Of Sense and Shield Pt IV

[Alric Lysane]

33rd Winter 521 AV – Alric & Taz’s Apartments He was still in a good mood from Taz and Bree’s visit, it had been a refreshing mixture of companionship and experimentation. Though he was slowly finding some friends within Sunberth it was nice to be able to have no guard up whatsoever, and not feel as if it were a risk. They had accomplished much in a short time, despite Taz’s feelings that she hadn’t really worked hard at it. With each meeting and magical exploration, it seemed less and less terrifying, and sullying, for him to be delving into such arcane matters. He had found some measure of peace with it, being able to practise it between more normal things like conversation and teasing mockeries. Bree had been a surprise, he reflected, as he slipped out of bed and stretched out his tired muscles. The Ixam had offered a different perspective upon things, though generally with a form of sarcasm he had not expected from a giant reptile. Still, he felt more at ease knowing she was watching over Syka. He hadn’t shared everything with her, he wasn’t sure it really mattered given that the immediate threat for her would be to Taz, but she had seemed to be satisfied with what she had been told – though reading an Ixam was not his strong point, he would be the first to admit. Finishing his series of stretches, his joints cracking a little with the strain, he made his way downstairs to nibble at leftovers from the evening before. “No rest for the wicked” he muttered to himself, finally realising he didn’t need to start a fire at the Outpost until it was night due to the weather not changing much and knowing that that meant he could throw himself into magical practise pretty much immediately. Still, he paused for a while to put together a pipe and begin puffing away at it happily, musing upon what he would try this day. He had already learned how to block light and water. He reasoned then that it would be best, and likely easiest for practise, to give an attempt at something Taz had already shown him – fire. Which meant that he needed a fire after all and so set about laying out the wood, kindling and tinder before striking flint and steel to get the sparks hot enough that a few steady, gentle blows from his lips set it crackling. He watched it until it was going well then threw on just one log – he only needed the fire for experimentation rather than warmth after all. He took a few moments of quiet contemplation, clearing his mind and retreating inwards to still himself as he had been shown. It was starting to become quite enjoyable the more he practised it, not quite the flame and void technique but perhaps his own variation where he just became an…emptiness. It was peaceful and quiet, altogether different from what his mind was usually like. He was starting to try to find time to do it most mornings, largely because he had discovered that at least his morning focus was improved afterwards. He had not been as diligent with it as he had promised himself, but then again, he had been very busy also. Regardless, as his mind stilled and he floated into the nothingness, the vision that was his well coalesced and reaching out he grasped at it, pulling it into himself. Strange, I remember being so…conflicted….yet now it seems so routine…not sure how I should feel about that he mused to himself as he felt his Djed shift and grow within. He let it flood through his senses, feeling the hum that signalled the passive states of Auristics flicker into being and, opening his eyes, seeing that throbbing world beneath, or around, the physical. He quite enjoyed this part, it was the focusing that brought about tiredness and pain – if done incorrectly. He sighed, relaxed as best he could, and focused his attentions upon the crackling flames. He had never focused upon fire using his magic, he found it to be an illuminating experience, amused by this own poor play on words as he did. He could almost feel the heat upon his cheeks despite being too far away, his fingertips heating and almost pained as if he were touching it. He realised that it was his senses way of telling him it was too hot for him with his magic, rather than in actuality. The smell of smoke, woodsmoke, filled his nostrils more strongly and he fancied he could even taste and smell the subtle differences of the particular woods involved as he focused further, and longer. He grinned and began to extrude his Djed with his hands, moving them and shaping it like clay as usual, this time instead of a dome searching for a bowl shape like he had with the water experimentation. He wanted to cradle the fire, not let it fall to the table and wreak havoc. It was getting easier as he learned, no longer as difficult though still slow despite all of his efforts. He was frustrated at his lack of progress in that regard, though his weavings were getting better and more fluid.

[Alric Lysane]

The bowl shape came reasonably easily, though it was laborious as he shaped layer after layer, thread after thread of Djed, his hands moving as he still needed to do so otherwise it didn’t work as well. He hoped, as he pinched and pulled the Djed into shape, that it would stop being required at some pint – though the book had been non-specific as to whether that would be the case. He imagined, perhaps, that it would not be required for the ‘simple’ ones he was currently trying when he was more expert at it. Either way he narrowed his eyes and focused his Auristics onto the Shield he was constructing as usual. He had discovered that it was quite useful, if more draining, to use both at the same time. It was almost as if they were meant to complement each other, he thought, as his senses licked up on some cracks and thin spots forming and he pooled and smeared Djed over them thicker to try to compensate for them, filling some of them in piecemeal with each pass of his hands and wriggle of his fingers. He could see stronger colour to his shields now, they were a sort of metallic colour, a combination of silvery and golden tones, which he hoped signalled their increased strength with each practise of the skill. Perhaps, one day, they will shine for all Aurists to see, bright and powerful he mused as he continued to shape, not following the line of logic that that meant he’d have completely changed his mind upon magic by the end. Eventually he had the shape that he wanted and he sat, keeping the Djed link between himself and the Shield open, considering it critically. It did seem a better attempt than his past ones, experience having made him more adept at filling in the gaps that seemed to be inherent in his creations. Still, it was far from even middling by his eye. Now the colour of his Djed seemed brighter the gaps where there were dark lines and dimmer dips, signalling its absence, had become all the more visible. Though he knew there were fewer than last time the more obvious juxtaposition did not boost his morale. Sniffing he could smell the iron smell, familiar in its presence but stronger and less inherently rusty this time. The coppery taste was stronger too, strong enough that he smacked his mouth open and shut a few times, knowing he wouldn’t get rid of it until he unfocused, but it was a reflex action he couldn’t stop. No doubt his eyes glowed emerald as he looked it over, rotating it slowly to see all of its circumference, then tilting it to see the bottom – at least that was solid and wouldn’t crumble under the fire’s assault when he added it, he noted with some satisfaction. He walked to the fire, there to grab a well lit piece of kindling – he would have to work fast from now, he knew, a true test.

[Alric Lysane]

Holding the end that was aflame against the Shield he began to weave it, into the ‘chainmail’ weave, moving it around the Shield every so often so that each section that was forming, linking in with each other, became infused with the Djed of the flames. As he worked the Shielding weave he focused his Auristics upon the ‘links’ that he sensed and felt how they seemed to what up, then to burnish and bronze before glowing slightly as if they truly were akin to a pot hauled over a fire, as if water put into the magical bowl would bubble and boil. He knew that it wouldn’t, it’d just pour onto the table below, but it was an interesting thing to feel out with his Aurist senses. After a while the glow faded, all of the links in the weave locking together, lacing through the entire Shield itself, this time he felt as if it were sturdier and there was little rust smell now that he was finished weaving. There was a brief, full glow from the Shield, vibrant and bright, before the glow faded entirely and he felt as if it were like an item that a Blacksmith had fired in the forge to make it stronger…tempered was that the word? He wasn’t sure but it seemed that way to him. He kept his Djed link with it up, feeding the Djed into the Shield as he dropped the flaming wood into the bowl construct. He laughed as the wood fell through, leaving behind flaming embers and wondered why that was, was it to do with temperature, perhaps, rather than the fire itself? Either way he picked up the Shield, cupping it in one hand as he rose, taking the now smoking wood to the hearth and throwing it upon the fire, there to burn happily once more. He watched the small flames in his Shield bowl burn and, eventually, sputter out into nothingness. As it burned, though, he could see that the Shield itself began to glow once more where the heat radiated, and interesting fact that he picked up with his Auristics and filed away for future consideration as his experimentation continued. Once the flames had stuttered out, he retrieved some more from the fire and repeated it, just to make sure there were consistent results, and found that there were. The cracks in the Shield had mor heat leaking than the stronger sections but the glow repeated itself and he knew that it must be about the heat rather than the flames themselves, perhaps the fire was just the medium and blocking fire meant just stopping heat from happening in the first place by absorbing it? He had more questions than answers in that regard but he was reasonably happy with his success and so, as he threw the second piece of kindling back onto the fire, he let the Djed link to the Shield fade with a slight smile and watched it melt and evaporate away over the next few chimes. That was another thing he had noticed, the more he practised and improved the longer his Shields persisted. Not by much more but still, progress was progress.

[Alric Lysane]

He still held all of his Djed, keeping the trickle from his ‘well’ going during this period of slight recovery, getting ready for the next series of his experimentation. He had learned the pattern of stopping completely and the lethargy and headaches that came after. So long as he held and used his Djed for active measures he risked Overgiving, but the after effects were temporarily forestalled. He had mastered the blocking of fire – or heat perhaps – and now he wanted to try something else. He had been wondering what he might do to Arcadius when he inevitably met him. Ideas had been scarce given the fact that what he knew of the monster was that he was powerful with magic and insane. So he had cast around for something common that everyone needed, no matter who they are or how powerful. He had settled upon the simple thing – air. You needed air to breathe, to live, and so if he could box the bastard in and block air from entering through tasking, if her were quick and strong enough, well he might get to see the monster suffocate with nothing he could do to stop it. Still, that was a way off yet, and he felt that air was probably harder than everything else he had tried. But smoke, though, smoke was a close second and he had a ready source of it in front of him to try. He wove his Djed, this time making a rough square shaped slab of it, in front of the fire instead of over it for now as he liked having undamaged hands. Fingers and palms extruded and then shaped the Djed that was his magical slay, smoothing it out as his senses picked up on its weaknesses, its cracks and crevices. He took his time with it, seeing the golden silvery colour strengthen and begin to almost shine. He wanted it to be as strong a shield as he could make, as perfect as he could make it – any large gaps would ruin his ability to see if it was working. Once he was happy with the size, thickness and shape he concentrated and moved it mentally, slipping it above the fire and into the chimney by a couple of inches, just enough that he could still lee and sense it but that it was deep enough in to be effective should he be successful. He paused for a time, keeping it there and letting his Djed flow into it, not shaping it now but just powering it, seeing how much he could put into it and keep it stable. It turned out to be a decent amount in the end and he stopped, he wanted the Shield to fade out sometime soon after all. He frowned and shifted his sense to the smoke trickling through it and into the chimney, trying to see if he could get any sort of Auristic read on something so ethereal. He wasn’t sure but he thought there was something there, at the edge of he abilities but not quite within his grasp. Still, there was a sense and all he needed was that echo, something to try to relate to the tasking that the Shield would require.

[Alric Lysane]

It proved to be harder than he had thought it would be, reminding him of the time he had managed to block light, but only after quite a long and tough mental struggle. It was starting to feel much the same, though he had the benefit of being slightly more developed in skill for the attempt at blocking smoke. Sweat had already started to bead upon his brow slightly with the effort, yet the smoke continued to stream through the shield he had constructed, the task he was trying to give it refusing to click into place for reasons that currently eluded him. He could sense what he was calling the ‘echo’ of the smoke, that thin trace of Djed his Auristics were picking up, barely, but he was having difficulty processing that sensing into something that was an actual barrier. He had tried weaving a similar task to the flame blocking one with a focus upon the warmer air side of things – that had failed spectacularly and he had had to spend much time letting it fade and the weaving a new Shield once more, one of the reasons he was tired. He reasoned that he had one more true attempt and then he’d have to give up and accept the tiredness, before getting ready for his shift at Ruby’s. “Come on Alric, it’s smoke…you bloody breathe the stuff all the time…wait…smoke smoke...it isn’t hot air, it has a…solidity to it. Perhaps only felt when inhaled but it’s there…like...like dust when you wipe your hand across a surface that seems clean…yes…” he muttered to himself, following the idea and thinking that he was on to something. He began to focus less upon the heat and streaming nature of the smoke but, instead, upon that greyness, the colour that was given by something more solid. Floating, hot dust finer than you could see…but there. He frowned and sensed it out as it passed through the Shield, elusive and wriggly, annoying and frustrating. It took a while, a longer while than he would have liked, but finally he found it, that echo not of heat but of a sort of dust. He smiled wryly, wishing he had thought of it before, and began to weave and to task. It came together quicker than he expected once t was going, almost snapping into place with the weave and so surprised was he that his head was still quite close to the fire, peering up into the chimney and the shimmering Shield there, just in time to get a face full of smoke as it rapidly accumulated – blocked now and going nowhere but the room. He got one last glance, noting how his Auristics were picking up that the Shield had an almost greyish tone now, feeling grubby and oppressive, before he retreated and let go of his Djed. “Shyke….god…damn…stupid…Alric” he coughed between the words, rushing to fling open the doors, the neighbours getting a show that turned him bright red and slamming them shut, rushing upstairs to put on his clothing to their laughter before returning to open the doors once more, letting the smoke out and thinning the fog in the room. After a while, everything more or less back to normal, he was sat in his chair, all of his Djed now dismissed and tiredness setting in, tapping his fingers upon the arms of his chair, wondering if he had begun the first tentative steps towards a quick, if perhaps cheap, way of eliminating the monster that plagued so many.

[Alric Lysane]

Your Grades Alric Lysane Skills Auristics – 5 Shielding – 5 Lores Djed: Own Is Silver-Gold Colour Auristics: Smoke ‘Echo’ Shielding: Task – Block Fire Shielding: Task – Block Smoke