[SO-Sylira]Evolving a Cube[Solo]

by **Clyde Sullins** on November 29th, 2014, 6:51 pm

14 Fall 514

It was yet another sea voyage for Clyde. Having left Sahova, he was now heading to Ravok. His last one had been to Sahova, and before that to Zeltiva. All of the voyages however had been off the east coast, just as this was. He'd never left Sylira, and never traveled for more than a season between cities. All of his trips had been relatively short.

One thing he had learned long ago was that one needed something to occupy their time while they were sailing about. Sahova was footing the bill for his passage this time, and so he had no duties. He simply was a passenger.

It hadn't taken long for Clyde to decide that his major work for this journey, the focus of his... focus, would be the next step in his magic storage cubes.

Said device was his oldest work, one of the first endeavors he'd taken to expand Glyphing. Through its life it had changed dramatically, and many wouldn't see the connection between his first attempt and what he planned to make now. But Clyde could see it, could look beyond the obvious and see the logical strings interwoven between them and connecting them.

Back when he'd begun, his skills in Glyphing and Reimancy paled in comparison to what he could do now. Both were magics he had now more or less mastered. Which meant the only way to learn something new, was to press the boundaries beyond normal use and convention.

The first time had been flame arrows with Aello while fighting Yukmen. Literal arrows set aflame with Reimancy. He'd spread a gob of res over ones head, Aello had fired it, and he'd transmuted it to flame as it left his control.

This however had given him the idea for true flame arrows, with fire magic stored within till fired. These had been made with the assistance of Kyra. She'd tested them through his trial and error, as he messed up the engravings on the arrows, on the ways of the Glyphs, and eventually got it right.

Next had been his mage weapon, which he'd launched at Syliras. A testing of the upper limits of what Glyphs could hold. He'd made the strongest lightning bolts he could, twelve of them, and molded them all into one spell with powerful wardings.

Most recent had been his Reimancer's cube. A solid cube with focus on each face, activated and controlled by a Reimancer, who could move it about and release the magic by breaking a glyph manually.

However Clyde had come to see its limit, in that only Reimancers could use it. The next step was a version that anyone could use. A true Mage's Cube. Made by a mage, but usable by anyone.

The trick was the trigger. Where the prior one had no trigger, was instead activated by Reimancy, this one needed a highly complex trigger to activate at the right time, and only when intended.

by **Clyde Sullins** on March 8th, 2015, 5:01 am

A trigger though was not enough. What was needed was a trigger mechanism. While he could carve a complex trigger into the cube, it would not be easy, and would be a slow and arduous task as compared to simply carving a focus and ensconcing barrier around each face of the cube.

What was a trigger mechanism? A device or thing that started a reaction or chain of events... In this case causing the entire cube to go off... Since the cube was stone, it was sturdy, but not unbreakable. And Clyde knew from his own experience that if a glyph storing something was broken, the magic was released.

So then the actual trigger, or trigger mechanism, would simply enough be a means of breaking the cube, and thus releasing all of the magic held in it.

This was the tricky part. Clyde mentally ran through things in his mind. Picturing the base cube, solid, the sides seen from outside. Saw the glyphs, saw a base trigger, and the scroll it was usually placed upon. However a scroll was not sturdy enough, and could not be tossed or thrown well. A stone cube though was relatively sturdy, and could be tossed as a projectile of sorts.

However unlike his earlier work with flame arrows, where he'd simply slapped a scroll onto the side, that wouldn't work here... Or wouldn't it.

Thinking it through again, Clyde thought back to the cube itself. What was a cube but a solid box. A box was a hollow cube. The logic was there, if in reverse and perverted from the general meaning. A hollow cube then was not solid. If a scroll could not be slapped to its side, then it could be placed in the hollow within of the cube. A small scroll, acting as a trigger mechanism, which broke and activated the greater cube and glyphing about it... Clyde opened his eyes, not even having noticed he'd closed them in his concentration, as he thought through things.

“A scroll within a scroll, with one scroll activating the greater scroll. I can't easily carve tiny trigger glyphs and wordings onto stone, but I can write small, can make a tiny scroll i and place it within the hollowed cube.”

Clyde nodded to himself, pulling closer a piece of paper and some ink, so that he could make a rough draft of the wording of the trigger, and further plan out the process before taking the first physical step.

“Now... How to word it... I don't want it just going off randomly. But I do want to be able to toss it and set it off. So I want it to be settable, so that when I trigger it and it collides with a target, it goes off. Or so that when I've thrown it, it can then be triggered. But certainly I don't want it ever going off upon the initial release phrase while still in my hand. So clearly stating with the trigger activation that it must have been thrown or left the possession of the one uttering the trigger phrase. Added fail safe then of only allowing the one who tossed it to activate it.”

Clyde paused once more, and then began writing out a trigger.

Activate the trigger, and release the magic held within, upon
- The trigger phrase "---" being spoken by the holder of this work of glyphing, after it has left their possession, or
- The glyphed receptacle within which this work of glyphing is stored in colliding with something physical and with substance, after the trigger phrase "---" is spoken by a person holding this work of glyphing which has left their possession.

Clyde read through it once more, double checking it. Straightforward wording in its own way, even if a horribly complex and specific trigger phrase. A lesser glypher wouldn't be able to make such a trigger circumstance, but then Clyde was not a lesser glypher.

He could also if he wished add more specific circumstances, such as naming specific people who would be able to activate it, or certain circumstances upon which it could be activated. Such as turning the but about the person holding it into

...the holder of this work of glyphing, who was given possession of this item by Clyde Sullins on this 14th day of fall along with a written note written and signed by Clyde Sullins stating his intent and meaning to give said person the right to use of said work of glyphing, or is said Clyde Sullins who made this work of Glyphing on said 14th day of fall...

In that way he could even go so far as to make it so anyone could use it, so long as Clyde in writing gave them permission, along with directly handing it to them. By making it specific he increased the difficulty, but also made it less likely that someone would deduce the exact needed circumstances upon which a person gained the ability to use it. Then Clyde could hand it over, but by not following the fullness of the circumstances not allow them to use it... It also made it clear that he would still be able to use it personally, regardless.

Taking a deep breath, Clyde read through the trigger lines once more, to make sure all was in place and would work. Substitute the "---" for a trigger phrase, and all would be in place. Since the trigger wording was one of the most important parts, it was a good idea to word it carefully.

Taking out his dagger, Clyde began to slice up another piece of parchment, cutting it into four equal parts, using a two slices cut twice across in two different directions. He was left with four pieces of parchment, each a fourth the size of a normal sheet. If Clyde wrote small, it'd be enough for him to make a simple tiny scroll, which could then be placed and sealed within a hollowed stone cube.

by **Clyde Sullins** on June 7th, 2015, 2:54 pm

Now that he'd done the hard part, planning and out and mentally coming to understand what he needed to do, application wasn't so hard.

Though writing in such a cramped and tiny method would likely take some time to adjust to.

With quill and ink and the piece of parchment, Clyde wrote out the scroll-work for the trigger within. A barrier, a twining helix as a pair of barrier lines circling about the middle. Inside of it a focus, a tiny depiction of a black sun simplified, a circle with a waving line about it.

Finally the trigger, attaching to the barrier with a triangle pointed at the outer helix line. The particular wording he'd already worked out. Though due to the small space the simplest method was to spiral the words around and around the barrier, about the edge of the parchment scrap.

Clyde managed to write out the wording on his first try, though with a few odd gaps that weren't aesthetically pleasing. For next time he'd know the space needed for the words better, and be better able to fit it in as needed. Of course, writing the tiny words in and of itself was a odd thing, and tricky, forcing him to take his time in writing.

He had to be particularly careful with the load of ink, otherwise he'd end up with a large ink splotch relative to the size of the wording. After writing out the first few words he knew to be careful of this, and to use the minimum amount of ink needed.

For the trigger phrase in this case, he chose "rotten bubble stubble." Something random and unlikely to be said. For this one he left off the extra safety line, not wanting to over complicate his first prototype.

Once the ink dried Clyde would fold it up, and would be ready to place it within the stone box frame... Once he made it.

While he waited for the ink to dry, he started on that, taking out a large stone he'd "borrowed" which was used for the catapult. It was rough and broken, but large and would serve his purposes.

Setting the head of Cha against it, he began to exude his res as a liquid, letting it soak into the stone, in through its pores and inside to its inner bits... He'd likely need to condense the stone in places, as it did have some imperfections and gaps. He needed a smooth surface to do his work, more or less 6 smooth stone squares perhaps a quarter inch thick. Thick enough so it wouldn't break easily, but thin enough to not be a burden. Usually he tried to make the cube itself small enough to fit in the palm of his hand, or about the size of his balled fist.

He began to cut out the first square with a combination of attraction and transmutation. He "cut" out the stone by transmuting a thin layer into air at the edges of where the square would be, on the sides and below and within. Once he did that it was a simple pull of attraction and the object came smoothly out of the rock.

It was bumpy, uneven, not smooth, rough, and was not evenly dense, but it was a starting point.

Using more attraction he broke off small bits of the rock, and molded it into the square, using a pair of attractions to push and press in different ways till the stone molded into each other as one solid thing, along with a tiny bit of transmutation to limber up the stone and make the molding easier.

It was a difficult bit of construction, building the walls of the tiny stone cube, but made easier by his magic. Still, he was not as directly skilled in such things, and so it did take time. The first completed cube wall took at least a quarter of a bell. The other five to come were quicker, as one by one he got better at the specific action. By the last one he was down to five chimes to complete it.

“Now, the walls are done, the scroll inside is done, now I need to glyph the walls...”

by **Clyde Sullins** on June 7th, 2015, 3:18 pm

Next on his planned out course was to glyph the walls of the stone box. After that he'd need to fill each focus with magic, seal the walls together into a box around the inner scroll, and... Test it.

This being a prototype, it took a decent bit of time. Hopefully though if this one worked he could make the next one quicker, work out the kinks, and get good at making such a thing. Such would be his Mage's Cube, usable by anyone even non-mages.

Unlike his Reimancers cube which could only be used by Reimancers.

Closing his eyes, Clyde felt out to the stone, pulling the res leftover that he'd soaked into the rock and filling it into the stone facing. He had to exude a small bit of fresh res, but what was left of his initial exuding was enough for the one small face. With Cha in one hand, he traced his finger across the face of the stone wall with the other, tracing a pattern similar to the scrolls but on the stone. However it would only be the barrier and focus, not the trigger.

This series of glyphs would be cut into the stone face as an engraving. Engraving was a skill he was not nearly as skilled at as many of his magics, but aided by his res control he was passable. Still though, this work would serve as a good chance to practice his engraving skills and to better them, as much as it would serve as perfecting a theorized prototype.

After tracing the series of glyphs three times with his finger, he began to cut a thin line scoring the face of the stone along his traced route. Using the res soaked into the stone face, and his finger as a focal point, he pulled and attracted the res upward along with the stone in the route. This resulted in a fine spray of stone and dust coming up as the line cut into the stone. It wasn't as thin or precise as he'd have liked, but with his current skill it was all he could manage.

If nothing else the glyphs were clearly marked and usable, if not fancy, concise, or aesthetically pleasing.

Along with his engraved lines not being perfect, they also weren't deep. He could cut deeper, but if he did at his skill he risked breaking the stone face, of cutting right through. Instead he did a series of scores cutting into the face, a small indention cutting a layer out followed by another a bit deeper, until he'd done as he needed. This was much safer and easier than cutting the entire engraved line at once at the proper depth.

The first line was slowest, cutting the sweeping waving line of the half helix about the stone face, the first phase of the barrier. He traced this once, twice, three times, till he had it at a proper depth. Then he did the second line of the helix, overlapping in places as they crossed. He had to be careful to only cut where he hadn't yet when he came to these overlapping spots, and to focus on extracting the stone only above a certain point.

Once he finished that, he repeated the barrier glyphing onto the other five stone faces.

by **Clyde Sullins** on June 7th, 2015, 3:37 pm

Done with the barrier's, Clyde was left with the focus. Similar to before, he traced out his pattern several times before he began cutting.

For the black sun facsimile there were two cuttings, like the barrier. The first circle, then the waving in and out line similar to half of the helix, but where the line touched the edge of the inner circle of the sun at the low-points where they dived inwardly.

Rubbing his finger over the stone face again and again, he got a good feeling for the stone, a familiarity, or a kinship. It helped him in his work to feel connected to it. Particularly when dealing with such slow and arduous stonework. It took longer to properly engrave one face of the cube than it did to make the face initially. But then, finesse often took time.

His finger the focal point, he willed the stone to rise, constricting the flow of attraction to what the res was inside of, keeping it weak and precise, a slow extraction instead of a heavy yank or pull like most attraction was.

Like before he cut in layers, starting with the initial circle to be cut in. He did everything in stages. One sweep, two, three, the circle done he then made the same circle on the next face, and the next, till all six were done. Then he pressed on to the next new thing. He kept all of the faces lined up, so it was easy to skip from one to another.

The waving line of the sun was harder than the circle had been, as it was not a even and gradual continuous line, but a rising and falling one. The corners or curves were particularly hard, and forced him to go slower. Such had been the case with the helix's.

He'd learned from that though, and was slowly coming to better understand the nuances of the engraving. Particularly the overlapping bits.

Tracing his finger around and around, he felt the scrape of the stone, the shifting of his self, and the expulsion of his being as he occasionally had to exude a bit more res and bond his djed to the stone anew.

By the time he had finished all six faces Clyde was tired. Not magically, but physically. He had a crick in his neck from looking down, his back hurt from bending over, and he had a dry throat. Clyde took a short break then, standing up and trying to loosen his muscles, and taking a drink from his water skin to ease his parched throat.

After a short rest he pressed on to the next step, the spellcasting.

This was the easiest and most straightforward of the steps. Exuding out a cloud of res, he circled and flowed it above the 6 objects, breaking each into its own tiny cloud. All at once he rushed them downward in a steady stream before transmuting it all into air. The gust of air created blew downward, filling the six faces of stone. The pushing of air blew around several bits of parchment across the room, and cooled his skin for a moment.

The strongest spell would go into the scroll one, as it needed to be strong enough to break the cube and its faces... He'd work with something a bit more destructive, lightning perhaps, as it'd be more efficient at destroying the outer faces.

If the inner scroll failed, and didn't snap or break the faces, the prototype would fail. Collecting the excess res about the room, he concentrated it into a small gob of res, and floated it to just above the scroll face.

He then left the room, feeling with his res slowly downward. He kept the door open so he could see it happen mundanely, but cupped his eyes. With one tiny transmutation a small spurt of lightning broke out, racing downward along the course the res had been traveling, disappearing within the scroll face.

As it did there was a tiny flash of light along with a sizzle on the air and across his skin. Most disturbing of all was the pop of the air, loud even in its tiny nature. Several heads turned in his direction, glaring, but Clyde simply shrugged and looked back sheepishly.

As he returned to his room he heard grumbling, and overheard someone saying something about "petching wizards."

by **Clyde Sullins** on June 7th, 2015, 3:55 pm

Clyde's work was nearly done. All he had left to do now was to complete the cube, and to test it.

As he'd used the last of his res for the lightning, he had to make a bit more for sealing the cube.

Folding up the scroll for within he set it atop one face of the cube, with its face pointing downward at the ground. He then built the other faces around it, like a precious house without firm walls.

A gentle push even would make all of the faces fall into a heap.

Clyde wafted a small cloud of res over it, using a series of pulls to hold it into a proper shape, and then applied a much more precise liquid res over the seams. Focusing on it, he tucked and pulled at the faces, and then used a bit of transmutation. The two faces sealed together, as if of one stone, the transmuted rock acting as both a sealant and an extension of the stone itself.

He continued on with such a practice, till each of the faces was sealed together into one object, a stone box, consisting of a total of 12 points being sealed together. Four for each of the sides on the left and right faces, to seal them to all of the inner sides. Then four more to seal the given sides where the inner sides contacted.

Picking up the stone box, he hefted it in his hand. It was a bit heavier than he'd expected, but being hollow and the faces being thin it wasn't too heavy. If he shook it he could hear the scroll flop about inside.

Now he just had to test it.

Heading out onto the deck, he once more drew the glare of several of the sailors.

He simply ignored them, holding the stone box in his hand, his Mage's Cube.

He tossed the cube out as far as he could from the boat, out over the water. He waited till it was starting to arc down towards the water, before speaking the trigger phrase.

“Rotten bubble stubble!”

By the time he finished the box was about the hit the water. But as he uttered the last word there was an explosion and a tiny boom, and the box exploded into stone fragments. As it did rushes of air blew off in every direction, the bottom facing one sending up a spray of water as the air hit it.

Picturing the air as flames sweeping across a target, Clyde smiled.

His prototype of the Mage's Cube was now the first successful test of a new glyphing storage device of his own invention.

by **Elias Caldera** on June 13th, 2015, 12:12 am

Behold, Your Just Reward!

Clyde Sullins

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