Tales of the Magi [Casual IC]

[WitchChild]

Rebirth


The sun was setting, the air chilly in the autumn evening and the sky a match color with the slowly falling leaves of Redmoor forest. The village, Redleaf, was starting to close it's gates, the militia patrolling around the village to make sure no one was doing something stupid and nothing nasty would enter the village. Looming near the village was the tower of Carnor at the shores of the Red Lake. A tall thing from nigh forgotten era, no mortal hand being able to build in 500 years time. Yellow light illuminated from the windows of the large structure, the mages and apprentices within just finishing their teachings for today, apprentices and mages alike going to spend their time in research, supper and/or conversing with each other. Some apprentices would be able to stay in the library or being in the common rooms where they may show off some minor spells to their piers.

Paladins guarded the entrance to the tower and wearing grand and magnificent armor and wielded long glaives with tower shields. Within the first few stories of the tower were more paladins tasked to guard the mages from the outside and the outside from the mages. The captain of the paladins at the tower of Carnor was old Morgan, a gruff man in his 40's and was the kind of person that didn't like mages but dutiful and not unreasonable.

Within the library sat one of the Hakedian students, Kain. He brushed through the pages of his book about the fundamentals about the elements. His focus was in the manipulation of the destructive elements of lightning and fire though he liked to dabble in other things. He looked up from his book and up at the large bookcases and thought about the secrets each page held. He might live hundreds of years and barely be able to scratch the surface of the knowledge that the library held in each dusty tome and scroll. That made him think of the Trial. He was told that he was ready for it and had chosen to take it but never told when it would begin. It's been two weeks since he was ready. He sighed and continued to read but paid little attention to it. He then decided to try out the spell he had learned in his most recent teachings. Telekinesis wasn't his forte. He closed the book and he started to direct his will into the spell and cast it on the book. It started to levitate off the table but slowly. He concentrated on the spell and the book was above his head and he tried another object, his quill. It usually didn't mind the weight of the object but lifting multiple objects was where he usually failed. He tried as hard as he could and soon enough the quill lifted too, flowing upwards to be with the book. He smiled and cheered, unraveling his concentration and the book landed with a thud on his head and clattered onto the table. He rubbed his head, his horns having taken most of the impact so it hadn't hurt too much. He tail flicked against the stone floor as he stood up and gathered his things. He was hungry and hoped he'd be able to have access to the kitchen. He place his book back where it belonged and trailed his fingers over the books. Again his thoughts went to their hidden knowledge but they trailed off to their darker side. The forbidden magics. Killing was a sin punishable by death. Sure, lightning and fire could be used to kill but they were in the grey area of the laws.

He quickly pushed the thoughts aside and looked around the library and at the other apprentices. The hairs at the back of his neck then rose and he quickly looked around and he thought he saw a darting shadow at the corner of his eye but a quick look revealed no source of the shadow. "I must be too hungry" he thought to himself and shrugged.

[Hagazussa]

Simone walked though the hallways on soft, fabric slippers, she had just been to a class on water magic and now she was headed to the library to get a bit more studying in before dinner, the young magic user was hungry but she was also a dutiful student and she wanted to improve and quickly, magic had saved her life, it had saved her soul and she would never have to be used by another man again, not as long as she had magic! Simone entered the library, several other students where here, reading up on their craft. Simone looked around, she knew many of these faces but not all of them well, but when you are cooped up with someone in one building, unable to leave for enough time then eventually you will get to know them, at least in part.

Simone had picked out a book on the intricacies of ice magic from the many ancient tomes lining the library shelves when she noticed something, just out of the corner of her eye, like if a shadow moved. Simone looked around, she assumed the shade was a result of some of the other students magic, but none of them seamed to be casting right at the moment, the young woman did however see Kain a Hakedian who seamed to have noticed the same disturbance that she herself had. Simone put her book back on the shelf and headed over to the other student.
"Did you see that to?"
Simone begun, she did not know Kain well and was not completely sure how to relate to him.
"It was like if a shadow moved, just in the corner of my eye, was that your magic causing that?"

[Deathmaker]

"Really annoying..." a figure whispered through his teeth as the sound of books thudding and clattering resonated through the silent library. Sion coughed as he flipped a page of the book, 'How to control the Darkness, Guide to Dummies'.

"Rise Shadow, rise Umbra." Sion mumbled as his shadow took form and glided through the shelves and spotted the cause of the ruckus. He should have known, Kain and a new person, Simone. Since the Shadow and Sion have a link, what the Shadow sees is what Sion can also see. Sion wasn't the type who would meddle in others' affairs but if his peace is broken, that's where he draws the line. Closing the book he was reading, Sion tucked it in his arm and stood up. His Shadow glided away and took form beneath him. His light steps echoed through the halls of the library as he stepped out.

"You know uhhh... Oh yes, Kain. This place is called a LIBRARY. And what do we do in libraries? In case you don't know, we read and study inside. We don't become monkeys and disturb other people." Sion coldly said as his Shadow took form and stood beside him. The Shadow began to imitate a movement of someone laughing and pointing at a monkey or something.

"Anyway... Why do you all seem surprised? Never seen a living Shadow before? They function like normal people, only this time..." Sion looked(rather, glared) at Kain. "Much more agreeable, sensitive and knows how to keep silent. They don't disturb other people, rather, they even help."

Sion wasn't really that cold but he just hated his peace getting disturbed. The halls were too noisy, the common rooms were too crowded. The only haven he could have was the library and he wasn't about to let that even get disturbed. He might be a bit overacting but he has a bad tendency to deal with people. Sion knew Kain from before but not once had they even gotten a proper conversation, just some eye contacts here and there. Well, in fact, Sion didn't really have any proper conversation with anyone... Not until now that is.

Sion's Shadow stood still as it took its place beneath Sion, becoming a normal Shadow again.

[Willem3141592]

Carefully, Marc finished carving the rune before looking at the textbook, to double check the words written there. While he had been studying in the tower for just over four years, he still wasn't sure of his reading skills. Even after all these years he couldn't believe he could actually read and write, usually that was reserved for nobles or scholars, not the son of a blacksmith. Though he supposed he was some kind of scholar now. He took a breath and muttered the incarnation.

For a moment nothing happened. Disappointed, he turned back to the book, to read it again. Suddenly he felt some heat and he looked back at his carved miniature figure. Slowly, a fire started to spread from the rune, before engulfing the entire wooden figurine. He smiled, the figure wasn't being burned, but it was clearly on fire. "Exnis." And the fire crept back to the rune before dousing entirely. Well, not entirely. A small flame was still left on the table. Quickly, Marc put it out, looked around and hoped nobody had noticed.

[Niseht]

Elaine let out a small giggle before choking it down her throat. She was sitting hunched over at a table in the library, enjoying her relaxing time now that her temporary job at the nearby village had ended (helping to train some dogs to do their guarding and herding jobs better). It had been a nice position, her feet hidden away under the table where no one could notice them very well, and a large book in front of her so no one paid any mind to the ears framing her face. But a light had caught her attention, and she had been curious and peeked up from the books shelter to see a taller human male student practicing with some form of fire. or maybe ruins? It was hard to identify from here.

But it had been nice seeing the flames cover the wood without burning it, and then it had just turned funny when the one little spark had fallen and the boy had rushed to put it out before anyone noticed. It hadn't been on purpose that she laughed, if she could she would control these things but it was kind of like the sleeping and the eating and needing to go to the bathroom, she didn't 'want' to do them, but some higher power made her and she wasn't exactly in the proper position yet to complain about these things to said power.
When she heard the noise escape her lips, she immediately quieted it and felt her ears droop, shifting her hair framing her face. Her green eyes peeked over her hiding spot/ large book to make sure that the boy hadn't heard her noise messup.
A terrible thought struck her- what if the boy thought she was being mean to him? A part of her was thrilled, she would probably look so intimidating, mockingly laughing at people like that, she could build a reputation with that couldn't she? but a larger noiser part of her brain was terrified at the idea and told it to hush itself and go lodge itself in someone else's brain, thank-you-very-much. She knew how these things worked, if one person thought another person was mean to them, then fights often happened between the two.
And as good as Elaine was a figuring out the logistics behind these fights, the actual fighting in them and standing up to someone else was a work in progress kind of thing.

[GBE]

Jho'Lakk could not look anymore down than he already did. The few weeks that he had been here at the school he had tried to escape twice, unsuccessfully. Apparently there were people more powerful and more resitant than anything he could figure out to do. He had been trying to seek guidance from the spirit world but his rituals didn't seem to be working properly. He was struggling to understand the failure behind all of this and what went wrong. He had failed to make any friends so far, he felt as if everybody else knew that he shouldn't be here and that he is different to everyone else. Being here, in this place he found too stiffling, too strange and to constrictive. He needed to get out.

To take his mind of things, he had been meditating and trying to understand his situation and why he could not contact the spirit world. He had seen his elder do it so many times, he had prepared for it. If only his coming of age ritual hadn't been interrupted. Shushing his thoughts he began to concentrate on the task at hand. He had recently learnt a spell to call forth fire to his hands. He had struggled with the control over it once he had learnt his own incantation to it, it was more the process behind the calling of fire he needed to master. The task he was setting himself was allowing one his many spare crystals to absorb the incantation, a delicate process by any means, but once it had, he thought it's basic control would be a lot easier.

Drawing himself a circle on the ground with chalk, he looks around the currently unoccupied bathroom, the only place currently unoccupied should something go wrong. He leaves the crystal in the middle of the circle and after sealing the circle he taps it once with his staff quietly muttering the word 'Barrier'. A small shimmer forms, he touches it and feels the resistance in place. He sits down with his staff accross his legs and holds both hands up to the barrier, focussing on the crystal and the spell he wishes to imbue it with. He has to ensure that his intention is right to get exactly what he wants from it. He places the image of fire in his mind and his desire to call it forth as he does so, he whispers 'Ignite'. The crystal initially sets alight as it now begins to float in the centre of the circle. Still concentrating he forces his intention inside of the crystal, humming out loud to it. The crystal appears to resonate and shimmer as the flame initially appears to die out. The crystal begins to take a red colour made by a fire burning inside of it.

Jho'Lakk ends his humming slowly watching the crystal sink to the ground. Once settled he waits a moment before standing with his in hand and taps the edge of the circle whispering 'Recede' with the intent of ending the barrier. There is a shimmer first, as he moves his hand forwards, he finds the barrier has gone. Scuffing the ground with his foot, he breaks the circle and bends down to collect the crystal. He can feel a faint heat emanting from it. Keeping it in his hand he exits the bathroom and sees a small queue of other students waiting to use the room. He nervously smiles as he shuffles off to head towards the library. He has got a test he needs to study for. As he reminds himself of the route he begins to channel magic into the crystal in his hand, as he does so, the fire inside appears to become bigger and pronounced.

[WitchChild]

Kain rubbed his head a bit and then found himself looking at Simone. A short girl he had seen in passing around the library and so on but never really talked to her.
"Not mine" He said to her question and looked around once more to see if he could catch the source of that shadow. As he did so his eyes went on...Sion, Kain thought the name. He shrugged and his rather placcid face turned into a frown at the barrage of pretentious insults. Kain immediately got "Prick" impression from Sion and his shadow was actually helping increasing that impression.

"No, It wasn't yours...it was something else" He told Sion and looked around one more time just to make sure. After seeing nothing he relaxed and looked over at Simone. "It was probably nothing. A flicker of the candles or something. Must be. Anyways, you're.....Sim....Simone, right?" He asked, deciding to ignore the rude and self absorbed Umbramancer and instead deciding to talk to Simone. "I'm Kain. Or Kai, whichever"

[Deathmaker]

What Sion heard was nothing more than grunts and some gibbers. Obviously, he wasn't interested in whatever the guy was saying. Either because he just didn't care or he didn't deem the guy worthy enough to listen to. But a phrase got through him... Another Shadow. It was like hearing a word come out of a monkey's mouth. Interesting and worthy enough to research on. Were there any other Shadow manipulators out there? His mom perhaps? Nothing was certain. But he found himself a new research, something more important than a pointy eared freak. But for this he needed a research partner, obviously, the uninteresting guy was not a candidate.. nor was the other girl. He needed someone who shared his passion to seek knowledge.

"Obviously, hakedians aren't the most knowledgeable creatures when it comes to shadows. They would never attain that great of knowledge even if it dances naked in front of them. I need a fellow human or an elf.. not a hakedian freak." Sion murmured as a result of his thoughts of finding a research partner. Sion spun around, deep in thought at a location where prominent shadow mages were born. And perhaps, he would also find that rumored shadow.

"On the other hand... Humans are in it for the gold. They always look for a reward while elves tend to think of the leading. Either way, they aren't as plausible as I thought. In the end, if you want to do something right, you have to do it yourself." Sion mumbled as his Shadow took form and began to grab books from the shelf while Sion himself was also grabbing books. The Shadow placed the books on the table neatly as Sion saw from the corner of his eye, some sort of flames on the other table but was quickly extinguished. Sion sighed as his Shadow glided forth and peeked from the shelves at the person who ignited the table.

"A kid who uses runes. Interesting." Sion mumbled as he began to read through, "Shadows and Darkness". The Shadow began to take form into a humanoid figure as it also sat on another chair near Sion.

"Hmm... Shadows can also be absorbed into runes I see.. Which can allow the wielder to manipulate shadows should it happen." Sion smiled and decided to take a little chat as he stood up, carrying the book with him. He headed to the kid who was studying runes as he called out.

"Hey there. Studying runes, I see. It's been a while since I saw someone study those ancient sources of magic. Quite interesting." Sion approached Marc as his Shadow followed. "I kind of a question with runes if you don't mind and I think you can answer them for me. Would you mind?" Sion smiled gently as his shadow glided beneath him and turned into a normal one.

[Willem3141592]

Marc heard someone giggle and looked in the direction of the sound. He hoped it was unrelated to his little fire accident. He saw a small Hakedian girl hiding behind her book. He grinned sheepishly at her. He found it strange that she was so shy. Of course, he didn't have much knowledge of the other races, because he was born in the middle of a human kingdom, with little to no other races. Even once he joined the tower, he didn't have much interaction with them, everyone usually hang out with their own race. The Hakedian in particular weren't known for a nice and cheerful personality. He was preparing to head over to her, until he was approached by a red-haired guy in black robes.

"Yeah, runes are very interesting, the possibilities are endless. A shame not more people research them. So, what do you want to know?" He asked friendly after listening to Sion.

[Hagazussa]

"Yes my name is Simone, it is nice to meet you Kain."
The young girl said with a sweet smile.
"I think we have magical history together, you know the class that Mistress Melissa teaches."
Simone added, she then glanced at Sion, the boy was rude, Simone did not know him well but he certainly had an off putting kind of personality, the young magic user still gave Sion a polite nod of her head, even if the boy was rude did not mean she had to be, good manners reflected on the person showing them after all, then she girl turned her attention back to Kain.
"It could have been just a flicker of the light...but I was sure I saw something. Well you are probably right."
Simone added then in a slightly curios tone she asked.
"So if you do not mind Kain, what is it that you study here? My specialty is ice magic but I can use a bit of water magic as well, I guess the two is related."
Simone was just making polite conversation but she was also honestly curious, magic fascinated her and it was always interesting to hear what other mages where studying.