A Shot In The Dark

[Balthazar Black]

24 Saun 720

Balthazar did not move apart from his breath and heartbeat for about fifteen trills after Victor had asked if he could hear him and then the mage sat up with wide, bloodshot eyes, screaming indistinct Yari and Scalveen words. He rolled away from Victor and crawled backwards on his hands and feet in some delirious state for a few moment before the pain lingering over his body set in and he collapsed onto his back again, groaning, "Ow." Fuego, no longer able to hide his curiosity, ran over to the injured Balthazar. The little flaming rock with stubby arms and legs crawled up Balthazar's shoulder and walked onto his torso before laying down and pressing the side of his face to Balthazar's chest. After a few trills he pushed himself up and looked at Balthazar who was laying, sprawled out on the floor a little bit away from Victor.

"That was unpleasant." Balthazar said with another groan as he slowly pushed himself upright, sending Fuego tumbling into his lap. Fuego fumbled around to get himself upright while Balthazar looked over at Victor. "This feels... strange." It was incredible to feel the change in his frequency. He didn't have to focus hard to hear his own frequency but there were notes in it now that he hadn't had before and it changed the larger chorus... but he had no idea how to use the magic. Xanax had given him extensive theory on Defiance before he was initiated and Balthazar had used that theory to figure out most of the magic on his own. Isabella had given him continuous lessons in both Attunement and Rupturing but admittedly they were both easy for Balthazar to grasp. But something wasn't quite settled in him yet. Balthazar tried to push himself onto his feet but his knees gave way so Balthazar lowered himself into a seated position. "I'll stay down here for now." He groaned, "So... is that it?"

[Victor Amielle]

When Balthazar didn’t react to his question, at least not right away, Victor started to panic again. He knew that a lot of people didn’t make it through the initiation, but he had never heard of someone surviving, but not moving and just lying there. What if that state was permanent? Should he get Balthazar to a doctor? He wasn’t sure how people would react if he dragged Balthazar into a hospital and started to explain that his state was the result of a not entirely successful initiation – and if any of the doctors actually knew enough about …

He abruptly stopped that train of thought when Balthazar sat up and started to scream in a language that he had never heard before. Victor was by no means easily frightened – he had fought a literal mountain and dealt with cannibals, undead pirates and Skinbanes – but this here was a little unexpected – and concerning, and he wasn’t entirely sure what he was supposed to do now. Had the white-haired mage lost his mind?

He rose to his feet – he had been kneeling by Balthazar’s side before – and followed him. When the other man collapsed once more, he immediately knelt down next to him again though, ready to intervene at a moment’s notice. Balthazar managed to push himself upright though.

When Balthazar stated that the initiation had been unpleasant, one of Victor’s eyebrows rose slightly as that seemed like a huge understatement, everything considered. “Is there anything I can do?” he asked – his tone of voice was much calmer now, and he had relaxed visibly. It seemed as if Balthazar had not only survived the initiation, but apparently retained no permanent injuries either, but he might still need some help.

“It does, doesn’t it?” he agreed, smiling very lightly, when Balthazar stated that it felt strange. “Can you feel my ether now? I can feel yours”, he added. It was such a strange sensation. He didn’t remember what the first time had been like anymore, and his own mentor had died a decade prior, so most of his memories of that had become a bit blurred.

“That’s probably a good idea”, he informed Balthazar as the other man told him that he would stay down for now. “We can stay here as long as you want to, and if you are still in pain after a while, you can ride my horse back to Raelia. I don’t mind walking. And yes, that’s it – for now”, he added and smiled in a much more obvious fashion. Now that it seemed as if things had gone well, after all, he was actually quite excited.

“There is still a lot to learn. Acquiring a spark is only the beginning, but you already know that, of course”, he remarked with a grin. “If you need someone to teach you and provide you with a bit of guidance, I will give you lessons. A mage should teach his initiate. I would actually feel honored if you allowed me share my knowledge with you”, he amended. Some mages left their initiates after the deed had been done and never talked to them again, but he would not do that. As he had told Balthazar at the beginning of their meeting, he wanted to stay in contact beyond that trial.

[Balthazar Black]

24 Saun 720

"What does my ether feel like- you know what, don't worry about explaining that." Balthazar decided, his hand unconsciously pawing at his chest like it was trying to scratch an itch that would not go away. "It certainly doesn't feel like something I could describe." He didn't really know what he had expected it to feel like. Electricity? Energy? It was hard to know what he had expected before and now that he felt it, it could only be described as strange. He wanted to experiment to see what the two of them could do together but his body ached and he wasn't sure he could even cast a spell at the moment. Between the two of them, they could probably do a great many things with their ether. While Balthazar's body languished, his mind began to flourish with the different possibilities that were now within his reach.

Well... they would be within his reach. For the moment the only thing in his reach was the soil beneath him and anything at arms length... so... Fuego was in his reach but that was about it. Balthazar took a slow breath and looked over to Victor with his glowing eyes. It was strange to see the world through his mutated eyes because everything was brighter. Even in the dark the snow created an unpleasant glare that Balthazar wanted to suppress. Rather than using his magic to distract himself, he tried to distract himself by talking to and focusing on Victor. The warlock made a generous offer to get them back to Raelia in a bit and Balthazar gave a slight nod. "I think I'll be alright in a moment. It's hard to tell with injuries like this but Attunement allows me to heal most magical ailments with a little time so I should recover quickly." Balthazar explained without making any effort to prove it.

"We've got some time now." Balthazar pointed out as he scooted backwards so that he could lean against one of the trees outlining the clearing. He took a deep breath and let one hand rest across his abdomen while the other seemed to pet the earth beside him. It was an absent minded comfort that reminded the master Defier of his connection to the elements even while he felt entirely spent. "Do you want to give me some advice now? Teach me how to make wings like you did while we were sparring a few trials ago? Or- oh! I knew a transmuter once, real prick, who turned a barn full of hay into gold. How do I do that?" He was joking mostly- he had no personal interest in turning hay into gold but he was interested in learning how the magic worked. He had a fairly limited amount of practical knowledge. He knew it let mages reshape objects and he knew it let them hurl ether as a weapon.

Yet there was a world of magic between those two abilities and Balthazar was eager to learn. He could not practice without more time to recover but he could listen and he would remember. They had all the time in the world to talk.

[Victor Amielle]

When Balthazar wanted to know what his ether felt like, Victor immediately opened his mouth in order to answer (he had the suspicion that he would do a questionable job again, just like when he had attempted to explain his Awakening, but since the other man was curious about it, he wanted to at least give it a try). A moment later, when Balthazar told him not to worry about it, he breathed a sigh of near-relief and inclined his head.

“It’s probably another one of those things”, he remarked, briefly furrowing his brow when Balthazar scratched his chest, as if something bothered him. “Sometimes, I have the suspicion that the Common language doesn’t even have the right words to describe such things and that the best that we can accomplish is a vague approximation of sorts”, he elaborated before he waved his right hand in a somewhat dismissive fashion, thus letting his initiate know that he didn’t have to say anything to that.

He doubted that Balthazar would be particularly interested in his linguistics musings right now, especially considering that he was still in a certain amount of discomfort. With that being said, a part of him was tempted to send a small amount of ether to his initiate, because he was just so curious about what would happen, but he refrained from it as he wasn’t sure how it would affect the other man so shortly after his initiation.

For that reason, he simply listened to his initiate talk, shifting his position on the rock slightly. He did not comment on Balthazar petting the earth beside him, having come to the conclusion that it was some sort of quirk that was a consequence of the other man’s magics; besides, it seemed to make him feel better, and that was all that really mattered.

When Balthazar asked about teaching him how to make wings, he couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow in surprise. A moment later, he smirked slightly and remarked in a somewhat dry tone of voice, “I’m afraid that’s not possible. The wings are neither a Transmutation technique nor one of my mutations. They are part of Delroth’s Blessing.” He said the last sentence without hesitation. As he had already concluded during their previous meeting, Balthazar came from a fairly open-minded place and thus there was no reason for him to keep his mark a secret from him as a consequence.

“Turning hay into gold on the other hand is something that Transmuters can do – in a way”, he continued in a rather casual tone of voice. Someone that did not practice Transmutation might have questioned the truth of Balthazar’s story, but to Victor it made perfect sense, and he had a pretty good idea as to how their colleague had done it.

“We – for you are capable of the same now - cannot only fire Ether Missiles, corrode something or reshape our environment – or bolster our armor and increase its defensive capabilities greatly, for the matter. Imbuing objects with different qualities is another important part of this magic”, he explained and leaned forward slightly. “In order to accomplish what the mage you mentioned did, you have to study the quality of gold first – and proceeded to enchant the hay.”

“Before you do so in order to become the richest man in Idalos, you should know that it won’t really turn into gold”, he warned him and raised a hand, as if to stop him (although he probably wouldn’t go anywhere in the near future, considering his current state). “It will look like gold, but it won’t be metal, and it won’t be permanent.”

“That technique is not as useless as it may sound though. It is more than just trickery”, he added in case Balthazar had wrongly come to the conclusion due to the mention of fake gold – he felt the need to defend his magic – or rather, their magic. “I could imbue an object with the sensation of burning as well for example. While said object won’t burst into flames, any person that touches it will still get burnt.”

“And while I cannot imbue an object with electricity, I could make it so that people who touch it get shocked. And I could imbue several qualities at the same time – with nothing but a bit of ether”, he continued and added, “So, I could take hay, make it look like gold and make it hot to the touch and shock anybody who touches it on top of it, although I cannot help but wonder what the point of hay that burns and shocks people would be”, he explained in an amused tone of voice before he admitted (he wasn't sure how good he actually was at explaining things so far), “I’m not sure what else to tell you.”

“So, is there something in particular that you want to know? Do you have any idea how exactly I stopped the wave that you created during our duel, for example?”

[Balthazar Black]

24 Saun 720

Balthazar listened closely to everything Victor said, trying to absorb the concepts more than the exact things he mentioned. He had mastered his other magics by testing the limits of the concepts he learned and he expected that he would need to do the same once he was on his own again. He was a little disappointed to hear that he would not be able to use the magic to generate wings but that disappointment was tempered by the information Victor revealed to him. Victor was indeed blessed by Delroth. When that was revealed, Balthazar made a face like that of a child finally understanding something that had vexed them for a while. Marked by Delroth. That was the strange sound in Victor's frequency.

Ether missiles, corrosion, bolstering, and imbuing objects were the key concepts that stood out to Balthazar but given time he'd consider some of the other things Victor had said. Balthazar listened to the steps as Victor explained them with great interest- the choice to focus on an example Balthazar had seen first hand helped capture the mage's interest because Victor was providing him invaluable context. During the investigation, Balthazar had floundered around- lead only by his magic and some intuition to figure out how the mage was doing what he was but Victor's explanation helped it all make sense.

The golden hay had burned because it was not real gold and it was not real gold because transmuters inscribed the qualities that they learned- in this case, the color of gold. It was fascinating to Balthazar how similar the magic was, conceptually, to Attunement. With Attunement you had to meditate on and focus upon certain notes to learn them and commit them to your spark, but once you had you could use those notes for various other abilities granted by the magic. Possibilities limited only by imagination and well... practice. Based on how Victor explained it, Transmutation was the same but instead of learning notes in people you learned qualities of objects.

Victor's copious examples helped Balthazar think and the more he thought, the more questions he had. It was natural that he would want to know about his new parasite but Balthazar was a curious person to begin with. When Victor opened up to questions and proposed that he tell the mage how he'd shaped the earth, Balthazar was quick to counter with, "I think I know how you moved the earth," Balthazar said, "I felt it forced into a shape it did not want to be- I assume using ether the same way you would shape an object?" With his theory given, Balthazar asked the questions that did linger in his mind. "You mentioned that it is not permanent? What did you mean? And how would I actually imbue an item with a quality? Is it as simple as picking up a stick and willing it to be a certain way or is there some trick to it?"

[Victor Amielle]

It was a good thing that Balthazar was asking specific questions rather than leaving everything up to him, Victor decided as he listened to him. He wanted to the best mentor that he could possibly be for the short time they would spend together, but he had never done it before (Whatever had happened between his first initiate and him didn’t count; he didn’t remember how it had gone and wasn’t even sure if he had actually mentored him in any way). He was a skilled mage, but he had little to no practical teaching experience, apart from a single class that he had taught at his university.

Balthazar’s statement about forcing the earth into a shape fortunately distracted him from those somewhat uncharacteristic thoughts (Victor usually tended to be more on the confident side, barring extraordinary events such as Balthazar not moving after the initiation).

For a moment, he just looked at him, with raised eyebrows, before he asked, “You actually felt that? Of course, you did”, he answered the question himself in a calmer tone of voice and inclined his head. “And you are correct, I used ether in the same way – or in a similar way, at least. When you want to affect an object from a distance, you need to establish a pathway first – which is done through touch.”

“The rest is more or less the same”, he added before he turned to answer Balthazar’s next question. He didn’t speak right away, but took a few moments to gather his thoughts and figure out how to explain the temporary nature of transmuted objects to someone who still knew very little about the magic. In the end, he decided to start with the one thing that all the domains of magic had in common with each other and made use of.

“Ether”, he replied in a matter-of-fact tone of voice, meeting Balthazar’s gaze as he did so, and proceeded to elaborate, “Ether is by its nature fleeting. That’s why transmuted items don’t last, but eventually deteriorate – without magical intervention, at least. It’s possible to renew the process though. Doing such is time-consuming, but it’s better than buying an entirely new item in my opinion”, he decided.

As their conversation continued, Victor began to enjoy himself quite a bit and stopped worrying about his lack of practical teaching experience again (worrying was probably mostly unnecessary, anyway, especially considering that the most dangerous part, the initiation itself, had gone comparatively well). When Balthazar asked him if there was a trick, he laughed before he shook his head and remarked in a slightly dry tone of voice, “It would be great if there were a trick, but unfortunately there isn’t.”

“And neither is it a simple matter of willing something to be a certain way”, he added. “In order to transmute an item, you have to immerse it in a field of ether and deconstruct it first so that it loses coherence in Idalos – which is similar to what happened to you during the Initiation, by the way”, he explained in a calm tone of voice. Reminding Balthazar of that might be unpleasant; the comparison would make it easier for him to understand the process though.

And he needed to understand.

“Once that has happened – which can be a bit of a time-consuming process, to be honest – the item is ready to be imbued with different qualities – and can ultimately be returned to Idalos in its new state. It will be the same as before, for the most part. Sometimes, flaws such as glimmering cracks on the surface of the item or a strange shimmer can manifest though”, he continued before he paused abruptly as something had occurred to him – something important that he should probably have mentioned right at the beginning.

“Etherists”, he told him in a more casual tone of voice and grinned. “That’s another word for what we are. Personally, I’m fine with being called either a Transmuter or an Etherist – names are secondary in my opinion; what really matters is the magic itself - but some people prefer the latter term, due to the way that we study and manipulate ether. So, if you want to, you can call yourself an Etherist rather than a Transmuter!”

[Balthazar Black]

24 Saun 720

Balthazar was no expert at teaching either so he didn't notice any of Victor's shortcomings. On the contrary the investigative mind Balthazar had developed over the arcs was working at its maximum so that his body could work at a minimum while he rested. When Victor dove into his explanation of ether, Balthazar sat up a little straighter. He was familiar with ether, very familiar, and yet he had never been able to do the things Victor was describing to him before. It was exciting to think he'd be able to manipulate ether in a more raw state. His mind wandered for a moment to whether or not he could use it in alchemy before Victor's words snatched his attention again. Ether was fleeting. Unfortunate but that was just the way some things were.

It was interesting to hear that transmuted items would deteriorate over time but like every other piece of information it helped Balthazar understand his old case a little more. The transmutation mage had kept coming back to the house so he could keep the "gold" he'd made from breaking apart. When Victor moved on to explain how transmutation mages imbued qualities into items, Balthazar scratched the back of his head slightly. Poor items. Balthazar thought to himself when Victor said that what they did was similar to what had happened to him during his initiation. Balthazar looked down at his hands, pondering how he would generate a field of ether from them- or really how he would do anything with this new magic, but he didn't try anything because he still wasn't feeling quite right.

Etherists. Balthazar had never heard it called that before which intrigued him. It certainly sounded better to the mage than transmuter sounded. Etherists. It had a ring to it that Balthazar just couldn't quite get over. He liked it. "I just might. The Elements might be more intrigued to have an Etherist's skills than a Transmuter's. It sounds more exotic... even if they are the same thing. So things decay over time..." Balthazar's voice trailed off while he thought about the things Victor had told him already. He went over each one in his mind trying to come up with another question when one suddenly popped into his head. "You said I could feel your ether because of the initiation but would I be able to feel another mage's ether?" He was thinking of Isabella and the duo they could become if he found a way to share ether with her... he didn't suppose she would like if he took it from her.

[Victor Amielle]

“It probably does”, Victor agreed and smirked slightly as Balthazar remarked that Etherist sounded more exotic before he fell silent again for a few moments and thought about the things that they had discussed so far again as well – and if there was anything else that he should tell his new initiate.

Had Balthazar just received his first spark, he might have warned him about overstepping and that some overstepping consequences were permanent, but someone who was as experienced as his initiate was, was without a doubt aware of the dangers of magic.

He had already mentioned that Transmuters could bolster their armour before. Balthazar already had a pretty good idea of how Ether Missiles worked after their little sparring session and the initiation. He was sure that he had forgotten something regardless though. He furrowed his brow as he thought about it, and a few moments later, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he remarked, smiling slightly as he did so, “Transmuters can conjure orbs of light as well. That technique is mostly useless to people like us whose mutations enable them to see in the dark, but if the orb of light is big and brilliant enough, you might be able to use it to temporarily blind your enemies.”

“They do”, he confirmed in a matter-of-fact tone as Balthazar spoke about things decaying over time. “Maybe it’s different for revealed Transmuters, maybe they can achieve something akin to permanence or at least make their items last significantly longer without having to renew them, but I’ve never met a revealed Transmuter and very few revealed mages in general”, he admitted. His first initiate, Alistair Venora, had revealed later on, but that was something that he would never know.

Balthazar’s next question caused him to furrow his brow once more. “Not like that”, he replied a moment later. “That kind of connection only exists between mentor and initiate. I can sense sources of energy due to my being a Warlock of the Syns, but it’s not the same, and it doesn’t enable me to exchange ether with anybody. I told you about that before, didn’t I?” he asked. They had talked about so many different things since Balthazar had arrived in Melrath earlier that season that he didn’t remember everything anymore.

“Does it still hurt, by the way?” he wanted to know after another moment of silence.

[Balthazar Black]

24 Saun 720

Orbs of light? Balthazar perked up slightly and adjusted his posture again as Victor told him of brilliance without giving it such an explicit label. Victor was right that it probably was not an ability that Balthazar would have any use for given his ability to see in the dark but the potential to use it to quickly blind an enemy was appealing... somewhat. Balthazar had many ways to blind his enemies already. It didn't matter. The surface use of the ability was not what mattered, what mattered was how he learned to use it. Orbs of light sounded like a useful tool to deceive the uninformed... and to impress his friends. He couldn't use it to explore Emea but when could he ever use magic for that?

The idea that he might be able to permanently transmute an object if he revealed did not appeal to Balthazar because the idea of revealing... frightened him. He and his sparks had a good thing going but they were all growing more powerful than Balthazar could control in some cases- well except for the new little one. He didn't know how he felt about taking that final step for power and he didn't think that he would unless the situation was dire. In Quacia he had felt a pull to let his Defiance spark take that step but even then he'd resisted. He wanted to be Balthazar Black, not one of the sparks attached to him. However the longer he had his magic and the more he used it, the more hypocritical it felt to consider himself separate from his sparks and in turn the less strange revelation seemed. Victor's comment that he had never met a revealed etherist intrigued Balthazar somewhat but not enough to pull him from his thoughts. How many revealed mages had either of them met?

"You did. I believe." Balthazar looked at his dirt-covered hand and slowly rubbed the dirt between his fingers. "I don't know... everything feel strange. It doesn't hurt, it just doesn't feel the same as it used to." Balthazar admit before taking a deep breath and making the bold decision to push himself up onto his feet. His arms ached as they pushed his body off the earth but he did manage to get upright using the leverage provided by the tree behind him. "I feel better than I did before at least."

[Victor Amielle]

“It’s normal that it doesn‘t feel the same as it used to though”, Victor replied with a very light smile when Balthazar told him how he felt now. “You just acquired a new spark”, he added. Having said that, he stood as well and straightened himself before he walked over to Balthazar. He was relieved that it didn’t seem to hurt anymore. He couldn’t help but wonder what he should do now though. For a moment, he was tempted to prolong their lesson and enrich it with a practical exercise or two, but he refrained from it, for the same reason that he had refrained from trying to exchange ether with Balthazar.

“I’ve considered teaching you a spell or two”, he admitted in a somewhat thoughtful tone of voice before he met the other man’s gaze. “I’m not sure what kind of effect using magic so soon after you have acquired the spark in question would have though. My own mentor – if I remember correctly, he didn’t allow me to cast at all until the trial after”, he told him, furrowing his brow slightly. Becoming a mage had been an extraordinarily impactful event, but it had been so long ago, and his mentor had been dead for such a long time that he struggled to remember the details of those conversations sometimes. Back then, he had not kept a diary or a research journal yet.

“If we were to meet tomorrow or a few trials from now I would be honored to show you something though”, he continued before he fell silent again for a few moments. His gaze drifted to the Stone Horse that had been waiting patiently and not made a single sound all the time. “As I said, you can ride my horse back to Raelia. Everything considered, you probably need it more. You know how to ride though, don’t you?” he asked and raised an eyebrow slightly as it had just occurred to him that his acquaintance might never have been on horseback before.

“It’s a Stone Horse, so it tends to be more obedient than is the norm”, he explained somewhat briefly. “And if you feel up for it, I can actually get those Echo Scrolls for us before we part way for the trial”, he added. There was another moment of silence in which the Warlock just looked at his new initiate somewhat thoughtfully before he remarked, “Thank you – for letting me initiate you and trusting me with a part of your soul. It’s getting a bit colder, so we should probably start the journey home – if you feel up for it.”

“We can talk about Transmutation some more on the way back – I’ll gladly answer any remaining questions that you may have – or at least try to”, he remarked, smiling slightly once more before he fell silent again and waited for Balthazar’s answer.