In Class Again (SH 20, lMT)

[Guest]

With the glasses of water he had consumed, the magling felt renewed. It had to have been something in that drink. Water did not restore his stamina like it had now without the addition of a potion or mixture. Gaeden did not investigate it further. His interest lay elsewhere. Alchemy did not interest him.

"Now for your second lesson, I am going to attack you."

Gaeden was shocked to hear the statement. The tutor appeared unfazed by the fact he was actually going to attack his students. The magling soon realized there probably was not any danger connected with the unfamiliar act. Unless the mentor knew exactly what he was doing he would never do anything to jeopardize the students of the Magick Guild. This was how Gaeden summarized the converging magickal assualt.

By now Gaeden knew he had to reconstruct his magickal shield. He had performed the undertaking regularly and expected the shadow-shield to flow quickly around him. Absorbing any offensive spells, the magling was confident in his own abilities. Finally he focused inwards like he had done often now and sought the void. His concentration led him to magickal plane and now he floated among the strands of energy. The shield flowed automatically around his being hiding the white beacon. Gaeden was strenghtened the shield till the best of his abilities and kept it even and moving. It ran like a endless river around his being. If it was moving it would easier sweep away the attacks and restore the shield once it had been assualted in a particular place. At least so was his reasoning.

Finally Gaeden was ready. Like he had done before he sought the innercalm he knew so well. The evergrowing flame devoured hastily his thoughts and swept across his mind now emptied for anything which might distract him. It was a methodical approach, but it was necessary to keep his composure during an attack from a skilled wielder of magick.

Remaining in an upright position, Gaeden waited patiently. He did not hide or lessen the surface where he migth be struck. Being here to learn, the magling wanted to see how much he could manage.

[Tristam]

The rest of the students all reacted with similar displays of confidence, fear and shock but it certainly focused them all.

Professor Durell stood at the front of the class and held his hands out shoulder width apart. Five of the stone needles appeared between his hands. Then ten, twenty, forty. Swiftly the space between his hands so filled with stones shards that his chest could not be seen through them. Then he flicked his wirest so his palms faced outward and the rain of stone descended upon them.

Both Gaeden and Ssinith had to guard against being distracted from watching their shields at work. The stone shards burned to ash at the touch of Ssinith's flames. Gaeden saw the shards disappear into darkness never to return. Then came pain.

Gaeden was pierced by three of the shards one at each elbow and one at the left knee. The pain was sharp then bearable like being stabbed by a needle. His shield rippled and buckled as he lost concentration on it. Yet it did not fall. Gaeden was certain that what was left was useless for defence but it was still there.

Ssinith was pierced by two shards, one at each shoulder and a third one grazed the top of his head. The pain of the first two was a needle jab but the cut on his head was a lingering itching pain. Try as he might, Ssinith could not hold his shield and the flames winked out leaving him vulnerable.

Looking about the room, the two of them could see they were clearly the least wounded in the class. One student was down on the floor with a dozen shards embedded all over his body. Two others were similarly pierced but still standing. The rest had somehwere between four and six shards and they gingerly started to remove them.

"The cuts will not be deep but they will sting a bit as they heal." Durell gestured at the three most wounded and they floated out of the classroom like the fainted ones. "Let wounds be a reminder of where you need to strengthen your shield and of how to concentrate despite pain and distraction. I think we shall dispense with lesson three until you have had a chance to patch yourselves up. There are white linen cloths at the back for just such a purpose."

[Ssinith DIllil]

Ssinith buckled over slightly as his shield dropped, plucking the shards from his shoulder and tapping the top of his head to make sure he didn't have two parts on his head. He winced as he plucked them out and slowly rose to his feet, drained from the exercise...

He sighed, leaning over the desk and looking to the professor. As the other students got their wounds patched, he slowly made his way forward to ask a question.

"P... Professor. This morning I awoke so drained. I do not recall doing anything different or overexerting. I noticed my energy was... off. Is there an explanation for this?"

[Guest]

Gaeden was stunned by the piercing of the stone needles. Just as the professor had pointed out earlier, his weak locations were around his joints. That angered him. He believed he had gotten to that problem during his second shielding. It pleased him thoug to see he was the only fledgling to still have his shield intact. Although it was a miserable protection now, and he could not expect it to stand against another attack.

Plucking the stone needles out, he tossed the carelessly at the ground. It clattered against the hard surface, and Gaeden watched its short journey. He removed the final pair and rubbed the sore spots.

The magling retreated to the back of the class to take care of his wounds. He poured water over the injuries and tied cloth around his shoulders and around his left knee. Finally he was ready to commence with the class and returned to his place. Realizing he had a question to ask also and followed the other fledgling to the mentor. He waited patiently for the professor to answer the already asked question. When the professor had answered Ssinith, Gaeden would step forward and ask the following.

"Professor. You attacked us with magickal shards now; but how would our shields profect us from, let's say an arrow or a sword? I suppose these stone needles turned into material thorns once you released them so the affect would probably be the same against a arrow? Is that a correct assumption?"

[Tristam]

Professor Durell looked down his nose at Ssinith. "Lack of restful sleep most likely. Of course I am assuming your aura is usually that pale." He sniffed. He seemed about to say more when Gaeden approached with his question about the shields.

"A logical conclusion but a false one none the less." Durell informed him. "Newly conjured items like these shards exist in a state of quasi reality. Up to the moment they struck you I had to concentrate and feed energy into them to keep them here and intact. Once they hit I had no need to do that. For a novice conjurer, they would disappear right then. I am no novice. " He sniffed once more. "It is that need for magical energy that allowed your shields to block them. Were you to pick up one of these shards and throw it by hand, it would easily pass through your shields."

"This question does segue nicely into the next set of lessons on how to block the truly physical so unless there are further question we shall begin." Durell announced loudly to the class.

[Ssinith DIllil]

Was everyone at this acadamy this bloody stuffy? Ssinith repressed his slight anger at the general attitude and nodded respectfully to his professor.

"Yes, professor. I am ready..."

He returned to his seat, trying to breathe and get some wind back for the next exercise, but not before having a nice drink of that water to be fully restored.

[Guest]

The response surprised Gaeden. As the tutor stated it had been a logical conclusion though wrong. Unless this shield protected against material attacks; it meant that a pair of complementary shields needed to be woven to defend himself against any possible assailing. Gaeden pondered about how to defend against a mental convulsion. It was a another way to penetrate the barriage of a magick wielder. There were obviously so many different approaches to attack.

Gaeden retreated to his seat and descended upon the chair waiting for the mentor to confront them with their next assignment and as he waited he glared at the remaining students. There were a distinct lower number of characters now than at the beginning.

"Yes. Let us continue then," Gaeden stated plainly. He mouthed his agreement with the other adhiel whom had performed tolerably well with himself.

[Tristam]

"Though you have not yet attempted this, you must know that casting a spell while shielded is a delicate balancing act. A stronger and thicker shield will be more effective at resisting incoming energies. However, it is just as restrictive to ongoing energies. It is a trade off of effective protection vs effective offense." Professor Durell announced.

"A physical shield is very much the same." He continued. "A solid shell of stone may be the ultimate protection but that limits you to cowering inside that shell in the dark." Durell sniffed. "In addition whatever weaving you would send must penetrate that physical shield as well. So what is the solution?" He asked rhetorically.

"There are two simple ways around it." He continued on without pause. "One is to simply use a shield that will not interfere with the spells you wish to cast. A fire shield would not stop a fireball spell from going through. The second is to work a switch into your weaving such that the shield can be lowered for flickers, just long enough to send your spell through it. We shall use the first solution for its simplicity. Similarly for your first physical shielding we shall simply make it an extention of your Aether shielding. Cover yourself with your chosen Aether shield. Then will a piece of that energy to protect you. Observe."

On the Aether, Durell was covered by a fluid skin of a dark metal. Then a large bubble breaks free and flattens out into a plane before him and with there mundane sight a plate of that dark metal appears before him. "With practice you can create different manisfestations." First Durell encased himself in a cylinder of the metal. Then that wall shrunk in and encased him in a suit of armor as fluid as what we wore on the Aether. "See what you can do." He challenged.

[Adrian Elsonrae]

"Professor." Ssinith addressed, raising his hand.

"Does the spell penetration work for both sides? For instance, if an attacker used a fireball on a fire shield, would that still go through?"

He recalled that most of the shield weaknesses were at the joints. So that would be where he focused his concentration.

Neck... shoulders... elbows...

He imagined the shield starting at all the joint areas and forming around him into a single flame as before, hoping that would aid in keeping the concentration up on the weak points.

[Guest]

It was an interesting question posted by the fledgling. Gaeden thought he knew the answer. It couldn't be that easy to elude the shield. Then he would have to create a second covering to defend himself properly. But why can I then penetrate my own shield by merely using a similar substance? I have used the element of obscurity so anyone capable of wielding powers like that could be perhaps sidestep my defences. The answer was inescapably important. It could mean the difference between life or certain death in situation he most likely would end up in.

Gaeden brought his shield up. His focus was undisturbed. He fed the intrusions and the thoughts into the ever-growing flame. The fire which was the center and foundation of his concentration. Its wild flames devouring the ideas.

As with most of the other fledglings - his weak points were around his joints. There were room for improvement on those spots, and the veil of shadow began to flow. Again the magling was extra careful around his joints. Slowly the cover proceeded forward and hid the white beacon he had become once he opened himself up to the magickal plane and centered himself feeling among the strong energies.

When he had shielded himself, Gaeden found his flame again. It was there - illuminating his entire mind. The floating thoughts were fed into the fire and eaten so that nothing could penetrate his focus. Finally Gaeden formed a flaming ball inside his skull. It was a careful exercise to ready himself for the coming havoc. Gaeden stretched his hand out; his palm turned upwards.

Finally he allowed the veil to fall. Gaeden seized one thread of fire. He ran it into a ball of flaming rage. That was it. A single thread formed into a ball. With a simple flick of his hand, Gaeden hurled the ball away aiming for a spot in the room where there were either no students, professors or less furniture. He cut off the threads at the moment the ball began to move away from his hand and into the open space. After the throw he immediately brought his shield up again. It all lasted no longer than a few flickers and was completed in an almost undivided set of actions.

[Tristam]

"Yes the opportunity and vulnerability works both ways." Durell nodded to Ssinith. "That is why an inner shield of one energy and an outer shield of a second energy is the stronger defense. "The inner shield is of course a different case. It is backed by your will and direct ties to the Aether. It cannot be so easily bypassed."

Gaeden
It all lasted no longer than a few flickers and was completed in an almost undivided set of actions.

Gaeden's shield dropped and he grasped the thread of fire into a swirling ball of flame about the size of a golfball. Most of the surrounding students don't even notice as they are so focused in bringing up their own shields. The fireball was tossed into the dark corner of the room with a flash and bang. Durell gestured back in return.

If any had not turned to watch the small explosion, they would have seen a jet of water fire out through both of Durell's metal shields. This jet slammed into Gaeden's inner shield which took the brunt of the blow. Still the force was enough to knock him from his chair.

"I don't know if I should punish you for summoning dangerous energies near your classmates or praise you for a fine first attempt at an advanced lesson." Durell commented drily from the front of the classroom.

[Guest]

OOC: I am going to assume my shield it still intact since you did not say it faltered even during my fall, unless it is appropriate I don't mind changing the post. I hope I am not totally overdoing this and that you will let it pass.

IC: Gaeden rose quickly. He was infuriated and shocked. The tutor implied he could not control the magick he wielded. Also he had been thrown down and beaten with a spiral of water. Thoughts and rationalizations and scrutinies swirled savagely within the skull and was difficult to burn before another appeared. The flames licked the sides of the inside, and the magling felt a soaring pain inflicted upon his being. Quickly it devoured the remaining thoughts now and burnt lively. Bigger than earlier. He quelled the feelings and was composed again. The fury was quashed now; it lingered though. Pushed away. Not forgotten.

"I cannot master these simple practices??? A small fireball. I have dwelled with dragons, run with horses, fought beasts and zealots, flown with eagles, swam with the fishes. I am truly blessed. And you imply I cannot control myself and my magick around your students??? How dare you?!" Gaeden asked firmly. His gaze swept across the plain and dull facades of the fledglings. He was not done though.

Gaeden had already centered himself admitting the abundance of energy run freely through him. Standing up straight, his shield was still intact. The greyish cover flowed around his being. He payed it very little attention. It was there. Strong and absorbing. Now he could not be attacked. Gaeden strenghtened it around the joints, but lessened it elsewhere so it would not hinder his offensive spell. It ran like a river, only consisting of shadows and not water.

Then Gaeden readied himself to shock even the tutor and the fledglings. Now he prepared the creation inside his mind before he would try to perform the same act on the physical plane. He formed long tentacles of shadow. These arms ran around and around the fire. It was a pair beginning at different points. It was an extension of his own arms. Then the magling implimented threads of death them. Small capsules of eternal demise.

Now the magling dropped his shield and grasped the intended energies - shadow first and then death. He now did the same he had already gone through only not on the physical level. Gaeden began to form the extensive arms from his fingers and added to it carefully. He built it, increasing to its lenght with more magickal threads. Hopefully the pair from each hand would grow longer and longer until it swept across the entire room. At the same time, the magling inserted the capsules of death into the tentacles. Finally Gaeden constructed the shield again careful to strengthen it around his joints. He still controlled the tentacles with his arms now that only shadow energies touched his being. The entire completion was done as quickly as the exercises allowed it to be.

If successfull the tentacles would circulate around the fledglings and the tutor. Not touching them - still close enough for them to grasp the danger.

[Adrian Elsonrae]

Ssinith was shocked at the display of impudence of Gaeden... now, he wasn't so sorry that he snapped at him earlier...

"No... a man with an ego such as yours can not hope to mature himself enough to wield such power without letting it get to your head. How dare YOU, for abusing the power the acadamy has taught you to wield!"

He waited for the professor to do something... in the case that wasn't to be, he kept his shield around him, putting focus on his joints. He stood up slowly, looking over at Gaeden.

"If the professor does not defang your tiny teeth... we will teach you to dire consequences of abusing power..."

Molten, not only does he use your element without permission, but he is ready to slay fellow students and people who can aid him gain power. If I am unable to meet him at his skill, then surely you will help me. Besides... who am I to fear death with you as my god? he prayed to himself.

[Tristam]

Dreams of Gaeden's grand design filled his head but it was such a difficult and elaborate notion. Such a weaving takes time to work out and Professor Durell did not give him that time. The drop of Durell's shield was an eyeblink. The few looking to Durell at the time would swear his shield's never dropped. The word that thundered forth hurt the ears and left deafening silence in its wake. Shadows dissolved like mist at its touch and when it struck Gaeden he was rocked forcibly from the world of the Aether.

He was unharmed physically but bereft of anything beyond his usual five senses.

"Enough, Gaeden." Durell announced calmly. "If you truly wish to deal death and destruction, sign up for the Exterinator Squads and go on a bug hunt. I will not have it here in my classroom. Is that understood?"

[Guest]

OOC: Sorry. Kinda glad you stopped it. I guess I was way outside my league. I will try not to get too carried away in the future.

IC: Gaeden realized the misbehaviour and the reason of the outburst when the tutor despoiled the magling from the magick. He knew he had attempted to complete a weave much too hazardous and complicated to control. It was an airy weave and not something he could be able to master. The anger within dwindled and berated the try. Gaeden was faced with the shameful remorse. It was an unknown aspect, or at least the feeling had not embraced by since the period he served underneath Seamus Faorlin.

"I suppose," the apprentice conceded. He lowered his head in regret. He bashfully seated himself in the nearest chair and folded his hands on the table in front of him.

"I suppose I really needed to prove myself. I will not let it get the best of me again, professor Durell," a rare apology coming from Gaeden, and it was honest. He needed to control the temper growing destructively and malignly inside his being. It was a baleful force and would not gain the magling anything. Controlled it might be turned into something productive.

Now the fledgling waited patiently for the next assignment. That was if the mentor would allow him another journey to the magickal plane. Gaeden had yet to hike up the ogling from the earthly surroundings and to the other living beings in the class.

[Tristam]

"Very well, Gaeden. I shall take you at your word." Durell nodded. "This time. The effect of nullity upon you shall fade in a few flickers."

"That shall give the rest of you time to practice dropping your shields long enough to cast a simple spell through it. Unlike Gaeden I suggest you limit yourself to weaves of air, light, water, or any other substance that we can witness but not be directly harmed by." Durell stepped back and let the students begin.

[Guest]

Nullity?

Nullity???

That was a magickal spell definately meaningful and valuable to learn. Gaeden already hungered and craved. It was an undeterminable force within him which simply wanted to comprehend these unknown jinxes. Right now the fledgling had laughed off the disruptive event, and the magling was ready to learn again. Gaeden could not be sure the mentor was equally forgetful (probably not), still he was willing to risk it to become proficient in nullifying other magick wielders with a particular weave.

He had surpassed the remaining apprentices and had proven he could drop the shield quickly (not remotely close to the quickness of the tutor) and to weave magickal stuff through it - using the same magickal energy.

Gaeden retraced the happenings to try to see what the tutor had done - the weave he had woven. It began with his own creation. He had even completed the tentacles before professor Durell had intervened. The shielf of the mentor had fallen quickler and more effectively than Gaeden could yet understand. Something had struck him and disengaged the closeness with the vibrant magick. Shadow and fog. Those were the components (if they had really been a part of the weave) he could remember. All else was blurry and distant. Perhaps he had been too focused on his own accomplishment to notice what the tutor had done to drag him away from the Aether.

"Professor Durell. I was not quick enough to see what you actually did to nullify my talent. Can you teach me what you did? I have mastered the shield now," Gaeden looked around the classroom. He did not pay much attention to the other fledglings. Gaeden considered them lesser creatures and figured he deserved to succeed. Professor Durell would be better off to invest more time in him and leave the minor apprentices.

[Tristam]

"You have mastered nothing." Professor Durell stated flatly. "And I could not teach you to weave with nullity even if I were inclined to do so. The very fact you saw nothing proves than your powers of perception are not up to the task."

In the background the other students were producing globes of light and jets of water with varying levels of speed and success.

"If you are disatisfied with the pace of the class, you are free to leave." Durell commented. "Perhaps Vebriuhl would be more inclined to spend his time on you individually. I for one, don't see why he bothers." With that Durell turned from Gaeden to assist a student at the far end of the room.

[Guest]

OOC: Sorry about the long wait. Well, I think perhaps you're right. Professor Vebhruil could maybe do the trick.

IC: Gaeden waited for a lecture and not a verbal harassment. He had had enough with professor Durell. Obviously he feared budding the strenght and might within Gaeden because he saw someone whom would quickly outdo him.

"Unless you are willing to invest the appropriate time in me. Which I surely deserve, then I guess I can not remain here and wait - these other move ahead so tediously. I deserve more. The promise in me scares you," Gaeden attacked professor Durell unsatisfied with the treatment he had received during the class. It was clear that he should be handled differently - after all he was and is special compared to the rest of the maglings.

The elf fumed and did not want to wait for the reply. He spurned away from the tutor and began to quickly leave the room.

"I will go to find professor Vebhruil then and hopefully he will be able and willing to learn me more than you!" The magling admitted and with that ending he walked out of the there to find professor Vebhruil and try to convince him to take Gaeden to the Heart.

[Tristam]

Thread Skilled!

I'll start up a new thread for you and Vebhriul.