Relearning to Write

by **Chembalo** on July 12th, 2013, 6:01 pm

22nd of Summer 513 AV

It had been over half a season since Chembalo had a chance to practice any Glyphing.
A caravan is no fitting place to draw the fine lines and shapes that make up sigils.
And even before then he had only been introduced to little more than the most basic concepts and components of Glyphing. He could barely recognize any runes, let alone write them reliably.
However, he had already done the first step. He knew of the runes and their ability to manipulate magic. He knew that if he could learn more, he could draw and use them himself. And he knew how to learn more.

After his arrival at the university of Zeltiva he had signed up for two courses: Morphing and Glyphing. While he did not know why he has not been assigned to any class yet, he did not want to let his time go to waste. That is why he decided to use this day to refresh and further his understanding of glyphing as well as to get some practical experience.

He had gotten a book on Glyphing from the library and taken it to his student apartment. There opened it and started to read the lesson on the different components of sigils. Even though there were was a chapter dedicated to the history and development of the art of Glyphing, he simply skipped it. He did not care for that and started right away with the part he considered interesting.

Focus - A single, large glyph that stores magic.

“Yes, I know that one.” He briefly remembered the first rune he had drawn on his palm. Even though his old master had told him what it was supposed to do, direct and strengthen his magic, he could not honestly say he had felt much difference. Today, he would try to do a better job.

Barrier - A series of glyphs that blocks and restricts magic.

“It sounds just like a dam or maybe a canal. A big strong construct that holds the flow back. Only in this case it is not used for water, but magic.” Chembalo had never drawn a functional barrier before. “It is pointless without a good focus anyway,” he thought an read on.

Trigger - Glyphs that specify a condition for another part of the sigil to be activated or deactivated.

“And that would be the lever to release the flow. The last straw that broke the camel’s back.” He frowned. “No, that’s not right. A single straw could be sufficient to activate the trigger, right? But who do the runes know which straw? Is it written in the runes, or is the information somehow stored in their djed?” He sighed and wished he had a teacher to ask.
Discontentedly he looked in the book. While Chembalo liked to read, it was not for it for its own sake, not for the act of reading itself. Instead he cherished books for the knowledge they gave him access to. Therefore he had never read a piece of fiction, they held no purpose for him. His goal of proving to himself how much more than a mere animal he was, would not be achieved by dreaming about other peoples adventures. Only knowledge, practice and action would bring him further.
He put the book away. The answer to his question was still a mystery to him and there were even more components of sigils he had not even started to read about. However, he felt now was time for some practical experience.

While he was eager to start with a real glyph that he could use right away, he knew it would be better to practice on parchment first. His first few attempts quickly showed him, that he had been right to do so. What little practice he had had before seemed completely forgotten now. His hand even started to hurt after a while. Shaking the feeling off he continued until his lines became straighter, his curves more elegant; at least until it looked to him like they did.
When he had copied every single focus rune example the book had to offer once, he stopped - he just could not continue any more. There was no way he could argue himself into any more dry-runs. "I need to try this for real - now" he thought and bared his arm.

He already knew what he wanted to accomplish with the rune. For this exercise he chose to use a focus rune which he had liked since he had first seen it. With some imagination it almost looked like a paw print. With much greater care and precision than before he sketched the glyph on his forearm. Agitated, he noticed that writing on parchment and writing on body parts were two different things entirely. Nevertheless he tried his best and finished writing.
It looked tolerable. The resemblence with a paw was not really there, but he didn't care about that now. The real question was whether it would do the job.
He took a deep breath, concentrated and began.
As usual for him, he used gestures to aid himself in casting the magic. He rythmatically moved his arms around each other, caressing the one with a rune painted on it. Soon he felt a prickling sensation on his skin and knew it was starting to work. He kept directing his mind on the task until he was satisfied with the visible results.

Using his morphing abilities he had let fur grow on his arm. It was black, shiny and relatively short. In fact it was his very own natural fur. Only that he had managed to make it appear on his otherwise human form. And the glyph had augmented the process. He frowned. Had it? Once again he could not tell, as he had never tried this kind of transformation before and didn't know how difficult it would have been without a glyph. He had been so eager to try it at all, that he had not thought about how to tell the difference. "That is no good - without a teacher I need to have some other way to find out how good my glyphs are."

Frustrated, he canceled his transformation and watched as the hair gradually receded and became thinner and lighter - the ink of the rune had completely disa. At the same time he pondered how he could determine the effect of a focus rune. It took him a few minutes, but eventually he came up with a plan.
This time he drew a rune on one of his feet. It was a different one as well: simpler, not not at all fancy. Even though it was kind of awkward to write on his own foot the glyph did not look bad at all. Then he leaned back in the chair, closed his eyes, and focused on the foot he HAD NOT drawn the rune upon. He wanted to make it as hard for himself as he could. That's why he used neither gestures nor incantations - not that the latter had ever helped him at all. Using solely the power of his mind and djed.

It was much more difficult and took him considerably longer this time. Even though it was painless, he twitched when he felt the changes occur. When he knew he was done he snapped his eyes open and looked at his foot. A smile spread across his face. As intended, his foot without the rune had turned into a paw. It was big, black, with visible claws and looked very odd next to his normal foot. His heart was beating fast with excitement. "Now on to the real test" he thought and leaned back again.
When he started morphing using the help of the rune, he noticed the difference almost immediately. "Finally." When comparing it directly one could not miss it: it was easier, faster and did not even feel as weird as before. In fact, he felt amazing. "I bet with these runes I could do anything!"

Excited he jumped up and took a step toward the door. He promptly fell over. Even though the paws he had turned his feet into had looked fancy, they were not at all well suited for walking on two legs. Snickering he sat up. "I guess I better don't do anything with these runes anymore today. Although...", he looked at his morphed feet and thought, "I do wonder how difficult it would be to change until they become functional." He pondered this for a few moments until he noticed that his head was pounding uncomfortably. "No, better take it easy for now. Glyphing class has not even started yet."

Before he changed his mind again, he released the magic and watched himself return to normal once more. After he got up, he cleaned up the practice parchment and books - there would be no more work or practice today. Instead, he spent the rest of the day relaxing and taking care of his bamboo plant. Changing the water in the pot really soothed his mind. "Today was a good day." he thought while filling in fresh water. "Yes, it was."

by **Eldritch** on August 7th, 2013, 8:33 pm

Chembalo :

Notes :

If you have any comments/questions/concerns about your grade please PM me and we will work something out.

Keep on writing!

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