by Miro on December 27th, 2012, 9:35 am
Miro smirked and nodded at all the Professor said, though his attention was divided. Rayage was going to start on the rock’s sigil, so he would steal away his open container of paint. It was fine, time to open a new one anyways. The Mixed Blood took another canister from his backpack and walked to the edge of the circle. Though he needed to ready his arm, that could wait until Rayage was ready to watch. For now the tablet could use some extra padding. When Reimancy was involved, one could never add too many barriers to a glyph.
It was a large plate of rock to work on. He made sure to create enough surface for proper preparation. It was easily ten feet across, which meant that he would need assistance to draw evenly. The Flux couldn't help him with drawing a perfect circle of this size, but perhaps Reimancy could. He had made a perfect circle with it once already, why not a second time? All he would have to do is make an outline to lay on top and transmute it to rock.
Didn't have to be big or fancy, just practical. He could manage that, it was in the interest of safety. Once again Miro held out his hands, his palms aimed down hovering above his canvas. He closed his eyes and flowed his djed through his hands and out as liquid Res. Didn't need a lot, but it would have to be the right size. The wizard pulled deep, allowing a bit more Res to gather before stopping the flow.
Pushing his limits on the spell to be glyphed was a bad idea, so he was careful. He needed to save djed, or else end up pushing it and risk overgiving. Miro opened his eyes and scanned the surface once more. He had an idea of how the barriers should look. Now it was just a matter of shaping his Res. ”I’ve got this,” he thought as he formed his Res in a loosely gathered band.
The wizard focused hard as he looked over the area before him once more. For the finishing touches he created sharp edges so it would hold a more perfect curve. Continuing on, he walked about the end of the plate, following his Res and perfecting it until he had come full circle. His template for the perfect circle turned out well, needing only proper placement in the center of the circle now.
Miro ever so slightly slid the shape until it looked right. Over all he was pleased with his work. His Res was about an inch thick and completely flat on both the top and bottom. He allowed a bit of room from the edge to allow work on his barrier and paid just as much attention to the size of his Res. It held a width of a few inches, both the inside and outside rims were refined to flatness as well, An even constant curve all the way around, a perfect circle. With one firm push of will the substance was transmuted to rock, his stencil finished.
With the trial of the perfect circle overcome, the wizard was now free to focus on drawing. He would need both an inner and outer circle, which the stencil was designed for. The distance between the inside and outside rim was just the right size, and with it made of heavy rock there was little chance of it moving about. Miro opened the paint and dipped his finger. He then knelt and began to run his finger across the inner edge..
Drawing with his Reimancy's help was quite easy. All he had to do was press his fingers up to the edge and move it along. When the paint began to run thin, he would simply add more and go over the faint part. After the inside was finished he started again on the outside. When finished with the circles, his stencil had little use. The circles still needed to dry, so he would wait to remove it.
Miro would not draw runes past the inner circle, but the outer one was meant for just that. The shape in mind for his barrier was a series of semicircles linked together. First a set around the outside, then he would remove the rock and follow up on the other side of the outer circle. After both of those were done, he would then fit in one last set on the inner line's inside edge. As for activating the release of each focus, that would require a bit more work.
A set of triggers and internal barriers to weave around the circles would be required. It was hardly simple, but he figured it possible, granted he could program correctly. In the past his triggers were difficult, never wanting to work just how he specified. Since the trigger's deactivation would be a permanent change, it only had to hold up until that point. To be sure it would work he devised a special new condition of activation. With the outer barrier still intact and the inner down, the spell could be released while still contained safely.
Yet again Miro applied paint to his fingers and eyed a spot to begin his barrier. For a moment more he devised just how big of a swoop to make. He placed his fingers and made his first swoop, then another, and another. One connected semicircle after another in chain, until he had made a lap. The outer barrier was completed with a mismatched smaller half circle to close up the shape. It was a good effort, but far from ideal.
"Okay, just one more time. I only need a bit. I want this sigil to be perfect. Well, perfect enough to earn praise. Rayage will love it, I just know!" Once again Miro held his hands out, this time flowing a slight amount of Res immediately. The liquid substance poured itself across the surface of the stone ring until well covered. The magnetic properties against the rock were activated and with it the will to raise the stone upwards.
Miro was very careful when moving to discard the chunk of earth, not wanting to lose control and strike Rayage. Very easily he guided his Res over the Professor and off the plate. When clear of danger, his Res released its hold and sent the stone to the ground. The fragile structure snapped into several chunks and scattered about the ground. He called back his Res to wrap itself about his wrist and moved carefully over the plate and into position.
This time he did not hesitate to begin on the design. Before he even positioned himself, his fingers were wet with paint. Again he viewed what he had painted. Two lines a few inches apart in a circle, and around the outer lines outer edge a series of semicircles about it. Just as he had imagined, so far it was going well. The next part involved another set of semicircles, but this time opposite his former series.
Rather than create full circles he would start in the center of a semicircle and move to the center of the next one in line, then follow the trend. He took a moment to eye the amount of area between the two lines, knowing he could not go more than halfway across the space. Then he started with the first swoop and continued full circle and brought the shape to a close. It took slightly longer this time around.
One last time Miro readied up for a lap of painting. It was getting a bit tired, but he would continue on. This was the easiest part and would bring the barrier to a close. He lined up his finger with the parallel half circle on the outside. The amount of space left was clearly defined by the previous markings. The wizard carefully drew each swoop to near the border of each line and made his pass.
The Mixed Blood wiped the dripping sweat from his forehead with his left hand. It was only a simple barrier, yet it took so much time and focus. He hated drawing shapes so close to crossing."Is a simple drawing really worth so much time and effort? You continue to drain our djed, and for the most pointless things. This man, if you can even call him that, he will cast you aside like your transmuted Res."
How the constant barrage of insults wore on the boy. He could take any number of insults directed at him, but accusing the Professor of ill intentions was not something he could accept. "Ender enough! I'll give you a fact and an opinion to shut your mouth. Fact: your complaining gives me a headache. It’s too much! Opinion: Professor Rayage is a great man, and my personal hero. Don’t you get it? Somebody that awesome deserves our respect."
Miro stood and turned away from Rayage and the plate. For so long he had put up with everything Ender had said. The agreement to treat him like a partner only meant so much. Shale was right when calling him naive. So far he had gained little but a headache from his dabbling in Familiary. The summon that rest on his left wrist, it was a burden, not worthy of being his equal.
Morwens gift had the benefit of keeping Ender comfortable, yet another perk he enjoyed leeching off of Miro. It was one he was taking back. He grasped the sealed familiar on his wrist and tapped his Gnosis to melt the ice that secured him there. The tiny frozen gem fell onto the palm of his right hand, still holding its sealed form.
"When you annoy me while doing magic you are risking our lives. You have no idea how hard it is to live for both of us. You may be content to sit by and enjoy watching everything pass you by, never casting magic, never taking risks, but I am not. You offer nothing but constant paranoia and risk to my life, like, like some sort of scar from overgiving."
Miro tossed the gem into the sky before him, expecting to see him return to his natural form and hover. Instead the gem just dropped in the grass and caused a surge of pain through his body. His mind spun in circles trying to realize what had happened. Ender just wanted to see him suffer, even if it hurt him just as well.
"Ngh, just ignore it. I just need to keep focus, help Rayage. Ender lacks discipline, he just doesn't understand. He can’t, not until he embraces what we are. It is time he learned what it meant to be a wizard, because it is the life he has to live." The kid shrugged off the last bit of anger and confusion to find a clearer mind. He still had a lot to sort through in his mind though. His bond was a lifelong one, so every decision held a lasting consequence.
Still he faced away, but had now decided to sit and glyph his arm. There was a lot to reflect on. He had needed to take Ender off to be able to glyph his left arm, but he would admit to throwing him out of spite. He had some idea of how the glyph should go, but still invented new changes by the moment. Improvements to every part of the sigil came to mind. It was the part of Glyphing he knew best
The wizards mind then drifted to the casting of his Reimancy. It would have to be streamed directly into the switch, so accuracy was just as important as the rate of the stream. As for an element, water was non-threatening enough. It could be quite the display, especially when magical.
The spell would be trapped and divided into 8 parts, meaning the energy put in as well as the amount of water would be divided. Each focus would hold an eighth the force put into the switch aimed directly up. He figured that the one stream of water would split into a several small fountains, if contained and released properly. It was certainly plausible, and even more it seemed safe.
By now the Nuit had finished with his part of the Glyphing, which meant he could finally focus on Miro and his self-glyphing. The boy turned to face the man and began speaking in his “look at me” voice. ”Alright old man, now I need your attention. Do note I said neeeed, so don’t even blink. You corpses don’t blink, right? Ah well, whatever, just watch. I will glyph myself, which can be very simple”
Miro slid his hand across the length of his left arm, displaying it clearly for the Nuit. ”This is my arm. Along it flows djed pathways, and when lined with barriers, it forms a path, a channel for djed.” A cocky smirk graced his face for a moment, spelling out the obvious could do that. He then held his hand and flourished his fingers. ”Guide those paths to focuses on your palm and fingers, and BAM, easy casting.”
Like he said, it could be simple. The layout was all the Nuit needed to hear. Actually watching the process of drawing runes, that simply was not going to happen. Nobody liked to be put on the spot or feel like they were being watched, it was unsettling, distracting. In magic, those were bad things. ”Okay, you learned, so shoo, I’m going to draw now. Perhaps to practice you can do the same. Just a rune on the palm works fine, honestly.”
Miro turned his body back away and dipped his fingers in the paint. For a moment he let them linger and collected his mind. One quick run through of his process, then he would get to it. This sigil would be a landmark in his career of self-glyphing. For the first time the entirety of his arm would be covered, shoulder to fingertips. The majority of his it would be a set of barriers in a path to assist djed flow. The paths would continue onto his hand and to special focuses for casting. Simple and straightforward, just how he liked it.
A few small drops of paint fell from his fingers and he moved them to his arm. He pulled up his sleeve and made a ring around his arm. It was a start. The Reimancer looked over what he would call the corner of his arms. Of course this referred to the top and bottom of both the left and right sides of his arms. Along those seams he would create a string of barriers to help conduct the djed within his arm.
So Miro started in on the top right part of his arm. It was simply the easiest to see and draw on. A series of small colliding circles from the initial ring all the way down to his elbow where he stopped. He replaced his paint and drew a circle across his elbow nearly thrice the size of the others, and it took up a great deal of space. The one circle easily took up over quarter of the space available on his elbow, just as intended.
The wizard continued this pattern, next the top left, then the bottom right, and finally the bottom left. When forming the circles on his elbows, he allowed them to intersect. The overlapping spaces between the larger circles formed ovals. The shapes were not perfect or symmetrical, but had a certain charm about it. Still, it was the easy part. The challenge would start with his hand.
From the ends of the larger circles, Miro continued his lines of smaller circles, this time down to his wrist. Much like at the start on his shoulder he formed a ring, in essence mirroring the barrier. As mentioned earlier, it was the easy part. Already he could tell djed flowing through his arm felt restrained, almost rushed and guided. It was tempting to test it with the Flux here and now.
But no, alas his glyphs would need to be in prime condition, and such use would taint their integrity. Weaving a focus and set of barriers into the shape of a hand was not a simple task. His work needed a certain flow and purpose, or else he feared the results produced to be inferior. It was simple enough to divide his hand into different shapes. His fingers were oblong and ovular, while his palm resembled a rounded square.
These shapes were simple, yet trying to meld and combine them to something more, that was far from easy. The natural beauty of the body was something he would take inspiration from, but it was not something he could match. Though the body was not created for beauty, but functionality, and that was something he could match. His sigil would work with the natural shape and flow of his hand.
Once again he walked himself mentally through the process. First he would start with the focuses, all six of them. They would align the fore of his hand, his palm and fingertips. Then he’d move on the paths. The back of his hand and fingers to guide the pathways from his arm and deliver them to their destination, the focuses. With things broken down he could easily begin to formulate the shape of each rune in his mind.
The basic container shape for each focus would be a circle. It fit both the palm and fingertip’s basic shape well, so that is where he would start. Miro held his left hand palm up in his lap while he replaced the paint on his right. Very carefully he drew one large circle along the outer edge of his palm, then five smaller circles on the last digit of each finger. It was apparent he could use more skill in circle drawing.
Though a few sloppy circles wouldn't slow him down. To finish the focuses he would fill the containers, a pattern came to mind. Circles were best filled with other round shapes, which lead him to the oval. Not just one, or two, but four. The boy applied paint once again and drew a vertical oval down the center of the circle on his palm, then another horizontally across it again in the circle. The remaining two he drew on an angle between the others.
Miro smiled down at his work on his arm. It was far from complete, but shaping up well. He was convinced that Rayage had finished his experimenting with self-glyphing and grown bored. He could almost feel the man’s eyes on him. Oh well, he was nearly done. The wizard dipped just the tip of his nail and recreated the ovular pattern on each of his finger’s focuses. The much finer drawing tool of his nail provided lines that were thin and better suited for the small surface.
”Alright, almost done! I am going to sleep like a bear in winter tonight. I wouldn't be surprised if I woke up with flowers blooming around me.” But for all of the mental fatigue building, the push to finish overwhelmed it easily. Just one last set of barriers, then he could finish up the plate and cast the spell. He replaced the paint and settled his finger on the side of his wrist at the edge of the barrier.
It was important to split the djed so that none of the focuses would be starved. The initial, biggest and most important was his palm. He drew a line from each side of the rune on his wrist to wrap around the palm’s focus and taper off before the fingers started. With his finger he went back over and reforged the line with his nail, periodically he drifted over the threshold into the focus, like a ribcage. Half of the energy would be sent directly to his palm.
From the same spots on the sides of his wrists he drew another similar set of lines. The first set framed the back of his hand and stopped shy of his fingers. It outlined the back of his mind much like the front, but that is where similarities ended. Where the palm was one, this was five. Between each of his fingers he drew a line down to the base of his hand, but when going through and reforging the lines, he brought the curved lines out to both sides, like a bare tree.
Final stretch, he could see the shapes in mind already. He turned his hand over to look at the front, the two open canvases below his focus, the perfect place to place a rune for stabilization. In fact, he had two open spaces on each finger except his thumb, that one he would draw larger. Similar to the barriers used to split and guide the djed up, he would draw a line that split off to meet each circle from both sides.
Together it would complete the sigil, his most impressive work yet. He may have held out on testing, but he would not when putting it into application. The slate needed a strong barrier for this one. It would be a most magnificent display of waterworks. Miro took his nail and drew in the designs, first the circles, then the lines to meet them. Immediately after he finished he was on his feet and turned to face his Nuit companion.
”Whaaaa-ooo-ooo-ooo, what is this?” Miro held his arm up and gestured to it with his right intensely, again flittering his fingers. ”It is only my greatest creation of world magic to date, that is all. So tell me, does it strike fear into that unbeating heart, or perhaps you are more the type to experience sheer awe?” His heart was in every word, if only to further convince him that his Glyphing held great power. Though his tongue and mind would agree that no truer words had ever been spoken.
Miro had completed his masterpiece, but now he needed to brace the target further. It was going to need one crazy barrier, and he had something in mind just for it. He wasted no time taking his paint and stepping onto surface to line himself correctly. Between the paths created by Rayage were a series of triangles, like it was meant to be. Extend the length of the triangles out a bit, connect them together to make a circle, fill it all in, perfect.
So he went to work on the form. He allowed a small amount of space between his triangle and the path’s outline and extended it out a few inches past the focus and repeated it for each of the eight spaces. After completing those he went through and drew a circular line to connect them all together. The result was a mix between an octagon and a circle, alternating between round and flat lines.
To fill in the triangles he drew another triangle within going the opposite direction. He smiled, immediately loving the new shape he had created. One large triangle had been split into what looked like three triangles stacked and one inverted within it. He continued the process within that triangle again, then a final time with his nail, before repeating for each remaining triangle. The barrier was complete, and now only his trigger remained.
Triggers, oh how confusing they could be. One was to instill a trigger condition into the rune, which was always a problem. In the past he had struggled endlessly with his phrases and conditions, but this time he had the answer. Between his two barriers at the topmost, bottommost, leftmost and rightmost focuses, he formed his shapes. Swirly circles which lead into the next in line to form their own swirly circle until all four connected.
The entire time programming Miro repeated the trigger condition in his head to firmly imprint the command into the shapes. It was simple, something along the lines of, “when this shape is struck release the inner barrier.” Finally, all of his hard work had paid off. Their glyph was a sight to behold. Every last bit of the tablet had been drawn on, and two of his containers of paint were taken as sacrifice.
”Okay, Mr. Professor, time for you to stand back. Daddy has some work to do, and it’s no place for children!” Miro smirked and turned his face away after realizing how strange the words sounded, but he would press on. He cracked his fingers and held his left hand up and out with his palm aimed above the plate. ”Just use the Flux to shoot my Reimancy up, then arc it down hard and transmute it.”
Miro drew in several deep breaths, each one more intense than the last. One final push, one last show, then oh sweet Morwen, how he would rest his bones. Of course the Professor would want him to do stuff, but that did not mean he couldn’t do them lying down with his eyes closed. His attention flitted across each of his limbs, a habit of tuning himself with his pathways. He knew just how much to pull and where to pull from, and even a curious idea.
The wizard tried something new, he clasped his hands together and focused on the pathways in his right arm. With a strong effort of will he forced a redirection of the streams in his right arm to his left, but not using his core as a channel, rather pushing it out of one palm and into the other. His left arm charged while his right went limp and fell to his side. It was amazing to experience, even causing his eyes to widen. He had no idea it was possible. Perhaps because of the focus on his palm, or maybe he was just getting good.
Again he rose his hand skyward, this time able to feel energy surging within. His entire arm swelled with djed for a moment before being cast out, at an impressive speed, as Res. It only took several ticks before he forced himself to stop casting, but, it just felt so good. No, they couldn’t be sweet whispers. It was just, no, it was the glyphs, definitely the glyph and the ease of casting. He had plenty of djed, he was sure of it.
Energy within his body was allowed to settle, so he tested his arms out, made sure they both worked equally well. He clenched and released his fists a few times, everything was fine. He was however breathing quite heavily, and his mind was telling him he needed to sit. ”No, just shut up, I am almost done. I can focus, I can do this, just, just...DO IT ALREADY.” Gathering his focus he formed the loose Res into a sphere and steadied it.
The wizard bit his lip as he looked over the switch once more to account for its size. Accuracy was the key here, as was control. If the focuses hit their limit, an excess of water would ruin his hard drawn glyphs, so he had to be careful. He forced a stream of just the right thickness down hard. At the last moment he transmuted it, not wanting any of it to have a chance of escape, until it was gone.
For the last bit, the switch sputtered, as if it was taking in too much at once and let a bit of water wash across the surface. Oh well, the paint had dried well enough. Or at least well enough that no immediate consequences could be discerned. The spell had disappeared, all but the faint wetting that gently drifted to the edges of the tablet. ”And there you have it! Ya know, all done and whatnot. The conditions to trip the trigger and activate the focuses require us to strike those swirly twirly circles.”
Miro walked over and grabbed the two empty glass paint containers and handed one to Rayage. ”I am going to need your help with this, so aim carefully. The goal is to throw one of these with a good amount of force and whack the trigger. I needn’t tell you how unpredictable magic can be, so really, expect anything. It may only be water, but I assure you, it has plenty of killing potential.”
The boy walked to the opposite side of the glyph as the Nuit and cocked back his arm. He grinned over to the man and flared an eyebrow upwards. ”You ready? Three, two, one...” With all of the excitement, he had almost forgotten his familiar. What could be going through the creatures mind?
