The Backbone (Solo)

[Marcus Ahysen]

The Backbone Timestamp: Fall 58, 505 AV Location: Institute of Higher Learning Before he began Marcus breathed in deep, filling his lungs to the brim. Slowly he began to exhale and all over his muscles relaxed and let out their tension. Marcus had his eyes closed, though he could faintly detect the light of the flickering candles that were illuminating the room he and his instructor were in. Luvet was in a familiar form that day, his kind eyes and friendly smile ever present on the man's face. He was an odd one, so different from the other instructors at the Institute. Always Jovial, always willing to answer a question, Luvet was surely out of place in Ravok. But he was an excellent teacher. "Remember, do this each morning," whispered the morpher, "Meditate on your face, your body, who you are. Never forget it." Marcus did as he was told, bringing to the forefront of his mind the image of his own face as he saw it in the mirror. Luvet had instructed him to memorize every detail of it so that he would never forget it, never lose his identity to the magic. This was something Luvet was adamant on. Marcus knew what would come next. "Describe it to me." Marcus had done this every day for the past ten, described himself to his teacher. Any time he would forget a detail, no matter how minor, Luvet would point it out to him. It was all part of his training, as well, because to properly impersonate someone one must not only know what that person looks like, acts like, and even sounds like, but they must know the things about their own body which would need to be altered to pull off a perfect impersonation. "My hair is short, curly, and a dark brown. Today it is a bit oily, I did not have time to wash before I came. My eyes are a light shade of blue, my eyebrows arch ever so slightly making a light V. My lips.." It went on and on as Marcus described every detail of his face. He was almost perfect, Luvet only had one thing to add in when they were finally done, and then Luvet bid him open his eyes. Before him was his own face, as if looking right into a mirror, but that face spoke back to him. "You're ready. I was able to make this with my eyes closed from your description alone. Always remember to take this kind of detail into account when creating a Model. The more perfect your memory is, the more perfect your models will be." Luvets face slowly shifted back to his own before he turned and walked across the room. "We're going to learn to morph today. Are you ready." Marcus looked up in surprise, "Yes! I'm ready." "Good, then let us begin."

[Marcus Ahysen]

"As I have said, before you can morph, you must learn to let go of your body. At the same time, you must hold on to the memory of what your body is. ..so, now that you have mastered those, it's time to learn about djed.. I want you to get yourself to that place again, let go of your body, and once you are there we will take the next step." Marcus nodded and closed his eyes. He still wasn't incredibly skilled at the whole meditation thing, but he was able to enter the state of mind his mentor requried of him. The first thing he did was focus on his breathing. It was important to get the body relaxed so that the mind could relax, and focusing on the breath helped a lot. In and out as he kept his eyes closed, he thought of his breath and how the air would spread from his lungs and into his body. His muscles began to relax, the shoulders always being the hardest to let the tension out of, but in time he reached the desired state of relaxation. The hardest part was letting go of his thought. It was very difficult to just stop thinking.. focusing on one thing usually was the best way to go, but not focusing too hard. He felt the air going in and out of him, felt it filling his lungs and releasing. He kept his mind on that, blocking out all else, until he lost track of time. He didn't actually know when it happened, but when Luvet's voice sounded beyond his eyelids he knew that he had achieved the proper state of mind. In past sessions, when Luvet would speak, it would break his concentration, but not anymore. He was used to it now, and could listen without listening. Though it took him many chimes to reach that state of mind, it wasn't difficult to maintain once he was there. "Okay, now to call on your djed.."

[Marcus Ahysen]

"Djed is the backbone of reality. Actually.. the word djed even means backbone. Food for thought. Anyway.. It is what makes us what we are. To manipulate djed is to manipulate ourselves." Luvet paused for a moment in his speech, and Marcus could hear some pages turning. "Ahem.. sorry, they require me to teach this part. Just listen and keep yourself in that state of mind. It will sink in and you'll remember it later, but I want to be able to jump right into the lesson after we are done with this. ..okay. The three laws of djed. It cannot be created or destroyed, only changed. Some forms of djed are purer than others. And Some transformations are irreversible. So... those are the three laws of djed. Now on to the good stuff." "Now.. you should be feeling rather calm right now. I want you to sink down into that calm. Imagine that you are going inside of yourself. Pick wherever you feel your center is, and go there with your mind. ..this is the best way I can think to describe it. It's going to take some time for you to find what I'm talking about.. but when you do find it, you will no it." Marcus tried his best, but Luvet's instructions weren't very helpful. Not that the teacher could have done much better. How did one teach a person to do something as abstract as locating their very soul? But his mind was in the right state and, though the instructions were indeed not very helpful, it was the state of mind that matter most of all. Marcus did as Luvet suggested, imagining that he was traveling to the center of his body. He pictured his core somewhere near the bottom of his chest in the little indention where one would place their hands when trying to revive someone who's heart had stopped beating. Again, and as always when he meditated, Marcus had no idea how long he had been at it when something happened. If he had been looking at something he would have described it as a ball of light, but his eyes were closed and he felt rather than saw what he had found. It was energy, his energy, in its purest form. Marcus had discovered his djed. It was amazing, and it was startling, and it knocked him right out of his meditative trance. His eyes opened and he nearly fell back in surprise. Luvet, as he seemed to enjoy doing, was barely a hair's breadth away from his face, that smile splayed coyly across his lips. "Congratulations! Now the real fun begins."

[Lazybones]

Thread Complete! Notes: I continue to love Luvet's quirky personality. Marcus Award : Skills: Meditation +4, Observation +1 Lores: This Is Who I Am, Perfecting Visual Memory, Summoning the Djed