Closed Cross Dimensional Theory (Sorcha)

[Annalisa Marin]

76th of Summer, 514 AV

Grey eyes scanned the shivering form before them, an analytical gleam residing within. A human woman dressed in only what could be described as rags shivered under the cold gaze, a whimper occasionally escaping her lips. A tall woman circled her slowly, methodically, her hands occasionally reaching out to poke and prod at the miserable slave. This woman was not exactly much better dressed than the slave, her clothing tattered and torn and her feet bare. The only thing that would give away the true nature of this woman was the silver ring wrapped around her right ring finger, rubies glinting in the mage light of lab 30-G. Wrapped around her right ankle was a golden anklet.

Annalisa Marin stopped her pacing suddenly before delivering a harsh backhand to the woman, a red hand mark left on her cheek. The tall wizard then gripped the shorter woman by the throat, her face mere inches from the frightened woman’s. A snarl was prominent upon her features, lips curled downwards in extreme displeasure. A displeased Anna was not something many would want to deal with at the best of times, at least not without great political support from a prominent Master or the position of Master itself.

“You stupid little slave. Did you think I wouldn’t notice you stealing scraps from my own rations? Did you think your mistress dumb and gullible perhaps?” Anna hissed.

The woman shook her head frantically, Anna’s thumb pressing down upon her airway preventing her from forming words. The sorceress increased the pressure on the woman’s throat, the slave trying desperately to wrench the taller woman hand from her throat. Starvation and abuse however had made the human woman very weak; Anna however was both tall and possessed of some strength. Her struggles started to weaken, which prompted the sorceress to simply release the slave.

The shorter woman fell to her knees on the floor, gasping and coughing for breath. Between gasps were near hysterically apologies, the shorter woman knowing well the volatile nature of her mistress. Anna pinched the bridge of her nose, pondering what exactly to do with the woman now. Disobedience and disrespect were not something she tolerated at all. Fortunately she did have a little project she had been planning on working on for a little while, one that required a living test subject. Whether said test subject would survive was another matter entirely.

“You are fortunate, test subject. I have need of you for a project today. If you manage to survive to the end of it, I will forgive this transgression and send you back to your cell no more worse for wear. If you don’t then you’ll be dead and it won’t really matter now will it?” The tall woman said, delivering an unnecessarily harsh kick to the woman’s gut.

Sobs started to come from the woman, causing Anna to roll her eyes and crinkle her nose in disgust. Weakness was something Anna had resolved long ago to purge from herself, to shed completely and utterly. It held no place in a wizard and certainly no place in a Chaon of Rhysol. The mere fact that the woman belonged to the same species as Anna was offense enough, though really, mages were truly a step above most average humans. In any event the tall woman hauled the blubbering mess to her feet and pushed her towards the central table of the lab.

“Lay down on that table on your back. You will not move or speak unless I tell you to, you worthless cur.” She growled.

[Sorcha]

Sorcha was perched at a table in Lab 30-M, a block of wood sitting before her along with some plain white paint and a paint brush. She was practicing her circles, making them more to her liking and more unique. Currently painted was a large circle that had been painted in a painstakingly slow process to get the circle to be perfect. Now she was bent over working on a second circle that was so close to the edge of the first that if one looked to fast it would just look like a single circle. The brush flattened as it was pulled over the grain of the wood, its bristles spreading the more pressure she inflicted as she tested out the thickness a line could be created with along the way. Slowly the Eypharian lightened her touch on the brush brining the circle to a fine point of paint that only was made by a few bristles. This lighter stroke however made her dip the bristles into paint more often as they held less than the thicker portion of the brush.

“Sorcha.” Yorge’s voice sounded behind her like a thunder clap but after spending most of her time in the lab since she became an apprentice she was barely startled by his sudden appearance anymore. Slowly she’d clean off the brush of paint so as not to ruin the tool and then she’d turn towards the Master Apprentice with a perked brow waiting for him to tell her what he needed. “So I was thinking today you should go visit Annalisa, her lab is 30-G but she’s an excellent voider and she may have a new perspective for you to view the magic from. She may also be of interest to you, she is powerful and a great mage – just keep in mind as with everywhere in this island, watch your step.” It was cryptic but she didn’t think Yorge was hiding anything from her, he was always very upfront with anything he was teaching her. This was either a test or he just genuinely wanted her to learn from this mage. Possibly.

“Well I’ll need directions I don’t know where that is.” She was still learning her way around but since more of her time was spent in the lab or library she didn’t really learn about many other places. Once Yorge gave her directions she cleaned up her practice painting and headed out of Lab 30-M to find Lab 30-G. After a few wrong turns and checking in on Jasper in her room the apprentice found herself in front of the correct lab finally a half bell later.

The voice from inside was commanding, the power of the female’s annoyance with another was clear. Sorcha paused curious to figure out the situation before she actually walked in on it because well if the woman was a stronger mage then she, which was the likely case if Yorge suggested meeting her, then Sorcha didn’t really want to piss her off just yet. Where would pissing her off get her? No where. She could always decide to piss her off later if it would get her something she needed but for now it was better to assess the situation.

“You are fortunate, test subject. I have need of you for a project today. If you manage to survive to the end of it, I will forgive this transgression and send you back to your cell no more worse for wear. If you don’t then you’ll be dead and it won’t really matter now will it? … Lay down on that table on your back. You will not move or speak unless I tell you to, you worthless cur.” Sorcha stepped into the doorway when silence fell, her eyes searching out the vision of the two women. One a Master and one a slave. That was always an interesting relationship to Sorcha, having been on the slave side herself she stared at the weaker, shorter girl but she felt nothing. There was no ounce of pity from the tall Eypharian in the doorway and instead there was a simple dark gaze of curiosity as to how the slave would react.

Sorcha’s voice cut through the air while she crossed each set of her six arms and leaned her shoulder against the wall. “I’m obviously interrupting something but Master Tieh’s Master Apprentice, Yorge, sent me to see you. He said you were an ‘excellent voider’.” Her height and appearance was impressive, she was large in height and her ink baclk hair fell down to her waist but the most striking feature of the Eypharian was the six arms she was blessed with. “I’m Sorcha. You must be Annalisa.” It was a short, rather lusterless introduction but really there was not much else to say to a woman who was ordering a slave onto a table for testing. Her eyes flicked to the slave and then back to Anna impassively.

[Annalisa Marin]

The door to her lab opened as the slave laid upon the testing table, grey eyes flicking towards the entrance to see who would dare to intrude upon her. An Eypharian if the multiple arms were any indicator, her introduction short and brief. The sorceress herself pondered the bronze ring upon the woman’s finger, an Apprentice of the Maledictor Frankie Lee Tieh. An apprentice that thought to speak to her so rudely as well, enough to boil the blood in Anna’s veins though she held out on disciplining the Apprentice. She owed Tieh to one degree or another sadly, so incurring her ire would be a poor idea.

Instead Anna smiled disarmingly and held her arms out wide, her steps moving her closer to the extremely tall woman. Her slave dared not to move, fearful of further reprisal from the Wizard. Anna took note of the way she had called her an excellent Voider, wondering if perhaps this one was seeking a lesson or instruction on the art. If so it was possible she could use this creature, possible though it would be a tad tricky. The tall human strode right up to the very tall woman and though she needed to crane her neck up to see her properly she seemed to walk with the assurance of one with more power.

“Well now, it’s rare that I find visitors to my door. Especially ones so… exotic. Yes, I am Annalisa Marin.” The sorceress answered.

“An excellent Voider? I don’t believe I’ve heard many that would speak thusly of me, though I suppose I am indeed more knowledgeable than most regarding the art.” Anna stated with an easy shrug.

The sorceress closed the metal door to her lab with a soft thus, locking it deliberately slowly as she then walked back to her lab table and then faced the young woman from there. The tall woman held her hand out before her, fingers curled outward. Her eyes narrowed as she focused upon a singular spot before her hand, plucking at the very tapestry of her being. She gathered her Djed and forced it towards a point in the air, willing the energy to empty the space of all matter. She focused also upon her Anchor within the Void, resonating with the Djed charged stone drifting in the dimension to open a Portal in a specific location in the Void. Within five ticks a tiny black dot formed in the air, a small stream of Djed flowing from her into the newborn portal.

Anna then fed a steady influx of Djed to the Portal, willing it to grow more and more before her until it reached about the size of the Eypharian herself. The energy required to keep the Portal into existence was manageable, especially for one of Anna’s skill. Once she had the Portal at this size the tall woman moved to the side of the Portal, keeping her connection to the Portal strong as she locked eyes with the other woman. She’d make a little game of this, after all there was no harm in a bit of intimidation.

“You have until the count of ten to explain why you are here. If I do not like your answer I will let you experience how much of an excellent Voider I am first hand.” Anna said simply, enforcing a tiny pull upon the large Portal, just enough to tug at the other woman’s hair and then increased it by small increments. By the time she would reach ten the force of the Portal would be enough to drag one across the ground.