[Flashback] Magic in the Mist (Nex Paciscor)

[Rayage]

87 Spring, 508AV Why didn’t he think of this before? Sure he had been in the Misty Mountains of Lhavit before but never had he thought of bringing his work with him. In such a secluded place, away from everything seemingly, it was the perfect spot to continue his research. Yes, just perfect. Far away from Lhavit, deep in the vegetation of mountains, the only problem with this place was finding enough open ground to set up the circle. Finally finding a nice spot nestled well off the beaten paths the guards walk, because it would be a shame to have any… interruptions. Feeling safe enough in his solitude he had cleared the area he had found of all vegetation and began to set up his alchemical circle. The source of all his power, and the thing that allowed him to do what he did. The pinnacle of his art is not the product of the transmutation itself, but in circle itself. Nothing can be done if the circle isn’t right, well, correctly that is. Having to move locations wasn’t all that bad, but it did take some time to set up. In fact, this was a much better location than before and he was almost giddy about working here, the only problem was it was out in the middle of nowhere. A double edged sword; with no structure around it anyone could stumble upon the circle, but it was just a minor occupational hazard, and one that could be dealt with. Though safely off the beaten road, so there was hardly a chance, but a chance still existed. He was no fool, no, but one just cant account for everything. That would be near impossible, and although the nuit didn’t like using that word it would have to be in this case. The circle laid easily enough, the D-wire not quite as flexible as hoped, but he still managed. And, of course, after the laying of the circle there had to be some sort of protection around the area, something to discourage trespassers and those who would try to interrupt his work. So he went to work drawing numerous sigils and seals around the area he was to claim as his own. These sigils, drawn in the ground, would be set to activate upon anyone other than the nuit walking by. The sigils, not so faithfully filled made, were filled with vague emotions of fear and doubt, put there to inflict a nagging feeling in the others mind. To have him second guess himself and hopefully turn around. Each separate sigil prepared with care to have a focus, a barrier, and a trigger. Everything was coming together. Yes, oh so perfectly. This entire process taking the nuit most of the day it was about sunset when he was completely finished with his work, feeling confident in the ‘wards’ he laid he went back to the circle and clapped his hands together, rubbing them slightly as if excited. Though those who knew the nuit would know he doesn’t get excited, and if he is showing signs of any happiness it is usually a bad sign for those involved, but what those who know him, if any know him well, also know is that he is passionate about his work, about his alchemy, but most of all about the possibilities. It was all that he dreamed possible that kept him going after all. Dreams were his life now, and it was his mission to see them to fruition. The light fading he knew that he had to get going. He wasn’t going to let himself fall behind, no, not again. He remembered what happened last time he went at a leisurely pace he was found out, caught, and the whole thing was a big mess. A headache that he didn’t want to go through again, no, escaping death totally isn’t as easy as others made it sound, and escaping humans that hunt you wasn’t a walk in the park either. No, he had to get a move on. He had everything he needed here, even the subject. He smiled a little as he looked at the young boy that he had ‘borrowed’ for the experiment. Dragging the unconscious body to the center of the circle, he started to prepare of the actual ‘ritual’, if you will. Ritual because to him Alchemy is like a religion and is as strong as any god to him, perhaps even more so.

[Nex Paciscor]

It was a bright and beautiful day outside, and his master had given the day off to roam where he wished in inspite of recent circumstances. He bounded through the rough, lush terrain of the misty mountains, soaking every bit of the sights, sounds and smells that bombarded him.

He much enjoyed exploring the wilderness surrounding Lhavit, but while he may appear jovial, and unassuming in the environment, he is always wary of the danger of the outside. Nex's romps through uncharted terrain served a dual purpose. The first being of course the scouting of knew terrain, and possibly hunting grounds, and secondly serving as a way to keep his instincts honed to the fine survival edge they afforded him.

Exploring new territory was allways a fun and exciting thing for him, and it kept his gaurd up as he was not lulled into a sense of saftey when in a new area that he knew nothing about.

A familiar scent crossed his nose and he instantly stopped himself from his constant running to take full measure of it and determine its cause. It smelled of a tangy mixture of sweat and earth. Sifting through all of the other scents that was masking the animal in his vicinity, his ears perked up when he realized it was a deer. Thankfully he was downwind of the deer and hopefully he would be able to catch it.

Crawling slowly and silently up the long hill to reach his prey was agonizing, but still he attempted to be as silent as he could, even well after he crested the hill. Finally catching site of the deer, he felt a surge of adrenaline course through his body, as he crept behind one tree to the next, and tall grass where he could find it. Nex crept as close to the deer as possible, pleased that it seemed to be oblivious to his presence, and this heartened him for the comming attack.

Emiting a low growl, he lept for the deer. The deer's reactions where faster than he expected although. It nearly sprinted away in time to avoid harm, but his outstreched paw cuffed its flank, his razor sharp claws tearing away the flesh. Still he had only barely got gotten a blow on the deer, and it quickly recovered from the attack to renew its fleeing, by sprinting through a dense corpse of trees ahead.

Now the chase was on, and Nex sprinted as fast as he could to try and catch up with the deer. Somtimes he would be very close behind the deer, and other times it would pull of a clever move or two that put a good bit of distance between the two. Still he moved on, exerting his muscles to their limits, heedless of the fact that he was traveling farther and farther away from Lhavit with every passing moment. He had already been farther out than he had ever tried before, as it was apart of his constant quest to explore and find new areas as was in his nature. Still, should he have not thrown all caution aside he would have not ventured this far, and if in his right mind, thought it prudent to stop the hunt long ago.

None of these thoughts crossed his mind however, and just the thought of the tender, tasty flesh of the deer filled his senses.

After some time, the deer stopped up ahead of him, and turned around to start sprinting away from the area and towards him. So suprised was he by this unusual move that he didn't even think to attack the deer as it passed right by him, offering only a grow and a lazy swipe at its legs. Skidding in the dry leaves to a stop, he sniffed the air in a effort to try and determine what had so scared the deer, that overcame its fear for him.

Soon he came to know, and he suddenly wished that he hadn't even stumbled across this patch of woods, or followed the deer this deep into the dangerous misty peaks surrounding Lhavit. The disgusting scent of the undead soaked the area, somthing he hadn't noticed while running because of his focus on his prey. Now that everyting was mildly quieter and less exciting, he could smell the dreadful stench, and was tempted to turn tail and leave right there. Instead instinct drove him to probe further in this patch of woods. Maybe it was cause of the wholly unnatural aura that this undead gave off, that so offended his senses that he had no choice but to deal with the parasitic presence. It could be that, disappointed that he had not made the kill on the deer because of this manner of undead that he sought to punish the creature in the woods for interfering. It could have been anything, but most likely it was that unmistakable, underling scent of a human child.

Normal senses could not have picked out a boy in the area, because of the smells of the forest and the undead prescence where so intense it would be difficult for someone to pick out each and everyone. To the the keen senses of a wolf however, the smells where as distinguishable, and unmistakable as the sky was blue.

Pushing through the forest with every ounce of will he had left, he pushed past the fear and anxiety that welled up inside of him and reverted into a calm place of instininctual desires. His uncomfortablness dissappated, in exchange for a cold, calculating method he reverted to so he would not be overcome by his emotions.

He came into a small cluster of trees, the inside of which was a fertile green patch of ground. Nex observed all around the irregular circle of ground the trees afforded and his eyes eventually came to rest on a hunched over figure, over what seemed to be a young boy. Recognizing this was the undead he had sensed a while back, he growled, low at first but gradually increasing in volume, as he stalked towards the creature with its back turned to him.

[Rayage]

There would be a small laugh coming from the nuit as he heard the growling behind him. Laying the child in the center of the circle he only laughed some more as he turned around to spy the wolf. Clapping his hands he wore an almost mocking grin, if not condescending, ”Well, it seems I’ve been a little sloppy on my part for a mutt to get in here.” he mocked the snarling wolf in more than one way. His body language said he was confident in his abilities in dealing with such a creature, even if, in reality, he didn’t possess the necessary skill. Though nothing could stop him for trying, he would view it as a sort of test, not only of himself and his powers, but of the wolf as well. ”You know,” he started with a smile as if unconcerned the wolf was stalking towards him, ”you are very interesting.” He nodded as if backing up his words, ”Any normal animal would have turned and ran with their little doggy tail between their legs, but you,” He laughed as if this fact truly amused him. It was evident that he was a few sips short of a full glass of water. ”Oh, you, my furry friend walked past all the wards I set and spent so much time on.” He sounded a little disappointed, but at the same time excited as well. ”Did you come to watch the show? Perhaps, you want to be the hero?” He mocked, ”Because it is evident that you’re no normal animal. No,” he shook his head, ”you are something different. Animals, you see, value their lives, and so when they feel their lives threatened they usually run.” or fight back, but he didn’t mention that part. ”Animals have instincts, and they follow them.” he continued his lecture, ”And usually when one crosses me they run away” He smiled, the last bit of the sentence laced with mages hypnotic power, a mental suggestion to run away. That and it was also accompanied by a placed emotion of heightened fear. Since the nuit was within close range of the subject he could better manipulate it, whatever it was. He hadn’t yet decided what he thought the wolf was yet, but it amused him almost to no end. The nuit had to be careful how he used his Djed, he had used quite a bit of it placing and charging the wards. Still keeping his confident mask on he smiled at the wolf, ”You don’t want to be here” he told him simply. He had to try something to get the wolf to stop its advance, and in a last ditch effort he kept the fear around him, with each step closer the wolf would take towards him the feeling of fear and dread would amplify and nag at his mind. He knew everyone had a limit, but sadly so did he. He knew one couldn’t hold back such a powerful emotion like fear forever, but they could choose to overcome it… Or even foolishly ignore it, but he didn’t see any normal animal ignoring fear, no this wolf was something different, something… special?

OOCBlack words symbolize when Ray is using hypnotism

[Nex Paciscor]

So filled with rage was he that he scarcely heard the comments that the mage directed towards him. All he could think about, all he could do was to slowly, and inextorably move towards the undead monster that had some how been alerted to his presence.

Very addled was his mind at this moment, he did not know his instinctual growling was the actual thing that betrayed him. He thought he had been exemplifing excellent stealth skills but infact was very noisy.

Nex growled loudly,throwing all caution to the wind, and his features grew tight. The time for patience and measured steps for over, and the time for rending had come as he started to spring but was stopped by the compelling words of power from the wizard.

Only the fact that his mind was so muddled with rage and fear, was all that allowed him to resume his march towards wicked thing. The steps where very slow however, as it took exteme amounts of will power to advance every step towards the man. With still 15 feet left to go, he was not within harming distance. The most he could do from here was possibly scare the wizard if he was lucky, and besides so enraged was he that he did not want to scare, he wanted to maime and kill this abomanation.

The second string of words balked him more forcefully this time, and actually caused him to retreat a few paces before through a effort of extreme maddness and willpower, he was able to arrest his retreat and resume his slow march towards his enemy. Nex ran his rough tounge over his fangs, as he uttered another loud growl.

As he put one foot infront of the other, he found it slowly easier to resist the undead mage's magic compulsions, only through a effort of sheer anger and willpower. Finding the steps still tough but easier now, he pretended as if he was not getting power over the fear so he could perhaps trick the creature and get within striking distance.

Finally within range of a leap, he pretended that the dead wizards magic compulsions had finally stopped him in his place, as he subtly tensed up the muscles in his back and legs, preparing to spring.

[Rayage]

All the mage could was watch as his magic seemed to have no effect, though it had took quite an invisible and taxing toll on the creature he wouldn’t see that until the wolf started to retreat, but even then it was a short, mangy break before he started to advance again. This was going to be interesting as he laughed as the spied the wolfs tongue crawl over his teeth as a great snarl came from him. Ray didn’t seem scared, no, he was amused, excited, but most of all seemed kind of happy. Though in reality he was not anything like that. In reality he was kind of scared, but he had survived worse, and he thought the worst that might come from this is a change of bodies and perhaps some new patches on his already patched up clothes. He, in his arrogance, didn’t see that his life was in danger, but maybe that is a effect due living so long? Seeing the creature stop in his tracks only brought a smile to his face, making in even more arrogant of his own abilities, but little did he know it was only a facade. He would take this chance to further try to manipulate the creature, and perhaps get it to resume the retreat that it had started only minutes ago. “Heh, whatever you are you must hate me to keep snarling at me like that.” he talked to him, “You must think me a monster, but I think that is rather one sided of you. Very close minded.” he nodded, ”You think I want to be doing this? Taking innocent lives?” he asked trying to get the creature to think, not out of rage or fear, but with its own mind, ”You don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be here.” he informed him trying to make a case, as to appeal to this beast. Though he thought nothing should have this authority over him he had no choice, sometimes you have to do things that you don’t want to to end up on top. He had to think of something at least emotionally appealing. ”I am not the monster you, or anyone else perceives me to be. No,” He shook his head tempting fate to trying to inflict a sense of pity, or even sadness to the creature. He had to set the mood somehow, but now… He could feel the beginning of… This fact unsettled him more so even than the wolf. ”I don’t want to do this.” He seemed to confess to it. His voice having what seemed to be a hint of sadness to it, something that was so unpracticed by the mage that even to him it sounded unnatural and placed. He wondered how long he could keep this up. He was tempting fate already with overgiving. His cold, dead, calculating eyes were kept on him the entire time, the aura of fear that he had been so faithfully keeping up seemed to die down, its pressure and influence slowly fading, and soon the unnatural air about the undead would be all but gone. The simple reason is he didn’t have the Djed to keep it up, no, not after all the wards he placed. Though being too arrogant he wasn’t going to let it die this easily and let the creature gain ground on him, no, that would be far too easy. Then again he had seen how easy overgiving had been, and how it destroyed mages before him, but now he didn’t much care about the facts. No, he was going to come out of this alive no matter what the cost. If the organs took damage he could always replace them with a new body, and hell, if he fell victim to his own powers it wouldn’t be the worst thing to ever happen to him. It was rumored long ago that he had pushed the limits before and his mind was idled by hypnotism, which accounted for his extreme love of alchemy and a major part of his crazy. ”No, you don’t care to understand do you? All you want to do is satisfy this sick primal urge to spill ichor. I will have you know that Im not doing this because I want to, but because I have to.” he told him shaking his head, ”But you don’t care that Im forced to do this do you?” he asked, sounding a little more upset with each word as if he was going to be punished for something he couldn’t help. “They” He pointed out in a random direction dramatically, ”They are making me do it.” he yelled, ”They… they have my familiar. They force me to do their research or they will kill it. They made me do this! If not I will die. ” He dropped his arm no longer pointing and fell to the ground, knees planting in the soft soil as he covered his face with his hands trying to wipe the ichor away from his bleeding eyes as he pretended to be upset. ”You can never understand. If… If my familiar dies, then so do I.” He shivered a little, but it wasn’t from sorrow or pain like he was trying to make it out to be, but from anger and frustration. If the years have taught him anything it was how to put on a good show. Letting out a yell of frustration, disguised as sorry and self-pity, he let a hand bang the ground as he once more looked towards the creature, his eyes sheading ichor tears. ”So, I’m dead either way.” he put the finishing touch on it, ”Either by an animal I can’t shoo away or by THEM. What does it matter? Do what you will” He challenged him concealing a grin with a frown. Now only time will tell if his manipulation had worked or not. If fear couldn't control him maybe this would.

[Nex Paciscor]

As his muscles tensed to spring, he eyed the wizard with a steady deadly gaze. Contantly, he could feel the pressure of the wizards magical compulsions, wearing his rage thin, and breaking through the once protective shell, piece by piece. He could feel his mind to begin to clear again, and quickly took full measure of the situation as best he could, before the magic poisoned his thoughts further.

Nex thought about turning into human form, briefly. He was fairly formidable in unarmed combat, but he was best in his wolf form, with his natural weapons.

He tried with all his might to try and spring, but his muscles would not heed his commands, and he found them to be more receptive the the undead man's. The words You don't want to be here rang deafiningly loud in his head, and he found them very hard to resist, and sitting down on his haunces was the best that he could do to not do what the dead mage asked him.

Now with a clearer mind, he could hear the man's words more clearly now, and that made them all the more worse, and all the more terribler. Even now, he was only resisting because of his extreme hate for anything undead, and even that hate was dissipating as he sat there.

The next few magically charge words, came as even harder to weather for his worn out willpower. I am not the monster you, or anyone else perceives me to be. and I don't want to do this went through his mind like a blur, and he found himself believing every word the wizard said to him. Maybe this man was nice, and was forced into this the thought crossed his mind, and he briskly shook his head in a attempt to rid himself of such thougts. No this man means ill will towards that human boy, and its up to me to stop him he thought as he let out another loud growl and with much effort stood on all four feet once again. His entire body shook violently with the effort as he poised himself to leap once more.

The man then started talking again, and body still shaking hard, Nex, despite his better judgement decided to listen to what he had to say, the magic compelling him to. As he listened he finally sensed that he had mustered up enough resolve to spring at the man and tear his throat out, when the magically laced words, They have my familiar came into his mind, and melted all of his resove, anger, and his hatred for the undead, and his body gave out, its energy depleted and he layed there on the grass, unable to move, unable to respond other than looking up at the undead wizard with sad, sullen eyes.

You have failed, he screamed at himself in his mind, as he listened to the creature talk, and soaked up everything, as if it was the only absolute truth that existed in the world. Soon even his thoughts drifted from the failure, to thinking how great this man was, and how he wanted to help him in any way possible. The undead scent had dissappated magically from the air, and in his muddled mind he saw the mage as a alive and healthy human. Still the realization that he couldn't move reminded him of the ever continuing struggle his body was having with itself, and he remained only slightly aware of what the man was saying.

[Rayage]

He grinned as he saw his manipulation working and his magic wearing on the mind of the wolf. Nothing, nothing in this world is as satisfying as seeing a plan come together and to see it work so perfectly. He was a genius if he didn’t say so himself, though he sometimes gives himself too much credit. It never hurts to be a little vain, no, not when you’re on top. It seemed magic always triumphs over the weak, and those who wielded such power they had to be strong. They had to be strong mentally and know their capabilities, know their limits, and in such knowledge you have strength. The strong always go far in magic, whereas those who cannot handle such power are swallowed by it and, ultimately, destroyed by it. Magic had that way about it. It is almost like natural selection. He knew power and what power could bring, but he also knew his limits, and that he was well past it. He would have to find a new body soon… His eyes were going to be messed up until one is found. Still shedding tears of ichor he crawled to the outer edges of the circle, trying to look as pathetic and as worn down as the wolf did. His magic did wear him down, but he had a job to do. Letting his head hit the keystone in the alchemy circle, the ichor tears dripped slowly on that competing the connection that he needed. He kept his head there as he cried out again, trying to sound and look inconspicuous, ”You don’t understand, no one ever does.” He sobbed and banged his fist on the ground, ”Everyone looks at nuit and cries monster, monster, monster!” He shook his head, as he crumpled up into a ball, bringing his arms around his legs as he tried to get as small as he could, ”Its not fair. Life isn’t fair, they” he again lifted an arm and pointed in a random direction, ”They are not fair!” He sobbed a little more before letting his hand drop, more than enough ichor had dropped onto the keystone. Maybe this little incident of overgiving was a blessing, though it would cost him part of his vision it was worth the sacrifice for a transmutation. Little did the wolf know as he went on and on rambling about how unfair things were and going on with the pity me and the whole act that Djed in the ring was slowly starting to accelerate. Sure there was nothing presumably loaded in the circle, but grass and dirt counts, right? Oh, this will be an interesting experiment indeed. Heh, maybe give the young lad properties of grass? Or maybe of rock? Who knows, spin the dial and lets find out! Though he was careful not to let the excitement show that was building inside of him as he willed the Djed in the plants and rocks to start moving, no, that would blow his whole plan, though he should start talking some more. Heh, this is going to be interesting. Having to concentrate on both talking and moving the Djed was going to be fun to do, and if he couldn’t get it moving fast enough, well, that was the kids loss or possibly gain. He really wasn’t sure at this point. ”Nobody understands nuits, or even tries to.” he said, ”All they see are monsters out for their bodies, but I assure you we are more than monsters. Once we were people too. Does being undead make us that different? Does this state Im in make me a monster when I was a human. I am human. I am everything I was back then, just… I just have a couple more years on me that’s all.” he laughed still crumpled up in his defeated looking ball. No other nuit would dare look so pathetic, but he, he was playing all the cards.

[Nex Paciscor]

The air seemed to stand still in those moments in the clearing of the forest. Only the voice of the nuit could be hear, and if one listened carfully enough, the shallow breathing of a wolf and young boy, both incapacitated for one reason or another. Where the boy was outwright unconscious, Nex the wolf was only frozen in place by the magic of the undead wizard. Every moment he struggled against the mage's magic complusions, trying his best to wear them down. Unfortunatley, every single one of those moments, the Nuit's magic fought to drive him into submission.

In the cloudy dark of his mind, Nex felt like a prisoner, his body was paralyzed and he felt more helpless than he ever had before. Because of this he sank into a deeper deppression, and that gave the magic a better hold on him. The fact that he could not save the young boy only a few feet infront of him distressed him greatly, and the sorrow was almost unbearable. He had given up his fight against the magic long ago, there was nothing he could do about it, and by what this wizard said he had no choice either. It all just felt like a sick joke by the gods, making three innocent people be involved in somthing truley terrible, and concieved by whomever the human wizards superiors. Oh yes after this entierly horrible ordeal is over he and the man would track down those who pressed him into service, and he would have his revenge. That was the only solace he could find in his trapt state at this moment.

Finally, through some effort of will, he managed to open his eyes. The mixture of streaming light, and dust blowing, nearly blinded him at first, but as he blinked away the initial barrage his sight began to clear and inhance. He still could not move any part of his body, but atleast he could look around for all the good that did him. He spotted the boy lying a few feet ahead of him, lying motionless, and silenlty he prayed that he was still alive, but as he thought about it maybe it would be better that he was dead so that he didn't have to experience whatever this mage planned for him, whether the wizard was forced to do this or not he was now undecided about. Just then in a moment of stark clarity, he realized that he, the young boy, and the alive/undead wizard where all inside of a circle, a ritualistic circle he presumed, with the child in the dead center. This was where he predicted the magic would effect, whatever it may do. Not like it really mattered, they where all utterly helpless in this situation or so he thought.

His eyes then fluttered over to the edge of the circle where the wizard floundered for some odd reason. He supposed the magic of the circle was taking its toll on him, and he briefly felt sympathy for the man. What a tragedy this was, and a great tale for any bard, but sadly none where present, and none would likely know of what happened here. He did not suspect that he would live throught this ordeal, because likely whomever controled this man from the shadows would likely kill all three of them, if the man's spell didn't kill them all first. Nex was not accustomed to feeling so morbid, but the dreariness of the situation served to throughly deepress his usually vibrant spirit. As the plants and rocks started moving, Nex found his attention to detail suddenly returning to him, but even with his attention returned, he still only observed the magic happening all around him with a minimal almost detached interest as if it was all so trivial in these his last moments among the living.

Then something changed. The man had said somthing that tugged on the edges of his conciousness, nagging at him, attached with many different pictures and a likewise amount of emotions. The words of power I am human sufficently confused him and he couldn't help but feel disturbed, as if something the mage had previously said contradicted such a blunt, believable statement from the man. He racked his brain for somthing, anything that help him remember what the man had said. N.. Nnnnn... Nn... the letter rang repeatedly in his mind as if it was the start of a word that he was supposed to remember. Nnnnnuu.. Nnnnnuuuuiii... Nui. Nui? Was that the word, no no, no it couldn't possibly be. Nnnnnnnuuuuuiiii... Nuuuuiiit. Nuit. Nuit?.. Nuit?! Nuit! Finally he had the word, and with the realization, came a flood of images, and the restoration of a deep burning hatred. The man was an undead, a thing of corruption, he had to choose to become such a vile thing, and there was no way that he could be good. Of course he could be mistaken, he didn't know that much about the things besides the fact that they where undead, and he didn't really want to learn. All that matter is that he now could see the man for what he truely was, and maybe, even though the magic of the circle was well underway, and his newfound energy was already dwindling, he could still perhaps make a difference.

The new influx of rage in him would allow him a quick burst of movement, or may even allow him to break free of the magical bond's entirely. He didn't count himself that lucky though, and thought it to be good enough just to maybe have even a few moments of movement. Tensing up as slowly and imperceptible as he could manage, he layed there and waited until he felt the magic was at its climax, and he felt that whatever was supposed to happen, was going to happen soon. With a burst of speed, he clambered up to his feet, and leapt across the couple of feet seperating him from the boy knocking him out of the center of the circle with his head, as he landed in the center of the circle.

[Rayage]

oocwe talked about this before posting  All this time he had been talking the magic had been building and building, and soon he found it to be moving so fast, and being so powerful that it, in fact, was visible. Yes, it swirled with a raging power as if it was a physical manifestation of all the nuits pent up rage and anger he felt for being found, as if this magic was being fueled by the rage built up inside of him the grass would sway that was around the Dwire and eventually start to die, as being too close its Djed too was sucked up into the formula, into the action just because they were touching the wire that held, for most part, the streaming Djed. Holding onto the magic for as long as possible he willed it to spin even faster and faster, his ranting stopping because of his focus, and in his focus he didn’t notice the wolf fighting his magic that he so deviously laid. No, all efforts was on the Djed, on the acceleration, on the target. He didn’t let his mind stray any longer, no that wouldn’t be permitable to control such Djed. He needed all his focus and all of his concentration. Being tired by the days work though finding such resolve, such strength was a hard thing even for the practiced Alchemist. Things have been wearing at him and he hadn’t anticipated a battle of wills going down so soon after he placed the wards, no, he thought that would be enough. He thought wrong, and because of that mistake, because of that miscalculation he was paying the price. It was up to him to finish what he had started, and by the gods that was exactly what he was going to do. Now with the wolf seemingly out of the way he could focus on what really mattered, and that was getting the Djed to move even faster. Soon sparks of the almost uncontrollable energy were flying, blots hitting the ground with such force that dirt flew and it left a visible impression, but the fury of the spell didn’t stop there, no, that wouldn’t be any fun. It lashed at the trees, claiming the bark and taking it off as if it was owed, and the air, oh the air seemed to suffer the blunt of the blind rage as it crackled with power. He has never held a transmutation this long before and never got it going so fast that it was almost out of his control, no, this was indeed going to be an interesting experiment. Almost losing control in the final moments the wizard had thought about escape briefly before he willed all the moving power towards the center, and he lifted his head. That was when he felt the immense wave of energy, of Djed, pass through him as it rushed towards the center. The feeling was unreal, and the pain immense. Gods could only tell the kind of pain the boy would be in when the accelerated Djed would hit him. The thought, though he himself was knocked on his back from the blast, brought a smile to his face. It was done, and nothing could stop it now. Little did he know the wolf had taken the child’s place. In a mighty flash of light the damage was done, the alchemical process over, the art complete. Laying there on the ground winded from the experience that he had gone through only laughed a short victory laugh. He, he had succeeded even with interference and there was nothing anyone could do to stop him. Not even the wolf, no, not even the great beast had the power to stop Rayage. He smiled a little, but the fact remained that he was exhausted and he had to get moving. He had to move least be discovered again. This particular location wasn’t as safe as he thought it to be, no, paranoia was setting in now as he lay there, if living breathless, but in his current state he was mentally exhausted and his vision was trash now. He needed to find a new body, new eyes… Shaking slightly from the exertion of such mental muscle he pushed himself up with a grunt. The pain of the Djed passing through him was immense and he quickly gave up for a bit and just laid there on the ground resting, waiting for it all to go away. No, he couldn’t stay here. The light, the light might have attracted someone, something… It was dangerous now. Forcing a hand under him he pushed himself up with great effort. Now in a sitting position, he didn’t take time to observe his work, no, he had already spent too much time here, and he was sure nothing was going anywhere fast. The boy had been thoroughly… well, sedated. Getting to his feet he stumbled out of the circle making a note to never ever be in the circle when it has been activated. A painful lesson indeed, one that left him with more than one hole and rip in his clothing. He was going to have to patch that up too. Life was a drag sometimes. Stumbling off into the forest he smiled back as he used a tree for support to spy the kid untouched by the alchemical process. ”Fool.” he laughed, ”How dare you take his place…” he felt something come out of his mouth, reaching up he felt his own ichor coming out of his mouth. Overgiving is a bitch… Now he needed to find a place to rest and recover some of his lost ichor. Not in the plans, but as with everything nothing ever goes according to plan. He laughed to himself as he stumbled from tree to tree, using them as support for his worn out body. It amused him so, all he could think about the parting gift that he left the wolf with. All he could see in his minds eye was the wolf who was partly stone. Green stone to be exact, a dark, almost hauntingly beautiful green, the color of crushed grass; it seemed alchemy is more unpredictable than he first thought it to be. The result of grass mostly being on both sides where the rocky part of the circle was on the positive, fount side, heh, serves him right for putting himself in the middle.

[Nex Paciscor]

In the moments that all of the Djed converged on him, proved the most frightining in his life. All of the bright, and blinding lights, and power all met him in the center, feeling as if they where going to crush the life out of him, and also felt a intense burning sensation on his skin, and felt it progress deeper into his muscle tissue, and down his mouth as it seemed to go inside him inflicting damage and pain where ever it could. He tried to ball up against the pain but to no avail. Nex was unable to do anything as the powerful magic surged through him and warped his form. With any luck what the wizard intended wouldn't be too bad, he hoped beyond all doubt. He found solace in the fact that he saved the boy from the fate he was now enduring, and could only pray that the Nuit had been consumed by his own wicked spell.

In what seemed like forever, but was actually only a few moments, the magic dissappated, and the pain felt as if it was gradually subsiding. He felt paralyzed once more as he laid on the ground and couldn't even look around to see what had happened to him. All he could do for the moment was lay down in that akward position, sprawled out, that he landed in after his leap to try and save the child. His eyes could only see straight ahead, and he watched the little boy in front of him, satisfied that he looked relatively unharmed, and was sedated so that he did not feel the same pain as he did. Fully caught in the middle of the circle he felt the most pain, and perhaps the only pain, but he suspected that anyone else caught in the circle would feel pain as well, if not atleast a little discomfort.

Slowly though he felt the power ebb back into his limbs, and after what seemed like hours, he was finally able to get up and take a close inspection of what happened to him. His limbs felt rather leaden as he did so, and he felt as if he weighed a bit more, and when he looked to see the cause of it, he found out, his expression frozen in abject horror. Where before his fur had held a solid black hue, now it had taken on a more green like color scheme. That wasn't the worst of it however, as he found that bits of rock had fused to his form, and his chest and legs where almost entirely covered in rock, the effect running deep within him, possibly even affecting his muscles and bones as well. Only tiny patches of fur sprouted from between the rocks, that covered a good portion of his body, his back also included. Nex figured that he wasn't going to try and change into human form anytime soon, as that could prove too dangerous and perhaps quite lethal. He would have to wait until it wore off, if it even wore of, and he really hoped it would sooner or later.

The wolf looked very pitful indeed, so lost in this new transformation, half of its face the only thing relatively unaffected by the unpredictable magic, the rest of his body a mixture of patches of stone, and flesh and blood, a couple of his claws made of solid, bright green stone, giving a hint to the possible effects on his bone structure. Hoping more than anything his master would have the answer to this, and not wanting to go look for the undead mage in favor of pressing concerns he scooped up the boy with his half stone teeth, and proceeded to carry him by the scruff of his collar. Yes his master would know what to do, he thought as he began to trot off towards the city.