Open Chronicles Lessons in Lithomancy pt.1

[TTamark]

Steve rapped on his desk, and used the knock to decipher the meaning of "Boom". He focused on the word as he infused one of his potatoes with the word/or meaning, they seemed to almost be one as he worked. He focused on boom, meaning explosion, and one roughly twice the size of a potato at that, and it being connected with the potato he held, but he was not satisfied. His hand hit the desk again, but this time, with separate thought process he focused on boom again, but with the meaning of multiplication, growing from one to twelve. This as well he placed upon the potato. Only then did he tie whatever spells he was casting off, and only then did he really think about what it was that he just created.

"Teacher jr., quick take this potato and RUN!"

Steve dove below his desk covering his ears once more...

 

[Phillipa Ebonheart]

Phillipa walked in through the front entryway, greeting the receptionist with her best 'business is finished' smile upon returning from her extended vacation. Perhaps vacation was the wrong term to use for the business of finding someones remains and ensuring that they had truly come to a dramatic and final end. On the other hand, she had time off and had used it for her personal objective. The year spent running down leads and finally stumbling across her father's remains. Or at least the drained and mummified corpse of what she had been informed was the late Edmund Ebonheart.

After a brief exchange informing the man behind the desk of her return from time off, she decided to take the long way to her office in acquisitions. Her belongings were still in the carriage at her estate, having wanted to make her presence known to her colleagues that she had not perished on her trip. Most likely to their chagrin.

The long coat was a half a hand from the floor, swishing as she went along and browsed for any new publications that might have been allotted to the public shelves of the library. Her fingers brushed across spines as she lazily took in the titles that she passed, not entirely interested until she spied a new face in the library. Tilting her head slightly while pausing where she stood, Phillipa watched the woman a moment before deciding to find out who they were.

The loud and pronounced tack of her footfalls announced her presence to Naderi long before Phillipa actually came into view. Wary glances passed between those that knew her, and curious ones from those that did not.

The fur mantle atop her coat did not hide the small choker embellished with the black heart, the sigil of the Ebonheart family. The friendly smile Phillipa wore did not quite reach her eyes.

"Hello hello. And who might you be?" Phillipa inquired softly, remembering that first impressions were always important no matter where you were.

 

[Naderi]

Naderi strode through the door, chewing her lower lip and scratching at a hallucinatory itch on her arm. She felt like an idiot. It was a bad idea to teach others lithomancy—Master Thellion had said as much. Lithomancy touched directly on the basis of reality. A simple untrained spell could potentially do impossible harm——

As if to highlight her point, a small 'kaboom' ripples through the halls. Immediately she cast her most readied Phrase, Focus:SEE GUIDES, and her eyes shimmered an eerie blue. "...BOOM? And without an Impulse." She attempted to read the area and sighed in great relief to find that, despite what she could feel was obviously a misuse, it hadn't brought forth an Unspeakable. The fact the Phrase was short was likely what helped the most in the situation.

Naderi clenched her fist tight. She wasn't a teacher; she was barely even a mage. She had meant to just teach theory but, unlike herself when she started, the students here already had talent bundled in their arms. She might have to keep her spell active more than she expected. For now, she'd have to keep things under wraps.

Naderi stuck her head back through the door behind her. "Hey," she said, chiding in a loud voice, "don't play around with it too much! Save it for next week!"

With little patience and far, far too much interpersonal interaction for the day, Naderi retreated to the library. She hadn't realized the prospective wizard, Selina, was to be there to nip at her heels.

--------

With little over a minute having been in the library, Naderi was far more rustled than her nest-like silver-gray hair would suggest. She wanted to get into settled in with a book and hopefully have time to cover the tales of 'Marielle, the L'ciel.'

"Hello hello. And who might you be?"

Naderi frowned to herself and took in a deep breath before turning back around to the source of the voice behind her, her brow was furrowed as she did. She pushed her glasses closer to her face as she held the book tight to her stomach.

"Apologies madam," Naderi said as she looked the well-kept woman up and down, "I'll need a few moments as I'm not exactly ready to sign any books out on the registry just yet. I'm Naderi, the newest librarian here. I just..." she sighed as she shook her head side to side. "I might've made a huge mistake here."

 

[Phillipa Ebonheart]

A simple nod affirmed the other womans introduction. The admittance of a mistake took her a long moment to process as Phillipa look about them for any sign of trouble.

"Phillipa Ebonheart, second in the College's Department of Acquisitions. If I may, how do you believe you have made a mistake?" She asked, brushing aside the question of books for the time being. No signs of trouble were currently about them, so something else had to be afoot.

 

[Selina Della Altas]

It took Selina good while to get out of the lecture room. She had to extract herself from her friends who wanted to go practice their cosmetic alteration spells, and as she walked past the lecture room door she heard a shout and then a huge thump as black smoke came rushing out the door behind her. Startled she flattened herself to the wall, trying not to drop her books.
When the smoke had cleared she looked into the room, concern on her face. Looked like somebody was trying to use Lithomancy... But ended up blowing up a potato? anyways there was bits of potato all over the room.
She hoped the collage gargoyles wouldn't be too upset by the mess...

She continued down the hall and through the building till she came to the library.
Again, so many questions swirled in her mind, applications? possibilities?
For half of her questions she just wanted to know if certain things were even possible with this magic... Or if really anything was impossible to accomplish with this school of magic... And finally... What was an unspeakable?

She walked into the library. Stepping into the library always felt like stepping into another dimension. One minute it may be noisy and wild outside, but inside is quiet and peaceful. One day she wanted to find the enchantment that made it so, if one existed, and study it.
Selina walked to the front desk, seeing the wealthy woman and Naderi speaking.
She hadn't seen the dark haired and clothed woman before, but she recognized the badge of the Department Of Acquisitions.

She waited politely to the side while the two spoke, and maybe doing a little bit of eavesdropping.

 

[Focraig'Diin]

He took the black ice with him, noting its make. He would need to visit the library for any tomes regarding the word Void. He had not expected his magic to react in such a manner, nor his mind's eye to visualize what he could only describe as a hollow abyss. Only for an instant, but a concerning development nonetheless.

The construct was also devoid of frost. Chill, weight, sensation - he only knew he was carrying it because he was holding it in his hand. The sphere possessed no precepts at all, like he was holding a literal void in his hand. And he could only access this same ice during the Lessat Eclipse - a phenomenon only present every four months. That was two months ago. His Mentor's teachings may have had more depth than what he himself had reached. If only there were more tomes upon Rith'Equisid Cryomancy he would be well off... but Mentor had only left him the one.

The Codex he carried, (Rith Cryocodex) was perhaps the only manuscript in the world containing his magic's crafts. He would brush upon it occasionally, and refresh his knowledge. But now, he would visit the library.

The door was half-frozen as he touched it, his composure shakier than it had ever been in his life. With a breathe, the chill retreated, and the door was now free of icicles and rime. Turning the handle carefully, he was greeted by the sight of Naderi, Selina, and a woman he did not recognize. They would be ignored on any other day, but Miss Naderi was the librarian. He would have questions... but they would wait. Passing them by, his eyes caught one simple tome on a nearby desk.

No owner nor reader in sight, the book was a worn, mottled brown, the leather almost coming off the covers. Walking over for a look, he glimpsed at the title.

"Rith Equisidant Arcanum."

"...What in Arethil?"

Had he been more attentive, he would have noticed, out the corner of his eye, undetectable and invisible to everyone else, a shadow, gazing at him with its lone hollow hole of an eye. Then just as Focraig'Diin noticed, it vanished, fading into thin air.

"...Blimey."

He took a seat, setting the black ice in his hand down... only to have it float conveniently on the table, as if hoisted by a stand. The mage's brow twitched. Just one lesson of Lithomancy and this happened... he was taking another class of that art, this was certain. As for the book... he tentatively turned the cover, wondering why was a book carrying a similar title to his craft sitting just there, waiting to be read.

 

[Naderi]

Naderi grasped her right arm with her left hand—a nervous trait if there ever was one. "I was... commissioned by the Heads to teach my personal form of magic. And..." she trailed off, turning to the right and noticing Selina off to the side.

"I'm a bit concerned that perhaps I might be in over my head. I might have taught the students a bit more than, well, was possibly good for them.

"Oh but here I am opening up and depositing my troubles on a complete stranger. Please, don't mind me. How can I help you?"

Out the corner of her eye Naderi could spot Selina off to the side. "Did you need anything as well miss?" She asked, the woman's face somewhat familiar but not immediately coming to her mind.

 

[Phillipa Ebonheart]

"Sounds like first class jitters. Wanted to make it interesting and found yourself jumping a few steps perhaps?" Phillipa offered as the woman trailed off. "It is good to question what you are doing and how well you are doing things. But if you aren't confident in your ability, it may help to revisit your training and recall what your instructor didn't warn you about, and that you wished they had. Sometimes the best teaching comes from experience rather than simple instruction."

Phillipa gave a brief whistle as a feather took flame in the fur mantle around her neck but did not ignite the others. A small iridescent black bird appeared on her finger as she smiled to Naderi.

"If you should need help with lesson plans, as a fellow teacher, I would be glad to help." Phillipa offered, eyes sliding to Selina and taking in the new face.

 

[Selina Della Altas]

Selina stepped forward as she was recognized by both women. She bowed her head in the presence of the noble woman and her teacher.
"I'm Selina Altas, student of wizarding. I was in your class of Lithomancy, Miss Naderi. And I was hoping I could ask you some questions in regards to application. I admit that I am having trouble understanding the full extent of its uses and dangers."

She really wanted to ask how someone who wasn't a mage could perform a spell of this type or nature, but she saved that question until she had some of her other questions answered first.
"If I can borrow some of your time now or later, I did not wish to intrude."