[Flashback/Training] Lessons Learned (Seyp)

[Rage]

Seyp was swift on his feet but he barely managed to keep Asheera within his sights. While the woman did not seem to run at full speed, the boy still had trouble gaining ground on her. He found this more and more difficult to do the farther away they got from Taloba. It was as if the very jungle conspired to have him lose sight of the woman. Tree roots seemed to burst out the ground to trip him when there were none before. Seemingly dried dirt turned out to be slippery mud when he stepped on it. Once, when he ran through a small clearing covered by fallen leaves, the packed detritus exploded as soon as his feet touched them, showering him with soil and rotting vegetation. He almost lost Asheera then, had not the motion of her feathered headdress several yards away tipped him off of her location. It seemed to him as if he's been running forever when he spotted Asheera standing before and looking up a wide-trunked tree, its boughs spread out and wide, its leaves clumped so close together that they prevented sunlight from filtering through. The woman glanced at him when he reached her side. "You will not speak to anyone about this place," she said, before walking towards the base of the tree. Pulling off a vine from its mossy trunk, Asheera turned to face him. "Climb to where I am." And then she tugged at the vine, which turned out to rope camouflaged to blend in with its surroundings. A square wooden board underneath her feet, wide enough to carry her and another, lifted from the ground, raising her up with each heave. Like the rope, it too was disguised to make it blend in the jungle, colored like the jungle floor and covered with rotting leaves as well. Asheera kept her eyes on Seyp the whole time she elevated herself up the tree until she was lost from view as she broke through the lowest canopy. Like before they left Taloba, it was a challenge to the boy to follow her to a destination only she knew. Seyp was left on the ground to figure out how to come up after Asheera. The lowest branches of the tree were just beyond his reach, even if he jumped his highest. Its trunk was moss-covered and slippery, making it difficult, but not impossible, to find handholds. Despite all these, the boy knew he needed to climb up if he wanted to take up what the woman offered.

[Seyp]

Seyp slowly looked up at the branch, giving a soft sigh as Asheera carried herself up, leaving him to find his own way. Seyp’s hands dropped to his waist for a moment before slowly unhooking his chain. He took a couple steps back from directly below the tree and began swinging one of the weights around. Before long, he hurled it forward, waiting for that precise time during the swing to release his grip. It was easier in this case, he wasn’t in a battle or spar, wasn’t rushed or forced to defend at the same time. He could aim with a focus that was unhindered by outside distraction or influence. So, as it released his grip along the chain, it’s length slid through his hand, each curve of it bumping along the skin of his palm as it moved rapidly up into the air, clearing the branch easily before he tightened his grip once again, halting it’s forward movement. The weight jerked back for a moment, before falling idly with a swing into Seyp’s other hand.

He walked beneath the branch once more, the chain’s lengths dangling together as the draped over the branch. He gripped them both with his hands tightly and then began suddenly hoisting himself up. He may have been young, he may have been male, but he was still a Myrian. They were trained hard physically, regardless of gender. Climbing a chain a few feet up was almost a simple matter, and when Seyp finally reached out, grasping the branch, he pulled his body up, perching along it as he took that moment to recoil his chain and slip it back to his waist. From there, he would find foot holds and other branches, curiously seeking out the place where Asheera had gone.

[Rage]

"Cease your dawdling, boy, and do hurry," Asheera's voice drifted from somewhere above the thick boughs of the tree. Her tone was light, sing-song, as if she was enjoying herself, and Seyp was not surprised to hear her caw-like laughter soon after. "Do not set yourself to be like a rock and allow the dust to settle upon you, there is much to be accomplished this day." Young Seyp heard footsteps on wooden boards after that and he could use the sound to gauge the distance between himself and his destination. It was fortunate was well that the trunk of the tree at his level was now devoid of moss. Even though he could nto see it yet, her knew he could easily scale up using the branches to reach the landing of the treehouse. From there, Asheera, and the knowledge he craved, awaited.

[Seyp]

“She’s a Myrian and Female all right.” Seyp thought to himself as he took leaps up to the next branch, his body doing a half swing before he used his momentum to pull himself up. He had shown a balance and fearlessness with his movements, and it wasn’t so much experience that drove him forward in such attempts, but lack of experience. He had not been injured yet in acrobatic attempts, so he had yet to learn the fear of what a misstep would result it.

Eventually he took a running start along a branch, his chain rattling along his side before his feet began digging into the side of the tree, running his body up it. Finally, with a push of his legs, his body rose further into the air and away from the trunk of the tree itself. His hands suddenly snatched up, catching the lip of the landing to Asheera’s tree home. A subtle grunt escaped his lips as the muscles along his wrist tightened, forcing his grip to stop his outward momentum as the tips of his fingers slid slightly over the wooden surface.

With a few seconds to catch his breath, Seyp finally spun his body around, reversing his grip until he was facing away from the tree itself. He then rose his legs, and pulled up with his body as it flipped upward until his feet finally hit the landing itself, bringing him to a crouched position right at the edge. Seyp took in a few deep gasps of air, trying to regain a little energy before he slowly brought himself to a stand. He began moving in towards the house itself, calling out to Asheera as he observed the entirety of his surroundings and began to familiarize himself with the woman’s home.

[Rage]

The landing was spacious. Seyp would note that it was large enough to be able to accommodate a sparring session between two Myrians or allow him to practice the use of his chain without it snagging on a branch. He would be left wondering why it wasn't noticeable from the ground at all. Whoever built the place must have had the utmost of secrecy in mind. "Hurry inside, boy," Asheera called from the interior of the treehouse, irritation now staining her voice when there was only mirth in it earlier. "I can smell your curiosity. Mind you don't touch anything you shouldn't. You might find the experience quite...unpleasant." The inside of the hut was dark, its shutters closed, but there was a small fire in the middle of the room, arranged as one might make when preparing fro camp in the jungle and surrounded by round, flat stones. Upon closer inspection, one would see that it was actually set on top of a large, earth-filled basin, ceramic in make and lowered in a hole the floor perfectly cut to fit it. Only the small indentation of its lip gave sign of its presence. The shelves lining the walls were filled with clay jars of varying sizes, their contents one could only guess. Interspersed between them were books and skulls. A rather large skull of a python, with its sharp, inward pointing teeth, caught Seyp's eye. Whether it belonged to a Dhani or a regular snake the boy could only surmise. At the back was a door leading to another room, most likely the private chamber of Asheera. The woman herself was sitting on her heels on the other side of the fire, a short spear in one hand. Impaled on top of the weapon was the dessicated head of some sort of horned humanoid. Its rather long tongue was sticking out of its mouth. Asheera thrust the severed head towards Seyp so that the boy was face to face with it. The faint smell of rot would waft in Seyp's nostrils. "Meet Cheros," the woman said, her tone even as if making introductions between new friends. "Do you like him? Fell from the sky and hit my tree without my permission. Ethaefal, he calls himself. Some sort of child of the gods, he says. Hogwash, I say. Never could agree with him when he still had his body. Now we get along just fine. Now sit down." Asheera pulled the macabre trophy back to her side and indicated a round pillow opposite her position. She held up her hand as Seyp approached. "Strip before you do."

[Seyp]

Seyp soon walked inside, taking a curious look around as Asheera waned him of touching stuff he shouldn’t. His gaze dropped to meet her own for a moment before lowering a little further to avoid the direct gaze. “Why not simply tell me not to touch anything?” Seyp then said, stepping forward. “It is difficult to ascertain what I should not touch when you are not specific.”

“There is one remedy I suppose.” Seyp then said as he began to infuse Djed into his eyes as auras of several different colors filled his vision. He soon gazed over the room, feeling a soft strain in his eyes beginning to build as he didn’t focus on one thing, but several different at a time. Each aura he took in, he examined the danger of the aura itself, making mental notes of things he considered to hold potential danger. “Done then.”

Seyp then slowly leaned back as the severed head was thrust into his face. “I would imagine he once looked more flesh covered, however he looks better in naught but bone.” Seyp then remarked, tilting his head for a moment as he studied the skull for a long moment. “If you have some accurate history over what he did with his life before you ended it and what he was capable of, I could fashion you an item from his remains that will possibly offer you a small boon.”

Seyp then stepped forward, before hearing Asheera’s instructions. At such, he slowly began to shed what little clothing he had. A small leather vest, his belt of weapons and tools, and a small pair of hemp trousers. Finally his sandals were removed and set aside along with the tidy stack of his other belongings. Coming to a seated position along the pillow, Seyp then folded his legs over one another and looked up to Asheera, patiently waiting for any further instruction.

[Rage]

Asheera's gaze did not leave Seyp as the boy viewed the room through a different medium, chuckling. The only truly magical item in the room was in her hands but she was amused that he still used her words as an excuse to be able to utilize his magic, and this despite the long run to her treehouse. "You enjoy it, don't you, using that which sets you apart of the rest of your...them?" the woman gestured vaguely. She almost stumbled over her words as she came close to saying 'your people' as if she was separating herself from the rest of the Myrians back in Taloba. Pulling the macabre staff close to her chest, she changed the subject as the boy sat down. "No, Cheros cannot be touch by anyone other than myself." Once Seyp had settled himself on the floor, the elder Myrian pulled out a wicked-looking knife and a white wooden board. The latter she handed to her visitor while the former remain in her hand. In the flickering firelight, Seyp could just make out the carvings set upon it. Etched in neat Myrian script, the writing appeared to serve as some sort of contract that promised to uphold an oath sworn - verbally, the writing was clear to state - by the undersigned to anyone in his presence (whoever that may be). At the bottom of the board were numerous thumb marks with what the boy could only assume to be blood. Asheera spoke when he finally lifted his eyes from it. "Before we proceed, I require you to swear in Myri's name that whatever knowledge or insight you gain from what transpires here today, remains here...until such a time that you have another to do the same ritual to." She thrust the knife at him, point first. "Leave your mark, if you agree, boy, else leave now." Surprisingly, Seyp did not hesitate to take the knife, piercing his thumb on the blade's point and before giving his solemn oath to keep everything secret, just as Asheera had asked. Either he was over-eager to learn what she had to offer or he knew nothing about what he just did. Probably both as the woman watched the boy's face in satisfaction as the carved words vanished from the wooden board. The mark he made remained however. To his startled and questioning expression when he looked back up at her, Asheera merely laughed her crow's laugh. When the boy moved to give back the two items, the woman only took the wooden board. "You're not done with the knife yet," she said. Slowly, she touched the space between her brows, and then the palms of her hands and then the part of her breast where her heart would be. She nodded at the knife. "Cut yourself open in those parts. Mind you don't kill yourself or bleed to death before we're done here." Again she laughed. The dessicated face of the severed head seemed to smile at her mirth.

[Seyp]

Seyp slowly gazed over the oath board for a moment, a fascination and intrigue appearing on his face as he looked up to Asheera. He had made the oath, in the end he was here to learn, to expand his own knowledge. If such offered a risk, then it was nothing new in the life of a Myrian. Many faced dangers everyday out in the jungle simply searching for food. In the end, the benefit Seyp saw was greater than the risks.

Seyp then looked to the tip of the dagger when Asheera informed him of it’s further use. His face went blank for a moment, as he mentally prepared himself for the pain. Overall, it wouldn’t be overly difficult dealing with the pain overall. Seyp had suffered several different bruises, cuts and breaks with simply training with weapons every day with his parents. Especially his mother. It was causing himself that pain he had to prepare for in the end. It wasn’t everyday, even in Myrian culture, that someone practiced self mutilation.

He soon raised the dagger, his eyes crossing slightly as he began to focus on the tip of the blade. Slowly he brought it closer. A hiss exhaled from his lips as his teeth grit when the tip of the blade pierced his skin and was dragged downward a short amount, opening a wood as blood began to pour down along the center of the face. He soon moved the blade down, piercing the flesh of his chest next as he attempted to keep his breathing through pain minimal to prevent the blade from piecing any further than it needed to.

The last part was the simplest, as Seyp simply grasped the blade with his hand, dragging his hand over it with one quick motion as the edge cut shallowly into his flesh. Finally, he switched hands, doing the same to the next before handing out the dagger to Asheera once again. “What is next then?” Seyp then asked. “Is there anything else you need me to do?”

[Rage]

"That is enough, for now," Asheera said as she took back the knife from Seyp's bloodied hands. Her tone had changed again, this time more serious. The boy could feel the woman's eyes staring at him from behind her gaudy mask. "Do not forget what you have just done, the damage you did to your body as well as the amount of control you had to exert so as not to brain yourself with the blade or pierce your heart. Essentially, what you will learn from me will be the same as those acts. You will be killing yourself...slowly...but you won't know it because it won't hurt as much as those wounds. "It will only hurt when the magic is gone. And the pain will make you yearn for more of the magic. Beware that you do not cut yourself too deep to kill yourself then." She paused to let the words sink in, to let the boy understand the gravity of what he had asked from her and what she was willing to give to him. "Now prepare yourself. This will be...more painful than your wounds." Asheera reached up to remove her feathered headdress and Seyp got his first look of her whole face. She was a beautiful woman, but wrinkles were starting to show at the edges of her eyes. Her sharp features were not too severe as to make her look stern like some of the Myrian elders he knew. The puzzle of her grayish skin, had Seyp taken notice of it before, was given resolution by her strange eyes. Piercing blue-gray irises framed a unique set of pupils that would never be found on another Myrian: they were slit-like, akin to a snake. Asheera was part Dhani. "Surprised?" she asked the boy after the initial shock of discovering her heritage had subsided. "You may try to kill me, of course, but would that not waste the opportunity to learn? Yes...I see the hunger for knowledge in you, boy. You wouldn't do such a thing, not until I have taught you all I know. And my secret is safe with you from the oath you just swore. I won't have to worry about you spreading stories about your teacher...not until you have a student of your own, and that would be years in coming yet. I would be gone by then." She laughed again, shrill and painful to the ears, though if Seyp truly listened he would detect a trace of bitterness in it. Was it regret for not being able to live with her people, or perhaps hatred of her own nature, something she could not control nor change? One could only guess. Seyp did not have time to answer; Asheera never gave him the chance to. All the while she was talking, she had been channeling her djed and flooding the room with colorless and odorless Res. Had Seyp been using his auristics then he would have detected the aura of the room change to a color similar to when Asheera had channeled her Res through her stave back when they were still in Taloba. Now, the woman manipulated the magical cloud to enter the boy's body through his freshly inflicted wounds and other orifices. She was not gentle. Seyp would feel his spine arch from the force by which Asheera's Res invaded his body. He would only be able to describe it as violation of the highest order, as if another entity was trying to house itself in his small frame, forcing him to adapt and endure its presence. His veins would burn, his skin would feel too tight to hold his body, and his soul would feel as if it was being ripped from its mooring on his physical shell. He would scream as the sensation would feel like an eternity when in truth it would only be several minutes. When at last it was done, when Asheera retracted her Res from his body, he would slump down on his pillow seat, spent and exhausted as if he had ran a marathon. The small fire before them blazed up into a huge bonfire as Asheera transmuted her magic stuff into flame. Interestingly, the flames did not move past the circle of stones that framed it. When at last the fire had died down, Asheera said in a tired whisper, "It is done."

[Seyp]

Seyp tilted his head slightly, hearing Asheera’s advice on control when in terms of using the magic, about the want and need to do more after stopping. “Overgiving.” Seyp whispered silently as she fell silent for a moment. He had been warned of such when first learning Auristics from his father as well. He had yet to truly experience it, even with Auristics. There were times he had felt fatigued and his eyes hurt after using Auristics, but he had yet to truly experience the sweet whispers and effects of actual overgiving.

When Seyp’s gaze rose once again to see Asheera’s face fully for the first time. His eyes narrowed, studying her features for a short time. When his eyes met her own and he noticed the slits for the first time. His head tilted in intrigue as blood began to cover his lower face and drip from his chin.

Soon, Seyp’s lips parted to speak, but the only thing that escaped his lips at that moment was a scream. His body suddenly felt like it was being expanded and torn apart from the inside. The wounds he had inflicted on himself felt like they were being spread open further, he felt that his eyes were being pushed out of their sockets. His veins felt like they had acid flowing through it as his veins. He felt like grabbing at his own flesh and tearing it away, to dig inside of his own body and pull out what was causing the pain. But there was so much pain, all his body could do was lock up, his muscles tightening and his joints going rigid.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the pain began to subside as Seyp began to slump to the floor, deep breaths being heaved into his body. As Asheera’s words rang into Seyp’s ears about the finish of the process, Seyp simply closed his left eye as blood from his brow began to trickle over his face as he remained motionless, laying on his side. “I think,” Seyp said, still laying there, “that I will need a little bit more time to recover. If you, as my mentor, have no objections to such?”