The Rite of Right (Miro)

by **Rayage** on November 29th, 2012, 12:52 am

Fall 5 512 AV

Dusk came over the land filling the sky with violet and orange streaks, the dying breath of today. Though worry not, for in the promise of tomorrow, today is reborn, and in that days death and when darkness covers the land the moon promises another tomorrow. For without one there surely wouldn’t be the other, right? That was not how the world worked. The world has a tendency of working in cycles, great circles and chains of cause and effect, action and reaction. Therefor it shouldn’t surprise any observing individual that world magic would work much the same as it does interfere with the worlds normal flow of djed.

Though today it wasn’t exactly the most ‘worldly’ of world magics that the wizard was preparing to use. No, it was a much more personal style of world magic, one which has the power to affect and warp personal energies which flow within. This magic was called Glyphing. He was preparing for the arrival of a much younger wizard, Miro. He was a practitioner of personal magic, mainly Reimancy but the kid had a soft spot for learning, and… with that kind of talent which the wizard possessed who could resist not sharing a thing or two to make his life easier in the long run? They were all taking risks using magic. Magic was serious business, and he wondered just how much the other understood about that. Rayages way was a way of caution and foresight, but to be truly prepared he needed to get even more skillful in the arts which he already possessed. That will take time, practice, and most importantly patience.

Pacing back and forth within his pavilion, shadows flickered from the candles which were lit within for it would soon be dark, but the nuit needed no rest. He could work throughout the night without rest, unlike the mortals which he was surrounded by. He had got the impression that they were not the most impressionable bunch, but they left him well alone, staying away from his pavilion for as much as they could. They didn’t trust him, but that was the curse of living just one too many lifes, or perhaps having a history of switching bodies… of which he point that because he was nuit he was treated differently, but because he was an authority on alchemy, a magic no one really has understood since Pycon and Sahova, he was treated with a fair amount of respect.

Receipt :

by **Miro** on November 29th, 2012, 1:09 am

Miro approached the large tent Rayage resided in, it was impressive, but the boy preferred the stars. The tall entrance was secured from the inside, but that was not what halted him. On this day, he had a reason to be here, a dark one. It was a secret he had hoped to perfect, but such secrecy kept it perfectly untapped. He could feel the taint in him, never feeling quite as whole since. Even now, his connection to the Djed around him troubled his mind.

The weeks of soreness, nightmares, the long fight towards acceptance. It warped his mind, only able now to combat the damage. Infected with monstrosity, it was what he begged for, what his partner forbade, yet he ignored such pleas. The Squire closed his eyes, centered his mind and opened his body up. Every muscle relaxed, opened itself to the world, drew it in gently. His soul produced a siren's song to the energies of the world, and slowly, it filled him with its music.

Darkness crept into his mind as he drew in the slightest amounts of Djed, reliving the pain in flashes of horror. It unsettled his stomach, causing him to hunch over and moan slightly. It felt dirty to take Djed in such a way. Somehow the energy felt wrong, foreign inside him, like it didn't belong. What was he? What had the Nuit done to him? He had to find these answers, to find why any would wish this on him.

Miro reached down and grasped the tall grass that covered his ankles. Again, he closed his eyes, but now focused on his hand. Unlike any other personal magic, he would center his mind around drawing Djed in, rather than releasing it. He envisioned the bonded Djed within the grass, its very substance, a link of energy, all his now. Desperately, he wanted to take it, hurt it like he had been hurt.

The Leecher reached his grasp deep into the green grass, pulling everything in that made it grass. From its name, to its color, to the sunlight it had drawn in all day, he claimed it his own. In a flash, it wilted, browned, then crumbled, but a drained husk of its former self. Now it felt as he did, though inside him the taint only grew, but how little the grass provided. Its death did so little for him.

Inside of him, he could feel it reside, the sickness. It was stolen power, an insult of relying only on his own strength, as a personal wizard should. But also, it was the twisted way it felt inside of him, to feel as if he was not whole. If he absorbed Djed from all of the grass in camp, would he turn green as well? He could only wonder how long before the balance shifted, before he less of himself and more of everything he took in.

Miro stood, shook his head of these doubts. Rayage knew better than to curse him, and more than that, he wouldn't harm the boy. There was a reason for what he did, a control he was meant to find. It was like his Reimancy, needing some time to learn of its gift. It was still fresh in his mind how he treated his mother after she forced initiation on him, and how he appreciated it now. Best not to make the same mistake twice and treat the man poorly.

"Turn away, I beg of you. Already he has done this to us, so please, do not further our suffering. You feel the sickness inside of us, just as I do. We do not need his medicine, for it will come at a cost too great. Turn away, and do not think of turning back." As if there was a medicine, as if magic was so easily undone. But the creature had it part right, the answer to magic was often more magic, his great cost.

"Hush, Ender, please. The key to staying safe from magic is understanding magic. If you don't want to enter, I understand, but I need to do this, for us. When I was young, my mother forced a similar pain on me. It was my initiation into Reimancy. I was only a child, and because of the pain, for two weeks I didn't speak to her. The only person in this world I knew, I ignored. But as I grew older, that pain she inflicted on me, it became my greatest strength. Understanding and acceptance will heal all wounds, even this."

Miro brought his left wrist up to his mouth, the icy bracelet that contained his sealed Familiar. He gently pressed his lips to it, then pet it a few times. It was unclear to him why he felt so nurturing, to treat him like his mother had, but it comforted the boy greatly. Hopefully somehow the feeling extended to the summon, for his actions would only build tension further. Their relationship had hit a snag, but it was not one beyond mending. At least now the boy acted with careful consideration and sincerity.

The wizard rapped at the cloth a few times. Uneasy nervousness built in his chest. It was unlike him though, to be so nervous with one so familiar and trusted. Some might say it the truest and most proper bond between wizards, but not Miro. Wizards were people, just more powerful people, in most cases at least. It did not take the ability to transmute one's soul to fire to burn a home. Any with a torch and ill intent could achieve just that.

After a few prolonged moments the boy was admitted entry, which he gladly accepted. The inside of the tent smelled of sweet decay and Alchemy, a sure sign that Rayage had been there too long with no contact. "Ah, Professor, how are you today? Is that perfume I am detecting on you, or perhaps you stepped in something on your way in. Whatever it is, really working to fight off the stench of death."

Miro smiled a toothy grin, one that revealed his fangs. How he loved those snarky remarks. His nerves settled, and his eyes turned a deep blue, something was different. Still his body remained open to absorb environmental Djed, but in here, how much thicker it seemed. For a moment it was slightly overwhelming, the surprise of drawing in so much more, but he quickly adjusted.

So far, he had done little more than practice his unfocused drawing, only turning to focused Leeching on inanimate targets or plants. The air was thick with magic here. All the more reason for "Pulsers", as the corpse would say, to stay away. In a way it was refreshing, but at the same time, that sickening feeling crept into his mind. He wanted to cut off the intake, but no, NO, he couldn't. Turning away meant ignoring progress, something he could not stand to do.

Miro approached the Nuit Alchemist and bowed his head slightly for a moment. It was time he pressed through everything and got to why he had come. "You seem as if you were expecting me. Perhaps it goes without say, you know, why I am here." The boy raised an eyebrow, then placed a hand on the man's wrist. He concentrated again, hoping to pull from the Nuit, to take his precious Djed.

Though he incited the drain, to pull inward with all he had, nothing happened. He tugged harder, focused on the connected flesh deeper, but still, it was as if the flow restricted to be blocked entirely. The wizard had hoped to show his intention without speaking it, but it seemed some form of blockage prevented it. "Well, maybe I can't show you why I am here, but I still will not speak it. People like myself hold secrets very dear."

by **Rayage** on January 9th, 2013, 12:16 am

It was but moments before he was mentally prepared to start the first glyph, then he heard not a knocking sound, but… the sound of fabric being pounded on, much like a woman cleaning rugs with a switch. That must be Miro. He had the knack of showing up just at the right time, or perhaps odd and weird time. That was for someone else to decide. Whoever it was, whatever it was, the elder wizard moved towards the tied flap and unraveled it, untying the knot and quickly allowing the boy entrance. Stepping aside he gestured that he could come in, and once admitted the nuit quickly tied the entrance once again.

The youth started off with an off-putting comment, the grin he held only further cemented the sarcasm that the professor beheld within the statement. He chose not to answer, but quietly observed him with critical eyes. He could feel a slight circulation in the djed within the air, it was moving, if ever so faintly, towards the boy. It wasn’t a physical sense, no, but more of a magical one, one that every wizard possesses at some point in his career. It seemed that the boy was drawing ambient djed towards him and claiming it as his own, Leeching the very environment, or so he could assume.

Miro continued to talk, going on about assuming purposes, and guessing what the nuit was thinking. It was all too amusing to him, but the boy had a light humor about him, something almost catchy, almost. The alchemist continued to watch idly, but things were not as passive as they looked. Under that stare his brain was turning thoughts out, examining and picking him apart. Under the almost blank stare there was something more, a spark of immense intellect and it all seemed to be concentrated on the boy. In effect, Rayage was all ears, though there was more than a subtle understanding to his actions. It all had meaning, everything did. It all goes back to the basic law of cause and effect, action and reaction…

Attuning his senses as he connected with the djed himself, his immersed himself in the subtle understanding of the aura. Slowly as he concentrated, training his powers onto the lad before him things started to become clearer. Colors started to appear and drift off his body, with that sending a not uncanny understanding of what was happening around him. The aura appeared blue around Miro, and there was force acting upon it. A weak force, but visible in the spectrum of color nonetheless. He focused more, actively digging for deeper understanding, the color became less translucent and even more visible around the boy. With this degree of sight he was able to see another color enter the picture, a darker color, almost maroon but not. It lined the edges of the boys aura, more and more, a thin line, but it got thicker with Miros active concentration. It was being drawn to him, and then, every now and then, a little sliver would enter his aura, becoming surrounded and eventually absorbed. Though even though the wizard had claimed dominance over that little fraction of djed, it still wasn’t the perfect blue color of Miros icy aura. It was different, it stood out, it was a darker shade…

As he continued to stare at it impressions started to surface in his mind, nothing too profound, but he began to see the aura less and actually start experiencing it. No longer was he just passively observing it, but going into the realm of feeling and symbols. There was a chill that crossed him, but it was a magical feeling, the impressions of auristics. Every time the nuit had used it he could very well see what he wanted, but the real information came as a sort of ‘knowing’. The chill of the aura he was reading felt and reminded him of ice, though it wasn’t frozen, but fluid, profound, energetic, never static. It was a hint to the boys personality, but he didn’t want to dig into that.

Shifting his attention elsewhere with quite some strain he slowly found what he was looking for. Sifting and sorting through the many impressions he got, the nuit stopped when he felt an all too familiar force. It was like a sickness spreading through the young mages being, or perhaps it felt like fire instead of the icy energy that he was used to. This fire spread throughout his soul, changing and warping, consuming and allowing him to claim, to steal, to burn the djed of others right off of them so can claim it for himself. There was a sickness of the soul, and it was rising, growing steadily with each use of the forbidden power. It twisted and turned inside the nuits mind, this black fire ignited in the soul, unable to be extinguished ever again, weakening the host to which it belonged to. Ray too carried the same burning disease within him…

A simple touch brought him back to reality. The younger wizard had grabbed the nuit by the wrist. The alchemist hadn’t noticed Miros movements for he was too caught up in his own mind analyzing and reviewing everything which he was feeling and had felt. Rayage was amused by the attempt as he felt a slight, all too slight, tug at his djed, but yet the younger one couldn’t take from him, ”Why yes, we all have our secrets to bear, now don’t we, young master Miro?” he asked moving his wrist, trying to break the connection between the two before taking a couple steps backwards, ”You caught me in the middle of preparing for tonight’s lesson.” he told him, ”I do not have anything prepared for you, but…” he put a finger up, ”We could turn this into a lesson itself, now couldn’t we?” he asked.

”I’d like you to draw some glyphs,” he said, ”You can do it in the dirt, or with paper, I care not the method. We then will practice empowering them, or maybe review the basics of glyphing once more?” he offered unable to decide on a concrete plan, ”Paths, Triggers, Switches, things like that.” he waves his raised hand in the air as if dispelling smoke that came to his face. ”With that, we can then practice our art, and I can try to answer any lingering questions you might have about what exactly happened to you.” he told him, trying to come up with plans off the top of his head, especially with magic, was a little more complicated than impromptu casting. Such carelessness could lead them to disaster.

by **Miro** on March 3rd, 2013, 1:20 pm

Miro was eager to get on with the lesson. He knew what had happened to him, and now just needed to learn how to master it. "Let us not bother with petty issues and understanding the subtleties of what has already happened. I am looking to make sense of what is to come next, so please, let us focus on that." Somehow it was easy to lock up the real pain and tension he had inside. These feelings were suppressed for now, but building. His Familiar was still damaged, and his Djed seemed to suffer from it. He could sense that Ender needed to be taken care of, somehow knowing just what he needed. They had sustained deep damages from being introduced to the art of Leeching.

Since then, they had issues with their communication, a serious problem for their relationship. The wizard waved a dismissive hand to the Nuit and left him for a moment. Miro began to emit Res from his hands and shaped it into a cube on the ground before him. The Irylid was melted from his arm and fell into the mass, the outer layer transmuting to thick ice, while the inner would become water so cold chunks of ice began forming. An instant feeling of calm relief washed over him, and he was sure his Familiar was at peace.

Miro returned to the Nuit and once again produced Res, this time creating three plates before him on the table and transforming them into rock. He snatched a charcoal stick and began to draw a focus on the first plate. A circle, and a symbol inside of it. From the bottom left side, a line that went up and right, curving upwards as it went, but then taking a sudden right turn at the top to sit flat. Then he reproduced the line opposite it to cross near the bottom, though it curved at a different angle. In the center of the lines above where they crossed was a nook of sorts. The wizard drew a small circle with the slightest dash he could manage spouting from its top. The rune was repeated twice more onto the other plates, finishing his Glyphing after only a couple chimes of concentration.

The Reimancer placed a hand on the first glyph and his other on his head. He focused his Djed in his hand to push and emotional response of apathy into the rune. It was a simple enough emotion to produce if one did not feel like trying, and slowly filled the magic container. He then moved his hand down the line and repeated the process, and each grew ripe with Djed. Using the ability left him feeling mentally fatigued however. "There," he said with pride, "I am done, and ready for your next lesson." The boy smiled at the corpse, eager to advance to ridding himself of the stolen Djed. "Do show me all that can be done on gathering Djed so we can switch our focus to casting it."

by **Rayage** on May 4th, 2013, 2:17 am

The nuit watched the boy and smiled at his ignorance. Though it was more than ignorance, it was a willing ignorance. The boy had told him that he doesn’t care to make sense of the past, but to move forward to the future. If one does not learn from the past, he will be doomed to make the same mistakes again and again, over and over, until the lesson is learned, until the lesson is learned. How many times will it take for the boy to learn this lesson? Rayage, well, he does not know, as everything was up to how Miro perceived the world around him. Perception was a powerful force indeed, and its very presence was the stage on which change performs.

After all, both ignorance and understanding were forces he could take advantage of, and both reside within the boy he was talking to. In terms of life experience Ray had most people beat, and with that experience came knowledge, understanding, insight into the human condition, and all people are all too human for Rays liking. Humans though were predictable. They act upon whims and fancies and so did this young one before him. It amused him to no end that despite all their differences, fundamentally, all humans are the same, born inherently with the same mind, the same evils which pollute the races integrity. Flawed things they were, and the sad thing is that Ray himself was once, and still is human. The human condition still exists within the long dead heart of the nuit, and it was that state of being which made him weak but also it was that which kept him alive for centuries.

The Alchemist watched Miro transmute the stone, and he nodded, focusing on the boy. His mind focused both inward and outward at the same time. The object of his new obsession was the boy in front of him, but it also existed within his mind as the nuit began to tug on the djed, chipping bit and bit of it off of his soul, a blood sacrifice, payment for the insight he was about to gain. Magic had a sort of equivalence to it, the more you pay, the more you get, the less of yourself you have, the more of the world that is at your feet. Power, all power, had a price, and it was the wizards very mind and soul which he paid with, willingly. Such insanity, such devotion to control, such horrific things these beings called wizards must be.

The djed he paid was the toll for the magic of Auristics, a magic which let the wizard tune into the world, pick up on its thinly veiled secrets, the things which were out of sight, but not out of mind. The magic was sort of a synchronization to the world, the auras shadows of everything which was the object of the wizards interest at the moment. At this moment the subject was Miro before him, and using the proxy-sense the mind itself began to interpret what he was really ‘looking’ at. Through this magic the wizard had but a glimpse into the subjects very soul, their very core, even if it but the outermost layer auras never lie.

As Miro worked his magic the nuits passively observed, watching intently, but more so focusing on the boy specifically. His gaze was strained and his djed tugging more and more, the price seeming to multiply as he sustained his heightened state of being, his ability to look into the truth of the essence of the person. Rayage was intrigued in what he found. There was pain, a tension within him. Colors of a darker nature lifted from the boy, and he could almost feel the inner conflict raging within the wizard. He was conflicted, feeling almost trapped, sick, but for what? These were powerful emotions and they do not come about unprovoked, being a hypnotist Rayage knew that for a fact.

Chimes passed by like seconds as the nuit examined and tried to dig deeper and deeper, and the more he concentrated the more he seemed to lose himself within the physic visions, feelings, emotions that he was picking up on. The more his reality seemed to fade away, the more he seemed connected to the boy, and the further he dug the further he was aware that… that the problem was…

Though Rayage could feel the answer was just right there for the taking, he was busy sorting through the torrent of information he had connected to when Miros voice brought him back. The wizard lost concentration and was brought back to reality. The sudden jolt made the Professor seem as if he was just waking from a trance-like state, almost dazed, and it took him a chime to collect himself.

”As you wish.” Rayage said, standing down from forcing his own ideals on his student. In fact, it might be better if Miro learned the lesson on his own, yet Ray had little hope of the boy figuring out such concepts by himself. He seemed a bit immature, one to act first and think later, especially with magic as was seen with his almost every day use of Reimancy. It was almost reckless, almost irresponsible. It was that which made Miro dangerous, and it was that which Ray was weary of.

”As I explained when I initiated you,” Ray began, ”Leeching is a powerful magic which allows one to syphon djed from magical resources, such as those glyphs.” The nuit motioned to the glyphs which the wizard had just filled with magical power, ”Though, what people do not realize is that Djed is everywhere.” Ray smiled, ”You are made of djed, that glyph is filled with djed, that rock is filled with djed, and the very air is filled with djed. With this magic, Miro, you can draw from the very earth itself, and that is a powerful battery as every last ounce of djed counts as you should know when it comes to magic. However, what you do with the djed you obtain is up to you and your magic, the situation, your needs at that individual moment.”

”Right now, the sky is the limit, but one day, one day Miro we shall grasp the sun itself.” Rayage reached for the sky, ”Though for now, practice and dedication, the exploration of magic in and of itself is needed for the understanding of exactly how to reach beyond. You understand why such intimate knowledge of the arts is necessary?”

by **Miro** on May 5th, 2013, 11:41 pm

Miro found himself a bit annoyed with the lengthy explanation Rayage provided, but it contained useful information. Most of what said implied he thought the Reimancer daft, and that was what really irked him. "Yeah, I get it Ray, you can drain Djed from anything. But a rock doesn't have much Djed, and neither does the air, but every last bit counts. I am not an idiot, I know magic, especially personal magic. You may learn a thing or two if you care to listen. The only words of substance were that Glyphing could be a source, and that I still need practice. But given that you had me waste Djed in a glyph in the first place, it did not take a scholar to figure that out. And ain't nobody gotta tell me that practicing personal magic makes perfect. I've been training harder than anyone you've ever met for my entire life. Geez, corpsey, I am not some fledgling apprentice! Stating the facts works just fine for me, okay?"

Ender remained resting, still trapped in his sealed form, but healing. It was difficult but he managed to speak a bit. "Please don't, just leave it be. He did this to me, to you, to us. I hate him, and all he has done. Please..." But the Familiar was hurt, just being sore, or so his partner thought. It was just his way, always blaming others, taking his problems and placing the weight of them on anything he could grasp at. Sooner or later he would learn to deal with things on his own, or else prove himself just a burden. The undead replied with comforting words, though in his mind he wished to scold his partner. At least he could understand the hurting they both felt. "Just rest for now, and do not worry. I will handle everything, okay? Just rest, soon everything will be better." Using telepathic communication strained his mind, and any longer and the faint thumping in his temples would turn headache.

The wizard found himself uppity with the Alchemist, but not out of contempt. He simply did not derive any pleasure by being treated as if he was of a lesser capacity. It just happened that in this one instance the old man knew something he didn't. Just because he did not know Leeching specific knowledge, that did not mean he lacked the founding principles of Djed. To him, it was likely that the Nuit could use a few learning sessions. Being as that were, he would indeed practice. The skill came naturally enough, unlike a great many things, it was etched into his soul. He took a single plate and placed it on the ground and stepped a bare foot atop it, then placed a hand on each of the two remaining plates.

With all three limbs, he focused on the plates, and in unison initiated the draw of Djed. He struggled for only a moment to maintain a constant suction between all of the limbs together, but the sensation was so enticing and sweet that he could not help but to drain harder, faster, more of the damned Djed. It swirled in through his body, twisting in his limbs, filling that empty place in his viscera, the parts of him that were taken by Rayage. But before he could truly get his fill, the stone cracked and gave him a start. The glyphs were drained dry, and the magic faded, resulting in the Reimancy's foundation crumbling. Their magic supply was reapplied to his own, though not in the same quantity as before, and definitely not of the same quality. After taking it in, the wizard crouched down and sat on the floor. He brought his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around them and began to shake for more.

The Leeching initiate still could recall how it felt to be on the other side of the leech, to be the stone that cracked. To be forced into a state of withdrawal, not from food, or air, water or anything so meaningless. Something vital to everything, even to the food or air or water, Djed itself. Taken of so much that he teetered on the edge of shattering and collapsing himself, all after being promised so much. Then brought back from the brink by the same face that had put him there, smiling, saying a gift had been given. That kind of hurt was deeply rooted, though logic soothed his mind. He was not angry with Rayage, though he did curse the rest of the world. As Rayage had said, everything was Djed, and it was his for the taking. The only thing seemingly out of his grasp, yet so full of the substance was the Nuit himself. It left everything else for him to clench ever so tightly in his hands and crumble to dust.

Still the wizard drew in from his surroundings, but craved so much more. "I understand why I must know the art intimately, but I can not do so like this. Draining my own Djed, scraps from the air, keeping it a secret. Do you expect me to wait years before I am to become intimate with this, or do you have something more in mind? He stood and walked close to the Alchemist, his hands clenched into fists, shaking before his chest. "Take us out hunting, why don't you? Trap or catch animals, children, something that won't reveal our secrets. Or even people, as long as we can dispose of the bodies. There are plenty around us, and none of the fools can reveal their death was caused by Djed being drained from their bodies. Ya know, I don't even think they would be able to identify the remains as human when I am done with them. Something, anything, c'mon, what do you say?"

Closed The Rite of Right (Miro)