DarkheartOne/LogZeroFive
The path has been long and hard, and the going more than a bit trying, but she has seen success. One Dyna G'ia, mortal tutor and member of the Imperial University of Thaumaturgical and Subliminal Studies, has done well in teaching the basics of essence theory to her charge, a typically hot-blooded young Dynast, fresh from Primary and Exaltation, who's on his way to the Heptagram.
... hence the acceleration of his studies. What he should've already known from book learning, he lacks. This did make things a bit uneasy for him ("... me, being taught by a mortal?"), but he's accepted it, and even mildly respects Dyna. Of course, he's still a bit nervous about things, and it's making his faintly red skin darken. Nonetheless, the young Sesus Calder recites yet another incantation... and stumbles, once.
"Excellent! You've almost got it!" Dyna is a young blondhaired women of around 20 years or so, with blue eyes and a healthy, and rather attractive build. She's wearing the grey scholar's robe that all the junior faculty of the University wear, and has a pair of reading glasses perched on her nose.
Calder looks more than a bit embarrased. "Beh... I had that syllable on the tip of my goddamn tongue." He sighs, leaning back in his chair; the kid's a rather atypical Heptagram candidate; he's in phenomenal shape, even for a Dynast, and looks more suited for hard days of toil and bloodshedding. "So, Miss Dyna... what happens to you after I leave?"
"I'll be heading back to the University to begin my Master's Studies. I'll be spending nearly as much time in class as I will teaching it..."
"Huh." Calder rests his elbows on the table (atop a scrap of paper littered with notes) and nods. "Well, I'm sure you'll do alright. Heh, you managed to do a little with me. A little, mind." He offers Dyna a little smile.
Dyna smiles in return, picking up a scroll and unfurling it. "Thanks. I really appreciate it... I'm kind of nervous to tell the truth. I don't know what the others are going to think... I'm the youngest to be admitted in decades... but just because I won't be around, don't think it's any excuse for you to slack off!" Dyna shakes her finger at Calder and grins jokingly. "You're my first student, and I expect great things from you. No excuses."
Well, Miss Dyna... Father always thought you were pretty close along the chain of incarnations. I think so, too---heh!" He rolls his eyes, grinning impishly. "So do well. I know I will. Who knows, maybe you'll be Blooded in the next life."
"Flattery will not excuse you from your studies." Dyna smirks and lays the scroll down on the table, spreading it across it's length. "Now, take a look at the first two passages, here and here... but make note to keep trying that last one, it won't take much more at all for you get it down.
Calder does so, muttering the phrases to himself while he reads. Aside from that, it's pretty quiet. Well, mostly quiet; Dyna can hear a couple of individuals conversing in the doorway a bit away from them both. One's familiar; Calder's father, Sesus Ikider..
"Take your time to familiarize yourself, this one is a bit of a step up..." Dyna's curiosity gets the better of her for a moment, and she can't help but to listen.
"Geh... seriously. And to think this is going to be my life... ah well, it's what I'm good at, I suppose." Calder chews on the end of a (uninked) quill.
Dyna can practically feel Ikider's eyes on her back; a protective old fart, that one, and he's made it known that Dyna would do well to not make any advances on his 'precious child'. A moment passes, the conversation ends, and Ikider and whoever he was talking to are gone. She managed to catch snatches of talk about Calder, and the Heptagram, and a few not-too-nice comments from Ikider about her. " ..."
Calder pauses. "Eh? Miss Dyna? Something wrong?"
"... ah, n-no. I just thought I heard something is all... it's nothing, really. I do wish I'd made a better impression on your father. I tried my best..."
That bit makes Calder snort. "He's worried you'll try to sweep me off my feet or something. Heh, not likely... you're pretty, but I wouldn't ruin both of your lives that way. And I know you wouldn't... besides, I need a few years to mature, eh?"
Dyna smiles, returning to her usual self. "You make me proud. I'll just list you as a reference instead of him, eh?"
Calder reples with a nod, then turns back to his studies. As for Dyna, she's still feeling warm from that compliment. Or... is it that? Odd, the room's temperature is controlled to preserve the scrolls within, so it's actually slightly cool. "... do you feel that?"
"Eh? No, I don't really feel anything." Calder turns around to look at Dyna curiously. "This some kind of test?" He seems fine... but Dyna feels the warmth, faint yet very tangible. Her fingers tingle, and for a moment, she swears she can see more than just books and scrolls...
"..." Dyna puts a hand to her head, taking a few steps back, her eyes going wide... she puts a hand to her head. "... I feel strange..."
Even more warmth. And a voice, a whisper in the back of her soul. "Craft, creation, the weave of essence. In the ages before, those who bore my mark were the masters of these things. Now, in this age... you will bear my mark. You will delve above, below, beyond. So take... take my might, be wisdom's master." And thus... Dyna's senses explode.
As for Calder... he was reaching out to place a hand to her head as well... but then he stumbles back, having taken a direct eyeful of light from the mark blazing on Dyna's forehead. "AH! M-Miss.... Miss Dyna?!"
Dyna's eyes look like they're about to pop out of her head as she presses her palms against her temples. Overwhelmed, she stumbles back into the wall, barely managing to catch herself in time.
It only lasts for a moment, but she can obviously see that she's radiating massive amounts of golden light. A few scrolls caught in the wake of her banner have their writing bleached off in seconds.
"I... my memories... but... I never... did I?" Dyna looks around, having caught her bearings again. "... Calder? Calder, are you alright?"
Calder isn't exactly screaming, but he's moaning in outright pain, hands clapped to his eyes. And... that's when Dyna picks up another scream, behind here. This one's... angry. Very angry. "... YOU! *YOU!*"
"... M-master Ikider? I-I don't think your son is badly hurt, but we should see to him immediately..." Dyna turns around to address him. "I'm very sorry..."
Ikider stands in the doorway, essence rolling off of his body in slow, fiery waves, licking at the stone around, above and below him. "... I knew it. Deep down, I knew it! Something was off about you... anathema!" He immediately falls into a practiced posture, and that flame-essence starts to roar and lick at an ever-increasing speed.
"... No! Y-you're mistaken! What about your son?" Dyna instinctively raises her hands... golden essence beginning to radiate around her body and flow around her hands.
"You don't know how precise I am, girl." The heat comes to a point around his own hands, and numerous streams of heat and light arch out towards her, while Ikider himself erupts in a glorious display of light and sound. The flame-tongues meet Dyna's arms... and smash against it. Rather, the essence there; she can feel the heat blistering her skin, but the brunt of the sorcery's stopped.
Ikider... drops his arms and gawks. "... h-how?!"
"... I remember. Ikider, let me go. Now." Dyna assumes a more focused... more aggressive stance... her golden essense beginning to burn more brightly. "There's no need to involve your son in this any further... but if you make me..."
"I refuse to let an enemy of the Realm go unmolested! How one got into the Isle... no matter. You won't survive a second go!" His anima flaring violently, he prepares to send Dyna to her Maker.
"So be it!" Dyna begins shaping her golden essence as she chants, luminous characters taking shape from the golden energy surrounding her. "I release thee! Go forth, Death of Obsidian Butterflies!"
"Hah!" Snarling in the Old Tongue, Ikider seems a step away from unleashing sorcery of his own. Calder, aware of what's going on, has long since scooted away from Dyna, blinking painfully.
Dyna sweeps her arms forward as her essence coalesces into thousands of glittering butterflies... which swarm towards Ikider in a deluge of razor-sharp glass.
In the middle of the last bit of chanting, Ikider is torn to bloody shreds, and promptly collapses to the ground, banner winking out as his life flees him. The last thing he rattles out before fading is his son's name.
"Calder, please forgive me... but if you can't... I understand." Dyna looks at Calder over her shoulder... tensed and ready to run.
Calder doesn't say anything at first. He doesn't even look in her direction, still blinded. A few tears do trickle from the corner of an eye, though. "Run. Please." ... and on cue, sounds of alarm ring through the halls of the university. Alarms... and the clanking of armor.
"... I swear I'll... I'll make it right, someday." Dyna doesn't lose any more time, running for all she's worth.
She blows right past a few Legion guards... and has a deftly-thrust spear almost strike her in the side, instead tearing at the back of her robes. "There she is! Follow the light!"
I can't die... I have to fix this. Dyna burns a bit brighter... which while it makes her easier to track... seems to have made her considerably more difficult to keep up with.
She knows the university as well, if not better than the guards, and her moment of glory's fueling her speed. In no time, she's out the rear exit of the building and is in the back alleys of the outer section of the Imperial City. She can hear them behind her... she doesn't have much time to think.
Dyna quickly grabs a filthy old tarp from a pile of rubbish, wraps it around herself like a cloak, making sure to cover her head as best she can... and starts running again.
That does lessen the glow. Somewhat. Instead, the light pours from the holes in the makeshift cloak. Still, she runs, and as soon as she exits the alleyway, she's in a curiously uncrowded area of the city; uncrowded in that it's not packed with buildings, but instead has some sort of small circus operating there. The troupe's only now setting up...
Dyna quickly makes her way towards the circus, hoping to find something better than the tarp, or somewhere to hide.
She does get a few strange looks from some of the workers and passers-by, but she nonetheless slips into the main tent, finding an opening that hasn't been closed yet... and that's when she's greeted by a most startling sight. She may well have read of tigers. But she's certain that she's never seen one this immense. Nonetheless it's there, inside a heavy iron cage, its eyes a rather sharp green. And it stares at her the very moment she comes through.
Dyna ... can't help but stare back... and starts walking towards it. ".. you know, don't you? You know me..."
The thing rises from its side and approaches the cage. A nearby worker, having noticed both, moves over with whip in hand. "Hoi! HOI! That thing's killed yeddim! You better get back or it'll scratch your bleeding face off!"
Dyna just keeps walking... even reaching through the bars to touch the massive tiger.
The apparent handler freaks out and starts running towards then. The tiger... gently licks at Dyna's hand with a massive tongue, then nudges her hand away in a manner than, to her, blatantly states, "Get back."
Dyna nods, giving the tiger plenty of room for whatever he has planned.
The handler's about to whip Dyna... and then the beast brings down both paws on the side of cage. The iron links on the corners give instantly, and the entire side crashes to the cobbles. The handler... turns tail and runs screaming after the tiger glances at him.
Dyna quickly walks up to the tiger, putting a hand on it's massive head. "... I need your help. I need to get as far away from here as I can... understand?"
His reply is to gently nip at her sleeve and practically drag her onto his back, barely giving her time to steady herself before the great beats breaks into a run.
Dyna clings tightly to the huge cat's back, losing the tarp as he takes off.
... and thus, many of the citizens of the Imperial City are granted the unbelievable sight of a massive tiger loping through town with a sliver of swan-shaped sunlight wrapped around a woman on its back. This, of course, alerts guards and such, but there's just no way they're going to catch up with them; the tiger's horribly quick.
Dyna manages a smile, even though she's still hanging on for dear life. "Breon... thank you." 'Breon' manages a rumble as he caroms off of a gate with enough force to break one of the doors; landing back on the ground, the tiger bolts on out, cutting through the part of the city beyond the walls. At this point, the guards just stop and decide they're just not going to catch up.
Dyna briefly glances back... then tightly closes her eyes as tears begin to run from the corners of her eyes. "I won't forget, Calder. Don't let me forget, Breon... I owe a young man back there a tremendous debt." The beast seems to nod as he bounces off the top of a building, then clears a number of lean-tos and shacks in his breaks for open land... and freedom.
- back to Rising Force
