21st of Spring, 513 AV
The smell of fresh parchment was something that was rather addictive to Sarith, something that he found he couldn't go long without. He loved the way the blank page of his book looked, just waiting for ink to give it purpose. He wanted to know the feeling of holding the quill in his hand once more, to grasp it and fill in the blank page with his thoughts. Unfortunately that pleasure would have to wait until his test was completed.
With a final longing gaze back to the book Sarith stepped away from his fine desk and to the center of his apartment. It was a small place, however it served its purpose as it was also very private. This gave him relative freedom to practice his craft in the comfort of his own home. It was a nice feeling to have that kind of freedom, it meant that his research could go unhindered.
Some would call what he was going to do dangerous or fool hardy, however Sarith knew the risks associated with his power so he felt confidant that nothing would go wrong. The man adjusted his monocle and thought for a moment, nodding to himself slightly as he went over his theory. The push and pull of a portal to the Void was strong, however he wondered how strong it could be made.
He was certainly no master of the Void, however an assessment of his limits might also grant him some insight into ways to improve his control. Sarith suspected that the pull of the Void could be raised to levels that could absorb the nails out of a board, as he did not wish to collapse the building down on himself Sarith had instead embedded a quill in the wood of his chair which was across the room. This would mean that he would need to generate a stronger pull to pry the quill from the chair.
The man had ensured that nothing was in between him and the quill, as he really didn't want to risk losing something to the Void that he really cared about. The quill was replaceable, besides he had quite a few in reserve just in case.
Sarith was dressed in his usual finery, his embroidered robes looking rich and powerful. His hands were sheathed in fine leather gloves that were soft and supple to the touch, possessing elaborate embroidery on the cuffs. His rich hazel eyes swept over his experiment with a careful analytical gaze, his monocle giving him a refined edge to his delicate aristocratic features. If ever there was a person who looked like what people expected a wizard to look like, it was him. It wasn't really a fact he was trying to hide, far from it he was proud of what he was. Magic was no easy art to control, the fact that he had lasted this long said something about him.
The man breathed deeply in, raising one gloved hand before him as he concentrated on a singular spot before him. The Void was a dimension of emptiness, as such emptiness was required to form any stable link between This Side and the Other Side. Such a thing required great concentration and preparation, if one messed up it could ruin the whole thing.
It only took about ten seconds for a tiny black dot to hover in the air before his hand, not his best time but it would do. Quickly the scholar widened the portal, feeding it his Djed to cause it to expand. He didn't want it massive, just a small portal would suffice for the purposes of his exercise.
The art of Voiding was perhaps one of the most difficult discipline to get a solid grasp on, at least that was what Sarith thought. Other disciplines often had something to work with, or they were just single spells. Reimancy, from what he understood, was simply a single burst and required Djed from the initial casting and a little for control.
This was not the case for Voiding, Djed had to be periodically fed to the portal to keep it from collapsing in on itself. The larger the portal the more it required to stay in existence, this was a basic law of Voiding. Sarith suspected that the amounts required became lessened with experience, in fact this little portal did not sap nearly as much energy as it would have when he had first started.
The feeling of using Voiding was also rather different than say, projection. Projection often gave a warm feeling, something that felt good and encouraged one to keep going. Voiding was different in that casting it felt cold and draining, rather like everything that you were was being sucked into eternal nothingness. Overgiving could still give feelings of invincibility and a desire to cast more, however the feeling of being slowly drained was always there. It was something that Sarith focused on often, believing it would keep him from gaining euphoric tendencies.
The wizard focused on the small swirling black vortex and gave it a light pull in the direction of the quill. Increasing the pull on a portal made it more taxing to keep open, however it also made it more useful in combat situations. A few surprised Zith had found their end being sucked into the Void, plucked right out of the sky. Perhaps that would be a strategy he should suggest to the Akalak?
He shook his head to clear the detracting thoughts and focused on slowly increasing the pull of the Portal, maintain control easily. When he reached a rather high level of pull he saw the quill twitch slightly, which prompted him to increase it further. The drain on his Djed was manageable, which was why he had chose such a small experiment. If he had manifested a larger portal the combination of maintaining the portal, while increasing the pull, would have likely tired him a great deal.
Unfortunately he had made one minor miscalculation in regards to this test, the presence of the chair. He had noticed the slight squeak as it moved forward slightly but had increased the pull anyway, figuring that he would get the quill before it became an issue. Well, as he increased the pull one last time, a rather large amount that left him feeling a little tired, the quill rocketed through the air into the portal... followed by the chair.
Sarith's eyes widened as the chair lifted off the ground and flew towards the small portal. Quickly he collapsed the portal, crying out as the chair collided with his chest. The wizard fell to the ground in a heap, groaning in pain, that had not been expected. Sarith was not one who could take much physical pain, luckily it didn't seem like the blow had broken anything however he would no doubt be wearing a nasty bruise for sometime.
It had been an oversight on his part, he had increased the Pull way too much, too fast. If anything it was a very painful lesson in control.
Sarith groaned and recovered his monocle, breathing a sigh of relief that it was still intact. The chair had not been overtly damaged, if anything it was better off than he was at the moment. This little experiment was proof that the Void could be an extremely powerful tool no matter the size of the portal, it also certainly answered his question as to the strength of a portals pull. If this small portal could elicit such a powerful, and painful reaction, he had to wonder what a larger portal could do.
It was an experiment for another day, as he had no real wish to get struck by a chair again. The scholar groaned as he slowly stood, picking up the chair and bringing it to the desk. His chest hurt like sin, and he felt no small amount fatigue from increasing the pull to such a high level. Still he had technically succeeded in his goal so it was a success, just a really painful one.
Sarith sighed slightly, opening the blank book and dipping a quill into his inkwell. He needed to record his result regarding todays experiment, it was an obligation really. Even through pain his work was not done.
He began slowly, searching for words for his first entry into the book that would contain his notes.
21st of Spring, 513 AV
My first true experiment into the nature and power of Voiding has been a rather painful success. I was able to call forth a small portal to the Void and attempt to pull a quill from a good distance away. The goals were to test the strength of the pull, as well as to assess the amount of Djed required to generate a strong pull.
Sarith thought for a moment, thinking exactly what would be useful information to include. His hand was soon moving across the page, his flowing handwriting fluid and graceful.
The results were, as stated above, a success as I was able to send the quill to the Void. Unfortunately I did not anticipate the strength of the pull and ended up attracting the chair the quill was resting on. This brings up a much wider opportunity for further experimentation, in regards to both strength and precision of the pull. It should also be noted that the intense pull placed upon even a small portal is rather taxing, leading me to believe that maintaining such a pull with a larger portal would be rather difficult. I have created larger portals with powerful pulls, however nothing so intense that pulled a chair off of the ground. Regardless, I intend to practice less intense pulls using much larger portals as well as attempting to pull individual objects out of groups. My hope is to find a safe equilibrium in which I can maintain larger portals while giving them some manner of pull. It will likely take much more skill than I possess currently to pull off, however I am confidant that with further practice I will be able to improve strength and precision.
~Sarith Solen
Sarith sighed and leaned back in his chair, flinching slightly at the flaring pain on his chest. The entry had been short but this experiment had been much shorter than others. It was likely that entries would get longer as he went along.
The wizard held up a hand before his face and concentrated again, manifesting another small portal. It was very tiny, as he did not wish to overly stress his Djed further, such a thing took minimal effort to maintan. He gave this one no pull, instead he simply stared at the small black vortex. The Void held many secrets from him still, and it was only now when he was starting to understand how it was properly used that he realized that. Perhaps that was the lesson here. The more he learned about it, the more questions appeared, taunting his ignorance cruelly.
One day he hoped to know everything about the empty blackness that lay beyond the portal, to fully understand its inner workings. Such was the path of the scholar, ever learning and ever questioning.
