Forums » Sci-Fi Roleplay » An unexpected future (1x1)

A memory flashed through Kayleigh's mind at that. Two, exactly. She had locked away one of them, simply because she had been deathly scared. "I... I know Jerian..." she said softly, probably just loud enough for Kate to hear. Kayleigh couldn't really point out what triggered the memory, but here it was nonetheless.

Kate frowned slightly, an eyebrow raised, "You know him? How? I mean, are you sure you know him? He doesn't seem to remember you... and he doesn't exactly walk in normal circles."

Kayleigh shook her head. "I didn't explain properly... I mean, I know him, but he doesn't know me. He can't. Or maybe he can, I'm not sure... The point is, something you said earlier triggered my memory. When I was a little girl, I used to have dreams. Not nightmares, but I wouldn't call them normal dreams either. I could see Jerian, younger than he is now, fighting against... monsters, of all forms and varieties. I couldn't even name most of them, and I probably still can't."

Kate's eyes widened, "You... saw him in your dreams? Fighting monsters?" She looked thoughtful, "Well, that's obviously some kind of magic. Sounds like the ability to see evens that are happening somewhere else... Kind of like subconscious scrying. I've never heard of that before." Kate shrugged, "Well, that's certainly odd, but there's not we can do about it now except get your magic training started."

Kayleigh nodded. Kate's explanation didn't comofort her, but she didn't let it show through. "Alright, I'm ready then." she replied.

Kate nodded and smiled, "Okay then, let's go somewhere where we won't get interrupted." As she walked over to the door she said, "The first step in learning control over magic is to learn control over yourself, so I'll teach you some breathing exercises, which will be he first stage of your meditation training."

She led Kayleigh to another room in the house, this room was bare except for a circle chalked on the wooden floor, the circle was surrounded by runes and glyphs, Kate gestured to the circle, "Step inside and sit down, don't smudge anything. That's a protective circle; nothing magical or supernatural can enter or leave it, nor can any magic cross the boundary. I don't expect you to tap into any magic just yet, but it's better safe than sorry."

Kayleigh did as Kate asked and stepped into the circle and set down. She made sure not to smudge any of the lines around her. She didn't feel quite comfortable for some reason, but she kept faith in the abilities of Kate, the protective circle and perhaps even her own should something go wrong.
"Okay, I'm ready."

Kate smiled and nodded, "Great, let's get started then." She sat down with her legs crossed in font of Kayleigh, "First I want you to concentrate on your breathing. I want you to inhale, hold it for a few seconds and then exhale... inhale.... exhale.... I want a nice, slow, steady rhythm. Once you're breathing right I want you to concentrate solely on the pattern of your breathing, nothing else. I need you to clear you mind and relax."

Kayleigh did as she asked, and tried to focus on her breathing as much as possible. At first, it didn't work - she was too focused on her surroundings, the noises coming from everything around her and even Kat's own breathing. She shook her head and tried again. This time, she could focus more easily, and quickly managed to keep her focus fixed on her own breathing. She nodded when she did.

Kate smiled widely, "Excellent. Now that you've got your breathing right I want you to close your eyes. Remember your breathing. The only thing that exists is your breath and my voice.... in...out....in....out....that's it. Now, as you breath in I want you to feel every muscle in your chest as it moves, I want you to concentrate on the flow of energy, from the air into your body, around your body and then out into the air again as you breath out. Watch the energy ebb and flow, feel the changes in your body as it happens. This is the energy of your body and it is the easiest, and most dangerous, fuel for magic."

Kate was quiet for a short time as she gathered her thoughts, "Now, I want you to feel the energy flow in your mind, I want you to picture it clearly, it could be light or flowing water or your breath flowing in and out of your body. I want you to feel it... no take hold of it, bend your will upon the enetgy within you and shape it to your will. Try something simple... gather a small bit of energy within yourself and push it out."

Kayleigh once again did what she asked. SHe concentrated, and felt the energy. She pictured it as a stream of bright flowing water, according to a small river her father had once showed her. She was breathing steadily as she pictured it flowing throughout her body.
That's where something went wrong. She attempted to gather a bit of energy, but she lost control. As she realized this, her breathing turned ragged and irregular. She tried to let go, and she did, eventually. Even though she hadn't taken that much of the energy, a huge blast of pure force erupted from her in all directions, bashing into the circle's barrier as it tried to find a way to get out. Kayleigh tried her best to regain control, but the unexpectedly huge blast caught her by complete surprise.

Kate flinched instinctively as the energy struck the barrier mere inches from her and dissipated, "Hm, well you can touch the energy well enough." She said once she'd regained her composure, "But you need to work on your control." She frowned slightly, "Hm... next time I want you to use you mental image of the energy to help you control it. Think of it like...uh... channels to control the flow of water, channels you can open and close at will, or maybe imagine having the energy in your hands, so that you're able to twist it and point it where you like."

Kayleigh, now much more confident of the barrier's strength, tried again. She once again grasped the energy and pushed it out, this time appearing in her hand as a little ball of energy rather than a huge blast of pure force.

"Wonderful! Very well done!" Kate beamed, "You learn very quickly. It took me weeks to get even a little spark off at will back when I was a Neophyte." She shook her head, "Anyway, release your grip on the energy, let it dissipate. We don't want you burning up all the energy inside your body, do we? As I said before, the life energy, or qi, of the body is the easiest form of energy for your to manipulate, since a source is readily accessible and it is usually the energy that people instinctively tap into first. As you can imagine though, burning up too much of your internal energy can be bad for your health, so it's best to only use weak spells with this energy form." She smiled again, "I want you to practice tapping into and manipulating your qi energy, once you've got the basics of qi you can apply similar methods to more advanced sources of energy that are both harder to tap into and harder to control."

Kayleigh nodded. She was glad her outburst of energy earlier didn't wear her out too much now that she learned she was tapping into her life's energy. "Is it possible to... Y'know... Die by using too much qi?"

Kate nodded, the smile fading from her face, "It is possible, qi is the energy of body, so if too much is drawn forth and expelled in magic then the body has less energy to function. You grow tired, exhausted, you weaken, you become hungry and very thirsty, you start shaking, then there's the hallucinations and everything... after that you'd probably pass out. Eventually your organs start shutting down one by one, your nervous systems shuts off, your heart stops... the last thing to go is the brain."

She paused, to let this sink in, "Normally you won't draw enough energy to do this, but I've known people who've got desperate, who lost access to other magic sources during a fight and started drawing on their qi, taking too much too fast. If the magic flow doesn't stop then you die, if you're lucky you pass out and you go quietly." Her expression was very serious, even grave, "The first lesson of magic; it is dangerous and if you don't respect that danger it will kill you. Never draw more than you know you can handle, don't tap into new magic sources until you know what they are and what they do, and never, ever get over-confident when it comes to this stuff."

Kayleigh nodded understandingly. She knew she wouldn't like magic. As powerful as it seemed to be, and as useful as it appeared to be, it still held great risk. SHe definately hoped she'd never need to draw on her qi too much.
"What are the other sources?" she inquired

"There are quite a few, actually." Kate said, "You can draw energy from other living beings, through a blood sacrifice for instance or from the lingering spiritual energies of a recent death, there have been those who have tapped into Infernal and Angelic energies, through bargains and deals with such creatures, and other magics from Faeries though as you can guess dealing with Demons is both dangerous and quite forbidden by The Society." She paused thoughtfully, "There's also drawing energy from things like Ley Lines and magic foci, places where natural magic is very strong. There's been some debate as to whether faith energy can also be used, but no one's entirely sure if it has ever been done."

"Even though all forms of magic are dangerous, if you are sufficiently well-trained and disciplined then you should be safe. That is why we try to train magic users when we find them."

Kayleigh nodded her understanding. "So, as far as I took your explanation, these so called ley lines and magic foci are the safest sources of magic?"

Kate nodded and smiled, "In a way. Magic foci sites aren't all that common; Tara, Stonehenge, Mount Olympus, all these places are strong in magic, and because of this these places are usually associated with kingship, heroes, deities and the like. However, it is he strength of the magical presence that is the problem with these places. Someone without proper training and control can draw too much magic from these places, and destroy themselves in the process. There are also some sites more dangerous to draw from than others, certain ancient Mayan and Aztec temples were built on such wellsprings of magic, and the slaughter and death from the sacrifices there have seeped into the stones an tainted the magic; it is strong for violence, necromancy and blood magic, but such dark energies are corrupting and can cause insanity."

Kate paused and shrugged, "Still, if you have enough training, are able to control yourself and magic well enough and you're at an untainted site, it is the safest and most powerful magic any one human can wield, except if you're an Aetherian of course." She paused and looked thoughtful, "As for ley lines... well, these are channels of natural magic that run though the earth, currents might be a better term." She smirked, "The idea's passed into the popular consciousness, so we've done all we can to make the whole idea seem patently ridiculous to most people. The last thing we need is people randomly poking and prodding at the energies of the ley lines with no idea what they'redoing."

She then stood up from her seating position and stretched a little, "Hmph... getting stiff from sitting down like that too long." She noted, "Anyway, ley lines are pretty easy to tap, but you're not always going to be on or near a line, and some creatures can tap them too, or use them to move around, so if you're up against something like that then the leys might actually put you at a disadvantage, not to mention the fact that you're tapping into raw, unrefined earth magic, so you really do need to be properly trained before you try and use it." She sighed and shook her head, "There's no 'safe' magic, Kayleigh. All forms have their advantages and disadvantages, but their own dangers as well. Some more severe or easier to unleash than others, but dangerous nonetheless."