When Tazrae placed her ring next to Ialari’s coin, she felt a fleeting, almost imperceptible cool breeze upon her face. The coolness of the breeze felt like a piece of ice placed upon burnt flesh and with it the feeling of a promise of something pleasing on the horizon. It was the feeling one got when they offered a hard earned coin for a much needed piece of bread; the feeling of loss replaced by one of satisfaction that would come upon taking the first bite of it. It was a confusing feeling filled with sensations that were not easily processed. It would take time.
Ialari’s questions brought answers she was not sure how to take. To her first question, Eliah’s answer, while not coming as much of a surprise, did cause her to think. Gaining Xyna’s favor would take opening up to aid from others. This was not something Ialari was fond of. People...they were dramatic, troublesome and untrustworthy at best. The idea of needing to team up with others caused a physical reaction. She momentarily burped up a bit of bile that burned her throat. She’d surrounded herself with the idea of intent. Intent is what drove every thing she did; her magic, her thoughts and her overall outlook on life. Eliah’s words enforced a new way of interacting with her reality. Results...it was something she knew was important yet for Ialari, results always seemed like something far off...something that was driven by intent. In this case, it was all about results...or at least as far as gaining Xyna’s favor was concerned. To this, she nodded in understanding even as she struggled to bring it all together in her own mind.
The answer to her second question came, as she’d expected, with more questions than answers. What she sought would be offered up freely. It came though with the caveat of asking. Still, she did not know exactly what to ask. Maybe that was the most important part, she thought as she pondered Eliah’s answer. She often thought of the gods being the ones to approach with offers with a price built in. The idea that she simply needed to approach on her own and ask was something quite new. As Eliah said, she never thought to simply ask outright. Sure, she asked a lot but it seems she never asked for the right thing. She was willing to offer worship, she was willing to even offer her life yet...that was not necessarily required. Again, the limits of her understanding were expanded.
To her final question, Ialari couldn’t help but offer a bit of a smile. She asked the question without thinking...at least not consciously. The answer however gave her her more to think about. Xyna created her realm to influence the need for something...something that she in turn could provide; the foundation of trade. It revealed that intent was just as important as results. It was quite similar to how Ialari designed her own Dominion. She created a place that was meant to give her peace and stability where she could focus on discovering herself. Her intent brought results. The result was indeed important but without the intent, there would be no results. It was then that Ialari paused. She thought intent was the most important and that results came later yet with Eliah’s answer, she realized that, while she was right, she missed the point. The results, they gave context to the intent. Her smile softened and faded.
With her questions answered, Eliah then offered his own. The power of his voice sent anxious shivers throughout her body. She lowered her head and listened to the first question with a mix of anticipation and a small amount of fear.
The first question was asked. Why did she think she was chosen for Dominion. It was a question she’d asked herself countless times over the past decade. The question still echoed in her head after Eliah asked it.
Leaning down, she picked up something from the foot of the statue; a coin not her own. She looked at it closely, twirling it around in her fingers. The coin, it was an offering not her own. She looked at it a few more moments before placing it back before the statue. Turning to Eliah, she said, “That is a question I’ve asked more times than you can imagine; a question that few really understand. I was a broken…AM a broken soul lost in the River of Time. Pinned up in pieces on the Tree of Death. Scattered across existence. With what I was, I wanted to destroy. My rage was directed at those whom I thought wrecked the world...My rage still lingers. My only goal was to eliminate all of humanity in hopes of preventing from ever happening again. I was a monster. Yet, despite all of that, I was granted the greatest of gifts. It was a gift that changed my course in this life. I did not ask for this nor did I ever expect such a thing. Why do I think I was chosen? I think it was because I was meant for something more...or at the very least, something else. Dominion is a path to finally realizing what that is.”
Realizing that the woman next to her was likely thinking how crazy the isur with her seemed, Ialari turned to look at Tazrae; her eyes holding a hint of restrained sadness. “I have but a single piece of a soul. The rest of the pieces...they are scattered across...well, everywhere. I don’t know exactly why or how it happened. It’s sounds crazy.” She paused a moment and then added, “Later, if you are willing to hear, I would be happy to explain more so I seem less...insane?”
On to the second question. When Eliah asked what she really was, Ialari unconsciously shook her head. “I...what I really am? I feel like I am someone lost in a series of broken dreams. I close my eyes and I see things that I don’t remember having ever seen before yet they feel familiar. I am one who is always looking for answers; answers to questions that never seem to end. I am alone. I am unable to feel things like I think others do and I am stretched between so many different things that I feel I may break at any point. I am filled with rage at all this chaos but I keep it contained...for now. At the same time, I am a Domineer, Avatar of Nature and favored of Izurdin with all the complexities that come with such things.” She wasn’t exactly sure what sort of answer was expected but that is what came to mind.
Finally, the last question of what she wanted to be. It was a question that she’d surprisingly not put as much thought into compared to the countless other ones. “What do I want to be?” Ialari chuckled softly. “What I want to be...that’s something that feels so far away as to not even be worth giving much thought. Yet…” She looked down for a moment before continuing. “I want to be more than just a broken, crazy wizard wandering the realms of the mortal and divine looking to fix myself. I want to be sturdy, stable and strong...and at least feel sane more often than not. I want to be able to reshape not just myself but the world around me as well as others in a way that inspires understanding and self-discovery.” She looked at her metallic hand, closing and open it. “The isur tend to label themselves in a way that ties their various qualities to things like metals, gems, tools or even weapons. We have sentinels who are our knowledge and hammers who are our strength. We have anvils who are our soul. Our family names, they represent aspects of who and what we are in life. I became a sentinel; the keeper of knowledge and oh the wonders I’ve learned. My family name, Pythone represents the constrictor with all its strength and subtlety. With all the strength, knowledge and power I’ve gained...what I really want is strength of soul; I want to be an anvil.”
When Tazrae offered her own questions to Eliah, he nodded and with his divinely-charged voice proceeded to offer her answers.
Eliah’s otherwise stoic gaze softened slightly as he answered Tazrae’s first question. “You think of yourself as having been sent away. There is more to it than that.” Eliah began to slowly move his way around the area near the statue. As he spoke, his voice still emanated divine power. “You are right, Tazrae, magic flows through your bloodline with no small amount of strength. Centuries ago, such a thing was more common; entire families of mages passing their power to the next generation and so on.” Eliah paused to look up at the statue before he continued his casual wandering.
“You inherited your mother’s magical potential but it was your father who provided a bit of an...unpredictable variable. This variable is what caused you to be...how did you put it? Sent away? There is a reason for everything that happens in your life even if you don’t know what that is. Your parents, they did not send you away, they sent you on a journey. You have an ancestor on your father’s side who...let us just say that he is not of this world.” Eliah’s response would certainly leave more questions to be answered however that was for a different time and place.
Eliah smiled with a nod at Tazrae’s second question which connected to his answer to the first. “Magic on Mizahar...that is a complicated topic but I will attempt to sum it up as best as I can.” He gave a glance to both Ialari and Tazrae before continuing. “You are both aware of the existence of other worlds...this being one of them in a manner of speaking.” Eliah motioned to the city that surrounded them.
“These worlds, they exist with different conditions, different histories and different fundamental foundations of creation. From them, the gods took various bits of inspiration and set out to create a new world. This new world, Mizahar, would be built from a carefully laid out plan. The plan involved countless systems all working together to form a balance. Magic, as you both know, is the manipulation of the various aspects of creation and existence itself. Reimancy allows for the transmutation of the basic elements of those systems. Auristics grants the ability to see the systems as they work. Magecraft provides a means to mixing those systems and giving new shapes to them. These being a few examples of how magic allows one to change creation...if only in the smallest of ways.” Eliah looked at Ialari with a look of knowing that she returned in kind.
He held the isur’s gaze a few moments while he spoke before looking back to Tazrae. “With so many systems coming together to make this world what it is, there is a need for rules and structure. Imagine if you will, one or more of the rules that govern magic use on Mizahar being broken without consequence. Imagine what someone who has mastered Reimancy could do if there were no rules, no chances of over-giving. What if they were not a kind or stable person? What might someone who is...unhinged...be able to do with the unlimited power to rain down fiery devastation upon an entire city. Unfortunately we’ve seen this from an angered god but what do you think would happen if anyone could have a bad day and decide to wipe out a few thousand lives? My point is that the balance must be maintained which is why there are structured rules for magic use. So many other worlds have met a grim fate because of unstructured, uncontrolled access to magic. So, when you ask why magic on Mizahar is taught in such a structured way, it is because if it were not, there is a possibility that the entire thing could collapse upon itself.”
Eliah paused and allowed for his words to sink in before offering words of caution. “Take care with the knowledge you’ve gained, Tazrae. Using magic in the ways you have been can produce wondrous things...yet it can also bring about possible calamity. There are always eyes upon you.”
For Tazrae’s third and final question, Eliah lowered his head for a moment before answering. “That feels like a diplomatic way of asking, what is the purpose of life. A question that priests and the divine alike have been asked since the beginning of both. In this one instance, I am granted the ability to answer such a question even if it may not give you exactly what you seek. There is a lot that goes into the whole idea of what it is to exist. The main concepts of existence consist of a beginning, reality, destiny and fate with time connecting all of it. The beginning in your case is your birth. Your soul takes a physical state upon birth. You live and grow and create your own reality through the way you perceive the world around you. Your destiny is made up of your choices in life and how you live it over the course of time. Those choices lead you down Time’s River and inevitably toward your fate. Fate governs all of us, including the gods. We all have an end date; a point in time where our journey down the river ends. For some, the journey is all too short. For others, it may last what seems like forever. Yet there is an end for us all. Your destiny? That is what you choose it to be. Your fate however...that has already been written...I know that much. What that may be? I don’t know.”
Eliah looked up at the statue of Xyna, nodded and then back to the two women. “You are both gifted with the potential to do great things. Think of it not as much as a plan...that you are alive to do something specific and out of your control and more like it being a map. You are given directions, even if you don’t always see them or understand them at first. You eventually see the way to get where you are going but maybe you want to see something else before getting there. Maybe you think that there is a better way to reach that destination than what the map shows. Maybe, just maybe, you want to throw the map away and go at it alone. All of that is up to you.” With a profoundly thoughtful look on his face, Eliah looked over to Tazrae’s offering to Xyna. He then reached into his robe. He approached Tazrae and opened his hand; offering her a coin. The coin had on one side, an engraving that looked a lot like the face of her mother. On the other side, the face of her father. “Xyna is pleased with your offering and in return, she wishes you to have this. When you are ready to learn more about why your parents sent you from them, flip the coin into someplace special to you back home. Your answers will come later.”
Eliah closed his eyes for a moment and then spoke again. "Now, my questions for you Tazrae. First, why do you wish to learn magic outside of the rules that govern it's use in your world? What do you hope to accomplish?"
The priest then produced another coin from his robe and tossed it in the air; catching it in one hand before placing it on the top of his other. Pulling his hand away, he looked upon the side that presented itself.
"Next, if I were to have told you that your fate was to die in three years; that you would end up dead and forgotten on the side of an ancient, broken road buried in the jungle, how would you spend what time you had left?" Eliah had no emotion displayed on his face as he asked.
"Finally, Xyna directed Ialari's hand in pulling back the curtain as it were, on your reality. You have seen things through the eyes of a Domineer and reality for you is forever changed. How has that changed your perception of your existence and what do you do with that knowledge going forward?" Eliah waited patiently and allowed Tazrae time to process it all.
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