• Solo • Form of the Shark I: Knowledge

[Tio Silver]

Meditation Rooms
69th Ymiden, 717

Tio didn’t often come to Uleuda.

It wasn’t that he didn’t like the place, in fact he probably liked the crystal city and its residents better than any other place he'd ever been. Being among his own kind helped him to let his guard down and drop the wariness he felt when around the other races, and that in turn helped him to relax and focus on learning more about his kinds history and culture. The problem he had did not lie with the city, but rather him whilst he was in it.

Like almost all Yludih Tio had a few deep insecurities when it came to his appearance. Being raised to think he was human and then discovering that his face was nothing more than an illusion, and illusion that even he could not see through even if he wanted to, had left its mark. Even if his conscious mind told him that it was just a trick of the light Tio couldn’t help but subconsciously identify the blonde haired, blue eyed human form he’d grown up wearing as his real face. But here in Uleuda there were no illusions, and the form he took was of the crystal mass that was apparently what he really looked like.

Tio didn’t like his real body. He just looked like a hump of crystal, just like everybody else in this city did.

There was also the fact that within his races shared mental landscape everybody called Tio by his real name, Tuihobri. Again it wasn’t like he had an issue with the name itself, but the fact that he had been using his Tio alias all his life meant that he subconsciously thought of it was his real name. And as much as he liked Uleuda the fact that he walked around in a body he didn’t really recognise as his own and answered to a name that came from a language he hadn’t even learned to speak bothered him. It was like he was living someone else’s life, and although it had its share of flaws he liked the life he led as Tio Silver. A lie though it may be it was a lie he’d been living for as long as he could remember, and most importantly it was his lie.

“Fretting again Tuihobri? More worries about your appearance?”

Tio looked up from his meditative pose to see a very small man shaped out of white crystals with straight veins of thick tulip-yellow coloured crystals running across his body like an intricate tribal tattoo. He was adorned in simple white monk robes that hung loosely off of him, and always had a calm, friendly smile on his face that created an air of peace and gentleness about him wherever he went. This was Guru Vordah-Lun-Alqah (though more commonly just called Alqah), a member of the order of keys and among the oldest of the Yludih. He was a peace-loving pacifist who’d been a permanent resident of Uleuda long before Tio had even been born, and spent most of his days teaching young Yludih about their racial heritage. Tio was one of his students, though admittedly a rather poor one since he skipped most classes in favour of remaining in reality, and as such the guru always seemed to be around when Tio needed guidance on Yludih issues.

“I know what you’re going to say, that I should set aside some extra time for meditation and contemplate my identity and all that, but honestly I don’t think my legs can take sitting crisscrossed for much longer.” Tio grumbled.

Alqah laughed gently. “Oh no I understand, I was young once too you know. Quiet contemplation isn’t for everyone, especially the youthful. That being said you do need to learn to resolve these worries if you wish to open the gates of your identity. If I may I would suggest another method to do this to you, one that doesn’t involve quite so much sitting around.”

He crouched down in front of him so that the two of them were eye level. “As you know within Idalos our true forms are hidden behind masterful illusions, and with practice we can shift these illusions so that we can take on the appearance of other races. However it is not just the other races we can take the form of, but creatures with roughly the same amount of mass as us too. I would like you to learn to separate your concept of identity from your concept of appearance, and to help with this I would like you to learn to assume the form of another creature.” He handed Tio a book, comprised of thin sheets of crystal just like everything else in the city. “This tome details the method of how to do so, and should you need help with understanding it my doors are always open to you. But first you must choose which animal you want to take the form of, and learn everything there is to know about it. I would suggest you start by visiting the library, our elders have composed many volumes on popular forms to take.”

Tio bowed his head and made to stand. “Thank you for your advice guru. I shall begin immediately.”

“Oh and Tuihobri…” Alqah smiled kindly up at him again. “Enjoy yourself. Being an animal is much more fun that you might think.”

[Tio Silver]

The libraries of Uleuda may not have been as big or expansive the ones in other parts of the world, but you could be sure that a culture made up of people hidden in every corner of the world could get their hands of a wide range of subjects. Like everything else in the city the books were made of crystals, crystals as thin as paper with words inscribed onto them in black, and were strangely as light as one would expect a normal book to be instead of as heavy as a rock.

After talking to Alqah, Tio had headed straight to the library to research some popular choices for animal forms other Yludih had made. A lot of them were very common creatures; dogs, horses, bears and the like because they were more useful in a variety of locations. For example one could find a dog in practically every city in the world, whereas a Scalvwing steed outside of Scalvoris was sure to draw unwanted attention.

After a lot of consideration Tio settled on a common enough animal that came with benefits he didn’t already have as a human or Eidisi; the shark. As a shark he’d be able to breath underwater and dive down into the deep parts of the ocean, would be common enough to not draw suspicion and would look ferocious enough to scare away most sea creatures that might try to prey on him. There was also the benefit of most sharks being about equal in mass to a human, so there wouldn’t be as much as a stretch to adjust his form to be size-appropriate. The species he’d settled on was called a Tiger Shark, a fairly well known breed normally found in tropical waters such as those around Scalvoris. It was a solitary hunter with a wide range of prey, so wouldn’t seem suspicious to the Mer if spotted alone hunting in a variety of areas, and was well known for attacking humans and other races and so could scare off a lot of dangerous sea creatures.

Tio flicked through the pages of the book, taking in the array of facts about his chosen form. Shark eyes apparently had a near 360 degree field of vision, though had blind spots right at the front and back of its head and were pretty short sighted. They mainly used their sense of smell to follow prey, and when they caught them had rows of razor sharp teeth that could tear them to shreds in an instant. Tio didn’t imagine he’d need to do much hunting as a shark, but it seemed he’d need to get used to the difference in sense before he could get around from place to place.

Though they weren’t a rare species, they weren’t exactly common either. Scalvoris was a good place to find them luckily, but they were very hard to capture and keep in captivity and so if he wanted to observe them it’d have to be in the wild. That, for obvious reasons, could be dangerous, so he’d have to find a way to keep himself safe and able to breathe while he studied them. Could he use some kind of diving equipment? Clearly he’d need to make some inquiries at the Almund docks.

There was one more obvious fact about sharks that he needed to consider, namely that they didn’t have arms or legs. Not only did that mean he’d only be able to shift into one when in the water, but he’d need to spend a considerate amount of time getting used to the movement of fins and how to use them to swim in the water. There was no point in transforming into a shark if he couldn’t navigate the ocean after all.

When he thought he had learnt all he needed to know, Tio closed the book and placed in back in the shelf he’d found it in. He’d never been one for sitting and reading, so he was eager to move on to the next step; observation. Now he just had to figure out how to do that...

[Kali'rial]

Thread Rewards:

Tio Silver

Skill Knowledge:
Meditation: Difficult on hard floors
Meditation: Gets easier with age
Research: Reading up on shark facts
Research: Looking in libraries
Animal Training: Sharks have lots of sharp teeth
Animal Training: Sharks are dangerous

Loot:
None

Injuries/Overstepping:
None

Fame:
None

Devotion:
N/A

Magic EXP:
No

Comments:
Tio becoming a shark? I can't wait to see what you do with this! Fun read, love the guru!