Continued from here
Clyde looked down at the creature, a rat sniffing and snuffing, sitting in its cage. He knew it wasn't a real sentient being, wasn't aware of what went on around it, but he wondered if it knew what was to come.
It had likely lived its life in Syliras, perhaps even in the castle proper itself, eking out a living stealing what food it could. Now it had been captured, caged, and would be killed. Killed by Clyde in a experiment meant to ward from its own kind. To keep them at bay and unable to feed on the cities stores or whatever place was chosen to keep them from.
He wondered if it knew it was essentially a traitor to its own kind, or being used as such. But no, Clyde supposed to himself, it didn't know that, as it wasn't aware. He could kill it now, kill it with but a thought, but he found himself pondering its life and its existence.
Odd since he'd snuffed out many humans lives without a thought.
But then those times he'd killed it had been out of necessity. He'd killed to live. He'd killed to stop others from being killed, or captured, or enslaved. He'd killed humans, and zith, and yukmen, wolves, ants, and many other things he couldn't think of. But few of those had given him time to ponder the death beforehand, usually they'd been considered and done in an instant.
Perhaps that was why Clyde felt more of a connection in a rat he was to kill, than a person. He'd had it sitting with him. Had fed and watered it. He'd KNOWN it with his auristics. But in the end he knew what he had to do, and knew this wasn't time to become squeamish. Besides, he thought to himself, it was just a rat.
Just a rat. Clyde couldn't help thinking to himself and smiling a bit at those thought words. Just a something. Just a rat, a bird, a cat, a dog, a person, something alive that soon wouldn't be. In that way it was no more or less than the other things he'd killed, mostly with his magic.
But now it wouldn't be with magic, it'd be with his own hands and a dagger, more direct than a Reimanced attack from afar.
Heading over to the items, Clyde took one final look at the item to be Enchanted, placed it upon the pedestal, and began his work.
Next he headed over to his charged hammers, the items and implements by which he'd infuse djed into the item, expanding its djed pathways and bending the rules that governed its mundane existence.
Perhaps with enough steps a rule could be broken, not just bent, but that wasn't what he was after today.
Taking up a hammer, Clyde placed a small shining stone before him, closed his eyes, took a breath, and then opening them struck. The hammer struck the stone, and he felt the transfer of djed on the air and shivering down his spine. He felt the magic of the stone be drained away, stored within the mechanism's of the hammer.
Then he took up another, and another, going through item after item.
As he worked charging the hammers he slowly began to speak, letting his words slip from speech into chanting, and then into hummed words, and then into song, creating the words and lyrics and rhymes on the spot.
“Of hammer and nail I ply my trade. The hammer, the dagger, the items so laid. A dagger to pierce the heart of a beast. But forget its small stature, its numbers are far from the least. The knights call me, repulse, repel. The rats, its secrets, its wonder I won't tell.”
Clyde worked his way through items and ingredients, charging as he went. Another stone, this one which seems to glisten like it was wet. Another item that Clyde was unsure of, perhaps a piece of bark, perhaps the shell of some great insect. He couldn't tell which. Each item in turn was drained of its djed, drained of its essence and non-mundaneness. The shiny were left dull. The wet was left dry. The stiff was left pliable. The pliable was left stiff and cracked.
Each strike of the hammer, each surge of djed though small nuzzled his cheek, and brought the rat one step closer to its death. Perhaps it wasn't his enchantment he sang of, not an incantation he wrought to concentrate himself in his magic, but a death ballad he sung to the rat.
76 Fall 515
Clyde looked down at the creature, a rat sniffing and snuffing, sitting in its cage. He knew it wasn't a real sentient being, wasn't aware of what went on around it, but he wondered if it knew what was to come.
It had likely lived its life in Syliras, perhaps even in the castle proper itself, eking out a living stealing what food it could. Now it had been captured, caged, and would be killed. Killed by Clyde in a experiment meant to ward from its own kind. To keep them at bay and unable to feed on the cities stores or whatever place was chosen to keep them from.
He wondered if it knew it was essentially a traitor to its own kind, or being used as such. But no, Clyde supposed to himself, it didn't know that, as it wasn't aware. He could kill it now, kill it with but a thought, but he found himself pondering its life and its existence.
Odd since he'd snuffed out many humans lives without a thought.
But then those times he'd killed it had been out of necessity. He'd killed to live. He'd killed to stop others from being killed, or captured, or enslaved. He'd killed humans, and zith, and yukmen, wolves, ants, and many other things he couldn't think of. But few of those had given him time to ponder the death beforehand, usually they'd been considered and done in an instant.
Perhaps that was why Clyde felt more of a connection in a rat he was to kill, than a person. He'd had it sitting with him. Had fed and watered it. He'd KNOWN it with his auristics. But in the end he knew what he had to do, and knew this wasn't time to become squeamish. Besides, he thought to himself, it was just a rat.
Just a rat. Clyde couldn't help thinking to himself and smiling a bit at those thought words. Just a something. Just a rat, a bird, a cat, a dog, a person, something alive that soon wouldn't be. In that way it was no more or less than the other things he'd killed, mostly with his magic.
But now it wouldn't be with magic, it'd be with his own hands and a dagger, more direct than a Reimanced attack from afar.
Heading over to the items, Clyde took one final look at the item to be Enchanted, placed it upon the pedestal, and began his work.
Next he headed over to his charged hammers, the items and implements by which he'd infuse djed into the item, expanding its djed pathways and bending the rules that governed its mundane existence.
Perhaps with enough steps a rule could be broken, not just bent, but that wasn't what he was after today.
Taking up a hammer, Clyde placed a small shining stone before him, closed his eyes, took a breath, and then opening them struck. The hammer struck the stone, and he felt the transfer of djed on the air and shivering down his spine. He felt the magic of the stone be drained away, stored within the mechanism's of the hammer.
Then he took up another, and another, going through item after item.
As he worked charging the hammers he slowly began to speak, letting his words slip from speech into chanting, and then into hummed words, and then into song, creating the words and lyrics and rhymes on the spot.
“Of hammer and nail I ply my trade. The hammer, the dagger, the items so laid. A dagger to pierce the heart of a beast. But forget its small stature, its numbers are far from the least. The knights call me, repulse, repel. The rats, its secrets, its wonder I won't tell.”
Clyde worked his way through items and ingredients, charging as he went. Another stone, this one which seems to glisten like it was wet. Another item that Clyde was unsure of, perhaps a piece of bark, perhaps the shell of some great insect. He couldn't tell which. Each item in turn was drained of its djed, drained of its essence and non-mundaneness. The shiny were left dull. The wet was left dry. The stiff was left pliable. The pliable was left stiff and cracked.
Each strike of the hammer, each surge of djed though small nuzzled his cheek, and brought the rat one step closer to its death. Perhaps it wasn't his enchantment he sang of, not an incantation he wrought to concentrate himself in his magic, but a death ballad he sung to the rat.
WC: 765
