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All the Colors of the Wheel

Discussion in 'Creative Writing' started by Happerry, Mar 16, 2014.

  1. Happerry

    Happerry The Song to the Flame

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    I know you've seen these before.

    Some poor bloke is doing something or another, and has an accident of some kind. Usually something that should be fatal. Sometimes something that wouldn't be. Either way, they end up taking a deeply unpleasant trip through the blind eternities, and then land somewhere even more unpleasant.

    Well, that isn't precisely what happened this time...

    All the Colors of the Wheel – Book 1

    It was another cold, wet, and rainy day around these parts of Oregon, so many people would think me crazy for going outside, even in a coat, when I didn't have to.

    To them, I must say, that cookies make everything worthwhile, and walking over the visit the parental units is no hardship when one learns that a batch has been cooked.

    Or at least, that was what I was intending to do, before the ground lit up around me in a multicolored wheel, I heard the distant sound of chanting, and then I fell through the ground into.. well, any real attempt to describe the blind eternities is never going to truly share how horrible the place is, but if you want something to envision..

    Pretend there is a rope attached to your foot, and it has just dragged you into, and through, what felt like a steel door. Behind that door is the mosh pit of hell, only heavy metal has less random screaming in it, and some bastard has covered the floor in something sharp and painful. And someone else has started pumping tear gas into the air. So there you are, being dragged through things you can barely see, bouncing off the metaphorical walls, floor, and once in a while the ceiling, when you reach another hard metal door. And slam into it. And then get pulled through it.

    And then, on the other side, you see the ground, a good half dozen feet away, a very fancy circle carved into the ground, and a bunch of startled looking men in pointy hats and holding staffs standing around said circle.

    After that, of course, you hit the ground, so you'll have to forgive me if you want to know what happened next, for I had fled the painful lands of consciousness to the blessed realms caused by cranial trauma.

    ..Or in other words, I landed on my face and got knocked out.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 30, 2014
  2. Happerry

    Happerry The Song to the Flame

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    Index
     
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  3. Happerry

    Happerry The Song to the Flame

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    Later on the healers would tell me it was a full day before I woke up, even if they didn't clarify if that was because they has kept me asleep to better work some healing, or if it was just because I landed on my face.

    Either way, I didn't suffer any dreams that I can recall during that time, so to me it was but a short instant between landing on my face to waking up to find a pretty women and an old bearded man who looked very interested in seeing what made me tick in the room.

    All the Colors of the Wheel – Chapter 1
    (Part 1)

    As much as I'd like to claim I was on the ball and going at full throttle from moment one of awakening, in reality my first action, the one that let everyone know I was awake, was to groan. It felt like I had a whole body bruise, and their was also this tingling, like.. well, honestly, I've never come up with a real good explanation for the feeling, so we'll go with 'like I had a bonfire in my soul'. Of course, nowadays I do know what that feeling is, but back then I was clueless.. It felt fizzy. Somewhere in that area.

    Either way, once I let everyone know I was awake by way of the mentioned groan, everyone suddenly started paying attention to me..

    The old bearded man walked over, leaving his staff on the nearby wall.“Hello there. You gave us quite a fright when you fell out of Miralbus' experimental summoning circle, but the healers assured us you'd be alright with some time to recover. Might I ask your name?”

    Blinking at him, I tried to open my mouth to answer, but what emerged.. All I could do was make a faint croaking sound. My mouth was utterly dry.. and suddenly I realised how thirsty I was.

    Seeing this, the old man, turned towards the white robed women who I assumed was the mentioned healer. “Anna, I think our guest is thirsty. Would you get me a glass of water?”

    “Of course Myron.” She said with a cheerful nod, pulling out a glass from a nearby cupboard and exiting out the room's only door.

    Looking back at me, the old man, who I really should start calling Myron now that I know what is name is, smiled at me in a way that brought to mind.. well, dotty old men. “You must be very confused about all of this.. We definitely were when the summoning circle spat you out. All it was supposed to grab was an apple, but..”

    Summoning Circle? Wonderful, I could only note to myself. But then, big glowing things in the ground only had limited amounts of explanations. Magic was real. Great. I could deal.

    ..At least, I hoped I could deal.

    “Still.” Myron continued. “Once we figure out where it grabbed you from, we should have you home in a flash, so no need to worry.”

    Nodding at him, I did my best to indicate that going home is something I would dearly like to do. He chuckled a moment at my motions, and then Anna returned. “Here's the water.” She said cheerfully as she passed it on to Myron before turning back to putting away what looked like the contents of a medical kit.. if one with some very strange things inside.

    Turning back towards me from Anna, Myron held out the cup. “Here you go my lad. Let's get you in shape to speak up again.”

    Reaching out for the cup of highly desired water.. well, that's when my fingers came in contact with him. There was this zap noise, and curls of blue lightning connected us for a moment as I felt something click, and the tingling/burning/fizzy feeling I'd been feeling from when I awoke suddenly grounded itself through Myron.

    There was a short and startled scream from Anna as I fell back over from my sitting up position, and Myron staggered backwards, but most dramatic was the pale wizardly figure which appeared between the two of us.

    It felt, even through my surprise, unfinished. As if it had potential I could but dream of if I just gave it a bit more power.. But I was kinda occupied at the moment with sheer shock and the other two men with pointy hats and staffs who just burst into the room.

    Just as they opened their mouths to demand I explain what happened, Myron pulled himself back up. “Well, that was unexpected.” He noted dryly. “Thank you for being so prompt, gentlemen, but I highly doubt that was on purpose..”

    Looking back towards me, and at the wizardly silhouette who had taken the time the guards had given it (by distracting everyone else) had used to both solidify somewhat, looking much firmer then it was when first summoned, and to move into a defensive stance between me and them.. And wow. This is.. I didn't notice it at first, both because of the distraction of the security... wizards? Bursting in and how natural it felt, but I could feel a connection between me and it. It still felt.. incomplete, somehow, as if I could make it more, but it felt far more stable then it had at first..

    “How interesting.” I almost managed to jump out of my bed from the shock. While I was distracted Myron had walked up to the summon and started poking it. “And ethereal replica? But far to stable for any ethereal constructs I've seen before..” The two other wizards who had just entered the room looked far less interested in it and far more interested in keeping an eye on me.. While Anna was still standing by the door, medical kit in hand, pale in shock.

    Looking at me, Myron continued with “Young man, how did you do this? I've not seen the like before, and I’ve seen quite a lot in my life.”

    Opening my mouth to explain I didn't have a clue what happened, we were both surprised when a hoarse sounding cough was all the noise I could make.. and then we both looked down at the floor in realization. To be precise, down at the cup of water which had spilled over the floor instead of me drinking it..

    “I suppose I should get another cup?” Anna volunteered meekly. Myron nodded. “That would seem to be a good idea if we're to get some answers..”
     
  4. Winged One

    Winged One Not the Simurgh

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    So... could be interesting. I'm guessing the main character has no meta knowledge?
     
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  5. Happerry

    Happerry The Song to the Flame

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    Part 2​
    “And you really haven't ever cast a spell before?” Myron is asking me again, while he pokes at the Wizard summon with yet another exotic thingy mic widget. “Not a single one.” I reply, just as I did the last few times someone asked me that. “Never saw a bit of real magic until.. well, I ended up here.”

    “This 'Oregon' must have been a strange place if you've never seen any magic.” Anna says softly. “I can't imagine what you'd do if someone got seriously hurt.”

    Glancing over at her with a smile, I gave a shrug. “We manage. After all, I've failed to keel over dead so far, right?”

    “I guess so.” She admits with a giggle. "At least here in Ardania we have proper healing magic though."

    “And speaking of magic, my lad.” Myron suddenly interjects from where he is still prodding the summon with the gizmo of sensorness. “You seem to have a natural talent for it.”

    I twisted around to look at him, surprised, as I responded identically to Anna. “What?”

    “Magic.” He repeated when faced with our.. well, my, face full of shock. “You have a natural talent in it to be able to do this, as uncontrolled as it was.. I think I've figured out what happened now.”

    Taking a breath for a moment, he continued his explanation. “When the miscast summoning ritual grabbed you out of this... Oregon place, you built up a large load of magical static for a lack of a better term.”

    “If you'd stayed awake for much longer without dumping it you'd probably have started combusting or something, actually. So feel lucky this was all that happened!” Anna gasped in shock as I just sat there, trying to comprehend that idea... I didn't really want to think about it to be honest.

    “But.” Myron said, without waiting for us to work through our startlement. “When you touched me it... Grounded the magic in effect. I'm not entirely sure why this grounding took the form of copying me, but considering you've said you still feel a link to it, and you've demonstrated an ability to get it to do things..”

    He shrugged. “Even if you've never been trained, you have talent. Otherwise you'd have just exploded.”

    “Iesh.” I said, trying to work my way through how I felt about that. It seemed to accurately define how I currently felt. “..That is.. Well, I'm glad I didn't explode, that's for sure.”

    Anna makes a face. “So am I. Explosions are messy.” I glanced over at her in surprise. Do people... or things in general, explode that often around here?

    “Indeed.” Agreed Myron. “But that also bring me to the second order of business.”

    “And what is that?” I asked with some hesitation. He smiled at me cheerfully. Which didn't actually make me feel cheerful for some reason that may involve how his last question ended up getting me poked with buzzing things for so long.

    “What to do with you.” He said bluntly. “We can't send you home. The ritual's trace is gone, and none of us have ever heard of Oregon before, or this United States area.”

    “As such, under the relevant laws for 'magical transportation accidents that leave people stranded', and given your demonstrated potential and natural talent for magic.. how would you feel about being an apprentice? My apprentice, to be precise.”



    Just realized that I'd forgot to update this over here..

    This is a SI in the style of the Spacebattles ones. No meta knowledge in that this version of myself doesn't know this is a SI or that the other ones exist, but I am familiar with both Ardania and MTG as games. Of course, as a world both might have surprises..
     
  6. Happerry

    Happerry The Song to the Flame

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    Part 3
    The glowing green light gathers in my hand, flowing over my fingers as I focus on the imagery, holding the shape of the spell in my mind. With an act of will I send it flying down the range at the target where..

    Dammit, it fizzled out half way across again.

    “Bleh.” I announce at this new bit of evidence that this spell is giving me a fight.

    “Now now, apprentice,” Myron chuckles behind his beard. “You're still doing better then anyone else with your amount of practice. Don't get discouraged to easily.”

    “I get it, I get it.” I say as I wave off the statement. “It's still bloody annoying.”

    “It's necessary though.” Myron reminds me. “Given that your style of magic seems to focus around geomantic power flows.. you'll never get to the really powerful locuses if you can't defend yourself.”

    Geomantic power flows.. I almost snort, but really.. It's accurate enough. Mana in the land, take said mana, use it to cast magic. And I can't just call it magic when it's obvious that it's not the only style out there. And Myron spoke the truth, too. The one blue mana I was able to draw from the guild.. wasn't enough.

    “Even so.” He says continuing on, “It's a shame the attempt to link to the temple of Agrela failed.”

    Nodding, I agree with that for sure. “Still, it makes sense.” I point out. “I'm already channeling the power of this city through the Wizard's Guild. Trying to get a second link to it through the temple.. no wonder they interfered with each other.”

    Which means I'll need to do some traveling and experimenting to see how far away landbonds can be from each other. Which means, given that Ardania is infested with monsters from Giant Rats through Evil Oculi, and up into Dragons, I need to be able to defend myself.

    Which means I need to master this damned spell.

    Sighing as I again start focusing energy, I wished that I could just use the template my Spark acquired for the spell when Myron was showing it to me. But.. that would defeat the point. MTG magic, as I was calling it my head, was quite powerful.. but it was still limited considering I barely had any mana.

    While the more local magic tradition was unlikely to ever be my mainstay, learning how to cast the one single most common used defense spell couldn't be to hard, right?

    It even had started seeming to attune to MTG magic, in recent practice. I think... well, I was pretty sure even if it was just a guess, that I was developing the equivalent of a 'tap this creature to damage the target' ability.

    ..But if I never mastered the spell, I'd never get there. So.. More practice.

    And more watching bolts fizzle out a few yards from my hand, it seems.

    “And another one fails.” I muse as my latest attempt proves lacking. “..Speaking of Energy Blast, Master Myron, but.. why is it called that when it clearly does acidic damage?”

    He smiled at me. “Well, originally the spell only did kinetic energy damage. The magical version of a sling, really. After a while, and one to many run ins with Trolls going after the Marketplace, however, several wizards started trying to rework it to hinder their regeneration.”

    “Originally they changed it to do thermal damage, as fire harms the beasts quite well, but a few hundred years ago, someone proved that acid hindered their healing even better. A bit after that, and some bright soul invented a variant on the fire type energy blasts that called forth acid instead.”

    Pausing a moment to take a puff on his pipe as I again failed to reach the halfway mark in the shooting gallery, Myron continued on with his exposition. “It might have remained just a minor variant.. but it was also about forty percent more damaging for the same power. So everyone has switched over to it as it got spread around. And nowadays, well, most people take it for granted that energy blasts melt their targets.”

    “Interesting.” I admit with utter honesty as I again attempt to lob a bolt down the court. “That makes far more sense then I was expecting.”

    Myron shrugs. “As strange as the things we wizards do, usually there's some reason behind whatever it is.. even if everyone has forgotten it.”