by Miro on March 31st, 2013, 5:39 am
Miro redirected the Djed Flux from his legs to flow into his arm and follow Rayage's Res. He was ready to use his aura of Res to put out any fire, but Rayage had once again made him proud. It was time that the wizard saw what his apprentice could do to cause some damage. Yet again, his student used fire, by far the Ice Reaver's least favorite element. When the spell exploded, he attempted to adjust his Flux to follow it, but it was too quick. He came up short, and indeed felt the pain of fire searing his flesh. He quickly released the redirection due to the shock. Though it was agonizing, unable to brace himself against such a pain, he still found himself grinning.
"You are learning to channel your will into personal magic, but you are only just coming to understand the meaning of your words." Miro called his Res to surround the burned flesh and become cold water. He ran his Res across the area and attracted the water to follow. The cool water massaging the wounds was quite soothing. As they walked he continued to cool the water until all his magic was spent. It was a lesson well done.
Ender hovered back to Miro and changed to his sealed form in his master's hand, who then proceeded to reform his ice bracelet. "You make me sick. Burning us just to spite me and show just how much more you value this man. We have been together for so long now, yet further down you cast me. Am I worthless with my lack of your precious magic? I have come to accept your magic and embrace it, expecting it would protect us. Yet you choose to be burnt still. You do nothing but show me how worthless I am in your eyes and spite me. I will make you to pay for treating me like this, and I will tear your mind apart if you do not cease this behavior."
Miro scoffed, his Familiar had everything twisted. Plus, Rayage was going to give them a gift, and gifts from a wizard could be quite useful. Quite powerful even. Who could deny a friend like that? Not Miro, not even if he tried. Uldr made sure of this. "Ender, you have everything wrong. Give and take my friend, give and take. If Rayage has taught me anything, it is that change requires sacrifice. If our sacrifice inspired a positive change in my apprentice, it was well worth it." The Chained One looked at his changed body. He was given the gift of unlife with a powerful fate and purpose. A god to serve above all else.
"I will receive much more in return, you wait and see. Those who can not stand to be useful to me are meant to serve. This is what Uldr has willed of me. I am meant to gain power in his name, and I can not help but to dominate those too weak to be able to further my cause. You need still to accept what we are, and to work with me, not against me. I am your master, and if you resist, you will be dominated too. That is the only way it works. Besides, by now you are more than used to the pain we encounter." Ender was not quite a burden, just too critical. What little advice he offered was constantly eclipsed by contempt. It was not in the wizard's nature to just take insults.
"If you do not wish to hear me, then I will say nothing. Do not expect anything from me until you are able to appreciate my worth." To this Miro smiled. "Nothing would please me more." Though he doubted the Irylid would hold his tongue long, and he doubted his Familiar would make him as proud as Rayage had. In a matter of days, his apprentice had already found himself a small fortune of power, but still had far to go in learning to respect it.
"You know, you are lucky Rayage. I do not teach like a child, but a proud wizard. So far it is working out quite well too. Perhaps you would be interested to know that it took me seasons to be get as far as you have. And all that you have come to realize with Reimancy, I have guided you to. Even the things that seem you have found on your own, I led you to them. That surefire technique I spoke of, it is sticking Res. And it is easiest at close range, or touching, ideally. I brought you to understand this lesson. Even when your body is bound, your mind and Res are not. If you were to have things your way, we would have turned in early."
Miro scoffed at how easy his student had it. His own training was not so quick and gentle. It was long, slow and brutal at times. He could not learn a technique until he had the basis down and the discipline needed to handle it. The Flux, it was the most brutal, and it required the most self-control. Training required him to push his body to its limits, and to sense each part of him on the deepest level. "For seasons, I was trained in only the basics. Only making Res, only attracting elements, practicing manipulating the substance. I learned unity with my body, inside and out. Martial training, day in, day out. If I were to talk back, say it was impossible, insult my mother's teaching, I had a punishment. If I was lucky, I was only beaten. Now I respect you enough to warn you of your faults, ya know, so you might find discipline on your own. However, that mouth of yours will get you into trouble. Show weakness of the mind again and I will toughen it for you. Disrespect me again, I'll show you the meaning of respect."
The Nuit was still but a child in the true way of personal magic. He would have his eyes awaken at his own pace, unless he only cared to keep them closed. Then they would need to be ripped open. "At least we can agree on one thing, Miro, my cruel master. This corpse lacks refinement and gratitude. You have only half-given your gift, have you not? What was it you told me before, ever so many times? If it were not for your mother's strict training and discipline, all of the punishments and beatings, you would not be able to handle your magic. Do not let your mother's lessons die with her. Without that discipline, you will spoil his mind and soul with power he can not handle." And the Chained One knew just how right his Familiar was.
"Maybe you are onto something there, Ender. He needs now to learn to tame the fire I have lit inside of him. But he is not a child like I was. I am not his mother, and I can not put him in time-out. All I can hope to do is show him fire burns and power can destroy. Show him why our training is so wild and hard. It is so that in application, it is tame and easy. Thank you for this, though we both know you just want to see me hit him." Miro laughed, seemingly to himself. "When you're right, you're right though. He has been leading himself towards a Flux fist. You won't mind if the punch hurts us a bit, right?" His mouth turned out a smirk.
Rayage was leading the to one of the most magical places in the entire Citadel, Lab 45E, the Alchemy god-lab. The place Rayage called home, more or less. And if the gift was to come from here, it was bound to be good. "Here", the Nuit said, as he gave him his gift. It was worth a chuckle. Miro took it in hand and was speechless. It was a beautiful robe, and a damn heavy one at that. The fabric was cold and hard like steel, yet still behaved as cloth. He did not hesitate to replace his current robe with the new one. As it moved, it made a metallic slinking noise. The shiny silver fabric and black symbol on the back, it was a masterpiece. Truly worthy to protect his body.
The undead's old black robe dangled in his hand. It was of the clothing created by Uldr and given to him. But he had no place to store it, and was somewhat special to him. He held the garment out to Rayage. "Here, take your master's cloak. Treasure it, keep it safe. It was given to me by Uldr, so it is special. Let me meet your gift with something of equal value." The robe was nothing special, from what he could tell, but it did mean something to him. Sure giving it to his apprentice was a way to take it off his hands, but it was also a way to keep it safe.
Once again he looked over his new robe, now on his body. It was like wizard armor, a great gift. "Thank you. Truly it is a great gift. But, I fear the calm will be short lived. We have so much work ahead of us. It has become apparent to me just how much of a handicap your Nuit sluggishness is. The only way around this is the Flux, and you are far from ready for that. You lack understanding of your body, and you lack discipline. We will work to change this, but it will take time. You need a lot of training, and that comes only after lessons." There was a lot of ground to cover, and the sooner they started, the better. A quick lesson and introduction could go a long way towards a powerful realization.