into the house. Miro sat down on the couch and focused his attention on Grim, awaiting his reply.

[Shazvagrimkon]

The door quickly swung open and a sleepy eyed head with disheveled black hair peeked around the door. Miro quickly greeted him and began dragging Grim inside before he could reply. After Miro was settled down and looking to him for an answer Grimkon began, “I was thinking about the sparring we did the other day and wanted to ask you about a few things. I was wondering how you made that ice appear out of nowhere. Like those spears at the arena and how your sword was coated with it when we were training. It was all very amazing. Also, I don’t know much about the race Symenestra that you mentioned but I do know that I am stronger than a normal human but you showed incredible strength and speed in your attacks. I was wondering what all of that was and if anyone could learn such things.” Hopefully Miro would be willing to tell him about these things and teach him.

[Miro]

Miro grinned eagerly. "You are stronger than most people. Oh and those techniques are magic. Personal magic to be more precise. They use our natural life force called djed. The disciplines were reimancy, the creations of elements through res, and the Flux, the use of djed to increase the strength of the body." Miro smiles and moved, motioning Grim on. He sat him down on the couch and began pacing back in forth tapping his finger against his mouth. Showing the intense thinking that was going on. "I assume you want me to teach you. I am correct, yes? If you do want to learn, I have a few rules. I will be your teacher, your master, your superior. That means you respect me, acknowledge my reign over you in all things magical. You are on my side, a son of my magical teaching. That being said, you will learn extreme discipline in your magic usage. Never will you turn your djed against me in malice. I will have given you the gift of magic, it will change your entire life. Never once have I been truly afraid of a foe I've faced. With magic you can slay nearly any opponent. The real danger comes from you, and how far you will push yourself."

Miro paused, he could tell Grim was eager to know, Miro knew that look in his eyes. The same look Miro once gave his mother, as she spoke similar words to her young child. He would teach Grim, expecting him to act as his child, allowing him to stay safe from himself until he knew exactly what he was getting into. "Magic is dangerous. It does not make you stronger, not one bit. It allows you to break the rules of your body. You will push the limits of your body by sacrificing part of your essence for a great power. If you want me to teach you, I will. All I ask is your ultimate and unrestrained respect and trust. Asking me to teach you is giving me your life to hold be the neck. At any point, if I chose, you must know...I can squeeze, and without any chance of survival choke the last bits of your life away. Me teaching you shows that I have trust in you. By learning you will be signifying that you are doing the same. What do you say, Dra-Grimkon?"

Miro smiled, he had never liked being called 'Dra-Miro'. Each and every time his mother would call him by that name he would scowl slightly. He knew though, that it was her way of calling him her baby. But to him, it meant more than that, much more. It signified the difference in their roles in the teacher apprentice relationship. She was his master, he would never dare to defy her word, it was law. He turned, allowing Grim to absorb everything he had just said as well as make up his mind. He did not offer anything easy to agree to, but it was completely necessary. Reimancy and even flux. Those would be the end results of his training. What Grim did not realize was the years of learning that had taken place before Miro could fully use his skills. His mother was a wonderful teacher. He wondered if he could possibly teach as she did. "I can do this, if he is willing to work with me. Magic the gift given to me, now I will give it to those worthy."

[Shazvagrimkon]

After being sat down Grim eagerly listened to everything Miro had to say trying to absorb every last bit of it. His friend had anticipated that he wanted to be taught magic. During this speech, Miro had become very serious and spoke of masters and students. Grim understood how serious he was and that this would be a lot of strenuous work and learning. After hearing all of this, he still very much wanted to be taught this magic. A few moments after Miro turned his back towards him, Grimkon spoke up and said, “I understand and accept your conditions. I am ready and willing to be taught Master.” It sure feels awkward to call Miro that.

[Miro]

Miro readied himself, gathering up his thoughts. "Try not to ask questions until I finish. Djed is the first principle you will be learning about. Djed is everywhere in Mizahar. Everything from the rocks to the people to the food you eat. It is what gives things identity. Your soul is made of djed formed in different ways, in layers. At the center, there is the soulcore. It is the center that holds everything together. Like the seed your soul starts from. When we were first created, the gods formed the foundation of our essence. Even after death, the soulcore will live on, keeping your identity as a soul."

Miro paused for a moment, hoping not to leave him too far behind.
"The next part is the persona. It's what gives us our feelings, personality. The things we know, the identity of us as a person. When we die, we shed it away, losing it to the world around us, and when we are reincarnated the seed is planted yet again. Around the persona, we find our astral body. This layer is relevant in some magics. Our astral body shapes to our bodies, giving them the power to move. It forms through it and becomes attached, moving it like a puppet. Upon reading into projection, I found that you can even separate your astral body from your body, moving it separately. And from what I read about spiritism, ghosts are essentially a large astral body with no physical body. So, imagine your astral body as a ghost controlling your body. On the very outside, surrounding your body is your aura. It is what is leaked outside of your body, the extra energy not contained. In the magic auristics, one can learn to read auras and learn things from them."

Miro took a deep breath then sighed, pausing yet again. He smiled towards Grim and drew in a deep breath. "Now that you know what djed is, and how it works in you body, I can tell you the laws. The first law, djed can not be created or destroyed. When you die, and your soul is stripped down to its base, the energy is not gone, but released back into the world. Everything moves in a circle. It can however, be transformed. Moved to somewhere else, move to the next stage in its cycle. The second law, some djed is more pure than others. A rock, compared to your self has very little djed. You have will, if you want, you can transform you djed through magic. The third law reminds us that some transformations are irreversible. Once one dies, and their persona is stripped away, it is gone, never to be again."

Miro looked at him now, appearing very stern. "This is very important. The risks of magic are very serious. The stem of most problems from magic...other than being attack with it, is overgiving. That is what we call it when you use too much djed. It can effect you in many different ways, usually relating to they type of personal magic you are using. It can effect you physically, mentally or even spiritually. Minor cases can result in headaches or aches. Sometimes slowly altering your mind. More serious causes can make you insane even. When one starts to go into overgiving you will start to get the urge to cast more, furthering the damage done to you. THIS is the real dangerous part. A mage hearing sweet whispers can go crazy with power, taking everybody with him before his body is ripped apart from using too much power. Strict personal discipline is what will save your life. It's a quick decline, so you must be careful and learn your limits. Mages learn to take a part of their essence and store it as usable power to fuel spells. It is easy to see why using too much has consequences."

Miro took a long pause trying to decide something. He looked slightly disturbed. "There are three types of different magics. Personal magic, using your own djed as a source. World magic, taking energy from the world around you by using blood. The last being divine magic, which are various gifts from the god. I myself have one." Miro lifted his shirt showing his back. On his back appeared to be a blue tattoo of a snowflake between his shoulders. "Morwen has marked me as one of her children. I was born with the mark. But that isn't the only way to get one. It is possible for a god to mark any person, if that is their wish. I have even heard of a god giving a bad gnosis to people. Some have angered the gods and had a curse struck on them rather than a gift. You will need to learn discipline when taught to harness your djed for magic. We will push you, causing you to start to overgive slightly. That will be the first step towards understanding what the risks are."

Miro sat, thinking how to explain the more practical parts of magic. Teaching his student to harness the powers of his soul. He would have to teach him to use these tools, and hope that he wouldn't regret it soon after. If Grim began to slip off the right track Miro would have to push him back on it or end him.

[Shazvagrimkon]

Grim listened closely as Miro talked about the layers and how each one was separate and unique. It was all so fascinating and he was drawn in. The room was beginning to fill with knowledge so abundant that if he wasn’t paying attention it would drown him. It helped how Miro took pauses and gave him just enough time to wrap his head around each thing he was told. Grim had never been religious or paid any attention to any gods or goddesses but the thought of a gnosis was very interesting. It became even more so when Miro showed him the snowflake nestled between the shoulder blades upon his back. After his new master took a seat Grim asked him with a quizzical look, “So what would we do to start all of this?”

[Miro]

"Ah, now we arrive at the question. How exactly would we start? For reimancy, you must do a few things. First, and most importantly...the initiation. Then, you must learn to create your element. For me it was water. It took me a couple years to become proficient in creating and transmuting res. Though I was very young then." Miro smiled, remembering his childhood that revolved around the world of magic. "In order to use any magic, you must learn to focus and channel your djed. Imagine it, the essence of your being. Close your eyes, and think very had. Imagine your soul, the very center of it, the soulcore. It is the seed that is you, giving you life, existence. Now, imagine since you were planted in this world, that you grew into a large tree. Your persona, the roots that take in the info from the world around you, giving you strength. That energy flows through you like a river, moving into your body...giving it what it needs to live. Your astral body, it is the branches and leaves. It takes what comes from your persona and shapes it into your body, allowing you to interact with the world and bathe in the light above. What you need to do, is learn to flow the energy from your leaves and roots, and focus it, lets say into a leaf...this leaf, will be your hand."

Miro took his thumb to his fang and drew blood. He grabbed Grim's hand and drew three interlocking triangles, with one point touching the others. Around the touching points he drew a circle, slightly blurring the triangles. He blew on it for a moment and smiled at Grim, shaking his hand to try to ignore the pain. "There, now you have a magical glyph. That small circle, that will be your target. I have given you all of the tools you need to learn magic. Focus at that one point, as if it were the only thing that existed in the world. Shut out everything, every last bit around you, only leading your mind to be one with that point. Look at it, become it, let your energy flow and pool around it. You can do it Grim, you have the power inside of you. Move your djed to that point, take all of the time you need. Once you feel it, once it's there tell me. I will teach you how to harness the Flux."

[Shazvagrimkon]

As Grim listened to Miro talk in metaphors, he closed his eyes as instructed and began picturing in his mind the planting, growing, and the flow of djed. He seemed to be following along fairly well. He then opened his eyes when Miro grabbed his hand and began drawing triangles in blood on his palm and then a circle. After being instructed to focus on this point, Grim gripped his wrist with his other hand and closed his eyes. The attempt to clear his mind and concentrate on that one spot was not as easy as he first thought because of all he had learned from the day still swimming in his mind. After a few chimes he began to feel something gather in his palm but lost focus with excitement. He then concentrated again and it came quicker this time and the feeling of it gathering became larger and slowly pooled in the palm of his hand. With his eyes still closed, “I can feel it. The djed gathering in my palm.”

[Miro]

Miro grinned down at his friend. "excellent, excellent! Let it build, take as much as you can manage to build, it's time to learn to harness the Flux. Now, hold that pool of djed in your hand. Don't let it slip away. Think of the muscles in your hand. The feel of pushing your muscles hard, as if you were trying to squeeze your hand tight. Move the djed into the muscles, let it flow in, influencing and powering the fiber of your hand. Let it soak up the djed like water, weighing it with power." Miro watched as Grim applied the knowledge. It seemed he was able to catch on much quicker than expected. Perhaps even too quick. The Flux is a dangerous tool, and its appeal makes it easy to abuse. Once it seemed Grim had achieved the set goal, Miro continued the lesson. "Now...take your hands and put them together like this." Miro took his hands and put them together, fingers interlocking. As Miro did the exercise, he too moved his djed to one hand. "Squeeze one hand with the other, hard. Notice the difference in the strength, the pain between them. The power, it's a bit intoxicating, isn't it?" Miro's left hand began to pop at the joints. His knuckles cracked loudly. "This, now this is power. What you must, and will learn is that this power will break you. Remember the pressure on your weak hand. It's impressive I imagine. That is what your target feels. Now, feel the pressure on your strong hand. Most of the pain isn't coming from the other hand squeezing it, as I'm sure you notice. The strong hand's weakness comes from the strength it holds. Pushing your body beyond its limits will cause it to break, snap from being pushed too far." Miro released his hand, shaking it out a bit. The look on his face was dead serious, so much so that he had quit blinking. "You must always be careful. When in doubt, stop yourself. It's a quick, slippery slope with flux. The moment you give in to the urge to use more is the moment you lose. You and the people around you are in huge danger. If I see you losing yourself, I will kill you, if I must."