Solo Preventative Measures

[Bennar Witt]

7th Fall, 515 A.V.
Bennar’s Apartment

The apartment had a haggardly look about it after so much time spent bearing the effects of his practiced magics. Ben stood in the center, surveying the cracks and holes, the dents, the scratches, the jagged bits of broken table, and the tiny pebbles that he never seemed able to do away with. The mage felt his weight cause the floorboards to creak as he stepped over to his table and sat heavily in the chair. Someday soon he would find a better place to live. He set an elbow on the table and leant his face into his palm, cupping the scruff on his jaw. This is why I spend so much of my time outside in the city.

Truthfully it was not so bad having such a home. It was safe and warm in the winter, and he enjoyed the primitive bed well enough, though it caused some back ache. He lived in Lhavit! The wild trappings of the city were more than enough to make up for his less than luxurious living arrangements. Pale blue eyes fixated on a jagged crack in the wall. It had been made in the spring of this year, when he had over given trying to cast some Reimantic spell. It had not been one of his smarter moments. His forearm bore a few scars to remind him of that constantly.

Scars on his apartment were bad though. He would have to sell it for less now, or pay to get them fixed. Ben briefly entertained the idea of fixing the damage himself. Maybe he would learn a little carpentry and repair the wobbly table? Perhaps he would get some materials to cover the cracks in the walls. What did one need to do that? Ben searched his mind and his memory of the city for some memory of a shop or artisan who could guide him. Eventually he just decided to leave it up to his landlord. He was not equipped or informed enough to handle such a task by himself.

I’m only good for making the holes. Ben thought ruefully. He snorted at his own humor. Shaking his head he traced the edge of the table with his middle finger. But I’m not. He wasn’t only good for making holes. He was surprised that he hadn’t thought of it earlier! He could shield the room! Not against the physical harm, he hadn’t figured that out yet, but against the djed he manipulated when he practiced his reimancy.

Ben lingered on the idea for a moment, glancing critically at the dimensions of the walls around him. Oh yes. I could encompass the entire apartment pretty easily. It was sad in a way, that his abilities allowed for him to shield his entire tiny apartment. Shielding was his strongest and oldest magic, however. It had been his intention to use the power to protect against the destructive nature of his other abilities. Truthfully, he was surprised it had taken him this long to come up with it.

No use waiting. Ben began to concentrate. Though he had a talent equal in both reimancy and shielding, he enjoyed shielding far more. It was so constructive, opposing the wrathful hunger of is Reimantic fire. It gave his a sense of security. Ben liked to be secure.

Ben grasped the table with both hands and pulled. The wood made a wild screeching and occasional jolt as he moved it to the center of the room. He clambered up to sit cross-legged on its wobbling surface. Ben closed his eyes, the practiced method allowing his mind to easily fall into place. He was no good at meditation, but when it involved an intricate crafting of his djed, he was capable.

He breathed deeply. With a flickering of mental concentration he exhaled the djed from within himself into the air in front of him. Ben could sense it easily, but to a mundane observer there would only be a faint shimmering of the air momentarily. The djed drifted outward as his mind shepherded it where he wanted it to go. He settled the stuff evenly across a portion of his wall. It had grown easier to make the djed more evenly distributed over time and years of practice.

Ben breathed in and out. With every exhale he lot his djed turn into a shimmering representation of his will. He systematically del it fall along the walls. He continued this ritual of breathing out his body’s djed for long minutes. He was completely lost in his own world as he let his life’s essence become magic through sheer willpower.

[Bennar Witt]

Breath in. Djed out. The rhythmic pattern of the magic settled Ben into a trance-like state. He felt at ease with the inner manipulation of reality. Some would argue that magic was so dangerous because it was unnatural. That changing the djed within yourself was too dangerous to be normal, let alone relaxing. But sitting here on the rickety tabletop, Ben could honestly say he felt as relaxed as he had felt in seasons. The mental tasking of crafting spells combined with the physical meditation of his style let his body relax while his mind was too engaged to wander to anxious thoughts. In some ways the changing of reality was more peaceful than sleep. Shielding was anyway.

The djed moved through the air and pasted itself against the walls and floor. It shimmered as it did so but then remained invisible after settling. Ben paid attention to little else save the thickness and evenness of the coating of djed as he oversaw this process. Ben could feel the essence around him in the room. He could feel what had once been his djed, his self now layers finely over the inside of his apartment walls, ceiling, and floor.

Ben opened his eyes and slid off the tabletop. He lifted a hand and brushed the long hair back on his head. It fell in a mildly chaotic mess around his ears. Ben straightened his clothes and stepped to the wall. Now the interesting part began.

Ben closed his eyes and placed his palm against the wall, physically touching the half made shield. The djed seemed to awaken at his touch. Ben began to form in his mind the idea of absorbing djed and blocking it. This was not a simple process. Luckily, he was practiced at this particular tasking, seeing that it was the original purpose in his learning the magic.

Ben let the image of djed striking the shield form the anchor of the task. He saw it as Reimantic fire, as all the elements. He saw it as the projected djed of the Shinya. He saw it as his own Reimantic earth. All of those images, as elements of humanity’s strongest sense, formed the most tangible elements of the task. Around that he wove the concept of absorption and blockage. Ben wasn’t sure he could even explain the way he did that to himself anymore. It was almost an instinctual process. All of this mental work took a mere fraction of a moment.

The Alvadan mage urged his task into the djed. The stuff, eager for a purpose, resonated with acceptance as he did so. The djed shimmered in a wave as it’s new purpose was set into the shield. Ben watched as his will spread across the invisible stuff, becoming reality. The wall he touched was tasked and the stuff was quickly spreading along the edges. Ben kept reinforcing the djed with the task, repeating it, sending it further.

[Bennar Witt]

As the task continued about the room, reaching more djed further away from him, Ben continued to push the task into it. He reinforced the command with his own willpower. A mage’s will had a special power over their created djed. The residual connection of a single essence was what Ben attributed it to. The djed that he had so recently created was being transformed into a shield with the implementation of the task. It was being cemented into reality with the force of his willpower.

The apartment did not seem different to the naked eye. It didn’t feel different, standing in it. But as Ben finished the shield he felt the difference inside himself. In some way, the shield was a present sensation that was as evident as a smell in the air, or a humming in the ear. Ben pushed his hair back again, smiling at his work. He hadn’t even worked up a sweat doing this bit of magic. His abilities must really be improving. That was always a surprise for Ben. He was mostly self-taught, which left him with little in the way of feedback on his progression.

Ben stepped to the corner of the room and laid a hand on the cold plaster of the wall. He sent tendrils of his mind out to prod the djed. He examined the shield for thinness, bareness of task, and open holes. If he found a discrepancy in the edges of the wall, where most would be, he fixed them. The repairs were made efficiently with a mental tweak or a gentle manipulation of the djed. After a few seconds he had worked all the kinks out and moved to the next corner.

Ben carefully walked about the small room inspecting his handiwork and fixing any weaknesses. There weren’t many, the djed absorption was as common a tasking as they came. Ben enjoyed the work though, taking his time to fix each. Soon the shield was complete and his apartment was evenly tasked and shielded. Ben stretched his arms and rolled his head. After the shielding there was only one thing remaining to do.

Releasing Reimancy in his apartment was probably a horrible idea. It was the exact opposite of what he intended. Reimancy was the cause of many problems in Ben’s life, really. There were scars on his arms for it. There were countless moments of horrific overgiving in his past. Brief flickers of life-altering terror. And then there was Lori. Lori had been the worst. Worse ever then the incident in the apartment.

Nostalgia and memory, the most potent torture. Ben wondered why he always hurt himself with these thoughts. He wasn’t a depressed individual, he wasn’t lost emotionally. But the shadows in his past still living in his mind. That was what life was, though. People developed their chains and struggled through.

The struggle would be significantly worse if one burned one’s apartment down with magic. Which lead back to the shielding. And the testing the shield.

[Bennar Witt]

The Alvadan wizard freed djed from him body, instantly turning it into a ring of glowing purple Res around him. He directed it out of himself with a flick of a finger. The thin band around him briefly shimmered, casting a purple tinge across the room. Without a physical gesture the wizard sent the ring outward in a thin nova of flame. The purple was replaced be red and orange as the magic burst against the shielded walls.

The flames, a fleeting and cautious heat, were extinguished by the contact and left a smudging of black and brown on the walls. Ben was surprised by this. Perhaps he had mistaken his tasking? When scratched at with a finger the soot was easily removed. Ben could not very well have a soot ring on his walls. Today he would have to wash them clean with a rag and soap. A little elbow work would make it right as rain again. But it would take more to rectify the shield.

Was the Reimantic fire still djed? Of course it was. It was djed as everything in Mizahar was made of djed. Ben let his form drop onto the bed with a sigh. He frowned and set his face atop his fist, staring at the soot ring. Perhaps that truth was not the issue.To absorb and block djed was a basic function of a shield. But that had been the innate djed they flowed across the world around him. Perhaps the blockage and absorption of djed made into fire, or stone, or a sword, needed a more specific tasking. In that regard it was Ben’s lack of instruction that had caused the ring on the wall.

The apartment was silent while Ben pondered this. His cloak lay next to him on the bed. The fireplace was black and cold. He sensed the shield was even now pulling in the minute bits of djed that moved around the room from both of these things and more. It would continuously absorb them and fold them into its own djed and function. In this, the shield would almost take on a life of its own, reinforcing itself slowly even as it diminished from time, as all things do.

He would have to approach this from a different perspective. Ben rolled up the posse linen sleeve of his shirt. He untied the lace of his collar and yanked it wider. Pinching his chin between thumb and forefinger he stared at the wall with his eyes, but seeing the djed of the shield with his mind. He almost felt a physical tickling as his palm gently caressed the shield. The flow of the current task shifted with his mental attention, moving away from his hand in a wave so minute he could barely detect it.

The Alvadan wizard ignited the djed within his body to movement with a practiced mental command. His will flowed through his body to the shield. The outstretched arm acting as a conduit for his magic. Ben crafted a mental image of conflagration protection, weaving in all sorts of reinforcements against flame. The task grew stronger in his mind and he urged it into the shield at the tip of his fingers. The djed immediately took to the new tasking, shimmering greedily as it spread the mental command around the room. Ben continued to push this new task until it had encompassed the entire shield.

After the tasking was complete Ben allowed himself a long and detailed surveying of the shield. It did not take as long as the initial survey because the structure of the shield had already been inspected. He only ensured the elemental tasking was in place this time. He didn’t want to have to scrub two rings of soot off his walls, so he was diligent.

[Bennar Witt]

The dinginess of the apartment and the soot ring were beginning to irritate Ben. He wanted to be out and about. This shielding would need to be tested one last time before he had the chance to wash all this business away with a nice cup of Lhavitian tea and a bit of sweetbread.

Ben hardly needed focus to create the simple flame. He held his hand up and the purple Res flowed from it to coil into a fist sized ball of glowing, magical liquid. Ben gestured with a finger and the ball was tearing across the room. It burst into fire and slammed against the wall. The flame blazed in a moment of glory before dying away. Where it had impacted the wall there was no mark. Ben shuffled quickly over to the wall and placed his hand on the shield.

It had taken some damage, though nowhere near enough to break through. Even now it was gathering minute amounts of residual djed from the surrounding atmosphere and recuperating it’s strength. The djed shimmered at his touch again, responding to the mage who had crafted it, but otherwise was invisible. Ben stood back, rubbing the dark whiskers on his chin. He allowed himself a moment of triumph, admiring his handiwork. He had successfully tasked the shield to block fire! This was indeed a moment to be proud of in his illustrious career as a do-it-yourself mage.

Feeling confident, Ben spread a large crescent blade of shimmering purple Res before him. He willed it to ignite and lash out against the shield. After a moment of heat and brightness, the room was unchanged. It did, however, smell distinctly of burning.

The shield was intact. It was regenerating from the second, larger impact, but unbroken. Ben judged that the djed would be fully replenished by the time he got back that morning. He yanked his cloak from his bed with a flourish. With a jaunty step he left the apartment, wondering which tea house he would patronize today.

Why, yes Master Witt, we would love for such an accomplished mage as yourself to partake of our unearthly refreshment. What? Oh no, you need not pay! It is on the house!

Perhaps one day!

[Bee]

Don't forget to edit/delete your grade request. If there's anything I may have missed, please PM me and I'll BEE happy to look into it.

 

Ben

Skills

• Shielding +3
• Meditation +1
• Observation +1

Lores

• Lore: Shielding: Ben's house
• Lore: Shielding: Repairing the shield
• Lore: Scars from Lori
• Lore: Shielding: Testing a shield

Comments: None, respond to my PM please. You write really well!