The Gift of Clarity Part II

[Ialari Pythone]

Continued From Here

Ialari awoke with a start. Another nightmare, one she could barely remember cut short her nap. As the images in her mind fleeted away, she was able to hold on to, for a moment, the image of Amir Berliotz cutting the flesh from one of the subjects he was using to model for his experiments in morphing. As she lay on her bed, the haze of the nightmare already clearing, she slowly sat up. It took a few more moments for her to realize that it had just been a nightmare and that she was still sitting in the rented ranchero, alone, in Syka. Reaching over a glass of water sitting on the nearby nightstand, she took a deep drink before standing up. With a long stretch, she walked over to the table where she’d sat the two rocks she’d gathered at the falls. Taking the opportunity now to examine more closely what she had gathered, she started with the darker of the two rocks. It was half again larger than her head and roundish. Picking it up, she looked at the overall shape and coloring of the rock. What had caught her attention when she first saw it was the glassy black part that dominated a good third of the stone.

Setting the rock back on the table and pulling a chair closer, she sat down. Taking hold of the rock with her flesh hand, she used her metallic one to start clearing away the rough stone that surrounded the glassy black material. Carefully she used her fingers to push and peel away the rough stone. As her fingers made contact with it, the stone pulled apart as if it were clay. As she got closer to the glassy black rock, he gently brushed her fingers around it. As she piled up the excess rock, she got a better look at what she thought was a large chunk of obsidian. Holding the obsidian in her hands, she smiled widely at her find. With a bit more manipulating of her metallic fingers, Ialari cleared away the rest of the rough stone until only the obsidian remained intact.

The obsidian would need a bit more shaping itself to fit with the next part of her project but for the time being, she sat the stone off to the side and turned her attention to the other rock. This one had drew her eye because of the shock of blood red color that stuck out of the otherwise gray stone. This stone was only slightly larger than her head and was rounder than the first one. She guessed it was likely due to having been carried by the river for some distance, rolling and tumbling across the river bottom before plunging down the falls and enduring erosion from the falling water. With this stone, she held it in both hands and rotated with her flesh hand while running her metallic one around it to rub away the rough stone. The motion was much like shaping more of a sphere as if she were making a ball out of clay. As she ran her metallic hand, palm flat over the surface of the stone, the gray rock was rubbed away. The more she worked the stone the rounder and smaller it got; it also got less gray and more red.

[Ialari Pythone]

When she was finished rotating and shaping the now red stone, she was left with a mostly spherical blood agate with a mixture of rough and smooth textures and varying hues of crimson. It was just a little smaller than her head and about half the size of the chunk of obsidian. Retrieving a small basin of water that she would normally use to freshen up with, she dipped a cloth into the water and used it to clean up both stones. While her metallic hand did much of the cleaning work, using the wet cloth helped clean up and left over loose debris. She then rinsed the rock in the water before taking a strip of leather from her pack. She used the leather to rub and polish the agate sphere in order to bring out a bit more of the shine.

Sitting the sphere on the cloth so it wouldn’t roll away, Ialari took the obsidian in her hands and began to do some last minute shaping. With her metallic hand she scooped a bit of the stone away from the center in an effort to form something of a basin. As she cleared out the material, she took the sphere and used it for measurement. The idea was that she could set the sphere into the obsidian basin. With a few adjustments here and there, she was able to set the sphere into the basin. With the two pieces together, she adjusted the edges of the basin with her fingers to make for a somewhat tighter fit. When she was finished, both pieces could still be separated with enough pull but otherwise stayed together. She separated them for the next part, perhaps the most taxing one, of the entire process; the imparting. It was already well into the night when Ialari had finished the physical work on the stones though she was not tired; at least not tired enough to try and sleep and face the nightmares that may or may not come. Instead she decided to attempt the imparting on the obsidian.

The imparting process for this particular project would come in two parts which was something Ialari hadn’t attempted before. By the time it was all finished, several days would pass as she would need quite a bit of time to recover from the whole ordeal. With this in mind, she gathered several items of food, mainly fruit including a number of coconuts; her new favorite. She also made sure she had a good amount of water ready. Once the imparting was complete, she would be barely able to move which made leaving the ranchero next to impossible. It would take a few days to recover before she would be able to move on to the agate sphere.

[Ialari Pythone]

Taking the obsidian basin in hand, Ialari crawled into bed and sat up against the headboard with a couple of pillows situated behind her back and head. She rested the basin on her lap and laid her flesh hand at her side and rested her metallic one on the basin itself. The imparting process required a solid intent on what qualities were to be imparted followed by meditation and the focus on memories that best represented the desired qualities. As Ialari sat on the bed, she considered her intent. The final product would be made up of two imparted items whose qualities complimented each other. The basin…It should act as a guiding hand that helps one reach a deeper state of being. Maybe it could help one find focus during meditation and lead them to the ideal state of mind. Then once they’ve attained that ideal state of mind, the sphere will introduce the feeling of the interconnectedness shared by all things. Hopefully, in that moment, one will discover something deep within them that didn’t otherwise know was there. If I’m lucky, it will help open the mind’s of those who use it and help lead them to me.

Ialari began focusing more on her intent; she focused on wanting the basin to help induce a more ideal state of meditation. She imagined the basin as a pair of hands holding one’s soul. She imagined the soul as being a blood red sphere. The obsidian hands would support and guide the soul. This was not as easy as Ialari would have liked. She had a hard time holding on to the image of the sphere as the soul. Every time she pictured it, the sphere would crack and explode in a shower of crimson shards. Opening her eyes, she took a deep breath and prayed aloud, “Lady Dira, Mistress of Death and Collector of Souls, I offer this prayer to you and acknowledge your domain over the movement of souls from one place to another. While my own soul is shattered, I wish to at least imagine a complete soul for the sake of attaining a greater understanding of one’s inner self.”

With that, Ialari closed her eyes once more and tried again to imagine the obsidian hands holding the crimson sphere of the soul. This time, whether it was the answering of her prayer by Dira or a redirecting of her focus, Ialari was able to form the image in her mind of the sphere, solid and unwavering. She held the image of the hands and the sphere in her mind and imagined herself rotating around them as opposed to rotating them around her. It was an exercise of meditation that was difficult enough to require quite a bit of concentration. When she was finally able to rotate herself around the imagery a single time, she had solidified her intent.

[Ialari Pythone]

In order to empower the intent and successfully impart upon the basin, Ialari would have to call up a memory that best embodied the intent. She wanted to impart an ideal meditative state that would allow for a deeper state of mind. In order to achieve such a thing, one had to push aside all inner and outer distractions. Such a thing wasn’t always that easy especially if the distractions were especially powerful. It required great concentration and patience; the latter Ialari often struggled with. Even though she struggled with it, Ialari knew the successes that came with having patience. It was a memory of one of those successes that came to her.

Many years ago, when Ialari was but an Initiate at the Silver Tower in Pitrius City, she engaged in all manner of studies related to magical theory along with those tied to her personal interests of poisons and philtering. As with all things isur, the formal studies were broken up with lessons on philosophy and religion as they related to Izurdin. All students were given lessons on the three primary aspects of Izurdin’s will, Strength, Patience and Industry. These were especially important lessons since they set the foundation for the three tests each initiate was required to pass before becoming a full apprentice.

The lesson hall Ialari sat in was one of many within the Tower. As with every part of the Tower, the floor, walls and ceiling were made of pure silver shaped and infused with the magic of the Lord Pitrius who led the clan in the years following the Valterrian. When the new Kingdom was founded and the cities were built, Lord Pitrius raised the tower from a single vein of silver. The lesson hall was softly lit by lighted patches in the walls. A small dais was located at the front of the hall with a silver podium. Surrounding the dais in a semi-circle were several benches shaped from silver with thin, black cushions for some semblance of comfort. While the Tower was a strict institution of learning, it did provide some basic comfort without allowing initiates to become soft.

As Ialari waited for the instructor to arrive, she looked around at the others who were with her. While there were still a few still coming in, Ialari saw a total of 10 other students. She’d only been an initiate for one full season and was still not very familiar with the most of the other initiates. Of course, she usually kept to herself anyway and didn’t really care much about getting to know anyone else. The Tower didn’t require team effort in most of the different areas of study as it wasn’t the way of the Pitrius clan. This suited Ialari just fine.

The others were dressed as she was in the black robes of the initiates. Unlike the robes of apprentices, the initiates robes had silver trim but lacked the silver flames that adorned those of the full Sentinels. Unlike other lessons, this one did not require any books, writing materials, tools or really anything beyond the initiate just being there as it was the one on patience.

[Ialari Pythone]

As many of the other initiates were engaged in light conversation, the instructor entered the hall. Sentinel Jarvos Bloodstone Pitrius was the man responsible for teaching the Lessons of Aspect as they were known. Ialari had already had the lesson on strength from Jarvos roughly half a season prior. Jarvos made his way to the podium. Dressed in his silver-trimmed black robes with silver flames licking their way up from the hem, with his short, platinum hair and matching pointed goatee, Jarvos was a striking figure.

When he reached the podium, the background conversation ceased and all attention was on Jarvos. Without any real introduction, Jarvos began, “While the use of magic, be it world or personal, can accomplish great things, it requires a sturdy foundation for support. As you’ve all learned by now from the first Lesson of Aspect, your magic is only as strong as you are. Strength of not only body but also of mind creates the first pillar of that foundation. The second pillar is that of patience. No matter how strong you and your magic are, without patience, you will ultimately be too weak to attain true mastery. Patience is perhaps the hardest of the three pillars to realize and is often the most elusive. Being able to accept all that life throws at you without getting angry, upset or otherwise emotionally distressed is essential.”

Jarvos paused to allow his words to sink in. The lesson was more of a lecture than anything interactive. As with the lesson on strength, Jarvos would give a lecture with the actual lesson coming in the form of related experience some time after.

“Imagine if you will that you find yourself in a life or death situation; a truly terrible one where there are numerous choices you could make but only one will result in you staying alive. You have only a few moments to make your choice. In a situation like this, the most common choice is the quickest one as there is little time to think through your options. So what happens? You make the quickest, easiest choice as panic threatens to overtake you. That easy choice kills you. Embracing patience and not allowing the heat of the moment, the panic to take you, will make those few, fleeting moments you have to choose feel much longer. Patience will allow you to see opportunities and reveal choices that you would have otherwise missed. Even in situations that have much longer time spans, patience can let you see the larger picture and react accordingly. Having patience and fully embracing it is like being in a constant, meditative state where you can see, feel and understand everything within yourself as well as around you on a much deeper level.” Jarvos’ voice was strong but also somewhat melodic as he spoke. He was the embodiment of the Lessons of Aspect and it was tangible in the air around him and extended throughout the hall.

“I could talk to you all day about being patient and the importance of it. Ultimately though it is up to each of you to find your own patience and understand what it is to you. Now, as with the previous lesson on strength, you will leave this hall in a few moments and continue on as you have before this day. Sooner or later, you will be faced with the need for patience. It can take any form and happen at any time but I assure you that when it happens, you won’t recognize it. This is not like strength. It is not something you can simply call upon when you need it. Dismissed.” With that, the lesson was over. Jarvos remained at the podium for a few moments after while a few of the other initiates approached him with questions and comments. Ialari ignored them as she waited for everyone to finally exit the hall leaving only her and Jarvos.

As Ialari walked up to the podium, Jarvos gave her a respectful nod and said, “Yes, Ialari, did you have a question?”

Ialari shook her head slowly and replied, “Not a question, no. Just a comment really.”

Jarvos gave a half smile. Ialari was a rather odd student. The things that one would not expect many questions about, she would question until every mundane detail was revealed. The things that should elicit the most questioning, she would usually only have a comment or two about.
“Using your example of a life or death situation with only a moment or two to make that fateful choice. The choice of being patient is the one that will lead to life over death. If you choose to be patient when faced with great adversity, no other choice will be needed as opportunity will reveal itself.” Ialari said with somewhat of a simplification of Jarvos’ lecture.
Jarvos’ smile widened. “Ah but Ialari, you are assuming patience is a constant aspect that is always accessible. For one who has mastered patience, then what you say is true since their first and only choice will always be patience. For one who has not yet found patience or doesn’t fully understand it, the first choice being patience is not a reliable option.

Ialari nodded her acceptance of the response but added, “The Divine Father tells us that patience, like strength, is always there for those who believe in themselves and have faith in Him.” Her mother, a priestess of Izurdin, had taught Ialari that belief in herself as a child of Izurdin was a powerful force and that faith in Izurdin would reveal one’s true strength, patience and industriousness.

Jarvos considered Ialari’s words before replying, “You are correct however you are seeing the larger picture without paying attention to the more immediate details. When you are faced with a true challenge of patience, have faith but don’t forget that if you don’t understand what patience is, you will not be able to find it when you need it. You have a truly unique way of looking at things Ialari. Don’t ever lose that. However, keep your mind open to things that don’t always make sense and guard yourself against being too reliant on the things you think do.” With that, Jarvos placed his metallic hand on her metallic shoulder and then made his way out of the hall.

Ialari was left alone in the hall with her thoughts. The whole concept of patience as Jarvos had presented it was different than what she'd originally believed yet it got her to thinking. In fact, as she walked out of the hall, the concept of patience and using it to open one's mind to opportunity and possibility was all that was on her mind.