A New Chapter (Clyde)

[Clandestine Duplais]

Gallo felt relieved if not a little embarrassed to hear how exactly the glyph vanishes. But then he watched how Clyde made the pathway and nodded his head. He understood it through the example and was quick to ready his own quill. He slowly drew his focus and surrounded it by another encrypted message as a barrier. He then sectioned off part of the barrier around the focus and made two more barriers that led to another focus, of which was not surrounded by another barrier but connected to the two parallel barriers that extended from the other focus. Pleased, Gallo moved to take off his shirt as he sat back. He began to draw a larger focus at the center of his chest, the center of his balance in combat, and enclosed it with a less wordy barrier. The ivy vines were used, but this time they appeared to be a little more defined than the first. Gallo paused in his drawing as the ink dried on his skin. He leaned over and used a bit of the paper that didn't have a glyph drawn upon it and wrote the letter F with three lines extended from it. "Could I use multiple pathways from one central focus using multiple trigger words to effect certain barriers? Sort of like using the main focus as a reserve of extra Djed that can be accessed when an extra boost in power is needed?" Gallo finished drawing and soon began to draw the decorative patterns once more on his own body. He drew the two barriers that created the pathways along his left pec, across his shoulder and down his arm until it ended with a focus painted near his wrist. Gallo allowed the ink to dry as he studied his work. They were messy and probably wouldn't be adequate enough to really be useful to him at that moment. However, he figured the basic effects of the djed would be felt in his body if he chose to use it. Another thought crossed his mind as he turned to look at Clyde, "Could there be multiple focuses within a pathway?" "From what I recall in solo training when I used my magic the energy seemed to focus centrally on that one focus. That is nice, however if it only strengthen one part of the body I feel it may lead to a higher risk of injury. What if there were focuses to help distribute the energy evenly along the limb? Would that even be possible?"

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde simply shook his head, at the mages odd idea of how magic worked. Really, glyphs burning off your own skin? Would he have been stupid enough to put glyphs on Gallo, or himself, if that was what happened... Really. It was a good thing he was here to teach this boy things, as he was a complete lack wit at times. It appeared that his visual example had done the trick though, and once he showed him how, Gallo was able to make a decent example of his work. Not as good, or sturdy, as certainly not as able to handle strong magic. But considering his skill, it was decent enough. He could not expect him to be as good a mage as himself that quickly. Though if he did get better, it was only due to his own tutelage, and his skill as a teacher. Gallo getting to be good, would simply showcase his own magical abilities. Though he supposed it would show a bit of natural magical talent, even if not as strong as his own. Clyde simply shook his head... Displaying more lack of knowledge... "You cannot store raw djed in a glyph. It does not work that way. It would be far to unstable. Do you know how powerful raw djed is? Why do you think we only deal in its weakened expression in magic? Raw djed manipulation, would not only be deadly to its target, but its caster." Clyde examined Gallo's glyphs, trying to figure out exactly what a smart version of his question would be. And finally settling on what that would be less foolish, answered it instead. "Now, you can use switches, to spread out, or split up the affects held in a focus. Or the inverse, to combine them. But a focus simply holds a single spell, or magical process. Now you could use switches, to spread it out to many focus', and have many smaller spells. Or you could send in many smaller spells into focus', and use a switch to bring it to one focus, and spew out one combined powerful spell. That would be a way, to sort of do what you are asking." Clyde thought on this latter question... He supposed in the magic he used, being able to spread out the magical effect was more important... To make sure it made the entire limb or whatever strong... But he supposed... Clyde gave it a chime or two to think, before answering. "Not exactly. But, You could instead do a series of focuses, with paths making roads between them. As long as you did not box in the focus on all sides, the magic could get out. In that way, you could focus magic throughout each of those focus." "But what you ask, multiple focuses inside one path? That is redudunt and useless, since even though the magic could collect there, it would not be able to get out, as it would be boxed in. Alternating, between focus and path, without boxing them in. With each of the focus' marking were to send the magic... That would be the only way...." "Though tell me, why would you not want to store a spell within glyphs on your body? I would like to see if you can tell me why."

[Clandestine Duplais]

The emerald eyes studied Clyde as he posed the question to him. He wasn't sure if it was a trick question and began to formulate an answer. "Well, I would guess you would..." He paused and decided to just give his honest answer, "wouldn't want to have a spell on your body because of human error. Even the best well laid plans are susceptible to chaos, I'm sure you recall the cave and the storm?" He stopped for a moment while he played with the tackiness of the drying ink. "But I'd suppose it could be a great tool with certain kinds of magic like mine. It could be used as a last resort effort if my energy is at the point that I can't get myself out of danger." His eyes lit up slightly, "Is your own Djed infinite, I mean I gather it isn't since it is part of our bodies, but what are our limits and what happens when we reach them?" Gallo while he spoke had begun to focus on his arm's movements as he bent and flexed at the elbow. He focused his djed at the main focus of his glyph and slowly could feel the tingle begin around it. The focus itself felt more of an empty void to those sensations. "Do these focuses have a limit as to how much magic could be held within it?"

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde just stared at Gallo, as he gave him an answer to his question. Though it was no were near what he was expecting from him. In fact, it made little sense to him, as he had no idea of this story he was referring to. Letting out an exasperated sigh, he shook his head. "It has nothing to do with human error. It has to do with the intrinsic quality of the glyphs, and there temperamental nature." Clyde walked over to a piece of parchment, and ripped it in half. Perhaps a bit over the top of a visual example. But sometimes Clyde could be dramatic. "What do you think happens, to the magic in a scroll, if it is broken? If a barrier glyph is erased? If it is damaged? Do you think it just vanishes, into nothingness? No, it does not. If any of those things happen, the spell is released. Anything stored inside, is let out. So if you were to store a spell on your body, and say a barrier glyph got smudged by accident, what would happen? The spell would take effect right then." Clyde ripped the page in half again, and twice more, and then threw the small chunks into the air. "That is one reason that glyphing can be dangerous. If it is not stored well, not protected from harm, you could end with all of the spells inside going off and blasting your head off. Which is why lower skilled glyphers do not store magic in scrolls. They are so unstable, they could go off at any moment. Even someone of my skill, with relatively stable glyphs, must be careful of a scroll being damaged, and the magic being released." And now Gallo asked another question. But this one startled him, that he had never been told it before. What reckless mage had shown him how to use magic, without warning him of its dangers? Hadn't he already told him once before? He was fairly certain he had. "Everyone's limits are different. It depends on the magic, how you use it, the strength of the spell, a thousand other small factors such as how quickly you cast or how calm you are, and how skilled you are in the magic. All of those things and more affect your limit. Now you can push to an extent, but when you hit your limit, that is when magic becomes costly. If you try to push past the limit, you will pay dearly for every bit of djed you use. Whether physically, mentally, or some other way. Perhaps even pay with your life. Magic is not a trifle, not something to play with, or to be reckless." Clyde looked at the man playing with his arms, as he tried to explain to him the treacherous slope that was djed usage. Playing around, only partly paying attention. "They do have limits. A focus must be big enough to allow the spell to enter. For a small fireball, that could be a small round focus. Or for a larger spell, it could require a focus large enough to stand on. Just know the stronger the spell inside, the harder it becomes to hold it in. The stronger your glyphing will need to be, and the more likely something could go wrong. That it might overload, malfunction, or go off randomly. Best to make the restraints more powerful, than the thing being held."

[Clandestine Duplais]

Gallo might not seem like he was paying attention however everything said was being absorbed, albeit slowly, by his mind. When Clyde finished with the paper he eyed him, “that is what I meant by human error. Something could go wrong, sure you can blame it on the glyph, but who is the one who ultimately made it? I may be in training to be a mage, however in the end we are still human and make mistakes.” Gallo continued to listen to the hazards of scrolls and glyphing as he explained to him that magic doesn’t just dissipate. For a moment, Gallo thought of having a tattoo that doubled as a glyph to use when the time was needed. With the second explanation of over giving it only solidified the usefulness of using ones own body as a scroll. Using glyphs stored on the body to tap into a last bit of reserved djed in order to complete a mission. Of course this would only be useful to those initiated in flux, fireballs are nice but it would never be of use if one can’t walk back to whoever it was that they worked for in order to dump vital intel on them before they passed. Gallo didn’t see this as recklessness, perhaps that would be his undoing, but instead viewed it as aggressive ambition. With a plethora of tools to protect his city, he’d finally be of some use to the city of Ravok instead of just a dreamer. He moved his arm back down and stroked his matted hair as he returned to thought. He looked down at the ripped pieces of paper on the floor, if the pieces of paper were to be brought back together it would resemble a full sheet of paper once more. He had been pondering the thoughts of reserves of energy for quite some time and had been writing down notes and more worthwhile questions in his journal. He moved to grab the leather bound journal and flipped through some of the pages. Most of the text was encrypted in some form of written code, however some of the text was in plain common. The parts that Gallo considered to be sensitive had been encrypted to contain a secret. Finally he turned to a page in his journal and found what it was he wanted to ask. His green eyes scanned the pages briefly as he more remembered what the question was then read the encryption themselves. He looked up at Clyde with a thoughtful look. “I want to preface this that it is only theory, but I hope within the next coming moments it will become more than theory. This is what I have written down,” Gallo cleared his throat and actually even sat down as he began to read what he had wrote. “Focuses store the magic that a mage produces and can be released with a trigger. What if a scroll that consists of many smaller focuses is prepared and connected in some way to focus the djed that is held within to create a larger output of djed?” Gallo paused and turned the journal around to show Clyde a diagram he used. It was crude but it gave the basic idea of what he had in mind. The drawing consisted of a cross like configuration of which four focuses at each end of the cross represented focuses. “From what you’ve told me about pathways if you were to connect these three focuses to one central pathway and have them set on the same trigger phrase in theory you could channel the magic from these three focuses down to the exit point. My point of this is, if the mage is worried about over giving, this configuration would allow the mage to use smaller amounts of djed to charge many focuses over time. But when it comes time to release the djed, if done all at once, those smaller portions of djed could meet and combined in the pathways to create a much larger out put. Sort of like if I were to damn off the three rivers and create three lakes with them, then all at once release the damns and allow the stored water out all at once it would momentarily increase the flow of water before balance of flow is restored.” Gallo then looked at Clyde and found that the last bit of free paper had been torn up. He grumbled for a moment than remembered that glyphs could be drawn on anything. He stood up and walked to the cold hearth, a stack of firewood ready to be lit for the evening meal and warmth. He pulled out a log with a flat face and brought it to Clyde. “Draw a glyph in this configuration. Barrier off three focuses and attach them to their own separate pathways and attach those pathways to one central pathway like I’ve drawn. Then add the exit focus for your magic to manifest in. Set the trigger for each of the focuses to be the same and then charge each of the focuses with small amount of your res. If you would, could you use the same amount of res in each focus. Maybe just use enough to make the flame of a candle like you did the first time. Place the log under the others and release them. I want to see if my theory is correct, I don’t trust my current stage of Glyphing to attempt this myself. Not to mention,” Gallo paused, “I don’t know how to conjure the elements yet.”

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde simply shook his head. "Yes we do make mistakes. And the wizard is the one to make the glyph. But yes, it is dangerous all the same. It matter little who the blame falls to. However as I said, in this line of work, mistakes can be deadly. Just make sure to not make any when it counts, or I may have one less apprentice." While Gallo went off on his own, Clyde went back into his own pack, and rifled around for a bit, before pulling out a few sheets of parchment. 2 or 3 should make up for the ones he had used, or destroyed. Not that he really felt he had to repay him, with him devoting great bits of his time to teaching this person. If anything, he owed Clyde. But he would repay him, Clyde would be sure. This was more a gesture of good faith. Then he listened as Gallo went off on some rant about something or other. He would humor him, but was a bit ticked off at the interruption to his lesson. But he was a bit annoyed to see that he was merely repeating what he had just taught him. Hadn't he just explained this concept, of combining the magic from smaller focuses, into one big one? And now he was repeating it back? What a waste of time. Clyde was getting a bit peeved off, at his apprentice, and decided to show it. "What is the meaning of your impudence? First of all, who are you to be ordering me around? I am teaching you, I give the orders. Second, I just explained this to you? And now you repeat it back, and question me like you think I don't know what I am doing. Clearly what I just said is true, or else I would not have said it. If I want to give a visual demonstration of something I just explained, then I will. But not at your orders! Of course your theory is sound, I just told it to you! Or did you not listen, when I spoke of using smaller focuses to combine into one bigger spell out of a single focus?"

[Clandestine Duplais]

Gallo himself felt a bit frustrated at being talked down to. "It wasn't a command, just a proof of concept." Gallo grumbled out his reply to the out lash. Gallo looked at Clyde as thoughts ran through his head. His breath caught in his throat as he stifled the common frustration of being treated as an inferior. "Who the petch is this man to get irritated with me?" Gallo thought to himself. "If I just said what I had written down, wouldn't that be more of a sign that I was actually applying and expanding on the previous things he had taught in a session passed? Is he really that easy to be frustrated?" Gallo felt his pulse race as his frustration reached an apex. He took in a long breath before he set back down his journal. The other notes and questions would probably be best not asked but instead experimented with on his own. "There is no reason to be cross with me." Gallo finally spoke allowed, "you don't seem much older than myself and I look to you as a peer. It is easy for me to speak to you as an equal." Gallo paused and inwardly cracked a small smile, even though his face expressed sorrow and mercy. He croaked out an apology, "I'm ready to continue if you are Clyde, no more interruptions." The thought to throw Clyde out of his home had been stifled. Gallo understood that when all the flames in a room were extinguished everyone looked the same in the dark. However, it was the knowledge and talents of each individual that separated them. Gallo knew if the dark room was a life or death situation, he would loose with his talents and knowledge, that unsettled him and spurred him to suck up his pride and continue to seek information from the mage.

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde glared back at the younger mage in training, letting out a rush of air from his nostrils, and taking in a deep calming breath, trying to calm himself down, and keep from letting his anger from billowing out... Beating the thought back into place, of how a lightning bolt to blow off one of his legs or feet, would teach him his place and worth... But no, that made little sense... He had made to much of an investment in the boy, to go doing that now... Luckily his impulse to use magic on him had been a bit excessive, and he was able to beat it with cool logical thought... Though little did he know, that he had come so close to his teacher flying off the handle. With a voice of forced calm, and a bit of strain to it, Clyde responded, attempting a smile on his face, but succeeding in only a weak one... "Well... Do try to to see the line, between a request, and an order. As it is an important one. That seemed clearly on the side of an order... I do not mind requests, or to hear you out in making sure you understand what I said... But I will not tolerate orders from someone of less skill in the topic. Or for you to seemingly claim as your own idea, something I just taught you, which is what your words appeared as. Not as a summary as you say now." His next words though did little to assuage Clyde's anger, making it bubble up once more. Clenching his mouth for a moment, he took in another breath before replying, his voice with notably less calm, and more strained, though still spoken in a normal volume, not screaming or yelling. "Perhaps in years we are not that far distant, but in experience we are. And in that regard, we are not peers. If we were peers of equal merit and skill, you would not be coming to me to be taught, and gain my tutelage, now would you? It is my skills that you are after, and which for a price I am showing to you. One of those prices, is an expectation of obedience. Perhaps if you are not willing to pay that price, we should not continue, and we should part now." A smile now on his face, one not of joy or happiness, but a dangerous look of confidence in ones own rightness and ability, Clyde continued onward with his speech. A thought in his head, of how he would kill this boy, if he did decide to take him up on his offer, and to cease learning from him, to break their deal that had been so clearly spelled out, but he know seemed to be having issue with. Perhaps burning the house down as he slept... Or roasting away each of his limbs one by one, and pouring hot flame down his throat... Waiting for an answer, Clyde decided to set off on what the man had called a request, but was quite clearly an impudent order. But he would go along now, while he waited for a response, working out what he was asking of him. Taking his ink and quill, and the piece of parchment he had taken out to give to the boy, he set to work on his glyphing. Giving a demonstration of what he had explained. 5 sun focus' in total, one in the center, and 4 away from it, one up, down, left, and right, of roughly equal distance. He then drew the curving waving line around three sides of the four outer focus', on all the sides except for the one closest to the middle focus. That side of the barrier he carefully drew in, attaching a trigger to it, drawn as a small triangle, which would release the magic out of it upon: "Release upon the scroll being held, and the words 'release and combine into a greater entity' is spoken." Then coming out of each of these forth sides, he drew out a pathway, of dual wavy lines, coming to meet at the focus in the middle. Once it was done, the focus in the middle was completely boxed in by the pathways, four right angles around it as the paths met.

[Clandestine Duplais]

Gallo knew the face that Clyde displayed. The face of suppressed, great frustration, and anger, something that his father had exhibited often when the two spoke. He remained quiet and only listened closely. He agreed with Clyde, however he would never admit it up front. He tapped the wood of the desk and sighed. "No more interruptions then. I didn't mean to offend," his eyes followed Clyde's own as he began to draw out a demonstration. Gallo moved closer and watched as Clyde drew the example of the glyph. He observed closely and noted the more complex release than what he had been using as practice. Gallo had another thought cross his mind but waited to ask it until Clyde had finished his current project. Once completed Gallo paused and observed it, "that is excellent looking." He praised, "I've got much to practice now." Gallo scratched his head before he turned to Clyde, "if another mage were to charge this glyph with their own djed, could another mage transform it into something else?" Gallo paused, "like if I were to charge the scroll with my djed, would another mage be able to turn it into fire or another element?" Gallo didn't realize the finer details of reimancy and res manipulation, but thought to ask the question out of inquisitive curiosity.

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde's seething mind cooled a bit, though he still had rage tucked away, at the impertinence of his student... But he decided to let it past, he couldn't go off the handle every time someone angered him... At least not inside the city... Besides he did not want to have to go through the effort of finding and sculpting a new student freshly... "I don't mind interruptions, if they are for good reason. But I do not like someone questioning my skill unjustly, or forgetting their place in our arrangement." Clyde noticed Gallo watching him work, puzzling out Clyde's motions and actions. Which in general was not bad, as long as he understood the theory behind it. If he just tried for rote memorization of what he did, he would learn little, and not be able to use it in slightly different situations. He would prefer for his student then to focus more on the theory and underpinnings of the magic, so he could use it in his own diverse ways. Clyde let out a deep breath, calming himself, now that he had finished his task he had set himself... Only for his student to ask another question. One which he had partially answered earlier. "Did I not just answer this? Really, you need to listen better. I already explained to you, you cannot store raw djed in a glyph. Raw djed is powerful and unstable, while our magic is fed by it, we can never handle and use raw djed, that would be the work of a true master of the art of glyphing, and only to an extent for even them." "And one mage cannot transmute another mage's res, only you can transmute your own. Not to mention, you cannot pour raw res into a glyph, it would be to unstable and would not hold, or would quickly decay and become useless as res does outside of your body. You can only store fully transmuted res as an element into a glyph. And only things made completely out of res, not things you gather out of the elements around you. Mundane elements cannot be stored in glyphs, only magical." Keeping his cool this time, as he had asked a semi-valid question, and had spurred him to answer another question his student had not even thought to ask, he let this one slide. Taking in another calming breath as he knelt over the glyphing work he had done, the palm of his hand open over it. Almost without thought, he extruded res, letting a fine mist come out, and with his mind coalescing it into four marble sized balls of gas. So easy really, he could do this now as easy as breathing. Holding the gasses in, and stopping them from escaping the constraints he had set upon them. Muttering "Vaknut" under his breath, the bits of res burst into flames. Not that he had to use even such a simple incantation, he could have as easily done it with his mind... But sometimes when he had an audience, a bit of showmanship was good. And it would make it a bit more impressive, for him to speak the words and see the spark of res into flame. Then he sent out an impulse of control, picturing in his mind the four marbles of flame falling down into the four designated outer focus. His res, still connected to him, did as he implored of it, hurtling down into the focus, turning the last grain of res at each of their cores into flames just before they sank into the focus and vanished from sight. "Now it is ready, and filled with magic. Go ahead and activate it when you wish, and watch as the four spells combine into one. Then you can try creating such glyphs on your own. Perhaps that is enough for today though."