Completed [Dra-Kalinor Laboratory] The First Arcane Mystery II

[Ethan Ironhorse]

Summer 54nd, 513AV Dra-Kalinor Laboratory Ethan awoke in the middle of the night. His body covered in sweat as he gasped for breath. Reamants of his dreams still held sway over him, a laughing voice sounding in roughly creaks of laughter asking a question over and over again. Additionally, he felt trapped as if the walls were closing in, panic gripped him as it seemed the dark was ready to swallow Ethan. Ethan was breathing hard and threw off the blanket as he got up to stand. As Ethan sucked in a deep breath, he softly talked to himself, “It’s not real. It’s not real.” It was several chimes before Ethan felt the pressure of being trapped began to ease. It was only after he opened the door a small crack that Ethan realized that he could escape and that nothing was wrong. Slowly, the fear left him and he was able to close the door pouring himself a cup of water, Ethan drank deeply. Ethan lay back in his bed, trying to find sleep. It was too late to try his luck at a tavern and much too early to start making breakfast. As Ethan laid there, his mind went a thousand different places. It went over everything that Devandil had said, all the things that he read from the day before, thoughts and questions about how it was all interconnected, the thoughts ran through his mind along with the fear of him never recovering. Normally, Ethan would lay in his bed and achieve a trance to perform his magic. Instead, Ethan was left with his own thoughts. Slowly, he took a deep breath, performing his mantra of breathing and releasing all his fears and thoughts. Still one thought seemed to echo throughout his mind. Me and not Me, it seemed to speak softly through him. Ethan tried to push it away and it worked for a few moments, but it would come back whispering. Ethan tried to ignore it, focusing on the glyphs that he had read about. Abase means life, beginning or movement… Me and not me… Adra means water, liquor, or liquid… Me and not me… Ethan continue the list of glyphs, taking the time to draw each one in his mind. Some seemed to float and wrap in his mind till he wasn’t sure if that was the glyph from the book or perhaps his vision. Still he kept making the glyphs, he was able to make it to Cha with the annoying, Me and not Me, thought still kept buzzing in his mind. His anger at the announce began to color the trance, Ethan knowing that his feeling were beginning to interrupt Ethan truly focus on the next glyph.. Daeq means to shape or to make by defining the boundaries… The glyph sparked in his mind. The concept of a barrier floated to him, Daeq felt so close to him as if he could somehow reach out and grasp it. To make by defining the boundaries… was I made by defining concepts? I remember my mother telling me what a good boy I was, praise at accomplishments and swats from disobedience. My father only dish out discipline when the offense was so horrible that Ethan’s mother couldn’t even speak it. At first I was defined by the boundaries that my mother and father set for me, then I began to act on those boundaries testing them. Ethan remembered the times he had went out with Brody against his parent’s permission. What truly defines me? Ethan questioned himself, as he spoke about his pride, his hard work ethic, or general things he was proud of, memories of teachings from his Grandfather or parents began to take form. It wasn’t till he thought of the candle holder did Ethan realize that though the concept of the Wind Oak came from the Knighthoods shield, he had given it life from his imagination, that creation was his. It reflected a part of him, not in the sense of the symbol of the Wind Oak, but in each strike of the hammer, the veins within the leaves, the work he had done came from him. It was something unique that define itself in the lines and shape of his creation. His creation was imperfect, just as he was, but to him it spoke. Some lines reflected the curve of his thoughts and iron felt his inner strength. The qualities were not unique to him, but their mix and power was a part of him. Me and not me… The things that defined him as who he was, was a shared concept with so many others. His strength shared with other smiths, his voice and general shape shared with other men. There was nothing unique about the qualities that Ethan described himself as, yet Ethan was unique. Ethan began to drift off to sleep as he felt spent from the inner journey of self-discovery. He couldn’t truly define himself in a word or understood all the things about himself, but he began to realize that through his actions the very existence of what he was spoke to the universe. The face of the leather man appeared to him, Me and Not me? It said in its leather voice. Ethan began to see all the bridle rings as rings he had forged. The leather straps were ones he had handled in his life, the leather man began to take substance, flesh began to form behind the leather and some of the straps began to fall off. Ethan nodded, Me and Not me, Ethan saw part of the leather man’s left arm broke apart and as the leather dissolved he saw the horrible shade of purple as if the leather man’s arm had been trapped in a vice. Pain and recognition was behind the eyes of the leather man’s eyes, and softly a smile came to him. We are defined by our differences, yet we share so much that those boundaries are often crafted through our own minds. Remember to seek balance when trying to create a boundary or you will be cut off from yourself. Softly, an internal peace came to Ethan as he was able to enter a deeper sleep. Ethan awoke late in the morning, feeling as if the weight off his chest had been lifted by a small amount. Ethan made breakfast and made his way to the Great Bazaar. People were coming back and forth busy looking at items, Ethan stopped by a Philter’s shop and picked up some Krolar Poultice for the next few nights, before heading to the Laboratory. As Ethan entered he saw Devandil talking with a customer, so Ethan bowed his head to Devandil and went to the workroom he had been using. All the books were present and a small box of sand that children used to practice their letters. Ethan laughed and set himself in the chair to begin his study. Purchase : 5 sm for Krolar Poultice deducted from Ethan's money.

[Ethan Ironhorse]

Ethan sat down in the chair next to the table. The wooden chair was quite new or not used often, because the only smoothness in the chair was left from the carpenters polish. Sharp edges seemed to poke and bite the back of his thighs. The seat bottom seemed to be polished, but the edges were too crisp, as if only a handful of people had even graced their backsides on the wood. As Ethan tried to make himself comfortable, he carefully closed all the books except the one on Nader-Canoch and placed them over to the side of the table. He opened the book to Daeq, the glyph was done in beautiful detail, and as he focused on the glyph looking at the slight curves and beautiful lines, Ethan's vision began to fill the drawn lines with lights. Yet on a corner of the glyph or the edge of the line the light seemed to wave and distort itself. For a moment it made Ethan sick to his stomach, so he carefully closed his eyes and looked away. Even with his eyes closed the glyph seemed to float in his vision. The distorted lines adjusted and moved to accent certain curves or to fatten a line to give it more strength and definition against the rest of the glyph. Ethan shook his head and sat still as the lights faded from his vision. Ethan knew that glyph wasn’t like the one in the book, the curves and bold lines distorted the perception of it. However, the nagging feeling in the back of Ethan’s mind made him feel as if the glyph was more real instead of some fevered vision due to overgiving. Ethan had to take several chimes to breathe and dispel himself of notation to write down the glyph as he had seen it. Finally feeling as he was in control of himself, Ethan went over to the sand box and used his finger to start to copy the glyph. Oops, that lines crooked…. Ethan wiped the half drawn glyph and started again. Nope, curve is to shallow and uneven width compared to the book. Ethan kept starting and wiping the sand smooth perhaps a hundred times never completing the glyph as he was unhappy with the shape or straightness of a line. Ethan was beginning to become frustrated when Devandil came into the workroom. Seeing that Ethan was using the sandbox, he watched him start several times before wiping the surface clean of his markings and trying again. “Good morning Ethan, having fun building sand sculptures?” Ethan breathed in as Devandil’s tone scraped his nerves, as well as, his snide comment about Ethan’s runes. He had been the one to teach him just enough shielding to get into trouble. The huge purple bruise on his arm was proof that his bodies healing would take a long time to go through the rainbow of disgusting colors. Still Ethan took a deep breath and released his anger. “Actually Master Devandil, I am not have very much luck trying to shape the glyph Daeq.” Devandil looked at the Ethan in a curious fashion. “Why Daeq?” It was a simple question, but to Ethan it felt like a sledgehammer to his gut. It took a moment for Ethan to realize that Devandil wasn’t criticizing his choice, only asking the question about why he chose it. Ethan also realized that he was being very sensitive compared to normal. Normally, Ethan would have laughed at Devandil's joke about sand sculptures. Granted Ethan was always a bit more sensitive to criticism when learning a new thing, because it came from his father and how he would berate him as to why he couldn’t be more like his brother. Yet this was more, something wasn’t quite right. “I chose Daeq, because the only magic I possess is Shielding. Daeq is the glyph for shape or boundaries. Truthfully, if I am reading the book right, it should be used as Daet to make boundaries now or in the present tense. That’s why I am using this glyph here instead of the standard one.” Ethan pointed to the present verb tense symbol, small minor differences were evident from the general glyph, but Ethan could make adjustments if needed for the various permutations. “If I actually try to store my shielding with a Glyphed scroll, I would try to write Daetlas, to make boundaries in the future. I suspect however your question is more on the lines of why not Djed or Yaq? I can understand Djed, because many people believe that it ties in with a mage’s soul or ability to harness magic. Yet in truth the meaning of Djed and how we use it doesn’t match or compare. We as individuals are made up of energies and concepts, to change that information or core of who we are requires understanding on the concept we wish to change and what we want to change into. Focusing energy to me, means that you want to channel it into what you desire or protect the energy from dissipating. In my mind this means, I want the glyph that means shielding.” “As for Yaq, I can see needing it because it defines the shape of a circle, which helps envision a completed shape from all directions. Yet not all shields need to be circles, so I chose Daeq as my first glyph, but I am having a really hard time trying to copy the glyph exactly out of this book.” Ethan admitted. The speech had been a long one and Ethan realized that part of it was defending his choice as well as trying to impress Devandil, but from the look on Devandil face Ethan could have created a shield to protect them from a deity and Devandil would have waved him off. Instead Devandil looked around the room at the painted glyphs. It didn’t take him long till he found one of the shielding lines to hold a complete glyph of Daeq. Painting the rooms with glyphs was time consuming and needed to be done after major magecrafting, that’s why this room was free. Devandil needed to spend several bells mixing the paint and painting all the Shielding sigils again. “Take a look here, does this glyph of Daeq look like one in the book?” Ethan sat up from the chair feeling his back stretch and some tingling of pins and needles cascade down the back of his legs. As Ethan looked at the glyph, he realized that it was different from the one in the book. Ethan started to look at other sigils and noticed that though Daeq looked different from the book; yet they were all consistent with one another. As Ethan gave Devandil a puzzled look, Devandil smiled. “Your confusion and hardship comes from the fact that you are trying to copy either a perfect copy of Daeq, instead of how you yourself express it. Glyphing isn’t about perfect lettering, it’s about arrangements of your intent and the impression that is placed with them. For instance, I paint theses shielding sigils all over the room, yet they don’t have any energy or djed except for the concept that I imparted. When Djed is manipulated in the room to perform Magecraft the energy is slowly soaked up in the concept of the shielding sigil. After it has soaked up all the energy it can, I could either use a trigger to release that energy, or the energy slowly eats away at the sigil till the sigil crumbles away. In this case of the painted sigil, additional excess energy after the shield had been charged causes the paint to flake and fall on the ground. This reaction is due to the internal stresses of the concepts or energy that it has been over absorbed. As I sweep up the paint, it continues to crumbles and release the energy in very small doses back into the world. And it’s because of those reasons that the Glyph you use must come from your mind to clearly state its intent.” Ethan stood looking at Devandil confused and yet grateful for the lesson. “I… Thank you, Master Devandil, but if the Glyph is unique to me why teach me Nader-Canoch?” Devandil smiled, the question was completely unexpected. “The ancient tongue helps focus your mind in a separate manner. Technically, you could use modern symbols for your glyphs, but it would condition your mind so that if you drew the symbol you might create a focus accidently. Additionally, that was why glyphing for pre-valterrian mages was so important. A common language that could impart the concepts to the student by drawing his mind to certain experiences they had with that word or symbol. Teaching you to use the language will help you understand concepts in other texts easier. Let me save you the next question, how do you know what the glyph or symbol is right for you? Well, in truth it’s like a feeling you get when you just know something. It took me sometimes days to get a glyph right my first time. Then again some glyphs seemed to leap to my hands and I was able to master then in a few chimes.” Ethan stood still as Devandil said the last thing, “When I opened to book to Daeq, the flashes of light that I have been experiencing from my overgiving seemed to change the general shape of the glyph. I dismissed it, because I thought it was a hallucination.” Devandil chuckled. “It was a hallucination, but one that helped you. Overgiving has many degrees of… wrongness. In a way your mind, body, and soul had so much strain on it that it became injured. Just like a muscle that you tore lifting too much weight, the pain you are experiencing is from over using that muscle. Your mind is trying to understand Glyphing and how to use it, your instincts are giving you a crutch to adept your battered mind. It doesn’t mean that all hallucinations are helpful, and I am pretty sure that even if you drew the glyph perfectly that it wouldn’t feel completely right. Ethan think of your condition as the first days after a hard injury. In some cases that injury goes away, and the person is wiser for it, in other cases that injury is permanent and has crippled the individual. We really don’t know what case you are just yet. It looks like your body is mending, and I take it that you don’t have a floating glyph infront of your eyes?” Ethan shook his head. “See your healing, give it time and realize that only harmony between yourself and your injury will help you greatly.” Devandil nodded and started to walk back out. “If I was you, I would try practicing the glyph you saw and then stay in tune with your emotions, thoughts and feelings to determine if it needs change.” Ethan could only say one thing to Devandil, “Thank you,” as he headed back to the chair to start working on the Glyph of Daeq once more.

[Ethan Ironhorse]

Ethan sat back in his chair to begin to practice, as Devandil headed out of the workroom a wicked smile came onto his face. The Daeq was the correct one for focusing Shielding, however, one could not store a shield into a glyphed trigger. Shielding required contact with the very aura or Djed of a person or object to take root and effect, without an object the Shield didn’t have anything to grasp and instead of going into the scroll it just dissipated. Of course, Ethan could try to shield himself and store it… that would be very interesting to say the least. Ethan began to start drawing the glyph in the sand as he remembered the flash of lights. Softly, he began to draw the line in the sand. The sand parted and the mounds built around the edges. The lines weren’t perfectly straight, but as he used his finger to bold a few lines, the glyph took more shape. Ethan looked at the glyph and asked himself, did this truly fit the his understanding of shape or boundaries. Something felt wrong, a line was missing… no, maybe it needed to be fatten up on the top line… Ethan began to focus on his allowing his hand to trace the glyph again and again. Only here and there Ethan began to smooth out or thicken the lines. It took him several bells before he felt like the glyph was solid. Ethan couldn’t really explain the difference, and Devandil had been correct his hallucination had help get the majority of it, but either his memory or his mind had tricked him and he had gotten it wrong. With the Glyph of Daeq finally done Ethan began to write it over and over again on the space that wasn’t be occupied by the original. It was boring trying to write the glyph, but as Ethan was starting to realize, in magic you didn’t get second chances without a lot of hard work and luck, so it was important to do it correctly the first time. Ethan after two additional bells of scribing in the sand, Ethan cleaned the sand of the original glyph and began writing it from scratch. Ethan’s was about to complete about half the glyph before he struggled. Was this line supposed to be bold or thin? Self-doubt began to nag in his mind, and it took a moment for Ethan to draw the line thin, and instantly feel as if it was wrong. So he smooth out the glyph and started again. By the time, Ethan felt good enough to write it on paper, Devandil came back. “Well Ethan, how are you doing?” Ethan turned in the seat and felt all the aches and pains in his body began to rise as he move. “I think I am ready to try the glyph paper now.” Devandil laughed, “So adventurous! Merely a day of drawing one glyph and your already to start scribing it? How about this, when you come in tomorrow I will have some paint, brushes, and thin rods. Try painting the focus sigil on yourself, usually the palm is a convenient spot, and will take some time out to come in and you can try making a small tiny shield.” Ethan’s eyes opened wide in shock. “Don’t worry,” Devandil said, “You will probably feel a little discomfort but you should have recovered enough to do something so small. What I would do is that when you go home tonight, eat a big meal and rest. Your djed should have recovered enough to test tomorrow.” Devandil seemed to think about the last little bit for a moment and then nodded. “Now, since I am stopping you early today, you should be able to finish up all those tools. So what is your question today?” Ethan sat there thinking, his mind went about the number of questions until he finally asked on that seemed strange, “Why teach me glyphing?” Devandil smiled and thought there was the answer that Ethan could help him repair the glyphing in the rooms, but sometimes even a student needed encourage meant. “I was a professor at the University of Zeltiva. One day every two years the faculty asked what should we teach in the curriculum. A great deal of people believed in several pre-Valterrian books on university that taught certain courses. My problem was that before the Valterrian, the empires were at war. So a lot of the teaching and coursework focused on how to support the war effort. A first year student could easily make scrolls so that more experienced mages could fill them up with dangerous effects. Or if the student was focused on war effort, they could study killing spells and place them in the hands of sergeants on the lines. As a student of Shielding it was almost impossible for mages to shield each person on the battlefield. Shielding an area was next to impossible so simple effects like fireballs or lighting from reimancy became devastating to the common soldier. For the Officer’s the mages on the field would Shield them or a piece of their armor, but how many shields could you cast before you became tired?” “So why didn’t mages just cast shields into scrolls and provide better armor? It was found out early in the craft that shields needed to be tied to an object or person. Glyphing took the energy or change that magic did and stored it to be used later. Without an object, the shield and glyphing couldn’t interact, so Shielding was taught as well, and students couldn’t move on in their training unless their shielding could past certain tests. Out in the battlefield, decent Shielding Mages became bastions of defenses amongst the chaos. As fire and death was hailed down on men, a Shielding Mage would put up a shield to absorb Djed and incoming projectiles. Some battles devolved into running across open ground while sergeants casted scrolls at you to attack a fortify shield.” “So if you can’t use Glyphing to store shields and you aren’t going into battle, why learn them? Shielding isn’t just about combat neither is Glyphing. Look around,” Devandil waved his hand at the work room. “I have shielded this room, as well as, added shielding glyphs. I personally believe it is the responsibility of every mage to protect themselves and others from their power. A mage’s purpose isn’t just to change everything because they can, but to choose when it’s the right time to change something. Glyphing is the natural extension of your Shielding Ethan. Daeq was a good choice, as a focus it will help you start building shields faster and with more ease. You will never be able to store the shield, but as you combine your efforts you might be able to provide safety to people and that is what you first asked me to show you… Now, I haven’t managed to create a magecrafted device to do all the scrubbing, so why you get to it, I will look into the creating such a device.”

[Radiant]

Ethan :

Experience

Skill	XP Earned
Observation	+1 XP
Meditation	+1 XP
Glyphing	+2 XP
Drawing	+2 XP
Philosophy	+1 XP

Lores

Lore Earned

It's Not Real, It's Not Real

Glyph: Abase, Adra, Daeq

Daeq: Boundary Glyph

Devandil: Former Zeltivan Professor

Shielding: Protective Magic

Loots

Notes :

Detailed as always, Ethan.

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.