Completed [Dra-Kalinor Laboratory] The First Arcane Mystery

[Ethan Ironhorse]

Summer 52nd, 513AV Ethan’s room Ethan sat looking at the fireplace staring at it as a tiny shield in the form of a cube was sitting in the palm of his hand. Ethan remembered the chapters and lessons in the book that Devandil had loaned him for ten days. The Art of Shielding, Ethan smiled slightly as his mind seemed to hold the tiny cube while he thought about the very impressive sounding tome. The first chapter had talked about shielding and its shape, however, it hadn’t really discussed the defining process of location or how to make a shield more permanent. Ethan thought over his shield making, He had started be defining an anchor, the concept leapt to his mind as he was still connected to the shield. One solid point that he had defined the location of that one point as just above to crossing lines in his palm, then his fingers of the other hand had been used to symbolically expand that point into a line, then a square, and finding a small cube. With practice he was getting better with defining the lines distances. His mind started giving him subtle feedback that the line was becoming too thin by giving him a feeling of a thread about to break. Granted trying to gauge that feeling was difficult, but he was getting better slowly. However, no matter how hard Ethan tried the shield would dissipate only after a few breaths with a loss of Ethan’s concentration. Something was missing, some vital piece of information that Ethan needed to understand. He was reacting with vague impressions and little information. It was like blacksmithing, willing a hole into an iron bar with a hammer and flat surface didn’t make sense, but once you saw a wedge or punch tool that spread the material from the tool, you began to understand how it was used. Ethan moved his right fingers and pinched a corner of the cube. And began to move it out, just as earlier experiments the corner of the cube stretched and the waves began to appear in the surface. Ethan stopped and pushed the corner back in. Why did Ethan’s hand act that way on the cube? It had been instinct when he first had done it, but Devandil never used his hands in such a way. So way did it work that way for Ethan? Some kind of concept was at the edge of his thoughts; Ethan could almost feel it rolling around in his mind like some ale barrier being moved about. Ethan was using his sense of touch to do something. Ethan approached the cube’s corner once again with his thumb and forefinger. Slowly he began to pinch the corner of the cube, and almost immediately he felt the ghost feeling of fingers grab the anchor point. In Ethan’s mind the corner almost appeared glowing brighter than the other seven. Additionally the image of the anchor point changed in his mind. It took a moment but Ethan’s imaginary vision held a ring of steel with different bridle ties, leather straps in different locations, then before. The feeling of the rolling barrel started to get closer. Something about his mind and body were acting in concert to do something. Ethan placed his hand and fingers a couple feet away and opened and closed his fingers as if he was pinching the air. Nothing happened, the ghost feeling of the energy wasn’t there nor was the brightness of the corner, and yet as Ethan was looking for those feelings his mind began to focus on the edge of the cube that he wanted. The corner slowly became brighter and as his forefinger and thumb came down in a pinch the feeling returned. It had been Ethan’s mind that made the connection between his actions with his hand and the corner. Ethan kept his mind focused on the edge of the cube and tried to pull it out at a diagonal. I a drunk man trying to writer his letters, the corner began to move in an erratic fashion. Up, down, left, or right the corner moved like a ball being tossed about. Ethan felt a numbness, almost as if he hands were wrapped in rolls of cloth and he had to draw a delicate flower. The side of the cube began to shake and become wavy, as his vision slightly blurred around the edges. Quickly, before Ethan could even take his next breath the side of the cube burst in a puff of imaginary energy that wafted away like fine mist. Taking deep breaths Ethan’s vision cleared and a simple tiny square shield was in his hands. Something had happened to Ethan that he couldn’t explain, something that had Ethan’s heart racing and his vision slightly swirling. For a few moments Ethan was able to relax and his heart rate returned. Strangely, the square remained still within his palm, and Ethan realized that the dizzy spell he had come from the mental focus. Releasing the heavy focus on movement, had allowed Ethan to recover. Deciding not to try his luck again, Ethan kept his focus on trying to create a cube again. His right hand stayed two feet apart, but as Ethan made the pinching movement, he felt the gossamer energy of the side between his two fingers. Like the softest cloth Ethan had ever known, his fingers moved back and forth until he felt as if two layers had separated. Ethan imaginary vision of the square showed that the four corners had now become eight and that the smallest of distance between the two could be sensed. As Ethan pulled he felt the cube expand and the feedback in his stationary right hand feed him the sense of when to stop pulling. Ethan was excited; he had made the cube from just moving his hand, instead of actually pulling and pushing over each point. Ethan focused on an edge and waited till it became bright in his mind’s eye. Using his forefinger and middle finger like a pair of scissor, he mocked snip the edge. All of a sudden, the imaginary leather strap cut itself in half and like some flimsy cloth several sides of the cube began to float back and forth. Then all of a sudden, Ethan moved his forefinger and thumb together like pinching a needled, moving his hand like a seamstress Ethan sewed the two points together with an imaginary thread. However, the cube reacted and the edge reappeared, while the leather strap once again appeared whole. Filled with the sense of power and accomplishment, Ethan threw caution to the wind, and been making hand movements. He played acted that he was a painter, and his hand formed around his imaginary brush. Dipping the brush in the cube he began to paint his arm. Anchor points floated up where ever he directed his hand. Dipping again, he made the repeated the hand movement far from the location but his focus on the existing strip of a shield. Sure enough success, the shield became thicker. Giddiness started to rise, and Ethan acted like he had a cleaning rag in his hand and began to focus on the strip of shield. Making circular cleaning motions the shield rapidly expanded without control of thickness, and yet Ethan didn’t care, because the motion was happening like he was rubbing his leg, but the shield spread over his arm. Laughing, Ethan looked down at his hand, and his right thigh became to be covered in a shield. A sense of power and wonderment, asked Ethan to give in and create. Ethan smiled and continued to do so, deciding to move both of his hands Ethan experimented with the rag like motions over his body and a thin shield began to form where ever he placed a hand. Ethan began to hear an almost manic laugh, and if he wasn’t so excited about what he had accomplished, he would have realized it was coming from his own throat. Yet his emotional high was causing him to go on. His mind, hand, fingers, and arms began to weave in some elaborate dance that Ethan would have never recognized if he had been watching it, but the shielding about his body began to grow and shift like some living thing, like some fluid moss that spread about him. The laughing was getting louder and louder as if someone was laughing at the greatest joke ever made. Banging started at his door and as he looked over he made motions with his body, stopping the noise as a glowing disk began to grow over the door… Darkness… Ethan opened his eyes, to find that his vision was swimming. As if some manic painter had made every straight line into something wavy. Moving his head only made everything spin out of control, and Ethan felt himself curl up and began to vomit violently. As Ethan lay on the stone floor and felt his stomach and mouth dryly spasm again and again, pain racked his body. Ethan felt the hot moisture from his stomach dribble down the side of his mouth. It seemed like a bell of living agony, until his body stopped seizing. Slowly he opened his eyes as Ethan saw that he was on the floor, and a large puddle of his own vomit stretched forth to his bed. His vision was still strange; lines, especially curved lines began to move like an ocean wave, and so Ethan simply closed his eyes and decided he would just lay here for a moment more. Going to sleep, a dream born from his overgiving came to him.

[Ethan Ironhorse]

Ethan found himself floating in complete and utter darkness. He felt that big dark nothing expanding beyond all the furthest reaches of his perception. Ethan twisted and turned, tried to find purchase on something, anything… he began to call out, but without air or some other type of medium no sound came. Ethan panicked trying to gain air feeling his lungs struggling, and then he saw small bits of light slowly float away from his body and wink out. It was horrifying struggling for breath but not dying, not passing out, and watching his body dissolve into light and then dissipate. His hands were gone and so were his feet. More and more bits of light began to pull off his body and wink out. Ethan knew, he knew that he was disappearing. Everything that kept him together, the very fabric of definition that was him slowly was being eaten away by the darkness. Soon his arms, legs and lower torso vanished, terror washed him and then the knowledge that without his lower body he was no longer male. The concept of male and female stripped itself away from him. Ethan could no longer define the concept of self by gender. Terror still rocked the being known as Ethan, as the darkness ate away eyes, nose, tongue, ears and skin, all the concepts of the senses were gone. Ethan only had thoughts, memories of thoughts and emotions. As knowledge began to vanish, Ethan’s thoughts some began to become simpler and simpler. Math… gone. The idea of distance… gone. Soon there was nothing left except for the barest of concepts of self and ultimate pain of loss. Then even the pain of loss was gone. Only the concept of me was left. Me… me… me… to the universe of darkness one small light pulsed as the concept of me beat like a heart. Yet for an eternally the concept did not do anything but that, and then beat of me stopped for a moment, when it started again two small lights began to blink one sang ‘Me’ when it stop the other sang ‘Not me’ The two concepts were like children arguing back and forth, yet connected like a finger pointing to two things. Time went on, and the two concept warred until one moment the small lights asked a question, “Me and not Me?” While the other asked, “Me or not me?” all of a sudden lights began to appear and the concepts of Paradoxes, as well as, Maybe began to form. Like a fireflies light began to appear and join creating a stronger presence of thought, definitions began to take root, then emotions, then memories and then so slowly or in an instant Ethan came back into existence. Yet Ethan tried to struggle with the very being of existence defining other concepts until another figured appeared. Leather straps crossed over the figure attached to metal bridle rings at joints. Rings appeared for eyes and at the corner of the entities mouth. Has leather straps moved the entity, opened his mouth be having the straps constrict and contract, eye lids formed over the empty rings where the eyes would have been. “Boundaries, definition, the very concept of what is different between the two is interwoven in the very fabric of the universe.” The leather and steel ringed entity spoke, its voice was like the creak of new leather as it flexed. Lifting up a hand, “New,” as it lifted up the other hand, “Old. The differences define existence, concepts so basic that it creates a separation between things. Yet there can be many degrees separating these concepts.” Multiple hands began to appear and it was then that Ethan could focus enough to realize that each hand was slightly more aged leather and steel then the next one to the left. “Was it a combination of those concepts , or was boundary that separated the two slightly broken and allowed the two to mix into something new? Does this matter?” Ethan stood transfixed for a moment, as he opened his mouth a light came from it and traveled to the entity. Within the light was concept of the purest form of asking for clarification. “Know that this dream comes from the boundaries you breach with your mind. Be extending oneself beyond the understanding and boundaries that you self-imposed upon yourself, you went into the great beyond. Re-definition of those limits should be sought with care and control. Extending one’s reach will slowly test against the boundary that you have put in place, but punching through will pour everything into concept of self.” Ethan opened his mouth and the concept of question and truth came out. The being smiled as the light went into it and holding up its hands the two combined as an answer. Maybe. Then Ethan felt pain, upon his hand where he always focused the first anchor of his shield. A small steel ring appeared, straps of leather began to grow from it and more and more ring began to appear. For a moment, Ethan marveled as the leather began to spread and grow about his left arm. Ethan felt the strength of it, as well as, the freedom of movement. He bent and flexed his arm as the leather stretched and then from back, but as he watched the leather grow more and more, the face of the leather entity appeared on his forearm, it smiled and asked a question, “Me and Not me?” All of a sudden the leather started to contract and bit into Ethan’s skin, at first the strength was enough to start from bruises rapidly as the leather continued to tighten. Ethan screamed and started ripping at the leather. With his other hand, Ethan was working as hard as he could removing single straps as they crawled ever upward to his shoulder. Ethan heard the sound of a sickening crunch as the bones below the leather straps broke. Pain radiated and from Ethan’s arm and all Ethan could do was scream. Then the leather wrapped itself around his throat and Ethan right arm got underneath it struggling to get air, as the leather straps continued to bind Ethan’s body. In an eternity of horror, Ethan’s body was wrapped complete in leather squeezing and breaking his bones. Blood began to leak out between straps and through rings. Ethan felt like he would die, when finally the feeling of being crushed stopped, a voice whispered in his ear with a satisfied voice, “Me and Not me.” Ethan was left on the ground crippled. Sparks of light floated in front of his eyes, slowly the sparks became swirls and Ethan realized that they were glyphs of concepts. Some separated others blending into one another. Some formed lines while others floated about. The Glyphed lines began to take shape, and Ethan realized he was looking at his room. Blinking some of the glyphs turned into colors, others turned into sounds, and slowly Ethan’s vision and senses returned. Ethan slowly got stood up and out of the corner of his eye a sparkling line appeared. Startled Ethan quickly moved and the light vanished but the normal straight leg of the table became wavy. Feeling sick at the motion, Ethan closed his eyes. Slowly he got up and his hand touched the cold vomit puddle in front of him. Ethan felt sicken by it and tried to roll away from it, as he did so pain blossomed in his left forearm and hand. Lifting it up, the dim light from the fire showed a crisscross pattern of bruises, and slowly rotating the arm Ethan saw the smiling face of the leather entity looking back up at him. Screaming, Ethan scrambled all the way till the door of his room hit his back.

[Ethan Ironhorse]

For a while Ethan sat with his back against the door with his eyes closed. He was afraid of what had happened and even the desperate gnawing of hunger and thirst couldn’t quite keep him from moving. Fear of being crazy kept him frozen, Have I gone insane? Was any of that real? Am I still dreaming? The last question Ethan was pretty sure that he wasn’t. His left forearm pulsed with heat and pain, long strips of flesh across his body hurt as he moved or breathed. The hunger and thirst put and edge on the reality of what he was experiencing. Ethan breathed deep, taking a cleansing breathe inward, allowing himself to believe that he felt calming energy enter and his fear release. Ethan realized that he wasn’t in any immediate danger or harm. Slowly, he got up from the wear he sat, feeling pain arch across several locations around his body. The room had darkened, as if Ethan hadn’t refreshed the fire in bells. Walking over to the fire a brief flash of light in the form of a line came to his edge of his vision. Ethan turned trying to view it, but only found the dimly lit apartment. Ethan placed a few small branches on the fire to allow it to catch. Reaching above his head to the mantle, Ethan found the tinder box and pulled a lot thin stick from it. He placed the stick on the coals of a saw a quick flash of light as flames came up on the end. Ethan wasn’t sure where the flash of light had come from, and for a split second he could have sworn it was in the image of some type of glyph. Ethan went about the room lighting various candles careful of the pool of dried vomit on the floor. The room was bathed in light, and the fear that had plagued Ethan’s mind was slowly being released since he was no longer in darkness. For a moment Ethan closed his eyes and steeled himself to look on the inside of his left forearm. He needed to take stock of his condition, the pain shooting and stabbing in his body wasn’t normal. Ethan opened his eyes and looked down at his forearm; red blood like lines had come up across his forearm. The lines where a finger’s width apart and two lines always ran parallel to each other until they crossed or intersected other lines, between the red blood filled lines a dark purple bruise had started to appear and was extremely tender to the touch. Yet, Ethan didn’t see the vision of the face in his forearm like before. Relieved in the sense that crazy vision or dream that he had was some kind of feverish nonsense, Ethan looked over his bare chest seeing long strips of bruising. Tenderly, touching each other Ethan didn’t feel any broken bones or dislocation of joints. By far the worst was Ethan left forearm, the bruising was the heaviest there and creep up to Ethan’s mid arm. Long thick lines of bruising extended themselves to his neck, chest, and upper thighs. Ethan looked as if someone had taken a lash to his flesh but hadn’t broken the skin. Seeing that he wouldn’t die, Ethan went over to the pitcher of water for washing and general drinking. He drank deeply from the pitcher, almost till he could fill water sloshing about his stomach. Putting the pitcher down, he poured some of the water in the wash basin and pulled a cleaning rag from his chest. It took a while for Ethan to clean up the mess that his body had made. Once the floor was clean, Ethan placed on his biggest long sleeve shirt and headed for the door. He didn’t really know what time it was, but he needed to rid himself of the dirty water. Heading to the door, Ethan spent a moment running his hand and eyes over it. Perhaps it had been part of the feverish dream, but the door didn’t feel any different. Opening the door he left his apartment. During the time Ethan had taken to dispose of the water and refill his pitcher, he found out that that it was late in the afternoon and he had been in his room close to seven bells. Deciding that the Great Bazaar would still be open, Ethan headed down to Devandil shop, the Dra-Kalinor Laboratory. It was getting late in the evening by the time Ethan arrived, and pressing the handle he found that the shop opened. Normally, Ethan would have trepidation going back to Devandil, but fear and anger over what had happened push him forward. Devandil had been reading at his desk, when the door to the shop had opened. Surprised by the lateness of the day, he looked up to see the young man he had taught a little about shielding standing there. It was then by the flickering of the light he saw the impressive bruising around the man’s neck and the crazed look in his eyes. Something was wrong, and since the man had sought Devandil here, it had to deal with magic. Ethan letting his eyes adjust to the light saw Devandil at his desk and strode over to it without thought. Flashes of lines of light streak at the edges of Ethan’s vision, but with his target before him, Ethan pushed aside the distraction. Stepping up to Devandil’s desk Ethan pulled up his left sleeve, “Look!” Ethan shouted, “What happened? What is going on? I feel like I am losing my mind!” Ethan was visibly shaking, unsure whether with fear or anger. “Ah!” Devandil responded to Ethan’s outburst. Ethan immediately filled with need to thrash the man with his fists. Devandil, realized that perhaps at this moment his usual sardonic tone wouldn’t help. “Sit down and let me discuss a few things.” Devandil raised from his chair and offered it to Ethan. “First, before we start, what is your name again, if you please?” Ethan sat down in the chair and looked up startled at Devandil, realizing that Devandil may have taught Ethan one lesson on shielding, but afterwards let it leave his mind. “Ethan… Ethan Ironhorse.” Ethan said in a small voice. Devandil smiled, “Alright Ethan, what likely has happened to you is that you have experience something called Overgiving. I assume that you were practicing Shielding?” Ethan nodded his head at the question, “Ah good, Shielding and supposedly Auristics, are some of the safest personal magicks. However, looking at you I would say that your one of the most extreme cases I have seen of Overgiving due to shielding. Why don’t you explain, what happened and what you experienced.” For a time Ethan stood still, and then he began to explain his experience to Devandil. Though as Ethan got to the vision or dream, he realized that the majority of detail was now gone from his memory, but he tried to give Devandil what he could. “Well, Ethan, you drew upon your inner strength to much too quickly electing the shield about you. Your technique in using common hand gestures and focusing on the shield is the right step in your training. However, your ambition fed your desires to reach beyond your current capabilities. From there your instincts took over and began performing what your desires wanted. It’s one of the strongest signs to a mage that he is already over the edge of Overgiving. Once your body forced yourself to stop, everything collapsed and like a feverish dream your mind tried to make sense of what you did to exceed your limits. However, do not take your dream seriously! I caution you now, because that way lies madness, the flashes of light you think you are seeing, the bruising you experienced on your arms, they are your mind and body displaying the effects of Overgiving. We will have to see if they are permanent, or more likely will go away in time as you heal. I wouldn’t suggest performing any magick while your mind, soul, and body are healing.” Ethan shook his head, thinking about the damage he had caused. Devandil looked at the man and went over to his library. While, Devandil search for the specific tome he spoke, “The bruising look quite bad and you will probably not be able to use the arm for a quite a while, I may have a suggestion for you if you are interested.” Devandil found the heavy tome in his selves and walked back over to Ethan placing it on the desk. “Djed: The First Great Arcane Mystery, at the Zeltiva University we believed that this book here was actually one of the first books offered to students of magic. It helps students understand the very nature of magic. In fact, almost some of the Masters of the University still read from this book, redefining ideas and their knowledge of the craft. This book I can’t allow to leave the shop, but if you are interested come back while you are healing and read from it. When I have time, I have no problem discussing Shielding and what’s in this book.” For a moment an honest small smile graced Devandil’s lip as he realized he missed teaching classes. “But for tonight, go home and rest, you need it.”

[Ethan Ironhorse]

Summer 53nd, 513AV Dra-Kalinor Laboratory As Ethan awoke in his bed he felt the soreness in his forearm, chest, hip, and neck. He had returned from the Laboratory feeling at a lost. Ethan had thought magic was just like any trade, there were dangers in blacksmithing burns or scars. Yet, looking down at his arm, magic seemed to have a different danger. He had spent the night plague with nightmares of choking, walls closing in, and a leather face asking a question that he couldn’t quite remember. His mind, body and soul had been injured in his self-training of the craft. Ethan really pondered if he would return to Devandil. Was the danger worth the reward? In a way the Wild Djed storm a year ago destroyed shops and hurt people. Shielding seemed like a good skill to have to protect innocent people from getting hurt. Yet, if Ethan died during his training would he really be able to help anyone. In truth, Ethan got up from his bed and started to get dress, not because of some noble higher purpose, but because he didn’t like giving up. Shielding held answers and protection from the wilderness in general and in the end Ethan needed that. Ethan needed something… he needed armor not the words from a knight, to leave his life and protection to another didn’t seem wise. Ethan knew that the knights were honorable men and women. He knew that they sought justice and prevented a great deal of violence and chaos, but then why not take precautions for the Djed storm? So Ethan got up and got dressed, trying to put clothes on as easily as possible. Lines of lights still dance in his eyes, and the once red lines of blood looked like red pimples in a sea of purple bruising. Ethan had to give his healing time, and that was what was important. He needed to find his own guidance on preventing these mishaps from occurring, and perhaps now that his hand had entered the fire he would be more careful with it. Ethan sat down and ate, feeling that it was going to be a long day, but his search for answers was needed if he wished to continue. The walk was different heading to the Laboratory instead of the Ironworks. He had never really been to the Great Bazaar early in the morning, shop owners setting up their wares, while only a few people milled about looking for interesting bits in the morning. Ethan went down the side hallways till he arrived at the Laboratory. Ethan tried the door and found that it was locked. Knocking Ethan waited for Devandil to open the door. Devandil had just starting making breakfast when he heard a knock on the shop’s door. Surprised he thought about his rented rooms and didn’t think anyone would be here before the ninth bell to start conducting business. Devandil didn’t bother as he scooped up the jelly like broth filled with meat and fruit juices. Devandil smiled as he lifted the bowl to his nose and smelled the wonderful aroma. The Symenestrian eat in quiet comfort for about a quarter of a bell, when he heard the knocking once again. Sighing Devandil climbed down from his hanging apartment to answer the door. “What?!” Devandil asked in an unpleasant manner. It was then that he saw Ethan looking at him, the boy had decided to come back, the first real test of courage. For a magic user, the courage to exceed ones capability was ever present, but after the horrifying experience the man had Devandil would have sworn that Ethan wouldn’t have come back at all. “Well I was having my breakfast, I don’t suppose you would like to come in and have some with me?” Ethan turned up his weary eyes and shook his head, “No thank you, but I would like to get started on that book of yours.” Devandil smiled and let the man in showing him to desk. “My normal routine is to eat and then offer my prayers to Vitaras prior to opening the shop. Since you wish to start early I have no problem accommodating you. However, I will not tolerate any interruption or disrespect during my worshiping. For the time being, you may use room two for your study, I ask that in compensation for the use of my books, as well as, any advice or direction I give you to stay afterwards and help with some chores around the shop. Additionally, if I am with a customer or not present in the shop that you wait at the desk till I am free. Will you be able to follow my rules?” Ethan nodded and Devandil went over to the desk picking up the book and a few others giving them to Ethan to carry. For a moment, Ethan tensed and cocked an eye brow at all the books, but in the end he decided not to speak. Devandil escorted Ethan to a room and opened the door, inside was a table chair and pedestal. Yet the rest of the room was covered in glyphs, in addition to Devandil own shields. Lighting a couple of candles, Devandil showed Ethan where the box of candles were and bid him good hunting. Ethan placed the books carefully on the desk and looked within, one seemed to have glyphs and the words Nader-canoch translations and definitions, the other was the manual he worked from to advance his shielding, the third was a heavier tome glancing through the pages diagrams of glyphs and notes adorned each page in the margins at least three different types of script could be seen, lastly the tome that Devandil had talked about. Opening the book, Ethan saw a beautiful glyph upon the first page, his fingers traced the inked glyph. A tingling down the back of his spine came and went, as Ethan opened the two books with glyphs in them. It seemed that the one with the words Nader-canoch was a dictionary for glyphs. Softly, he opened the book, turning page by page till he found a glyph very similar to the one he had opened too. Below the page, the written words read Djed. Ethan read out loud the description feeling like he was mispronouncing the word. “Djed meaning the following; backbone, spine, that which stands upright, or vertical line. Mages in earlier teaching used the vertical line as a representation of change to a pictogram, most likely a rectangle. Based on these teachings, Djed has been given the additional meaning of change of the properties in an object. Higher magical teachings disdain the use of the word with a form of energy, Djed in a mathematical sense was common with the end result of the object or the equal sign of the computation in mathematics…” Ethan continued reading the paragraph explaining usage of the glyph, orientation, and certain common stroke techniques based on regions. Yet when he looked down at the illustrated glyph of Djed, Ethan began to understand. The author or artist had decided to make the basic glyph be the focal point, but off to the sides the artist depicted the many meanings. A spine showed against the glyph, while red vertical lines where the only color used besides black. Flipping the page, a rectangle was presented on top and below the script read: Clear your mind of all thoughts and knowledge of what you believe about magic and realize that all the classes, lessons, and instinct people have are based off of the first grand mystery of magic. Look above at the rectangle presented and describe it with as much detail as possible. Ethan seemed surprised, but as he looked up at the rectangle, Ethan began listing things to the air. “It has four sides. The top and bottom are longer then the left and right sides. The right side line seems to be a hair thicker than the left…” As Ethan continued he began to realize that the listing of things became harder and harder. Finally after staring at the rectangle for a while and not coming up with anything more, Ethan continued reading. If you are with someone ask them what they saw and found? A lot of your answers were probably similar. Some of them may be different or one of you may have more answers then the other. Realized that no matter how well you did or not, that you still couldn’t have come up with every answer. To know a thing perfectly is impossible, no amount of study or time devoted to one thing can you possibly understand it. Something as simple as the rectangle above is impossible to know because it’s unique and is forever changing. That change may be slow; the ink may be fading, the paper aging causing cracks in its lines. Or the change in the rectangle may be fast. Ethan turned the page and a rectangle with a line drawing through it was displayed. Change is ever present and is forever going on. Yet that is not to say we cannot direct that change with willful intent. Think back to the rectangle, imagine it perfect in every aspect, that perfection comes from the universal truth of the rectangle. The purest form of what a rectangle is part of the characteristics that made the first one. A great many of its characteristic can be stated as a perfect rectangle with these changes. Mages have taken to that perfect concept as the Djed of it. It is the backbone of information that everything else is assembled from. In order to affect change, like drawing a line through it, the person must know where to start and where to end, with that the person can affect the unique Djed or essence of the rectangle and forever change it. However, understand that the change worked on the rectangle didn’t create something new; it only changed the expression of what we perceive. Much like this the universe does not allow the creation or destruction of an object, only the transformation of it. Mages that have learned Reimancy like to display creation of balls of fire or metal, but in truth they are using their energy to transform it into a solid form. Just like applying ink to the rectangle, we have altered it. Additionally, understand that the rectangle though simple as little ability to transform on its own. It simply cannot prevent changes on its self. As the ink fades, and the paper becomes brittle the rectangle has no choice but to accept the change. While you can change the rectangle by simply picking up a Quill and ink, as the characteristics of an Object, or the Djed of that Object, becomes more complex the greater ability it has to effect change in itself and others. Life seems to be the biggest characteristic that adds more complexity to a thing. A mind is the next step in power of an object. For example, a rock has a small amount of Djed or characteristic that you can describe it by. A blade of grass, is much more complex due to its internal system of life to continue to grow and change. Additionally, the cattle that eat the blade of grass have a mind. That mind allows them to move to a different area if all the grass has been eaten, whereas the blade of grass can very well live and die at that spot without the ability to move very far, if a grass fire is coming. Finally, the soul is the next step of power with its ability to have free will comes the most complex of characteristic as scholars have tried to truly understand what free will is. Additionally, some believe that divinity is the next step of power and complexity of Djed, but in practice no one truly knows how to gain that next step. In the end, some changes cannot be undone. As the blade of grass is eaten by the cow, the grass dies forever losing part of its complexity, those characteristics or Djed is transformed by the cow into food, and its complexity can continue. Just as those searching to become Gods and Goddesses in their own right, can change themselves forever and without complete understanding of what they are changing into or themselves they lose control over that very change. Quiet, Ethan looked at the next page to see a completely black rectangle. Looking down at his forearm, fears what change within himself had he done, began to eat away at his calm.

[Ethan Ironhorse]

Ethan looked down at his forearm and thought, Some changes are permanent. He had started the day out wondering what exactly had happened and whether he would come back to Devandil to continue on his path of self-exploration into Shielding. His arm was tender and for Ethan it was hard to continue to work and move, if this was permanent he wouldn’t be able to work the forge anymore. The consequences of his actions now laid heavy on his mind, and he had no idea what he would do if he couldn’t work. Still Devandil has asked him to allow it to heal for ten days, and it seemed that the angry blood lines that were there yesterday, had become reddish pimples as the purple flooded and broke up the lines. He wouldn’t know about his arm or about the streaks of lights in his vision till it was all said and done. Taking a deep breath, Ethan went back to the book. Change, is inevitable, for a mage it is the definition of what they do. A mage effect change through their mind and will, how that change is applied and performed is based off of instinct their choose art. For some they search to create mountains or create magical artifacts that will survive their death. Others seek was to prolong their life and cheat death. However, all mages have something in common, they quest to mold their own destinies at the most basic level. Yet what separate the mage that can make a ball of flame the size of his hand and the other that can causing entire city to catch flames in a blink of an eye? The answer is simple, their knowledge on how to effect change in the surrounding Djed. Once again review the first rectangle, if the only change you sought was to make a line in the rectangle, then the change would simple and you could do it with a flick of your wrist. Yet what if you wanted to do that to a room filled with pages of rectangles? The art of pursuing change in the surround Djed is to understand how to do so effectively. If you performed the simple stroke of a quill, it could take years of your life to do so. Instead perhaps you make an wood stamp to spread ink on and perform the task in a few days, or you convince a hundred people to help you. The answer is dependent on the mage’s knowledge of the tools he possesses and their imagination. The first basic tool of any good mage is Auristic’s, most scholars agree that the discipline was created out of desperation and need. At the disciplines most fundamental level it is the art of obtaining information about an object. Auristic’s interacts with the basic Djed of an object, called an aura, to determine information and impressions of the object. This can be critical in other disciplines as that knowledge about a thing can help successfully change it. Ethan reviewed the next several pages going over each discipline and how Auristic’s could help them. Ethan was surprised by the amount of discipline of magic there were, and in truth some of them scared him. Flux, Morphing, and Projection seemed to deal with physical aspects of change from within. While Familiary, Reimancy, Shielding and Voiding dealt with influencing the outside world. Hypnotism and Leeching seemed to be odd ball personal magic’s that were quite frankly dangerous to the extreme. The greater world magics all seemed to be augmented with Auristic’s sense it wasn’t necessary the instincts of the mage performing the change. Glyphing caught his attention as a way of capturing energy, and releasing it quickly. As he turned to the last page of the chapter the words nearly leapt from the page, and his vision was filled with the glowing glyphs of Djed and Vasat. Djedvasat or Wild Djed Wild Djed is the most unpredictable of change that exists in the world as we know it. Throughout this chapter you have learned that Djed is the most basic qualities of an object. Yet Wild Djed means that one aspect of that object is under constant flux or uncontrolled change. In some case, the effects are seen or triggers that would orient the effect to the mage are possible to review. In other cases, some random change occurs beyond any rationale explanation. Most mages have combated this by finding out where the energy comes from to fuel the change. In some cases it a natural occurrence, magma flows in active volcano’s possess extreme energies as rock and fire interact. Occasionally, a mage will deceive themselves in believing they have the skill and knowledge to control such forces. When tapping into the Djed of those forces and attempting to change even the slightest of information controlling them, that change can become self-sustaining from the energy. As such jets of flame can appear as the forces of the magma contract or expand. In order, to attempt to control such forces mages try to see if the change is reversible or if additional changes won’t bring out a similar result. In other cases some mages seek to exhaust the source that fuels the change. The danger in dealing with such a problem is understanding what change and where the energy comes from. In most cases, the mage that might have cause a self-sustaining effect is dead or insane, and even if the mage can be found to have survived intact usually they do not have the understanding or education on how it occurred. Described in the rest of the book are experiments through the use of Glyphing and Auristics that one can safely gain the information of the Djed. It is the author’s sincere hope that the student of magic learns that understanding the thing you wish to change, will give you enough insight to determine if it should be changed. Ethan pulled himself away from the book and sat in his chair staring at the Glyphed walls. Some of the Glyphs looked familiar to him now, the shape of Djed, Yaq, Roza, and Pond leapt up at him, lines of light streaked across them and seemed to glow with anew energy. Blinking seemed to dispel the light, but slowly random glyphs began to glow once more. Why had Devandil given him this book to study? The book seemed to talk about the nature of understand information or Djed of an object. It certainly would help him in understanding how to task a shield and prevent things from getting through, but what about Overgiving? The paragraph about Wild Djed seemed to be tied with the idea of Overgiving. Each magical art required that the user had the tools and imagination to perform the change, but what if someone didn’t have those things? Ethan had never been accused of not having enough imagination, but he had tried performing something that was outside his experience. He had picked up tools that were yet unfamiliar to him and created a self-sustaining change using his energy as the source. Much like a mage taping elemental forces to create his change, Ethan had taped his inner reserves and drained them beyond safety. In order to fill the bucket that Ethan had poked holes in, it had drawn from around him to try and save his life and sanity. Looking at his arm he began to understand what had happened to him. For the rest of the afternoon, Ethan learned as best he could about how to obtain information of the Djed for an object. In some cases the experiments spoke of Auristics and how to apply the dull senses to filter results or to focus on its interactions with the object as a whole. In other experiments it talked about Glyphing and how small bits of an object’s aura could be channeled to determine the strength of its core concepts. Ethan began to open the book about Glyphing and was quickly reviewing the experiment, with the book of Glyphing and translating the glyphs through the use of the dictionary. Glyphing provide the ability to channel, store, and release of Djed’s aura and the energies of change. In some ways, Glyphing could capture Wild Djed and safely dissipate it. Ethan worked through the rest of the afternoon trying to understand the base concepts around two experiments that involved Glyphing as a sort of shield and gauge.

[Ethan Ironhorse]

Ethan sat thinking about what he had learned. The language of Nader-canoch was in part of the ancient tongue, yet from the book about Glyphing, Nader-canoch was used as a basis allowing the runes to become invested with concept of magic. The symbols of objects and words had become inherent into the language, once mages started to use them in glyphing the characteristics of the glyphs echoed the concepts of magic, over time that echo had cause the glyphs to possess specific traits within each characters Djed. The truth was that any mage could use any symbol for runes of Glyphing. The problem was that the symbol had to be clear in the mind of the mage so that its characteristics absorbed and channeled the correct energies. However, by using the ancient tongue the concepts of what it meant and how it channeled was established in the minds of multiple people and didn’t require the mage to link together unique chain of symbols to perform a task, and allowed the mage to scribe something that wasn’t perfect or an embellish on the glyph that could tweak the properties of the glyph without killing themselves. The first experiment using Glyphing in the book about Djed had describe strong magical auras and wild magic. It had used barriers, foci, switches and paths to divert effects into different areas and gauge the strength of each effect. To Ethan the experiment had been very theoretical but it had also been very enlightening. It wasn’t till he used his limited knowledge of metalsmithing to understand the concept. Ore often came into the Ironworks from the mine and as part of every smith’s duty it was important to smelt the ore down. During the process, heavier chunks of rock would sink to the bottom of the smelting pot, while lighter metals or impurities would float to the top and the metalsmiths scraped off the refuse and put it into a slag pit. The first pouring of the bars were often filled with impurities and later needed philter powders to bring them out. Ros, often paid a premium for the powders, to remelt the bars in a clean smelting pot and add the powders to create more slag. Yet the quality of his iron, steel, and other metals were never in question. Just like Ros’ foundry, the experiment choose to separate out unwanted concepts or energies and bind them into glyphs, while channeling the main energy into a large focus and barrier. Depending on how quickly the sigils became used up, one could gauge the amount of energy or aura that was being channeled by the object. Of course as Ethan began to read the book on Glyphing trying to understand the concepts of switches, foci, barriers and pathways, he quickly became lost in the shear knowledge of it all. Ethan was slightly frustrated that he would need to understand Glyphing before he could even began to learn about an objects form or properties. A part of him wanted to learn Auristic’s as it seemed simpler to Ethan sensing the information directly. Yet, the constant reminder of trying to develop one’s personal magics too quickly; displayed itself in his eyes as the runes lite up with flashes of light. So with regret Ethan placed the book on djed off to the side and picked up the book on Glyphing. The first chapter was a bit boring and dry, it decided to tell the reader about the uses of Glyphing. It described the art of Glyphing giving warnings about badly drawn glyphs or stating that just drawing a focus and barrier wouldn’t create a magical effect that the energies of the area or spell had to be placed inside. Ethan began to wonder how an aura of an object could be channeled. Wild Djed made sense because the energies were so intense that the glyphs themselves acted as a channel, and it was then that Ethan made the connection. A leaf floating in the wind would normally fall close to where it came off the branch. However, if a might wind or large pole fan was used to create a breeze the leaf would be pushed that way. As such the object was the focus, energy from Ethan was used to scrape its aura, and in turn pathways were used to channel and switch the energies into different barriers. As Ethan continued to read the chapter ended and gave him the basis of his first sigil block: A focus. For Beginners it is recommended that the Focus sigil block be a simple large glyph. The glyph is made large as to focus the eyes and mind to it in relation to all other glyphs. How large the glyph is doesn’t equate to the amount of energy or spell it can hold. The sigil should be a basic description of the energies that it will hold. With the use of Nader-canoch it has become accustomed to either integrate several runes into one, or use a burst pattern to reflect the foci. A burst Pattern involves placing glyphs at cardinal points around the main glyph in order to put modifiers on the symbol. Size should be relative, the first glyph should be the most important and largest. If additional glyphs are needed the size should decrease so that it still is larger than the barrier or pathway glyphs, but not larger than the main focus glyph. Common burst patterns are illustrated on the following pages, notes are provided for guidance in setting of glyphs for descriptions. Ethan began to read the patterns and descriptions, having to go to the Nader-canoch dictionary to understand why a glyph was placed where it was and in what context it meant.

[Ethan Ironhorse]

Devandil quietly opened the door to the workshop that Ethan was using. He hadn’t seen the man all day and was wondering if he had left or was still here. As Devandil looked in it seemed Ethan was reviewing the book about Nader-canoch that Devandil had given him as some of the source material. Knocking lightly on the door, Ethan turned his head from the books and looked at Devandil. “How is the arm?” Devandil asked. Ethan looked down at his forearm and saw that during the day some of the purple edges had turned green and yellow. Some of the bruising was healing, but it would be a long road to recovery. His forearm felt tender every time he rested it. “I will have to see if the herbalist has some Arnica or if they have some Krolar Poultice to help speed up healing. Right now it’s tender and I can’t seem to really use it to hold anything.” Ethan was helping for a little bit of both, the herb Arnica was harvested close to Cobalt Mountains. Yet in the condition that Ethan was in, he couldn’t go out hunting the mountain ranges for herbs. Devandil grimaced at the bruised forearm. Still there were things to be done that Ethan could be useful for. “Ethan, it’s the end of the work day.” Ethan seemed shocked at the announcement, making Devandil have a small smile. To Devandil it was nice to have a student that would actually work hard at understanding what he was doing. Most mages at the university tended to try and gain as much power as possible. After Devandil had given Ethan his first test by lending him a book on Shielding it had told him a few things. One was that Ethan reliable and trustworthy, the fact that Ethan had returned the book in the allotted time instead of having Devandil track the man down was pleasant change. Granted the text was for beginners and truly had several misconceptions that Devandil had learned later to disregard, but Ethan could have kept it or not remembered when to give it back. Second, seemed that the man actually wanted to learn, he wasn’t upset about learning Shielding instead of something more powerful. Ethan even actually tried to do his best at making a Shield, and experimented in his own time, instead of asking Devandil thousands of questions. Normally, fools that asked Devandil would first ask thousands of questions and when the felt the lash of his tongue, they quickly left. Yet Ethan had only come to Devandil to ask about this injuries. “Come along, there a bit of washing to do.” Ethan seemed surprised and got up. “Washing?” Ethan asked. “Yes, unless after a day of reading about glyphing you wish to help me paint protective glyphs throughout the workrooms?” Devandil asked. All Ethan could do was shake his head, Devandil sighed. “In Magecrafting a person charges up the items Djed with new or improved characteristics. You did read that part right?” When Ethan gave him a nod, and a look that glimmer slightly with defiance. “Well, let’s say that I am charging up a piece of armor to be studier or have the ability to increase strength to a person’s arm. Those concepts of information must be transferred and built into the armors djed. Even perfectly crafted armor can’t make a man stronger, so Magecrafting uses the energy of the world to channel and change the object Djed. How does it do it? Well you have been reading one of the best book about Djed that I have, why don’t you tell me?” Devandil stopped and focused on Ethan. It was another test to see if the man understood anything about what he had just read. Ethan bit his lip for a moment and thought, an items aura or Djed was filled with concepts that affected the very world around it. So how could one change that? Hadn’t he been trying to create permanent shield by instilling a concept of infinity? Yet this was something else that Devandil was asking, “A piece of armor is made by a smith, because the forge work isn’t perfect, meaning that there are some cooler spots or warmer spots when the smith tempers the metal, the concept of hardness for lack of a better word, is not uniform like the perfect concept of what armor should be. Maybe by gathering enough similar pieces of armor together you can reinforce the concept of how hard the armor should be… but that still limits the armor. I mean it makes it more uniform and more perfect of a concept, but it doesn’t really make it harder or give it magickal abilities.” Devandil nodded at Ethan thinking, the concept of reinforcing the djed was interesting and really couldn’t be used beyond the base structural reinforcement. Yet it was start, and it seemed the Ethan wanted to keep working at it. Ethan collected his thoughts trying to think out the answer, “If the armor was to do something that it would normally never do, like give strength to a person’s arm, the concept or Djed must exist in something else. Flux allows someone to transfer energy from one parts of their body to another allowing the energy to charge their muscles or Djed of that limb. So the concept of that one charging of their body part must be transferred. Glyphing allows the focus sigil to capture the energy of the Flux casting and hold it within a shielding Glyph. By getting enough scrolls together the energy trapped within them could provide the Djed or concept of what was needed. Glyphing allows for pathways and switches to be built in which the concepts or Djed can be moved through a narrow pathway. So by providing a large enough energy source that concept is transferred to object, but the secret of Magecrafting must be in how to keep the concept from leaking out of the object or in generating the energy to perform the task.” Devandil clapped his hand together and smiled as his index fingers closed to his lips. “Very good, yes a great deal of scrolls could be used as a component to impart the needed concept to the object. However, normally the magecrafter knows how to perform the magical task that the object will be imparted with. He can provide the energy by performing the task over and over again and channeling it to the object through the use of glyphs. Or if the mage doesn’t know glyphing, making the crafting even more dangerous to people involved and around the area, they can use instruments to transfer the energy or Djed concepts to the object. Yet you can across the next problem of magecrafting, you must seal the aura of the object with the energy imparted on it. Much like blacksmiths the object is placed in a tub of water, prepared with a mixture of salts and tuned with magecrafting devices. Certain crystals and substances have the ability to either scatter excess Djed energies or stabilize the aura of them. Salt is one of the cheaper crystals that have the ability, though it doesn’t work for higher or highly charged items. The tub is then struck with instruments tuning the effect of the water and the object is placed in it to stabilize the aura and purify the aura as it tries to balance itself. Most of the excess energy is poured out in the water, and all the excess energy is slowly released or absorbed into the area. My laboratory drains are built into the sewer system, the small amount of water that I generate is easily dissipated by the large amount of waste that the city makes. I also set Shielding on the drains to absorb some of the Djed.” Devandil kept walking for a little while as Ethan thought about what he had just been told. As Devandil made his way to a back work area he opened the door to see a large room with several tubs filled with water from a cistern spout, and a great deal of small silver hammers, tongs, and other various pieces of equipment. Devandil smiled, “And as you can see magecraft generates a lot of instruments in needing to be cleaned. On the shelves over to the right are all the ‘dirty’ instruments, they possess small amounts of trace Djed. The ones furthest from the door have been sitting the longest giving them time to cool off. The three tubs are meant for cleaning, place the instruments in the first tub, using a new cloth and brush for each tub, scrub each and every instrument. The small lens next to the first tub will show the aura of the tool, scrub till the general aura’s edge has no spikes in it, and then place it in the next tub. Let the instrument soak in the tub till the object’s aura is one shade of color instead of swirls or having spots. The last tub is a rinse tub to clean off the salts and oils that may have come from the first two. Once done, dry the tools and set them on the shelf to the left. I will come get you to finish up the work before I lock up, don’t leave any tools in the tubs overnight. Now, I will answer one question about anything you learned today before I depart to do my own chores.” Ethan thought about it for a moment, getting the phrasing just right in his mind before speaking. “How does a mage make his shield last after his focus is gone?” Devandil chuckled a little bit at the question. It was a good one, for it couldn’t be answered with one word, or dismissed. “A shield can exist after a mage has set it up by imparting a tiny amount of his own Djed or soul to it. Don’t worry it can’t destroy you by doing so, and most Masters of Shielding all agree that the spark is regenerated over time, how long seems to be based on the person, his personal or emotional growth, and his deeds. The reason why it’s needed is to allow captured Djed to be transformed into sustaining itself. Trying to impart the concept of time to the shield would probably give it a trigger or a sense to stop working for so long before trying to flicker back on, or a host of other bizarre effects. Now since you didn’t ask, how it’s done, the washing awaits.” With that Devandil departed and allowed Ethan to get started. Ethan began collecting a handful of instruments and placing them in the wash tub to start the process. Quietly, he worked reviewing all the concepts and knowledge he had learned today. Tomorrow, would be another day just as hard. OOCTo be continued in Part 2

[Radiant]

Ethan :

Experience

Skill	XP Earned
Observation	+4 XP
Socialization	+2 XP
Shielding	+2 XP
Glyphing	+2 XP
Meditation	+1 XP
Reading	+4 XP

Lores

Lore Earned

Shielding: The Difficulties Of A Novice

Overgiving: First Experience

A Nightmare: Me And Not Me

Magic: Overgiving

Magic: Basics of Djed

Magic: Invoking Changes

Djedvasat: Wild Djed

Glyphing: The Basics

Magecrafting: Enchanting Magic

Consequences

Mild Overgiving: Ethan will mild twitches and spams all across arms that will go away in the course of 7 days.

Notes :

Very nice and descriptive solo as always, Ethan. I always enjoy your work.

A note though, Syliras doesn't have sewer systems, just to keep that in mind next time.

My radiance is not bright enough?

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, beam me a PM and we can work it out.