Closed A Step Into The Danger Zone(Clyde Sullins)

[Garland]

Summer 7 516 AV

Garland returned to the scene of his initiation ritual. nothing changed, everything was still drab, quiet and unnaturally unnerving.

Garland waited for Clyde and honestly he thought Clyde would be late again, Garland had desperately wanted to use his new skills, but he refrained from doing so. Even an idiot like him he was wise enough to not dabble in things he didn't understand without someone to watch his back

The entire forest was deathly silent, but Garland's uneasy feeling from before was gone, he was alive and he could do magic, Clyde had earned Garland's trust, at least a moderate amount of it.

Garland felt excitement about his newly acquired power, he wanted to show off, make a few small flames here and there and just practice his new craft. Still he knows a little bit about Overgiving and what Clyde had told him only made him more cautious.

Garland waited, his fists were tingling, his body wanted to release the Res, even just a little bit of it and it took all of Garland's willpower to not do that. You could see the strain on Garland's face.

When Clyde would finally arrive, Garland would pipe up with a question that has been bugging him all day yesterday. "Clyde, ermm... Ser? How do you deal with the constant urge to use Reimancy?" Garland asked, he didn't really know what to call Clyde, despite only a few years older than Garland, Clyde was the teacher and Garland was the student, he knows basic courtesy and shown Clyde his respect.

[Clyde Sullins]

7 Summer 516

Clyde hadn't gone too far overnight. He'd not bothered to return to the castle, instead spending the night out in the woods and the wilds and enjoying being away from the cramped confines of the city proper.

He had his camping gear, and after gathering some clean water was good for a night or so. He knew he'd need to return to the city soon enough, he couldn't survive without fresh resources as he was a city boy at heart and not skilled in living in the wilds long term. But still a night or two here and there didn't hurt, and gave him a chance to be away from the city and to think and plan.

Clyde had purposely set up his makeshift camp away from where they had done their work the day before, not wanting to stay in the same place. However even he had to admit it was the simplest place to meet, and so they met there on the following day after Garland's initiation. As he had stayed outdoors overnight and didn't have to go far he was more or less on time, something that didn't happen to often when Clyde was meeting people at vague places.

Upon arriving it didn't take an Aurist to know how amped up the squire was. He'd just been given a new toy no doubt to his mind, and he wanted to play with it. But Clyde had purposely left him to not do magic as a test, one he wasn't sure if he'd passed or not.

From the squires question however Clyde assumed that if he had used the magic against Clyde's directive then he'd at least fought against it. Of course in Clyde's mind if he'd done it then it didn't matter if he'd fought or not, as in the end it would mean he'd given in. Which wouldn't be a positive first sign.

Rye followed along close at his heels, eyeing Garland as they approached.

“Willpower Garland, willpower. There is no simple fix, no magic cure. Not using magic is a day by day battle, as is to only use it when needed, to not overuse, and to know when you must use or should use. But the answer to all those are the same, willpower. You either have it, learn, or you end up dead. Or worse.”

Finding a open dry spot free of dew, Clyde set aside his pack, and then turned to face Garland.

“Do you have willpower? Did you use any magic since I initiated you?”

Clyde would give Garland time to answer, before ordering him on to his first task.

“Go and gather wood, to prepare a fire. A mundane fire. Not with magic. That will be the first part of your lesson. I have flint and steel in my pack. Gather wood, kindling, all the supplies you'll need, and then start a mundane fire. Then we will get to the Reimancy.”

Along with his other camping supplies was a copy of his book, one he'd written long ago and made copies of on Sahova along with a ghost. At the moment it was still secreted among his supplies, though Garland would likely see it, or at least its cover, when he went to remove the flint and steel from the pack.

On the cover was written simply "A Treatise on Reimancy: by Clyde Sullins"

[Garland]

Garland shook his head and crossed his arms, he was fidgety right now, he felt the tingle of djed inside him, at least that was what he thought it was.

"I didn't use my magic at all, as tempted as I was." Garland was being truthful, not even one tiny sliver of res escaped his body. He felt bottled up, like if he was forced to hold in his anger for someone.

He felt full, he needed to let off some steam. This was all in Garland's head, physically he was fine, there was nothing wrong with him, but the urge to play with fire literally.

He listened to Clyde and started going around the area, gathering deadwood, or branches from the trees, he was no stranger to getting the things he needed to make a fire, the day was hot and everything was dry, it would be easy to find some suitable kindling.

Garland found some dried leaves on the ground, perfect for burning. Garland took the bundle of assorted wood and branches to Clyde in the middle of the clearing. Garland started placing the wood where it would catch flame easily.

Garland then crumpled the dry leaves so they would catch fire easier and placed into the small campfire Garland was making. Garland took the flint and steel Clyde took out of his pack, but Garland saw a book with a Clyde's name as the author.

Garland noticed, but didn't comment, hopefully he could ask for the book after the lesson, or at the very least pay for it if Clyde didn't want to part with it without compensation.

Garland knelt down by the fireplace and started striking the flint and steel, sending sparks into the kindling, and making small flame. Garland covered the flame with his hands and blew gently on it, sending the flame to other kindling and adding to the power.

Garland then awaited for Clyde's next instruction.

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde watched and waited as Garland moved about gathering supplies for the fire. Once he had the flame going the next step of the lesson was ready to commence.

“Now, rule number one, don't transmute when you can attract. If there is mundane varieties of a element around you can use your res to attract it. This will take more concentration than just turning the res directly into the element, but it will use up much less djed and thus let you do more with less. Because of this I expect you to attract whenever you can, and only transmute as a last resort.”

“Only use what is needed to get the job done, don't make a bunch of extra res you don't need. You might be able to get some of it back, but never all, particularly at your current skill level. In different magics the moment of djed usage varies. In most its when you do the magic effect. In Reimancy its when you exude the res. The res in turn is then used for the effect, but the toll of djed usage comes about when you make the res not use it.”

Clyde paused here, giving Garland a moment to absorb the information before pressing on.

“Honestly though at this point, you couldn't do much of anything with your Reimancy. So don't even bother trying to use it in a fight right now, you'll just get yourself killed. It'll take far too long to do anything, and anything you do will be far too little to be of consequence. You'd be lucky to hit a tree from a few feet away as you are now, let alone something alive and moving. You'll probably be nearing learning your second element before you can actually use Reimancy well enough to fight with it.”

Gesturing at the fire Garland had made, Clyde turned away from Garland.

“Now, I want you to exude some res, just a miza sized piece or so, and concentrate it. Then I want you to use attraction through it and pull flame to the piece of res, holding the fire in place with attraction. Keep doing that without transmuting any of the res, and see if you can hold the flame safely in place until it dies out naturally for lack of fuel.”

[Garland]

Garland listened intently at Clyde. "So... I can't constantly be surrounded by Res... Noted." Garland mentally cursed himself for not actually bringing anything he could write with.

He'd remember the practical information, but all the details would be lost to him in a few bells. Garland looked at the flame he had made on the ground, looking at it glow and spark to life, catching other pieces of tinder and roaring to life.

"Make the res..." Garland opened his palm, the squire focused on his palm, on the thoughts of djed and Clyde's lessons. Slowly a small sliver of blue gas materialized itself above Garland's head, it was thin and dissipating quickly.

Garland looked at the flame, the Res Garland made was nearly non-existent compared to the Res Clyde made the day previous. Garland willed the flame from the fire, the flame flickered and roared, like water it flowed into Garland's palm and watched the flame in his hand.

Garland held the flame and wondered if he could pass the flame from one hand to the other. He didn't try though, Clyde instructed him to just let the flame die.

It didn't take long until the flame died in Garland's hand, but he could still feel the warmth of it somewhat. "I'm going to burn myself... I just know it." Garland said to himself and waited for Clyde to continue his lesson.

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde stared at Garland somewhat dumbfounded, as the squire held fire in his hand. Or close enough to more or less be doing so, as it was right by his palm. This seemed a sure way to burn his hand, a foolish thing after he'd recently told him of burning his lips when he'd tried to spit fire. He however had been a child at the time, and this was a full grown man.

“I didn't tell you to petching hold it in your hand! Fire burns, do I have to explain that! Use your head! Fire plus flesh equals burning!”

Letting his heat burn out, Clyde shook his head, surprised at Garland and that he'd nearly burned himself already after being a Reimancer for a few days.

Continuing in a more normal tone Clyde stared at Garland.

“A handspan Garland. If possible keep fire a handspan away from your body, at least. The hotter it is the farther away it should be, but a handspan is a good minimal distance.”

Pausing, Clyde wondered at the squire, unsure on how to continue. He'd assume some simple things could be understood without being explicitly said, but apparently Garland had the understanding of an infant with such matters. Soon enough he picked up his train of thought, and was able to continue on with the lesson.

“Now, another limit a Reimancer has is their area of control. As you get better at Reimancy this will extend more and more, but for now you will be limited in how far you can move your res while still keeping control of it. So, I want you to prepare another miza of res, and collect some more fire around it. Then I want you to see how far you can control it away from you before you lose control and contact with the res.”

“Your res is a part of you, it is you. But your connection at this level is weak, and it can't hear your will from too far away. If you push it beyond your area of control step closer till it gets back into range, and try to hold the res and fire as long as you can near the edge of your control area.”

“Also bear in mind the further it gets from you, the slower the res will be to react. The closer it is, the more immediate. That'll be more of an issue when you have longer area of control, but still bear it in mind now.”

[Garland]

It took a full five ticks for Garland's currently flaming hand to connect to his brain. "Ow..."

He didn't really react much, even though his hand was hot, luckily not blistered. He just sort of shrugged it off, but deep inside he was hurting, like the poor fool he was.

Such a dumb dumb man.

Garland didn't just almost burn himself within a day of being a Reimancer, he literally burned himself within the first chime of being a Reimancer. An achievement only few idiots can acquire. Garland blew on his hand while he listened to Clyde explain magic stuff.

"Handspan away, got it." Garland took a few chimes to make another smidge of res and willed the flame towards it. The flame floated above his palm, and he just willed the res to move away from it.

Garland still held out his hand like an idiot even though he didn't need to.

The res moved forward, further and further away. It didn't get very far before it simple just floated there, Garland willed the res to move, but it didn't work. He stepped closer and the res started following his will again.

The res floated about an arm's length away before Garland lost control, he didn't really care much about range, he was the type to be up close and personal.

[Clyde Sullins]

Garland's hand motion seemed a good enough point of transition to move to their next point in the lesson.

“Now, Gar. Incantation, or gesture?”

Clyde would give the squire a few moments to answer, or to possibly stare without speaking, before Clyde went on to explain himself.

“One tenet of magic is focus. Anything you do, mundane or magical, will take focus. And like with anything the more focus you put into something, the better you will do. And as you get better at something the less and less focus it takes to do that thing.”

“This is true whether in regards to swinging a sword, or throwing a fireball. I for instance don't know petch about swinging a sword. If I wanted to do it, I'd be doing my best to keep my full focus on the act. And any lack of focus, or distraction, would mean I'd do that much more poorly.”

“Ideally when you do magic you will be free of distraction and able to focus, like you can now. Such a distraction free setting is what I like to call a "lab setting" for lack of a better term. This will not be true most of the time, particularly in combat.”

“There are different things that can help. Glyphs like I did during your initiation, can aid. As can meditation, keeping yourself calm and keeping outward distractions from touching you. The simplest thing however for a personal mage is to use incantations or gestures.”

Clyde paused for a moment, checking to see that Garland was still paying attention before pressing on. Regardless he would press on, assuming if nothing else he'd get the clear instruction Clyde gave next in a raised voice.

“Now that you know of them, I expect you to use either an incantation or gesture whenever you use magic, until it becomes so simple its like breathing to use it. Until then use them. Every. Time. Understand?”

Pausing for an answer, Clyde would finish off his next round of explaining by teaching what exactly the two things were.

“An incantation is anything spoken used to focus the mind and will. It can be nonsense, random words, another language, poetry, song, anything noise or speaking or mouth based really. I even used a yell one time. The specifics, what you say, doesn't matter. The intent of focus and action as being an incantation is all that matters.”

“Gestures are just that, motions or movement. You can wave, make invisible circles with your hands, dance, my personal preference is to mime the motion I want the res to take by doing that with my hands. It doesn't matter the specifics with a gesture, either, just the intent of focusing the mind on the magic.”

“Now, it'll probably take you time to figure out which works better for you. I want you to continue to test the edges of your range with the fire and res while trying incantations and gestures. I want you to try at least two of each type.”

[Garland]

Garland played with the range of the res for a bit, spinning around, letting the res move around him until it burned itself out.

"Hmmm what was that?" Garland listened to Clyde as he explained how gestures and incantations. It seemed... wrong somehow, like there should be a set word or gesture for magic, but Garland was the student and Clyde was the master.

"I think... I would prefer incantations, but I'd rather like if I had a word to focus on and a gesture, just to keep all my bases covered. Although, if ever I become as good as you, which is in truth very doubtful, I wouldn't need incantation and gestures, right?"

Garland thought about a incantation, well it was more like a single word rather than a phrase or poem like examples Clyde gave. The first word that came to Garland's mind was. "Banana."

That did little to nothing in terms of focus, in fact that word distracted him more than anything. I wonder how big a banana can grow... I've seen some big bananas before, though I think they only grow near the coasts and beaches. Although I've never seen one in Syliras before. Would it even grow here I wonder.

The res making took much much longer than it needed to be, almost an extra chime than the previous times. Garland then willed the fire from the campfire to float over to res, as he extended the res to the edges of his limit.

He then moved the res up and over his head, letting the flame raise as high as it could go. Garland extended out his other hand, and started willing more res to form there. "Hmm... Freedom." Garland's res started manifesting itself at a faster rate.

Just when the flame was about to die, the res in his hand had fully formed, into a mist, the flame nearby jumped at Garland's will, seeing that it was a bit more receptive to his bidding.

Garland lowered his hand and just let the res circle around him, he had to admit that without his arm raised, he had a bit less control than before, he had unknowingly been doing gestures from the start.

When that flamed died down, Garland just gave the fire the middle finger, just for giggles, it had gone as slow as the 'banana' one.

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde watched as Garland practiced, using various gestures and incantations. Some seemed stupid, and some obscene, but technically the squire met the order Clyde had given him for the practice if in name only.

Once he was finished up Clyde finally answered, using it as a further teaching experience.

“Yes and no. No, I wouldn't need to use them for the things you do. But I still do use them, and at times they are of use. Consider concentration. It is always relative. Something that takes a initiate a good bit of concentration wouldn't take any to a master, but what takes concentration for a master wouldn't be possible likely for an initiate. I still use incantations and gestures, but I only need them for things that are difficult for my skill level. As I said, its all relative to your current skill level.”

“Still, while I might not need them often, I do still use them if nothing else for custom, habit, and that it does help somewhat to focus on a spell.”

“Just bear in mind, these tools only do one thing, aid in focusing. It won't make your spells stronger or more effective, it simply aids you in concentrating and focusing. That might aid some indirectly, making you a bit more efficient or effective, quicker, or such, but it doesn't directly make you any stronger. But in non-lab settings that extra bit of concentration can be of great help in forming a spell in a trying circumstance, getting you that small step closer to your normal non-distracted performance level.”

Pausing for a moment, Clyde looked about the woods before returning his gaze to Garland.

“Now, a lesson in djed.”

“Personal magic uses your personal djed. Your body naturally has some djed, but the amount easily usable for spellcasting or use is small. If you expend that, you'll be exhausted. If you keep digging and casting more after that, then you enter overgiving. But what happens if say right now you ran a mile? What happens in a few bells?”

Clyde paused once more, giving Garland time to answer, before pressing on.

“When you expend djed, whether mundanely or magically, you grow tired. Over time you recuperate, and become refreshed. Eating, resting, sleeping, all help with this. A few hours after being tired, with rest, you probably won't be. But it takes time for your body to regenerate spent djed no matter how its used. Though with magic it is possible to use much more and much more quickly.”

“If you use a lot of magic all at once, one big spell, or a bunch of smaller spells in a short frame of time, your body won't have time to recuperate and regain djed for easy use. Which means if at all possible, you want to space out your spellcasting as much as possible to avoid overgiving. If you grow tired, or exhausted, don't do any more magic for the rest of the day. Give yourself 24 bells and then perhaps cast again.”

“That doesn't mean you can exhaust yourself magically, and then go run around being active mundanely. Rest means rest, and if you go about making yourself physically tired your not going to regain much djed at all.”

“With lesser magic use that doesn't outright wipe you out djed wise, its a good rule to wait a bell or two between them, if possible. And if you are already tired, or exhausted, whether from previous magic use or mundane activities, its not a good idea to use magic.If at all possible you only want to use magic starting from a peak level, being fully rested and refreshed.”

Done with that bit of his lesson, Clyde considered progressing on into a bit of partial transmutation, a good test and practice in precision. And, as with all of his lessons, a good practical exercise and something needed for Reimancy.