Closed [The Prairie]A True Page Turner[Elaine Spade]

[Clyde Sullins]

3 Summer 514 Clyde's time as always busy. Whether he liked it or not, he seemed to always have something going on, keeping him busy and working. Quests, jobs, work, assassination attempts, random monster encounters, it seemed like Clyde could not go long without something of interest occurring and interrupting his plans. This season however he had committed to finally getting around to something he had been putting off. He had put in the order with the Synchograph office, got the blank books, and was finally ready to make copies of his own piece of work, his Treatise on Reimancy. He had mentioned it in passing to Elaine, and knowing her interest in books, he had decided to invite her along to aid or oversee or whatever. He had the ink, a quill, the blank books waiting to be filled in, and his own first edition he had written a few seasons back. Now all he had left to do was to do the task, to copy all of the knowledge he had inscribed into the tome down, his first short work of literature. He was not quite yet sure what he would do with the extra copies, but he did not doubt that uses for them would come up, and that he would find them useful. Particularly for those new to Reimancy, or wishing to understand the magic better. As he even said in the book it avoided hand waving and such, and such direct instruction, but was still of great use and he hoped enlightening. First things first he found a nice quiet spot devoid of detritus to spread out his things. Then he rolled out his bedroll, to lay the things upon so they would not get dirty. Next was his first edition copy, along with several blank books, and various writing paraphernalia such as vials of ink and quills. Of course he also had Cha with him, which was setting off to the side, but within easy reach. Turning to the first page, he read its words, speaking of the title he had given it, and of its author, himself. Now he just had to wait till Elaine arrived at the agreed upon location.

[Elaine Spade]

Summer has just started some days ago. When Elaine met with Clyde she was happy, she thought he would come to tell her the good news: They will leave this island. She had to be disappointed. He only invited her to the prairie for a meeting. Well if nothing else, she could spend a little time with him at least.

All of her days at the docks went the same. It was monoton, she was just haunting, sometimes leaving the place if it was too boring. Simple. Getting out of it was refreshing for sure. It was about time to leave the place and head to the location they agreed to meet. A last glance to the sea and Elaine wandered to the prairie.

She was curious what Clyde wanted. Another possession practising? Or he needed help with magic just like back in Ravok when he was glyphing? She didn't know. Seeing him using magic and do experiments could be very interesting for her. She would be excited. While she was pondering what would be this meeting about she already arrived the place.

Clyde was already there, waiting for her. He was reading a book. And he had more books and ink. She was assuming he either wanted to write or doing those circles again which she didn't understand. She went close to him and looked into the book he was reading. "A Treatise on Reimancy: by Clyde Sullins" She read it loudly and looked at him. "Hello, good to see you alive! How are you? What happened with you? I don't see you too often!" She smiled and saw he brought Cha. "Brought your little baby I see. Does she cry at nights? " She joked as her attention went back to the book. "So this was the book you were writing. Are we going to read? I would love that!"

[Clyde Sullins]

Soon enough Elaine arrived at the designated spot. And when she did, it was as usual in a barrage of questions and words sent at Clyde. Also as usual he was unable to get in even a word as she went from one question to the next, eventually pausing and giving him a chance to speak as she ran out of things to ask. "A Treatise on Reimancy: by Clyde Sullins" "Hello, good to see you alive! How are you? What happened with you? I don't see you too often!" "Brought your little baby I see. Does she cry at nights?" "So this was the book you were writing. Are we going to read? I would love that!" Pausing for a moment, Clyde checked to see if Elaine would continue talking, and then finally interjected, trying to recall the various things she had asked, and retaining some semblance of order as he did so. “Ah... Yes... Good to see you also. And not much has happened I suppose, just been keeping busy, meeting new mages, mostly nuits, making new items with Magecrafting, working under a master Magecrafter. I've learned a lot, had many chances to expand my knowledge and work. But I suppose as usual I've been busy, and have not had much time for breaks or seeing you.” Opening up four of the five blank books, Clyde turned to the first page, and copied down the first page of his first edition, more or less what Elaine had said, the title of the writing, along with his own name as the author. It took a bit of time to round about all four, copying and rewriting the text. Once he was done he turned the page, showing now the index, which listed all of the chapters, along with the summary of the content in them. He copied it down as it was written initially, putting it down into the next page of each of the books. It listed and described the preface, and each of the chapters one through four, and what was in them. As he wrote he gave Elaine a chance to see what it said, the summaries and such, as he continued to answer her questions. “Yes I brought Cha with me. She doesn't really leave my side. No she doesn't cry... Or at least, not in a way that I could hear. But then she is not an intelligent being, she is more like an additional limb, a part of me.” “As for the book, yes this is the one that I mentioned. I had said I would let you read it at some point. I just received these blank books, and wanted to make copies of my original text. And instead of doing it alone, I thought we could make a thing of it, and do it together, while you read it for the first time. It seemed more interesting than sitting alone at a table and simply copying it all down. This is the index, it lists the chapters and tells of the main content of them.” Clyde paused for a moment in his writing, applying more ink to his quill. “So why don't you read it over while I write, and perhaps you can see if you notice any issues. I think I got the spelling and grammar and such right. But it is my first work of writing, my first time making a book.”

[Elaine Spade]

As always he was just being busy and doing his work. Magecrafting, another magic she didn't know much about. Expect one thing, it could create powerful staffs like Clyde's. She didn't know how could he bear being with so many nuits even though if they were nuits. They were obsessed, obsessed with their work, with their precious magic. Magic was fascinating she admitted it, but there was a line.

She didn't know why she still bothered to even joke with Clyde. Her jokes were so bad that he didn't understand them. Or he didn't understand jokes in general she wasn't sure. But she hardly remember Clyde joking around. He always seemed so serious about everything. Also her jokes were not that funny either anyway.

She looked at the blank books he was bringing. He was writing the titles of his own book into each. So he came here to copy his book, maybe sell them. It was a great opportunity to read it. She was reading the summaries as he turned page.

-Preface- What is covered about Reimancy

-Chapter 1- A summary of the elements, their combination's, and their inherent danger levels.

-Chapter 2- A classification of spells by power (With a note to relative levels of power)

-Chapter 3- Transmutation versus Attraction (With a note to the latter's common availability by element, and with a sub-note to Glyphing for the former)

-Chapter 4- Other concerns of a Reimancer- Res decay over time, and reabsorption.

"It's just about how to use Reimancy or also writes down how to learn it?" She asked as she was reading the chapters. Neither of them seemed to contain the answer for them. And she wanted to know that. Would perhaps explain why she was unable to learn any form of magic. But she was also interested what he wrote about it, his thoughts, his ways. Could learn a bit from Clyde.

He said it himself once, it was part of him. "Gladly, you know well I like reading." She sat down next to him and was waiting till he would turn the page. Also looked at the many books he would have to write by himself."Would you prefer to do it alone, or do you think I could help with writing?" She wasn't sure if she would be that good with her soulmist but trying would never hurt.

[Clyde Sullins]

Done with the summaries, Clyde turned next to the preface. It would answer much of what Elaine asked, and so he perhaps did not answer those questions as fully as he might have. He was also a slight annoyed at her impatience, a common quality in her, always bursting out a row of questions before he could answer one, not considering he might have something prepared. "It's just about how to use Reimancy or also writes down how to learn it?" Letting out a sigh, Clyde pointed to the preface, which made it quite clear what the book was about. “Patience Elaine, patience. I know its a thing you generally have in short supply, but you should really try to learn to use it once in awhile. The preface makes it quite clear though, its about theoretical aspects of Reimancy, not practical use. Its not about how to use Reimancy, nor is it about how you learn it. Though since to be initiated it takes a user, and is a magic that cannot initially be learned from a book, what would be the point in even doing so...” Pointing out a few more bits in the preface, Clyde would continue on. “Really though, its meant more for people who already have a basic knowledge of Reimancy, and have already started to use it. As such, it would be of little help in training, though some of the principles discussed could be useful to a low level Reimancer.” "Would you prefer to do it alone, or do you think I could help with writing?" Clyde shrugged, turning the page now that Elaine should have finished with reading the short preface. Next up was the first chapter, the one on the various elements. It was a longer chapter, and spanned several pages, and so would require several turnings of the page for Elaine to read it all. This would be appreciably slowed by the fact that he had to copy the contents of each page onto the several books before turning onward. “I guess you could try and help perhaps with one, but I am unsure how much assistance you would be. But try if you'd like.” Clyde would push one of the new books closer to Elaine, and take out a second quill, before continuing on, copying down line after line. This chapter was quite sizable, and so would take a bit of work to get through. But with its thick content full of information, it would also take awhile for Elaine to read through. “Anyways, as the table of contents said, this chapters lists and describes the various bits of the various elements, with a more critical review of them and their aspects.” Clyde would continue on in this manner till he finished copying the entire preface and first chapter into all of the blank books, less the one Elaine was working on, unless she should fall behind and need his assistance.

[Elaine Spade]

Elaine didn't feel bad about his comment, as she couldn't agree with him less. Her being unpatient? " Sorry for asking... I'll try to use my short supply." She answered as her attention went back at the book instead. She was dead, she had infinite amount of patience, just once in a while, when she was just waiting for Clyde and finally she met him, she gets excited easily. Because she was using that supply.. or she would go mad.

Pushing her annoyance aside, she was reading the page. Preface:

Preface- This treatise on Reimancy aims to be enlightening and informative. However from the start I would like to make it clear that I plan for this writing to be one of theoretical use, not practical. There will be no mention of hand waving or specific techniques. Instead, this writing aims to give you the information to make decisions for yourself, to better understand Reimancy as a whole, and to make considerations for the future. If you are still reading I assume it is because you accept the purpose of this book, and you see the value to be gained from reading it. If not, well then this book was not really meant for you.

She smiled at the last two sentences. Accept the value. Though she was hoping for other uses of the book. Get know Clyde a bit more, his thoughts through his book. She was curious what info could she get from him. The book was for her too she wondered. Well, why not? And magic was also intriguing, so why not enjoying it while she could learn from it. Even if not magic itself. She couldn't have use it anyway.

She got the book and a quill to write. "Thank you!" She focusing her soulmist to her hand as she grabbed the quill and moved it close to the book. Tried to write the word "Preface". It went well, she could control her soulmist accurately. Then the next word. Then the next and next, till she realized she was writing with her soulmist, she could do use a quill. It made her incredibly happy. It required focus and attention but it seemed she could write.

After she copied the preface, though it took some time, she took the quill down to not waste more energy than needed and showed it to Clyde. "Well how does it look? Can you read it? If nothing wrong, then we can go to chapter 1 I think." she said, and everybody could hear that she was proud of herself.

It seemed alright so she was reading the next chapter and while that she was writing it, with her soulmist she grabbed the quill again:

-Chapter 1- A summary of the elements, their combination's, and their inherent danger levels.
For this chapter I will go over each element, starting with the four main elements, and then going on to the three para-elements. For each one I will give a brief description of them, their merits, and their dangers.
---
-Fire- Danger level- Mid-High, Main Usage- Offense
Fire by its very nature is a destructive force. It burns and harms anything it touches. Which means more often than not the usage for this element will be to fight and attack. It can however be used for less offensive reasons. Lighting a campfire to cook over, torches for light, and so on. The danger however in using fire is of accidentally hitting or burning yourself, or of having the flames burn out of control. Fire, when there is available fuel, has a nasty habit of spreading and growing out of control, far beyond what the Reimancer intended. It is more or less unique in this regard, since most other elements will not by their nature spread or reproduce. For this reason fire is an element that requires control and respect. Control of your abilities, and respect for the element and its powers. A Reimacer lacking either can quickly find themselves in trouble by their own hand.
>Final note- Always use with caution-

There was more to write, so she had to focus more and more. She was shaping the letters, she was not as fast as Clyde probably. But at least they could read it and that mattered only. First element he talked about was fire, she could experience it's power and she was sure he held back then. But she was curious, he was only controlling the elements...] "Clyde, could a general fire which wasn't generated by a mage, burn my soulmist as well? Or what was so special about the fire you created?" Also her attention got :"Respect your element" They had to respect the element? She was thinking what he meant.

She was reading futher. Writing with the quil was still nothing but required the same amount of focus from her. Next element was air, not something interesting but her brain was working again."Have you ever tried flying by using air? " She wasn't sure how would it work though.

[Clyde Sullins]

Perhaps Elaine was impatient, perhaps she wasn't. All Clyde could see was what happened before him, and it seemed like quite often Elaine was impatient and spoke in spurts. Of course he had no way of knowing that this was perhaps more connected to him than to Elaine's own impatience. After all, all he could react to was what he saw, and what happened before him. "Sorry for asking... I'll try to use my short supply." So for those reasons, Clyde found no issue in what Elaine said, had no way of knowing she did perhaps not mean what she said, or was even being sarcastic. Along with that he was focused on copying the text, his quill scratching away line by line, repeating the words he himself had written what seemed such a long time ago. He was a bit surprised that Elaine wanted to help in the copying, using her soulmist to pick up a quill and copy down the words. "Thank you!" Clyde watched Elaine write for a moment, seeing for sure if she could indeed write. After a few words, a line of text, he focused back to his own work, letting her copy things on down along with him. "Well how does it look? Can you read it? If nothing wrong, then we can go to chapter 1 I think." “Its fine, just do what you can and I'll take back over if I must or if you get tired.” Line by line he copied them down, adding the preface to the blank pages of the new books. Turning on to the next page he began on chapter 1, the first bit explaining the process, along with speaking on the first element of fire. After that there were two elements to a page, for another three pages for the chapter. As he wrote out the first page of the first chapter, Elaine began asking questions. He continued copying out the words onto the various books as he thought out how to answer it. Sitting before him was a testament to his own understanding of Reimancy, and his analysis of it at a deep level. Instead of questioning it, she wanted to know about other things, of Reimancy and ghosts. "Clyde, could a general fire which wasn't generated by a mage, burn my soulmist as well? Or what was so special about the fire you created?" Clyde of course knew from his own experience working with a ghost that the answer was no. “No, only elements directly transmuted from res can affect a ghost. Its the same with Glyphing, mundane flames and attracted flames at their base nature are not djed based, and so cannot affect ghosts or be stored. They are different at an innate level.” Finishing the first page, Clyde turned on to the next one, air and earth. This page gave Elaine another question, though not one tied directly to hi work. "Have you ever tried flying by using air?" Clyde let out a sigh, and paused for a moment in his copying, looking over at Elaine. Turning back to the books he continued writing out the words on air and earth, while doing his best to answer. “No, I've never tried to fly by air. And I don't think it would work too well... I mean it would require a constant strong stream of air, it'd be almost impossible to aim or truly direct yourself. And air currents at that level might be harsh enough to injure you... So I'm not sure if it'd even be feasible. Birds don't fly by shooting out gusts of wind, so I don't think it would work for mages either.” Clyde paused for a moment, ending with one more bit as he continued copying. He would turn page by page till he finished the chapter, another two pages to go for all of the elements. “No, if I was going to fly I'd use earth, not air. Perhaps I should try that out some time.”

[Elaine Spade]

So because it was something unnatural it could affect her. Interesting and made sense. Also his next answer made her think for a while. She stopped thinking. He wouldn't use air to fly because it might hurt him but he would rather use earth. She couldn't think of any way that it would work. Wouldn't it also cause injure? Interesting theory and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't think of anything.

She found it better to read on the next element would be earth anyway, it might answer her question or not. She grabbed the quill again, she started to write on the next page. Writing was harder task and required more of her focus. She wasn't sure if she could copy the entire book but she tried to do what she could. At least it was a nice practice with her soulmist and could see what she was capable of.

What she understood from his writing for earth that it was slower but was more capable of long term plans. Maybe for that aspect he would use earth rather than air. Though she still didn't understand why? "And how would you use earth? I understand it's more suitable for longer term uses." She asked finally from Clyde.

She was reading on and writing the next element. Water. Main usage - Defense. Often underestimated, no wonder but if somebody thought about it, water could be just as deadly as fire. Though she couldn't think about it and write at the same as she was getting tired. She noticed that her letters became a bit big in one sentence. She tried to focus more.. just finish that page.

When she finally wrote down the last word, the quill went through her hand, landed on the ground. She couldn't write anymore. "That's it... I can't write anymore or it would look really ugly and might be unreadable." She said and let Clyde continue from there. Next element was lighting. Just as deadly as fire, they had to respect it or it could backfire. Reimancy seemed more dangerous that she thought. Not only it could harm the enemy, but if they didn't control, people could harm themselves with it.

[Clyde Sullins]

"And how would you use earth? I understand it's more suitable for longer term uses." Letting out a sigh, Clyde paused for a moment, thinking things over. Thinking about what he meant when he said his words, which often he didn't. Often he simply had a vauge idea, and he had to puzzle and prod at it for it to become fully formed. He had caught up with Elaine, and so had a moment to rest. Placing Cha with the bottom on the ground, he willed his res to exude from the staffs blue skin, a small stream of liquid drops coming out and sinking into the ground. Moving the staff aside, Clyde looked down at the small bit of res infused terrain. Lifting the staff straight up, a small rough chunk of the ground rose, about as big as index finger if he bent it tightly upon itself. Just big enough to be a visible display of what he meant. “You are thinking far to linearly, add a bit of chaos, go outside the lines. A bird flies quite literally, under its own movement, its flapping. Air would be a pale imitation, thrust pushing against you, making you go up. But it would be tricky to make it strong enough to lift you, even trickier to aim, and even harder to survive such a thing.” Making a small rotating motion with Cha, as if he was using the staff to mix something, he willed the small chunk of earth to move about in a circular motion. “What if a ant was sitting on that chunk of earth? Would it not in a way be flying? Its not on the same scale as a person, but the theory is sound. Make a platform or something one can stand upon, strong enough to hold your weight, and simply will the earthen platform to move with attraction, rise, lower, travel. Its not flight in the normal sense, but still flight in a sense.” Clyde smiled for a moment, made a flicking motion with Cha, and sent the chunk of rock hurtling away through the air, giving it one mighty push. After a few seconds its arc cut, and it began to lower, until it finally crashed back into the earth with a tiny poof of dust, as the clod of earth broke apart. Turning to the next page, Clyde continued on, back to his copying. “It's all a question of scale. But flight is flight, and while it might need some tinkering, at its base the theory is sound, and it should be possible to scale it up enough for human flight.” Clyde continued on writing away, until he noticed a motion, and saw that Elaine had stopped and dropped the quill. "That's it... I can't write anymore or it would look really ugly and might be unreadable." Letting out a sigh Clyde nodded, and pulled the book she had been writing in closer, bringing it back into the rotation of copying the text down page by page onto each book in turn, and then starting over on the next page. Finishing up, Clyde turned to the last page of the chapter, that of lava and ice. Clyde kept at it, copying down this page, knowing that the chapter was nearly over, a relief since it was more or less the longest chapter of them all. Clyde would keep at it nose to grindstone, still he turned the page once more, and was onto the second chapter, the one that listed his own system of classifying spells. Turning the page, he made a gesture at Elaine. “Ah, you might like this one, its something I made up for classification purposes. More or less it breaks up a spell into a tier system, so as to better be able to measure them. So far though I'm the only one that uses it.”

[Elaine Spade]

Of course as she expected, he let out a sigh at her question. Like her question would be that dumb. And of course, he could explain his own logic and theory. She let out a little smile. In her eyes he was a genius. How could he think like that? Something about him was odd but appealing. Clyde was a smart man. "You always amaze me. I kinda feel like a stupid child when you explain these. My thoughts are too simple yet yours." she was praising him a bit.

She felt tired after that much writing. Who would have thought it could consume that much of her soulmist. But again, she was happy that she finally knew that she had abilities like that. More practice and she could do more complicated things and more accurately. Clyde took away the book and continued where she left. "It's strange. This makes me wonder. I should test what my soulmist is capable of. I think I haven't used it full potential but I intend to do it."

She looked at him then at the book when he said she might like this one.

-Chapter 2- A classification of spells by power (With a note to relative levels of power)

Her full attention went back at the book as she was reading it. There were five tiers which he had set up himself. And magic was really an odd thing. They never acted like Elaine thought. Little with little won't make something bigger. "So 1+1 is not equal 2 in here.." she said, but it was more like to herself. Pe for simple uses, lighting up a candle. Mi uses a bit djed, it's size can reach the user's fist. Mo has larger amount of djed, the size can reach the size of the user's body. Ma is powerful, only for skilled and confidant wizards. Gr is the highest caliber. Only really powerful wizard or more wizard together.

"You came up with this yourself? Nice!" She was pondering again. She had a question once more. Something his book most probably didn't answer. "Do you use Reimancy daily? Is it something you use for everyday situations? "