[Flashback] Wish on a falling star (Eridanus)

[Satevis]

It is an interesting moment when you first realize that you want something. Not a superficial want--wishing for an item you see in the marketplace, or for more money, or for some minor favor--but a deep want, something that resonates with who you are, or who you are becoming. Wishes such as those were the kind that drove men to make life changing decisions, to leave hearth and home behind in their pursuit. They tugged at your heart, forever nagging you in the back of your mind, driving you mad until you accepted them. More than a wish, they were a calling. When Eridanus wove the shield in front of him, the magic's faint glow illuminating the room only briefly, Satevis realized something. He wanted that. Not Shielding or Glyphing, per se, but magic itself. It was more than just a desire to learn more about his past life, or something he wanted to do on a whim because he was curious about. He wanted to learn magic. Without it, it felt like a piece of who he was was missing. Sitting in that hospital room, he understood what it meant when some people said they were born to be mages. Satevis kept those thoughts to himself, though, carefully raising his left hand. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, clearing his thoughts and searching for that spark of connection inside of him, the spark that Eridanus had told him about. He reached for it and channeled it, the action feeling so natural that he could have been born with it--which, he realized, in a sense he was. He opened that connection and did as Eridanus had instructed him earlier, willing for the time to move forward by one day, starting in the area about an inch away from his hand. He felt something. Satevis couldn't really put it into words, but something about the sphere felt...different. Like time, for a moment, had moved for it and only it. He opened his eyes, looking over at his brother. "Did it work?" he asked.

[Eridanus]

As soon as he saw the resolve build in Satevis' eyes, Eridanus began focusing on the shield he created, the tired djed flowing to his eyes as he kept an intense stare at the magical construct. The aura of the shield began to shift as the glyphs glowed in his vision, absorbing the mystical strength that the ethaefal summoned as he recalled his connection with Leth and the Ukalas.

Ever so subtly, the djed threads of the shield shifted, and its aura was modified accordingly. Eridanus could read the age of the aura, and the shield suddenly lessened in strength somewhat, having been aged by a full day.

Smiling, he added more djed to the shield, strengthening it to his formal strength as he rebuilt the construct. His eyes fluttering over the shield, he quickly rearranged and added several glyphs like before so that the shield was just as before, and he shut down his flow of auristics as he glanced up to Satevis.

"It seems that you have not quite given up on Leth yet," Eridanus remarked softly. "The only limitation is that you cannot use this power more than once on the same object per night. Go on, try again. Summon that strength again and use it like before, and you'll see what I mean."

[Satevis]

Satevis nodded at Eridanus's request. He extended his hand again, closing his eyes and attempting to grasp the same connection he had reached for earlier. He concentrated on the shield in front of him again, exhaling slowly as he tried to will its time to change, to allow power to pass from him into the shield. Nothing happened. He frowned, lowering his hand. The connection with Leth was still there. He could feel that. But this time, there was no subtle indication of something being different, no feeling that told him that his effort had changed something. "I don't think it worked that time," he said, looking at Eridanus for confirmation. So he could not use this ability continuously. Interesting. Satevis wondered at the reason behind that for a moment. He frowned, watching Eridanus. Something else the man had said disturbed him...something about the way he had spoken about Satevis's connection with Leth. "It seems that you have not quite given up on Leth yet..." "Eridanus..." he began, frowning at the other Ethaefal. "You spoke of my connection with Leth as if it were something that could be broken...Does that mean that others have lost their connections with their gods?"

[Eridanus]

Eridanus did not even have to use Auristics on his freshly revived shield to know that no changed took place. Perhaps he was kidding himself when he told Satevis to try it, but somewhere inside, a little bit of him hoped otherwise. That perhaps Satevis could be a special being favored by Leth who was able to continually call on that divine spark, and maybe in the process possibly serve as his intermediary to the Moon God.

Who was he kidding? Satevis was an ethaefal, just as he was an ethaefal. They were both Fallen.

Releasing his hold on the shield, he disentangled the djed threads on his shield, messing up the tasking pattern as well as rewriting the glyphs on the shield into dissipation instructions so as to dissolve the shield. It would not hurt to leave it on the ethaefal, but he believed that every piece of magic must be wrought with a purpose. When it has fulfilled its purpose, there was no reason for it to continue existing.

"You can," He replied gravely in response to his fellow ethaefal's question. "I have heard stories... of those who forsook their divine connection. A dark, sombre bunch they are. Still, they must have their reason for being thus disillusioned, and I know that I was once on the brink of it."

Averting his gaze to look at a random far off spot that obviously did not exist in this small room, he continued, "And even now I find myself continually questioning myself. The only thing that kept me going was devotion in other gods, as well as continued faith in our Father. There must be a purpose, a reason, to all these machinations. Fate is not random, it is simply the result of a complex mixture of variables. Cause and Effect."

Turning his eyes to look Satevis straight in the eye, Eridanus added, "And I must find out this reason, if I want to have any hope of seeing Leth or our old home in the Divine Realms ever again."

[Satevis]

Satevis exhaled slowly as Eridanus finished speaking, staring down at the ground. The other Ethaefal had given him a lot to think about. Besides the fact that his connection with Leth could apparently be broken, which was enough on its own. Others, in their anger, might consider such a thing a relief, but the thought scared him. He didn't like the idea that he could eventually become consumed in his own bitterness, forsaking his connection with the gods... But Eridanus had also reminded him of other things. Trust was one of the three tenets of the Benshira faith. Trusting that fate wasn't random, that the gods had plans that might not make sense at the outset but were part of a bigger picture. Trusting that there was a reason to everything. If he believed in that, than he had to believe that he was here for a reason as well. "You believe it's possible to return, then..." said Satevis quietly. It wasn't a question. He wasn't sure what he believed at this point. The faithful in him wanted to believe that there was a way home, that this was a trial that he had to pull through, but the academic in him was presenting him with cold fact. In the five hundred and seven years since the Valterrian, had any of the fallen returned except by death? ...No. That wasn't the way to think. Each day was new, each year was new. Something could very well happen tomorrow that hadn't happened in five hundred years. He just had to have enough faith to carry on. "...There is wisdom in your words," he finally said, looking up at Eridanus. "I am still new on this world. But if I can help in any way, I will."

[Eridanus]

OOCFinishing this since it's clear Satevis is no longer here.

The older celestial child shook his head gently, a tinge of sorrow in his resplendent gaze.

"You cannot help me, Satevis. And I cannot ask you to, for this is a personal journey of mine. Leth demands change, and as a child of change I must seek this personal transformation spiritually and mentally if I ever hope to gain his attention once more."

Glancing behind him at the door, Eridanus realized that the sounds of murmuring voices and shuffling feet was lowering to a standstill, and understood that it was late enough for him to leave.

"It is late, and as a visitor I must not infringe on the rest of the patients. I will take my leave, but perhaps if Fate so wish we shall meet again."

With that, he departed the room, the idea of another ethaefal being born here heavy on his mind. It would not be easy.

[Paragon]

Adventurer's Loot Eridanus's Loot : Eridanus Skill XP Reward Investigation +1 Rhetoric +1 Storytelling +2 Observation +1 Auristics +1 Medicine +1 Shielding +2 Socialisation +1 Interrogation +2 Philosophy +1 Running +1 Glyphing +1 Teaching +2 Lore: The Bells of the Ukalas, The Burden of Mortality, Names in the Stars, Helping A Kindred Spirit, A Personal Journey, Satevis: An Ethaefal, Satevis: Benshira Past Items or Consequences: Nil Satevis's Loot : Satevis Please PM me if you would like your grading - I have withheld it since you haven't logged in for 2 months. Shame this ended with Satevis dropping out, but fun thread - if you have ANY questions or concerns about this grading, don't hesitate to PM me.