diatuooc | Test Drive #1

Test Drive #1

The Airship There

By carriage or coach, spellwagon or ship, perhaps even on the wings of magic, the Sundered heed the call to gather at the Tenzin High Dock of Vulbaria. On this, the appointed day, a great passenger airship sits in the dock, the seals of the six Houses fluttering from flagpoles along her length and her wooden planks atremble as if it is eager to be off. At last, the gangplank descends, and the Hand of Diatu opens her doors to the Sundered so they can take their first step on the path towards protection and salvation.

Inside, you may choose from long comfortable couches, broad circular tables surrounded by straight-backed, cushioned chairs, or viewing seats at the glass front of the ship. Sundered who need special accommodations are quickly provided for, ensuring everyone travels in comfort. Trays drift through the air periodically, offering snacks and drinks to the passengers.

This may be the first chance you've had to truly relax since being swept to this strange world. Certainly it is the first chance you've had to meet your fellow Sundered. As the airship lifts gracefully off from the High Dock, your journey to Diatu begins. Excited? Nervous? Simply angry? Or perhaps searching among the crowd here for a familiar face or some sign of hope?

Rain, Rain...

Welcome to Diatu Magicademy. It's raining.

Seriously raining. One of those downpours that feels like a curtain has dropped on you, that soaks to the bone within a second of stepping into it. Obviously, this won't do, and a civic-minded cluster of Purifeul students has taken it upon themselves to solve this problem. No sooner do you step through the gates then you practically run into a giant and complex runic diagram being drawn out with long staffs by several students, all of them speaking seeming nonsense about derivatives, limits, and equations. Magic! In action right before your eyes!

And yet, just as their mathemagics wind towards the center of the diagram and they all make their final stroke -- one student slashes his line off on a weird tangent, speaking an equation that sounds nothing at all like what his fellows utter. The spell completes... weirdly, as the students look in horror at each other. The temperature abruptly drops seventy degrees, and a cold wind begins to blow.

Welcome to Diatu Magicademy. Please get out of the blizzard before you freeze.

Thaumaturgy 101

After some fifteen minutes of grumbling from Professor Loshakle, followed by half an hour of theory and basics, the grouchy old man finally gets to drawing a magical symbol on the board. "This is straight out of Fundamental Principles of Wizarding," he says, writing Sense Magic next to the symbol. "As is everything you'll learn here. I'll emphasize yet again, you MUST know the name of the spell and the proper gestures. You can't simply wave your wand in any old pattern and say any old words. That isn't how it works," he says, glaring around the class as if daring someone to question him.

But he gives no one the opportunity, instead producing a wand and making the gesture to trace the symbol he'd drawn in midair. "Sense Magic," he intones, and the air and his wand both shimmer.

"Now. You all try." Just like that. What the Professor doesn't mention is that this spell can produce some very interesting results if the symbol is off, or the timing...

Bala-inlota Practice

Bala-inlota is the main interaction the Magicademies have with each other -- the sport of wizards! Two teams take the field, with the goal of heaving a ball through their opponent's hoop. The rules primarily revolve around not inflicting lethal injury, because bala-inlota is a free-for-all at best, where each team relies on both physical and magical might to win the day.

You kind of wish someone had told you this BEFORE you got hauled onto the field so the coach could see if you've got what it takes.

Now half a dozen players are charging down the field at your ragtag group of semi-willing recruits, while another half-dozen are preparing spells that you've been absolutely assured aren't as nasty as the ones deployed in actual play. On your side: the ball, your wits, your physical ability, and maybe three classes's worth of magical education.

On the upside, magic is pretty good at healing.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

His mind worked but nothing was forthcoming. The Luminary was in pain and that much was plain to see. So he would do as he had done in Heliodor castle, even if the other had no memory of that place, as strange as everything still seemed.

So he bowed to the other and repeated the same words he had spoken that night.

"I have treated you poorly. Forgive me."

That wasn't the half of it. There were at least half a dozen transgressions he could name without pausing for breath that didn't even begin to touch Hendrik's manner. The accursed label alone counted for too many sleepless nights spent trying to convince himself none of it was true.

Eleven breathed deeply, fingertips pressing into the hollow of his chest. His granddad's advice had never seemed so difficult to follow as it was now.

"Mordegon stole that power from me. Near as I can tell, I've been sent here to regain it. ..What will you do?"

At hearing the Luminary speaking again, Hendrik straightened up. He wasn't pleased with the grave news that he was hearing.

But he folded his arms and looked at the other man. "If you've been sent here to regain your lost powers, that might explain why you disappeared from my side. Yet how you did so remains a mystery."

Another thought. "We were told by King Carnelian that upon going to the mountain it was another sacred place. Perhaps that was incorrect and fate chose otherwise for you."

He stared at the Luminary. "But no matter what else has been decided, the oath I swore to you still stands."

Edited 2019-02-11 01:26 (UTC)

His gaze dropped again to the ground. The worst of it was, he nearly believed him. If not for Carnelian, he might even have accepted him at only that. He couldn't afford blind trust when Heliodor had proved itself so given to treachery, but neither could he simply ignore Hendrik.

..Loyal to a fault, Jade had said.

Yggdrasil, lend me strength.

Eleven released a steady breath, then raised his eyes and met Hendrik's unflinching. He sheathed his sword and straightened, willing himself for just this moment to have the proper bearing of a legendary hero.

"I want to hear it," he said, the words a distant echo to his own ears- like someone else was saying them. His every nerve trembled through the fingers curling to fists at his sides. "Swear yourself to me."

Inwardly the knight breathed a sigh of relief at seeing the sword finally sheathed. It wasn't a matter of being worried about fighting a battle, since the two had crossed blades before and Hendrik had experienced first hand at what the Luminary could do. But this was more important than a test of arms. This was about trust and though something had happened to break it that went beyond his comprehension, an oath was still an oath.

And at the request, at first Hendrik was momentarily stunned. Both at the words and that he was actually making ground here, figuring that since somehow time had been altered, he might be fighting this particular battle of trust for a lot longer. But, it was a battle he fully intended to win.

With a nod, the knight walked over and stood before the other. "Honored Luminary." Hendrik then kneeled and placed a hand over his heart, while lowering his head just as he had done at the Last Bastion. He took a breath and recited the same oath.

"I serve you now. Though it cost me my life, I will stand beside you until the darkness is no more." And then he waited, but remained humbled before the Luminary.

Edited 2019-02-11 01:44 (UTC)

He'd never asked for anyone's oaths before. Veronica and Serena's were freely given, for all he didn't feel he deserved them. But now Heliodor's own fabled knight knelt before him, swearing himself to his service at his request. He'd secured Hendrik's loyalty and now had little to fear but for the gravity of what it meant.

Eleven flexed sweaty fingers and surveyed the mark on his hand, then offered it out to the man kneeling before him.

"I accept your oaths."

At hearing the Luminary speak, Hendrik looked up at the offered hand. He laughed a small satisfied laugh and smiled just as he had back then. Taking the offered hand, he then stood to his full height.

The knight then adjusted his gloves, made a fist and pushed his fist into his other open hand. He did this in the opposite fashion and then placed a clenched fist over his heart with a grin on his face.

Eleven breathed, feeling rather like he'd just passed a great trial of some sort. Hendrik would not betray him now. If ever King Carnelian arrived.. well, he'd deal with the matter if it arose.

He met Hendrik's eyes and nodded, then bent to recollect his books.

"So you're a student here, now. We'd best get you settled in."

As soon as the other bent to retrieve his books, Hendrik tried to help to get them. Handing a book over, he shook his head. This was now the time for questions since their personal issues had been reset aside.

"What is this place? The last I knew we were in Angri-La, on Mount Pang Lai. You would have spent six years of your childhood there to train with their Grand Master according to His Holiness, the High Lama. And we were enroute to find out more when you slipped away from my side."

He took a breath and looked up at the castle beyond where they currently stood, then back at the Luminary. "And now I find that I am here with you."

Eleven faltered, accepting his book from Hendrik with a frown.

"Really?" He's never heard of the place. It was disconcerting how other people always seemed to know more about him than he did himself.

"..You mean no one told you?" At least he had answers to Hendrik's questions. "We're in Anastara, and this is its magical academy. I don't know if you noticed any magic you may have had was sealed, but now there's.. something else- latent magic that wasn't there before. It's supposed to be dangerous left untreated, but they're willing to teach us.."

The knight nodded to the Luminary at his first question. But the moment he started getting an explanation, Hendrik's teal eyes never left the other's face.

"Anastara." This was him trying out the unfamiliar name but then he gently shook his head. "I feel no differently. But still, I wonder what purpose this new route serves. Mayhaps if we learn something new, we can use it on the journey."

He looked around, noticing several people coming and going, nothing seemed out of the ordinary so far, but he would remain on guard.

Looking back at the Luminary he nodded again. "I wonder if any more of your other companions will show up here to learn as well."

Test Drive #1

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject