85 Zi'da, Arc 719
It was a trial like any other, for most everyone except the lone biqaj who stood at the steps of the Academy. He stared up at the building, feeling rather small as he'd never looked at it - really looked at it - from such a vantage point before now. Llyr held his arms tightly crossed in front of his chest. It was incredibly cold, almost frigid, and no one else was outside except for some Ellunes walking to and fro. Some courses and classes had even been paused due to the cold blizzard weather of Zi'da.
Llyr, with his silver blood, certainly could barely stand it even with his winter garb. His breath showed in a mist of warmth that soon vanished as it dissipated in the cold air. He ignored his discomfort, and simply continued to stare at the building. How many trials had he spent inside, reading and writing, and trying to keep up with his first ever experience with an academic setting. School... what an unusual concept, he meditated on it while he stood on the steps.
Snow had started to fall, in thick fluffy white flakes that drifted from the gray sky down to the layered streets. He wore a hood, but he lowered it so he could feel the snowflakes land against his skin. The biqaj closed his eyes, and appreciated the moment, the tranquility... perhaps he would leave the city with a horse, ride north and never return to civilization ever again. No one needed to know where he gone. He could settle a place of his own, far away from the worlds of Idalos and Emea. Somewhere no one would ever find him.
It was a nice thought.
Eventually, he walked up the steps and made his way to the grand library of Yvithia's academy. Llyr ran a finger along his cheek. The flesh was numb from the cold, though he didn't mind as much as he might've in his younger arcs. He traced his fingers over the mark that adorned his eye, and he wondered if he looked different when as cold as it was - within the realm of Yvithia's dominion on the physical world of Idalos.
He hoped that one trial, he might be allowed into her domain within Emea as well, but not yet. Not today, anyway.
Today, he would make do with what was offered on the third floor in the restricted Arcana section. After he showed his identification papers that labeled him as West Wellin, he made his way through the rows and rows of heavily laden shelves that were hardly touched by other people. It still baffled him that people didn't take advantage of the knowledge collected about magic. Yes, the tomes were all incredibly obscured in text. Most of the arcana authors were full of themselves, and spoke about matters as if they were meant to be secrets - never giving actual clear information about the details of not just how magic worked - but why.
The Why haunted Llyr.
As he delved into his research on ether, and by proxy, within Emea through his dreamwalking, he had come to learn a great deal about the substance that fueled magic. Yet the more he learned, the more questions he found he had. Until he simply found himself more confused than he had been when he'd known nothing at all.
So, he began by returning to where he'd left off the last time he'd visited the library. It felt extremely long ago, even though it'd only been in late Vhalar. While he stacked boots delicately against the crook of his arm, he wondered if he should visit Doran... No. He couldn't. He didn't want anyone to know he was here. If it were not for the needed identification to gain access to the third floor, he might have even hid in a totem's form. He supposed he had the one form of another student, but that was taking a risk in the case that she might also be about and someone could then see them beside each other.
With books collected, and writing supplies gathered from a spot on a shelf where he'd hidden them during his last studies, he settled at a large desk to start into his work. Here, Llyr remained - not only for breaks, but for trials. Only stopping to take care of bodily functions as quickly as possible before he returned to the writing of his notes.
85 Zi'da 719
Academy of Viden
Academy of Viden
Wells - Ether refined? Made solid. Structures of crystals, only with ether. Related to Yludih? A Yludih Well? Why do they not decay?
What is Ether?
- Powers magic, channeled through sparks; absorbed through Emea?
- The sensation of Ether can range.
- Ether has the potential of all kinds of shapes, sensations manifestations.
- Souls are not made of ether, but are conduits of ether - even if not a mage.
- Is it the ether or the soul that a mage thirsts for when flaying? (the ether is mistaken for the soul)
- Ether is both the trigger and the bolt in the crossbow of magic... it is also the crossbow? No, the mage's body is the crossbow.
- External measurement of ether expenditure, not based merely on anecdotal cases of how ether is felt.
- Can a formula for ether usage exist?
- Do some souls have greater capability for ether?
How does a Spark form for conduit channeling through attachment on the mortal's soul in order to shape the ether to result in extremely different manifestations on Idalos?
Do Sparks have shapes? Yes, they must.
What shape is my Transmutation Spark? Is it the same as another's transmutation spark? Would Doran's be the same?
Could an initiated heritage be drawn through the shapes involved with the sparks?
Types of Ether:
- Constructive Ether
- Destructive Ether
- Manipulation Ether
- Telekinetic Ether
- Impermanent Ether
- Permanent Ether
- Emean Ether???
- Idalosian Ether? Life ether?
Could an animal ever be a mage? A mage could be an animal though, such as with Becoming, so what causes this distinction? Is it the transference of the soul through into the totem... which would suggest that souls are what makes a mage, because that is why the spark attaches to them - and if animals cannot have sparks, it is perhaps because they do not have souls to attach to.
What is Ether?
- Powers magic, channeled through sparks; absorbed through Emea?
- The sensation of Ether can range.
- Ether has the potential of all kinds of shapes, sensations manifestations.
- Souls are not made of ether, but are conduits of ether - even if not a mage.
- Is it the ether or the soul that a mage thirsts for when flaying? (the ether is mistaken for the soul)
- Ether is both the trigger and the bolt in the crossbow of magic... it is also the crossbow? No, the mage's body is the crossbow.
- External measurement of ether expenditure, not based merely on anecdotal cases of how ether is felt.
- Can a formula for ether usage exist?
- Do some souls have greater capability for ether?
How does a Spark form for conduit channeling through attachment on the mortal's soul in order to shape the ether to result in extremely different manifestations on Idalos?
Do Sparks have shapes? Yes, they must.
What shape is my Transmutation Spark? Is it the same as another's transmutation spark? Would Doran's be the same?
Could an initiated heritage be drawn through the shapes involved with the sparks?
Types of Ether:
- Constructive Ether
- Destructive Ether
- Manipulation Ether
- Telekinetic Ether
- Impermanent Ether
- Permanent Ether
- Emean Ether???
- Idalosian Ether? Life ether?
Could an animal ever be a mage? A mage could be an animal though, such as with Becoming, so what causes this distinction? Is it the transference of the soul through into the totem... which would suggest that souls are what makes a mage, because that is why the spark attaches to them - and if animals cannot have sparks, it is perhaps because they do not have souls to attach to.
Llyr stretched while he flipped through a couple books. Yes, he knew what they said. About ether being this or that. Certain agreements made between scholars, but some of it didn't match up with his own experience. Some of it didn't account for things he'd witnessed in Emea or with magic itself. He thought, briefly, of the ancient Leviathan Becomer he'd witnessed on his journey from Quacia to Etzos. If only he could have been able to inquire that mage about such things. What might have magic seemed to someone who was thought to be the Father of Becoming, the first revealed mage of a domain? For a moment, the young biqaj sadly thought about the destruction that had befallen the leviathan. What a tragedy.
How the pirates had all cheered that tragedy. Just as the Etzori had cheered the perceived defeat of Lisirra. How often it seemed, to Llyr, that the populaces seemed eager to cheer for the death and destruction of those symbols they saw as beyond their world - past their reach - of the Other. He wondered, if people knew of Doran's mortalborn nature and how he'd lived for hundreds of arcs... if they might cheer if he were destroyed as well. Would the Etzori have applauded him like they did, if they had known their hero wasn't mortal like them?
The blond leaned back in his chair and rubbed at his eyes while the irises shifted in different colorful hues. He stared up at the ceiling. A heavy sigh escaped him again. He needed Ambrosia. Or to flay again. Or... no... where did those thoughts come from? He couldn't give in, to either thing, again. No matter how he might feel as if he wanted to. Llyr returned his attention to his journal and scribbled more notes onto the next page. The journal was nearing the last page, though, and he needed a new one.
How was he ever supposed to make sense of it all enough to write a tome of his own? Or tomes? He wished Lucretia was in Viden, already, so he might visit the prolific author and get her guidance on matters. Llyr wondered what she might think if she knew he'd flayed, and he now was also an Empath like her. Perhaps she might help him understand that spark, rather than fumbling around like was. He slowly lowered over a small stack of books. Llyr scribbled the last few words - barely legible - at the bottom of the last page of his journal. His hand trailed off, the quill rolled away, and he shut his eyes. Exhausted, finally, the biqaj fell asleep in the midst of his research. This time, he did not wander Emea, but he simply slept like an ordinary mortal person was supposed to sleep.
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