Pilot Flame

The woman who leapt into a burning building learns how to wield flame itself.

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Center of scholarly knowledge and shipwrighting, Zeltiva is a port city unlike any other in Mizahar. [Lore]

Pilot Flame

Postby Edreina on November 28th, 2013, 5:43 am

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63rd of the Fall Season, 513 Years After the Valterrian
A Long Forgotten Room in The University of Zeltiva
Synafall

Almost nervously, Edreina padded from one side of the room to the other, face intent as she tried to still her racing heart. Finally. Finally Ignotus had agreed to teach her how he had manipulated the wind when first they met. It was a magic, like any other. And yet, she was anxious for him to be there and them to begin. The longer she waited alone in the empty and forgotten room, the more time she had to question herself.

Why do you seek to learn this?

To better myself.

To what end?

Being able to fight alongside Razkar without fear of holding him back.

Your hypnotism will one day be able to help you avoid fights. Why do you not focus on that instead of adding another magic to your base of skill?

Hypnotism will not solve everything for me. One day, I will have to be able to defend myself. Face it, fighting with arms will never be my strong suit. Besides... Razkar always says to know all that you can so that in any situation, you will have the skill to overcome obstacles.


Again she sighed and again she wished that the room had a window so that she could judge Syna's progression as she fell into her nightly skies somewhere far off. Perhaps only minutes had gone by. Perhaps bells. Her fingers found her hair and she found herself pulling the yellow bandanna from the end, unwinding the braid, fluffing her hair, then partitioning her hair into three sections once again. As each coppery cluster wove and darted in her experienced hands before being tied off by that same faded yellow bandanna, Edreina found herself wondering if this was some kind of test of her patience; obviously, she had none.

With her braid completed for the fourth time, she resumed her pacing. If this magic needed any sort of patience, she was unlikely to make it past whatever the first stage was without some kind of sedative. She was too excited, too nervous, too excited!

A new magic! A new thing to learn! Realizing that she was quickly working herself into an excited frenzy (again), she took a deep breath and forced herself to still. Whatever it was, however it as to happen eventually Ignotus would arrive and eventually they would begin.

Eventually was far too damn long, sometimes!
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Pilot Flame

Postby Ignotus Everto on November 28th, 2013, 5:49 am

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As if responding to some kind of wiggle-powered beacon, the door of the classroom opened, flooding the room with dark orange torchlight; silhouetted against the doorway was her teacher. Ignotus Everto glided in like a shadow, a spindly finger motioning for Edreina to sit. And he had a dagger. This was going to be an interesting initiation.

"Reimancy is a very different beast from Hypnotism," The wizard warned. He sat cross-legged in the middle of the room, Syna painting his features a deep red and throwing black shadows across their valleys. "As is first learning it."
Ignotus' face was dark as he said this, and for good reason. He had initiated one before, but Ricky was a hardier, weathered subject. He had seen much adversity, and was capable of withstanding some more. Edreina, on the other hand... The Nuit pushed the thought out of his mind. He had succeeded once. He would most certainly succeed again. He just hoped her mind was up to the task.

"To be able to control Res, one must first be invaded by it." Ignotus explained, setting the dagger down between them. "As such, I will be doing just that. I will make two small cuts in your palms, then force my Res in through there, among other orifices."
The statement was cold and clinical, not unlike a doctor explaining a treatment plan, or giving a diagnosis. He closed his eyes.

"It is not a pleasant experience, or a safe one. You will feel exposed. You will feel violated. You may feel terrified. This initiation is a traumatic one, and I've seen people go mad as a result. I will attempt to lessen the blow, but I cannot split my attention without putting your life in danger. Are you sure you want to go through with this?"
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Pilot Flame

Postby Edreina on November 30th, 2013, 2:42 am

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To say that the young woman instinctively shied away from the concepts explained by Ignotus would be an under statement. Her weariness transcended being based upon mere instinct and was rooted in everything she knew as well as the things she naturally felt. To be invaded by the Res of another was a terrifying concept in and of itself. But, pair it with the fact that it may not be entirely safe and you would be rewarded with the shiver that shook Edreina from nose to toes.

But, in spite of all of that, she was adamant. She needed to learn this. "No... don't lessen it to me in any way... I won't have this experience softened. I need to experience as it is meant to be... I-... I cannot explain why but I will not have you spare me so that I fall to my own folly later on." She sighed and nodded in adamant acceptance of the hardship to come. Without further ado, she knelt before him and offered her palm face up. "I'm... I'm ready." With great effort she managed to keep her breathing slow and regular. Panicking would not aid her.
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Pilot Flame

Postby Ignotus Everto on November 30th, 2013, 4:31 am

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The Reimancer's brow furrowed at Edreina's assertion. He had lived to witness more than one normal person commit several murders before getting sectioned or- in the most dramatic case- fleeing to join Rhysol. But she was determined, and had survived a near-death experience. She would, no doubt, survive this. Hopefully. At worst, if she was traumatized by the experience, he was confident he could piece her psyche back together with some patience.

As the wizard took hold of Edreina's wrist with one hand and the dagger with the other, the Svefra felt a tidal wave of calm crash over her. A little something to steel her belly. "I'll need you to stay perfectly still while I'm inside," Ignotus instructed, "Otherwise something important might get damaged. Can you do this?"

She said she could, and her face said she could. With that out of the way, the Nuit took a breath, and quickly cut a small gash in the girl's palms. With that done, he pulled the gloves off his hands, and laid his palms against Edreina's own. "Relax," he said with a reassuring smile, "The last person I initiated came out just fine. You will too."

Soon, the woman would see thin tendrils of electric blue Res mist from the undead's pores, curling around her arms and shoulders. The smile vanished from Ignotus' face, and turned to a look of intense concentration. "Prepare yourself." he said.

And then it started.

The Res lingering outside began forcing its way up her nostrils between her lips and down her throat and gullet, while an alien feeling in her wounds told her it was entering her hands. It filled her lungs and filtered into her blood. It forced its way past her eyes and penetrated her soul. To describe it as a rape, while comparable, did not touch upon the depths of the invasion. Ignotus' smell, a far cry back to days of salt and parchment, filled her nose, and the long-dead man's taste enveloped her tongue. His foreign presence could be felt in the fiber of muscles, in the layers of her skin, in the marrow of her bones, in the chambers of her heart, in the nerves that linked them all.

For Ignotus, it was the power fantasy realized in its purest, most potent form. He held Edreina's life, her body, everything in the palm of his hand. With a thought, he could kill her. With a little skill, he could leave her changed. Without a doubt, he was enjoying every tick of it.
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Pilot Flame

Postby Edreina on November 30th, 2013, 11:04 am

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Nodding would just not cut in this situation. He had to see that she was completely and absolutely sure. The calm with which she had gifted her steadied her voice and slowed the frantic, excited pace of her nerves. "I can do this..." In spite of her calm, her voice was so quiet, so gentle, it was as if she feared shattering the delicacy of the moment. This was really it. Whatever was to come, she took a deep breath and promised herself that she was ready for it.

The pain lasted only a moment and, if she thought hard enough, she could think back to the times she had sliced her palms in offering to Myri. Her features softened from being tight with pain and apprehension to soft, gentle, and lost in thought. Before her eyes, little wisps of something blue began to form around Ignotus, reminding her of the mist created when cold water crashed over hot rocks. The Djed- Res, she corrected herself - seemed to move without being propelled, as if acting entirely upon the whims of the man manipulating it. It must be, was the disconnected thought. Were it not under his control, I would be in danger.

But, the strange substance was so oddly unnerving and, almost instinctively, Edreina closed her eyes. There were ticks of silence, of apprehension so intense that her lungs threatened to fluctuate rapidly to pump adrenaline through her veins. The only thing that kept this from happening was Edreina's experience as a swimmer. Control over her deep, strong lungs was a must in that situation and the ability to remain calm to conserve precious air was just as greatly needed.

When it started to pour into her mouth, Edreina's first instinct was to hold her breath for fear of it choking her. But, after a second, she realized how stupid that was. What's it going to do? Go deeper into my lungs? Her first breath was hesitant but, upon realizing that she could breath normally, the rest followed more easily. The marks on her palms itched and crawled oddly as if she had been bleeding and the blood was creeping back into her veins. That in and of itself was bearable, but as the Res slithered its way through her veins, Edreina found herself growing colder, as if she was slowly becoming a corpse. Though pressed against Ignotus's hands, chilled fingers started to quiver, perhaps even out of fear.

For nearly a half tick, she thought that would be the worst of it. She was utterly and painfully wrong.

Like tiny fingers, Res crept into her system beneath her eyelids. There were no words to adequately describe it, but it felt to her as if foreign eyes had replaced her own and now sat in the socket, glancing about idly of its own accord. Of course, the feeling may very well have been imagined, but it was the beginning of a sense of loss of control that the Svefra did not handle very well at all.

Suddenly, the sharp tang of fresh ink spilled into her nose, surprising and shocking the rest of her senses to alertness. This only led to their own shock being more apparent and all the more disconcerting. Suddenly, on her tongue was the flavor of a fish she had not eaten and her ears rung with a tune she had never heard. Every twitch of her muscles made her aware of a presence in her body. It felt to her as if some silent, watchful soul had taken up a residence in her own vessel. Her own callouses seemed to disappear, making way for those brought on by years of page turning and writing with a quill. Everything grew disjointed as her brain attempted to process-

She was not alone in her own body.

A gasp broke the silence that had been forged between the two as Edreina fought to maintain control of herself. He warned you that this would be hard. You knew what you were getting into.

HE'S IN HERE WITH ME!
What if he decided not to leave? The chilling of her body was nothing compared to how her soul turned to ice at the thought. Nuits were able to take the bodies of others for themselves. Was this how they did it? Had he somehow tricked her into becoming his newest addition to the collection of bodies he surely had stashed about Zeltiva? When it was that Edreina had come to realize his nature, she was not sure. But the knowledge reemerged at the worst possible moment. Inside, she thrashed against the invading forces, as if her own soul could expel the newcomer.

A single ship could not stand against a tidal wave. Again and again it washed over her, deeper into her until her soul was snarling and coiling up like a rabid Balicani deep within the recesses of her mind. It was by some miracle of existence and the muscle-locking abilities of terror that kept her rooted in place. Slim hand rocked violently up and down, side to side, fingers twitching inexplicably. This and the gentle quivering of her hair were the only indicators of the depth of her terror.

Worlds could have ended and began for all that Edreina was aware of outside of the little torture chamber. Each time her soul lashed out at the invading Res, some part of it mingled and meshed together, creating a new entity. Though her thoughts were the same, she knew she was changing. It was as if some fearsome monster had taken up residence in her bones and was metamorphosing beneath her skin. At any moment, she feared that a new Edreina would burst forth and the old one would be lost.

Eventually, she realized that she could not fight the Res and simply stopped. And waited. For it to end. For him to leave.
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Pilot Flame

Postby Ignotus Everto on December 1st, 2013, 2:43 am

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In all, it was two chimes before Ignotus finally, mercifully withdrew, the thin glowing gas spurting out of her mouth and gathering in a ring around them. Over five ticks, the foreign presence faded, until every last drop of Res had left the poor woman's body. At that point, the elder Reimancer let out a sharp breath and it crashed to the ground as water.

Immediately Ignotus turned his attention fully to the person in front of him. He had noticed Edreina's intense discomfort at the time, but didn't feel safe attempting to do anything other than initiate her without complications. Now, however, he could devote all of his faculties to managing her emotional state.

He removed his thumb from her skin, and a gossamer green thread hung between them. In the event that she panicked and attempted to flee or thrash about, the Cordas strings would be vital in restraining her. He had suspected that the neophyte's nerves weren't iron enough to recover as quickly as Ricky had, but it still put a bitter taste in his mouth to see such scruples confirmed.
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Pilot Flame

Postby Edreina on December 1st, 2013, 7:50 am

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As terrifying as it had been for his Res to enter her body, Edreina was even more afraid after he had left. She feared that, somehow, he had not removed all of it, all of himself. For all she knew, he was still inside of her, eavesdropping on her frantic thoughts and chortling mightily at her frailty. No comfort was taken as water crashed down around her, splashing up on her form as she remained upon bended knee. If anything, she cringed away from it delicately, remembering that only ticks earlier the very same substance had been in her body.

Had been invading her body. For gods knew how long, her body had not been entirely her own and now, whatever it was that had caused that was laying in a puddle around her feet. Had she not been so numbly distraught, the idea would have caused her stomach to turn and roil in disgust.

But, instead, she simply sat there and stared, hands shaking and tremors racking her frame in frantic waves.

I can manipulate Res now, too, part of her thought with wonder. But, it was hushed and stuffed into a drawer while the rest of her remained motionless save for the shuddering shivers that racked her thin frame. Blue eyes that normally tilted at the corners in merriment were as wide as dinner platters and staring sightlessly. Each pupil was dilated to its maximum so that only the barest sliver of blue could be made out in the flickering lantern light. Skin so rosy with a constant blush and burnished by Syna's rays had taken on a ghostly pallor. "P-p-petch..." she breathed, forcing herself to blink as her hands continued to vibrate like especially stubborn Autumn leaves as they faced the oncoming Winter's icy breath.

You're being silly and foolish... You're going to make him regret initiating you... Somehow, the logical part of her had escaped from the drawer and was now rapping the senseless, frightened bits of her over the head with rolled paper until they started to cluster together, forming a more cohesive consciousness.

With her first breath, the shivering slowed until she only occasionally tensed and shook. With the second, she brought her hands closer for examination. With the third, she even managed to sigh in distaste at the red droplets that still managed to escape her palms. After four breaths, she had steadied enough to look up at her mentor apologetically. "That was..." Her throat closed and she trembled again. "That was surely something."

Well, summing up an intense and life-changing moment was obviously not in Edriena's skill set in that moment. "I'm... I'm sorry for freaking out on you, there." Restless, her eyes searched the room for something with which she could bandage her hands. "It was afraid that you were stealing my body," she admitted sheepishly, smiling. Defusing tension with horrible attempts at comedy, however, was in her wheelhouse.

Despite her efforts to stay strong, he was surely questioning her at that moment, questioning his own decision. Somehow, she had to change that. The only way she could think of, the Myrian way, was to plow onward. This bump in the road had been a vault to launch her skywards. Whatever terrors there had been, it was all on her road to being the best that she could be. "So... what comes next?"
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Pilot Flame

Postby Ignotus Everto on December 1st, 2013, 8:26 am

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Fortunately for Edreina, the man initiating her happened to be a Hypnotist with a fast mind. A hand shot up to grip her upper arm, holding her lightly in place. "Look at me." ordered Ignotus, "Look at me."

As she took her first breath, the woman felt a sense of deep calm seep into her freezing bones, hopefully aiding her in collecting her thoughts. It only lasted as long as each inhale before giving way to her natural terror, but by the fourth one she didn't need it all that much.

She also wasn't visibly broken, by appearances. He would of course get her psych tested after this was over, but as far as he was concerned, she wasn't in need of questioning. Though she was full of apologies.
"Think nothing of it." he said with a grandfatherly smile. "Though, for your peace of mind, I can only occupy dead bodies, and I greatly prefer males."

In response to her question, Edreina felt an unearthly bliss wash over her frayed mind. "A reward for being brave." said Ignotus. After three ticks, that feeling too would fade away unless held onto.

"And a test to see if we were successful."

Daubing a finger in one of the larger droplets of blood, Ignotus drew what looked like a cross but he knew as a Focus glyph on the back of Edreina's hand. "I want you to try to produce Res. Just a few droplets at first. No more than a chicken's egg, if you will."

As he said this, he pulled a length of gauze from his cloak pocket and began to bind her other hand. Evidently the Reimancer was not an absent-minded one. "How one does so depends on the wizard. Some use strong emotions. Some use imagery. Others use simple will. The only common is that there's something that's in, and we want it to come out. I personally imagine a Djed 'well' in my stomach, and draw from that. You may experience something entirely different. You should, however, be able to exude the substance. Don't worry about from where for now. The glyph," he nodded towards the symbol, "Will take care of that."
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Pilot Flame

Postby Edreina on December 1st, 2013, 8:43 am

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His finger in her blood was disconcerting to say the least. The sticky red substance cast a stark contrast against her paled skin as a shape was formed. To Edreina it looked like a mast, like the center of some ship. There had to be a reason for Ignotus's bloody scribbles; he did not strike her as the sort to play in plasma for pleasure.

"A- A chicken's egg?" she asked before he could stop herself, brows knitting. Great. Now he really thinks that you're crazy. No time to explain you've only seen dead, cooked chickens, let alone their eggs. Sometimes, being of the Sea had distinct disadvantages. It could not be that hard, could it? Chicken eggs were not much bigger than an Avikki's, she figured. How was she supposed to control how much- Ah. Anyhow. "Right! Ah... Got it... A small amount."

Immediately, a particular image came to mind as Ignotus spoke. Normally, when Edreina pictured her Djed and attempted to reach for it, she imagined that her Djed was Syna on an ocean's horizon and that, to reach the strength Syna held and be able to use it for herself, she had to still the ocean - her emotions - as they danced and roiled in her way. Only then was she ever able to adequately perform Hypnotism. Well, that was not counting the times that the tides of the ocean were so powerful and synced towards a common cause that they rocketed her forward into the center of the golden nimbus.

This time, Edreina imagined that the Djed was the ocean, that it was her emotions. To pull them from herself, her mind locked onto the sight of waves as the crashed and rolled onto the beach, wetting the sand. With each wave, the sand would grow wetter and wetter until eventually it was saturated. The waves were slow, monotonous, but reliable. Each gentle whisper of water over sand left it a bit wetter than before. Eventually, the sand was a deep, dark brown that seemed to be more water than sand.

In that moment, Edreina imagined that her body was the sand and that the Res was the water seeping into it. She felt something stirring within her and again she grew unnerved. How did she knew that the feeling in her was entirely hers, not some remnant of what Ignotus had slipped beneath her skin. No... This is as much about trust on your part as his. This is a gift from him. It's wrong to counter a gift with questioning. The image of the sand and the sea had slipped, but she brought it back and, after a moment-

Without realizing that they had drifted shut, she opened her eyes to search for-

In her palm, the same one upon whose back the mast had been drawn, was a puddle of something - it was so unearthly, it must have been her Res - that shone a pale golden orange like the tips of her hair in Syna's light. It moved like something neither liquid nor solid nor gaseous, but somewhere in between, fluttering in her hand as if it possessed some life of its own. Curious, her head tilted to the side and she wished that it would leave her palm so that she could-

Oh my... Before her eyes, the Res tightened into a tendril and wove up between her fingers, flattening and braiding itself between them as she had done countless times with her own hair. In a stark moment, she realized that the life possessed by the Res was her own and, understandably, that scared her ever so slightly.
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Pilot Flame

Postby Ignotus Everto on December 3rd, 2013, 12:01 am

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Now that was a heartening sight. "An interesting color." the wizard remarked with a satisfied air. "And a good sign. Excellent work!"
It was good to see her learning so quickly... Even if she did seem slightly afraid of herself. Ignotus couldn't help but laugh a little at that.

"Yes, it is a touch strange to see at first." he admitted, "But your Res is as much you as your arm or leg is- perhaps even more so."
Knowing that Edreina was the sort of person who needed to do things, he wasted little time moving things forward, "Let's see if you can gather it into a ball and make it hover." and, if she could, "Now transmute."

Much of personal magic was subjective in nature, and as such there wasn't much more instruction Ignotus could give other than that simple, two-word sentence.
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A thousand thanks to Phoenix for the gorgeous blue frame, and a thousand more to Edreina for her beautiful magic-themed one!

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