Thus far, Shade has learned no magic. However, he does have plans for Flux, Shielding, and Projection.
- Semele's Religion
- Xannos' Religion
The quiet wrath had never quite left the boy, intermingled as it was by terror. He moved through his days after his parent’s deaths and the greenwing attack like a wooden marionette - broken, discarded, and moving only as if he’d blown about in the wind and finally caught on a tree branch so only Zulrav's winds toyed with him. Homeless, the Monks who eventually cleaned up the mess the Greenwings had left of his family had taken him to the only place they could think of - The Nykshela Quarry.
From there the Quarry master took his broken down marionette strings. He asked little of the boy at first, giving him a ten day to sleep, forcing him to eat, letting his grief settle over him. And then, one day in a series of long forgotten lost days the child was given a message to carry into town. Once that task was completed, he was given a second, then another and finally another until he became an official runner for the Master. Sometimes he ran Quarter to Quarter, sometimes to the very threshold of the Celestials themselves. It took him more than a season of running to really see where he was going and take an interest in his life again. By that time he'd turned six and had taken to following the Quarry master everywhere. He learned to keep out of the way, but be there when the man needed him most.
The man saw that he was educated, and later he dictated messages to Shadekas so the boy served more than one purpose. His duties taught Shade the way around Nyka and who was who where and more about politics than he should have known. Nyka was a city of men so a young secretary was not out of line. Then when he was ten, Shadekas was replaced by a new boy that needed the errand job more than Shade did 0 and a home - and was subsequently moved out into the Quarry itself because he was old enough to work. He apprenticed with a quarryman who used him in much the same way, running errands for carvers, taking orders and delivering stone around town.
In his free time, which was often, he cleaned up and helped around the quarry. Since the place was devoted to marble, they made precise cuts to free the stone from Semele's body and in chipping out these massive blocks, the scrap needed swept and removed. Shadekas did this along with dozens of other helpers. He'd have too until he'd learned enough about marble to actually wield the chisels and hammers, removing the blocks safely from the main body of the quarry.
When it came to moving the blocks, everyone helped. Ropes, rolling logs, anything and everything were used. Hoists lifted the stone out of place and draft animals moved heavy wagons of the stuff taking it to other parts of the city. Nyka was built on the sweat of the quarry and Shade's whole world became marble. He lived it, breathed it, and wore so much of it at times that he felt made of marble. And slowly, as time passed, he began to 'feel' the marble. He unerringly knew where the best pieces were to cut - the flawless slabs - and started accidentally stumbling over caches of gems that seemed to find him more than him find them. When asked how he did it, Shade would always say that he just learned to listen. The stones sang. And as he found more and more caches of the stuff, people started seeking him out. A jeweler in particular took an interest to him. He'd often drop by the Quarry, ask for Shade by name, and place a stone in his hand so the boy could feel the stone’s song and look for a like song in the wilds.
Acolyte Lynk had heard of Shadekas' gift and had smiled knowingly. When he had specific orders - say a large necklace of emeralds - he'd seek the boy out. "Son, feel this stone. I've an order for a big necklace where I need at least ten carats of the stuff, flawless if possible. Hear its song and can you listen for more?" With such a guidepost, Shadekas needed no more than a ten day or two to come up with the order. Often, he went into the very Aperture itself to do so. Long past, after the death of his parents, he'd ceased to be afraid of it but instead only incredibly respectful of what it meant to him - change.
When pressed, Shade would often say that in lieu of a mother, Semele had adopted him and that she treated him better than any mother could anyhow. Looking back, with his fortunes getting a messenger and clean up job in the Quarry was one of those. Acolyte Lynk was one of those. Lynk visited often, took Shade under his wing, and spoke at length about all sorts of things; jewelcrafting, faith, joining the Monkhood. He often 'borrowed' the boy for long sojourns outside the gates in his quest for more stones. Lynk educated Shade in a way that the Quarry master never had time to do and in return Shade threw himself into helping Lynx whenever he had a free moment and the jeweler needed him.
Shade asked endless questions, which sometimes Lynk had the patience to answer and sometimes not. When it came to questions about the Gods and the Celestials that ruled the city, Lynk seemed to smile knowingly a great deal and often told Shade he needed to have patience. Some things could be learned, and some only experienced.
The boy didn't understand what Lynk meant by this until his fifteenth birthday when he was curled in his cot in the workers sleeping quarters for the quarry when he heard a voice call to him. The voice was the most astonishing he'd ever heard. Shade had heard stones sing, but the voice he answered too seemed to be all stones everywhere singing in a choir that was indescribably beautiful. He rose, following the sound of the song, and slipped into the Aperture via one of the various ways he'd always prowled it looking for stones. Shade’s only weapon was a burning torch and second unlit one, shoved through his belt. He moved without a sense of hurry and with a feeling of incredible divinity. It was as if each step he took was sacred, propelling him forward to something that was preordained.
When he'd moved in so far, loosing himself in the darkness following the song, he came upon what he could only call great underground cathedral. Spires rose to the ceiling and fell from it just the same, made of glittering crystal that sang to him in a deafening lyrical song. The young man stood in awe. His jaw was agape and he stepped into the space undecided if the place had manifested around him as in a dream or if the place had always existed. It definitely reminded him of a temple. It was like being inside a giant geode with an unknown light source illuminating it from within. Shade, even as young as he was, understood that he was in the presence of divinity. He bowed low, the song so intense now – like a thousand gemstones singing – that tears came to his eyes. When he blinked them away, he saw the figure sitting lotus style on a giant fallen crystal spear before him. He would not call her beautiful, though indeed she was female. Instead he’d simply call her striking. Her eyes were like rough-cut diamonds while her skin glittered mica sharp and shot through with all sorts of veins of color much like marble. When she spoke, the song abruptly ceased and he almost cried out at its loss.
“Welcome child.” The exotic incredibly strange woman said, beckoning Shadekas forward. He moved forward, footsteps hesitant and excited all the same. He moved until he was before her, and then bent low in acknowledgment. His youthful mind astonished and flattered that he was meeting the earth mother first hand. It took him no time at all to decide who she was.
Semele.
“Lynk has taken you under his wing as I asked. It is rare a child is born that can hear the song of my stones, the heartbeat of the world, and any born thusly are special to me. You are one such person. Lynk is another. He serves me and my daughter as I would ask you to as well. The riches I provide are not designed to lay hidden beneath the surface of the world forever. When the time is right I see that they are freed from the soil much as children are birthed from their mother’s womb. In order to do that, I ask my followers to assist. Sometimes it is as simple as cutting a stone for a very special person. Sometimes such assistance means freeing the stone from its earthen birthplace. Sometimes I even ask for my chosen to tap into stones and their properties, unleashing their power onto Mizahar as my will dictates.” Semele said. “I will never ask more than you can easily give. And in return for the servitude, I grant you access to the true power of gemstones and to know the secret truth of what they are.” The Goddess said.
True power. She wasn’t talking about any djed wielding magicians who sought to copy. But instead something buried core-deep in the earth. This was a power that had always existed, deeply buried, and forged into the very flesh and bone of Semele. 
Shade didn’t need to think, to mull over the decision. There and then he knelt, touched his forehead to the crystal at her feet, and pledged his loyalty to her. Semele had always been his mother, always, even since before his own had been taken from him. Her asking and his accepting were as natural as breathing.
“Of course, my Mother. How could I refuse you?” He said. The goddess reached out and took his left hand. She pressed the pad of her thumb into the center of the back of his hand and a warmth infused him. When her touch was gone, a single black opal was embedded in the back of his hand, shimmering with a thousand different shades of blue and green in its dark depth. And with its sudden existence, the song in the cathedral cavern redoubled, sharpened, and it was as if his ears had wax pulled from them. The song reverberated through him, infused him, and he felt the vibrations and tones of the crystal singing all around him.
Shade bowed his head in awe. Semele smiled, reached forward and kissed his young brow. “Remember, Shadekas. Before you become anyone else’s, you were mine first and foremost.” And with that, she was gone, leaving him to make his way back to the surface and back to his normal life until she needed him and sang to him her song once more.
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by Shade on November 25th, 2011, 8:15 am 
