ORIGIN

Pride considered, his ears flicking this way, then that, as he thought. "All right--bearing in mind that my magic is not at its peak at the moment, there are a few things, I think, that I can teach you. The first is how to sense the presence, even, of stone; and that may help you attune your mind to earth and rocks. But I cannot show you how to do that; so try that, I suppose, as we work. Feel the stone beneath your paws, the rock all around and above us, and try to sense it even with your eyes closed."

Pride paused, thinking, and then--gathering his thoughts--went on. "Then there is the ability to manipulate what rock there is: by shattering it, for example, or causing it to tremble or split, or shaping and reforming it into gemstone. We can begin with these; shaking it is likely the simplest to begin with."

"In time you can move on to the hardest things: to create stone from nothing. I formed my armor this way; you can simply manifest gemstones, if you wish. It is difficult, but doable."

Pride moved forward, taking a couple of sedate paces to stand just before Felina. "We'll begin with manipulating existing stone. You showed me that you can shake the rock; it can become much more powerful, with focus and enough magic poured into it. Watch, please, and stay close." He took another step, then, nearly standing over her, and then concentrated, eyes slipping shut.

Do as you told her; feel the stone, he told himself--and, as an afterthought, warned his familiar to move somewhere safe, mind-to-mind. Then he cast out his magicka, like a net, through the rock--hoping it would aid him.

It started off not dissimilar to a small pebblequake: a little shaking, the smaller rocks here and there seeming to jump and skip across the floor. But then it gained in intensity, a low rumbling that turned into a roar, a vast area around them seeming to shudder and jump, shifting and threatening to throw them off their feet. A few large stones and quartz shards crashed to the ground around them, and shattered.

Then the growl of the rock ceased, the shaking subsided, and Pride took a breath and opened his eyes, looking down at Felina. "You're all right? -Do you understand what i mean, now? It is only a matter of... magnitude, I think," he explained.

The white stag turned, ears cupping toward the sound of cleaving, shattering rocks. "Interesting!" he exclaimed; "I hadn't seen magic used that way, before." He wasn't sure if it would strike everything--would it split Gembound in half, too?! What about their stones?

A tilt of his head, and he focused, for a moment.

Almost immediately a gemstone rose up, crawling over his right front hoof and trapping him neatly in place. He blinked, and looked down. "Ahh, I'd--meant to create a gemstone, to test with, but it seems to have-... ahh. Not gone where I wanted it," he offered lamely. A tug of his leg did not free him, and he stumbled, and then looked to Felina.

"Can you break this away? To free me? Without--destroying my leg, I mean," he added, immediately worried about the potential consequences.

When the stone broke, he breathed a sigh of relief, stepping free. A quick shake of his legs told him that they were unharmed, and he offered Felina a nod. "Well done! Thank you. That was--more useful than expected. Perhaps something I can learn," he added, and it wasn't empty praise.

"Ah, let's see. What else would you like to learn?" he asked, thinking.

Pride considered.

There was no harm in trying the magic again, he supposed; and so he gave it another shot.

A small, twisting spire of clear, smooth quartz--like a transparent unicorn horn--rose from the ground and gently toppled over with a clink. "There--creating stone from nothing; you could try that, perhaps?" he suggested, looking to Felina.

He wasn't sure how much she could get from just watching him, but perhaps she might find her own way to replicate such magic.

He nudged the quartz Felina's way, as if offering it to her--he had little use for it, but perhaps she'd like to see it. He considered, looking it over. "I press my magicka into the stone below my feet, and I imagine what I want to shape, what I want to form, as I do so. It then creates the gemstone I'd like to see. It's how I made my armor," he explained.

"The best way to learn is to try, but if you do not get it straightaway, you can continue trying on your own or later on--do not get discouraged if it does not work. You can always look for another way to accomplish the same thing, too," he added.