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This shining population center is considered the jewel of The Sylira Region. Home of the vast majority of Mizahar's population, Syliras is nestled in a quiet, sprawling valley on the shores of the Suvan Sea. [Lore]
“Wallsly!” Avira's gruff voice called the moment Shane entered the shop.
“Yes, Sir.” Shane said quickly his mind already abuzz with thoughts of what he could have done wrong. He wasn't late at all. He didn't recall messing anything up yesterday or in the last long while. In fact all had ran rather smoothly this season. A calm, blisfully boring kind of Winter was just about nearing it's end.
“You've worked here two seasons and I ain't seen you make a single sale.” Avira acused. “ You're gonna make a sale today or you're fired; gone; out on the streets.”
Shane's face dropped. He was almost ready to just give up there and then. Just one day to make a sale. Some days he didn't even see a single soul. How was he meant to not only find a customer but sell something to them?
“Ah, don't take it to heart. I've got a customer coming in later who is definitely looking to buy.” Avira explained uncharecteristically kindly “You'll be negotiating price though so it'll be a good way to get your salesman legs, aay?”
Shane exhaled quickly. “Oh, thank er Eyris. My life just flashed before my eyes, Sir.” He admitted a shade honestly. Shane strolled toward's an empty chair and planted himself upon it with a deep sigh.
“Don't relax just yet, Wallsly, I didn't say it was going to be easy.” Avira warned.
Avira sat at one end of the table and Shane sat at the other. A book sat in between them. A worn, brown-leatherclad book with silver cornerners and no title. “The first rule of sale: Know what you're selling.” Avira instructed. “Customers all have different motives for purchase so they can ask sometimes weird and inconsequential questions that are actually deeply important to them. You must be able to answer these questions with complete ease. Second rule of sale: You need to identify what that reason is. Why is the customer interested and, in the case he isn't all that interest, how to make him interested. Why? Well when he asks those questions sometimes the truth, even though you know it, isn't always what they want to hear. In that case you got to look 'em between the eyes and say exactly what he wants to hear and you need to believe it more than he does when you do it. That's the third rule; absolute confidence. You are genuinely selling the best of the best and it saddens you deep inside your core that nobody has found a true home for just the best purchase they could ever make. If you don't believe that, you need to believe it. Ain't nobody gonna buy shyke if you don't believe in your product. Get all that?”
Shanne nodded vigorously. Know the product, know the customer, lie to yourself more than the customer.
“Alright, good. Now you've got The Sight, don't you boy?” Avira told him more than asked.
Shane nodded tentatively. What did he want with his Auristics? Sahane had a bad feeling about whatever it is.
“Right, this book here is all about the Sight. A beginners guide for the newly instated. The man coming here today; Mister John Grimmin; has just joined the ranks of the Auristics so he wants this book to teach him more.” Avira gave him a queer glance before continuing. “But he’ll want to know it’s authentic. Being sold it by a fellow Auristic should give him the assurance he needs. Which means he might want a demonstration of your power.”
Shane’s cheeks went red at the thought of it. He’d told Avira that his father’s journals had taught him the art at the beginning of Summer and the Old Man kept mentioning it. Kept getting Shane to look over things and people with it’s power. He didn’t mind the free training it was the free magical labour Avira was getting that irked him. That and he was blatantly going about breaking the rule where he wasn’t meant to tell people he was a wizard. At least the Old Man hadn’t found out he was a Hypnotist. Rather than turning him in Shane got the idea the old Codger would just find ways of exploiting that to his advantage too. Probably by making Shane hypnotise all of his customers into buying things for outrageous prices.
“Uh, Sir, are you sure that’s wise?” Shane asked nervously and a touch defiantly.
“Of course, Wallsly, it’s only a spot of magic. I’m a Reimancer you know and nobodies lining up to lynch me.” Avira waved away his protest as if it were complete nonsense adding “If I can survive in this City, you’ll do just fine.”
“Okay, now I was reading that book last night and a few exercises shouted out at me.” Avira continued tapping a thumb on the table. “One in particular seemed designed to help you with people. Okay,” Avira took a deep breath. “Fire it up.”
Shane gave him a glare to show that he didn’t appreciate the wording of the order before closing his eyes. He focused really hard drawing the djed within to his eyes. He opened them into a new world. The boring physical world awash with magical colours of all sorts.
“Focus on me.” Avira ordered levelly.
Shane turned his eye on to his boss focussing hard allowing the aura around him to snap to focus from the blurred haze it was initially. Shane saw a calm blue surrounded Avira. It was almost like the colour of the water and it seemed very calm but every now and again tendrils of spicy orangey red would shoot along it. Shane realised, with disgust, that these were thrills of excitement.
“Okay, I am calm.” Avira told him. “When my Aura looks like however it does now that means I am calm. “Now I’m going to think of something that angers me.” Avira took several deep, ragged breaths closing his eyes and obviously thinking very hard. Nothing happened for a moment but soon the whole thing rippled and turned a fiery red. It seemed to explode out from his center but it wavered every now and again as if he couldn’t quite keep himself fully angry. After a few moments it dissipated entirely and Avira opened his eyes. His aura turned a kind of light green which Shane guessed must have been relief because the Old Man looked tired and haggard from his trip to angerland.
Shane blinked out of The Sight rubbing his sore eyes. It was so much easier to simply turn it off than it was to get it working again. He’d held it for longer but he felt like Avira needed a rest and it was best not to strain the Sight. He knew it could lead to blindness or so Brun said.
“So that was calm, anger and relief. The point there was to know when the feeling is changing. In a real situation they’re not gonna shout out what they’re feeling but you need to look at what’s happening in the real world and sort of guess what the Aura’s changed to. I think whatever it looks like is supposed to give you a personal clue as well but that bit was unclear.” Avira taught the boy as if he were an Aurist when in all frankness he was really just relaying what the book had said. “Alright here’s another thing.” Avira got up and went over to his desk opening up a drawer. He pulled out two identical little, wooden jewellery boxes each with a little collection of symbols on the lid of the boxes. He came back over and sat down placing the two boxes in front of him. “One of these boxes is set to give you a little magical surprise if you open it and one of them is just an ordinary box. Using the Sight you should really focus on them and you should be able to tell.”
Shane scowled at having to play these little games. “What kind of a surprise, Sir?” He asked after a moment’s thought.
“A very bad one, Wallsly, a very bad one.” Avira said with intense graveness.
Shane took a deep breath. He was rather sick of taking deep breaths. Maybe he would take a shallow one next time. In any case he closed his eyes and focused on the Force Djed within. Opening his eyes into the pastel colours of the aura world he looked down at the two boxes. First he focussed on the left one. Its aura was white and almost inconsequential. He couldn’t really feel anything more than he could see originally. However as he maintained focus something caught his eye. An almost imperceptible movement. Like a tiny pulse. He glared intensely at the box on the look out for anything else suspicious. After a few moments he saw the pulse again. It moved from the Sigil outward to the hinges almost as if it were periodically checking to make sure the box was closed.
Shane looked up at Avira and smiled. He blinked off the Sight and sat back massaging his temple smugly. “I know which one it is.” Shane told him smugly.
Avira grinned a cunning grin and replied “Then please, go ahead and open the other one. It has more of a mundane surprise for you.”
Shane reached for the right box immediately. Knowing Avira it would probably be only a few Silver Mizas but money was money. Shane snapped open the box and…
Shane was still grumbling about the magic box trick when he left the shop to take Norman out on his afternoon run. Both boxes had been magic and when Shane opened the other one he had been doused with a nasty surprise alright… His anger dissipated a bit though when he was reunited with his dog. Something about the excited wag of his tail and almost genuine happiness to see him made him feel loved and happy. He had always thought dogs were kept as playthings and guards but it had become clear to him that really dogs were affection conduits. Easier to live with than people and fiercely loyal to the end; what more could you want?
As they were walking Shane trained The Sight on Norman admiring the subtle differences between the auras; of humans, items and animals. Norman’s aura was not as complex as a sentient being’s aura was. His aura didn’t fluctuate with many different feelings at once but rather he always seemed to have a dominant mood and it changed almost fluidly as he reacted to life. A solid item’s aura never changed unless it was magical. A pencil’s aura, for instance, wouldn’t even change all too much if you broke it apart and burned it to a crisp. That blackened charred bit of pencil would still have a relatively similar aura. An animal’s aura changed fluidly but almost between a limited amount of states and very rarely did they have more than two feelings present. A human however was always a mixture of colours and those colours shifted and pulsed and did all manners of things to represent the inner turmoil of the thinking creature’s soul.
He flicked off the Sight and sighed. He wondered why thought made people so crazy. Why couldn’t we just live on instinct like the animals did? Then again the whole point of living in cities was so that we didn’t have to live like animals. People would drop dead left and right from predators, stray magic and disease. He’d heard that Myrians did that. Living in the wilds like animals and they had turned to cannibalism so maybe thinking, even if the consequences were emotional turmoil, was the best route open to them.
When Shane arrived back at the shop Avira was waiting for him. “Not long now until Mr Grimmin said he’d be here. Just one last exercise for you. Now sit.” Avira took his coat, a first, and hung it up for him as he sat down at the table. “Okay, get it going.”
Shane sighed, took a shallow breath and closed his eyes. Oddly rather than being harder to bring forth after using it so much today it seemed almost easier. He opened his eyes again and found he was actually almost a little bored with all the fancy schmansy colours.
“Focus on me, again.”
Shane rolled his eyes, which was an odd sensation of swishing colours when you had your Auristics on, and focused on Avira. A few moments passed and he cam into detail. He was calmly blue again and, yes, he spotted a red thrill of excitement.
“My name is Dominac Avira.” Avira told him levelly. Shane looked at him dumbly. “Was there any change in my Aura?”
“Uh…” Shane paused “I don’t think so.”
“Right, well I’m also a Syliran Knight.” Avira stated bluntly and his aura seemed to shiver. The blue seemed to vibrate out of focus for a moment.
“Woah, what was that?” Shane asked impressed and a little awestruck. “You’re not really a Knight, are you though?”
“No, Wallsly, I lied and whatever you just saw there must be what happens when I lie.” Avira told him. “Okay, now try and spot out a lie. I am 56 years old.” His aura sort of shivered again but this time not as much.
“Lie!” Shane declared actually having a touch of fun. “A small one I think?” He added with a questioning look.
“Okay, I’m 57.” The Aura shivered again and it was even smaller.
“Uh, still a lie but maybe closer to the truth.” Shane responded.
“Aha! Very good. I’m not going to tell you my real age though. A gentleman never tells. I am, however, part of a tea and scones group for Reimancers in a tavern within the Citadel.” Avira told him and this time his aura seemed to stay the same.
“Is that actually true?” Shane asked quite surprised that the Reimancers of the Citadel would get together and have tea and scones. Shane didn’t know much about the discipline of magic other than it was quite a formidable force and had the tendency to drive its users crazy.
“You tell me, Wallsly. Do I also annually get my shop checked for ghosts by Spiritists?” Avira asked adding another statement in that looked to be true again.
“Umm, they’re both true as far as I can tell.” Shane replied. He was starting to get a touch of a headache.
“I once fed Nabinu’s tiger (“Truth!”), I have pulled Loren Dyres trousers down in the middle of an important meeting (“Liar!”), I once killed a man at the Mythrin Outpost (“Lie, I hope.”), in Nyka they call me The Silver-Haired Devil of the Arperture (“True, but why?”).” Avira paused for a moment before looking him dead in the eye with complete seriousness and saying “You are my son.”
Shane stopped dead in his tracks. “Uh, what?” Shane didn’t know how to reply. The Sight left him. He was dumbstruck. “You’re my… You’re my… How?” Shane couldn’t even get out a full sentence.
Avira scowled at him. “Well, am I?” He answered gruffly. “Use the sight, Wallsly.”
“Uh, umm…” Shane took a deep, shaky breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them nothing had changed. He closed his eyes again. He really tried to focus but he couldn’t. He was too confused, too distressed… How could this be? How could his father have been right here the whole time? Why was he so old? How come his second name wasn’t Wallsly? Shane tightened his fist and focussed really hard. When he opened them again finally the world was awash in colour.
“Repeat yourself.” Shane growled seriously.
Avira looked him dead on and said “Shane, I am your father.” All of the muscles in Shane’s body untensed and he slumped back in his chair with a deep sigh as Avira’s aura rippled and shivered with the bold faced lie.
“I hate you.” Shane said staring up at the ceiling blinking away the Sight. “That wasn’t funny and it wasn’t clever.” Shane breathed deeply. All of the emotion he had felt when vira had said that were quickly turning into another emotion. If Avira had the Sight he would see Shane’s aura a rippling scarlet of rage. It was all Shane could do not to get out of the chair and pounce on the old man who had been pushing his buttons all day.
“I got your attention though, didn’t I?” Dominac reasoned. “You summoned your power even in a heightened state. If you train this power up right I can… We can use it to make the big bucks. The secret of seeing people, manipulating people is within you and that’s how you acquire wealth in this place. We could be rich!”
Shane looked at him sternly. “We? Since when has it been we. Since the moment I took this job you’ve been skimming money from me. You’re nothing but a distasteful conman.” Shane rose dangerously quick into the air.
“Where are you going?” Dominac asked outraged as Shane headed toward the door.
“I’m leaving.” Shane answered firmly. “But first, answer me this, how long were you going to use my powers before even giving me a raise?”
Dominac did his best not to answer the question but in doing so his answer was revealed. “The customer’s going to be here any minute. If you leave now you can kiss this job goodbye. It’s back to the streets for you!”
“Ha!” Shane declared rebelliously. “You’re right about one thing, Avira. This power is worth something and I’m going to become filthy rich with it and one day I’ll come back to this store and buy it from you. Then I’ll be your boss and you won’t last one season with the same treatment you gave me.”
Shane opened the door and slammed it shut behind him. He almost bumped into a stout, middle aged fellow outside. Shane smiled and asked “Are you Mister Grimmin? Mister Avira wanted me to inform you that he already sold that book earlier even though he promised it to you. The other guy was offering more, sorry.”
“That bloody shyke. I’m never shopping here again.” The man turned promptly on heel and stalked away.
Shane chuckled and walked home. It would be several hours before he regretted his decision but when he did… Well he wasn’t very happy…
