Placeholder A Gift to Syka

[Ialari Pythone]

30th Day of Spring, 522

Ialari had been spending less and less time in her Dominion. The effect was not unlike one going through withdraw from a addiction. With the effects of the curse already threatening to consume her, the separation from the Ukalas was having a more pronounced effect. Her senses were becoming dulled. She could not feel things in the physical world the way she did in the Ukalas. It was the danger one encountered by spending too much time in a place so separated from mortality. Upon first reentering her Dominion, Ialari felt something akin to a mother's embrace. Stepping through the doorway, her nervousness and insecurity faded away. The physical world was so loud, so intrusive and all-enveloping. In her Dominion, Ialari felt control, power and connection. In her Dominion, she was connected to all things, all life, unliving and those things that never lived.

As she welcomed the renewed feeling of control, there was something different. A decade of time spent in the Ukalas, Ialari recognized the difference. It was the conflict between the two worlds...another aspect of the balance that she had recently become intimately aware of.

Ialari made her way to her work area. It was a collection of items gathered over the years from many sources. The work area itself was made up of a few tables topped with a variety of implements and tools; her philtering lab. Although not nearly as advanced as others, it was adequate for what she needed.

What she needed at the moment was the opportunity to prepare some things for Syka; things that would help the settlement prosper and grow. Focusing on the task at hand, Ialari prepared the makeshift lab for production.

She had a few supplies that, while limited would be more than enough for what she had planned. First, she retrieved a bottle of distilled water; one of a handful she had at her disposal. She then looked through her assembled collection of ingredients. After a bit of searching, she found what she was looking for in tea leaves. She had a barrel of them that she retrieved years ago from a shipwreck on the east coast of Sylira. The base of the potion she had in mind was tea infused with something...something more.

She began assembling her apparatus. Retrieving some flint and steel she proceeded to light the burner. She then moved to pour the distilled water into the distilling flask. She filled the flask so that there is still room for the steam to form and rise. Ialari poured water into the lower bulb of the flask which had two tubes extending out of it. One tube was short and off set from the other; it was the one she poured the water in and had a cork to seal it. The other extended straight up from the top of the flask and fitted into an upper bulb.

Where the tube extended from the lower flask, another flask was fitted at the upper end. A small piece of copper punched with several small holes was placed over the point where the two flasks connected; a filter.

Ialari assembled the other half of the apparatus separately with a coiling copper tube that fit into the upper flask and stretched downward, dipping into a basin that would hold cold water before continuing into another flask. There was an oddly shaped object made of copper and glass connected with resin seals that split into two separate receptacles; another flask and a small vial. Her assembly was simple and not the highest of qualities but she did what she could to make it work.

Ialari held up the oddly shaped copper and glass piece and attached it to the rest of the apparatus. She then grabbed a bowl and filled it with water from a nearby basin. Focusing on her connection with her Dominion, she concentrated on the water in the bowl and the temperature. Slowly, the water began to cool; her bond with her Dominion causing the water to gradually freeze.

Ialari then pulled out the tea leaves from their barrel, and dropped them into the main upper flask and packed them in with a wooden dowel.

Ialari then took the receiving flask in her non-metallic hand and braced it against her body. With one finger of her metallic hand, she ever so gently used her finger nail to carefully create a light etching into the glass. As she drew her finger nail barely over the surface of the glass, she etched a series of lines that quickly formed angles and straight-edged geometric shapes. She worked with a surprisingly steady hand as she created a moderately complicated geometric pattern in the glass.

The whole idea was to create a glyph that would focus and contain the intended magic into specific patterns.

She then retrieved her dagger with her metallic hand and held her other hand over the upper flask containing the tea leaves.

Ialari drew the dagger across her hand; the sharp looking blade cutting into her thick skin. She formed a fist and allowed the blood to drip onto the peppermint leaves. After several drops, she wrapped her hand in a bit of cloth and put her dagger away. She then made the final connections on the apparatus, lit the oil burner, put several pieces of ice into the bowl of water and stepped back. Eventually she would put the ice back in the odd cabinet; retrieving it as needed to keep cold water around the condenser.

Ialari concentrated on the intent she wished to placed within the glyphs and the overall desire for the final product. Her goal was to create a potion that would carry the qualities of an isur; denser skin and stronger bones. In the end, if successful, the potion, when consumed would temporarily thicken one's skin and allow their bones to resist breaking or cracking.

There was at least a couple of bells before the distilling of the potion would be complete so that left some time for Ialari to contemplate her current situation.

Ialari looked up at the Tree of Death that was always there, looming above all else within her Dominion. The bodies, hanging, stapled with swords and daggers, grown into the bark; they were a constant reminder. They were a reminder of what she'd lost. Pulling away, she pushed the thoughts aside. It was part of a different curse. Every time she entered her Dominion, she felt the conflict. It was both an answer and a barrier to discovery.

Bells passed and she continued to ponder to the complexity of who and what she was.

Taking a look at the flask Ialari noted that as the water dripped into the flask from the receiver, the patterns etched in the glass began to glow ever-so-slightly with the barest hint of red. As the flask filled, the water had a light pink color while the lines began to slowly grow a deeper shade of red.

After just over four bells had passed, Ialari extinguished the oil burner. She then adjusted the seal on the receiver to drain excess water before reaching the oil which she then allowed to drip into the vial. Taking the receiving flask, she held it up and examined the contents. The etched lines in the glass had a deep red, soft pulsing glow while the liquid inside was a cloudy pink color swirling with wispy trails of red.

Retrieving three vials slightly bigger than the one she used to collect the excess, Ialari proceeded to pour the contents of the receiving flask into each vial before placing a stopper in each. She placed each vial in a small holder.

Where the product of the process would have been divided between oil and waste, this time, Ialari observed a concentrated amount of magic infused into into a potion. The glyphs focused magic into the water. Where there would otherwise be oil from process, there was concentrated amounts of magic. Ialari combined the various vials and flasks to bring about the final product.

[Ialari Pythone]

With the vials filled and the potion complete, Ialari picked up each one and held them close to examine them. The color looked consistent and the glyphs were intact. She wanted to test the effects to make sure they were fully ingrained in the final product but as those effects were based on what she already possessed, she doubted there would be any noticeable changes. She gathered the vials and placed them in her pouch. Although she hadn’t tested them, she was relatively confident that the process was successful. She stepped back from her workstation and looked around her Dominion. She’d been away for the better part of the past two seasons and the feeling of absence was heavy. As she looked around, she had a few thoughts related to the crafting of her latest potion. In years past, she’d provided the Panacea in Syka with a variety of materials that would help with its position as the center of health and empowerment within the settlement.

The various things that grew within her Dominion were like nothing else in the physical world. So many of the plants and animals had grown within the space. Just as she had been changed by the extensive time she’d spent in the Ukalas, so had they. The grass, the flowers, the trees, even the fish in the pond and the small animals that called her Dominion home, had been changed by their time there.

Stepping further away from her workstation, Ialari began walking about her Dominion. She focused her attention on the various plants. There were trees grown from seeds gathered from the east coast of Sylira as well as various flowers and other plants brought in from places like the island of Sahova, Riverfall, Syka and even Nyka.

She walked over to a plant with particularly colorful flowers. The flowers themselves were the size of large plates like the ones used for an expansive dinner. The color of the petals were mainly a deep red, almost black, with silver veins running through them. The seed had come from a simple sunflower. Ialari had gathered the seeds from a sunflower during her time spent on the coast of Sylira where her Retreat was located. The Retreat, a series of pre-Valterrian ruins she’d discovered after leaving Sahova, was the anchor point of her Dominion. The sunflower was unlike anything she’d seen in her homeland of Sultros. It was large, vibrant and the seeds themselves were quite tasty when consumed. She planted several of them back when she first shaped her realm.

Like everything else in her Dominion, the sunflowers were altered over the years by their time in the space. Their color and even their structure had been transformed. Their once bright and vibrant color had grown darker but took a deeper and more detailed form. The bright yellow had become the deep red almost black but the silver veins stood out. The flower still retained its sunflower shape but the coloring reflected more of…Ialari.

Removing her philtering kit from its place on her belt, she opened it and sat it down on the ground. She then leaned in and carefully plucked several petals from the flower in front of her and placed them in a small jar from her kit. She proceeded to then carefully pull some of the seeds from the center of the flower and placed them in another small jar. She didn’t really know what, if any, special properties the gathered materials may contain but she felt that those at the Panacea may be able to experiment and produce something possibly miraculous from them.

After gathering the petals and seeds from the sunflower, Ialari moved on to one of her favorite trees. She’d planted it just over a decade ago from a seed she gathered from a tree on the edge of the Unforgiving during her trek from Sultros to the east. It was a small cone with wooden pedals that contained a number of smaller seeds further inside. The tree as it had grown in her Dominion, was very different from the others she’d planted and nurtured with her magic. Instead of leaves, it had countless needles extending out from its branches. Over the years, she’d poured her love for her childhood home into the tree, enticing it to grow and shaping it through sheer force of will and a collection of nostalgic emotions. The needles of the tree had become soft and with their deep green color and a single silver vein seen running down their length. The tree also held the same cone-shaped structures containing seeds. While she wasn’t sure what could be made from those cones, she had a few ideas.

Ialari immediately recalled her encounter with Caiyha and the First Tree. While the plants in her Dominion were nothing like that tree, they were products of the Ukalas. That meant that they had infinite potential. The whole idea gave her an idea. Closing her eyes, she reached out to the spiritual connections she shared with the space. She followed the lines of djed and connections and imagined what was possible. As she did, she recalled a relatively recent memory. Through a tear in the Ukalas; one of countless tears that plagued the mystical weave following the Valterrian, a pair of warped, horrific, canine-like creatures had entered her space and sought to devour her. During that battle, the blood split had flowed over the spot where she’d planted the tree. While such a thing wouldn’t have had any serious impact on a spot in the physical world, in the Ukalas, it was far more significant.

The encounter and blood spilt had impacted the growth and the development of that particular tree. It is what caused the change in color but it also altered the nature of the tree itself. Ialari could see that potential in the cones that grew out from its branches. Each cone and the seeds within would be able to grant the enhanced senses of the creature that she’d killed; the creature that bled upon the ground where the original seed had been planted.

The hound-like beast that she’d killed did not have eyes. It viewed its surroundings through some warped version of Auristics. She could feel the after-effects of this within the cones on the tree. Realizing that this could be of use to the Panacea and to Syka itself, she proceeded to pluck a number of the cones from the branches and placed them in her pouch.

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[Ialari Pythone]

After gathering a few cones from the tree, Ialari made her way over to the most important place within her entire Dominion, the Tree of Death. The massive, gnarled oak was where nearly 50 bodies hung in various stages of death and decay. It was a “gift” from Dira to remind Ialari that there is a cost to knowledge. Each body that was hung, stapled or otherwise attached to the tree represented a piece of her broken soul. It was a constant reminder of what she’d lost and why she felt so empty and alone. The tree represented what she had been, what she was and what she could be. At the very top, perched like a raven overseeing everything beneath it, was a jet-black form, a statue of sorts, of Ialari. The figure was nearly perfect. It was black with a metallic sheen, its surface webbed with silver veins. Its eyes were also silver and there was a slight impression of scales spreading across the entire surface.

As she approached the base of the tree, Ialari slowed, taking more careful, deliberate steps. When she reached it, she knelt down and turned her gaze away from the higher branches. The tree was such a powerful symbol of everything she’d devoted her life to over the past decade. The significance of the tree was undeniable and the potential power it had was even more.

She knelt down at the base of the tree and retrieved her dagger. With clenched teeth, she proceeded to carve away slivers of the gnarled bark. The tree itself was divine in nature. It was placed in her Dominion by none other than Dira, Goddess of Death. Considering the nature of magic and the divine and the concept of intent as it related to both, she knew it would hold great power. As she cut and peeled away a few pieces of bark, she considered what such material would offer as far as mystical and practical properties.

Such a divine structure could grant insight into death as well as the nature of life. It could even offer some protection. Ialari paused in her thinking and spoke aloud, “No, it would protect from death…I think this could delay it. Maybe slow it enough to allow for one to heal…to restore themselves…” She considered what the tree had done for her.

The tree, present in her Dominion from the very beginning, had helped her find meaning and context to her unusual existence. Without the Tree, she would not have the drive to continue seeking answers; to look for the reason why she was the way she was. It gave her the reason she needed to live and continue to grow. She considered the hypocrisy of such an idea. The Tree of Death inspiring the desire to live and grow. It was something that could occupy her thoughts for decades more if she allowed it to.

Having gathered the pieces of bark, she stood and stepped back. With the gathered materials, Ialari made her way back to the center of her Dominion and toward the doorway back to Syka. She then took the last few steps to enter the doorway and return to the physical world.

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