Initiate Elementalism (Zim Rage - Private)

[Zim Rage]

Zim fallowed the directions of the counter clerk and went up the steps and what not with the peice of paper in his hands. As he went up there Zim thought about his motivations for doing this. Why would Zim want to do this? Because Zim was getting bored and he wanted, no, needed something new. Why Elementalism? Becuase Zim hoped to be able to change Elementalism a bit for himself as to be able to draw metal from the ground and control it to do his bidding.

Zim had heard storries of elementalist summoning up Golomns of an Element that would keep fighting until there time on this plan was up, or until they were destroyed, feeling no pain or emotions. Immagin a golomn like this made from steel, maybe even Mythril if Zim got good enough, or maybe lucky enough was the term needed. Zim was getting ahead of him self again and so he stopped the train of thought and quickly looked around for any one that might be there teaching.

[Syrax]

Once Zim reached the top of the steps, a man approached him and snatched the paper from his hands. After briefly reading the information, he handed it back. "So Mr. Rage, you planning on learning Elementalism? Lets see, I think McFinle is open to teach right now, so go check. He is the fourth door on the left to your right hallway, have fun." Zim has hallways to both side of him, and he was instructed to go right and it is the fourth door on the left, which is te only side that has doors, since the otherside looks down over the grand entrance.

[Zim Rage]

"Ok," Zim said nodding his head and he went down the hall and then headed down the hall way. He went down the right hall, four doors down, and then nocked on the door. As he awaited to be summoned into the room he thought of the name, McFinle.

[Syrax]

The door opened to reveal a 5'6" female elf. She looks at the Half-elf with a suspicious eye. "What do you want, half-breed?" Her slender hands grab the paper from his. "Oh, so your a dracon, a young one at that. So, you want to learn to burn like your dragon ancestors? You start with initiate, not basic. This is not sword fighting, you know. I gess we can get you started today. Come in." She still has a disgust in him being the form of a half-breed, but she will have to train him since he did pay the money. "Oh, and you will refer to me as mistress Finle."

[Zim Rage]

Zim was a little taken back by the bluntness of the elf, but Zim supposed it was to be expected by those of less tollerance. Zim bowed his head a little show that he understood. "Yes Mistress Finle," Zim said as he entered. Zim may be young but that doesnt mean anything with a dracon, especialy Zim. "Misress Finle, would you prefer it if I were to take this training in my natual Dracon Form rather then my Facade of a 'Half Breed'?"

[JimBob]

A disgusted look formed on the elf's face and she wrinkled her nose at the thought of teaching a dracon. She had done it before, but didn't particularly enjoy being in the presence of such a vile creature. She shrugged, the expression still on her face, and came to a decision, based on previous experience.
"I suppose. But I have found that it is easier to work with a more... civilised form, such as that of the half-breed you are in now. Much easier to form the spells. But you won't be able to create the spells as easy if you are in your true form." She said, spitting 'civilised' out like acid. She placed her hands on her hips and surveyed the creature once more, trying to see if the underlying form of the dracon was obvious.

[Zim Rage]

"Well, not to upset you misstress, but I must say that I am probibly one of the more civilized Dracons you'll find. I am the senator and deputy thane of Tirisfal. I run a forge myself, as well as own the local one. Ontop of the I own a granit quary and a lumber mill," Zim said, "I've climbed the ranks of society and made it further in life then I was ever expected too. Now, if you would find it easier for me to stay in my half elf form, then I will. If not then I will change, and you seem to prefer the former. So, whare shall we start?"

[Charybdis]

OOC: I'll be picking up this thread for GM JimBob.

The elven magess sneered once again, her face contorted into an expression of disdain. It was obvious the prospect of teaching either dracon or half-elf was rather disgusting to her delicate elvish senses. Shaking her head, Mistress Finle indicated that Zim should come near, standing still in front of her. "The first step in your training will be, of course, your Unbinding. This process happens when I remove the chains that hold your mind solely in the Material. But, of course, this has some ramifications, as it wouldn't do to let loose a monster upon the mortal races of Telath." A critical eye stared Zim up and down, showing the elf's obvious thought that the dracon was indeed capable of such an atrocity. If she had her choice, she would never teach the fine art of Arcana in the sphere of Elementalism to such a cursed thing. Now, however, she had no choice, and had to put her immediate reluctance away in the sight of orders.

Her long, pale fingers tapped gently on the front of her hips, hands still resting on her sides. She was impatient, yes, but she certainly had the skills to teach, particularly at the Initiate level. This dracon in half-elf form would certainly get his money's worth in these lessons. Zim could be certain that he would leave her classroom with a head full of knowledge and the skills in Arcana to match. "Before we begin with the first step into your new way of life, I am required to ask you a question, and you are required to answer. Truthfully, mind you; lying and false words will get you no where. Tell me, now, what are your intentions of learing the ways of the Arcane? Why did you choose to invest such a great portion of effort, time, and resources into the learning of the skill? And why did you choose the sphere of Elementalism? The other spheres are just as elevated and just as useful for a citizen of the Empire. What sparked your interest in this specific sphere?"

[Zim Rage]

"You see, I am a black smith, and I hold great presidence in the metals I use everyday. As well, as I have told you, I am a rather important person and I would need something to keep me safe, other then my own weapons. So I hope that through elementalism I can train myself to be able to lift metal strait from the ground and form it into a shape and use it as I would any other of the elements. Though I doubt that I would be able to do that for a while yet, but I hope in time that I will. I hope that answers your questions."

[Charybdis]

An eyebrow quickly raised along Mistress Finle's face, questioning slightly the dracon's given reasons. Of course each person entered the field of Arcana for different causes, but Zim's seemed to be...well, rather practical. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but Mistress Finle had seen power-graspers come and fall within her time teaching. Whether the dracon would be successful in his studies was left up to both Aetheria and Zim's capability for both ambition and dedication.

With a slight sigh, the elf closed her eyes deliberately, attempting to collect her thoughts. "Reasons accepted. I would wish, however, that your reasons were a bit more...well, abstract, but I cannot always have what I desire. It is your training, besides. This does not affect me." The teacher's apathy to her new student was a bit disconcerting, but not entirely out of character, particularly for an elf. They may have been the most closely-tied Arcane mortals, but they certainly weren't the most welcoming of the races. Mistress Finle sighed yet again, then slowly extended a pale hand outward, waving downward in a motion for the dracon to sit.

"Now, the first step to our training shall be your unbinding. This process will remove the shackles of your mind and release you into the world of Arcana. Each mortal is born with a sixth sense that allows us to sense the flows of Ara that surround us, but, due to a variety of factors, that sense is bound at birth, keeping us from realising our full potential. In this process, I will enter your mind and undo the ties, allowing you to continue upon your training. Unbinding is necessary, and not painful, but it does have some risks, although I'm sure the benefits outweigh the consequences." The elven magess sighed again, leaning backwards onto the front of her desk with an expression of resigned annoyance. It wasn't as if her feelings towards the dracon would change his race; she was compelled to teach, and teach she would, though not happily. "If you intend upon continuing your studies in Arcana, you will need to submit to the Unbinding process. Are you agreed to this?"

[Zim Rage]

Zim took a seat when he was waved to and listoned closely to what the mistress had to say. When asked to submit to the unbinding process Zim shook his head, he had heard from other mages that he knew that this process could be blissfull in a sence, and another had once told him that it was a horrible feeling. Zim did not know which to fallow by, neither of them were elementalists and so Zim was a little nervous as to what was going to happen to him.

[Charybdis]

Noting Zim's obvious reluctance, Mistress Finle once again sighed deeply, allowing her shoulders to slump slightly forward. Initiates were testy students at best; why exactly they weren't prepared to overcome their natural fear was quite beyond the elf's understanding. They had, of course, put out a great deal of time, effort, and crowns to the advancement of their studies, but still they allowed their worries and trepidation to sink into the middle of their progress. It was, of course, the dracon's own business; it mattered not to Mistress Finle whether Zim turned back at the last moment or continued on to the highest levels of Arcana. She was simply here to give instruction. Whether Zim actually wanted to take that instruction was his choice.

Sighing yet again, the elf made her way slowly over towards Zim, her robes rustling softly as she moved. "Unbinding is a rather complex process, but it's necessary if you wish to advance in Arcana. I am assuming this is your goal, correct?" Without waiting for a response, Mistress Finle quickly scooped up the edges of her sleeves, pushing them firmly above her elbows. Extending her long arms out over Zim's head, her eyes slowly and deliberately closed, her voice growing almost sing-song and hazy. "Now...be still. Empty your mind. Release your thoughts and worries and allow me to enter. I'll simply be taking away the bonds that keep you within the Material and allow you to feel the Ara and Vis that surrounds. After I am finished, you'll be cast into a hallucination, but don't worry. It's completely natural; just your mind's reaction to being allowed to realise its ingrown sixth sense. Each person's dream will be different than the next. Memories, maybe, or just an overreactive imagination, but you'll see pictures and images as if you were dreaming. That's all it really is: Simply a dream. Relax. Relax." The elf's voice grew dimmer towards the end of her explanation and instruction as she slipped into a state of Clarity, efficiently going about her task.

Zim could feel Mistress Finle's force within his head. It wasn't a painful feeling, persay, but quite unusual and unlike any the dracon had felt before. It was as if a pair of hands was actually inside his mind, probing and prodding, ever so gently. Eventually the fingers would rest on some strange portion of his head and begin to tug, as if digging potatoes or roots out of the moist soil. There was no pain despite the tugging sensation and the following snap sound. One after another, Zim felt his mind being loosened, almost, or at least allowed to breathe a bit better than before. Suddenly, with one last snap, Zim felt as though he was plummeting downwards, further lost from the world around him. With a harsh stop, the sensation ended, leaving Zim in darkness, deep within a dream-like state so typical to a new initiate.

OOC: Feel free to show a lot of imagination. Zim is now in a dream-like hallucination state due to his unbinding and basically stuck in a world of dreams and fantastic images; the more fanciful, the better! PM me with any questions.

[Zim Rage]

Zim cleared his mind and as he felt the forces of Finle's hands with in his head and suddenly the snap left him cold whare he stood. He fell through the floor and then through the ground into the center of the world, passed the relm of the Vysttichi's and was cast to the fiery glob of the plane beneith the surface. But further Zim fell, trough the molten core into a void of darkness.

The area around Zim was light a little, though Zim moved about as if there wasnt a floor. He looked for the source of the light and found only a small white orb that seemed to always be just above his reach, but as Zim looked at this orb it seemed to fasinate him and Zim had a hard time looking away from it, but as Zim walked around on the smooth surface of the empty void looking for something, anything realy, but Zim always looked back towards that orb of glimmering White light.

As Zim continued around in the darkest void of his hallutinations, not that Zim was realy concous of them, he looked around as he had the feeling of walking down hill and as he walked and watched he soon saw that the black void of the ground was turning to a hilly, grassy field with a near by stream. Soon the stream flowed right up infront of Zims feet and the water was a deep, crystal blue with smooth, round rocks scattered about the stream makeing disterbances in the water.

On the horizon Zim could see some trees, and Zim turned around to see a seed hit the ground, and almost as soon as it hit the ground it rooted, and started to grow, with in 5 minutes the tree was as tall as it would grow. Zim looked to the crystaline sky that had some white fluffy clouds drifting around, and then Zim noticed a bright yellow sun, but just one. As well it was at the twilight of the day, so if there were other suns on this plan they most deffinitly would have been in the sky.

Almost as soon as the realization came to Zim he heard the sound of what he thought was a bird, he turned to look and it was unlike anything he had seen before. It was infact a bird, but it was different then he had ever seen. It was a grey-ish blue color with a white underbelly with a ting of orange that faded to the white. It's head had a small crest on it's eyes shined from the shade of the fast grown tree.

The small bird cocked it's head to get a good look at Zim and suddenly everything around Zim just melted away into the black void that was there before, and then Zim started to fly through the air, into the core, through the mantal, and up through the crust and the floor of the acadamy and back into the room. Zim found himself increadibly dizzy, and the room was all-a-fuzz and suddenly the room came back into focus and Zim suddenly wasnt dizzy anylonger.

"Mistress Finle, what just happened to me?" Zim asked in pure confution, "Was that the release that you spoke of?"

[Charybdis]

OOC: Excellent. Thanks for doing that.

It was completely natural for an initiate to find themselves in a state of utter confusion at the end of their hallucination after the process of unbinding. It was simply the way the mortal mind coped with such an event. It was a sort of retraining for the way one thought; opening up the in-born but dormant sixth sense to the flows of Ara that surrounded could easily be classified as traumatic. The mind would grow accustomed to the bonds placed upon it throughout young life; as more time progressed, the mind would then fall in naturally with the Unbound senses it had just now acquired.

Glancing up quickly as Zim recovered from his dream-like state, Mistress Finle's eyebrows arched inquisitively at Zim's reappearance. She had, like any well-practiced teacher of Arcana, expected the curious questions of the newly-unbound initiate, but it didn't entirely help alleviate her immediate impatience. Answering the same question five hundred times didn't really do well for one's nerves. Sighing a bit, Mistress Finle straightened her posture, standing about an arm's distance from Zim, her face still critical. "Indeed, that was your unbinding," she said simply, her tone slightly more articulate and cutting than usual. "Your mind is no longer trapped simply in the Material Plane. Without the chains that kept you within what you could see, touch, and feel right here, you will be able to progress in your training and become aware of the flows of Ara that surround each of us."

Crossing her hands in front of her chest, the Elf slowly turned sideways, pacing absently up and down the row of desks. A long finger lingered upon her jawline as her eyes grew dim, indicating her state of thoughtfulness. "Ara is a force that inhabits every object upon Telath. Trees, the suns, the desks, you, I, everyone has Ara. It's a magical force often likened to a type of 'life force'. Through the manipulation of this Ara, mages are able to create spells that contradict natural processes. The Ara within you is called Vis. It is through this Vis that one is able to channel the chosen Essences of each sphere. If a mage was to create a spell upon the power of Ara alone, it would fail. One needs to put out the Vis and Ara together to create a type of reaction named Arcalysis, where the channeled Essence from its separate plane is able to enter, reacting, and spurring the spell on, giving it a power unattainable with Ara alone." The concepts were a bit abstract, of course, but that was the world of the Arcane. Mistress Finle truly did not expect Zim to understand half of the terms she had mentioned, but at least they were now sitting within his mind. Soon enough the Dracon would learn the true nature of Ara and Vis. For now, though, the words would seem empty and without definition, much like a different language.

"Now," the elven magess continued, spinning quickly to face her student. Her finger fell downwards, pointing almost accusingly at Zim. "The first step for an Initiate to learn is the process of Meditation. This practice enables a mage to transcend from the Material Plane and enter the Astral. It is necessary to leave behind all worries, concerns, and thoughts that might plague you here in the Material to completely realise what Telath is made of: Ara. It will take a great deal of time, particularly as it is your first attempt, and do not be discouraged if it does not happen right away. Simply focus upon leaving the Material and shedding everything that might keep you within the physical world. Focus upon the Planes beyond. From there, I will instruct you further upon the next step. For now, however, the efforts and success will rest upon you and your ability to see, focus, and leave behind." The hand returned to her elbow, resting gently upon the side of her arm. Mistress Finle's appearance wasn't quite adverse and lost a bit of its harshness, indicating to the acute observer that she was a bit more amiable to answering questions. It was almost a certainty that Zim would have a few, particularly upon the inclusion of yet another foreign term: Meditation. It wasn't an entirely hard concept to learn, but occassionally a student required clarification and exact definition.

[Zim Rage]

"Ok," Zim said out loud streaching the O, he was processing all that was said and formulated another question, "So now that I know what Medataion is, what do I need to do? Just clear my mind of all the things that are on my mind and focus on my vis and the ara around me? If thats the case then it should be easy, meditation should be just like going from Dracon form to Half Elf form."