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Post by Erika Delicia Danielles on Sept 10, 2013 20:57:34 GMT -6
Erika laughed but the sound was nearly hysterical. "Yes, it would be impossible. So I wonder...Maybe her being murdered did have something to do with magic after all. Maybe she tried to get someone to remove her magic and that was the only way to accomplish it."
She tried to calm herself. But if that was the case it wasn't Erika's fault. It was her mother's. What was she thinking? It wasn't her fault to begin with. She couldn't be expected to control her powers. Especially since her powers freaked out her mother and her mother refused to acknowledge their existence. She was likely a seer too. Why else would she have a crystal ball? She could have helped Erika! Instead she had left her to her own devices, as good as abandoned her.
Erika smiled wryly. "See what I want to see?" She chuckled. "I'm very sure that none of my visions will be something I want to see, rather something I should see," she corrected. "But thank you. I'd certainly appreciate the help. But...I should warn you...Sometimes the visions come when I sleep and I'll make all sorts of noise. But if they're really strong I'll have seizures." Once when she had been swimming in the lake she was hit with a premonition. The resulting seizure had almost made her drown.
"Just don't get too concerned if I have one. It happens. And I'll apologize in advance in case I wake you up at night."
She was pleased that he seemed to think she'd become a good magician. "I will try my hardest to meet your expectations," she said sincerely.
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Post by David McKinnon on Sept 10, 2013 21:22:47 GMT -6
It seems the subject of visions was a sore one and combined with her mother's death...he would have to tread carefully around Erika when it comes to that. "I am sorry to hear that...as I said there are many who would wish to have a seer's power because they are deluded in believing that if they can see the future they could control their destiny. It is a misconception that has carried over for many eras, but as long as you hide your powers well it should not happen hence why we will learn how to control your visions," he said before he moved on to the next part of the lesson as he took a book and opened a page, "back to the lesson. How does one control willpower and increase concentration then? It is simple, you must start with being able to do the simplest of spells," he also took a rock that he had hanging around and placed it in front of Erika and showed her a spell. "This spell will allow you to levitate things, it requires no elemental affinity and all mages are able to do this, let us see if you can levitate that rock. Remember to concentrate, control the flow of magic, and imagine that there is a string around the rock and that you are pulling it upwards."
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Post by Erika Delicia Danielles on Sept 10, 2013 21:34:25 GMT -6
Erika felt ashamed that she was still so rattled about what her father said about her power and her mother's death. And about her visions in general. She was revealing weakness. She didn't know what her teacher wanted and should be careful about showing him too much of it.
"Yes...Hiding them well can be a bit difficult with the constant 'nightmares' and 'seizures'," she acknowledged. "Especially as I appear to speak Ancient Greek when I have my fits. At first everyone assumed I was just screaming nonsense; but, no apparently I can speak Ancient Greek in nightmare/seizure form." Not like she knew what she said. And few people actually understood the language.
Her visions were depressing. Even thinking about them was depressing. She was eager to focus on something new. An official lesson! Her first spell in a real lesson.
She looked at the spell and then closed her eyes, taking deep cleansing breaths. Magic was easier when your mind was relaxed and you were in a good state. She pictured whirlpools of energy. Energy she could tap into and manipulate if she could only move the spirals. The visualization always helped with her magic.
Eyes still closed she chanted the spell. She didn't need vision. Magic had its own energy that could be tapped and traced. She didn't imagine the string like she was supposed to. Instead she saw gentle waves lifting the rock into the air.
She felt something and when she opened her eyes the rock was levitating.
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Post by David McKinnon on Sept 10, 2013 21:48:14 GMT -6
"Of course...the first seer were the Priestess of Apollo, the Oracle, in Delphi. I am not sure if you have read literature such as the Illiad and such epics. But the first seer was Greek hence you would speak Ancient Greek in that case, but let us concentrate on the matter at hand," David said as he watched the girl concentrate as she began to utilize the spell, he could easily do this without even thinking, but for novices it should require some concentration. He then saw the girl levitate the rock as he was impressed...it wasn't a hard spell and a novice would be able to master it within a day, but for her to do it within seconds...was he underestimating how much she had controlled her magic? No that couldn't be it considering she admitted that she didn't know how to control her magic. "Well done, I am very impressed, most novices would not have been able to do that instantly. It seems your level skill is at a higher level, now in addition to levitating it can you move it around the room?" David said.
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Post by Erika Delicia Danielles on Sept 10, 2013 21:58:41 GMT -6
"I did research the mythology of ancient seers to see if that would help me but no such luck," she said distractedly, still focusing on her stone. Water. Water swirling and upholding the balance.
This was her first instruction and she wanted to do well, wanted to impress. Figuring out things on her own had been hard. But now she had help. She had words to control the images in her head.
She was pleased with the praise but she didn't comment. She wasn't used to the words and she wanted the extra focus to keep her rock levitating.
No additional words for moving it around the room. She'd just have to feel it. Again she visualized waves but not just waves, mermaids. There were mermaids playing who wanted to catch the stone. She visualized a mermaid in each corner of the room. And the wave was still spinning the stone.
At first the stone moved slowly but then she spun it faster and faster around the room. The mermaids were really getting into the game. They wanted to play quickly, immediately!
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Post by David McKinnon on Sept 10, 2013 22:08:34 GMT -6
David nodded in approval, she was getting the hang of magic, she was starting to harness it and use it for her own usage. Most mages did not understand this and they was not able to move the stone because they tried to do something else. "Well done, you may put the stone down now," David said as he had a general idea of where she was at the moment. Perhaps she should go for a simple water elemental spell? That would be the best course of action, but the fact that she was able to create the magical water bird indicates that she was above the basic water elemental spells. He went to his bookshelf and looked through it before finding a useful spell that would allow her to defend herself if need be. "I would usually ask you to do a simple water element spell, but from your water bird you are past that, how about you try this spell? It is a water shield that would allow you to defend yourself from enemy attacks, try it out."
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Post by Erika Delicia Danielles on Sept 10, 2013 22:14:14 GMT -6
Gentle waves setting the stone down. It rested on the table with barely any disturbance. Her images of waves and mermaids vanished.
"Thank you!" she said, pleased that she had in fact impressed him. Erika eagerly leaned forward to examine the book. "There's actually a spell for this?!" she asked excitedly. "I've done it before but...without words...It was different not like that."
She didn't bother to close her eyes. She chanted the spell and with next to no effort a protective shield composed entirely of water appeared in front of her. This was much easier than stone. This was water, tapping into her most natural element.
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Post by David McKinnon on Sept 10, 2013 22:17:56 GMT -6
Well she was surprise after surprise. He didn't expect her to be able to do this so easily, "You are full of surprises...I like that, now try creating several shields at once and maintaining it, in a battle it is most probable that you will need to defend yourself from several angles and it is important you know how to create multiple shields to defend yourself and your ally," he instructed.
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Post by Erika Delicia Danielles on Sept 10, 2013 22:24:29 GMT -6
Erika grinned. "Well, water's my specialty and I have made shields before even if they're different. The stone was much harder," she admitted. "But it was much easier than the fire bird. I had to spend several days practicing that one."
Erika was convinced that she could make the shields but she had another idea. "If you like I'll do that next but first I want to show you my shield."
She closed her eyes and felt out towards the room, perceiving the water and summoning it to her. A normal sized shield made of water rotated in front of her.
"Now water's adaptable and so is my shield and fighting style. This is only one shield but just watch. It will move and change it's form, adapt to your strike as you try to hit me. It takes less energy to maintain, being but one shield but it reflexively moves and shifts shape as necessary," she explained.
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Post by David McKinnon on Sept 10, 2013 22:29:51 GMT -6
"Interesting...very interesting," David said observing the shield, "a shield that is flexible and adaptable. The very essence of water magic itself, that is an incredible work on water magic, it seems you truly are attuned to water magic," he said. "In which case perhaps I will show you the more difficult spells, this will be skipping a few grade school-wise, but with your natural talent I have little doubt that you would be able to do this," as he took another book and showed her how to make an ice golem, "ice magic is a branch of water magic, but in order to create ice you will need to freeze the water and that uses wind magic. However water and wind are compatible with one another, how about you try to do this first?" he suggested.
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Post by Erika Delicia Danielles on Sept 10, 2013 22:36:56 GMT -6
Again Erika beamed, pleased with his praise. She had been struggling on her own but water...That was her thing. Without words she had learned various functions.
She hadn't worked much with ice. She'd played with it a little bit, trying to make her shield stronger but ice was altering water's natural form so it was tricky. She looked at the book and nodded her head.
She closed her eyes and steadied her breathing. Summoning the water was easy. It was the next part that was difficult. She had to freeze it. Eyes closed, she swirled the water, forming it into the shape the golem would eventually take. Now the freezing part.
She chanted the words and pictured the lake she had so often visited. She visualized the way it appeared in the winter, freezing over. Ice. Water in solid form but still water. She could manipulate the water in the ice. This was just backwards. She needs to manipulate the water to become ice.
It took her around fifteen minutes of visualization before she could begin freezing the water. And it was a slow process. It naturally wanted to stay water at least for her. Water was her element. It took about another ten minutes to finish the job but when she opened her eyes an ice golem stood before her.
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Post by David McKinnon on Sept 10, 2013 22:41:02 GMT -6
David watched her intently as she concentrated and began using the magic, it had taken him at least an hour to learn about his own branch of magic: lava magic. It was not easy to do a magic that combines two of the four basic elements, however when it was done he was proud of what he was able to accomplish and he knew that there would be opportunities to explore the lava magic to its fullest extent. The time that Erika had was reasonable as a first time one, she had talent which was why she was better at this, however he took a look at the ice golem, "Quite well done, your talent serves you well considering it took me an hour to create a similar golem of lava," he remarked, "however how is your stamina? Are you feeling tired yet?"
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Post by Erika Delicia Danielles on Sept 10, 2013 22:46:58 GMT -6
"Well I played with ice a bit before with my shield and with the water bird. I tampered with the spell so that it could turn to ice and shatter upon contact with an opponent," she explained. It wasn't exactly like her first time.
"I'm not feeling as tired as I should be," she said slightly ashamed. "I'd like to think it's mostly the excitement and enthusiasm but..." She wasn't quite sure how to put it. The skill honestly scared her.
"Well...It used to be that I could only work with water when there was an actual lake or some abundant water source nearby. But later I learned to draw upon the water molecules in everything around me. The air and plants and...creatures," she said, horrified.
"It was...an accident! It was an emergency and I needed to defend myself and I just...I took water from an animal! And now it's just...To replenish my energy I sort of subconsciously draw on the water from the air and insects and...I'm sorry! I'm trying to learn how to stop that!"
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Post by David McKinnon on Sept 10, 2013 22:53:46 GMT -6
Ah so she still didn't know how to control it and that led to her being able to do it, but at the cost of a life, it was the same for magicians everywhere, "You need not worry...what you did was a complete accident and it is unlikely that such an event will occur again," David said, "you will need to maintain control of your magic. If you do not it will go out of control and the result can be disastrous, you must always be calm and you must always be relaxed; if one is tensed then the magic will overpower you and do something you did not expect it to do. This is why it is important each day to learn how to maintain your magic, to control it and be its master and not be mastered. Such techniques are in abundance and I am sure you will find something in here about it."
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Post by Erika Delicia Danielles on Sept 10, 2013 23:01:20 GMT -6
She sighed in relief. "Thank you! I really don't want that to happen again! But to answer your previous question, no I'm not exceptionally tired because of that ability which I haven't really learned how to shut off."
"But before that I um...I wanted to ask you something. As you know, I'm a Magiranger and I tried to discuss this with other people but...They didn't really want to think about it. Um...They call us and others like us heroes but...We kill sentient creatures! I mean...I know they're causing all sorts of destruction and it's necessary but we're still...We're still killing them!
Everyone tried to tell me that they've already made their choice and all that; but, what if they didn't really have a choice? If we were raised like them maybe we would have ended up the same way. They...They still had hopes and dreams and ambitions. It just...It made me wonder what the right thing to do was. I mean...Killing them was right for the majority of humanity I suppose but...It's such a loss of life.
And mind magic...You were controlling a creature before. I've thought about using magic like that once I was able to control the magic so I wouldn't have to kill but is that a fate worse than death, manipulating something so that it loses its will and personality? Then how are we different from Mr. Waynguard? Aren't we just imposing our ideals on other creatures, basically telling them we know what's best, we know how their minds should be? But how do we know?! How are we supposed to know what's right?!" she asked in a terrified rush.
Thinking about the creature she had accidentally killed had brought back her concerns. She hoped he wouldn't brush off her questions like most people. Most people simply didn't want to think about it.
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