Solo A Summons

[Keene Ward]

.The seventy-eighth day of spring, 515 AV

"They sent you?" Kinapak's scowl was hardly needed to convey his pure disappointment that Keene had been chosen as one of the initiates to aid the Prairie Wardens in their defense of the grounds. For whatever reason, Kinapak had never quite taken to Keene, something that Keene found petty, but otherwise irrelevant. Kinapak was an Initiate, and when push came to shove, he was an ally, however reluctant or condescending. "Well, at least they had the sense to send the twins." There was a softer quality to his voice as he stared off into the distance towards the two, gradually increasing shapes on the horizon. The distance was great enough that, as far as Keene was concerned, the two blots were just as likely dust clouds as they were people. Before he could ask, however, Kinapak turned back to face him, eyes those of a bird, unnervingly staring at him through the piercing black pupil ringed with golden amber. "Morpher." He nodded, a mute indicator that he understood. "You can set up your stuff over by Daren's cot. We're to camp here until we get orders otherwise." From the tone in his voice, it was apparent that that was all he planned to tell Keene for the time being.

Taking the semi-verbal cue, Keene set his backpack down, untying his flask of water from his hip to take a few conservative swigs of water as he settled down to lean against the backpack that had been temporarily re-purposed as his backrest. The trip from the cavern to the Prairie had been a long one, made all the more so by the pre-dawn point at which he'd started. While he rested, however, Keene scanned the surrounding area. Though Kinapak was at ease, his magic was far more visceral than Keene's own. Reimancy, while powerful, worked best when one was familiar with one's circumstances. Technically, Keene supposed all magic worked best when everything was considered, but without a line of sight and allies in the crossfire, it was best he acquaint himself with the bushy grasslands before any potential mistakes found actualization.

There was little in the way of variance in the prairie's landscape. There were small gnolls and gentle valleys, but for the most part there were simply grasses and packed dirt scattered across a mostly even plain. The camp, as it was, was formed between two large stones, each about three times Keene's size in width and about half his height. Given the lack of cover, it was as good a place as any for them to find at least some defense from both the elements and whatever creatures lurked within the nearby grasses. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more likely it was that the stones had been placed there intentionally. Drawing upon his djed, Keene let it fuel his senses, eyes searching the aura that slowly came into focus for a telltale magical signature within the pale layers of the grey aurora. To his surprise, however, there was no indication that the stones were magical through aura alone. Not wanting to waste his djed, Keene cut off the djed's pathway, pulling it back through him to settle properly along what he figured to be his natural djed flow.

"You're a reimancer, right?" Keene glanced up from his study of the area, grey green eyes locking even with Kinapak's crisp blue. There was something different about his face, but Keene couldn't quite place it - higher cheekbones, perhaps.

"Yes."

"How useful." The manner in which he said it, however, hardly suggested that Kinapak found anything about Keene remotely convenient. "Shore up the rest of the camp, would you? There's no point in sitting around when you could be doing something." The hypocrisy of Kinapak's closing statement was overruled by it's practicality in Keene's mind. He nodded, rising to his feet and letting the djed within him drift towards the surface of his being. While stone was hardly his preferred element with its permanence and solidarity, it was not beyond his capabilities to manipulate. "Don't box us in." The words sounded almost like an after thought as Kinapak returned to staring off into the distance. With his directives given, Keene set about drawing upon the earth.

[Keene Ward]

.
The twins arrived within the bell by which time Keene had managed to shore up the earth about the camp in a crescent of earth and stone, a small rise only a few inches higher than the stones that capped both ends. It had required more dirt than he had thought it might, leaving behind a moat of sorts where the earth had been displaced to settle in several mounds about the campsite. The amount of res he had expended had been minimal, the majority of the dirt having been moved rather than transmuted, however around the bulk of the earth were thin, stone "cages" that served to accentuate the dirt's form, a scaffolding effect that Keene had employed to regulate how much dirt was needed to form the shapes he wanted. Smooth stone tops capped the dirt mounds, creating flat surfaces, and each was evenly spaced from the other with about a foot of distance.

Stepping back from his work as Cowen moved forward to stand beside him, the two spent several chimes silently surveying Keene's handiwork. "Isn't it a bit... conspicuous?" The blonde turned to raise an eyebrow at Keene, his eyes a near mirror of Keene's own.

"Should it not be?"

Cowen took a few ticks to reply before shrugging. "No, I suppose it doesn't matter either way." He gave Keene a nod. "Good work, then, Keene Ward." Keene returned the gesture, stepping out of the way as Cowan barreled by to nimbly dodge the clumsy tackle that was no doubt meant to be a hug. "Cowan." Both brothers stood together, the more eloquent of the two offering Keene an apologetic shrug. "It's good to see you again in good health."

Keene nodded, though he gave no indication that he returned the sentiment.

"Now that we're all here..." Kinapak moved to join them, his body moving as fluidly as the silky quality of his tone, one that was closely similar to Cowen's own. "We've been tasked to keep an eye on the circle." He pointed to the marked ground before them, the only methodical mar upon the grounds that held a purpose unknown. "Keene, you're good to guard alone, right?" There was a slight sneer to his voice, but Keene only nodded in confirmation. He had spent the majority of his time on the island alone. Several days guarding a new area in the same social setting wasn't even worth blinking at. "Good, good-"

"Kinapak." Cowen's voice held a sternness to it that drew even Keene's attention. "Do you not think it would be wise to move in groups of two? The Wardens called for more man power for a reason, I would think."

There was a slight pause during which Kinapak's eyes flashed, however it passed quickly and when it spoke there was no indication that anything had ever upset him. "I suppose that would make more sense. Keene, you'll be with me." His words were slightly more stilted, but the morpher continued on, ignoring the wide grin that had spread over Cowan's amused features. "You and I will keep the north, the twins will stick to the south. We'll split the night up between us." He turned a raised brow towards Cowen. "Is that all right?"

The twin nodded. "I have no qualms with it."

"Great." The four of them milled about for a few chimes more, each gathering up whatever it was they needed and leaving behind the rest beneath a hollow stone that Keene had crafted after the fact to conceal what they did not wish to carry. "Daren should be back in a few bells to keep an eye on the camp. If you find anything or anyone tampering with the circle, send someone back to him immediately." All three nodded their understanding. "Good. We'll see you at sunset then."

[Keene Ward]

.
It was much the same as if he had been alone as the two of them walked about the massive circle. The slight rise and fall of the prairie's terrain quickly hid the figures of the twins as they had set off in their opposite directions, which left only Kinapak his company. The winds blew gently through the grasses, a pleasant rustling filling the silence between them, hints of a lazy peacefulness playing at the heels of the passing breezes. The ground was far easier for Keene to traverse than that of the more mountainous valley beneath the rise of Mt. Merlus, and he found it far easier to keep his senses extended outwards in search of any sort of disturbance without the hindrance of trees or rolling hills. The heat, however, was greater on the open plains, and sweat had already wet the nape of his neck and sides of his face.

When Kinapak did speak, it was to still Keene's steady march, a hiss and extended hand stopping him in his tracks. "Get down." Having no reason to question Kinapak's orders, Keene did as he was told, kneeling down so that his hands pressed against the bristly grasses that rose to wrap themselves about him. "Do you see that?" His finger pointed towards yet another blip on the horizon.

"No."

There was an annoyed click of the tongue as Kinapak turned to give him a roll of the eyes, the grass rustling from the sudden movement. "Stay low and stay quiet." Once more following Kinapak's commands, Keene kept close to the ground, eyes fixed on the approaching figure. They spent a good number of chimes laying prone, concealed within the swaying grasses, each tick urging him to scratch at the various itches that had begun to present themselves only a chime after Kinapak had fallen once more into apprehensive silence.

It was not uncommon for things other than the Wardens to visit the prairie. Nuits, hunters, slaves, and especially failed or escaped experiments were common place, but while Keene had only ever visited the prairie in the capacity of what was more or less a guest, it was Kinapak's domain. If he felt the need to hide, it was wise to do the same. Still, the rate at which the blot grew nearer was slow enough that Keene had begun to busy himself with other things. He could feel Kinapak's muscles taunt and tense, the tightness of breath and anticipation of fight or flight, all things that were useful to him in that he could expend his energies elsewhere.

Drawing in a slow, steady breath, Keene let his djed slip onto the path that had been carved out in his mind's eyes as the fuel line for his auristics. Slowly, Kinapak's aura came into view. It was large, an impressive mix of golden ambers and teals, radiating off him him in a quickened beat. He was certainly powerful, but there was so much that Keene had difficultly processing all of it. The very first thing beyond the size of the aura he noticed was the rate at which it pulsed. It was quick, rapid and suggesting panic or fear, something that seemed appropriately paired to the other man's apprehensive state. Beyond that, Keene wasn't sure how to make sense of the rest of it. There were flecks of an aura that held the indication that it should be larger. The colors were packed close together, tight and constricted, while the greater, looser amber shivered about the aura's edges, sometimes pressing deep into the blue, sometimes only just outlining it.

There was power in the aura, something that tasted a bit like nutmeg and had a low, bubbling murmur to it, like a brook or a creek. It was what he assumed to be a reflection of Kinapak's magic, a fluid, malleable sort of force that could be called upon at will. A flash of sickly yellow snaked its way through the glowing layers, alerting Keene that Kinapak had something to say. As quickly as he could, Keene pulled himself away from the alluring draw of the aura, his djed settling back into its proper places as Kinapak hissed once more. "Get ready."

Before Keene could ask "For what?", Kinapak exploded from the grasses in a mess of limbs and fur, a hissing growl escaping his lungs as his body knotted and rolled itself into shape as he careened through the air. Keene had not felt as though he had spent too much time staring at Kinapak's aura, but it had been so much more intricate and complicated than leather or stone and so much more foreign from his own aura that he found it likely he had lost track of time. Deciding it was best not to waste any more of it, Keene pushed himself to his feet, res slipping from his fingertips in anticipation of support for the sleek, dark haired animal that darted off towards what appeared to be a giant, bleeding mountain of a man.

[Keene Ward]

.
Kinapak's feline form was incredibly agile, his movements like water in comparison to the slow, lumbering efforts of the tortured beast that swung its arms about to catch at the sleek, elegant frame. It was slow, and its lack of control over its own body gave Kinapak an obvious advantage. Taking a few steps forward, Keene readied himself to assist, but his advance was cut short by a cloud of insects bursting from within the behemoth's center. The creature let out a howl, one that was echoed by a hissing snarl as Kinapak continued his multi-pronged assault.

Keene, however, had the bugs to deal with. As the things were from a questionable origin and were quite certainly hostile, he had little wish for the creatures to make any sort of contact with him. Spreading the res out in front of him with a wave of the hand, he sent it forwards, expanding into a pale blue mist. As it met with the swarm, Keene snapped his fingers, the res quickly becoming a cloud of searing flame, sending ashes of the creatures into the winds that had begun to pick up about them. The fire, however, did not destroy all of the insects, some still pressing on in spite of their fallen comrades. Pulling the res and fire towards him, Keene thrust both hands forward, simultaneously expanding the width of what had become a curtain of flame and sending it forward to burn whatever was left.

The buzzing that had exploded from within the creature's near-corpse did not end as the last of the bugs fell to Keene's magical holocaust. If anything, it seemed louder. Kinapak had felled the beast, but he too noticed the buzzing and had regrouped beside Keene. There was a slight cracking sound before Kinapak's voice sounded gruff and hoarse, agitation almost palpable. "What are you waiting for? Blow it up!" Nodding, Keene flipped his hands so that both palms faced the sky, res snaking from them to wrap around the creature's bubbling skin. It seemed the flying insects were just beneath the surface, looking for a way to escape. Some already had, buzzing out the air in an angry fit. Shoving the res through whatever orifice he could, Keene filled the body with a gaseous res, flipping his hands palm down to transmute it into flame. The body caught fire immediately, giving Keene plenty of fire to work with as he pulled tendrils of it out to catch and burn the remaining insects that had escaped before the body had burst into foul smelling smoke and boiling flesh.

Kinapak's body cracked and crunched its way back into what it had been before, though throughout the process he barked commands at Keene to catch and kill the few things that slipped his notice. When all was done, the smoldering heap of carcass lay in a benign pile, the grasses scorched but flames contained. Not a single fly remained, and Kinapak had Keene send one last burst of fire through the charcoaled remains for good measure. The pair spent a few more chimes combing through the grasses, looking for any bugs that might have remained. Keene had thought to use his auristics, but the auras of the grasses proved too overwhelming for him to pinpoint something so small. Kinapak was better suited to the job at any rate, having chosen the form of a small house cat, so instead Keene stared down in study of the still burning corpse of the creature.

The aura was charred, he could see it in the darkened edges and sooty pallor of the slowly shrinking aura. Unable to tell much, Keene was at the very least able to verify that the creature was indeed dead. From what he could tell as he carefully scanned the aura of both flame and body, there were only the two. If there were flies left, their aura were either hidden beneath the mass of their host or consumed by the crackling hues of orange and red, an odd aura for flames of such a pale blue, but Keene had long since arrived at the theory that most things, magical or not, had a simliar aura if they were of a similar sort. Even the corpse's fading fog of an aura was similar in sorts to that of Keene's or even Kinapak's. It had been just as complicated, though more fragmented and rife with a magical signature that Keene was unfamiliar with - presumable the nuit, or possibly nuits, responsible for the creature's gigantic, bloody state.

"It's dead now."

Kinapak uttered a short, listless mew in response from where he sat upon his haunches. Within a few ticks and more snapping and crunching of bone, Kinapak stood before him, naked as the day he was born and nodding. "I couldn't find any more of those... bugs either." Gathering up his pack, Kinapak pulled out a baggy shirt, slipping it over his head so that the hem hung just above his knees. "Next time, don't just stand there gaping. Who knows what would have happened if one of those things stung or... bit us." While Keene understood the potential danger, the practicality of Kinapak's concern was difficult to appreciate when neither of them had any sort of idea what the insects might have done nor how it would have been done to them. While caution was certainly a valuable ally within the Testing Grounds, there was something to be said for overkill, and there was as good a chance they had done the latter than prevented the prior.

"I will try to be more proactive."

Kinapak stared at Keene for a few ticks before rolling his eyes and thinking better of saying anything in reply. Instead, he simply motioned for Keene to follow him once more. "At least you listen, I suppose."

[Keene Ward]

.
The rest of the day continued without much else of import, though Kinapak called for stops several times just to be safe. It was almost surprising how cautious the other man was, but the longer the day went on, the less Keene thought to consider Kinapak's vigilance as anything but necessary. It was his quick eye and critical scrutiny that had kept them from a far more difficult fight, and while the few perceived dangers throughout the remainder of the sun's light turned out to be relatively benign, Keene found that there was more to learn from Kinapak than he had at first thought. It wasn't a world altering revelation, but it certainly made the man's presence less overbearing. Where Atziri had allowed him the space to do as he saw fit, and Mella had controlled his every chime, Kinapak wanted Keene do as he pleased but only as long as it fit within the strict outline he wanted in his head. It was a far more difficult sort of relationship than he was used to, expectations usually something explicitly stated or intentionally hidden rather than the hodgepodge of do's and don'ts that Kinapak explained as they came across them.

The first and foremost was "Don't breathe through your mouth, it's disgusting." For whatever reason, it was one of the things that bothered the young initiate most, and Keene had taken to catching himself drawing in air between his lips more times that he could count afterwards, stopping himself each time, much to the mixed chagrin and amusement of his companion. There was a long list of things that bothered Kinapak and a short list of things he enjoyed. The only two things on the shorter lister were "At least you listen." and "I'm glad you don't talk much." Neither were difficult for Keene to perpetuate, and most of the annoyances were things he could compensate for. He didn't curb his actions for Kinapak's sake, rather it was something to pass the time, an exercise in self control and an exploration of what he could and could not affect within the space of his own body.

By the time Kinapak told Keene they were heading back to camp, Keene had learned that he could not fix the "lopsided droop" of his eyes, his "uneven stride", or the "obnoxious way his nose whistled every twenty breathes". Everything else though, that was within his power, and as he trailed behind Kinapak, he mentally noted that the volume of his breathing - sans nose whistling - was entirely controllable, along with the "heaviness" of his step, the "unnerving manner in which he stared", and the "slight slouch" of his posture. It was progress in field that he had considered relatively well explored, and while there was perhaps little else he had accomplished for the day, it was something.

"So what do you think it does?" The question was, for all that Keene was concerned, unprecedented. His eyes followed Kinapak's shrugging gesture to the markings on the ground a short distance from them, the circle they'd been patrolling for the better part of the day. He hadn't stopped to give the runes much consideration, as to Keene they were already a known in a world of unknowns: something they were supposed to guard. Taking his time to reply, Keene stared down at the markings, his pace slowing some. Kinapak, for the first time since they had met, quietly matched Keene's more languid gait as he considered the potential uses for the circle.

With his rudimentary skills in glyphing and limited understanding of the magic as a whole, a few chimes was more than enough to alert Keene to the fact that the circle was far beyond anything he could create, let alone comprehend. He could see a calculated and meticulous mess of filters, paths, barriers, and focuses, though what it was they were meant to too was too complex, each one relying on the others and others more to the point where, not matter how he tried to follow them, he continually found himself lost and confused. His silence extended from a few chimes to almost half a bell of frustrated pensiveness before Kinapak spoke again, this time his voice holding a familiar lilt of agitation. "Some time today, Keene Ward?"

[Keene Ward]

.
"I don't know what it's supposed to do." The answer was frank, though there was just the slightest hint of frustration in Keene's cool tone.

"You and the rest of us." The morpher didn't sound particularly crestfallen about Keene's inability to crack the secrets of the circle. If anything, he was pleased. "You don't have any guesses? Daren thinks it's a dirt tattoo." Keene blinked. "I'm joking."

"Oh. I see."

Kinapak rolled his eyes, picking up the pace some now that Keene had no reason to move as slowly as he had been. "So?"

"It's filled with glyphs. Some of them make sense to me, some of them don't. Together, all I see is a mess." His tone was even as his eyes ran steady over the markings. He supposed it was possible that his auristics might make things clearer, but it was far more likely all of the jumbled auras would merely confuse him all the more. Kinapak's increased pace cast the idea of drawing upon his djed to infuse his senses in the light of something best done on his own time, and Keene shrugged in closing.

The pair walked in silence for the remainder of the journey back to camp. When they arrived, the twins stood up to greet them, both bending in a shallow bow. "Anything interesting happen?" Cowen's question was paired with an interested raise of the brow.

"Nothing we couldn't handle." Kinapak looked to Keene, allowing him a few ticks to add to the response if he wanted. With a nod, Keene confirmed that the day's events had been relatively uneventful.

"Perhaps today is a fortuitous foreshadowing?" There was a slight hint of amusement in Cowen's words as his eyes moved carefully between the two initiates opposite him. Keene and Kinapak shrugged simultaneously, though only the more verbose spoke.

"I wouldn't hold my breathe on it."

With that, the four of them set about starting a fire and roasting their dinner. In spite of the questionable source of the meat that Cowan provided, there were no complaints as the last of it was finished off. The night had begun to settle in the cloudy sky, the steady breeze calming to a low murmur as it passed through the inky blackness of the grasses just beyond the meager glow of the camp's muted fire. The occasional cry or rustling sounded every now and then, but for the most part the prairie remained peaceful. Upon Daren's return, the five of them divvied up the night's bells between them, and Keene settled into his place on the hard ground, drifting off to sleep in preparation for his shift.

[Dravite]

G R A D I N G

Keene Ward

Experience

• Wilderness Survival: 1
• Scouting: 1
• Auristics: 3
• Socilisation: 2
• Philosophy: 1
• Drawing: 1
• Planning: 1
• Mathematics: 1
• Rhetoric: 1
• Stealth: 1
• Reimancy: 1
• Leadership: 1
• Investigation: 1

Lore

• Kinapak: The Initiate
• Kinapak: The Morpher
• Location: Mt. Merlus
• Stealth: A prone position
• Kinapak: A powerful aura
• Kinapak's pet peeves

Notes

Congratulations on maxing out reimancy.