Not So Mundane Arrows[Kyra]

[Clyde Sullins]

25 Summer 512 Magic. Clyde was always working on it. Trying to expand the base of his skills, to be able to do new things, combine them in new ways. Get better and better. This was what magical experimentation was about! Pushing the limits! Going beyond what anyone had done before! Making ever greater works of his craft, till the line between possible and impossible was blurred! Okay, so Clyde was sticking a scroll onto a arrow. Not exactly a huge groundbreaking idea. But it was a step on the path, which might lead to others. He had thought of its possibility awhile back, glyphing an arrow to hold a spell, to go off when it struck a target. But he had never done it. He could thank Aello for that idea, when she had him enflame her arrow tips. That had required his direct control, and would not work if it was out of his range to far. This though, would not, and was ingenious in its simplicity. All he needed was a arrow, a scroll, some ink, and someone to shoot it. That was were Kyra came in. As he walked along on his way further out of the city, further out in the wilds, he saw it was still early. As they had left Ravok to ride out on a ferry, it had only been the start of light in the sky. By now, the sun had begun to rise, but it was still early in the morning. "So Kyra, are you ready for the experiment I spoke of? I know I was vague, but all will be revealed soon. So you brought your bow and plenty of arrows right?"

[Kyra]

It was another early morning in Ravok much to Kyra's dismay. It had been sometime ago since she had last been up at such an early hour, which had also been the day that she meet Clyde. The days that followed, she returned to her normal routine of sleeping in the day and going out in the night. He had surprised her, when after so many days, he suddenly showed up at her home to call upon her for an experiment. A welcome surprise as it was, Kyra wasn't used to getting visitors and the young kelvic absentmindedly sauntered to the door in the slender cloth that she wore to bed which could barely pass for a shirt. The conversation had been short, and Clyde had only mentioned enough to get her dressed and out the door with her bow and quiver.

Now they found themselves back in the wilds again. The sun was rising in the east, hovering about the horizon. The mixing colors of orange and red appeared more yellow as the sun cast it's radiant beams across the land. Water droplets condensed from the night's air rested atop the leaves in the trees and bits more were lightly sprinkled across the grass. There was a freshness in the air, as if in celebration of the new day, and the wind seemed to whisper this as it whipped about their clothing and swirled through their hair.

Kyra walked quietly along side him, the rays from the new sun lightly kissed at her milky,white skin and her pigtails danced against her shoulders as the mornings wind blew through them. She followed him, going deeper into the wilds until they reached a spot in which he stopped and began talking. "I'm ready." She answered simply to his question. His description had been vague to say the least, sighting that she had asked to see more magic and now he was ready to give her another demonstration.

His words had been enough to peak her interest, but did little else. It was a bit strange that he had asked if she brought her bow and arrows. Although she used a short bow, the object was clearly visible resting betwixt the straps of the quiver at her back, and the wings protruding below her left hip and over her right shoulder. She glanced at him, a curious look in her golden eyes and a smile forming at the corner of her lips.

"So you brought me out here into the wilds. Are you going to tell me what you're plan is Clyde Sullins, or do you want me to guess?" Her voice was gentle as she teased him, and slowly walked around the area in front of him, looking to see if he had anything hidden in the bushes or in the trees. "You asked me to bring my bow and plenty of arrows....I did. So tell me, what am I shooting?"

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde had done his best not to react, as Kyra answered the door. Really, it was not proper to be answering the door as such, did she have no modesty? Though he supposed it was Ravok, were such things were a bit looser... Though he had been noticing things about her... Her odd giggle which seemed to have a strange added tone to it... Plus those golden eyes of hers, had vertical slits... That was not normal was it? Not to mention the way she moved... Was she perhaps not human? He would have to bring it up at some point... He smiled in return, as she teasingly spoke to him, and she played like he was being mean to her, by keeping her in the dark. "What are you shooting... That is a good question... What you are shooting, is arrows! But they will not be just normal arrows, not when I am done with it." Clyde smiled, going into his pack, and taking out several pieces of parchment, along with his ink and a quill. He sat down, crossing his legs, and placed the items around him, along with setting his staff at his side. Dipping the quill in ink, he began work, placing one of the pieces of parchment before him, and talking as he drew out his glyphs. His focus of a circle, with lines emanating out from it. A depiction drawn from the black sun logo. Around it, he drew something simple, a wavy line, with a dot on the inside of each of the curves. This simple barrier would last long enough for the demonstration. "What if I could infuse my magic into arrows? You could shoot them, and when they struck a target, the magic would fire out, hitting whatever the head of the arrow had hit. It would be portable, and it would not require me to stay close within sight. I could be in the city, and you out here hunting, and you could still use it." Clyde continued work, adding a small trigger, a triangle, with the words "activate as this hits its target" next to it. "Now, if I was good enough at glyphing, and skilled enough in engraving, I could possibly engrave my glyphs right into the head of the arrow, and need nothing else. But alas, I am not quite there. So it seemed simple then, if I added a scroll to an arrow, wrapping it tight around the shaft, it could be done much easier." Clyde continued work, adding a path out of the barrier, made drawing it as the same curvy lines with a dot inside of each curve, leading up and along, in the direction were the arrow head would be pointed. He then edited the trigger a bit, so that when it was activated, only the one side of the barrier would drop, allowing the magic to flow out of the focus, along the path, and pop out the top of the scroll. "What would you say to that?"

[Kyra]

More mysterious words from Clyde had her figuratively teetering from the edge of her own curiosity. He had a plan, and the fiery look in his eyes told of how much he was looking to test it out. It was a wonder what the experiment might be, and more so that he had thought to seek her out to help him, when there had to be others who could do the same. "You're going to change the arrows somehow? Make them stronger maybe?"

Kyra watched him curiously as he reached inside his backpack and produced pieces of parchment, along with ink and a quill. She recognized these as tools one used to write with. Adele, her first master and whom she addressed as mother, had attempted to teach her to read and write as well as mathematics. It had been a slow going process and Kyra had only learned the basics. She could read simple sentences and count gold mizas.

She sat down and crossed her legs as he had and watched him as he began to scribble on a piece of parchment. Kyra looked closely at the oddly formed wiggles of ink. It wasn't words, maybe a drawing of some kind. It reminded her of art she had seen in the past, pieces that were only sketches before paint was applied. As she watched him continue to make swirls of ink on the parchment, the feeling to write or draw rose inside her.

She watched him still, though her eyes wondered away looking to the dirt below her crossed legs. She reached out towards the ground, her fingers lightly digging into the dirt, causing a tiny groove to form. She moved her finger more, making a line of the groove and then another upward and out from the first. The last line she drew came opposite the second as she finished forming the letter 'K'. She followed this process again to create a 'Y', and 'R' and lastly an 'A'.

"Magic arrows? With fire?" It was a simple guess, and she wasn't completely sure of what he meant. She did catch on to certain words, such as arrow, magic, and fire. She remembered their first encounter and how he had created a fireball out of nothing. If her guess was correct, then his plan was to set fire to her arrows so that it would burn the target. If that was the case, how could it work when he wasn't with her? It was an interesting and confusing concept and one that she probably misunderstood, but she imagined that he would explain it further. "So the arrow will set whatever it touches on fire?"

Kyra listened more, her head tilted curiously,as it seemed he wasn't speaking the same language anymore. Her mind trailed off for a moment as she thought more about the fireball he had created. She wondered his how big he could make it and how much damage such a thing could do. Once he had finished talking and after she stared at the piece of parchment again, she glanced up at him, a gentle smile across her lips. "I'd say show me. Let us see if your magic can do as you say." Reaching over her shoulder, she lifted one of the arrows from inside her quiver and held it out for him to take.

[Clyde Sullins]

She was eager. In some ways, that was a good thing, it made her a willing helper. Though in others, well being overeager could also get you killed when magic was involved. Clyde nodded, as her simplistic idea of magic tried to puzzle things out, and she managed to grab upon the thought of magic arrows. Fire arrows. "More or less, yes. Fire will shoot out, along the arrow, if it works out right... If... Just calm down a bit, all in good time." He took the offered arrow, and set it down next to him, and looked back at his scroll. It seemed more or less complete... He would not know if it would work or not, until they had tried. Now he just needed to fill the scroll, fasten it, and watch the sparks fly... Hopefully in the right direction. He held up his hands over the scroll, and exuded a small globe of res... Felt as the joyous djed left him as reimantic energy, a piece of himself leaving, a joyous tingle in his finger tips... He could feel the bit of him, outside of his body, and exerting his will, shaped it into a small ball of gaseous res... Not to big, about the size of an apple... Though since it was gas, and spread out not compacted, that was not to much res really. Not to big of a flame. He exerted his will once more, and transmuted the outer layer to flame... And then all at once, pushed the fireball downward at the focus of the scroll, transmuting the core when it was about halfway to the scroll. The fireball hit the focus on target, and sank into it like the fireball was a rock, and the focus the dark surface of a lake. Not even a wisp of flame was left behind, no trace at all. Clyde smiled up at Kyra, and picked up the scroll, blowing on it a bit to make sure the ink was dry, before he wrapped it tightly around the arrows shaft. Then he picked it up, and handed it to Kyra. "Alright, lets try it out. We will see how it does. Just shoot at something far off, a tree or a rock or something." Clyde got up to watch, wondering what would happen, careful to see it once it was fired, so if it did fail he could figure out what went wrong. But that was why he had asked her to bring extra arrows, and why they were testing it out here. oocSo, the arrow does malfunction. You can rp shooting it, but when it hits the target you fired at, the scroll will go up in flames, and break the shaft in half catching the shaft on fire, instead of firing the fireball off. If you miss, due to his poor wording, it wont go off at all.

[Kyra]

"I like the way you think Clyde Sullins, but you must tell me, why go through the trouble of making such arrows? I'm sure it's not just for my sake, and you couldn't possibly be that taken with me, and so soon after we just met." She smiled as she teased him more and her eyes poured into him as she observed his expression. Once he had the arrow, she sat quietly and watched to see what he would do with it. She followed his hands as he raised them over the piece of parchment that he had scribbled on. Her eyes widen when he created a fireball, she had wanted to see him do so every since that first night when she saw him do it.

This fireball was smaller it seemed but she was impressed non the less. She wasn't sure what to expect next as he drove the fireball into the parchment, although if he had applied it directly to the arrow it would have seemed just as strange. Her eyes dazzled over the flame as it burned yet without searing the layer it pressed into. Suddenly it was gone, the flame and all it's fiery glory had disappeared and leaving her with a look of disappointment.

"Is it over so soon? I barely saw a thing. Do it again, but make it bigger." Interestingly enough, Clyde then smiled at her and blew off the dust, with a look of pride in his eyes. As he picked up the arrow and tightly wrapped the parchment around it, her curiosity was brought back in full. "Oh..this is getting interesting." She thought as she took the arrow and stood up. Looking around, she started to walk a few paces, trying to find a good target. A tree perhaps or something else that was closer in range.

She wanted to make sure that she nailed the target and that the target wasn't too far away for them to see the magic happen. In the short distance, she saw a tree and decided to use it. The tree stood out from the rest, it was smaller and seemed out of line from the rest that stood back a few feet. It was possibly that someone had planted the tree years ago and after the rest had already started to grow.

Kyra lifted her bow and brought it over her shoulder and leaned it against her thighs as she placed the arrow in. She adjusted her body, aligning her left shoulder with the tree as she raised her bow and pulled the arrow tightly against the near string. "I suppose this is what one would call the moment of truth." She focused her eyes, and placed the tip of the arrowhead just above the spot on the tree that she wanted to hit and fired.

The arrow soared through the air quickly, and covered the short distance within seconds as it struck the tree. Just as the arrow struck the tree, and before Kyra could show delight in her accurate shooting, the parchment covering the shaft of the arrow burst into flames and turned the arrow into cinders that slowly broke off and littered the ground beneath the tree.

She lowered her bow to her side, her head tilted in the opposite direction, and a full pout formed on her lips. She had expected the tree to burst into flames as the bandit had done when Clyde's fireball hit him. Sadly the only thing that caught fire was the arrow itself, and she couldn't see how that could aid one in a fight. After a moment, she turned on her heels and looked toward him,with a bit of confusion in her eyes. "I was expecting something...a bit more."

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde smiled at Kyra... My, wasn't she inquisitive... Which was not always a good thing... Though he supposed in this case, it would not hurt to tell her... Though not everything... He had been working on this idea for awhile... Though he did think it was a bit funny, as she flirted a bit more with him, and not to discretely. "Maybe I am, your rather easy on the eyes... But really there are plenty of uses for it. Like I said, an archer could use it, while I am not there. Maybe I could sell them? And I can do more than just pack a tiny fireball into a arrow... If I get this figured out, I could do even more with deadlier spells." He smiled back at her, as she stared him down. Well she certainly was the feisty sort, and not passive. Though really, she seemed way to happy to see his magic, and was constantly urging him to do more. Like he really needed that, considering he already had an urge to cast magic constantly going in his head... Just a little more... Just a little more... Just... A little more... So convincing... Clyde watched as she prepared her bow, readying her arrow... Her magic wrapped arrow... Infused by Clyde himself... It was always nice to see something he had created, to watch it do its work... But petch, it had not worked. Instead it had burnt up the arrows wooden shaft, destroying it... It seemed to have gone off inside of the scroll, and not shot off like he wanted... "I said it was a work in progress, from the beginning. If I knew exactly how to do this from the start, I wouldn't need to be out here testing it... Just give me a bit, to try and figure out what went wrong... And we can try again..." Clyde thought through his scroll, trying to think what had gone wrong... Clearly the focus had worked, and the main barrier... But the issue had been in leaving... It had led along the path, but then burnt out... Perhaps... Perhaps a focus, at the end of the path, for the spell to leave out of... "I think I might have an idea for another try... It might work a bit better... Just remember, this is a work in process, I am doing something completely new."

[Kyra]

Kyra could see the disappointment in his eyes, although he tried not to show it. She had noticed this about him before, how he tried not to show his feels and keep his emotions held tightly within him. She had met others who did this, just as well as those that chose to express themselves openly for all to see. He could hide it if he liked, but she could see through it as she always looked deeply into anyone that she met. She did this for many reasons, to better understand them for one and others to further her own agendas but all for the sake of survival.

Kyra moved towards him again and stood at his side. She turned her slender form to face in the direction in which he did and posed her body to appear deep in thought as he seemed to be. She stared into the short distance at the tree she had just fired upon. It didn't look any different at all save for the tiny arrowhead that was now imbedded in it from the arrow. "Perhaps if you place the parchment on the arrowhead? If you did, when the arrow caught fire, maybe it would burn the target also?" It wasn't the smartest thought she had, but it was less about being right and more about getting a reaction out of him.

"Very well..." She smiled and stepped away, allowing him to think in private. As she waited for his inevitable epiphany, she strolled around the area and looked around. Since her last time being out in the daylight had been so long ago, she had almost forgotten how bright the sun was early in the day. Raising her hand to her brow, she stared out into the opening. There were animals moving about, stepping out into the morning to find food. She also thought she spotted a hunter making for the brush, another also looking to catch a meal. She didn't feel hungry as of yet, since she was normally asleep at this time, but as time went on she too would want a meal.

Kyra turned back to him when he spoke again and made her way back to his side. "So we try again?" She said as she reached over her shoulder again, pinching the end of the arrow between her skinny fingers and pulling it out. She focused her eyes on his, her arm extending out from her side as she lightly twirled the arrow between her fingers, her wrist moving in a circular motion. She twirled the arrow more, allowing her wrist to turn another full cycle before she stopped and held the arrow out for him to take.

She only nodded when he mentioned that this was something entirely new for him, which she had already figured out herself by this point. She offered him a wicked glance as she moved around him and stood waiting for him to prepare the next experiment. "I suppose that makes two of us."

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde smiled at her simplistic idea of magic... But she was trying, even if unsuccessfully. Perhaps this was a bit over her head. "Well, the problem with that is it would make it so the arrowhead did not work, it would be blocked. Plus, I doubt the arrow flies straight with the extra weight. Putting it at the very tip, would make that even worse... And the goal here is to not catch the shaft on fire at all... But... Hmmm..." Clyde took a few chimes, to think it over, and finally decided on how to do it... The essential thing was making the magic shoot out of the scroll... A focus though... Well, he would have to place it carefully, opening to the very edge... Hmmm.... Maybe... "Yes, again. Perhaps this will work better." Clyde took the offered arrow, once she finished spinning it, and set down, getting to work... This time he took a bit longer, to set up the glyphs, not wanting to mess anything up... The symbols were strong, and so would be the structure of the runes... He did it mainly the same, the same sun with emanating lines, and the curved waves with dots wrapping around it. This time he did the path first, leading out of the side of the barrier, up to the top of the page, the curvy lines making a road for the magic... And at the edge of the paper, he made a half sun, with lines poking out, as the other focus, were the magic would pop out... Finally, he made the triangular trigger, and linked it to the side of the barrier, which would keep the magic in the focus from going out the pathway. He changed the wording a bit this time, instead to be: "Release when the arrow is fired, and hits a target." Finally, he held up his hands, making another ball of similar size. Such a novice spell was easy for him, not difficult at all, not even really difficult enough to be called practice. He crafted it into a fireball, and lit the exterior, dropping it into the focus and lighting the core before it struck. Wrapping it tightly around the arrow, he handed it to Kyra. "Alright, lets try it again. I think that little innovation should fix the previous problem, upon the magic exiting the scroll." oocAlright, so he fixed the previous problem, but now there is a new one. The fireball will shoot out, but only part of it will hit the target and scorch the tree a bit, blowing past the arrowhead. The rest will hit the arrowhead, heating it up instead.

[Kyra]

Kyra simply nodded, her ignorance of magic made clear, and she listened while he explained the flaws in her idea. She hadn't imagined that he would need so much of the parchment that it would add extra weight to the arrowhead. She also didn't understand what the marking he drew were suppose to be or accomplish. With her naivety aside, she waited as he paused; his explanation halted as if a thought occurred to him. "I'll leave you to it then."

She watched him as he took the arrow and sat back down, using another piece of parchment to prepare to use on the arrow. The drawing looked similar to the first that he created, although there were noticeable differences. She could read the words that he wrote clearly just as he finished and stood for a moment to ponder the meaning. It seemed more like a command than something one would make notes of.

She didn't ask him to explain further as she watched him raise his hands again. Her focus was now on the fireball he had created, and she peered at it intensely as he drove it like the other into the ink on the parchment. It had taken only a moment like before and she had wished it lasted longer. But she was still curious, and much more so to see what the effect would be.

Kyra took the arrow back, her eyes moved over it a second time before she turned around and walked back to the place she had stood before. Turning the bow across her body, she placed the arrow against it and raised it upward as she pulled the arrow back against the rear string. She aimed for the same area on the tree and fired again. The arrow soared through the air quickly and jammed into the tree close to the arrowhead that she had already driven into it. As the arrow landed, a tiny flame burst from the parchment heating the arrowhead just as it pierced the tree and leaving a small scorch mark on the bark.

Another disappointment, although this time the tree was actually burned a bit. The progress was slow but it was moving forward and possibly by the end of the day she might see the tree burned to the ground. Kyra turned around as she lowered her bow again, her lips twisted upward, and her fingers were already reaching for another arrow. "As they say, three times? Yes?" She smiled mischievously as she lifted the arrow from the quiver on her back and gently placed it into his hand.