Solo Midnight Magic

[Elias Caldera]

20th Day of Spring
514 AV

His room was no splendid thing. It was not extraordinary, nor grand, nor even elegant in the least. In fact it was rather unremarkable all things considered. Just large enough that he felt somewhat gratified to be given what was clearly the best broom closet they had, yet just small enough that the walls would constantly feel as if they were smothering him from every side. It was certainly a unique hell, and he hated that room for forcing him to endure it. Being there just meant he had too much time to think, and by think, he meant decide. He had come back to Ravok for one reason, and one reason alone. Five days later however, he was still just twiddling his thumbs, undecided and unsure on what needed to be done. He had seen his father all but one time since arriving, and not once had Elias willed himself the courage and fortitude to make his move. It was frustrating and maddening and cruel. He hated this room.

He hated not knowing what he was going to do.

It was late and Leth was looming glumly over the sky above, his pale radiance showering the lake below in an glorious blanket of midnight light. Elias had been waiting for the darkness, for the cover of shadow and the silence of the moon. He would need a certain modicum of secrecy for the task he had assigned himself that night, and felt it only prudent he restrict his displays of blatant magic use to emergencies only. Less likelihood of getting mobbed and lynched that way he decided. The young mage sat hunched over the single table the apartment possessed, staring down at the sheet of parchment before him. He’d attempted what he was about to attempt a number of times before, and each time had ended in less than thrilling results. The use of glyphs to create an arcane scroll, something that could record and store magical effects, was something Elias had strove to achieve since seeing his very first one. The man himself was hardly a master of the art, but by then, he knew his glyphs from his sigils and all things in between well enough to be considered... well not great, but maybe at least not a danger to himself? It was a start.

Ever learning, ever reaching, that was the key to success in the world of the arcane.

He rubbed his rough and itchy chin as dark eyes scanned the parchment. He decided he had to shave again soon, that, and just what he wanted his sigils to look like as well. The young man dipped his tiny brush in the ink and started on the focus, the most basic of the glyphs used in the alphabet of ancients. He made certain both his movements and every stroke were careful and controlled, his face twisting into a mask of concentration as his brush bled the ink onto the parchment. The focus took the shape of a swirling vortex, almost like a whirlpool if it possessed defined boundaries. He was obviously taking his time and being painfully careful in the overall process, perhaps more so than ever before. This scroll, why it may have been the first he ever made all by himself, was going to be incredibly important considering who and what it was meant for.

With the focus completed within a few chimes, he began next on his barrier. He dipped his brush once more and set to business drawing the protective lines, his weapon of choice that day teasing at the parchment as it moved ever so carefully. His barriers took the shape of a pair of curving lines that appeared to twist and twine around each other, coiling together as they formed a wreath ring of sorts around the focus. Glyphs looked different for each wizard and Elias had always known this, yet never had he felt comfortable manifesting his own. Today was the day he tried, and so far, his whirlpool, vine thing wasn't looking half bad if he had to say so. At least it wasn't giving off a vibe of ill potent anyway, which may as well have been a thumbs up from any instructor if you thought about it. Elias chose not to.

Glyphing was not an overly dangerous art, instead it was just perhaps the most highly stressful discipline of magic Elias had ever even encountered. Mistakes, even the smallest most minute of things could not be afforded in the creation process. Elias endeavored to not make a single one that night. He had at least two more of these things to go, he couldn't allow himself to be hamstrung by the intricacies of just one.

He had to be better that. He had to become better than that.

[Elias Caldera]

As always, the mage took a great deal of time and care in actually drawing the glyphs, watchful and studious to get them exactly as he needed while drawing them with as much confidence as he could afford. The focus was first, his small brush moving in the patterns of a swirling, watery sinkhole as was the norm for today. His hands moved the brush in the necessary patterns, his focus taking shape on the paper and then finally being finished easily enough. Next he started on the barrier again, this time taking especial care upon the glyph's curves and making certain not to compromise its integrity in the slightest. Elias's brush moved to form a pattern of two twining lines, perhaps even snakes, that twisted and spiraled around each other like a pair of slithering vines. A few chimes later, he was done.

Next came the part he had abstained himself from on both scrolls, the trigger; The conditions for the scroll to be activated and function as the magic wielding mad man who had created had originally and properly intended. As this wasn't for him, he had to think long and hard on what would be appropriate for someone without arcane teachings guiding their hands. In the end, he simply decided on a vocal trigger, given the extreme nature of the situation they would likely find themselves in, the trigger would have to be something relatively easy to use, just not too easy for that use to be accidental.

The first form his thoughts settled upon was the a rough leaf like shape, the roots of which were planted firmly into the barrier as it stretched up and to the side. It was almost embarrassingly simplistic in comparison to some of the works he had seen masters put their time into, and artistically, a seven years old child may as have hand painted it better, but it was functional as far as scrolls went, Elias was certain of that. Glyphs could take on any number of forms after all. What was solely important was the skill and confidence of the one who made them. It was little surprise then that Elias fancied himself quite the beast when it came to things like this, especially when he felt himself on a role. He placed his brush in the inkwell, moving his hand up to stroke his straggly chin while he pondered over the trigger wording. The young Ravokian was thinking of a verbal trigger as stated before, which was fine, but the question then was in what language should it be? Common ran the risk of being spoken openly, whereas more preferably, the ancient tongue was a language spoken by few beyond the arcana enthused, and even then they rarely used it aloud in common conversation.

Securely direct the image upon this scroll at the targeted flames, then loudly and clearly declare the words “Adra Vasat” A single, powerful stream of water will then be unleashed from the center of the image to be used at the wielder's behest. .

He tapped his chin, then added.

No, whispering the words won't mitigate the flow of the water, so please do not try drink from this scroll. No, you cannot do your laundry with this. No, do not point this magical device at that one guy who ticked you off that time. This scroll, and its magical contents, are solely for the use of the Vigilant and the Vigil's business. Nothing else.

Elias wrote this out as his trigger condition, nodding to himself approvingly for covering all the basics. He then gave the scroll another look over to see if he could detect any flaws he had not noticed at first glance. Brown, wary eyes scanned the parchment up and down for almost a chime, but found nothing overly alarming that warranted correction popped out at him. With a sigh Elias leaned back into his rickety old chair, rolling his shoulders in slight discomfort. He had one more trigger to complete, then another entirely new scroll to create afterwards. It was going to be a long, sore night.

[Elias Caldera]

Before he left, the Ravok native decided it would be best if he drew one or two last glyphs. He had just completed the final details on the third scroll, each one a commendable copy of the last, but all of which were ultimately useless scribbles without any magic to go along with the arcane tale they told. He would need water to fill these creations of his, which meant while the glyphs may have been a miserable task to complete one after another, it wasn't yet over.

The young mage rolled up the sleeve of his right arm, pulling it up to just above his elbow. He flexed and clenched his fingers into a fist once, then twice. As he did this ink met brush once more and Elias unsealed his hand, opening his palm to the brush so that he could begin. With a deep breath, his lips tightened into a narrow line and his eyes squinted in scrutiny. The first thing he did was slowly draw out a large, three pronged trident, a simple switch to channel the magic this way and that as the ink portrayed it to. The brush tickled at his flesh as he crafted the shape his mind's eye had long ago birthed. It was surprising how easy it came to him, as if second nature. Not the actual writing and drawing of course, but the shapes and images he felt when he thought of a proper glyph. Was this what other mages felt take over them when they glyphed? What was compelling him like this? He wondered silently, tongue hard against cheek as he worked.

Once it was finished, Elias merely started upon another sigil, a focus this time, further down upon his wrists. The plan he had in mind wouldn't require a great deal of his own res, but he felt all the help he could get would be beneficial, regardless of necessity. His brush worked the magical constructs to intricate stars upon the undersides of both his wrists, forming arcane patterns across his light flesh. Once he was finally done, the novice waved his arm about experimentally, admiring his handiwork with a fair bit of satisfaction and pride. He loved the sight of completed glyphs, especially ones he himself had completed, there was just something about them that reverberated with potential. He let out a sigh, placing the brush back where it belonged and gathering up his completed scrolls. Now for that last part he had been talking about.

He left his terrible little apartment and made for the docks.

[Elias Caldera]

There was a cool breeze sweeping in across the dockyard that. It stunk of fish and freshly sawed lumber, but Elias savored it none the less. He would often take to the water for peace when he was younger. His mother had taught him how to swim not too far from here when he was still just a squawking, diaper wearing mess. A smile crept unto his lips, and for a while it remained, but just as it always did, the reminiscing only dredged up memories too fresh and painful to bear. The humor slid from his face and the mage flopped himself out on the dock, laying on his hands as he stared up at the stars and Leth in all his glory. He turned to the fish hovering over his head and frowned, in turn it gave him a quizzical gander.

"Must be nice." Elias spoke, prodding the tiny bubble of lake water his res had accumulated. It rippled at his touch and the small bloodfin within dashed away from him, only to run into the barrier of its fist sized prison. "Must be nice" He repeated solemnly. "Being a fish I mean. Swimming around all day, not ever having to worry about anything... well, except for the constant threat of being eaten by bigger fish, but who doesn't have to worry about that. Look, don't look at me like that, you know what I mean! No... No of course you don't, you're just a fish."

Angrily, he moved to launch the bubble long and far into the lake, ridding him of his unbearable company. He hesitated for a moment, looking at the small scaled creature before lower his hand and setting it back down next to him with a thought. He grimaced and fell unto his back, returning his gaze back to the heavens above. He had always been interested in what lay above, though it was something Elias had ever truly dabbled in, nor could even seem himself doing. His interest weren't exactly in the stars themselves, but in the worlds they represented. Long ago, back in Zeltiva, he had been teased, and only that, with the faintest display of summoning, the act of bringing something from one planet to this one. Needless to say, like all the other magics he had caught even a whiff of, he immediately found himself drawn to it. He had never had an opportunity to pursue it however, the storm and all. He glared at the constellations, straining to find shapes sense among their jumble. Nothing. "Do you ever wonder if all those stars up there are just the glyphs the god's, in their infinite wisdom, trapped us in? I sometimes think ours is just a lake like yours, only a little bigger." Bubbles and a dead eyes stare were his received response. "Exactly." He agreed.

With a groan of enforced conviction, Elias slowly picked himself off the ground and surveyed the area for any sign of life. When at first he saw nothing, he felt himself relax a little, but only after he summoned a sliver of djed to slither into his eyes was he fully convinced. The world exploded into color, none of which indicated anything big or alive, like say another human soul. He had been patiently waiting for the little alcove he had claimed upon the water's edge to clear out of those Ravokian that still straggled this late at night. Now that he was truly alone, he could get to work. He let the magic flowing and enchanting his vision dissipate. "I enjoy our talks, fish, we should do this more often." He candidly said as he moved to the lakeside and gently poured the bloodfin back into the lake. It swam away with out even saying goodbye and he cursed the damn thing for a rude petcher.

It won't want to be near here when I start anyway.

[Elias Caldera]

Lake Ravok churned and convulsed under his hand. Massive gulps of water rose partway out of the water only to shudder and dive back under again. Elias poured more res into the attraction vortex he was trying to manifest. The dimly glowing matter spewed from his arms, the glyphs upon his wrists accelerating this expulsion from his astral supply unnaturally. It pooled and melded into a globule mass a few feet above the water. He strained, then pushed harder, careful to contain the res that the glyph more easily than normal flushed from his body.

The first shimmering droplets of water began to tear away from the seething blob deforming the lake's natural shape. They rose slowly at first, clinging to the gel like res bubble Elias had created, but then more and more steadily the liquid began to rise, until eventually it turned to a stream. That in turn, evolved into a torrent, like a giant tentacle of some horrible beast bursting from the depths before ending abruptly in an ever expanding globe of swirling mass.

As Elias and most other reimancer's were taught, attracting an element with res instead of corrupting it into that element was leagues and leagues simpler. The fact that the young mage was also using glyphs to expedite his djed flow meant the strain on him was a great deal less severe than it had to be, a beneficial boon he found, to living on a lake and having an ink quill or two on hand. Satisfied his massive orb of water was enough, Elias turned his back to it and faced instead the three scrolls he had spread out on the ground before him. Exuding more res to coat the water and guide it along its path, Elias slowly began to shift the mass forward, a thick tendril creeping over him and towards his upward stretched hand. As it reached his palm, it activated the sigil there, the switch he had penned earlier. Immediately the water fractured, splitting into three distinct and powerful rivers.

Reacting quickly, he was able to guide each one into its corresponding scroll. The glyphs on all three lit up in response as the water was directed directly into the focus of each, absorbing the magic that manipulated the streams, and in turn, the water as well. He was glad he had conceived up the notion to use the switch like he did, for just like the other glyphs, they made his life substantially easier than magic of this caliber would normally demand. Instead, now he could focus on the power and flow of each current individually, making especially sure that they coursed with just the right ferocity to be useful, but not too much to simply tear right through the fire and the house altogether.

Half a chime later, the torrent was beginning to die down and Elias made one more valiant push of his res to force it all in at once. A dribbling scroll would both be useless and confusing to anyone who didn't understand no more water would be coming later. One, long, blast of water, nothing else. The glyphs upon the floor glowed their last as the final drops trickled in. What followed was a odd silence in the absence of rushing water, then the fading of the ink from Elias's arms as those sigils burned away.

Moving over the the scrolls, Elias picked up and examined them all in turn, noting with pride none were wet, a relief considering what he had just thrown at them, but a testament that his design had resoundingly been a success. As djed flowed to his vision for the second time, he observed thankfully that the magic in each glyph remained intact, though there were obvious abnormalities in the flow of the magic constrained within. Frowning, Elias still decided he would still give these scrolls to Kel, the master of Vigilance for Ravok, and his new boss, so that other volunteers could fight fires just as thoroughly now. He hadn't needed to commit to such charity, but he felt compelled to none the less. Why not help, really help, if he was going to do this. These scrolls would just be the beginning, but they would also probably mark a line in the sand in how far he could allow magic into the hands of those untrained in its use. Kel had actually asked Elias to teach him and the others some of his reimancy, but when the young mage had explained the process, rather descriptively as he was want to do, the man visibly paled and excused himself from the conversation.

For now, he thought, grabbing hold of a bloodfin fish desperately flopping about on the dock, this will be enough. He tossed the slimy thing back into the pond and walked away, wondering again just how horrible it would be to be a fish.

Important NoteThe Scrolls don't work... Unless of course I've reached competent before or as this is graded, in which case, bonus!

[Nemesis]

Elias Caldera

Knowledge :

Skills

Skill	XP
Auristics	+1
Drawing	+2
Glyphing	+3
Observation	+2
Philosophy	+1
Rhetoric	+1
Reimancy	+1

Lores

*Glyphing: Can't Make Mistakes
*Glyphs: Different for a Each Mage
*Magic to Help Firefighters

Micellaneous :

Injuries

*None

Loot/Expenses

*Three scrolls, which do not yet work...
*

____________________________________________

Notes

*A good thread, as always, Caldera... As you said yourself, the scrolls wouldn't work yet...
*at one point, a I couldn't give you a point in Reimancy because there was no description of creating Res or anything - just suddenly Cald had some water in his hand... needs a little bit more next time <.<

Feel free to PM me with questions, comments, or concerns, if you have any.
Also, remember to either delete your grade request or edit it as 'graded'.
Thank ye!