13th Spring, 511 A.V. Hadrian stared hard at a glass vial that gleamed in the candlelight. Only upon closer inspection could one see the rich red of the viscous fluid within. Frowning, he wove a sigil upon its surface with a grease pencil, glyph linking into glyph, until he was satisfied with the simple focus and its purpose. Then he held the focus glyph over the light of a taper candle and watched as the contents began to glow with an inner fire. It was flashy magic, perhaps, but light and heat were the most obvious signs of wasted energy. He was trying to keep the blood warm and fluid, so the light was almost inevitable. At least until he was more skilled with glyphs, and then his subtle spells would be invisible to the eye, completely without wasted energy. Elegant. He glanced at the door where the squire was keeping his boring watch. "I'm to have an assistant for the day," he warned him. "Just... send her in." Then he pulled his old res-filters out of the cabinet the knights kept locked for him and set them in the proper places on the two tables where his magecrafting projects were being worked. Each one was covered in glyphs and gems and other oddments of his trade. These res-filters were just a little something he had gadgeteered on the fly to help with these sorts of things. Truth be told, they were looking a little sad. He began to tighten one up so it would not fall apart during the any of the delicate work. |