Solo Of Body & Spirit Pt IV

[Alric Lysane]

70th Winter 521 AV - Alric & Taz's Apartments He had come a long way since he had started his practises with magic, though he was still somewhat divided upon how to feel about that. He didn’t hate magic the same way that he had at the beginning, but he was still concerned with who he was becoming, and whether that would be a good man. He doubted he would ever become truly evil as Arcadius had…but was that what the man had said to himself once, in the dark watches of the night when truth had a way of sneaking up on one’s mind. The very idea gave him an internal shudder that refused to budge for several chimes, or until distracted. Yet here he was once more, seeking out the magic that whispered so dangerously to him of what greatness he could grasp – the Flux. He was trying to be cautious and measured with it, and so far he had paid minimal prices for his reaching beyond his limits somewhat, but he could feel that ever present sense of desire, that he should use the magic whenever he could. It felt similar to how Taz had described her Res wanting him, he felt as if his Djed…or whatever subconscious he was comprised of, had its own desire to use magic and feel good for having done so. It was a dangerous thing and one which he had not expected to feel, throwing him into waters he had yet to try treading. He couldn’t stop, he had little choice if he wished to face and defeat Arcadius, but he was growing concerned with some of his feelings. “I hope that I walk a different path” he sighed to himself as he rolled his shoulders and cracked his knuckles. He had procured a new item for his practises this day – a punching bag – and he had wrapped hand wraps around his fists to help absorb the impacts of what were likely to be some stronger than usual punches. As she slipped his leather gauntlets over the top, having to force them on towards the end, he finished his preparations as best he could, hoping that it would be enough. He wasn’t going to be using too much Djed in his experimentation, but he knew that if he wanted to fight with the Flux then he had to practise with it in such a manner. Yoga had helped his control and awareness of self, but that wasn’t enough for what was over the horizon. “Here we go then, easy and gentle Alric” he muttered to himself, closing his eyes and settling into his Yoga routine first, to get into the right headspace. He felt himself become more centered as he moved through the poses, reaching out and acknowledging his worries but letting them slip him by for now, tapping his ‘well’ and letting the Djed flow into him until he had taken in about a tenth of what he felt he could grasp at. Taz had told him that his Djed pool was larger than most and so he had no frame of reference as to whether what he held was a lot but it felt like a small amount to him and so he proceeded to drawn until satisfied. He then closed off the link to his ‘well’ and instead continued to ease his body through the poses and stretches, becoming more aware of himself and feeling how far he had come already, how his flexibility had improved and how the node of his Djed pathways felt freer, more open. He was getting used to the routine now, the Djed flowing smoother and his body becoming more like an old friend rather than a meat suit that his consciousness simply lived in. He doubted he had grown to become much more than a novice but from where he had started, he had come quite far, he thought. He spent a good ten chimes consciously manipulating his energy within, shifting his Djed mentally and feeling it respond and crackle through the network within. He didn’t use it just yet, simply got his body used to it moving through him. He could feel it more acutely now and alongside the crackling there was a throbbing too, a resonance that seemed to pass through as the ‘echo’ of moving Djed moved in its wake. He didn’t smile, though he acknowledged how he felt the desire to, and instead relaxing into the center ground of his mind, breathing deeply for a number of chimes before opening his eyes, standing before the punching bag. Secret : Punching Bag - 5gm Words: 760

[Alric Lysane]

He began to practise his jabs and hooks upon the punching bag, not using any Djed at the beginning, instead simply getting into the rhythm of the movements and getting sued to the level of impact that he could land without feeling any pain. It wasn’t just about learning how to enhance himself reliably, it was also about not injuring himself by not taking it at a reasonable pace. He had thought upon the matter quite a bit before he had decided upon the method of training and had realised that if he broke himself in the process of using the Flux then he’d better make sure it was worth it – a life or death situation, perhaps. Everything else required moderation and so he worked the bag for some time with basic strikes, mixing in some kicks, knees and elbows as if simply training his body. As sweat began to break out across his body, his breathing growing deeper and quicker, he pushed through the small ache forming in his forearms from repeated impacts and instead shifted into only kicks for a time, the swinging of the bag and the timing of his kicks giving him a bit more of a break between strikes. Even so he could feel the exertion already making him push himself after about ten chimes of consistent practise. It felt different to how he fought other, there were breaks naturally when in combat but here there were no breaks, it was just him and the bag. It made it as much a mental exercise as physical, the centered peacefulness he had garnered lending him strength to push onwards eve as he felt his Djed react within him, crackling around at lightning speed from one part of his body to another. “Break” he sighed out, chest heaving despite all of the training he had pushed himself through during the season, the exercise taking a greater toll on him than expected. Raking his hair back and rubbing the back of his arm across his forehead he was struck by the thought that as he became more aware of his body his senses were becoming more of a distraction, or irritation. He could feel his shirt sticking to him, the fabric rubbing and chafing. He pulled it off and threw it aside, along with everything else. He had no sun or sand, but he could do the rest of it as he practised the Flux. Returning to the bag after a few sips of water from a nearby cup he began striking once more, settling into the rhythm and finding it almost meditative in its manner. After a while a small smile crept across his lips and he started to martial his focus for the true experimentation of the day. He felt out his Djed, noticing how it bounced around and the ‘echo’ in its wake, and mentally prepared to harness it. When he was ready, he grasped a small amount and forced it into his upper body, thinking about his fists and arms but unable to make it as finely tuned as that. He punched out twice, one hook for each side of the bag, and felt how the Djed was expended and how it seemed to all focus – for a brief moment – into just his upper body. The bag rocked one way, then the other, the impact perhaps double the normal strength and forcing it to move in an exaggerated manner. He could feel how his knuckles and wrist absorbed the force, a brief ache blossoming before vanishing in the adrenaline. He took in a deep breath, letting his Djed return to bouncing around internally, and looking at his shaking hands briefly as he analysed what he was feeling and grounded himself once more into the calmness that his Yoga and Tai Chi had taught him. Once settled he returned to normal strikes upon the punching bag, slower and more purposeful this time as he ran through what he had discovered – that even being warned about how dangerous the Flux was, it had been difficult to fully appreciate that fact until using it for a combat purpose. Injury, it seemed, was easier than expected and so he took note to use a little less Djed in his next exploratory steps. Words: 714

[Alric Lysane]

Some time was spent simply becoming lost in the rhythm of the strikes and the pulsing of his energies. Every so often the feeling of power that had come with the punches he had performed rose up and he had to acknowledge it and them let it pass him by, but for the most part he was finding a sort of peace with the simplicity of the task at hand. Life had become so complicated, in such a short period of time, that he found it enjoyable to simply hit something and expect nothing more of himself beyond that. He suspected that he’d end up making the use of the punching bag another daily routine, though he’d likely have to get some proper gloves or risk permanent bruises upon his knuckles. Switching to kicks now, mostly side kicks with a few hook kicks thrown in for the fun of it, he could feel how his daily routines were changing his abilities. His muscles felt less locked together and more fluid, able to twist and stretch further than before. Experimenting he leaned back and continued kicking, raising the height of his kicks bit by bit, searching for the point where he’d find it too difficult and the kick would become compromised, the technique sloppy. To his surprise he managed to get to his own head height without jumping, though much higher and he could feel the pull of strained muscle and so he stopped and went back down, bit by but, until he was kicking at waist height once more. “Looks like I’ve become more flexible…in more ways than one” he chuckled between breaths. Not only had he become more flexible, and thus perhaps a slightly better fighter, though. As he had moved and tilted, kicking continuously, he had felt how pathways within that he had once sensed were blocked and constricted were now feeling more open. His Djed flowed down them more than it had before, filled his muscles more fully and efficiently. At least, that was how it felt to him. He was willing to admit that it could be partly his own imagination, truthfully he had started to sense out his body more of late and had spent little time considering it before, so it was possible he had just never noticed, or tried, before. Either way he was growing ever more pleased with his progress, it felt good to achieve something fulfilling – even if it was due to necessity. Finding a rhythm that worked, alternative legs for the kicks, he focused once more and grasped slightly less Djed than he had done for the punches and began to prepare to marshal it once more. He settled his mind, took a few rounds of kicks to meditate upon what he was about to try to do, controlling his magic to the extent that he could do so, before mentally flooding his legs with the grasped Djed and kicking out – twice again, just as a test of concept. He pulled both of them slightly, not extending fully into a locked knee position and not seeking to damage his feet. Despite the precautions though he felt the impact of both kicks, but could not stop once he was committed and so as the Djed flooded from the rest of his body – narrowed to a single point for a few moments – into his legs he felt the echoes of its shifting and then the sting of the skin on the tops of his feet after the impacts. “Son of a…” he hissed as his feet hit the floor and he walked around a few paces in a circle, sweat streaming across his body and chest heaving, before bending over and rubbing the tops of his feet tentatively, easing their throbbing. They weren’t physically damaged he knew, he was sure he’d not be standing if they had been, but he fully expected bruises and the skin was already red from the stinging force of the impacts. He had used such a small amount of Djed, he had thought, yet even so it had not been as straight forwards as expected. He walked the edge of the room, getting his breath back as he felt the Djed thrumming and moving within as he walked, sipping upon his cup of water and wondering how it was anyone had used the Flux in combat without destroying themselves. He was trying to be careful but was still apparently pushing too much. Or, perhaps, it wasn’t that he was pushing too much but that his body wasn’t used to it yet? Would repeated pains eventually harden and callous over? Would a hundred kicks repeated over days end up making what stung now seem like nothing in the future? As he returned to the meditative rhythm of normal strikes upon the punching bag his mind was flooded with such considerations, thoughts upon conditioning of the body and how he might be able to shorten the time required for such things to line up with his sense of the hourglass emptying. Words: 842

[Alric Lysane]

He concentrated upon his breathing, letting the fact that his body was soaked with sweat disappear as a concern, drowned in the seeking of a tidal wave of calm, meditative serenity. It was difficult, more difficult than before given that both his hands and feet stung and throbbed from their impacts still. Yet after a long while, perhaps some twenty chimes of settled rhythmic striking of the punching bag, he found that the sensations started to ease and disappear, instead the familiar sensation of hanging in the void above his ‘well’ returning to his mind as his Djed barrelled through him and called out to be used. He shuddered, momentarily losing the calm before dragging it back, ignoring the deep-seated urge to believe he was powerful. Instead he found himself almost ritually criticising himself, putting himself back into place as a normal man, filled with imperfections and his own sins. It was a strange mechanism, and he wasn’t sure that many would agree with its use, but it seemed to work for him. He was growing tired of seeing himself as special – even if he was on some level. He hated that about himself, not because he hated magic as he had before, but because he wished that he could be an average man, with average concerns. Perhaps, in time, settle down and have a family – do something normal for a living. Whatever normal was. It was a vain hope, but it helped him feel grounded and less like he was about to get carried away with himself. He breathed deeply, his body growing tired now after such a long time working at both physical conditioning and magical use. He opted for one more attempt at some enhanced striking before he’d settle back into some more Djed control through his Yoga and Tai Chi routines – both of which were growing strangely more natural to him than his unarmed skills, which was strange but he wasn’t about to get in the way of himself – he was learning his body more intimately, and that was necessary. Focusing his awareness once more, getting back into the moment rather than his thoughts, and taking time to center himself back into the meditative striking routine. He took his time, this time seeking out the smallest amount of Djed his novice skills were able to let him grasp without it slipping away as inconsequentially small, he took a deep breath and mentally went through what he was about to do. He sent the Djed pinging into his upper body, trying to will it into his elbow but not really sure he was that accomplished yet, just before it slammed into the punching bag, leaving a larger dent than a normal one would, before he went for a strike with his left elbow and felt the Djed crackle around and into the bony edge, there to force another dent in the other side of the punching bag. He followed these strikes up by forcing his Djed into his legs once more, there to leave two knee strikes with the same rhythm, and further dents just underneath where his elbows had landed. He finished the combination with a solid side kick that sent the punching bag rocking back with a satisfying thud. He would have reflected upon the fact that he had felt no pain that time, and so had found the right amount of Djed for his beginner strikes without a conditioned body. Instead the punching bag swung back into him and smacked him backwards, forcing him to half-stumble, then half-roll, until he came around to settle in a seated sprawl upon the floor. He blinked a few times with surprise before he burst into laughter at his own foolishness, his palm slapping the floor even as his other hand rubbed the cheek that had just been attacked by the vicious bag.

[Alric Lysane]

Pushing himself up as his laughter subsided he wiped himself down with his shirt and was surprised to find that his Djed was still crackling through him, that the passive state – or at least that was what he was calling it – of his body’s natural processes and his laughter rippling his torso had kept it going without much incident. He supposed that made sense, you couldn’t turn something that was so unstable even a sudden fall could make you crack every bone into a martial tradition easily. At least not and it remain effective, he reasoned to himself thoughtfully. He found, as he was expanding his magical knowledge, he wished he had a Suvan and Alahean mage he could chat to – and likely separate to keep them from fighting too. “No doubt I’d have my hands full possibly starting another Valterrian” he muttered to himself as he closed his eyes and teased the tumultuous Djed into some semblance of controlled shifting before going any further, not wanting to end up accidentally blowing himself up, or something similar. He snorted with amusement before tossing his shirt aside once more, there to slap to the floor as it was now sodden with the sweat of his exertions, and the tiredness of his waning endurance. He took a few chimes to close his eyes and breathe deeply, rhythmically, and regain the sense of composure that he still needed to properly and fully sense out his body and its shifting energies. He felt it calm, or that was the closest that he could get to describing it. It hadn’t been out of control, he thought, but certainly the surprise knock and the emotional swell afterwards had seemed to…overcharge what Djed was left – which thankfully was not a lot, which may have been why he hadn’t had any adverse effects, at least as far as he could feel within himself. He was growing very tired, though, in a similar manner to how Aurisitcs and Shielding seemed to drain him, but it felt different. It wasn’t because he had drained all of his Djed, he had purposefully not done tha.t No, it was almost as if his body knew it had been pushed beyond limits inherent within it, and so almost begged for rest and recuperation. That gave him pause, he had not felt that before. He had felt painful aches and tired after his fitness routine had been enhanced, but that had been a forceful overriding of his senses. This new feeling was a more subtle enhancement of a natural feeling from a long period of exercise. Had he not been becoming more physically acquainted with himself he’d likely not have noticed it at all. Nodding to himself he slipped into the Yoga poses, a few simple standing ones that were nothing fancy, settling himself and finding the meditative state once more with some tired effort. After that he slipped into the Tai Chi routine – though a truncated version as he was growing heavier of limb – and ended it the same way he had before. He marshalled the rest of the Djed that was left, forcing it all into his legs and then flowing into the jumping spin kick. It was better form than before and the landing was solid, if lacking in grace. He nodded to himself, let all of his links to his Djed dissipate…then promptly fell over backwards, slamming into the floor. He stayed there a while, groaning a little as he kneaded his eyes with the heels of his palms. “Well Alric…you do know how to look after yourself don’t you? Maybe Taz was right, you do need someone to look after you for you…idiot” He muttered to himself for a while longer before he had the energy to rolling himself over and finding his way shakily to his bed. Twilight was already there, as if expecting him, and he raised an eyebrow at the reptile before slipping under the covers, there to rest before he’d wake to eat and head off to Ruby’s for the day’s shift of buxom women and drunken louts. It was a stylish life, he thought to himself with some amusement as he fell into slumber, but it was his…and that was something.

[Alric Lysane]

Your Grades

Alric Lysane

Skills

Endurance – 4
Flux – 5
Meditation – 5
Weapon: Unarmed – 4

Lores

Flux: Awareness Can Be Distraction
Flux: Djed Rationing For Strikes
Flux: Djed ‘Pinging’
Flux: Ever Present Desire
Flux: Self-Critical Reigning In Of Self
Unarmed: Hand Wrap Application
Unarmed: Punching Bag Routine
Yoga: Awareness Of Body
Yoga: Increased Flexibility


Items Gained

1 x Punching Bag – T&T Apartments


Items Lost

-5gm to be deducted from Ledger