Placeholder [Dra-Kalinor Laboratory] The First Arcane Mystery III

[Ethan Ironhorse]

Summer 55th, 513AV Dra-Kalinor Laboratory Ethan had taken Devandil advice the night before and eaten his fill of stew and bread. Falling asleep he had been a little worried that the nightmare would come back and haunt his dreams. However, last night had been a dreamless restful void, giving him the smallest of peace. As Ethan turned the handle to go inside of the Laboratory, the bruises on his arms were slowly fading. It seemed like Ethan’s body was slowly repairing itself, just as his mind and soul were as well. His breathe seemed to come in a soft sigh as pain briefly shoot up his arm when he used his muscles. It almost felt like there were sewing needles under his skin slightly pricking his muscles as he used them. Walking inside to the Laboratory, Ethan check the main room for Devandil, making sure that he even checked the ceiling since Devandil had a wicked sense of humor. Not finding the man, Ethan decided to go to his small work room where he had been studying for the last few days. Ethan opened the door to the study and saw just as Devandil said paints and brushes for Ethan to try and create a focus of Daeq on his hand. Amongst the paints and brushes there was a small sandbox for Ethan to practice his Glyphing prior to applying it to his body. Ethan slowly sat the sandbox down and began to practice Daeq several times. Ethan wanted his mind and hand to flow as he drew the glyph. Each time When Ethan was finished he critiqued his own work, feeling that a curve or a line just wasn’t quite right, he would redraw the rune once again from scratch. To Ethan perfection was the goal, the ancient tongue had been given to them by the Gods and Goddess to communication concepts. Glyphing was that imprint of concept on the world. Ethan stopped his practice strokes and realized that he needed to truly focus not just on the word itself, but the truly deep concept of it. Ethan took the jars of paint, brushes, and sandbox down to the floor. Ethan sat cross legged and slowly began his mediation. Ethan began to take deep breathes, so and deliberate envisioning that the air he brought into his lungs was deep and clean. Feelings of tension and pain was slowly breathed out, it was several chimes as Ethan went through his breathing and mental techniques to achieve a sense of calm and clarity. Opening his eyes, Ethan imagined the glyph Daeq in his mind. Shape, Ethan felt as if the word approached his mind. All things are given a shape, this is the first physical separation that guides all things. A shield is first brought into existence by the shape of the object. For the aura of its Djed is bound in its shape and structure. Yet through magic and physical means we can change our shape, but we cannot destroy our shape without destroying the very definition of self. The line of Daeq starts straight like a sword stroke or sting, but then is develops its curves and turns. The boundaries that define us are not clear cut, but can bend and conform around others. Ethan thought over his nightmare and realized that there were parts of himself that had no boundaries. I live and so do others, we share the quality of life, but we are separate and though someone else my die, I live beyond them. That is why, Daeq is about making boundaries, we can share qualities with others but we can draw are own boundary to separate us from them. Shielding is about making those boundaries, but reinforcing shape, structure, separation. The glyph contains a loop, an enclosed boundary, the idea to contain all of self within. That is the power of boundaries, the separation of what is and what is not. Ethan focused on the concepts that he had reviewed, he first began to draw the main line of the glyph in the sand, his mind focused on the feelings of division that start and stop of his finger against the stand, the bend and movement of his arm. It was the thought of his shape that almost poured the rune from his mind to the sand, as he made the loop with the Glyph it was the feeling of completeness, like wrapping a blanket about himself to create a barrier against the cold. Slowly the loop became more like a perfect circle. Ethan looked down at the Glyph of Daeq and it almost felt like something was waiting to fill the lines drawn within the sand. Slowly, Ethan picked up a small paint brush and dipped it in the black paint jar. Opening his left palm, Ethan began to slowly apply the thick paint to his hand in the form of the glyph. Ethan had brought back the concepts of self and shape, feeling the boundary of himself and allowing the paint brush to be applied on his hand. Once finished Ethan put down the brush and waited for the paint to dry. A feeling of reaching out to the night sky came to him, as if his hand was partially in the emptiness of the sky and that no far how he reached he would never be able to fill it. Ethan felt the deep relaxation that he achieved and as he looked at his hand, he began to focus his energy into creating an anchor point of energy. Normally, Ethan thought of a small bridle ring that he had forged connected by leather straps. Yet this time his focus of shape and boundary brought forth a smooth plan almost like water filling in the space in a crack. Ethan felt the idea of connections and anchors appearing without effort filling in the area around the focus rune. To Ethan if felt like the pool had filled his naked grasp. It was unlike his normal shield where some pinpoints of light seemed to act like anchor points and it became like a great webbing. Strengthening the shield was a matter of understanding the energy that bound the anchor points together. Yet this was very new, as Ethan began to examine the shield he began to understand that his Djed itself was an anchor and that shield acted as sticky honey slowly spreading itself over his aura. The Glyph had acted as a natural conduit for Ethan’s magic. Allowing the method in which he organized the change in Djed to follow in new ways. It was the first real evidence that Ethan began to recognized that the personal magic of Shielding relied on the person’s mind and understanding. It was their knowledge about the very concepts that they applied their art to that either kept them back or spurred them forward. Magic, like any other craft, narrowed itself to the person, if someone really wanted to learn a teacher could help bring about their own experiences and give them ideas on things that worked or didn’t, but in the end the student needed to grasp what was held in his own mind. Ethan heard the door open and allowed the energy of his small shield to dissipate. Devandil came in and smiled as he looked down at Ethan’s hand. The glyph that Ethan had painted appeared slightly dry and crumbling at its edges. Almost as if the paint at the edges had ages several years. “Ah, I see you have been practicing. How do you feel?” Devandil asked. “Tired now that you mention it, the glyph seemed to allow for a smoother transition in crafting my shield. Almost as if it acted like a riverbed for my changes or Djed. Yet just that little bit seemed to drain a great deal from me.” Ethan began to tenderly rub his bruised arms for the needle pains and tingling had come back. Devandil sat down and nodded, “And so we start our first real lesson Ethan.”

[Ethan Ironhorse]

Ethan arched his eyebrow at Devandil and simply asked, “Our first lesson?” To Devandil, it was funny seeing the young man stumble and fall, but not so bad as to injury himself. In reality, he had been testing the young man since he first met him. Magic was extremely dangerous in the wrong hands and those trained in its use could become even more so. Yet those that feared and respected its power benefited everyone. Devandil had first started Ethan on Shielding to see if the boy had the patience and dedication to continue to train on his own. He had and in a way the Ethan had surprised Devandil by his hard work with little to know guidance. Granted, Devandil knew this was a dangerous path for a young man performing magic, even with only shielding, he could hurt himself or others. Yet Ethan had progressed quite nicely on his own, it was Devandil requirement or goal to have Ethan create a permanent shield that led to Ethan overgiving. Still once done, Ethan had learned a very valuable lesson, know one’s limits. No mage can tell another when they should pull back on their studies. Nor could Ethan truly progress unless he pushed the boundaries of who he was everyday. Now Ethan had passed another test of Devandil’s, after his case of overgiving he had waited till he felt better before trying again. It showed the former Professor that the young man wasn’t afraid of his failure, and was brave enough to try again. “Yes, Ethan, our first real lesson. Ethan, I told you a few days ago that Mage’s just don’t go around teaching people magic. For some their mind can’t handle the barest of magicks, while others don’t display enough caution and bravery to continue on the path. Additionally, some mages are insane from their own magics and I wouldn’t trust them to teach anyone. In order for me to trust you with the knowledge that I have gain through studying and practice, I needed to test you in several different ways before I could even trust you with the most basic of information.” ”Magic is about perceiving the veil of reality and seeing what concepts make up everything beyond. The simple truth is that those concepts are perfect, and it is just our understanding of them that is flawed. We have to practice at letting our own idea’s and view’s that alter those concepts disappear. Shielding is based off the idea of separation, very pure and simple. Now as we construct a shield that separation is between two things, like a sword not being able to pierce flesh. The strength of ones shield depends on three things, how pure is ones understanding of separation. That piece of knowledge comes with long bells of contemplation on the nature of shielding itself. Perceiving the veil and creating a deep understanding of separation will strengthen the overall shield itself. The second and third piece of knowledge is the understanding of the two objects you want to keep apart. Lets go back to the example of sword piercing flesh. Normally, as a shielder works their magic they must mediate on emptying out all distracting thoughts. This is to make sure that the purest form of their shield won’t be cluttered or weaken with stray thoughts. The shielder now finds that pure concept of separation and begans to think of the object he wishes to separate. Understanding that object, whether it be yourself or book, draws in all the concepts that are attached to that object to be protected by the shield. Remember, Ethan magic is changing the very core concept of a thing. So if your understanding of an object is incomplete, then some of it will be left outside of the shield.” ”Lastly Ethan is your understanding of what you want to task the shield against. Normally, you must possess something similar or the exact item to mold all three concepts together. The reason behind it is that a piece or copy of the item will carry the core concept, and though you will always have a chance that it might break through, the closer to those core concepts you are the more likely it will never go through. That Ethan is shielding to its greatest effect. So if it comes down to understanding the concepts behind items and so on, what can someone teach you?” Devandil smiled at Ethan for moment. Ethan thought over the question a great deal. After all, Devandil had just said that essentially Ethan needed not just the knowledge but the core understanding of a concept and that he needed to have hold them in his own mind. Yet Ethan thought over the book that Devandil had given him about shielding and began to get a glimmer at what might be the right answer. “Is it because, we all see things differently and so by experiencing the ideas of others and taking that into our own understanding we began to get a better understanding of the perfect concept behind it all.” Devandil smiled and nodded. “Ethan, that’s about a close to the answer as one can hope. The other part is that some masters or people will understand the rules behind the concepts slightly differently and produce a new result. Its important to try and gain that knowledge as best as you so that as you develop your mind you don’t become blind to new ideas.” ”For instance, Ethan, a lot of the legends behind mages involve mystic chanting and arcane gestures. The truth behind it is so much more simpler, those gestures and words were meant as symbols for the mages minds to concentrate and focus on the concepts needed. For instance, the world shielding has a very specific emotional, logical, and conceptual feeling to your mind. By performing gestures and words it is part of a ritual to devoid one’s self of stray thoughts and channel the pure concepts of the universe. The down side to all this learning is that when you finally become an expert you spend most of your time deconstructing all those tricks and techniques to finally handle the pure concept.” Devandil smiled and then simply shrugged. Now Ethan go ahead and rub the paint off your hands. Devandil instructed. Ethan began to softly rub his hands together and the dried paint seemed to fall off of Ethan’s hand in dark chips. ”Now lets start again. Ethan for painting the glyph of Daeq lets start in a deep mediation. Please get comfortable.” Ethan adjusted himself as he had stayed in the cross legged position. Slowly, he let his eyes close and his breathe to slow. [b]”Good Ethan, now listen to my voice as we decided to go even deeper then what you have done before. Once, you reach your relaxed state, began to slowly chant the word Daeq, focusing on what the concept means when compared to Shielding. As you do so you will feel your physical self disappear and the concept began to fill your mind, allow that feeling to encompass every aspect of you and once that feeling can’t fill you anymore pick up the brush and paint that feeling into a symbol on your hand.” Ethan sat for fifthteen chimes slowly ridding himself of stray thoughts as the focused on the rune and concept of Daeq compared to his shielding. At first, he was tired from the little bit of Shielding he had done to began with but as he continued to deeply breath, even the feeling of tiredness left him. Slowly, the idea of his body began to blur and only the symbol of the glyph began to become his focus. At first Ethan had to speak its name like it was some chore. Yet as the name came out in a deep rumble, even the sound of his own voice began to force more focus on the glyph. It took Ethan another half a bell to feel his body disappear, during that time he the glyph in his mind began to build somehow. Ethan couldn’t quite explain it, but the concept of Daeq, separation and shielding began to fill his mind. The feeling of his hand as a separate boundary to all else, began to be reinforced to the point that even Ethan’s hand felt separate from the air. The glyph grew in his mind and even though Ethan chanted its name, the feeling of what Daeq filled him so that he didn’t even realize what he was saying. When Ethan opened his eyes he wasn’t even aware of the fact that his body began to respond. To him, he was filled with the concept of shielding and the glyph itself nearly leapt from his being as the paint began to swirl. As time continued the understanding of shielding that Ethan had constructed in his mind began to pour out of him into the paint and symbol in his hand. It wasn’t till the very end of the stroke that Ethan felt relaxed and tired all at the same time. He began to realize that he was feeling the small pins and needles of his legs having fallen asleep. Looking down at the brush in his hand Ethan saw that his left hand and forearm seemed to be covered in the flowing glyphs. The glyph Daeq was placed at joints and bends in his forearm, as Ethan twisted it the glyph itself seemed to moved its meaning and yet still encompass the idea of separation. It was then that Ethan realized why, he didn’t need to know the name of the symbol or its meaning, glyphing retained that concept that one imparted into it, and from that meaning a Glypher could decipher another’s work. Ethan began to look around the room and the complex whirls of Shielding glyphs began to impart their meaning to Ethan as he viewed the concepts that formed them. As he explored this new thing Ethan heard a small scraping sound in the background. Looking over to the noise Ethan realized that Devandil had been scraping off the paint on several glyphs that had been used and were peeling. Looking over he smiled and set down his tool. “Well, lets see what you have done.” Devandil came over to Ethan’s arm and began to look over the glyphs. “Not bad, it is said that master glyphers can spend bells imparting their meaning into one glyph. I can sense some of the fundamental concepts you have grasped with shielding now the last part. How well does it work?” Devandil left Ethan going back to his scraping of the walls. For Ethan’s part, he realized that Devandil wasn’t being rude, but giving a chance for Ethan to explore his own limitations. Ethan began to clear his mind of all stray thoughts and emotions. Normally during his mediation Ethan would try to achieve a deep relaxation state and perform shielding. This time he wanted to focus on his shield and its core concept, before he even started. It took Ethan another 10 chimes to began his deeper mediation, the concept that his hand and forearm were separate and distinct came to him. In a deep understanding of the shield, Ethan realized that this was the core concept that kept Wild Djed from changing an object. Another seemingly piece feel into place as Ethan focused on the concept that his arm was separate and unchanging to the outside. The idea of Wild Djed, uncontrolled change felt like almost water to him and as long as the waters weren’t to turbulent this shield would float on top of them. Yet, the idea of top was more like separate or apart. Ethan kept at his mediation for additional 30 chimes, allowing concepts to began to harden in his mind. When he felt that his whole world hinged upon one idea, he felt that concept and djed began to work and start shielding on his hand. At first tiny bright lights began to appear about the glyphs he had wrote on himself. Before today Ethan would have called them anchors, but what he realized was that this concept was artificial. A shield was no more then a concept that separated two opposing forces. Ethan saw anchors because they were within his experience to understand, but the lights were no longer so distinct, and the threads that usually bound them together in a web like pattern became more fluid. The glyphing had made it easier for both the concept in his mind and the concept that held the glyph together form the shield in a way that was familiar and yet unfamiliar to Ethan all the same. Time marched on and Ethan saw the shielding grow and spread evenly like oil slowly coating glass. Some of the glyphs on Ethan’s forearm began to crack and peel after 15 chimes, but as Ethan finally stopped seeing a shield over his hand and forearm, he knew that this was probably one of the strongest shields he had created. Devandil had watched the boy as he made his shield, it was impressive for a beginner, but then again he had a long way to go if he wanted to be a Master. It was then Devandil notice Ethan’s shield wink out and he slowly slumping down as if a wave of exhaustion had hit him. The ex professor had know that pushing Ethan’s limits today would exhaust him, but it was also needed to show him that after failure, sometimes people are on the verge of success. Quietly Devandil kept working as soft snores came from Ethan.