PM to join A Poultice for the Pores (Rayage)

[Keene Ward]

Master Rayage did seem entirely impressed with his little experiment. At her exclamation, Keene turned an uncomprehending stare towards her. "I'm testing the-" The sensation of her chilled fingers against his skin immediately cause his arm to jerk back, most of the mud slipping from his forearm in a clump. Having his sentence cut off in the middle, Keene cleared his throat, instead nodding as the woman corrected him. It seemed the mudpool's abilities were far less than he had given it credit for, yet he supposed it wouldn't hurt to continue his test. She continued on, stating that there was a lesson to be learned. He blinked, regarding her with a slight frown. "I learned the mud doesn't heal fresh wounds." Whether it was the intended lesson or not, it was knowledge gained. The usefulness of it was debatable, but it was surely more pragmatic than the wish to "have fun". He found it a bit irritating that "fun" was the first lesson. The more he thought however, as he moved to oblige the orders given him to continue covering himself in the mud, the more Keene wondered if the "fun" was merely a distraction. Perhaps there was a greater meaning hidden beneath Master Rayage's words, concealed by his own aggravation with the pointless concept of enjoyment.

As he drew the murky mess of liquid from the pool to roll over his skin, he found the entire process to be a bit odd. Whether the mud worked or not, Keene wasn't sure the stench would ever be washed clean. While not particularly meticulous about his personal hygiene, he wasn't fond of pointless conversations, and the smell would certainly spark at least one with his Warden master he would rather avoid. Still, he had committed, and if the best way to gain the benefits of the mud was to cover himself in it, Keene had little reason not to do so at that point. Having difficulty getting the mud all over himself, Keene rose, his feet sinking some as his weight transitioned to his feet. With a few appraising steps, Keene waded further out into the pool before he tucked his knees and sent his entire body beneath the surface. For a few ticks there was little motion from where he had disappeared before he slowly rose up out of the stillness like some strange looking stick bobbing back up to the surface. Using his filthy hands to pull most of the mud away from his mouth and eyes, Keene blinked furiously as the mud ran down both face and neck from the mass of yuck that had wove its way into his hair and hung heavy over his scalp.

Carefully stumbling back to the shore, he nodded as Rayage asked if he could coat her back. Slipping from the mudpool with a schlock as his feet left the mud behind, Keene moved his hands up to his hair, taking a few handfuls of the stuff let carefully drip over Master Rayage's back until she was covered. The mud on his own back had grown surprisingly warm as it was exposed to the day's occluded sunlight, and it stuck to him tightly, itching in some places. Once his task had been completed, he seated himself beside master Rayage once more, a couple tears escaping one of his eyes as be blinked out some mud that had dripped into it. Running a hand through is mud caked hair, Keene pushed the majority of the mass away from his forehead to keep his face clear of any excessive drippings.

He pondered on the potential lessons, too lost in thought to enjoy the strange, soothing sensations of the mud. Keene supposed the lesson could have been subjecting himself to things that were frivolous at face value to benefit from properties that would otherwise remain undiscovered. He had never put much merit into mud, finding it little more than wet dirt. However, it possessed the ability to heal - though perhaps not quite to the extent he had thought -, and that revelation would never have been discovered if someone had not taken the time to test it. If that were the case, Keene supposed it was a rather satisfactory lesson. He preferred to think his mind more open than some, but he was not so naive as to believe he was free of bias. There were things he found no point in. If the mud was a metaphor, he wondered what it referred to. Perhaps there were magics he did not yet know of that were lackluster in appearance but incredibly powerful and useful in practice? He wasn't sure, and as he wiggled his toes in the mud in thought and occasionally wiped more of the mud from his eyes, he gazed pensively into the pool. Covered from head to toe in the contents of the mudpool, he made quite the strange little thinker.
.

[Rayage]

As she waited for him to cover her back, she thought of everything that has happened so far. He had a bad reaction to her touch, almost jerking back. She frowned remembering that bit. He didn’t trust her as much as she thought he did, or would like to think he did. However, that too can be remedied with time and experience. She had hoped to have him open up to her a bit, but he had remained as closed as always with his moods, actions, and thoughts. He was only reacting. He kept his personal experiences to himself. He was guarded, and probably for good reason too. Though everyone had a kink in their armor, and she was determined to find it.

The youth had covered himself completely in the mud, doing an act she didn’t dare to. It was quite brave of him and she admired that. He went willingly into the unknown for the sake of discovery. He had the stuff of a great wizard, she just had make him realize it himself, to pull it out of him. She wanted to turn lead to gold with Keene, and the transmutation she would perform. There were little lessons she needed to teach first, however.

As the mud covered her back she nodded and let out a relieved sigh, feeling the mud travel down her back, thoroughly covering it. He could at least follow requests, she reminded herself. ”Now, I want you to take a moment for yourself.” she instructed him, leaning back on her arms. Her head faced the sky, the sun beaming on it rays of warmth and comfort, ”Take a moment and just be.” she said, ”Be here. Be present in this space. Feel the warmth of the sun and the comforting embrace of the mud.”

”Take a moment to slow down. Ease those thoughts in your head.” she said, her voice growing slower as she tried to follow her own words. She needed some time for herself, a chime or two to just be and let the worries of the citadel pass her by. Suspend her responsibilities and enjoy the mudpool.

”Just notice and appreciate the world around us. Realize that you are lucky to be alive, surrounded by this, and know that anywhere there is life, there is beauty. Look up at the sky, the clouds… Let the mud dry, let it do its work…” her thoughts slowed down and quickly became her private monologue. She sat there for some time in silence, keeping the position like a mud statue, still.

She felt herself melting with the mud, as if the mud was absorbing her. She felt its touch go through her body as she baked in the sun. Her skin got crustier as she allowed time to pass, drying the mud on her skin. Still though she did not feel dirty even with the mud being caked on her. It felt like ages was being drawn from her. This treatment made her feel younger. It had been ages since she had allowed herself a pleasure such as this, enjoying the mud and avoiding responsibility. It was almost a child-like glee she felt bubble within her. The darkness in her heart was being suppressed by the cage of mud she had coated herself in.

After some time passes and the mud was, as Rayage felt on her skin, sufficiently dry. She moved a bit, the mud cracking over his skin. She flexed her fingers, dry mud falling from the disturbance, but still some mud clung to her. She moved her arms, extending them outward before bringing her fist in toward her chest, bending at the elbow. She stood up and let the caked dry mud fall as it will. She focused on stretching every part of her body in an attempt to free her joints from the muds grasp.

”Keene, I want you to learn to enjoy the moment. I want you to be able to appreciate the little things in life.” she said, ”It is the little things, after all, that make up the bigger picture. If one ignores a small detail, then the picture itself can be thrown off. Truth can be skewed, manipulated towards those who do not see the details.”

”This is more than just enjoying a mud bath.” she told him, ”Though the added benefits of the mud is great this was an exercise, Keene. You were supposed to enjoy the moment and notice the smaller things in your environment. Take time to be present in the present, so to say.”

”In magic details matter. Would you agree with that statement?’ she asked

x

[Keene Ward]

Master Rayage's voice briefly interrupted Keene's thoughts, winding through them and directing them as she spoke. He drew in a slow steady breath, the stench of the mud now something that was almost unnoticeable. Keene didn't understand what she wanted from him. He let his eyes close, but the darkness swam with thoughts darting dashing in a wild dance. He felt the sun, the mud, the movement of his own chest as it rose and fell, yet the feelings alone were little more than simple points of data. His mind, even when it was most clear, was never quiet, and it whirred with activity. He felt the mud slowly drying against his bare skin, the gentle itch as its moisture was pulled away. He wondered what the rate of evaporation was, how quickly the moisture in the dirt that caked his body returned to the skies above. His mind traveled with it, drifting up into the ever present blanket of cover that sat like a grey overseer, staring down upon the island with its occluded gaze. Master Rayage continued to speak, but Keene found it difficult to listen to what she said.

He did not understand what it mean to simply "be". The word itself was a verb, it implied that one could not be without being, which then linked purpose, status, identity and so many other things to it, that Keene could scarely remember to breath. He tried both to feel his surroundings and calm his mind, but the constant stream of newly perceived stimuli only served to speed his thoughts, fuel his brain with a million new minuscule oddities. As he concentrated, his blue grey eyes gazing straight ahead towards the Bloodhills, he forced his eyes to focus upon every detail before him. They traced the gentle slope of hills, soaked in the rusty copper tones, drifted across the wisps of cloud that had escaped the massive conglomerate above. There was so much before him, always there, but rarely every truly scene. He continued his appraisal, letting sound and feeling join in his perceptions. The small amounts of rubble, the gentle flick of some small creature wiggling just beneath the mud immediately below his feet, the bitter taste of mud that had crept its way into his mouth, even the soft breeze that swept its way across the grassy plains.

It was exhausting, far more strenuous a task than Keene had thought it might have been. There was little he learned, little novelty for him to appreciate. The world was the world, to notice it or not did not change what the world was. He was a life within the world, his merit entirely dependent upon himself and nothing else. There was no sense to waste upon that which did no matter; the trivialities of the world were just that: trivial. Perhaps, to some, they had some purpose, some reason for being. He did not see it, nor did he see the point in seeing it. He felt his irritation begin to fade as his eyes slid over the landscape before him. There would be things he would miss, little happenings that would always evade his attention. These hidden moments were, and would always be, a truth of life. He wondered if that had not been the point: that no matter how hard one might try, there would always be something just beyond, something greater and something lesser. The world was so massive, so incredibly vast, that it was impossible to experience anything, to simply be.

Instead, one was meant to become, to progress, to disregard, to regret, and to grow. He slowly let his eyes close, the feeling of the now mostly dried mud caking over his skin and cracking as he shifted in his thoughts. Master Rayage spoke again, her voice quiet but not without its share of commanding force. She spoke truth, and he nodded, the mud crumbling from his neck. Within the nonessentials, the foolish wastes of time, were nestled bits and pieces that could be crafted into something greater, something grandiose. While her wording was odd, Keene found the case of "slowing down" to be a curious one that deserved time spent in thought upon. Information was gained through many more ways than one, and it was easily warped and misguided. As easily as missing information could create a false through, useless bits could infect it just as flawlessly. There was a balance, a threshold that he was not privy to that sifted through the bits and pieces to part together the whole. He doubted any one person possessed such a cipher, and those that had were long gone now. Even the woman beside him who rose to stretch did not have all the pieces, and after their exercise, he understood that more so than before.

She had knowledge to offer him, vast and great and wonderful, but she too had been affected by both the blindness and they hypersensitivity of life, passing over that which she should have picked up and latching on to that which should be left behind. He was focused upon the purpose, the drive, of a situation. It was something he had long understood in silence, never truly giving it much thought until that point in which he realized Master Rayage might have thought it a flaw. It was no more a flaw to run than it was to walk, but he couldn't deny that a balance should be found between the two. It didn't change the fact that there were things important and things unimportant, wastes of time and priceless snippets of wisdom tucked between them. Details were, essentially, two things: either the by products of larger picture or the single components that created it. To simply choose one or the other was to close one's mind to the possibility of either. Details without an understanding for what they were part of were useless, but Keene found he agreed with Rayage that the picture without the details was as useless as the prior.

He rose along side her, rubbing the mud from his body as she asked him her final question. He took his time before answering, still mulling over his over revelations, "I would." He did not offer anything else how, curious to see where she wished to take him. Magic, like all things, required a balance, something he had yet to find. Like a storm, it could rage; raining destruction from the skies as easily as a gentle shower, yet the trained eye could tell by the smaller things whether the storm be gentle or fierce. It was, in a sense, an art, a skill honed by observation and deduction. There were times the details mattered, and times they did not. Knowing when, however, was a task Keene doubted even the greatest of minds could accomplish without flaw.

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[Rayage]

”Good” she nodded to herself, pleased with the answer that she got.

”Details are important. Pay attention to yourself, your surroundings, and your target and you will find the secrets of this world. They are for the taking, the patterns and powers of Mizahar. Messages can be seen and interpreted by the sharp eye, read by those who bother to look and see. There is a lot to know right in front of us.” she looked at the mudpool unsure herself where she was taking this. ”In essence, most people are blind, seeing but not really seeing the Truth. All knowledge gained in this world is by observation. If we were not allowed to perceive the world how we do, with our senses, then we wouldn’t be able to learn from it and about it.”

”Careful observation can bring forth truths hidden in plain sight. The plain and mundane may hold secrets yet to be seen. As such it is with Glyphing.”

”Much like this mud, Glyphing doesn’t do much on its own. Much like this mud, Glyphing needs something applied to it before it can become useful. Much like this mud, Glyphings purpose becomes apparent with practical application and a little imagination. Who would have thought, ‘lets bathe in this mud, maybe it will be good for you.’? Who would have thought we wizards can control djed with hand drawn symbols?”

”Like all applications of Djed, magic is simply directing it via will. Glyphing is just another extension of our will, but it is written will. Your will gives glyphs purpose and meaning. The glyphs will never do what they cannot, their purpose is defined in their shapes and definition.” She said, allowing a brief introduction to the world of glyphing, just planting the idea that the symbols do have power.

”Remember back when we went to the caves.” she instructed, ”I drew some glyphs on your arm to improve the circulation of djed within that limb. You saw its power, and how it worked. The glyphs focused and redoubled your efforts of drawing djed through your arm. It is like traveling.” she said, allowing a pause so he could more easily follow along, ”One will have an easier travel on a man-made road or path, rather than just traveling through the wilderness with only the stars to guide you. The glyphs were the road, and your body is the wilderness.”

”Understand so far?” she asked, prompting a reaction from the boy.

x

[Keene Ward]

As she began to speak once more, Keene continued to rid himself of what mud, find it was most difficult to remove it from his hair where it was still quite moist. He kept his eyes and most of his attention on the woman before him, however, listening to her words with his pensive stare. She transitioned the conversation to the subject of glyphing, the strange written magic that he'd seen both on the back of Scipio and produced by the hands of the woman in front of him. He understood that the symbols were able to produce magical effects, though the how and the logic behind it, Keene had no idea. He did know, however, that the runes could be used for a myriad of tasks from triggered "leashes" to increasing his own abilities. She raised points he found himself nodding along with by a subtle motion of his chin. Words had a power of their own, the ability to store away past knowledge to be discovered at a later time. Keene had never imagined that the written symbols might hold secrets even greater than that. Her analogy with the mud was surprisingly inventive, and Keene turned to stare and putrid, bubbling mess.

While his cut had not healed, Keene had found his bruises and aches to have faded considerably. He'd approached the mud at face value from his own understanding, and he had been both wrong and correct in assuming its restorative powers. There was something to be said for both the active and passive approach when it came to information gathering, and while Keene tended towards the active, his time with Master Rayage had opened up his attention to span even towards that which he had once disregarded. The sting of his arm was dulled by the mud, however, and he opted to keep the stuff on for the time being. In his experience, taking things out of cuts tended to hurt more than leaving them in, even if it was more beneficial to remove the intrusions.

Imagination's role in the glyphing process was hardly a surprise. Creativity was something that magic thrived upon, it did not exist until the caster willed it to, morphing and controlling it with his wants, desires, and expectations. Keene was no artist, nor was he one to boast an amazing tendency for ingenuity, but even he had ideas and theories that the average person might never dream of. Magic opened new realms of understanding, and most of those realms required things to be taken not as fact but as suggestion, guidelines. If it was approached without any form of vision, magic was extremely limited. It had been taught to him that the greatest obstacle to overcome was one's own self; that magic was limitless, but the mind finite. He found Master Rayage's explanation of glyphing to be similar to that of reimancy: an exercise of will with an emphasis on the creative nature. Thus, the symbols were filled not only with magic, but with the wizard's own intent. He wondered if the process was similar to shielding, in that the djed was manipulated and persuaded into the writing in his mind and translated to the symbols.

The explanation of paths made the concept of the augmenting nature of glyphs to be much more clear. They were constructs, symbols of more than just power, rather they could change the very flow and nature of djed. He wondered what the djed of a glyph was then, if the writing was as charged as a living being. Typically, he assumed inks and parchment to possess little essence, as there was hardly too much complication about them. Once infused with the wizard's will, however, he pondered if it were possible for the ink to take on the essence of that will, increasing its own djed to that of a near sentient being. Master Rayage had said that the glyphs never did what they could not, meaning that once drawn, they could only serve whatever their intended purpose was. In a sense, the drawing of the glyph was like the transmutation of res: once it was complete it remained as it was. While she had not yet given him the information regarding how one crafted specific glyphs in a way to gain the desired outcome, Keene had begun to gain a better grasp upon the subject.

At her question, Keene nodded slowly. "Glyphing is an expression of will." The summary, while not necessarily all inclusive, seemed to present his basic understanding thus far. He imagined that a glyph's abilities were as myriad as the symbols one could create, but he was uncertain whether only specific symbols would suffice, or if it were a subjective craft. Master Rayage had seemed to just squiggle the lines upon him, with the tattoos upon Scipio's back had been far more concise and erudite. Perhaps there were different styles, or specific subsets that one followed to gain a certain outcome. Either way, Keene gave Master Rayage a small, expectant frown while he waited for her to continue, whether it be in correction or further instruction.

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[Rayage]

The nuit nodded, at least he was listening, ”Good.” She moved to crunch off some of the dry mud. It fell in clumps, the innermost layer of mud not quite as dry as the outside would have one believe. She focused on her hands, rubbing them together, over and under, between the fingers. She picked at the smaller pieces of mud caught around the skin and her nails. She observed her hand, picking at the dry mud, unable to get it completely off and it seemed she was rather distracted by the predicament. However she needed to focus on the lesson at hand.

”Glyphing, the discipline, uses runes to augment many magical applications. They are mainly used by research wizards to aid in experiments, but it does have many applications in personal magic as well. Glyphs can first and foremost store magical effects, and release magic upon the activation of a trigger. Glyphs can restrict magic into a space, channel magic into an area. They can even split the effects of magic, and likewise do the inverse. Finally Glyphs can stabilize wild magic.”

She paused and looked at Keene, ”Those are the seven applications of Glyphs. Apply and use those effects glyphs can produce to a myriad of different magics, and the possibilities are near endless. It is amazing the things glyphs can achieve.”

”However, there are five different types of glyphs: The Focus, The Barrier, The Trigger, The Path, and The Switch.” The soil below them was dry, and so the wizard would use it as teaching aid. Placing her finger in the dirt she drew a sharp line down, and then bisected the line through the middle with another line, cutting it in half forming a ‘+’ shape. Raidiating outward from the ‘+’ were four more lines, not quite touching the original drawing, but splitting the open space between each line segment in half, diagonally. She then connected the topmost point in each segment with a line, forming a closed shape.

She looked down at it impassively and then to Keene, ”This is an example of a Focus-type of glyph.” she explained, ”Focuses are usually large runes that store magic, or magical procedures. Glyphs are the mimic of the magical world. Whatever is thrown at them, the djed is absorbed, and then released in the same state at which it was taken in by the glyph.

”However, for long term storage of magic you will need to surround it with a barrier.” she explained, her hand drawing squiggles and shapes around the focus. It was just an example so it needed not to be too intricate or planned out. ”A barrier is a series of runes that restrict and trap magic within a space. They are commonly used around Focuses to hold the magic stored within the glyph so it can later be of use. However, there are other uses for barriers.”

”Next, we have the Trigger.” she said, ”The trigger is any sort of glyph which holds a condition upon which another glyph can be activated or deactivated. The most classic example is to use a Trigger to deactivate a Barrier, thus releasing the magic caught inside the Focus. The conditions which you can set with a trigger is almost endless. As you grow as a Glypher, your inherent understanding of the runes will grow, allowing you to place more and more complex conditions upon your work.”

She drew a small X outside the circle of squiggles, then connected it to the barrier itself with another line, extending one of the diagonal lines all the way to the edge of the barrier.

”Remember glyphs are written will.” she reminded the wizard, ”They are a language all their own, pure and unique to the wizard drawing them. Although ones will has a unique written form, all those familiar with glyphs can read their inherent meaning. It is because of this that Glyphs are one possible way to write Nader-Canoch.”

”The last two types of glyphs, The Path and The Switch, are less commonly used by regular wizards. They are more common in the laboratory, where their effects can be put to great use. However, don’t let that stop you from experimenting with them, as they are very useful in themselves. The Path is a set of two barriers.” she said, taking her fingers and holding up two fingers before placing them both to the dirt. She swiped down and picked up her hand and placed it again, swiped down, and again, and again drawing hashed lines in the dirt to represent the ‘barriers’. ”As I explained to you, barriers block and constrict magic into a fixed space. The path uses the barriers purpose to direct and channel magic. You see, the path forms a road upon which magic will travel. It can help direct magic into a focus, or connect multiple runes.”

”A switch is a glyph that splits or combines the effects of magic. For example, if I cast a fireball into a focus, I can use a switch to split that one fireball into multiple, smaller fireballs. Or I can use a Switch to channel many stored fireballs into one focus, and enlarge the effect of the released spell, combining magics.

She paused waiting for Keene to take everything that she just said in. ”A Glyph is a singular rune. A Sigil is a collection of glyphs given purpose.”

She pointed to her example of a Focus, and a barrier, and trigger, ”This would be an example of a Sigil.”

x

[Keene Ward]

As she began to explain, Keene settled down onto the ground next to her, letting the mud slough off as it would. He had gotten would he could for the time being, and he was far more interested in what Master Rayage had to say than his current and ever changing state of hygiene. With each brief outline of what glyphs were capable of, Keene internalized their individual purposes. He found stabilization to be one of the more interesting aspects of the magic. If it could contain and direct not only the flow but a spell itself, it was possible it could be used to create incredibly powerful, large scale spells over a course of a season or even a year assuming the glyphs lasted indefinitely. If that were possible, the splitting and joining aspects of glyphing were also of interest. It seemed to be a more preperatory magic than an immediate one, requiring time to achieve the desired results. Thus, it was impractical for battle or combat, but ideal for traps, study, and even potentially mundane things such a lighting a candle with a spark of fire trapped within the squiggly symbols.

He pondered over what ways the magic might be used to further research. There were world magics, one of which he knew to be animation. Aside from that, however, he was lacking on the subject. While it was possible and beneficial to study one's own personal magics, Keene assumed that it was almost necessary for those of the world disciplines. Just how the glyphs might be used, however, was something a bit too far beyond his ability to make conjectures. He assumed it had something to do with control and incremental application of djed and magic. Beyond that, his guess was as good as any layman's.

Nodding as she gave name to the specific types of glyphs, Keene's eyes traced the lines she created in the dirt, moving along with her fingers as they created the focus. He followed suit, creating his own intersecting lines in the dirt before him as she did, extending the diagonal lines from the cross without connecting them, then encasing the whole thing in a circle similar to how she had done so. He stared down at his own marking as her own, his eyes focused on the visual representations while his mind and ears devoted themselves to the concepts Master Rayage elucidated upon. His eyes searched for the structures in the symbols that could be used to hold magic. He found his own circle lacking, drawing two extra lines across the diagonals to create two diamond shapes within the circle, as well as adding short diagonal dashes pointing towards the center of the cross. As he worked, he found the picture much more satisfying with the additions, as it appeared to be something more substantial that would hold a spell, rather than a less structured space in which anything could happen.

With the explanation of barriers, Keene carefully watched Master Rayage add one to her focus. Instead of following her example by creating squiggles and shapes, he drew two larger squares around his own circles, creating outer triangles were they crossed and adding a circle on either side of the top and bottom angles. Again, he imagined the magic within the focus, pushing outwards, and the squares to serve as a redirection of currents relaying the djed within back towards the center of the cross similar to how light was reflected off of glass. He found the practical applications of both focuses and barriers to be very straight forward: one absorbed the magic and the other stored it. Both of their drawings seemed to accurately portray the ideas Master Rayage was intimating.

Moving on to triggers, Keene slowly nodded, the image of Scipio's back appearing in his mind, stirring some of the tension in his body which he forced out of his mind for the moment to focus on how the tattoos had appeared. Though Master Rayage drew a simple "t" connected to the barrier, Keene was able to pick it out on Scipio's glyphs as well. In the morpher's case, it had been a circle, something that was almost a smaller focus. Keene stared down at his own drawing a square with a vertical line extending from the top and bottom through it, connecting it at the lower left-hand corner of his own representation of a barrier. With an infinite number of conditions with with to work with, Keene found it similar to how one might task a shield, though not quite as restrictive in that it could do more than simply function as something that protected. Nodding at her assurance that he would understand more as he progressed in his practice of glyphing, Keene had little doubt that that was the case. The concepts in and of themselves was straightforward. Knowing which glyphs did what made them seem far less random, and as his knowledge of what they were capable grew, so too would their complexity. Is seemed a highly reasonable path of progression.

Her admission that few glyphs ever looked the same due to the wizard's own will only supported Keene's own desire to create his own symbols in his own way to better internalize what was being said. He nodded, finding the association of glyphs and the Ancient Tongue to be fitting. Nader was always reconizable, but there was times when a single sentence could mean a thousand different things depneding upon the sentences around it. The singular sentence, the focus, was an entity by punctuation, the barrier. The triggers were the surrounding sentences, their interconnectivity with the focus determining how the reader or speaker approached the translation. Glyphing was a curious case of being a specific yet highly subjective art. He found it curious any glypher might determine the purpose of another's glyphs, even if it were done in a different way. While Master Rayage's symbols seemed to illustrate her lessons, Keene found his own to be more accurate in terms of how he understood it. He supposed that was the point: his runes would be specific to him, but a focus was still a focus.

He found the concepts of the path and the switch to be slightly more confusing. As Master Rayage created the path, Keene frowned down at it, seeing how it might function but as it was its own entity under the woman's fingers, he found its application uncertain. On his own collection of glyphs, Keene poked his finger into the ground, extending two lines from the circles at the bottom of his barrier towards himself. It was a wider path with the point of the bottom most triangle at its middle. His frown lessened some as she explained the practical applications of the path. If it were to connect other focuses, it could be used to achieve the large scale magic he had postulated at the beginning. By conjoining two, ten, even one hundred foci, the resulting magical effect when triggered by the predetermined conditions could be truly catastrophic - or creative, he supposed. Reimancy was more than simple explosions. His mind flicked, just for a moment, back to an image of a fiery headed woman who's heart was set upon conquering the skies. A small tightness closed his throat for a few ticks before he pushed onwards, nodding at Master Rayage's words as she moved on to the switch.

While she didn't create a switch of her own, Keene, having already drawn all the other glyphs, added it to the end of his own path. He created four smaller downwards pointing triangles, spacing them more or less evenly apart with three little dots between them. As fas as he could tell, the magic stored within the focus, contained by the barrier, would be released upon the path once the trigger's conditions were met. Upon hitting the switch, the magic would then fracture into smaller instances as was denoted by the two-dimensional prisms. In theory, the magic was incredibly logical: a linear progression of magical applications. Of course, staring down at the single collection of glyphs that Master Rayage explained to be a Sigil, Keene could see the potential for intricately woven, near undecipherable collections of sigils. It was certainly a powerful augmentation to any form of magic.

Looking up from his own work, Keene nodded, his comprehension of the subject hardly in question. "How does one infuse magic into the focus? By will alone or must the spell also be cast?" His tone was curious, a small spark burning behind the grey-green gaze that held Master Rayage's own. She had provided him a new field of study, and one he found to open a myriad of new possibilities. It was both exciting and grave. Magic was not something to be taken lightly, and the potential that glyphing offered him, while incredible, was dangerous as well. He wanted to fully understand the processes, the repercussions, and most importantly the limits of the new magic. While knowledge was a component of power, it was easily muddied by the foolishness of ignorance, something that he strove to cleanse himself of in every subject.

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[Rayage]

The nuit liked how the youth followed along and did his own design. Her point was to teach him by example, and he was following right along drawing his own set of glyphs. She nodded at it in approval, the design was unique to him and very good. Though it did take him a while longer to draw it than she, he was just learning. If one thing was right about her assessment she now was convinced of her conviction that he would become a great wizard. He caught on and learned the concepts. Anyone would be proud to have him as their pupil.

”That depends entirely on the magic.” she began answering him in not so certain terms. ”As long as something magical connects with the focus, then it will be taken in, passing through it. For Reimancy it is quite simple. You cast your magic at the focus. If I were to throw a fireball at the focus, it would pass through it. Though here is the unique part about the focus. The spell that goes in, as I explained, is the spell that comes out. That fireball I threw into the focus would come out the exact same speed at which it was thrown in.”

”Reimancy, and its power, is augmented tremendously by this discipline alone.” she said, ”However, you need the foresight and preparation to effectively make use of glyphs of any nature. Building offensive force by use of glyphs and sigils would take some time, careful thought, but glyphs are also fragile things. If the barrier were to be disrupted, cut, or severed,” she ran her hand across a portion of Keenes own ‘barrier’, ”the spell contained within will be released.” she warned him. ”Glyphs should always be crafted with the upmost care when working to store magic, especially powerful magic. The more powerful the magic you plan to work with, the more care should be taken when working with glyphs. Poorly or hastily made glyphs spell disaster.”

Rayage hoped that what she was saying should be obvious to Keene, ”As with all magic though, there are risks. With greater possibility there is ever greater danger. That is the price of knowledge.”

She smiled at him, ”That is the price, Keene.” she repeated herself, ”Nothing is ever free.”

”For now, I urge caution.” she warned him, ”Before you begin really experimenting with the concepts presented, you need to practice. You must practice drawing the glyphs, and learn from them their language. Study their nuances, memorize their concepts. Practice.”

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[Keene Ward]

The reply was unsurprisingly straight forward in theory. Of course, simply throwing fire into a picture was probably exactly as dangerous as it seemed. Still, it was an interesting concept. The focus absorbed the magic, quite literally, into itself and the barrier contained it within. He wondered if it were possible to create a focus in the heat of a fight to absorb another's magic. If that had been something he had been capable of earlier in the season, his scuffles with intruders would have been much more easily ended. Velocity was also maintained, something that Keene raised a brow at. He supposed that the runes weren't so much absorbing the magic as pulling it out of existence and placing it into stasis, in that case - which was a fascinating tid-bit. Magic was, essentially, just specifically tasked djed. Humans, while far more complex than a singular spell, were also djed. While he was certain it would require more than a single focus and barrier, Keene pondered over the possibilities of storing an animal or a person within a scroll, or perhaps a book. It was certainly an interesting possibility, though he supposed the only practical applications would be for cheap travel - and incredibly dangerous travel at that.

Her explanation shifted to a warning, and one that Keene listened to with an attentive ear. When her hand moved to cut through his sigil, Keene clearly saw the potential for disaster. If the runes were not created properly or were unstable themselves, a rupture in any location would be highly dangerous. In his mind, the fireball would then exit through wear Master Rayage had left an unwanted line, but that single line wouldn't be enough to allow the entire spell free, and the result of everything trying to break free through something that was far too small was a fairly vivid image. He nodded, eyes not yet leaving the broken glyph. It had taken him a while to construct the glyph, even as an example. Seeing how quickly it was brushed aside and its theoretical magics released emphasized Master Rayage's point: Glyphing was hardly something to be used without thought and careful planning.

Balance in all things. Keene supposed, in a way, that had been the overarching lesson to their outing. While glyphing could be used to create powerful and intricate spells, the more powerful and intricate, the more room for disaster and error. It was tool, but a tool to be used in the most delicate of ways. Mastery and even gaining more than a simple, basic understanding would take time, trial, and error. Of course, the benefits were balanced with the costs, as was reimancy or shielding. He assumed there was little risk of overgiving in the creation of the runes, however their true danger lay within incompetence and an inattention to detail. That had been another lesson. Master Rayage wove them in with a fluidity that Keene found both impressive and concerning. He wondered what else she planned for him, how far into the future her explanations and examples were set out.

At her suggestion to practice, Keene nodded, the intent to do so apparent in the passive gleam of his eyes. There was little he did not practice, and that which he didn't tended to be things he was able to do naturally. Glyphing was hardly natural. It was a process by which he wrote out his will, but it was a process. It was not the subjective, artistic form he had thought it to be. It was exact; it was detailed; and while yes, subjective, it still adhered to a firm set of guidelines who's limits were pushed at the risk of the pusher. He looked back down the the ground, dried bits of mud sloughing off from his forehead to sprinkle upon the ground as he moved his fingers against the dirt.

First, he drew a small "x", wrapping it in a small circle that touched each line. Then, around the circle, Keene drew a rectangle with sides longer on the left and right of the circle, keeping them from touching. Pulling a line across and within the rectangle above and blow the circle, Keene denoted the barrier. The picture was about the size of his palm, and as he added the trigger - a simple circle with a line leading straight from it down to the rectangular barrier - he looked up from his work, staring at Master Rayage with a slight frown. "Their language?" His eyes drifted back to the glyphs, his frown deepening as his pensiveness grew as he examined them. Control. Containment. Release. While not explicitly stated, that was what the runes he had constructed stood for. With the nearly infinite number of ways a rune could be drawn, Keene hardly needed to be told twice it would require of him time and effort to slowly grow and expand his knowledge of glyphing. He offered her an incline of his head, a brief nod to confirm her requests. "Of course."

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[Rayage]

Rayage nodded when Keene asked about the language, as if to reinforce her statement with actions. He still did not say much, but she sighed anyways and stood up, ”Now, I would not be getting any ideas in that head of yours, Keene.” she told him, looking down at the boy drawing in the dirt, ”When I say practice, I mean on practice drawing the separate glyphs, and then use them on yourself, like I did with your arm.” she referred back to her example back at the caverns, ”It is much easier to know how glyphs effect djed if you experience them yourself, on your own djed stream, not just with casting externally. I want you to notice and feel the intricacies of the glyphs and experiment with concepts you come up with.”

She smiled down at him, ”Once you know the glyphs personally you can start to use them impersonally. Theory and practice are two separate beings entirely, and most of the time practice is a whole lot messier than theory. So, for now, Keene, I would like you to just practice drawing the runes, and glyph yourself, but most importantly know what glyphs can do and know the different types. If you are feeling extra adventurous you can even look at other wizards glyphs and examine how they put the parts together.”

She thought that he could handle at least that. She also did not want him blowing himself up by trying to store a spell improperly. He would first need a solid understanding of the glyphing theory and the practice of drawing them. In her mind there was no better way than to draw them on yourself and observe the effects. Then there was also looking and closely examining other peoples work, picking out the pieces and parts, but once you knew the basic glyphs they become easy to read. However, even complex uses of glyphs were out of her reach, for now at least.

She walked a couple paces towards her clothes before she stopped, ”Keene,” she said, looking over her shoulder, ”Please keep our conversations to yourself.” she urged him, ”No one needs to know that I am helping you.” she asked him to keep a secret.

”Also, it is about time to start heading back to the Citadel. The walk here was a long one, and the day is escaping us.” she moved to clean herself of most of the mud she could, trying to brush it off her, but there were spots where she just could not reach and even when she rubbed the mud off, dirt still lingered. It better be good for her body. ”It would not be good to be caught out here at night.”

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