Closed [The Institute of Higher Learning] A Request

[Valerius Nitrozian]

Fall 10, 513 AV Valerius Nitrozian had never attended the Institute of Higher Learning nor did he have any ambitions to do so. He was a graduate of the University of Zeltiva that was far more prestigious in his opinion. Despite being a typical Ravokian and follower of Rhysol in all other regards, he had come to realize that you could learn a lot more in the open and international atmosphere of Zeltiva than in a place like the Institute of Higher Learning that only allowed a select few access. He would have returned to Zeltiva rather than staying in Ravok for his research, but his work at the Kelvic Research Institution and his business with Amolina Moletta left him with no time to undertake such lengthy journeys. And thus he stood before what was one of the largest buildings in the City Center now. He could not help but admire it for a moment. The University of Zeltiva was great in so many regards, but the Institute of Higher Learning was an architectural masterpiece. The entrance that resembled one of Rhysol’s beasts was not after the Nitrozian’s taste though. In his opinion it was a bit too much. A normal gate would have done. He also wasn’t sure about the Ebonstryfe’s decision to temporarily blind every one that tried to take a look over the wall, but he would of course not criticize them openly. They probably had their reasons, as always. And thus he simply walked through the entrance and looked for somebody, anybody that seemed like he could be of help. „I am Valerius Nitrozian, the grandson of Lord Sitanos“, he spoke. „And I come with a request – no, a plea. I am looking for somebody that is familiar with the discipline of Voiding as I have been told that Voiding might have been involved in a certain event concerning my family.“ „I do not wish to study here, at least not right now“, he added. He was aware that he did not have the necessary recommendation with him. Nor had he visited the Vitrax. He hoped that his name carried enough weight and that the nature of his request would attract enough attention that they would allow him in though. As anybody who paid the least attention to the things that were going on in Ravok would know, Sitanos Nitrozian, the head of the famous Nitrozian family, had survived an assassination attempt this year. An assassin, an assassin with the strangest abilities, had entered a party that a lot of people that mattered in the city had attended and tried to poison him. „Will you let the Headmaster or the professors know that I am here?“

[Abstract]

The person Valerius spoke to was a professor, Thadeus Lazarin to be specific. He had been walking across the main hall before being interrupted, and gazed at the much younger man with a stern expression. He attempted to speak multiple times, but didn't as the Nitrozian continued with his explanation. However, as soon as the word 'voiding' came up the man's brows furrowed, and his gaze held a little suspicion. When he finally decided to speak, it was in a voice as gruff as his appearance.

"Valerius Nitrozian?" The simple statement of the name held a mixture of emotions that would be hard to decode, but disdain was obvious in them. He was a Lazarin... and much older, and despite Valerius' obvious relation... it was clear the professor was in charge here. "Well, if you must know, I am Thadeus Lazarin. You do not wish to study? Just... learn? About voiding, of all things. You do realize that is not offered here?" He snorted once at the statement of 'voiding', but didn't say anything else on the topic.

"Might I guess that this 'event' you speak of was your grandfather's failed assassination? Curious you would be looking into voiding. But... it makes sense. Here, come with me. I will find you someone familiar with the disciple, as you ask... I myself am not an expert... but I do know someone who knows a thing or two." Without another word he strode off deep into the massive building, leaving Valerius to trail behind. The professor would make his way through several doors and corridors, eventually coming to the door of what looked like an office.

"Go in" Thadeus instructed, motioning forward at the slightly open door. Once his younger companion he would enter, closing the door after him. Inside was a man slightly older than the Nitrozian himself... early, mid thirties. He had short cropped black hair... though one could argue it was simply a dark brown. However, is you looked closely, you could spot one or two grey hairs peeking through the black. "Thadeus? Who is this? I am busy." the new man grumbled, straightening from his previously intense scribbling. He scowled at Valerius, eyeing the younger man with surprisingly green eyes. "What do you want?" he continued, this time directing the question at the newcomer.

"He is here to learn a little about voiding. Not use it, apparently," at this, the older professor shot another suspicious glance at the Nitrozian before continuing. "Just to understand the concept. He wants the information to... solve a problem. Take a seat." Thadeus motioned to one of two chairs before the large, wooden desk, and took one himself - the more comfortable one. The man continued his inspection of Valerius before speaking again. "Well, we might as well get this over. I have work to do. I am Nhazan. Who might I be speaking to?"

[Valerius Nitrozian]

The tone of the Lazarin’s voice did little to deter Valerius from his goal. He only met the older man’s gaze and replied in a polite and flattering tone - for he knew what kind of power the Lazarin family had in Ravok, „I am aware that Voiding is not offered here, Sir. But I figured that an institute as big and prestigious as this one would at least harbour somebody that is knowledgeable in the ways of Voiding, even if that particular kind of magic is not being taught.“ He did not know why Thadeus Lazarin had such a dislike of Voiding in particular. To Valerius all kinds of magic were the same. They were all dangerous. „Your guess is correct, Sir“, he told Thadeus as he asked whether the event he spoke of was the assassination attempt on his grandfather. „Thank you.“ He followed the professor into the building. Before he entered the office where the Voider apparently was, he nodded at Thadeus, and then he stepped through the door. He had expected Thadeus to leave him now, but apparently the Lazarin wanted to hear what he had to say. Very well, so be it. He sat down in the offered chair and studied the man he assumed was the Voider while Thadeus spoke. Nhazan did not look like much. At only a few years older than him he already seemed to be going slightly grey. But his eyes were a surprising shade of green and seemed to hold a certain intelligence. He would do, even if he seemed to be rather impatient. „I am Valerius Nitrozian“, he replied. Unlike Nhazan the young man was still unfailingly polite as the matter was of great importance to him. „You have probably heard of my grandfather, Sitanos. He was nearly murdered at a party earlier this year. A man that works for my family suggested that Voiding might have been involved in the assassination attempt, but as he was not a practitioner of this particular kind of magic, he could not tell me more.“ „I want to understand what Voiding is and what you can do with it. As Master Lazarin has said I have no interest in learning it, at least for now.“ He paused for a moment, thinking. Valerius was aware of the power of magic, of all its useful effects, but he also knew that a lot of mages went insane, and he was not sure if he would be able to resist the temptation to use his magic more often than he had to. „You will of course have the gratitude of House Nitrozian if you help me.“

[Abstract]

OOCI apologise for the delay on this! Onwards with the knowledge... and trickery

Nhazan snorted indignantly at Valerius' introduction. "I don't care about your grandfather, Nitrozian. But... interesting reason for learning about voiding..." He raised both eyebrows, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. "Voiding's... complicated. But what magic isn't? It's magic. It messes with you." He smirked, but seemed to settle into the teaching.

"But it isn't as complicated as some. Lets start with what the 'void' is. To be simple - it's a giant, empty place... not our world. Stuff goes in... and sometimes comes out. But you generally don't like it coming out. Now... for what you're looking at, a novice voider would have been useless. However... at the higher levels... you can do a lot more.

"Sometimes people can pull things back from the void, though finding the items is hard... and you don't want to bring anything else out. Most of the time they're very, very dangerous... there's a reason people put stuff in the void. It generally shouldn't be able to come out.

"If you're really really good... you can link portals. Connect them. Go in one portal, and, instead of heading into the Void, you go out another portal. Teleportation, if you will. That might be what you're looking for... though almost no one can do it.

"If voiding was used in this assassination attempt, it played either a minor part and was mixed with something else, or the wizard you're looking for is very, very powerful. Or creative. A creative wizard can create more chaos than Rhysol himself." Nhazan chuckled rudely, finishing his speech with a grin. Lazarin, however, was not pleased with the last statement.

"Nhazan" he hissed, glancing worriedly at Valerius. "You are in Ravok, not... anyways, do not talk down on the one and only god." His voice was tense and stiff, though the voider looked quite smug. The last statement sounded almost like it was... subjective. As if Rhysol was the 'one and only' god in Ravok, but maybe not in other places. Again, he glanced over at the Nitrozian, before relaxing and smoothing his hair.

Adressing the youngest man, he commented "I apologies for his... rudeness. He is not a native Ravokian, and..." He changed topic abruptly, returning his attention to Nhazan. "Continue" he ordered, bluntly.

[Valerius Nitrozian]

As Nhazan told him that he didn’t care about his grandfather, Valerius looked directly at him. „You should care about my grandfather, Master Nhazan. Sitanos Nitrozian is one of the most powerful men in Ravok. As I’ve already mentioned, he will be very grateful if you help me solve this riddle. Would you like me to explain what that means?“ Valerius couldn’t help but wonder why the mage was so indifferent towards the status of his family. That was not typical for a Ravokian. Did the man come from outside the city? As Nhazan called magic complicated, the Nitrozian only nodded. He had already figured that out a long time ago. He had met with a few mages during his studies in Zeltiva – he had learned the Ancient Tongue which was most commonly used in mage circles – and had found some of the concepts behind it hard to grasp. He found it hard to imagine some kind of empty place outside this world. What purpose did it serve? Who had created it? Or had it been there all along? „You said that sometimes things come out of the Void, Master Nhazan“, he remarked. „But at the same time you called it an empty place. Are there any creatures that are native to the Void? Or have all the things that exist in it been put there by mages like yourself?“ As Nhazan mentioned the possibility of portals, the Nitrozian’s eyes widened slightly. „Maybe that was how he did it“, he murmurred thoughtfully. „I forgot to tell you one important detail, Master Nhazan. The assassin didn’t simply walk into the Nitrozian Estate and left it again after his deed. He seemed to have the ability to move from one place to another without covering the distance between them. Those portals, could you tell me what they look like?“ He didn’t like the possibility that his grandfather had been targetted by a very powerful mage. Of course Sitanos Nitrozian had enemies, like every man of his position in Ravok, but what had he done to attract the attention of somebody like that? If he asked him about it, would he even be willing to tell him? „Are there any other kinds of magic besides Voiding that would give a man such an ability?“ Just like Lazarin Valerius wasn’t particularly pleased with Nhazan’s statement regarding Rhysol, but unlike the other man he kept quiet. He only looked at the mage disapprovingly for a moment. He would forgive him the comment because he was such a useful man. „I see“, he murmurred as Lazarin explained that Nhazan was not a native Ravokian. He turned to the mage. „Would you mind telling me where you come from, Master Nhazan?“

[Abstract]

Nhazan laughed harshly as Valerius insisted on the importance of his grandfather. "As I said before, I don't care about him. I'm not talking to the man, am I? I'm talking to you, so any relatives of yours don't matter" He smirked after the statement, but left the matter alone.

"That... is unsure. There might have been some things originally in the void, but normally... it's just empty. Plus everything that's been shoved in there, of course." His tone was nicer now that he was talking about more magical, scientific things... like he actually enjoyed the topic.

"Move from one place or another? That could be a mix of a few magics... or gnosis marks, but voiding is one of the ways to truly do that. You could always use illusionism or morphing to disguise yourself, auristics to see what everyone else was doing... or a familiar, actually..." He mused on the topic, zoning out for a moment.

However, when the Nitrozian brought up their appearance, he scowled. "Do I look insane to you? I'm nowhere near skilled enough to make a portal myself, and I've never met anyone with enough guts or determination to make them. Though... your little assassin might be just the crazy type to do something like that. Still, it feels extreme... for something so basic."

He ignored the repeated question about other magics, since he'd already partially answered that, and was already distracted enough with his next comments and Lazarin's reaction. When Valerius asked his native city, the constant smirk on his lips grew larger. "What, I'm telling you all this information on voiding for nothing? I'm not going to give you anything more than necessary. If you'd like to make some kind of trade, I might be game... but there's little that I want..." He shrugged once, and awaited more questions.

[Valerius Nitrozian]

As Nhazan insisted that he didn’t care about his grandfather, Valerius frowned, but only very briefly. He still needed the man, and thus it would be better to accept what he said – for now at least. „Indeed, Master Nhazan, you are talking to me“, he confirmed. „I won’t mention my grandfather’s influence again, if you aren’t interested in it. You said that the Void is normally empty, but what exactly is the Void? Is it another dimension? Has it always been there, as long as Mizahar has existed? Who made it? Was it there before the Valterrian?“ It seemed that, while he didn’t particularly care about anybody that mattered in Ravok, Nhazan did at least know something about magic, which was important. Crypt, the mage that had told him that Voiding might have been involved in the assassination attempt on his grandfather, had also spoken about illusionism and how illusionists could hide themselves as well as hide their scent. But if the assassin had been an illusionist, he would never have shown his face, would he? No, he had probably been a Voider. „No, of course not, Master Nhazan“, he assured the mage as he asked him if he looked insane to him although he wasn’t entirely convinced. „You look perfectly sane. The assassin on the other hand … there are some people who would resort to extreme measures to achieve their goals. Maybe he thought that his sanity would be an acceptable price for the death of my grandfather – or maybe there’s more to it.“ Had the assassin acted independently? Had he been connected to a larger group? Could the Rising Dawn have been involved? Would people that claimed that they were good use such magic? „No, Master Nhazan, you aren’t telling me all this information for nothing. I mentioned my family’s influence. It could have been of use to you to have our protection, but since you don’t seem to be interested in that …“ He sounded a little irritated as he said that. „Just tell me what you want. You said that there is little that you want. That means there may be something that you are interested in.“

[Abstract]

Nhazan sighed, as if he'd already explained the void several times over. "The void's a strange place" he said bluntly, as if that answered all of Valerius' questions. However, he did continue. "The Void - at least we think - is another dimension. It's assumed it's always been there... there's no record of it's creation, for sure. It's one of the three dimensions... meaning, it might have been there even before the gods." He shrugged slightly, lips curved into a grim smile.

Both of the voider's eyebrows raised at the offer for a reward. "So I am getting something out of this? That's good. Hm... there's so many things I could ask for... but I doubt you could give any to me." Though his voice had been light and mockingly musing, it had turned flat and blunt by the end of the statement. Snorting once, the man leaned forward and stared into the desktop, tapping one of his fingers slowly on the desk. After leaving a moment of tense silence, he continued.

"However... how about a rain check? You'll owe me a favor. Not your family - even if this is for them, I wan't it from you. Whatever I ask wont be too out of the question. I might ask for money one day, if it's running tight. Or a little kindness during a spot of trouble." His finder slid and flattened along the wooden surface, and the magician raised his head to watch the Nitrozian carefully.

[Valerius Nitrozian]

Nhazan might already have explained the Void several times over, but Valerius still found his explanation lacking. He wanted to know what exactly the Void looked like, how it worked, if you could breathe there and how you travelled through it. Why couldn’t Nhazan give him any definite answers? Could it be that the Voider himself didn’t know everything, that nobody really knew? How could the Void have existed before the gods? He found it hard to imagine a world without them, a world without his beloved Rhysol. Was such a world even worth it? As Nhazan asked if he was getting something out of this, Valerius nodded to confirm this. Why are you so sure that I can‘t, Master Nhazan?“ he asked. He was just about to tell him that he, Valerius Nitrozian would go far, that he would be the head researcher of the Kelvic Research Institution one day and bear Rhysol’s mark – when the Voider made a suggestion. Valerius made a face as he heard this. He didn’t like owing somebody a favour that wasn’t clearly defined, but what kind of choice did he have? “I can give you money, Master Nhazan“, he replied. The Voider would notice that Valerius wasn’t too happy, although he tried to hide it. “I can also show you a little kindness when it’s necessary. As long it’s nothing too extreme, I’m fine with owing you a favour.“

[Abstract]

When Valerius questioned his lack of ability to procure rewards, Nhazan simply crossed his arms. He eyed the young man for several moments, as if considering things. Then, finally, he spoke, tone emotionless. "Because what I would ask for is what every man desires - I'm sure you'd rather give such things to yourself, rather than waste them on someone you barely know." He shrugged and smirked, but left the topic alone when the Nitrozian agreed to his favor.

"Good," he stated, voice showing his contentment. "Now that this is settled... do you have any more questions? I am happy to answer most anything you inquire about." His mouth was curled in a small smile, body completely relaxed, considering the stiff company. The Lazarin had spent most of the time watching Nhazan intently, not speaking, and attempting to ignore Valerius at all costs.

OOCAgh, sorry for the short post - we can either end this here, if you don't have any more questions, or you can try and figure out more I don't know how helpful this was for your other goal, though XD