Introduction to Magic -- Ashkan Samheen 20th MT

[Tristam]

The directions led Ashkan to a small classroom with seats for about a dozen students. All but one right up front was filled with adhiel like himself wearing white sash with a patch or two like his own.

As the front of the room, stood an adhiel in purple robes. His face was careworn yet still had energy and youth in it. The most striking feature was his penetrating gaze which was now leveled upon Ashkan.

"But one flicker more, student, and I would not have allowed you entry." The professor informed him. "The barest shade of puncuality has spared you from ignorance. Take your seat." He instructed.

[Guest]

Ashkan made a wrong turn or two, but eventually made it, and barely on time. It was clearly the right place, though not necessarily a place Ash was happy to be. He simply bared the chastisement and nodded, replying respectfully. The adhiel had nowhere else to go, and couldn't afford losing this opportunity.

"Thank you, sir, I apologize."

With that, he went and sat, hoping that he could somehow redeem himself. Arguing about whose fault things were and playing the blame game somehow didn't sound like they would do the trick, so Ashkan decided it would have to be made up by dilligent work. Silently, Ash sat and awaited the lesson's beginning.

[Tristam]

The professor nodded to him at the apology and thought no more about it as Ashkan took his seat.

"You are here to learn the three building blocks of all sorcery. First and foremost you must be able to see the forces of magic that surround you. Through diligence, patience and intuition you must attune yourself to the forces around you and reach out with your mind." The professor instructed.

"The Aether will always be the great unknowable. Interaction with a living mind will cuase the Aether to react and respond to that particular mind. In essence, no one sees the Aether that same as another no matter how similar the descriptions might be. Many report seeing strands or ribbons of power. Others see flowing tendrils of smoke or just area of color. I myself see the forces of this world as rack of keys with which I literally unlock the secrets of the cosmos. No one can say what another will see. All I can do is help you attune your awareness." The professor looked about the room to see if the students understood. He moved on anyway though. If they didn't now, they soon would.

"Close your eyes. Breathe in and out deeply. Feel the air moving within and about you. Know the solidity of stone beneath your feet. Focus within and focus without. The outer world is nothing. Even the sound of my voice is distraction. Reach out with your mind. Tear aside the curtain of igornance that binds your sight to the Tether. Reach out with your mind. Tell me what you see."

[Guest]

OOC: after much deliberation, I think I've finally decided on a method to percieve the arcane *sighs*...too much thinking has injured my brain, though.

Ashkan was glad the professor didn't press the issue, but couldn't dwell on it much longer than a moment, since the man then went straight to the point. He described the aether, and how it was different for each individual. Ashkan had tried on quite a few occasions to reach a state of calm enough to see it, but with no luck. He hoped he would have more luck at the school, but as he listened, he grew worried. What if he wasn't able to see? What if he was somehow blind to the aether, or simply incompatible with the whole process? Where would he live, what would he do? The adhiel had nowhere else to go, and only the meager posessions he had arrived with.

Doubt and worry clouded his mind, turning his rhetorical questions into self-fulfilling prophecies. Ashkan breathed deeply, he sat still, he blocked all senses, but he could not quiet his fears. Though he tried, he saw nothing, hoping for another student to speak up first, perhaps buying him enough time to achieve his goal. Ashkan had never known what it was like to be less than superior, and he didn't like it, in fact, he hated it. The problem was that the hate fogged his mind more than the fear, and when the anger gave way, frustration was there to take its place. Ash simply sat, rubbing his temples with his eyes closed, trying to see what was there, but not there. Surely at least one student was able to view the aether by now, and he prayed that the prodigy would speak up to allow him more time.

[Tristam]

"I see colors professor." One student annouced. "Swirling trails of color."

"Very good." The professor nodded.

"I see colors also professor but they are strings of spheres like beads on the chain." A second student spoke up.

"Also good."

No on else spoke up for several long burns. "Symbols!" A third student called out in excitement. "Its like a swirling cloud of letters in an alphabet I don't know."

The professor chuckled. "A very literal analogy but apt."

Silence again descended over the classroom. "I can see a few of you are having trouble. Feel no shame in this. It is quite common to have difficulty ignoring all you know as reality to focus on a new one. This helped me my first time."

The professor gestured and held a ball of flame in his hands. "Meditate and focus here on the flames in my hand. Whatever your mind perceives flame as will be here, bright and strong and clear. Once you have seen that, you should be able to see the rest of the energies about the room."

[Guest]

Ashkan slowed his heartbeat as the students spoke, but took little consolance from the words of the teacher, though the flames he conjured were quite impressive. As the elder mage explained, they would be able to instantly find the weaves of magic. A school where they handed power out on a silver plate! Ashkan knew then that he would be happy in his life as a student there. It was not as if he expected to be hand held at every step, but it was nice to know that if one encountered problems, there was a good chance a teacher could help in a direct way. The benefit of that would be tremendous, based on the level of work he did, Ash imagined. He also then decided to work very hard, before concentrating his attention on the fire.

For a moment, Ashkan had no idea if anything was working, but all at once it was there, though too subtle to have noticed without focus. The fire was there, but also was a tuft of grass, red and jagged like flames growing from where? Immediately, he spoke.

"I see red grass, professor."

Ashkan did not exactly know what that signified, but he hoped it was something that he could work with. Grass wasn't too exciting, though.

[Tristam]

"A tuft of grass?" The professor questioned. "Well that is quite different. Quite different." The aged adhiel held the fire sphere to one side and then gestured with his other to produce a globe of water.

"And what do you see here?" He asked with interest.

[Guest]

Ashkan nodded, a bit unsure, but it was clear enough what the grass before him was. Upon examination of a new globe, Ash answered casually, but firmly.

"I see a lily pad or something, it's a plant that grows from beneath the water."

Ash didn't know what to make of all of it, and wondered again at the prospect of learning to make miracles with grass and lily pads?

[Tristam]

The old mage hummed thoughtfully. "Most curious. Most curious. Well the idiom is certainly botanical in nature so let us see what we can do with that." He mused for a moment longer.

"Let your intuition guide you young Ashkan." He began. "Your perception of the Aether is more important than my guidance now. Still, I see two likely paths for you to follow. Either these plants that you see can be coaxed to release their energies like pollen from a bloom or you must reach out and pull these plants from their place in Aether to claim their power for your own. They will resist you. The powers of the world never like to move at our command. Be patient. Be persistent. Grab the fire strands before you."

[Guest]

Ashkan pondered the elder's words, but acknowledged them with a silent nod. He was to reach out and grasp the grass he saw, but the same tuft had not been there a moment ago. Was it real? Was that how he saw the power around him, as herbs? Ash shook his head slowly and breathed in deeply. The ebony skinned Adhiel then reached out toward the red grass, expecting something, though he didn't know what. He wondered if his hand would just pass through, or if it would feel hot, but he grabbed it in spite of those concerns.

The dark Adhiel took a moment to consider his grip, if it was what he could call it. He had no idea what to do, so he simply pulled. Ashkan was no quitter, so if it was not so easy to get ahold of, he would try harder and harder. The power was there, he had but to contain and control it. It was why he was here.

[Tristam]

Ashkan's hand stretched forth into the flame red blades of grass. No heat emmanated from them which stilled his main concern. Yet the blades themselves proved elusive. As if moved by an unseen wind or will, they swirled away from his touch.

Ashkan took a deep breath and focused on the tuft. As he sank more and more of his attention upon the grass, they blades moved slower and slower. Reaching forth once more, his hand grabbed the tuft at its root and pulled with all his will.

The roots of the plant dug into his hand. The tuft now grew from his palm and Ashkan could feel the flows of fire available to him. The plant would grow as he directed it.

[Guest]

Ashkan gasped and widened his eyes as the red grass now grew from his hand. He lifted it to his face, palm up, and looked closely at it. There was a new connection now that he could sense. The dark Adhiel didn't know what had changed, only that something had. One moment the grass was an elusive and faded on the edge of this plane, and the next it grew from his palm. He looked up at the professor before speaking.

"How do I get it off?"

A bit nervous, he tested the strands of red grass, concentrating and visualizing them growing from his hand. Ash had no way to know if it would work, but he had to try something. How did this grass relate to real fire?

[Tristam]

The professor chuckled at Ashkan's question or perhaps his situation. "Force of will, young one. It is there because you willed it, it shall move elsewhere for the same reason."

Ashkan focused his will upon the red grass. The blades ceased their random gentle waving and stood up straight. They began to grow slowly and turn a more intense shade of red. Ashkan could feel warmth upon his palm. A small flame, merry and bright, flickered in his hand.

"Well done." The professor clapped once. "A good start, lad. A good start."

[Guest]

Though he had half-expected there to be a flame when he willed it, Ashkan still could not help but smile with wide eyes at the warmth in his palm. The dark adhiel still didn't quite understand how he had made it happen, but that small success was enough to force his doubts to the back of his mind, and renew his initial conviction for learning the art. A flood of questions were now rushing through his mind, but he reigned them in a bit, choosing what he considered to be the most prudent at the moment.

"Professor, will it burn me? Does it burn out on it's own? Is there a way to make it go away without setting something ablaze?"

Still awed, Askan reached his other hand up to the small flame and passed it over, then had an idea. Placing both hands palm-up beside one another, he concentrated on the grass again, this time visualizing it migrating from his right to left hands, and taking root there. He was still awaiting a reply, but the lesson he had just learned would take some time to sink in, and he was eager to test the limits of his new power. An urge to focus his new sight on everything he could was growing within him as he wondered what he would see in other things, and if he could grab those as well.

The small spectacle he was provoking now could be pondered for long hours on end, what else could possibly be taught that day? Ashkan suddenly knew that he had made the right choice in coming, and wondered why he hadn't done so before that day.

[Tristam]

"It will indeed burn you lad if you let it." The professor answered indulgently. Ashkan's excitement was infectious and he could hear the delight in the professor's voice. "The flame will last only as long as you concentrate upon it, young one. Will it to return to the simple plant that you found it as and it shall do so."

Ashkan felt the warmth of the conjured flame when he passed his free hand over it. Placing his hands side by side, he found that shifting the fire from hand to hand was as simple as tossing a ball. The plant flew effortlessly from one hand and rooted solidly in the other. The small flame went with it and now danced in his other palm.

[Guest]

Ashkan was determined not to let it burn him, and had decided that tossing a flame between his hands was never going to get old. He regretted that he would have to return it to its former state, but really wanted to know if he could dispel it so easily. Again he held the small plant with his right hand and released it, forcing his will upon leaving it the way he had found it.

The multitude of possibilities was flooding through his mind, but he was able to force them all down in the hope of learning more of the arcane. The dark adhiel was feeling drawn toward the magic more and more, with the gratification only an addict could yield from it. He longed for the next instruction, and waited patiently for it. There were surely others in the class with questions, all of whom had paid their fair share to learn.

[Tristam]

The fiery blades of grass leap eagerly from his hand. Now that he knows what to look for, Ashkan can see tufts of grasses wafting about the room as though drifting on unseen winds. Other plants make themselves evident until the room was alive, a verdant jungle and all of it potential power in his hands.

"Continue to practice, young one." The professor encouraged him. "One can never have to much practice in sensing the Aether or in familiarizing yourself with the powers that dwell there." He moved on to the other students in the class and gave them their due attention, engaging them in quiet instuction and occasionally summoning forth energies to help direct their vision. Ashkan overheared talk of ribbons, strands, stars, and mushrooms as each student spoke of their view of things. After about a mark the professor returned to the front.

"What you have all done is called centering." The professor announced. "It is the process of attuning yourself to the Aether such that you can all see what you now see. With practice and experience, peering into the Aether will be as simple as peering into a mirror."

"The next step is called grounding." The professor explained. "Every enchantment you weave requires a certain amount of energy, but gauging the exact amount and drawing only that much power from the Aether is next to impossible. By connecting the energies you work with to the earth the excess energy drawn can be harmlessly dissipated. To ignore this step leaves you only two options. The first is to simply power your spell with it. Your candle flame could become a bonfire. The second is to absorb it into your own bodies. There is reason some of you feel rather warm right now." He paused to let that thought sink in.

"To ground yourself, simply grab a strand of energy as you did before, and will it towards the floor. You should find this easy to do, as the energies prefer this state of being."