[Toherro's] Introducing Death (Hathor)

[Amber Brightwing]

“Remember your place worm.” Spirotyn eyed Hathor as he passed, but refrained from his regular load of snide remarks and insults as he did with other lowly students. He preferred to keep those to a bare minimum when it came to the Katta. Not that he liked the guy or anything, but he had it from personal experience not to taunt certain people. He was an accomplished mage, but spell casting took some time. Only a brief moment, but more then sufficient for angry clawed beings to be at your throat.

Hathor didn’t need the Light Elf to show him what door in the great hall lead into Master Aribeal’s chambers. If he’d knock on it he’d soon hear a voice from the inside calling him to enter. Beyond the door was a rather dark and depressing room, lit only by a few candles here and their. To the left of the room was a bookcase, as well as a table partnered with a chair. In front there were three steps descending into a pool that made half a circle against the wall and that probably took up over half of the room.

On the chair sat the Mer, arms crossed. On the table sat a Fae, dressed in the dark crimson robes of the cult and bearing the same markings as Spirotyn, showing she too was a Journeyman. Hathor would no doubt have heard rumours about her or even seen her fly past at occasions. She was not only a promising student, but Thane of the Vortex on top of that, no small feat in this city for one of her size. As the Katta entered both turned to wards him, but only Aribeal spoke up. “So... Hathor, tell me, why is it that you joined us. Why do you want to learn Necromancy rather then pick up a weapon or other sphere?”

[Hathor]

He bowed his head towards the Master and fae, he was trying to remember her name but would think harder once he had to with her. This was a time to use his silver cat tongue as words meant so much more then simple actions.

"Death has filled my life since I was young, younger then I can remember. So many people fear death, fear what they don't understand I wish to learn it to understand and able to stop the ones who hurt me or the people around me. Weapons can be broken and rust, other spheres are meant to be a waste of energy and time." He said as he held his white head towards them, his tail slowly weaving back and forth slowly.

A pure white Leopardi was a hard life to live with greedy people only wanting to cut your fur off selling it or mounting a head on there wall.

[Amber Brightwing]

The Mer grinned. “Since when did you start caring about those around you?” His behaviour so far hadn’t shown much compassion. Not that compassion was a trait the master particularly cared about, but it was always easier to put some trust in those that weren’t totally heartless.

“Arcana isn’t what I’d suggest for basic self defence either. It takes a lot of time before to cast at the lower levels and those that manage to get to the upper ones need eras at least.” He paused for a moment “So, are you sure you want to be a Necromancer? Once you start walking the path there will be now way back.”

[Hathor]

Hathor just smiled inside. He did care about people in his own wicked sense of self. He was not a cold heartless monster who wanted the death of every living being just most.

"I do care about my own race and people who work towards the same goal. Who am I to be a god and harm every person who knew my name? As for basic self defense I can use my own quick body. Why turn back now when there is nothing to turn back to my pitiful memories." He said the last part meant for the question to become one and turning back.

No there was no place to turn back but he would just move forward no matter the hardships or the pain he would have to live though. What's a few more scars of his being now.

[Amber Brightwing]

The Mer simply nodded. [i]“In that case you’d better sit down.”[i] As soon as he would be seated, Amber would come in action. While they had been talking she had been studying the weaves in the Katta’s head carefully, locating the barrier that blocked his Arcane potential. Through the technique of Unbinding she now started to tear down that wall, opening up Hathor’s mind the world of the Arcane. Hathor could feel his head going woozy and the world soon went black.

***

When the Katta woke back up he was lying on the cold stone floor. The room was a different one though, even sparser furnished then Aribeal’s. All there was to see was a single chair with Amber sitting on top on the back of it. Upon further inspection he’d notice the room was actually larger then it appeared a first sight, but only the first half was illuminated with torches, leaving the most of the other half dark and shadowy.

The Faerie was studying him closely. Everything seemed to point at a successful unbinding, something Aribeal had confirmed as well. “How do you feel?” Hathor might still feel a bit light in the head, but even that should fade quickly.


OOC: While you’re out cold you can have an unbinding dream. Feel free to do whatever you want with it and conjure up anything and everyone you want. It’s a dream after all.

[Hathor]

He did not see anything happened as he fell to the ground, his body giving in to a sleep that came like nothing he knew before.

Fog, that one word held so much to him right now, all he could see was the thick black fog that took away his sight. Was he falling, it felt like it endless falling down the dark spiral of pain and regret.

He was three people were coming, two humans that seemed like large stick men way to skinny in his view and no fur. They held daggers in there hand as they came to him, his parents were dead he knew that cold truth and he knew death was coming for him.

Someone stopped them, another man that was much larger them they were he said a pure white katta could sell for so much more if he was older and fur was larger so they kept him.

A daily ritual came about almost of him being pushed around and kicked more or less. How long passed he asked himself as he grew older until the night came the men came at him again this time the larger man was gone.

He did not know how or why but they died with there blood on his claw like hands, more men came towards him but something happened, Katta's saved him.

IT was a memory the earliest one he knew. Why did he remember it yet why now? The fog it felt so cold.

"We know what you want child....power, the power to become a god, to break everyone and everything that wants your life. They all should die yes we agree."

It was an eerie voice, dead sounding like an echo almost at the end of each word, it made the fur on his body stand on end.

"Who are you and what are you? What do you want with me?" Hathor asked almost scared now.

"We are you, we are your greatest wishes, lustful power. Do you want the power to do anything?"

"Yes I do but but how do I know you wont kill me."

"Simple child, just trust us this will give you something that few ever dream of, sleep now and when you wake you will be so much better."

Hathor could not say anything as he saw and felt that cold fog moved inside him, he hit the ground, felt lifeless as if he was not the same.

He awoke in a new room, his jade eyes staring at them, a flash of lustful hate before replaced with coldness. He felt more alive almost as he stared at them, his head a bit foggy but that felt normal almost as if it always was in a fog state of the sense.

"I feel alive..." His words were like silk so smooth yet had a bite at the end almost. He felt power at the edge of his mind yet he could not touch it in a sense, he wanted it wanted more of it.

[Amber Brightwing]

“Alive is good, even if you’ll be learning about Death.” Amber gave a polite smile at the Katta. “I take it that you don’t know all that much about the mechanics behind spellcasting?” If he did he was free to contradict her of course. “Fortunately, thanks to Imparting, you don’t need to know all that much about it. If you ever want to advance you’ll need to learn more in depth about everything of course. Right now I’ll keep things basic, but feel free to ask for more clarification on anything you wish.”

A flutter of her wings and she went from sitting to standing. Two legs slightly apart and arms crossed on her chest, almost like a drill instructor. “The first step to anything you will be doing will always be the same: Meditation. Anything a Mage does with Arcana he does while in Clara. Clara is what we call the state of mind you need for spell casting and Meditation is how you get there. Achieving Clara be hard and take a long time at first, but with practice you’ll find that it’ll become easier fast.”

She paused for a moment to see if he had any questions so far. “While it’s a hard thing to do, Meditation is actually very to explain. All you need to do is clear your mind from all thoughts and Clara will come to you almost automatically. There are some general tricks you could try such as starting with a picture in your mind and removing all parts one by one, but that’s just one way to go about it. Why don’t you give it a try and see if you can manage.”

[Hathor]

Hathor just nodded at her, he had no idea really what each term meant or the basic art of it. He saw some stuff in books but never got in detail.

It seemed rather simple really, clear your head able to cast spells so he did what anyone would do and shut his eyes. His thoughts he put to a rest after awhile other then the normal thoughts popping up saying this was stupid but what could he do but now wait.

After what felt like half a candlemark of waiting he still was no where it felt just more mad then when he first started doing this stupid act. But he did not say anything other then his tail flick back from his anger as he waited trying to clear all his thoughts and wait.

Longer, longer then he cared for that was for sure before stood up almost jumping up, his eyes open glaring at them. He bit his tongue as flash of hated showed in his eyes before he just stood there.

"How long does this take, I have been here forever it's felt like." He growled almost as he closed his eyes still standing trying it this way. His dark rage was getting to him and this waiting, he hate waiting for things like this.

As quick as he could he slashed out on the ground with his claws, almost like nails on a black board sound came from it leaving marks on the ground. It was better then attacking her but he kept it up letting the rage take over wanting to lash out at something or someone.

[Amber Brightwing]

She shook her head as she saw her pupil struggling. Such an impatience these short lived races always seemed to have. “Arcana is very time consuming. At lower levels it takes some time to get anything done and it takes a lot of practice and patience to get to the levels where time becomes less of a factor.” Even for her it still took some time to cast a basic Initiate spell.

“The first time it could easily take over ten minutes. Like I said, it sounds easier then it is. Clearing your mind of all thought for some time is not as easy as it sounds.” If he’d look at her he would notice to her right the faint traces of a humanoid form in the flickers of light. The Spirit Minion had been present all along, helping her with tasks like opening doors and carrying unconscious Katta, but before it had been hidden in the shadows. She had been toying around with it while he was busy Meditating though and now it was standing closer to her.

She stared at him for a while, pondering. “Perhaps we should try a bit of a different approach. Different people have different tricks, so I have one that’s perhaps worth trying out for you. There seems to be a lot of anger inside you, so perhaps you could try clearing your mind focussing on that. Start out with anger towards a certain thing or everything all at once, but eventually try to evolve to being angry at nothing in specific, just the emotion of anger and nothing else.”

[Hathor]

He listened to her, she seemed much higher in class then he was, it made him want to rip her small wings off her body but he knew she could kill him with a thought almost.

He was mad at every human there was, only wanted to kill and fill there pockets with crowns. He just put all of his anger in that thought of humans he stood there glaring at what he thought, it was basic truth in his life that they just wanted more and more never happy with anything.

Slowly he thought of Amber in front of him, she seemed so high and mightily, how he wanted to throw her in the ground killing her. Who knew maybe they could help each other out, it was not like him to let go off all his rage and hated he kept hidden with a mask of kindness.

Everything meant nothing to him as he became mad with nothing at all, letting the anger just take over, doing something he never done before and just stopped fighting and gave in to it.

He stood very still, even his cat tail just stood there as he looked at her, his eyes were the same, nothing changed about his body yet he felt different. What was this feeling he asked himself.

[Amber Brightwing]

OOC: When in Clara you should be able to see the Essences around you. Clara is different to every person however, so you can choose what you want it to look like. You can see strands of different colours, a different way of lighting,… anything you wish.

As the anger raged through his mind the feeling suddenly shifted. It was as if his mind was completely empty for a moment. His vision had changed too. For the first time he could experience the world as it looked in Clara. It didn’t last long though. A few seconds maybe before he dropped out of it again.

The Fae had been looking at him more attentively this time, curious to see if her idea would work. She wasn’t sure if at which point exactly he had entered Clara or how long he had been in the state, but she noticed when he snapped back out of it. After waiting a few seconds to let him realize what had happened she spoke up again. “Looks like you managed this time. What did it look like?”

After his reply she simply nodded. “Now I want you to go back into the state again three more times. Try to remain in Clara as long as you can and perhaps if you do well we’ll try some spell casting.” His first attempt had took him well over ten minutes. While the next three attempts still took him a long time he could feel his fourth attempt was already shaving off a few minutes. He managed to stay in Clara longer time in a row as well.

[Hathor]

"I saw white lights around all most every object and you." He said as he listened to her words. His mind was filled with thoughts and yet at the same time nothing at all. He knew he had to keep it up, he had to get better or he was dead.

It did not take as long, it could be with the mix of he was still mad or the fact it was not long when he left the state. He saw white lights surrounding every object and Amber, like a cloak almost warping around them. It felt oddly peaceful and yet not.

Each time it felt like it was taking its toll yet when he got in the state he felt so much alive and free as if he could do anything. He wanted to know the limits of this feeling and power.

[Amber Brightwing]

“Good, you seem to be doing well.” She nodded. “Now for some theory on spell casting. With the Imparting you don’t need most of it, but it’s nice if you know what you’re doing.”

“The white lights you saw are called Ara. You’ll be able to find something similar called Vis inside of you. The first step of spell casting is entering Clara, that you knew already. The second step is drawing upon the Ara around you and the Vis inside you and combine them. This creates what we call an Arcalysis gives you access to the Astral Plane. The Astral Plane harbours the different Essence Planes. Each different sphere of Arcana draws its power from a different Essence Plane.”

“Necromancy is no different and works with the Essence Plane of Death. You should be able to recognize it easily enough. You’ll need to Focus on this plane so that you can Channel Death Essence into the Material Plane, the one we live on. How much you can Channel will be determined by the amount of Ara and Vis you drew upon. Once this is done you’ll drop back to the Material Plane. The Death Essence will have turned into Mana and forms the building material of each spell you’ll cast.”

“The previous process will be the same every time and only in the next part you’ll define the spell you want to create by Shaping the Mana. There are five different techniques that can be used for this and a mage can only use as many at the same time as the level of the spell he is creating.”

She paused for a second before continuing. “It’s probably a bit much all at once, but like I said, the hardest parts are already Imparted in your mind. If you want more information on spell casting in general I can suggest A Treatise on Arcana which you can find in our library. For examples of what Necromancy can do there’s a Treatise on Necromancy as well. Any questions?”

If all his questions were answered they’d continue with the more interesting part of the training. “Now, let’s take a look at how this theory works in practice shall we. You can start with trying to cast Acid Sphere. The spell is an example of the Shaping technique called Conjuration. This technique deals with bringing things into existence. You can throw it at one of the walls.”


OOC: quick recap on how a spell is cast:
* Meditation => Clara
* Vis + Ara => Astral Plane
* Focussing on the Plane of Death
* Channelling Death Essence => back to the Material Plane & you now have Mana
* Shape Mana => spell comes into existence & you drop out of Clara

[Hathor]

He took in her words, as he did he walked along the thing line of being normal and the state of clara. A part of him knew how to cast the spells, he was guessing that is what she was talking about but he wanted to know what was going on before hand.

It took a bit of time to rebuild his anger and hated of life but it felt smoother as he went in the clara state, He then without really knowing how but slowly pushed and pulled like clicks went off in his head like a locked door opening for the first time.

How long did he stood there, staring off in space. It felt like ages before he yelled wordless throwing his hand like slashing at the wind, as his claws were in midair, a green sphere flew from the finger tips before forming a perfect sphere before hitting the wall.

Due to it being a stone wall, the acid just bubbled up slowly sinking to the ground. It was more of a smell then real damage, the smell was like skin burning to him.

[Amber Brightwing]

The Fae nodded with approval as he threw – literally – his Acid Sphere towards the wall. Body movements were unneeded for spell casting, but it showed his passion for his craft, so she didn’t specifically mind. The acid sizzled on the stone, but once it was all dissipated only with some effort one could see where it had hit the stone. “Not as effective on stone, but this will eat through organic substances with ease and most metals will be ruined once they come into contact with the acid. Now repeat it two more times.”

After the third one he could clearly feel the mental strain the casting had put on him. “Three spells is all an Initiate is capable of casting in a single day so that concludes today’s training. Trying to surpass this limit is dangerous, possibly even fatal. If you want to practice further today you can still practice going in and out of Clara, but more spells will be for tomorrow. I’m expecting you in this room, same time.”