Is the pain worth the reward?[Gallo Duplais]

[Clyde Sullins]

11 Summer 512 Reimancy. Clyde could well recall the pain of his own initiation. It had felt like it would never end... But know, he was aware of the bit of himself, inside of his own skin. Waiting to be cast out, and controlled. Truly a part of himself, manipulable by his will alone. Of course, the experience had been traumatic. He had been lucky to have lived, considering how young he was. But he hoped to improve on the process a bit, make it a bit cleaner and faster. Perhaps less dangerous. Clyde walked in to Gallo's home around midday, with a serious look on his face, locating Gallo, and slamming the door behind him. "Before we go on any farther, there is something you must go through. If you live, you will be able to do as I do, with reimancy, and control the elements. And if you do not... Well, better now, before we progress farther." Clyde set down his pack, and took out some fancy inscribing paint, and a dagger in a scabbard. He slid the weapon out once, and inspected it, before sliding it back in, and setting it next to the paint. "Now, I will do the best I can, to make this as safe as possible. Know that you are in skilled hands. With anyone not as talented in reimancy and glyphing as I, this would be a dicey procedure at best. Now disrobe, and kneel on the ground."

[Clandestine Duplais]

Gallo sat at his desk, his usual workout routine was paused for the day as he felt his body was in more pain than normal. Instead he decided to spend the morning taking notes of those who crossed his window. Familiar but nameless faces passed as he wrote down their descriptions. He practiced writing in a memorized encryption. A simple displacement of the alphabet with a few added numbers to throw off the code a bit more. His journal was filled with intel on who wandered past his window from the docks and toward town. He had been doing it for a long while and began to notice patterns in people’s movements throughout the day. Those of laborers were more inclined to have a regular pattern and when that pattern broke, Gallo’s curiosity perked. He could guess that unfamiliar faces were either visitors or residents of Ravok that normally wouldn’t be in the area. Gallo wondered to himself if he should pursue those who were strangers to him and find out what they were up to. As he continued to study Cryptography his fascination of intel gathering increased. But one thing this slow surveillance has taught him was that surveillance took a long while to gather. His quill scribbled a random set of letters, “AFH07 TK...” He continued to say the letters and numbers allowed as he slowly encrypted information in his head. It wasn’t perfect, he found himself attempting to speed up his calculations within his head and began to make mistakes. But with practice his accuracy would surely increase. As the quill moved and scratched at the rough surface of the tan paper a loud crash caused the ink to splatter and the quill to snap in half. The loud noise startled Gallo out of his trance as his head shot toward his door. He remained frozen in start unsure if the intruder was a friend or foe. The figure of a man in the doorway was hard to discern an exact identity. His eyes had adjusted to the bright sunlight outside and made the room around him seem much darker than it actually was. The voice that caught in his ear was all Gallo needed to confirm who had made the intrusion. Gallo thought to himself, “Sheesh Clyde ever heard of knocking? Perhaps I should see about a new lock?” The door slammed shut once more and Gallo couldn’t help but say out loud, “You know my father, sister, and I put that door up together as a project I’d appreciate a bit more gentleness.” His request was said passive aggressively, almost dismissive. His annoyance was overshadowed by the fact that he knew why Clyde had arrived. This day he would be given the first lesson of Reimancy. Clyde had described his experience of the initiation into the craft of Reimancy and made Gallo feel apprehensive. Though he was eager as a new adventure presented itself. He had learned to find the fun in the miserable, a defense mechanism he had developed over time. Much of his life was a game to him filled with many different quests in the grand scheme of life. As he sat and faced Clyde he didn’t question his requests and explanation. Speechlessly, Gallo began to remove his garments and soon was dressed only in his crude underwear. Perhaps his silence was caused more of great nervousness of the situation. “How much will this hurt? Will I be able to fight through it?” The questions plagued him at the back of his mind all through the night and into the morning. He paid them no attention, which allowed them to fester and grow in the darkness of his mind until they had become monsters. He eyed the dagger and felt his heart begin to race as genuine fear began to well up in his body, his soul. Gallo stood and waited in front of Clyde. He wanted to question Clyde about his familiarity with the initiation process. But knew Clyde didn’t like to have his talents questioned by someone he perceived as less superior. Instead, Gallo began to think of memories that he held near and dear. Slowly Gallo kneeled and fleetingly became aware of his breathing. The sound of his breath was flowed heavily through his ears as his knee met the wooden floor. “I trust you enough Clyde,” Gallo croaked out from below him. “I am ready to be taught the first lesson of reimancy when you are ready to teach it.”

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde only partially paid attention to Gallo's words, a small smirk coming onto his face, as his reverence for his door. He would file it away for later, and try to be a bit more gentle with it. He was about to do the magical equivalent of violating him, and petching him raw down to the soul, so the least he could do was be a bit nicer with his door. As Gallo obeyed his order, he grew a bit more solemn, bearing in mind how careful he needed to be... One stray impulse, one bit of carelessness, and his apprentice could end up dead in a heap... It would be so easy to kill him now, by accident, or if he had more malicious intent, on purpose. He wondered how many people had been promised the initiation of reimancy, only to be killed on purpose during it. It would be a rather easy way to get away with killing someone, and making it look like it was an accident... People did die at times... Perhaps he should file that away, as a possible way of killing someone... As he took out the inscribing paint, he dipped in his index finger, and began to paint it onto Gallo. He began the sigil at the throat, at the chin, and worked his way down his neck to his chest were he stopped. When he was done, there would be dual barriers, making a pathway for the res. He made it up of words and lines, the words ones such as: flowing, enforcing, guiding, and sending. The lines encased the words, and were full of right angles, and sharp edges. This made a sort of crystal or diamond like encasement for the words, a jeweled avenue for the res to travel down. In his mouth and throat, down his throat and into his chest and lungs... The ones on his arms, he started at the wrists, and guided along on the inside of his arm, up to his shoulder, using similar glyphs and words, adding: enhancing, empowering, and concentrating. Since it was a slimmer path, and since it would be a common way for this mage to soon use his res. Perhaps these words would symbolically be strengthened, do to there attunement to there task to come. Clyde would kneel opposite of Gallo, setting aside the leftover paint, and picking up the dagger. Doing his best to make the cuts on his hands not hurt to much, or be to deep, he carefully pulled the edge of the blade across the palm of each of his hands, which quickly would begin bleeding. "Are you ready to begin? There is no turning back once I move on from here..."

[Clandestine Duplais]

Gallo moved his body with Clyde's drawing. He understood the dangers and didn't want himself to hinder Clyde's precise glyphs. He breathed deeply as he continued to remain knelt as requested. Within his head he recited a small prayer and praise to his father and guide. "The light of Rhysol radiates around me. The power of Rhysol protect me. The presence of Rhysol is over my shoulder. The mind of Rhysol leads me. The life of Rhysol makes my body stronger. The strength of Rhysol renews me." Gallo gasped as he felt the blade slice through one of his palms and then the other. The valley of the cuts soon pooled with crimson fluid that traveled like a river through it. As Clyde moved to slice through the other palm he finished his personal prayer. "Wherever I am, Rhysol is." After a moment Gallo breathed a long heavy breath before he turned to Clyde and looked him in the eye. His emerald eyes studies Clydes face closely. If he noticed any hint of malicious intentions Gallo would not go through with the ritual. After a few long moments, "yes, I am ready to go through with this."

[Clyde Sullins]

Once he said he was ready, Clyde began exuding gaseous res. On each exhale, some of the bright silvery substance would come out, and more billowed out of his hands as a fine mist. He did not bother with petty gestures or incantations, using the force of his mind and will alone on the bits of himself that was his res. Controlling it as easy as one might their own foot. After a bit, he had enough, and a cloud of the misty gas hung in front of Gallo... Then a push, and he moved it forward, two smaller trails moving to the wounds on his hands, a larger chunk moving over his face, to cover his mouth and nose... He waited a tick to get it all positioned just right, and then in unison, moved it all forward, shoving it in and invading Gallo's body with his res... It would be painful, as the res entered each of Gallo's hands and flowed up his arm through his blood, and forced its way down his throat and up his nostrils. He recalled when he had been initiated, it had felt like a burning hot snake was wriggling its way up his arms, up his nostrils, and down his throat, a snake with rough dry skin that scraped and burned and left him feeling raw for days, painful as he breathed. He had flailed and spasm-ed as the foreign substance entered his body, and his being did its best to reject it... But he was unable to stop the convulsions, or to do anything, until his initiator had stopped... Clyde kept at it for several chimes, pushing the res deeper and deeper, into his core. Once he felt like he had gone far enough, he began the equally painful process of pulling it back out. Once he had it all out, he took a step back, feeling the res in the air, already having decayed during its time outside of him, or maybe some of it getting lost or absorbed during the trip... It was hard to say which was the reason for the loss of res... He took a step back and looked down at Gallo, watching him.

[Clandestine Duplais]

Gallo waited in baited anticipation as Clyde began the foreign process. He watched as he concentrated and the faint inkling of the fog like cloud manifested before him. The billow moved with the movement of Clyde’s control and began to move toward Gallo. His heart pounded in his chest as the silvery cloud of res surrounded his open wounds and mouth. He used the pause to attempt to calm himself, however his body didn’t respond favorably knowing subconsciously what it was about to endure from allegory. The first bit of res as it invaded his nostrils and mouth caused him to choke at first. Out of instinct he attempted to jerk his head away from the cloud of res. However, the cloud followed his movements and proved to be inescapable. Though his body continued to attempt to vacate the area until he felt the sever pain in his arms. He moved to yell, but was frozen as the intense pain moved down through his nose and esophagus toward his lungs. His eyes were wide in shock and then closed tight as his body attempted to rid the foreign energy that invaded his body. The burning and scratching seemed to arc and branch around his arms like claws that tore at his veins internally. His mouth moved in a silent scream that only formed into a horse choke. His legs kicked and backed his body against a wall as the pain grew to a level never felt by the young man before. What he felt was indescribable as the mouthed screams finally gained audio. His shrill yells of pain echoed off the dusty walls as even his legs began to burn with the same scratchy, intense, burn. His sight had blurred and soon blackened as he passed out while his body continued to attempt to rid the quicksilver, thick, snakes from his skin. He had a nightmare as he endured the horrific initiation. A nightmare of being trapped in the mysterious room during the journey to the coast of Suvan. He was alone, the water he stood in began to steam and bubble at an alarming rate. It’s levels rose quickly as his flesh seemed to curl and peel from his body. All the while Gallo could feel what he hallucinated, eyes burned, flesh burned, blood boiled and body cooked. He abruptly returned to reality with a loud howl. His eyes opened they darted from arm to arm. With the disorientation of pain and the line of reality and fantasy blurred by his clouded mind he scratched at his arms. His veins to him seemed to crawl with thick unknown insects like worms. Each wiggle he saw caused a particularly firm wave of pain push through his body. The images of his skin as it crawled flashed back and forth between his clean skin and the skin that crawled. Each time, a new scratch formed along his arms as his body reacted to the hallucinations by scraping at his own body. Then they began to recede. His throat had felt like it had swallowed several sharp stones and began to regurgitate them back up from his stomach and his lungs. The sharp points scraped as his vocal chords seemed to have lost their ability to form any sort of sound; whether by the power of his own shouts or the res that intruded his body it was unclear. Once more the darkness consumed his body, though much more deeply than the first. His body collapsed onto the floor as he continued his hallucinations. His breathing seemed to slow to a stop as the res began to leave his body. As his tortured body began to be relieved of most of Clyde’s res, his body functions began to slowly return back to his own body. His brain didn’t register that he fainted each time due to lack of breath, but as his lungs began to breath on their own oxygen flowed freely. Each pulse of his heart sent waves of pain that crashed on his brain like the ocean as it erodes rock. Soon Clyde’s res left his body and Gallo attempted to open his eyes. Though he felt an instant burn that caused him to close his eyes tightly once more. He attempted to stand but stumbled as the cuts on his palms bleed more from the elevated pulse.

[Clyde Sullins]

Even in the best of circumstances, which this was not to far from, this would be an unpleasant experience. For that, Clyde understood, having felt it himself. As it was finally over, and Gallo tried to stand, only to stumble, Clyde put an arm under his shoulder and reached around behind him, to grasp his torso. Then pulling him over to lean on him, he helped him stand, bringing him back over to his bed, not an easy task, but he managed. Finally he got him there, and sort of half flopped him into it, half shoved him. After a bit of maneuvering, he managed to get him laying on his back on the bed. He came over to sit beside Gallo, and took in a deep breath. Then reissuing out a small glob of res from his hand, he formed it into a ball, and flicked a finger to light its outside, leaving the core res. He had heard of this before, burning a wound to shut it, and keep it from getting infected. Though he was certainly not a expert in medicine, he would still try. Being very careful, he brought it over to each hand wound, raising the flame off of the ball closer to the wound, making a thin stream of flame come off of it, the very tip licking the wound But he kept it focused, so that it only hit the cuts, not hitting the surrounding skin. He burnt the wounds, sealing them and stopping the bleeding, leaving a thin trail of burnt tissue in its wake, just a few hairs wider than the initial wound from the dagger. It was a good thing he was so skilled, or else such precision would have been difficult. He knew it would be painful, being burnt, but considering the pain he was already in, he doubted he would notice, and he did not need to add bleeding to death to it. Then he got out Gallo's waterskin, and helped him get a drink. After that, there was little else he could do, but wait... "Gallo... You should be able to take care of yourself know. Get some sleep, and when you wake up drink some more, you should be able to move by then. Just stay in the house for the next few days, and heal. I will be back in three days time, to help you open your reimancy. Until then, don't try any." With that done, Clyde set the waterskin next to Gallo, and left, the worst of the danger of initiation over. Now he would just have to wait. A day or two would probably be enough really, but just to be on the safe side, he was having him wait till a third day to make sure he was at full strength.

[Clandestine Duplais]

Gallo was barely cognoscente as Clyde aided him to his bed roll. When his body laid out onto the firm mattress, each blade of straw seemed to cut into his skin like a blade. He wanted to scream again, however his body simply wouldn’t allow him too. He only was able to mumble to Clyde as he gave him instructions onto how to heal. Clyde had left and Gallo rested. He remembered the red of his eye lids as it glowed with the light of the sun. The vibrant glow began to vanish sharply as the concept of time seemed to vanish and disorient Gallo. Before he knew it the glow had vanished as darkness filled the sky. “That sound, waves?” Gallo opened his eyes and was greeted with the sight of the ocean. “Where am I? Shackles? Rocks?” He looked around and noticed that the foam of the ocean licked at the bottom of his feet. His hands moved and clinked the metal of binds against the rocks. “How’d I get here?” The sun was hot on his skin and bright in his eyes as it reflected off the smooth ocean and shined back at him. Again the water licked his feet and offered a cool break from the heat. “Hello?” Gallo called only to be replied with the crash of waves like thunder. “Anyone there? Someone help me please!” Gallo continued to call with no reply. Panic ran like ice through his veins as the day continued to move along. His wrist grew sore and numb, they even bled from the struggles he gave. His back was rubbed raw by the rough surface of stone. Little comfort came to his front as the sun burned and cooked his flesh to blisters. Voice, nothing but a croak he just panted in dehydration. “Ha! I get it,” he chuckled with a dry cough as he moved his head from side to side. “Great prank Clyde. I knew you wanted to get rid of me.” Gallo spoke to himself as the waves continued to crash nearby. The water had crept up to his ankles during the day, “my feet are aching! Haha, but the foam tickles. Oh look birds, what a welcomed sight. Come birds. Help me! Hahe, but they do not come. Maybe I’ll become one with this cliff.” Gallo jiggled his body as he attempted to flatten himself against the stone once more. The sharp stone dug into open wounds, but he simply didn’t care. “Tehee! How absurd, oh? The tickling grows higher.” Gallo looked down at the water as the sun began to draw below the horizon. The water had begun to creep along his legs as the tide began to return inland. “Mmm perhaps you’ll be kinder than the cliff. What a sweet hand,” The water soothed the damaged nerves from the heat. Time passed and soon the water had made its way toward Gallo’s neck. The salty water licked at his lips and even got into his mouth, which he quickly spat back out with a chuckle. “Mmm, seems I’m going to have to hold my breath for a long time my new friend.” Gallo’s eyes opened to reality as his body throbbed with a dull pain. “Water,” he spoke to himself through dry lips. He slid out of bed, “what day is it? God, I don’t remember if this daylight is the same daylight I’ve woken up to the past few times.” He reached for his water pouch and began to take heavy draws from it. He stood up from his bed, “body, why do you insist on being a statue?” He complained as he steadied himself and began to move toward his desk. Not before he stopped and grabbed a few pits of dried fruit and nuts. “When did Clyde say he’ll be back?”

[Clyde Sullins]

14 Summer 512 It had been three days. Three days since he had initiated Gallo. He had done everything he possibly could for him, and now it was the stated time for him to return. When he had said he would be back. Now it was time to help him use his new skill, find what he could do with it... While making sure he did not push to hard on his first try... He remembered back when he had been initiated... So long ago... It almost seemed like his life did not really start until after he had learned magic... Flames... His one friend forever present in life... The heat of them... They could be used to create, or destroy... They were so essential to life, and yet so capable of destroying it and making an ends to it... He had always been the most comfortable with fire... Flame just seemed easy to him. Perhaps as it had been his first element... Even to this day, flames reminded him of his magic... The flicker of it, while everything else dissipated from his vision... Not important... Even when he had lost his magic, forgotten it existed, flames had calmed him, reminded him of a happier time while he was weaving his djed... Even when he did not know why, flames still called to him. Now he wondered what element would call to his pupil... And what his res would like like, compared to his own res, which was a part of him, and so familiar. And assuming he lived, there was something else to do, something he had been planning for awhile, but had finally bought the things he needed for it, which were stored away in his pack... Everything he needed to make a Grand Oath connecting Gallo to him and his service for ever, or until he died, whichever came first. But first, the reimancy. Opening the door, he walked in, to find Gallo. "Hello. So, how were your healing days? Feeling better after some rest, and time. Now it is back to the grindstone, working to do magic, and open yourself a bit more to the weaving's of djed for which we as mages are conduits. Controlling a force few can comprehend." Opening his bag, he took out his waterskin, and a small rock. If his element was either of those, he could do those off of this material. Or if air, that was even more ever present... If fire, well then he could burn something. But first, to test and see if it was one of these. "Now, to start off, I want you to draw some focus on your palms, and then meditate and try to exude some res out of the focus. I will be interested to see yours, and its colors and consistency. Mine is a bright silver res, as you have seen. Just remember, the res is a part of you. You are making it leave the vessel that is your body, were it is vulnerable and will diminish, just as it weakens you by its absence. But while it is out, it can do much, once you learn..." Clyde's mind slipped back to the things in his pack... And to the rough draft of the Grand Oath he had written, which he would show to Gallo once he did some reimancy... Then to make the real one...

[Clandestine Duplais]

Gallo was busy with some light fighting, form training when the door opened to his home and Clyde walked in. “Tsk, still no knock,” he didn’t bat an eye as he turned toward Clyde and greeted him. “I’m doing better, still got a bit of a sore throat but otherwise fine.” His voice had a small squeak to it. He noted as Clyde brought out a few supplies and wondered to himself, “will he be starting me out this quickly?” “Mmm, I’m excited.” Gallo said genuinely, “I am ready to learn how to conjur the elements. I remember what your res looked like, it was pretty strange to me. Like molten metal, guess it is fitting for someone who plays with fire. Molten metal turn fire, it is quite unique.” He paused as he moved to his palms to remove the fabric he wore around his arms. “It won’t hurt when I bring up my own res like it did during the initiation will it?” There was a bit of genuine concern as he began to fold the fabric into two bundles and set them aside next to his gauntlets. And waited for more instructions from Clyde.