ORIGIN - The insane pursuit of mastery

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Amras

It had been three cycles since he had first figured out how to produce fire magic, and two since his first foray into this new section of the cave to try to improve his aptitude in using it. This was a region full of water, with enough trees to provide him with wood to ignite without being so dense as to risk causing an out of control blaze.

At first he had tried increasing the speed at which he could create a fire powerful enough to ignite progressively larger pieces of wood, though at a certain point a real problem became apparent. He could produce flames from his taloned hands but he had no protection at all from the heat, and any fire hot enough to ignite a medium stick was also hot enough to give him serious burns. A full three days was lost as he was unable to pick anything up with burnt hands, and it would have been longer had he not figured out a way of channeling raw magic into the wounds to make them heal faster.

This was a real tricky situation, but the problem pushed him to develop another major jump in his magical aptitude. During the build phase of his spell he would leave a small layer of energy next to his skin to act as a barrier and only work on the bulk of energy that rested above it. Sure it was a lot more difficult to twist only the upper layer of energy into light and intensify it into fire before letting the spell manifest, but the end result was a flame that, while less intense, delivered much less heat to his skin. This turned his smolder step into a balancing act; if he made the barrier too strong his flame would be weak, but if he made the flame stronger than his barrier could support he would seriously burn himself.

This technique was perfected and strengthened every minute he wasn't sleeping or hunting. Eventually he was able to produce and sustain a flame that could ignite a wet log with relative ease. Unfortunately this meant the end of relatively straightforward benchmarks for training, but again from a roadblock came innovation.

With a yawn and stretch Amras got up from his patch of grass near one of the largest ponds in the area. On the shoreline below him was a large clearing filled with piles of ash from his previous fire magic exercises, clay mounds from his most recent iteration of the training, and a pile of wood he had set up for today's attempt. Wings stretched out and he lifted up onto his back two paws to walk down to the water's edge, leaving his talons free to scoop up a handful of clay to toss on the wood pile as he passed by.

Every day for the past ten days or so he'd done the same ritual; bury a pile of wood in a clay mound, make a few holes so it at least had a little air, place his talons near the sides of the clay, and try to make a fire hot enough or sustained enough that the wood would burn even though it wasn't directly touching the flame. The first attempt had taken the entire day and left his talons as burnt as before discovering the barrier technique, but in the end he had been successful. Despite being mostly covered in now rock-hard clay the wood continued to smoke and smolder the entire time he slept afterwards.

Out of necessity his control had gotten a lot better since that test, and he could now initiate the buried fire with enough time to hunt each day, but there still had to be more. He had a theory on how to get to the next phase, but for now he wanted to be completely sure he had mastered this application before moving on.

Wings folded and he dropped to all four limbs to take a sip of water from the pond, mentally preparing himself for the long day of work ahead. Who knew, perhaps he’d get it done quick enough today to take a trip back to his tunnels in the room of howling winds and restock his supplies.

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Air rushed past Xireidi's face as he pushed himself to pick up speed. Ease into a turn, watch for slick surfaces as he neared a stream's edge, and down the straight path that took him past the odd bird creature's current living area. The red wolf absentmindedly wondered to himself what the blue creature would be doing today; it was one of the few gembounds that he got to see on his morning run, and definitely one of the most active. Usually by the time he got here the... gryphon perhaps?... was already hard at work with whatever it was doing down there by the pond. Today, however, Xireidi had gotten to his run unusually early, and the gryphon seemed to have gotten up later than he would have expected. Curiosity tugged at the wolf's mind as he decided to put his exercise on hold for a few minutes and take some time to actually go meet the odd being.

This had been his ritual for a long while now, ever since the lights came back on in the caves. He still had his tiny little den on the edge of Polaris, but no longer was it in place to act as a defense against some unknown entity. His childhood fancies of lurking evil and truths unseen had been put away long again, and he recognized now that he had held onto them for far too long. By the same token he had long ago decided not to worry about his magic not coming back but instead focus on physical training. Being well fed and extremely active had led him to peak physical health, the maintenance of which gave him plenty to do every day.

"Hello there!" he called out to the blue gryphon, his breath mostly returned to normal after the long walk off the path and down near the shoreline. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything, I just figured it was past time I introduce myself since I pass so near your home every day."

He took a few steps closer but stopped shy of the cleared area, not wanting to invade the creature's territory without invitation. "My name is Xireidi, a resident from the core"

"The words I speak"
The thoughts I hold
And the self I keep hidden away
tags:
notes: None

Amras

Ears perked as Amras heard the sound of something approaching. Still he did not lift from his sipping just yet. He was bigger than most of the creatures here, or at least the ones that might have given him touble. There hadn't been any sign of the gembound that had caused Li so much trouble so far and even if it was them he would just have to figure out what to do then. Muscles stayed relaxed and heart calm as he lifted his head, now thirst now satiated.

Behind him at an angle, just on the edge of his clearing, stood the strange would that always passed by in the morning. Was it that late already? It appeared he had tired himself out more than he thought he had yesterday. Still, it was nice to see him relaxed, not rushing off to whatever destination he was always going to.

"Hello in return, stranger." he called out politely, keeping his wings folded and his talons planted on the ground. Even if he tended to prefer standing upright with his talons free at this point it would be rude to make himself look larger than the guest than he already was.

At the wolf's apology and introduction he shook his head and lifted a single talon to wave them in closer. "Don't worry about it, I'm just glad to finally have a chance to meet the red blur that rushes past my training area every day."

He sauntered closer and sat down next to a clay mound the wolf had stopped to observe, "I go by Amras, and orignally I lived in the far-west room where the winds blow. I will admit though that this area of the cave feels more full of life, even if is lacking the tunnels I worked so hard to make."

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The red wolf nodded and looked over the gryphon's area carefully. There were ash piles and twigs everywhere, and these clay mounds were truly bizarre. Beyond that Amras had said he was from Monoceros and had built... tunnels there? He didn't seem dangerous but the creature's behaviors were very different from those of anyone else he had met in the cave. How did he even make tunnels? He was obviously fire element and unless his flames were ridiculous he surely couldn't melt rock, right? Still, it was rude to stare so long and with the gryphon right there he could just ask.

"It's good to meet you, Amras." he returned with mirrored politeness, "Usually I'm busy trying to run my circuit around the cave as fast as possible so I don't have time to stop and rest lest I get different results."

Xireidi gave a small yawn as he sat, head slightly tilted up looking at the imposing creature. "It's probably good to take a break from physical training once in a while though. Plus I'm curious what you are always so busy with over here. Is it a kind of art perhaps?"

He had met one before who had put a high emphasis on aesthetics, though Amras appeared to have a bit of a different personality than that one.

"The words I speak"
The thoughts I hold
And the self I keep hidden away
tags:
notes: None

Amras

Amras let out a good-natured chuckle at the suggestion that he had built these structures for aesthetic reasons. Then again that didn't sound like a half bad way to spend his time. Winds knew that this cave could use some touching up, with half the buildings in the star room being in ruins and most of the corridors full of plain stone walls. Mind wandered back to the blacksmith and his mural of the two swords. Though the picture had long since faded away it's essence lingered in the gryphon's memories every time he wandered past that corridor.

"These mounds of dirt aren’t so much pieces of art as they were built to hone my craft." he responded, feeling a bit of silly pride at the word play. "Long ago I learned that I could shape my magic into different forms. These are in place to help me strengthen my control over fire and possibly discover a new element."

By the sound of it, though, he wasn't the only one hard at work developing skills. If what the wolf said were true, and by his own observations it looked like it might have been, the canine put himself through some serious strength and endurance training on a regular basis. Did he have some kind of element that assisted in that perhaps? Even if he didn't it wouldn't come as too much of a surprise. Xireidi appeared to be in extremely good health, and even being smaller than him appeared to be using every bit of weight to the fullest extent.

"I am curious in turn about your training. What is the purpose behind it? Are you expecting to be in a race of some sort?"

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So it seemed that Amras was not naturally fire element after all, but something else. Something flexible. He'd known others in the cave who could use magic outside their elements before but in each case it seemed to emerge from an oddity, a natural quirk unique to the individual. This gryphon was the first one he'd encountered to use such a methodical process in harnessing new power.

Xireidi unconsciously averted his gaze as the other asked him what purpose he had in physical training. How long had it been since his actual purpose had been put away? Was there even any point anymore in admitting what it had been?

"Nothing of the sort." he began slowly, eyes unwavering from their fixation on a distant pile of ash. No real point in hiding it, even if it wasn't relevant anymore it was still a part of who he had been.

"I have always had a theory on magic based on my experiences of it." He was certainly skirting the question. He'd get there eventually but how to admit it without sounding paranoid? "Magic for me was like a voice, or rather like another entity that arose in my thoughts whenever I used it. It never felt like it used words per-se but it seemed to have a personality in the way it directed my thoughts; always seeking to bring light to unknown truths, always troubled by the facades that others wear. In turn one of the earliest spells I accidentally cast revealed a scene that I should not have known about, but based on the reaction I received was almost certainly true."

His gaze wandered back to Amras, who as could be expected wore a confused expression at his ramblings. "I haven't been able to access that magic since I was a pup, and I'm pretty sure the theory came from a poor understanding of how magic worked, but before it disappeared it warned of the presence of something deadly."

Eyes rolled upwards, as though embarrassed at even remembering his old thoughts. "A terror of black and orange would appear one day. A horror of shadow and flame as an insane gembound had once said, though I'm pretty sure that was a coincidence in ravings. I fancied myself a guardian against it and dedicated myself to becoming as strong as possible for the day it appeared."

Xireidi relaxed, through with the most embarrassing part of his explanation. A small grin spread across his face as he looked the gryphon in the eyes again. "It's been over a dozen cycles now with no sign of it though, so at this point the training is mostly just a way of passing the time."

"The words I speak"
The thoughts I hold
And the self I keep hidden away
tags:
notes: None

Amras

Amras listened patiently as the wolf rambled on and on about what appeared at first to be a random subject matter before returning to the original question. He really hadn't meant to inquire so deeply, but this was obviously something that had been weighing on Xireidi. The magic theory was interesting though, and based on the opal's location on his body made a strange sort of sense.

One of the spells taught to him by the blacksmith involved a technique and final result that, under differing circumstances, probably would give the impression of the presence of a second entity. He had yet to delve into the exact mechanics behind it but when using a conjure familiar spell he had to hold his hand near his head and cycle raw energy through his skull as he visualized the shape and personality of the desired result. Once the image was clear enough he would retrieve that energy and gently twist it in a method similar to what he used for light magic while keeping the visualization strong. If he managed to complete both the build and shape phases without losing concentration a small creature made of wisps of light would appear as the magic began to manifest. It would move and make noises as though having a will of its own, but ultimately fade away after several days.

"No need to be embarrassed by such a thing" the gryphon assured Xireidi once the tale was told. "I haven't had a chance to really talk to a lot of gembound to see how magic feels to them, but if you possess a natural affinity for magic of the mind then it makes perfect sense that you would experience it like an entity on its own."

He stood and began to move toward the water's edge, looking over the mirrored surface momentarily before pacing back in an aimless path. "As to the meaning behind the terrifying creature, that makes for a much more interesting question. Perhaps it was a nightmare you had as a youth that carried over into the voice of your magic, or perhaps it was a vision of a thing that once was but now is long gone? Whatever it is, I wouldn't be surprised if it's the reason you lost use of your magic. In the back of your mind you don't want to see it again, to feel the stress of facing it, and as a defense you accidentally locked yourself away from its presence."

Really Amras couldn't imagine not being able to use magic at all. Magic had been such a core part of his life, a core factor in his survival, that the very thought of losing it triggered as much anxiety as he imagined he would feel facing the beast of flame and shadow. Was there anything he could do to help? The wolf wasn't asking for help, it seemed to be surviving fine without it, but could it really comprehend how much it was missing? If Xireidi managed to gain mastery over his skills the things he could accomplish with a natural affinity for magic of the mind were astounding. Sure taking on another project would probably limit the time Amras could put into his studies, but perhaps helping unlock Xireidi's potential could give him insight into the element beyond the cursory knowledge that conjure familiar had pointed him toward.

"If you'd like," he started hesitantly, pausing his pacing and looking straight at Xireidi, "If you'd like I can try to help you reconnect with your magic. If the frightening entity happens to be real I'm sure having the ability to gain knowledge of it would be useful, and if it isn't then you would still have a renewed skill to train to pass the time."

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A small sense of relief made its way onto Xireidi's face as Amras not only accepted his long-winded reply but offered insight into it. He'd never considered it before but it was entirely possible that the fact that his magic had voice was due to its nature and the location it built up from. No wonder then did no one else seem to share in his experience- it was not magic itself but a part of him buried deep within.

This reaffirmed it. There was no monster, there could be no monster! Even if there were how could he as a small pup with barely a grasp on his own skills have foreseen its arrival? But what was he to do with this knowledge?

The gryphon seemed distracted for a moment, obviously lost in thought. In his elated state the wolf felt gratitude toward this thinker. He obviously had been as diligent in his mental training as Xireidi had been in his exercise.

"Wait, what?" he interjected as the other suddenly proposed the absurd. He had successfully and completely cast maybe one spell in his life, and that was when he was barely a day emerged. Beyond that Amras was continuing to humor the notion of the childish nightmare. Sure pleasantry was one thing but the gryphon was proposing going well out of his way for him.

Still, with this new revelation he couldn't say he wasn't curious what it would be like to reconnect with his innate magic. "Why would you do something like that for me? We've barely met and you obviously already have a massive project in the works."

"The words I speak"
The thoughts I hold
And the self I keep hidden away
tags:
notes: None

Amras

That was actually a good question. He was so close now. His command over his own magic had grown so much since the days of absentmindedly throwing dull shockwaves at a blank wall in the darkness. He could manipulate his energy into different forms, fine tune its intensity and flow to such a degree that he could successfully ignite buried wood with only minimal soreness. With just a bit more time he could unlock the next elemental form of magic. Why should he delay that research by taking a side project? Could he really obtain better knowledge of how Xireidi's magic worked through helping him connect with it again or was he just rationalizing idle pity?

Amras's eyes were distant, calculating as he looked in Xireidi's direction but focused far in the distance past his physical form. Should it matter if there was no direct benefit to helping? The cave was full of life, and though most of it was fit only for food this individual was among the few who was capable of higher thought. Should the greater ones not band together and help each other? Was that unnatural to do?

"I can't really say for sure." he mused unhelpfully, his eyes still distant. "I guess I am simply impressed by how well you have done for yourself despite your handicap. Besides, I'm not sure if I can even help you. If I can, however, it seems like just the satisfaction would be enough to merit the effort.

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Xireidi stared back at the larger creature. Certainly it looked like Amras had offered without thinking, but he didn't seem to be backing down. Though still a little taken off guard by the prospect of getting his old skill back the wolf was beginning to feel a bit excited now.

"Thank you then!" he replied, his tail beginning to wag despite himself. "Maybe there's something I could do for you in exchange?"

The offer came as suddenly as Amras's offer, and seemingly with as little thought as had been put into it. Realistically what could he do to help someone like that? The gryphon was larger than him, more magically inclined than him, and didn't seem to have any problems with obtaining food. By all accounts by his very nature, despite how much training he had put himself through, Xireidi was outclassed.

He thought back to all the times he had run past this spot, taking care not to cause too much of a disturbance. Each time Amras had been in deep concentration doing something or another with fire magic. Could that be the key though? Had Amras ever tried working on magic while not being able to keep full focus?

"How about I offer to spar with you? Your skill in magic is impressive but can you use it under pressure?"

"The words I speak"
The thoughts I hold
And the self I keep hidden away
tags:
notes: None

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