~When Death's Wings Take Flight~ (Amber)

[Minerva]

OOC: Initiate necromancy thread, continued from here.

IC:

Subsequent to any discussions that the orc had had in mind for him, Aribeal would undertake a sudden change of heart; an alteration of the mental decisions he had made much prior to now. Whilst it was true that teaching all three of his new students at once would not really have been beyond the mer’s abilities, in a way he felt that things would work more efficiently if they remained apart. The fae was likely to pick up on the lessons and skills he had to impart much more quickly than the humans, after all, what with her nature aptitude and affinity for the vagaries of arcana. And so, Aribeal had decided to split these lessons in two; first, the fae would be taught. Then, once her classes had reached a conclusion, the two humans would be next in line for magical instruction. A simple enough plan, with results that would hopefully work out well for the lot of them.

Alone with the fairy in the darkness of the room, the mer considered his new ward for the briefest of moments, gauging her once more as he studied her demure visage, mulled once again over her reasons for being here. So much hate contained within such a tiny body…and for those of her own race, no less. An admirable fuel for the power she was to wield, surely, but first there were other things that needed to be done; other technicalities that needed to be dealt with.

Drawing himself upwards within his pool of water, the necromancer spent no more than a scant second longer in deliberation before choosing to speak, in tones both deliberate and marginally aloof.

“Now, then. To begin with, I will unbind you, my dear.” A sinister smile curved the necromancer’s lips upwards in something of a malevolent arc, an indication of the fact that whatever words were to follow were words that greatly amused his twisted little mind. “It is likely that you will experience some…side effects, as a result of this. Unbinding dreams, visions, fainting spells…” He doubted that anything so extreme would happen in this particular instance, but then one never knew. For all that she was one of the fae-folk, Amber was still just as prone to the nightmarish visions and deliriums that had stricken a great many of his previous aspiring students. If anything, Aribeal would have been disappointed if the unbinding had no effect on the fairy here now. It always was entertaining to watch one’s students writhing around on the floor or screaming out in fear as the dreams took hold, after all.

“This is something that needs to be done, however…You see, after the Aetherfracture, all creatures on this world have been Bound, unable to use arcana, unable to manipulate its beautiful energies. By Unbinding you, I am breaking that bond, ridding you of the magical constraints on your mind. It is only then that you will be able to begin casting spells…only after this.”

And with that, Amber would fall subject to the full force of the Unbinding. How she would experience it was anyone’s guess; as with most things arcanic, this was something that different people felt in different ways. What hardly ever changed, however, was the rush of awareness that one received subsequent to the process itself, the feeling of unearthed power that manifested in response to the birth of one’s abilities to use magic. Patiently, Aribeal waited to see how events would be played out here, to see how his hate-filled little ward would react to the gift that he had granted her. Once she was ready, and once she had recovered…that was when the ‘fun’ of this would all truly begin.

OOC: Please feel free to RP out your reactions to the Unbinding. If you want to have an Unbinding “dream” too, you can RP that out to your heart’s content without any fear of bunnying. (:

[Amber Brightwing]

At first she had thought that they would have been thought all at once. Since she had thought the orc would be learning necromancy as well, it had made her curious to see if he had what it took. He surely was smart, but orcs weren’t exactly known to be the best mages. But now that it turned out that it would be just the two humans, she didn’t mind too much. After all, it was to be expected she would pick up things faster, being of a more arcana inclined race (although nothing was certain of course).

As she listened to master Aribeal, she took off form the back of the chair she was sitting on, flew sideways – so she could continue facing her teacher while flying – and landed again on the table. She had heard about the unbinding from others and now the same stories were confirmed. If she was going to faint, it felt safer to do so on the table. Not much use in finally finding what she was looking for and then breaking her neck because she fell of a chair.

Her heart skipped some beats and her palms were getting sweaty. From what she had heard she knew every unbinding was different, and although she had never spoken to a necromancer, the different spheres seemed to give similar experiences. She didn’t really know what to expect. She had heard many stories of the enchanting ways of magic, but she still couldn’t imagine it. Of course, she could already sense its presence, but nothing more. She couldn’t alter it and mould it to her will and it was that that made her curious.

Than, as Aribeal started unbinding her she felt her muscles relax again and her heartbeat slowed down a little. Suddenly, the word around her started fading away and she felt feelings of intense pain, of death and destruction seep into her mind. For a moment she tensed and her mouth twisted in pain. But than she started to realize it wasn’t her pain she was experiencing, but the pain she would be inflicting on others and she smiled before she passed out.

When she woke up she sat in the grass on the border of a wide open field. A little further there was a forest. The sun was shining and everywhere around her there were the sounds of crickets and birds. Everything was blooming and in all it appeared a beautiful spring day. Than the sky went black. A shadow crept before the sun, and in no time it was dark, like it was the middle of the night and all animals turned silent at once. From the forest came screams of pain, suffering, agony and death. And as fast as it had come, it disappeared again. The eclipse went away and the screams switched to crickets and birds again. After some moments of confusion, curiosity got the best of her and she decided to investigate the forest. Slowly she flew in the direction of where she had heard the screams. After a short flight, she caught sight of several shattered (faerie sized) tree houses and almost every tree around them was cover with blood stains. Suddenly there was a short flash of light in the middle of the destroyed area. As she came closer, she saw it had been a mirror, reflecting a ray of sunshine.

The next thing she knew, she was lying on a hard wooden table and she had a slight headache. As she stood up and shook her head, the pain inside it slowly fading away, she came to realize where she was. She looked at the mer and blinked. So that was unbinding?

[Minerva]

The necromancer had watched his willing student with an expressionless look on his face as he witnessed the only visible effects of her Unbinding. The twisted contortion of pain gracing her lightly tanned features, followed by that slight smile…he took a distant pleasure on them both, even if he was to remain unaware of what dreams haunted her thereafter. His own Unbinding had been so far back, taken place so long ago that he no longer remembered, nor even cared to remember, what manner of visions had preyed upon his mind at that time. In truth, ever since the day he had been blessed with the gift of arcanic awareness, he had been striving to pass those memories out of his mind; having great power was one thing, but those with great power almost always started off at humble beginnings, with naught but a burning desire to become something more. The frailty he had possessed back then was a thing he did not wish to dwell upon ever again, even if the instinctive temptation to do so was sometimes an incredibly difficult thing to suppress.

Watching still as the fairy finally came round again after her fainting spell and the subsequent dreams, the mer merely chose to study her for the few moments she took shaking her head and blinking. It was only when he deemed her to be fully recovered from her recent ordeal that Aribeal chose to speak again, in a voice both dry and dead of emotion.

“You have been Unbound.” He stated, quite bluntly, confirming the fae’s own unspoken suspicions. “The power is yours to wield, Amber- now you only have to learn how to use it.”

One corner of his lips drawn upwards in a slight smile, the mer gave his student a moment of pause then, a possibly excuse for him to gauge her reactions to those first words. After a few seconds had drifted past and frittered their lives away, however, the necromancer deigned to speak once again. His voice was intoned in a much softer and soothing manner this time around, even though the arid quality to it still seemingly managed to remain.

“Close your eyes, relax your mind, and cut yourself off from this world around you. Focus only on the power…the magic that will be yours to command. Think of nothing else. This will be your pathway to Meditation, clara, the first step of spell casting. In this state you will become even more aware of the energies around you, Amber; you will be able to see the threads of the magical energies around you, and be able to begin manipulating them. Remove all extraneous thoughts from your mind; do this, and then we will proceed.”

He had little doubt that she would manage to enter clara on her first attempt, but then there always room for things to go wrong, always a constant margin for error. Watching her in silence once again, the necromancer patiently awaited his student’s first attempt at this arcanic technique, eyes narrowed in a marginal scrutiny to see how she would fare.

[Amber Brightwing]

She thought a few seconds about her dream, not sure if it meant something or not, but quickly dismissed it. Now they had little relevance, she was just unbound and ready to move on and learn more. She wondered what unbinding did to faeries. With other races, they said it opened the world of arcana for them, but for her that was something she knew from birth. Now that she was unbound, the world around her looked the same.

She listened as he explained to her what Clara was. She needed to cut herself off from this world and focus only the magic, but to her magic was a part of this world. Did it mean she had to keep out the magic as well? Or did it mean she had to focus on just the magic? She decided to go for the second, since he had said that she would become even more aware of magic around her.

She tried to relax her mind and started concentrating on her the magic felt around her, trying to pay no attention to all else. She didn’t close her eyes, but instead focussed on the magic she could see ignoring things like colours, shapes or light and dark. The same with feeling, hearing, taste, and smell. She didn’t really try to cut herself of the world she knew, but she did cut her of the world the other races knew. She didn’t know for sure if it was the right way, but this seemed closest to what master Aribeal had described her to do.

[Minerva]

Regardless of how succinctly Aribeal had managed to describe things, it seemed as though Amber had strived towards the correct option in obtaining a state of meditation. Perhaps there was no visual difference in what she had seen before and what she saw now; perhaps it did not matter, for this was a step she needed to take in the casting of her spells either way. The mer, having noted his student’s apparent ascension into the realm of meditation, then decided to speak up once more, his tone every bit as succinct and to-the-point as it had been before,

“The magical energy within is known as vis, the energy without as ara. In order to form a spell the two need to mix. Coax the ara around you towards yourself using the lure of your vis. Intertwine the two energies, and the result will be a reaction known as arcalysis.”

If anything, the necromancer sounded as though he were starting to become bored with all this talk of theory. Truly, it was not even half as interesting as the actual casting of the spells themselves, and yet unfortunately, at the same time it was a necessary evil. Continuing on, Aribeal merely assumed that Amber had understood all that he had said thus far, and did not allow any time for the asking, and subsequent answering, of questions.

“This arcalysis will grant you ascension to the Essence planes. For every school of arcana, there is a respective essence, a force that is used as a building block for creating spells. Once you have reached the Essence Planes, you will need to hone in…to focus on the essence of necromancy, the essence of Death.”

A pause, a break in the necromancer’s words, allowed for a smile and brief gauging of Amber’s reactions to what he had said. With luck she would have understood, and, as always, she had the advantage of being what she was- a fae with innate magical potential.

“First, try to establish an arcalysis. Once you have ascended to the Essence Planes, tell me what you see.”

As with the Unbindings, the Essence Planes were things that could be viewed in different ways by different people. The assorted colours linked with the various essences, for example. Aribeal had long since decided that he held an interest in what this one would see, what with her being a fairy and all. He only hoped that she would be considerate enough to indulge his interest before they moved on.

[Amber Brightwing]

She felt herself calm down and relax as she entered meditation. Her sensed became overwhelmed. It was like looking into a blinding light, hearing a deafening sound, feeling great pressure, smelling a strong scent and having an amplified taste and all that at the same time. It wasn’t unpleasant though, but it mostly provided her with much more details than before. Where until a few moments ago she had seen a black and white picture she now saw the coloured version. All magic had looked the same to her, but now she could clearly see the different essences.

She listened to his explanations of the theory behind spell casting, while trying not to drop out of her meditative state. For her it was hardly a necessary evil. Although the casting itself was a lot more interesting, it could only help her improving her skills. So all she had to do was mix the ara – the energies outside – and vis – the energy inside and combine them in an arcalysis. It sounded easy, but she doubted it would be.

She focussed on attracting ara from around her, extracting vis from inside her and mingling the two together. Once she had managed to establish an arcalysis, she tried to stay there while she answered the mer’s questions.

It’s hard to explain what I see. First of all, it’s not just sight, but all my senses that pick up the magic. It’s also more of an extra dimension. Like with sight you have light or dark and you have the different colours, and then you have the magic. It’s something that has been there all my life, although this meditation seems to amplify it a lot, so it’s kind of hard to describe it. I always looked at it as being magic. The best description is probably like some kind of aura.

[Minerva]

The mer listened to Amber’s description of the Essence planes with a muted degree of interest. Having not being born of the fae, even a master of the Art such as he had some trouble fully understanding what it was that she meant. Those troubles faded, quickly, however, as the fairy’s words were filed away into the hollows of Aribeal’s mind, ready to be contemplated later on. This time, after all, was meant for Amber alone; for her enlightenment, and for her growth in the shadows of the dark arts. Choosing to tarry for not a single moment more in confirmation of that thought, the mer ceased in his pondering of Amber’s arcanic sight, in favour of rounding off that topic completely, and continuing on.

“A most interesting description.” He stated quite bluntly, acknowledging her comments with little more than a succinct nod to complement his words. Now that the subject had been deftly closed, they could move on, only to cover more interesting and exciting ground.

“I am now going to describe how you will finish casting the first of your spells…the spell of Acid Sphere. A potent enough spell for one of your level of training, it can be used to create a ball of acid, to be used against those who displease you in order to cause them pain.”

From the drawn-out and beguiling tones of his now-velvet voice, it was clear enough to tell that Aribeal was enjoying his description of the spell, and was pretty confident that his ward would enjoy bringing the thing into being, too.

“First, you must Focus. Focus on the essence of death, on the darkness dwelling within the midst of those others inhabiting the Essence planes. With that done, coax it towards you, tempt it, lure it, just as you had lured the ara before. Then, mix it with the blend of ara and vis you have already created, and, in so doing, carry out the act of Channelling. An arcane reaction will ensue, providing you with Mana.” A break here allowed the necromancer to catch his breath a little and collect himself, and also permitted Amber the time to think over his instructions thus far. “Think of mana as the flesh a spell is composed of…a raw lump of flesh, without form or purpose; characteristics that you must give to it, Amber. For the Acid Sphere you will need to Shape the mana created into a ball, using the tools of your own mind. In the same way, give it a purpose; to hurt, to poison, to corrode- I am sure you will be able to find your own way here. Once you believe you have finished, the last step is to actually Cast the spell, bringing it back onto the Plane of the Material with you as you leave your meditative state of clara.”

And here Aribeal paused, the explanation apparently finished. The time of spoken details had come to pass, and now it was Amber’s turn to take the proverbial central stage once more. Either to continue what it was that she had already begun, or to query her tutor’s words in order to better understand.

[Amber Brightwing]

OOC: I assume that although it’s going to be smaller in size, it will be as powerful as a sphere created by a normal sized person.

So it was time for her first spell. Acid Sphere. The name pretty much explained it all: a ball of acid. She wondered how much damage it would do when thrown at an opponent. Would it be able to cause more than just pain? When you threw it at ones head or chest, would it be powerful enough to kill? Well there was an easy way to find out.

Like she had been told, she focussed on the essence of death. She didn’t know if it was because of the somewhat unpleasant feeling about it, that made it stand like a sore thumb out, or simply because it was the essence of the sphere she had chosen, but she it to be the she could recognize the easiest. Just as she had done before she tried to draw it to her, channelling it towards the mix of vis an ara in her hands. Once that succeeded she mingled it all together as she had done before, creating Mana for the first time.

In her mind she didn’t really compare it with a lump of raw flesh, but rather with a ball of dough. Probably because she had never eaten flesh. It’s not that she was a vegetarian to save animals, like many druids were, but it was rather practical. Animals larger than insect were not her menu. Not only they were hard to kill, but even if she would manage to kill one it would be an incredible waste of recourses, since she would have to leave most of the carcass to rot.

After shaping it the form of a ball, she shaped its properties, so it would be able to eat away anything it landed on. Once her Acid Sphere was created like she thought it should be, she let herself drop out of meditation, concentrating on bringing her spell back with her to the Plane of the Material, casting it.

If all had gone well, she would now have an Acid Sphere in her hands, but what to do with it? Throwing it against a target would be the most useful, but she didn’t want to just wreck the first thing she saw. Pissing off a master in the art of necromancy wasn’t exactly the smartest thing to. So she kept the large ball – nearly as big as she was – in front of her and waited for the mer to tell her what to do with it.

[Minerva]

“Excellent…” Came Aribeal’s response as his student successfully managed to cast an Acid Sphere unto the plane of the material. Of course, he had failed to instruct her on what it was she should do with the thing, but that was all for a good reason. At least, he had deemed it to be a good reason in his own eyes. Feigning a tone of apology as he made to speak again, the laconic smile rather detracted from any feelings of remorse he might otherwise have been feeling. [color=cornflowerblue]“Now, however, I want you to destroy it.” Curt, blunt, and to the point; traits that were becoming more and more recognisable as a part of who Aribeal really was. “Do not worry, however- you will get your chance to practice these spells against a target soon enough.”

His smile broadened substantially as he placed a deliberate emphasis on the word ‘target.’ Evidently he had something specific in mind for the later parts of their lesson; a pleasant surprise for his student, perhaps, and one which would allow her to see just how effective her spell would be against a sentient being, a living creature.

“The technique of Dispelling is a simple one, and as such I will keep the explanation for it short. In basic terms, it is a reversal of the process you went through in casting the spell in the first place. The base components of the spell you have created are still ara and vis. Merely separate these, and your spell will disappear. Try it now.”

This was the last of the techniques he would need to teach her at this level of skill, a fact which would pave the way for future lessons focussed solely on learning new spells, as well as casting them. Once this hurdle had been overcome, the fun would really begin; for Aribeal, and hopefully for his promising young student, too.

[Amber Brightwing]

Destroy it? Such a shame to go through all that effort just to destroy it again. At least it wouldn’t be a waste. The whole purpose of the Acid Sphere was to damage and to hurt, and it would not be allowed to do so, but on the other hand she would now learn what sounded like a very interesting technique. And she had the feeling she would be able to try it out later. Maybe for that task he had spoken of earlier or maybe just target practice. In any case it would be interesting to see the effects of a spell before she would have to use it in a real situation. She knew the acid ate away things, but she didn’t know how much it ate away.

Am I restricted to my own spells, or can I dispel spells from other mages as well? And, if I can, am I restricted to spells of necromancers or does this work for all spheres?

Being able to undo your own spells could be convenient. Especially when they were as violent and damaging as the necromantic ones. But when she would be able to take apart spells of other mages, it could be a powerful tool when used right.

Since she would need to target the vis and the ara in the spell, she started going into meditating again. Just as she had done before, she relaxed her mind and started concentrating on the magic around her until she finally reached clara. She focussed on the vis and the ara and tried to pull them apart with her mind, dispelling the Acid Sphere. She knew that mages were limited to a certain amount of spells by their vis capacity, so it seemed a bit a shame of the vis though.

Is it possible to reuse the vis in some way after the dispelling? Or is it lost once you have started creating a spell with it?

[Minerva]

Once Amber had successfully managed to undo the spell she had cast, Aribeal listened to her ensuing questions with an air of tolerant patience, canting his head gently to one side as he did so. Idly, he supposed that he should have explained such things earlier on in their lessons here- whilst he was known well enough as being a highly accomplished mage, perhaps his capacity as a teacher was not so deeply warranted. Still, these were thoughts that were not completely relevant now; after all, they had come much too late, and therefore would not have any effect on whatever events happened to ensue. And so it was that, rather than dwelling on them as was wont to those of a more whimsical nature than himself, the mer merely chose to answer, allowing the inner workings of his mind to dally no longer on the comparatively superfluous issue.

“You can dispel the magic of any caster at the same proficiency as yourself, or weaker, so long as the spell is one which only has non-permanent effects. In these cases you would simply have to focus on the offending spell, instead.” He did not believe that that would be so hard to understand. Whatever the target of her efforts, the process of dispelling would always remain much the same; removing ara from vis “Once you have grown more powerful and confident in your abilities, however, so will your abilities to Dispel become much more effective; in time, you will be able to develop counter curses- a technique that will enable you to undo the work of spells that appear permanent, but in actuality only have incredibly long-lasting effects.”

That was information that she did not desperately need to know now- such teachings would come much later on in her casting, and only after she had completed her training here as an initiate.

“As to the second of your questions, it is indeed possible to reuse the vis. Seeing as you will be in a state of Meditation after the Dispelling anyway, it is possible to reuse the energy again in the creation of another spell, if you so wish it.”

He believed that to be enough of an answer, although he did possess enough in the way of decency and good graces to permit her the asking of additional queries if she felt such things were truly needed. With a smile formed of warped and sinister cordiality, the mer then addressed his student in a much more colloquial tone of voice, enquiring.

“Now then, do you have any other questions you wish to ask, or should we move on?”

It was true that Amber was limited in the number of spells she would be able to cast per brightening, and as an initiate she would only be able to cast a total of three before her well of vis ran dry. Still, that meant there was room for a couple more spells on this day, and no doubt Aribeal had some highly interesting ones in mind.

[Amber Brightwing]

So far, Amber had experienced that being a teacher seemed to be something you had to have in you. Some people never seemed to be able to explain anything, no matter how hard they tried, while others seemed to be born for it. Aribeal might not be the best teacher she had ever had, he surely wasn’t a bad one. She had just successfully learned how to cast and dispel and Acid Sphere after all.

She listened as he explained the limits of the dispelling to her. It sounded normal you couldn’t dispel any magic by more proficient mages. She couldn’t exactly picture herself, having just started learning, stopping any spells from a master, someone who had dedicated his life to his art. She also kept in mind that permanent spells were harder to counter, although she wasn’t so sure if an apprentices could cast permanent spells. Even incredibly long-lasting effects, as her master had called it, seemed to be very hard to accomplish.

It was a bit of a shame she hadn’t tried to keep the vis after dispelling the Acid Sphere, but she had only thought about the possibility once she had felt it slip away and then it had been too late. It was certainly a convenient thing. She had only casted one spell and she already could feel how it had drained her. Not that it gave her any trouble, but she felt the difference.

I don’t have any more questions at the moments, so we can move on.

[Minerva]

“Good, then. Now, follow me.” At that the necromancer rose from the liquid sanctity of his pool, pulling a scarlet-red robe about his lithe figure as he did so. A tall figure of a man, the mer was certainly an intimidating enough personage, although that was more down to darkly-amused gleam in his eyes and the haughtily confident way in which he held himself than anything else. Stepping back, and then turning on the spot, Amber would be able to see that the area of the room behind him was intersected by a door, presumably leading into another chamber beyond. It was in this direction to which Aribeal headed, pausing only for a moment to ensure that his winged ward would follow.

The back room of Aribeal’s little part of the underground academy was fashioned in the shape of a half-dome, and almost completely lacking in any kind of decoration or any other associated form of adornment. Apparently the mer was not one who cared to fritter his time away in matters of the aesthetic…at least not where interior design was concerned. No, his interests lay elsewhere, on darker, less travelled paths. One thing that the fae would note upon entering the room, however, was the fact that someone else, another person, was already present there, albeit not in a particularly exultant capacity. Bound at the hands and feet and left slumped insensitively to one side, the figure was human and male, and dressed in what looked to have been fineries once, but was now nought but delicate tatters and grime. Lightly tanned skin was dotted in places by what appeared to be burn marks; throbbing red things which darkened to black in what was a horribly painful-looking manner. Upon noticing Aribeal’s entrance into the chamber, the man yelped, prior to trying to push himself away, using his constrained legs to kick himself back into the wall behind him. His eyes were wide with fear- a sentiment which only grew further still as Aribeal deigned him with a sardonic smile.

“Now, now, my friend…is that any way to behave in the presence of your master? Might I remind you that it was you who failed me in what was really quite a simple task. Failure is a weakness, and weakness is to be punished.” His smile grew, then, grew enough to show some teeth and to spark a glint of wickedness in the necromancer’s eyes. “Fear not, however; merely be content in the knowledge that your suffering will aid in the education of my newest pupil.”

With that, the mer mentally dismissed his prisoner, turning instead to address Amber in order to initiate the next in her series of arcane lessons.

“Your next spell is that of Venomous Touch. This spell is touch-based, and will allow you to inject a deadly poison into the very flesh of your victim. I will leave it up to you to best decide how to create the spell subsequent to making an arcalysis and ascending to the Essence Planes…only remember that the effects of the spell should be transferred on touch, and that the spell itself will not be manifested in any kind of physical shape as with the Acid Sphere. When you think you have finished, you will try the spell to see whether or not it will work. I believe I have already provided you with the perfect test subject.”

Finishing there with a wry and sinister grin, and assuming that his student had understood the explanation given her, the necromancer then turned his back, once again focussing his attentions on the form of his quavering hostage.

“Quickly now, Amber- I’m sure Aryn here is simply dying to know what the result of your spell shall be…”

OOC: I have just found out that not having access to the Wiki means I have no idea of what spells I’m supposed to be teaching. ops: So now I’m working off demo-training threads. I don’t foresee this ending up going horrible wrong, but just in case it does, then that is why!