Solo First Day On The Job

[Erekez]

4th Day of Winter, 512 AV The quill scratched across the rough paper in the book, the black line that it left behind becoming thinner before it disappeared altogether. Dipping the tip back in the vial of ink, and looking back at the second book, Erekez began writing again. He had come to the University with the intention of learning familiary; he had even found the name of the teacher who would be able to teach him, Cadena Anaya Fianza. Erekez did not want to join the University; he didn’t want to stay in a city for an entire term. He had been told that it was possible for Fianza to teach him familiary on a one-to-one basis. Unfortunately, she wasn’t available at the time of his asking and, from what he had also been told, Fianza handpicked the students for her course. That implied that it was unlikely she would spend her time with someone not registered in the University. Walking through the Wright Memorial Library, Erekez had begun searching through the books in the unrestricted section. It had been suggested that he read up on what he could about familiary, in case he got the chance to talk with Fianza, he could show that he truly was interested in learning from her. Erekez didn’t expect to learn close-held secrets, he was aware of the dangers of a familiar, especially as the bond grew stronger. He had heard stories on his travels of when a contract didn’t end well for one or the other. Erekez only hoped that he could gain insight into the origins of familiary, hoping that knowing where it had come from could help in the future. Scanning through the shelves had proved rather fruitless. It was upsetting to see that quite a number of the books had been damaged on one way or another. In others, the text had begun to fade, almost to the point of being completely illegible. Had nobody attempted to save what was written in these books? Had the thought even crossed their minds? Perhaps it was why he now held a familiary journal in his hands. Surely this must be for the restricted section. Looking inside explained why it wasn’t. Any text that wasn’t too faded or damaged to read was either incomplete before trailing into a damaged area, or coded. In other words, it was useless to students and teachers alike as they had no time to spend trying to make out words and decrypt others. Erekez had time though, and his faith in Eyris asked him to try and learn. With book in hand, Erekez had taken it to the Head Librarian, an elderly woman by the name of Lisaelis. She was kind, retrieving a scrap of paper, quill and ink as Erekez had asked for. She had watched with great intent to see why he had requested such items with such a damaged book. As it would have it, the coding used in the text varied from page to page. It had been a challenge to decrypt parts of the text, others were almost too easy, but there was just as much coded with skills far beyond anything Erekez was capable of. He wrote down what he was able to decrypt on the piece of scrap he had been given, also including parts of damaged text, just to make it easier to read on his piece, rather than squinting at the book every time he tried to reread something. All the time, he was aware of being watched. Reading what Erekez had successfully restored, he found that learning familiary was one thing, but summoning a familiar was another that could only be done by another familiar. So I need Fianza more than I had originally believed. He sighed at the information, only briefly catching the end of Lisaelis’s remark on his cryptography abilities. She had been interested in learning about Erekez’s business at the University. He had told her the very basics that he did not mind telling her. Anything beyond, such as why he wanted to learn familiary, he kept to himself. He did not say, Lisaelis did not push, although she did make him an offer. Lisaelis couldn’t bear knowing that many of the books in her library had suffered similar damage to the one he had brought with him, leaving them undesirable, and the knowledge they held in a sorry state of being unused. There were even some that had been coded like this one also. From watching Erekez work on this journal, she understood he was no master, but decided it did not matter. Any text that he could decipher was an additional text that people would have the joys of learning, and deciphering more and reading books on encryptions would only further Erekez’s knowledge, allowing him to eventually decipher all texts. Lisaelis’s offer was this: Come and work in the library, restoring and decrypting texts so they made be used with the efficiency they were capable of. In return, Erekez had access to texts in the restricted area for him to work on, as well as a reason to remain in the University in hopes of talking to Fianza. Lisaelis had even offered to talk to Fianza about his interest in learning from her on one of her trips down. It was a generous offer, and it made Erekez feel good that Lisaelis valued his skills as well as offering the extra bit of help. He had gladly accepted the job. Today was his first day. The black line became thin and disappeared again. This time, Erekez put the quill down to stretch his arms and legs, walking around the table. The book he was working on today had almost no damage, but moderate to heavy fading in places. Nothing had been coded, but that was to be expected of a book on Shielding magic. Erekez thought back to a time when the uses of the types of shielding described in the book would’ve been useful to him. Had that been the case, maybe something he had grown attached to would not have been destroyed by a reimancer. Writing the entire contents of the book out again had served as a good way to retain quite a bit of the information within it. Most of it had spoken about extruding djed, the energy that is required for magic, and applying it to ‘task’ shields. It was the basics of any wizard, before it started explaining how it could be used specifically to shield. Erekez wanted to learn. Sitting back down, Erekez reread what he had written up to this point, the concept of djed, and its laws, before expressing how to conform it into a shield. Erekez had very little idea of what he was doing, but he tried nonetheless. Clawing both his hands and facing them towards each other, Erekez closed his eyes and concentrated on forming a shield around the ink vial that Liaelis had given him along with the quill and empty book. He wasn’t sure what he was meant to feel, neither did he know if he was doing it right. Erekez was sure he could feel something. You yawn when you just think about it. Thoughts can have effects too. Feeling something doesn’t mean you’re doing something. He continued to concentrate. The size of the shield, the thickness of it, even tasking the shield as the book detailed. New shielders would only be able to get a shield to block djed, but should appear to sparkle in the light, according to the book. Opening his eyes, Erekez looked back at the vial. It looked exactly the same. He twisted and turned it in multiple directions, hoping to see the glimmer of light that would indicate a shield. Nothing. Erekez leant back in his chair, sighing. He hadn’t expected to be able to form a shield on his first try, even at all at this point, but it was still slightly disheartening for some reason. “Giving up after a failure is not good practice if you wish to learn to use magic.” Erekez looked over at the voice. A young woman approached him. “No, but learning the basics of using djed properly before attempting to cast any kind of magic would help.” He countered. Erekez was not one to give up on something he had set his mind on, but there were some cases he had to accept that he had been a little too ambitious with his goals and leave them for the time being until he was able. The woman nodded. “At least you understand that you must start from the bottom to work up to anything.” Erekez said nothing. “Lisaelis tells me that you wish to learn familiary.” Erekez’s eyes widened. “I am Cadena Anaya Fianza, professor of summoning and familiary.” Erekez sat up straight, bowing his head. “It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Erekez.” He kept his head bowed as he introduced himself, only lifting it again after he finished. “What Lisaelis says is true, but reading what I could on familiary, and my attempt at a shield, has shown that I have gaps in my knowledge that need to be filled before I can make any respectful attempt.” Fianza moved to say nothing as he spoke, nodding her head again as he finished. “Awareness of your own shortcomings is admirable, especially in my field of expertise.” Erekez took that as he was being praised for knowing he was jumping in too quickly. “I hope you understand that, because I will be taking up my own time teaching you, and the University is not going to pay me for it, I’m not going to teach you for free if I choose to.” “My surprise was reserved for the possibility that you would.” Erekez saw her lip twitch into an almost grimace. “Please do not take it personally, it was a general belief. I’m sorry if I offended you.” Fianza said nothing for the moment. “Continue learning what you can on djed and familiary.” She spoke as a teacher would to a student. “If you still want to learn familiary from me, and can prove to me you are worth taking time out for, come and find me. I shall be interested to see how you progress, so make sure you do.” Erekez watched as she turned to leave. “Thank you Fianza.” He called after her. She stopped and turned to look at him. “You may not want to thank me if you don’t have what it takes. Remember, I deal with creatures that have minds of their own, and are fully capable of taking you on if they desire to. Thanks is only required if you are still you by the end of it.” She inclined her head. “Good day Erekez.” With that, she turned back and continued to leave. Erekez sat for a bit, thinking over his thoughts of Fianza. She was a serious woman, that was for sure, but as she said, she was dealing with creatures that had minds of their own. I doubt she wants to be the reason anyone is killed from lack of knowledge. It strikes me that you’d only fail her class if you weren’t paying attention. Erekez thought for a bit longer, before picking up the quill again and dipping it in the ink vial and resuming his restoration of this book. He would read up more on how to effectively use djed later on, after finishing his work.

[Arcane]

Rewards and Treasure! Experience Points +2 Writing +1 Cryptography Lores Attempting Shielding Employment by Wright Memorial Library Fianza's Warning: Dangers of Familiary Comments PM me if you have any questions.