Completed Symbols From Blood [The Quarters]

[Annalisa Marin]

77th of Fall, 513 AV

The room she had been allowed made the cottage she had once owed look luxurious by comparison. It was small, cramped and smelled rather musty though she supposed that the undead would not care about such things. It was of no concern to Anna really, a minor annoyance really. All she needed was a place for relative privacy and to rest her head when needed, this placed served those purposes well enough so she would make due. The lighting was manageable and would not overly hinder nor help her project, which didn't bother her in the slightest.

Annalisa Marin laid on the single thin mat of the room, belly flat and a brush clenched between her teeth. Her weathered cloak and boots were stuffed in a nearby corner with the rest of her supplies. A large square strip of cloth taken from her cloak lay on the floor before her, her eating knife in one hand gripped firmly and poised over her left palm which was held over the room's only chamber pot.

The journey to Sahova had not been an easy one, any supplies useful to Glyphing had been lost on the rough and dangerous voyage. This forced her to be a little creative regarding actual materials at her disposal for glyphing. Luckily, Glyphing was highly flexible in terms of materials used in the formation of creating glyphs. Blood on weathered cloth was not her first option but if this was her only way to gain what she wanted, then Anna would gladly bleed for it. She had not come this far to let something like the Judgment stop her ambition.

The Judgment had been an unexpected roadblock, one only discovered after arriving in the Citadel. In order for her to gain any position of worth within the island she needed to display her abilities and prowess with glyphing. Unfortunately, the dead had been less inclined to grant her necessary supplies so she was forced to make due with creative thinking and determination. Being that she possessed a respectable grasp of both Glyphing and Reimancy she had opted for displaying a scroll and control over the elements she commanded. It would likely be more than the average apprentice offered upon arrival.

Anna gazed down at the aged chamber pot with a wary look in her tired grey eyes. She had made very certain to clean the thing to the best of her abilities, however it still seemed highly degrading to store her own blood in there.

This is a trial in itself. Remember that you are here to not only further your own ambition, but to further the agenda of Rhysol. She reminded herself.

Anna looked at the thin scar left from where her palm had been cut during her initiation into reimancy, tracing a light line down it with her knife. This was not going to be pleasant at all, she'd need to bind it once she was certain she'd gotten enough blood. The wizard took a few deep breaths, calming her nerves before she drew the knife down firmly across her palm.

Pain flared up from her hand, causing her to hiss loudly through the brush and cringe. She continued to pull the knife across her palm until the old scar was opened once more and blood dripped freely down into the chamber pot. She placed the bloody knife to the side and reached for her tattered cloak, ready to start tearing a strip once her other hand was made available.

Anna watched with narrow eyes as crimson droplets fell from her hand and pooled in the chamber pot. She had to get the scroll done before the vital fluid hardened, otherwise she might have to bleed herself again which would not be ideal. Her small brush would likely take some cleaning afterwards before it world be useable again.

She peered into the chamber pot and nodded to herself, the amount within would be enough if she moved quickly. The wizard quickly started to tear a strap from the cloak and wrapping it around the freshly cut wound. The wizard wrapped the cloth strip around the wound a few times and pulled it tight, tying it off once she was certain it would suffice for her purposes.

With that done Anna gripped the brush from her mouth in her good hand and dipped it in the fresh blood, using her index and middle finger of her injured hand to steady the square piece of cloth. At last she could begin to craft the scroll.

[Annalisa Marin]

Glyphing on cloth with blood was certainly different than using parchment, however it was still a manageable experience. At this point Anna realized a dilemma of sorts, that was finding a proper balance between time and quality. If she rushed through the process then the finished product could be rather hazardous at best, downright deadly at worst. However if she took her time to simply perfect the design then she would likely need to bleed herself some more; which she was already going to have to do before the Judgment to glyph her own body in preparation for extensive casting.

The end result of either was certainly not ideal by any stretch of the imagination, either making an imperfect scroll or losing too much blood could be hazardous to her health. In the end Anna opted to stop wasting time deliberating over the possibilities and simply start on the Focus Glyph. She could think about this until she was blue in the face, or she could actually try and get something done.

The Focus Glyph was always the easiest of the Glyphs, it was the first one she had ever crafted and it was the one most engrained into her memory. Her brush worked in confident and skillful strokes, the crimson liquid quickly taking the outline of the inverted triangle that was her signature Focus. Her eyes gazed over her work as she drew out the glyph, carefully noting any flaw and moving to correct it immediately when seen.

The occasional throbbing from her left hand annoyed her but it would not detract her from this work. She was going to keep the scroll simple and utilitarian, it would function and work properly. Anna was not willing to risk a prototype design for this, as much as it might help to impress the judges it would take too much blood to do something like that. There was also the risk of it not functioning at all, which would certainly not be good. Besides, simply being able to create a scroll was more than most wizards were capable of now days.

The Focus was starting to look near completion about seven chimes later, though the added time was from her being extra certain to correct even the smallest of flaws in the glyph. It needed to function without a hitch, a malfunction would be utterly disastrous. Anna added the finishing touches on the large glyph and then spared it an appraising glance, nodding in satisfaction.

This part was done, now came the more difficult part of the sigil. The barrier glyph always required far more attention to detail than the Focus did, simply because it possessed many smaller components in its design. Anna was confident in her ability to craft a barrier, however she also realized that rushing through it would spell disaster. Hopefully she would have enough time to finish it and the trigger before the blood hardened in the chamber pot.

Anna switched brushes, grabbing the tiny detail brush and dabbing it with blood. Carefully she started on the barrier, intricately working at each individual rune to make absolutely certain they were perfect. Once she got to the second rune a few chimes later, Anna realized that she was definitely going to need to refill the chamber pot with blood by the time she reached the trigger. The barrier was just going to take much too long to craft if she wanted to get it right. It was an unfortunate fact, but she likely wouldn't need to spill too much blood to create the trigger so it would hopefully be manageable.

So the wizard continued to work at the barrier, the little shapes taking form at a slow and ponderous pace. The purpose of the barrier was to contain the spell she was going to place inside of it until it was ready for use. Therefore mistakes in its making could result in the magic spilling out before it was time.

Anna carefully surveyed every single rune that was drawn, making certain that the sequence of the bloody shapes was correct. As the chimes moved on the ring of smaller glyphs was starting to look more as a barrier was supposed to, pleasing Anna greatly. The glyphs were lovely to look at, the language of magic she fondly called them. If one could understand what the Glyphs were and how the sequences actually factored into the way they effected the flow of Djed, then perhaps one could truly understand magic. The wizard liked to think so anyway, one of her many theories regarding magic.

After about half a bell of work the barrier was finally finished, all the runes looked to be well drawn an in order. Unfortunately the time it took to perfect it meant that she was going to have to bleed herself once more, as the blood in the chamber pot was hard and would not suffice to draw with any more.

With a heavy sigh Anna placed the tiny brush down and started unwrapping the binding around her left hand.

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna looked down at her bloody hand with a slight wince, the cut did not appear to be overly deep but the fact that the bleeding had slowed down somewhat meant that she was going to need to damage it again and reopen anything that her body had attempted to fix. The wizard held her left hand with her right and squeezed, gasping slightly as blood started to flow once again, dripping into the chamber pot. After about half a chimes Anna gauged that she had enough to complete the scroll and set to work wrapping the wound once more.

She tore another strip from the cloak and replaced it with the old one, wrapping it in the same way and tying it off. She was no practitioner of the medical arts but even she knew what to do to stop the bleeding, it was a simple fix but it would suffice.

Anna sighed briefly, feeling a little woozy from her blood loss. She was going to need some serious rest after this, thankfully she was already in her little room so that was no issue. After taking a moment to catch her breath Anna felt ready to continue, taking up her tiny brush and dripping it in fresh blood. This was the last part of the scroll, after that all she needed to do was prime it with some reimancy and keep it secure until the time of the Judgment arrived.

The first part was deciding what the trigger would be. A word in the Ancient Tongue was out of the question, considering it was the primary language of Sahova. There were not many words in the language, so the chances that someone would use her word were rather high. A word in common would suffice then, an odd one that was likely not used over much.

Anna nodded to herself, settling on the word 'seagull'. She had used the word before, it was simple and she doubted that the Nuit were likely to speak it in common. Her brush started forming the runes, connecting the glyph to the barrier as she did. Once the trigger was spoken then the barrier would deactivate and release the magic within the Focus, really it was a deceptively simple mechanism. Though, considering many of the so called 'wizards' she had met didn't have the foggiest idea how to properly draw a Focus she imagined the vast majority of people would not find it easy at all.

The wizard carefully laid the glyphs down in the correct sequence to gain her desired outcome, careful not to place one incorrectly. Every wizard had a different style of glyphing, but that style possessed its own nuances like any written language. For instance, placing a triangular like rune next to a hexagonal rune in Anna's style could have several different meaning depending upon their position relative to each other alone. It was odd to discover the little intricacies prevalent in one's style, yet it was even more strange to instinctively know what another wizard's glyphs meant by their placement alone.

After a few more chimes of painstaking attention to detail, the trigger was completed, finishing the scroll for the most part. If this were something she was preparing for another she would have placed instructions in common detailing proper scroll use for them. Since this was solely for her use such instructions were completely unnecessary.

Now all she needed to do was prime the glyph, a task sure to leave her more than a little bit tired. She had come this far, there was no turning back now.

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna took a couple of deep breaths, attempting to calm her nerves and steady her thoughts. Her supplies were out of the way and her left arm was clutched to her chest, nursing her wounded hand against her breasts. Her right hand was outstretched and ready for res generation as soon as she mentally prepared herself. She was already tired from the loss of blood, so any amount of casting was likely to take its toll on her. A simple firebolt was playing it safe here, not overly risky and it would serve its purpose to display the functionality of the scroll.

After a few more deep breaths Anna started up a short incantation in the Ancient Tongue that would assist in her keeping focus. It was just two simple words, but it served its purpose well enough.

"Yomi-Vaknui. Yomi-Vaknui."

The words could have several meanings depending upon who was asked, her intended meaning was 'precious fire'. Nader-Canoch was a very flexible language in that regard, possessing few words that possessed many possible meanings. That was also part of the reason it was so difficult to pick up as a second language. Anna herself had been studying it for over a year and she still only had the basics down. She could read it, but the process was slow and ponderous and sometimes required looking up the meanings of a certain word. Perhaps learning it would be easier here, where it was the primary language.

Anna continued her chant, willing her Djed to gather under the palm of her right hand and focusing it upward. Without focus or pathway runes the process of res generation took much longer and was less smooth, she needed to actually concentrate on where she wanted the res to form instead of just willing it to the general location to be carried by the paths and out the focus. It was much more tedious in her opinion and very inefficient. If she could help it she would wear both sets of glyphs on her person at all times, unfortunately such was not the case.

A wave of soothing pleasure washed over her as the res slowly pooled in the palm of her right hand, the clear translucent liquid warm to the touch. The pain throbbing in her left hand was all but forgotten as the pleasant feeling of casting took hold of her, the urge swimming under the surface of her mind. Anna barely resisted the urge to let out a throaty moan, continuing the chant and keeping her mind focused on the task at hand.

The wizard focused on the res in her hand, willing more to form to sheath her hand in the precious liquid. The more she formed of course, the more she wanted to create more but the incantations helped keep that urge mostly at bay.

Anna willed the res to slowly detach from her hand and form in the air over the scroll, shaping it into the shape of a ball. The res moved exactly as she directed it, in a way manipulating res was a lot like manipulating another arm. Res was an extension of herself really, part of her very being and felt every bit as natural to move as a limb, if a fair bit more tiring to do so.

She focused upon the ball now hovering in the air before her, willing the outer layer of the res to transmute and ignite. Flames sprung forth into existence, licking the air hungrily and enveloping her body with their heat. Another wave of pleasure washed over her senses, pushed aside once more as Anna maintained control and slowly started to lower the ball of flame onto the glyph.

She transmuted more layers as she moved it closer and closer to the scroll, creating more flames. Once she felt she had gathered enough she quickly willed the ball to be thrust directly into the scroll. Instead of being ignited like most cloth would have the ball of flame was absorbed into the focus, causing the sigil to ripple slightly before steadying once more. She cast it a brief glance over and nodded as she noticed no weakening in the now primed scroll.

Anna allowed herself to simply collapse on the thin mat, rather tired by the combination of blood loss and casting. A thin trail of blood was already trickling from her nose, the remnants of overgiving long recovered from. She looked rather terrible, no longer the imposing and intimidating professor but rather a weary and tired shadow of that former glory. The combination of her journey and the first few nights here had not been kind to her. As she settled down to allow herself a brief rest she affirmed to herself that this was temporary, with her knowledge and the blessings of Rhysol she would orchestrate a rise to power the likes of which Sahova had never seen. She would succeed or she would die, there was no room for middle ground in her eyes.

[Mirage]

Annalisa
XP:
Glyphing: 1

Lores:
Glyphing: Glyphs from Blood

Injuries
Due to the open wound being exposed to the unclean environment in the quarters, an infection will set in over the next day. She will develop a slight fever on the 78th leading into the early mornings on the 79th, but will then fade by noon on the 79th if proper care is given to the wound. If the wound is bound and clean bandages provided every day the fever will be only a minor annoyance. If it is not properly washed and bound every day the fever will grow worse, causing aches and chills up and through the time of Anna's Judgement. No one will offer help, but some pulsers may be sympathetic to Anna's need.

Additional:
A VERY good set up thread!! I think you are on the right path, and I cannot wait to see what else you do for the judgement ^.^. So yeah having an open wound in the Quarters is a definite bad idea. Its filthy, full of bad bacteria, germs, etc, but of course Anna wouldn't know! So as you can see if properly cleaned and cared for it wont be a big deal, but if it isn't it could turn into something pretty serious. Let me know if you want a modded thread for any of this, and PM me if you have any questions!