The Crescent Sea
30th Ashan, 719
30th Ashan, 719
“Apples?”
“Apples!”
“This is your great development you were talking about? Apples?”
“Yes! But… I admit, it doesn't sound so cool when you phrase it like that.”
The reading of VonDwight's treasure trove of necromantic knowledge was, as usual, taking a torturously long time to get through. Book after book of research notes, dusty grimoires and half complete investigations into methods of attaining immortality had to be scanned through; each paragraph thoroughly analysed to ensure that the true meanings of the rather complicated scientific vocabulary was understood. It was a dull task sometimes, but fortunately it did provide some incredible benefits. Having been abandoned by his own master upon initiation Tio had never had the chance to explore the higher mysteries of his spark: his necromancy had been limited to meagre corpse puppetry, a shallow shadow of what his spark could really accomplish. But in the books he'd taken from VonDwight's laboratory he now had a horde of information about the true potential of his spark, and all the equipment he could ask for to learn how to unleash it.
Tio plonked a pile of books and folders down on the table of the cabin he and Tasha had commandeered for their research during the journey to Yaralon as they took a break from their reading for lunch.
“All these detail a pair of low-level abilities a necromancy spark can perform besides standard thrall manipulation. The first is called Preserve, a spell that can guard organic matter against rot and decay. The second is Sap, a spell to release and manipulate an etheric miasma that can drain the energy and will from other living things. They are both supposedly fairly easy to learn, and VonDwight conducted some research into using them to achieve Immortality. He hypothesized that with the right technique Preserve could be used by a necromancer to permanently guard themselves against ageing, or that Sap could be used to drain the youth away from others. His investigations did not bear fruit, but they do provide numerous tests on the strengths and limits of these abilities. I'm confident that, with these texts, the two of us should be able to learn these abilities for ourselves with relative ease.”
Tasha nodded slowly, interested but still doubtful of something. “Right… but what does that have to do with apples?”
The corner of Tio's mouth curled up into a smirk. “Well since we'll both be learning this together instead of me teaching it to you, I thought we'd need to do something to spice our learning up somehow. How about we have ourselves a competition? Since Sap can degrade organic material, like these apples, and Preserve can guard against that degradation we can have ourselves a battle. Whoever is the first to make the other's apple go off wins!”
Even before he'd finished speaking Tio knew that Tasha would agree. Her competitiveness was part of what made her such a talented student, and he'd quickly figured out that dressing up his lessons to look like challenges worked wonders in motivating her to work hard. The familiar gleam flickered in her eyes, and Tasha sat forwards in her seat and picked up one of the apples.
“Alright, you're on.”
With the speed of a cheetah Tasha snatched up the tome on Sap and began scouring the pages, devouring the knowledge within at a frightening pace. Realising that he’d need a defense right away, Tio took the notes on Preserve and launched himself back into reading them. The theory behind the spell was that since rot and decay set in on dead organic material they were inherently linked to the aspect of death, and therefor by communing with a necromancy spark, which held domain over that grey line between life and death, one could halt them from spreading. Well, it sounded simple on paper at least.
Tio closed his eye and allowed his mind to drift inwards, establishing the strong connection he needed to attempt a new spell. The spark within him flared to life at his presence. Tio then opened his eye again, focused his thoughts on the apple before him, and willed the spark to obey his desires. He felt the ether drain out of his body…
And yet nothing happened.
While his spark had evidently tried to do something, it obviously hadn't quite understood what Tio had wanted from it. That was to be expected considering it was a first attempt though. Repeated practice was the only thing that could remedy this situation.
Tio wrapped his hands around the apple to better focus his concentration on it and tried again, only to be met with failure. He tried a fourth time, a fifth time, a sixth time…
But it wasn't until his seventh attempt that he finally got it right. Once again he focused on the apple and willed his intentions into his spark, but this time he tried picturing in his head what the apple would look like as time passed but the apple refused to fade away, staying fresh and healthy while the rest of the world grew and wilted through a hundred seasons. This time a funny sensation rippled through Tio's chest as he cast the spell, almost like something had clicked into place, and the necromancy spark within him flared to life with purpose. A pale green light briefly wrapped around the apple as the spell properly took effect.
And not a moment to soon, for a few trills later Tasha figured out the Sap spell and sent a wave of black miasma washing over his apple. Tio's spell held strong, but there was no telling how long for.
It was time to go on the offensive. Snatching up the notes on Sap, Tio poured over the words a mile a minute. He only had until Preserve ran out to master this, or Tasha's spell would wither his apple in a matter of trills. The theory behind Sap was that life was a kind of energy that resided in flesh, produced by the soul and guarding it from being controlled by a necromancer like other solid materials could be. However death was the anathema of life, the domain that wore away at it day by day, and this power was the manifestation of that. The hosts ether was tinged with the spark's deathly power and released outwards in a gaseous form, which then drained away at the life energy of anything living it touched.
Reaching down inside himself again, Tio fed ether into his spark and willed for the miasma to appear, this time picturing in his head what he wanted it to look like. This time at least his spark seemee to understand what he wanted from it right away, for a cloud of black miasma gushed forth from the palm of his hands. It washed across Tasha's apple, draining it of its healthy ripe colour in a matter of trills.
Tasha scowled and mouthed a silent curse, shooting her apple a glare so poisonous it could have killed a rabbit on the spot. “Damn it! That's-... tsk, I guess you win this one then.” She pouted and looked to the side. “But it's not like it matters anyway. How often do you expect you'll need to defeat an apple?”
Tio cackled to himself gleefully. “No, fair point. These spells aren't going to be effective unless we learn to use them on a wider scale.” He shot her a challenging glance. “What do you say we find something bigger to use and go for round two?”
Tasha looked back at him, and couldn't fully suppress the grin that started to curl up at the corner of her mouth.
“You're on!”
“Apples!”
“This is your great development you were talking about? Apples?”
“Yes! But… I admit, it doesn't sound so cool when you phrase it like that.”
The reading of VonDwight's treasure trove of necromantic knowledge was, as usual, taking a torturously long time to get through. Book after book of research notes, dusty grimoires and half complete investigations into methods of attaining immortality had to be scanned through; each paragraph thoroughly analysed to ensure that the true meanings of the rather complicated scientific vocabulary was understood. It was a dull task sometimes, but fortunately it did provide some incredible benefits. Having been abandoned by his own master upon initiation Tio had never had the chance to explore the higher mysteries of his spark: his necromancy had been limited to meagre corpse puppetry, a shallow shadow of what his spark could really accomplish. But in the books he'd taken from VonDwight's laboratory he now had a horde of information about the true potential of his spark, and all the equipment he could ask for to learn how to unleash it.
Tio plonked a pile of books and folders down on the table of the cabin he and Tasha had commandeered for their research during the journey to Yaralon as they took a break from their reading for lunch.
“All these detail a pair of low-level abilities a necromancy spark can perform besides standard thrall manipulation. The first is called Preserve, a spell that can guard organic matter against rot and decay. The second is Sap, a spell to release and manipulate an etheric miasma that can drain the energy and will from other living things. They are both supposedly fairly easy to learn, and VonDwight conducted some research into using them to achieve Immortality. He hypothesized that with the right technique Preserve could be used by a necromancer to permanently guard themselves against ageing, or that Sap could be used to drain the youth away from others. His investigations did not bear fruit, but they do provide numerous tests on the strengths and limits of these abilities. I'm confident that, with these texts, the two of us should be able to learn these abilities for ourselves with relative ease.”
Tasha nodded slowly, interested but still doubtful of something. “Right… but what does that have to do with apples?”
The corner of Tio's mouth curled up into a smirk. “Well since we'll both be learning this together instead of me teaching it to you, I thought we'd need to do something to spice our learning up somehow. How about we have ourselves a competition? Since Sap can degrade organic material, like these apples, and Preserve can guard against that degradation we can have ourselves a battle. Whoever is the first to make the other's apple go off wins!”
Even before he'd finished speaking Tio knew that Tasha would agree. Her competitiveness was part of what made her such a talented student, and he'd quickly figured out that dressing up his lessons to look like challenges worked wonders in motivating her to work hard. The familiar gleam flickered in her eyes, and Tasha sat forwards in her seat and picked up one of the apples.
“Alright, you're on.”
With the speed of a cheetah Tasha snatched up the tome on Sap and began scouring the pages, devouring the knowledge within at a frightening pace. Realising that he’d need a defense right away, Tio took the notes on Preserve and launched himself back into reading them. The theory behind the spell was that since rot and decay set in on dead organic material they were inherently linked to the aspect of death, and therefor by communing with a necromancy spark, which held domain over that grey line between life and death, one could halt them from spreading. Well, it sounded simple on paper at least.
Tio closed his eye and allowed his mind to drift inwards, establishing the strong connection he needed to attempt a new spell. The spark within him flared to life at his presence. Tio then opened his eye again, focused his thoughts on the apple before him, and willed the spark to obey his desires. He felt the ether drain out of his body…
And yet nothing happened.
While his spark had evidently tried to do something, it obviously hadn't quite understood what Tio had wanted from it. That was to be expected considering it was a first attempt though. Repeated practice was the only thing that could remedy this situation.
Tio wrapped his hands around the apple to better focus his concentration on it and tried again, only to be met with failure. He tried a fourth time, a fifth time, a sixth time…
But it wasn't until his seventh attempt that he finally got it right. Once again he focused on the apple and willed his intentions into his spark, but this time he tried picturing in his head what the apple would look like as time passed but the apple refused to fade away, staying fresh and healthy while the rest of the world grew and wilted through a hundred seasons. This time a funny sensation rippled through Tio's chest as he cast the spell, almost like something had clicked into place, and the necromancy spark within him flared to life with purpose. A pale green light briefly wrapped around the apple as the spell properly took effect.
And not a moment to soon, for a few trills later Tasha figured out the Sap spell and sent a wave of black miasma washing over his apple. Tio's spell held strong, but there was no telling how long for.
It was time to go on the offensive. Snatching up the notes on Sap, Tio poured over the words a mile a minute. He only had until Preserve ran out to master this, or Tasha's spell would wither his apple in a matter of trills. The theory behind Sap was that life was a kind of energy that resided in flesh, produced by the soul and guarding it from being controlled by a necromancer like other solid materials could be. However death was the anathema of life, the domain that wore away at it day by day, and this power was the manifestation of that. The hosts ether was tinged with the spark's deathly power and released outwards in a gaseous form, which then drained away at the life energy of anything living it touched.
Reaching down inside himself again, Tio fed ether into his spark and willed for the miasma to appear, this time picturing in his head what he wanted it to look like. This time at least his spark seemee to understand what he wanted from it right away, for a cloud of black miasma gushed forth from the palm of his hands. It washed across Tasha's apple, draining it of its healthy ripe colour in a matter of trills.
Tasha scowled and mouthed a silent curse, shooting her apple a glare so poisonous it could have killed a rabbit on the spot. “Damn it! That's-... tsk, I guess you win this one then.” She pouted and looked to the side. “But it's not like it matters anyway. How often do you expect you'll need to defeat an apple?”
Tio cackled to himself gleefully. “No, fair point. These spells aren't going to be effective unless we learn to use them on a wider scale.” He shot her a challenging glance. “What do you say we find something bigger to use and go for round two?”
Tasha looked back at him, and couldn't fully suppress the grin that started to curl up at the corner of her mouth.
“You're on!”
