Flashback Initiation's A Bitch (Khal'iah)

[Aren]

"Your analogy is... apt," Aren was forced to admit. Khal'iah was clearly very intelligent, despite his youth, and it was a trait which would probably make him a competent mage one day. The question, however, was whether he was ready to be one today. Though the young man understood, Aren still saw an unhealthy lack of fear in his eyes. Fear was a good motivator and an excellent limiter, and as such having no fear didn't make you brave, it just made you foolish. Still, the younger Akalak's youthful enthusiasm was almost contagious, prompting the older warrior to smile at his response. Because of the boy's age and personality, Aren was forced to ask himself under which of two categories did his prospective student fall. Was he an arrogant idiot who overestimated his own abilities, or was he simply an inexperienced young man who wasn't afraid because he didn't know any better? The former would likely only ever realize otherwise when he saw his insides decorating his outsides, while the latter had much more hope. "What will you do, if I refuse? Will you go looking for someone else to teach you, despite my warnings?" Aren queried, teetering on the edge of deciding either way.

[Khal'iah]

When his senior admitted that his analogy was apt, the young Akalak did not permit himself a visual sign of satisfaction. That could possibly be interpreted as immaturity, smugness, or a combination of both. However, Khal'iah did give himself a mental pat on the back for conjuring an explanation that the azure-skinned warrior agreed with. Nonetheless, the conversation was far from over and once more the senior Akalak posed a difficult question to the young male. Just as before, silence ruled Khal'iah as he pondered his response, carefully selecting the words to say. "The course of this exchange has enlightened me to many things about this enigmatic art known as Reimancy." he began, "It is of great power, but also of great danger. It's usage is to be regarded with respect and discipline. You have warned me of this much. As such, you have set me down the path of seeking this art. Should you refuse to instruct me in the ways of Reimancy, I will heed the warnings you have presented to me, and I will diligently seek out the means in order to learn this art; taking with me everything you said to heart...although, I'd much prefer you to educate me in this art..." With that said, Khal'iah went silent once more. He pondered if there was anything else he should add? Perhaps pointing out that Aren had demonstrated a bluntness when it came to explaining about the art, one that robbed it of a mystical vagueness and made its dangers absolutely concrete? Or maybe he should have mentioned how he'd much prefer to be trained at the hands of one of his brethren Akalaks rather than some old wizard cooped up in a tower leagues across the world? Whichever the case...Khal'iah had spoken and now it was time to see if he would be accepted or rejected.

[Aren]

Aren frowned, before his index finger came up to Khal'iah's forehead and gave him a little nudge, "I'm not responsible if you get yourself killed, or disfigured, or whatever," the older Akalak informed him, now smiling warmly. Realizing that the young man deserved the benefit of the doubt, at least, Aren convinced himself that him doing it was better than someone else. The next person Khal'iah found might not be as warm and cuddly, or as trustworthy. Eyeing his new student, the blue-skinned warrior reached down towards his waist and pulled his Lakan from it's scabbard. Although he didn't generally wield the weapon in almost any capacity (despite the expectation of his own people), Aren thought using it for this ritual seemed somehow appropriate. It was forged of blood and djed, after all, and these were about to become the themes of the day. "Hold out your arms," The azure Akalak stated, his voice sharpening alongside the motions of his body, "And prepare yourself, because this isn't going to be pleasant." Aren was ready to perform the initiation right here and now. It was best not to delay it and simply get it done, so that the student didn't have time to worry about it. At least, that was what had been done with him, perhaps because he was much younger and much more familiar with the process. This youth and familiarity might have led to anxiety regarding the initiation ritual, which is probably why Aren's mother had just sprung it on him one day, absent any prior warning.

[Khal'iah]

At first, the young Akakak interpreted the frown that formed upon his senor's face as an imminent rejection, and as such his heart sank ever so slightly. However, upon the instant that the azure-skinned warrior nudged Khal'iah's brow with his finger, his spirits skyrocketed! His senior was now smiling, though his words and warning about personal responsbility still stood. To this, the young warrior made no verbal response but nodded an affirmation excitedly. There was a brief gap between his senior's words, and within which the warrior reached for his belt and drew forth his Lakan. Khal'iah eyed the weapon with a hint of apprehension, wondering what in the world drawing the weapon had to do with training in magic...but he dared not comment on it. When commanded to hold out his arms, the young warrior immediately obeyed without question, steeling himself per the sharp words of his new Mentor. His shimmering eyes met those of the azure-skinned warrior and he then gave a nod. "Alright. I'm ready...for whatever this is..." His words were clear: he had absolutely no idea what an initiation entailed, but he was going to grit through the process to the best of his ability. After all, he had just given Aren his word that he would not falter, not in the slightest. Whilst anticipating his senior's movements, the young warrior drew calm, steady breaths, preparing himself for whatever may come.

[Aren]

"This is your Initiation. After this is done, you'll be able to control your Res, which is the form a Reimancer's djed takes," Aren informed his smaller kinsman, as he unstrapped the buckler from Khal'iah's arm. Gripping him by the wrist, he then proceeded to make five equidistant cuts on the inside of the young man's forearm, "These wounds will allow my Res to more easily invade your body," the azure warrior explained, before mirroring the process on the other arm. "As I said, this will not be a pleasant experience, but you must endure it. Now, kneel," Aren commanded, sheathing his Lakan and taking a couple of steps back. The whole invading of the body bit? This was the tricky part the Initiation. It was neither the most enjoyable of experiences, not was it very safe; a single mistake or errant thought on the part of the Reimancer and tragedy could ensue. Now, Aren might not turn out to be a great teacher, or even a decent one, but he simply refused to be so bad as to accidentally kill his only pupil the first day of class. Creating a large amount of Res, which exuded from his fingertips in a gaseous form, the Reimancer focused on the wounds he had made on Khal'iah's body. Every opening on the body was an entry point, but some additional gateways facilitated the process.

[Khal'iah]

When the azure-skinned warrior took it upon himself to loosen the buckler from the young Akalak's forearm, his eyebrows inadvertantly shot up out of sheer apprehension. A hint of unease gripped him, intensifying when his senior's firm hand gripped ahold of his wrist and the Lakan's blade dangled dangerously over his flesh. Nevertheless, he gave Aren a confident nod, as is granting the man permission he did not require to proceed. Five cuts. Five painful incisions were made upon the young warrior's forearm. However, he did not yelp, cry out, or scream. Khal'iah sucked in a sharp breath in response to the initial pain, then fixed his jaw closed and grit through the pain. His senior was far from joking when he said that it was going to be an unpleasant experience. Yet the young warrior was not kidding when he swore he would not falter and that he would succeed. Once the wounds were made, his Mentor stepped back and continued the process of Khal'iah's Initiation, focusing his Res upon the wounds that were open upon his arm. The flood of gaseous energies surged forth within the young warrior, prompting him to tense up even more. His hands were shaky, his neck twitched, yet he grit his teeth and continued to endure. His only hope, unexpressed by word of mouth, was that the unpleasant portion of his education would end. Swiftly.

[Aren]

Khal'iah had responded well to all the steps of the Initiation, including the invasion of his body by a foreign Res, but this second step was just beginning. In fact, it was about to get much worse. Aren had started off slow, but now the force and speed by which he would attack the young man's body with his Res would increase a great deal. Regretfully, it was another unfortunate necessity of the process the violet Akalak would have to endure. Increasing the flow of Res that was being exuded from his hands, Aren now also directed the substance to enter through the mouth and ears. He knew for a fact that it was a decidedly disagreeable experience, but the openings on his arms were only additional conduits. They were facilitators, not replacements, and now that this portion of the Initiation had begun, the effect that his Res would have on Khal'iah would magnify greatly. What those effect would be, however, even the teacher couldn't say; they varied both by student as well as by the Reimancer performing the ritual. Aren not being the absolute best at this particular discipline of magic, he had no doubt that his Akalak brethren would suffer much more than if he had chosen a more practiced teacher. Nevertheless, the process was now in motion, and it couldn't be stopped for such petty concerns (or at all, as far as he knew). Besides, Khal'iah was an Akalak: conflict was his birthright, and discipline his nature. He would endure, because he had no other choice... because he didn't know how not to. If there was one thing Aren could be certain of, it was of the strength that ran through both their veins. Had it been anybody else but a brother, who had asked to be Initiated with that same giddy enthusiasm and lack of fear, the matter would have been decided a split second after the question had been asked. "There will be times when you'll want to give in, when you think you no longer have the strength to resist, but you cannot allow yourself to surrender to those desires!" Aren cautioned, increasing the flow of his Res even more. "You must never falter, never waver, not even for an instant!" The Akalak ordered, again pulsing his Res into a higher intensity, no longer even sure if Khal'iah was in a state where he was capable of registering his words.

[Khal'iah]

Just as the mind of the young Akalak conjured the desire for his excessive discomfort to come to a close, the enigmatic force invading his body seemed to only intensify! At first, the alien sensation only dove through the bleeding incisions that were upon his foream, resulting in a high level of discomfort, and a minor pain that Khal'iah gritted himself through. However, the violet-skinned warrior was caught unawares by the sudden tsunami of force that assaulted his mouth and ears. The entirety of his mouth felt as though it had been lit ablaze, and that fire now traversed through the entirety of his system, wreaking unimaginable hurt upon the young male's body. His ears were pained as well, feeling as though an intense pressure had built up that threatened to cause his cranium to explode. It was extruciating to say the absolute least and the young Akalak almost lost his footing in response to the sudden assault, yet he regained his composure to some degree and stood firm. To even remain standing was an extremely daunting task that required every bit of strength the Akalak held within him. The pain was unlike anything he had ever felt before in the entirety of his days; he had felt the cuts of blades, the shattering of bones, the bruises of collisions, and everything in between...yet this was an entirely new realm of pain that caused his eyes to water. Then, for a fraction of a second, his mind did the unthinkable and toyed with the idea of quitting. The pain was so intense, almost unbearable, and his mind screamed for a release.... 'OI! Hold it together you damn weakling!' screeched an all-too familiar tone within the youth's mind, snapping him out of the stupor brought on by the pain. T'was none other than the dark, sadistic, passionate side of his being: Ha'lik, the second soul which resided within his own body. It was uncharacteristic of the being to even show a remote interest in the daily goings on that Khal'iah involved himself in, yet this...this involved their body, and if Khal'iah faltered, who knew what sort of damage would be unleashed upon them? 'You gave your bloody word didn't you? Focus. Grit through this you sack of shyte!' he roared, urging the young warrior forward in his own unique method of encouragement. Khal'iah grit his teeth together and clenched his jaw, a low groan escaping his lips. He sluggishly repositioned his feet so that he stood tall, his arms dangling at his sides. The park was nothing more than a blur of colors at this point...yet he could hear a voice aside from that which yelled in his head. T'was the voice of his Mentor, the one who had enough confidence in the youth to even pursue this test. He hearkened to his words and clung to them for dear life, pushing himself to endure. He had to, not just because he gave his word, but because he would not be defeated by such a measly foe as pain! Life was pain and this was no different! "I...." he breathed, his voice coming forth as a raspy shadow of its former self. "I will not quit..." He clenched his hands into fists and elevated his arms slightly. His head raised so that his eyes may focus on the heavens. "I WILL NOT QUIT!" he bellowed, steeling himself. Now he had it...he could endure. He would endure. No matter what.

[Aren]

Aren could tell that Khal'iah was nearing his breaking point. Not mentally, perhaps, but physically. The intruding Res in his body wasn't in there having a picnic and sipping on a nice brandy, it was wreaking havoc. It was doing something that would activate the recipient's ability to extract and manipulate his own djed, and that just could not possibly hope to be an uncomplicated process. Pushing the invasion as far as he dared, Aren suddenly retracted all of the Res from Khal'iah's body back in a single fluid stream of ethereal looking particles, reabsorbing it into his own. Once this was done, the Akalak took the opportunity to unceremoniously plump down on his ass, a profound sense of fatigue overcoming him. He had recovered his Res, but the interaction with an alien body had left the substance a pale shadow of it's original potency. Now that the ritual was concluded, however, all there was left for Aren to do was watch, wait, and hope. Well, he could also torture himself by thinking about the possible end results of their little endeavor. Was the young man dead? That didn't seem to be the case. Was he physically and/or emotionally scarred by the experience? It was too early to say. Had this concluded as a massive, colossal failure? Unknown, but it was certainly not an outcome far removed from the realm of possibility. There wasn't a whole lot of information to be had right now, but they would both soon find out if this had all been a terrible mistake. "How... do you feel?" Aren queried between laborious breaths, knowing that the answer to that question was both incredibly obvious, and extremely important. There could be no doubt in his mind that Khal would likely be feeling like battered crap at this point, but did he feel anything else? If the only thing he could sense within him was the profound suspicion that he had just been on the wrong end of an unprovoked beating... well, that was bad. On the other hand, if he could now feel something more, akin to an extra limb he wasn't aware he had before; that would have been a much better sign. Every Initiation was different, but a sudden awareness of something you always had, but simply hadn't realized you did, seemed to be a common theme in every instance of the ritual. As far as Aren knew, anyway.

[Khal'iah]

As he had boldly declared to the heavens, the young, violet-skinned warrior indeed refused to quit. Despite the agony populating the entirety of his being, he remained standing an endured. His jaw fixed itself closed and his teeth ground against one another. The veins upon his arms pulsated from how tightly he clenched his fists. Then, in an instant, the invasion of enigmatic energies receded: their rampage across his body brought to a swift end. In the wake of the Res' retreat from his body, there was a numbness that came to populate his being. It was that sort of numbness that immediately preceeded the tingling that one felt when a limb fell asleep. A low groan escaped Khal'iah's lips as he stood there, swaying for a moment. His Mentor took the opportunity to take a reprieve, and that seemed like a good idea... He swayed, and swayed, and swayed some more...before collapsing onto his back with a solid thud. Fortunately, his head did not smack against the earth and he was fine, save for the numbness, dizziness, and overall discomfort. Keeling over like that was sure to answer his Mentor's question. However, the thought popped into his mind that his fall might equate to death in the mind of his senior, so he forced himself to elevate his right arm and give a weak thumbs up. Khal'iah was okay and very much alive. Silence ruled the young man for a moment, as his arm dropped to his chest and rested there. He took several deep breaths and attempted to steady his wobbling vision. "Ugh...." he managed to stammer out before forcing himself into an upright sitting position. "Calling that an unpleasant experience was putting it lightly." he stated simply, his vision still a tad blurry and his body still numb; so numb in fact that he could already tell it would be beyond difficult to even attempt to stand at this point. However, the young warrior was confident that the blur in his vision, the numbness, and all that came with this unpleasant experience would pass...and he'd be well on his way to learning the art of Reimancy. "How'd I do?"