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story:chapter_2 [2018/06/16 08:44] – davenportstory:chapter_2 [2025/06/09 22:56] (current) – davenport
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-====A Single Stone...====+====Chapter 2: A Single Stone...==== 
 +Will's magical senses had always felt like he was swimming in a stagnant pool of water, but touching this stone gave him the suddenly, overwhelming sense of a flow - like there was suddenly more to explore - something to touch and discover. He had studied and worked to improve his prowess over these years, but he'd never felt a real //pull// in his arcane senses. In this world of grey monotony, the stone drew him away.  It pulled in the way a cool fall breeze asks you to walk out into it and just... let... go...
  
-If you have ever known what it was like to spend a long time swimming in a stagnant pool of water, finally to find that there is now a flow pulling you along in another direction, then you know what comes next.  Your curiosity gets the better of you and you follow that new path, consequences be damned. +And for once, Will felt as if he could go.  A thought opened in his mind about leaving all this dull grey behind.  Something that had been long overgrown by the lessons of repetition and requisite.
- +
-Will felt it tug at him in a sense that can really only be equated to that.  In his world of grey monotony, the stone drew him away in his arcane senses.  It pulled sharply like the way a cool fall breeze asks you to walk out into it and just go... +
- +
-And for once, Will felt as though he could go.  A thought opened in his mind about leaving all this dull grey behind.  Something that had been long overgrown by the lessons of repetition and requisite.+
  
 Maybe there was a way to crack the hold on his mind.  He breathed deeply - so much that it hurt.  Then exhaled and inhaled again, feeling the world around him as he tried to think...  "Out there, where do I feel the voice strongest... where do you call me..." Maybe there was a way to crack the hold on his mind.  He breathed deeply - so much that it hurt.  Then exhaled and inhaled again, feeling the world around him as he tried to think...  "Out there, where do I feel the voice strongest... where do you call me..."
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 In fact, these days, even pure-blooded magi were becoming less and less common.  Families that had been magi for generations were producing fewer and fewer 'heirs' with even a fraction of their ancestors talents.  It made people like Will even more disliked. Nothing hurt their egos more than non-elites who had talent greater than their own offspring.  The great families were growing weaker by the day. In fact, these days, even pure-blooded magi were becoming less and less common.  Families that had been magi for generations were producing fewer and fewer 'heirs' with even a fraction of their ancestors talents.  It made people like Will even more disliked. Nothing hurt their egos more than non-elites who had talent greater than their own offspring.  The great families were growing weaker by the day.
  
-At this point in Myrhh's history, nearly all people who used arcane arts needed canes, staves, or wands to cast spells and incantations.  It was impossible for them to even use spells without calling forth the sacred words to invoke their arts.+At this point in Myra's history, nearly all people who used arcane arts needed canes, staves, or wands to cast spells and incantations.  It was impossible for them to even use spells without calling forth the sacred words to invoke their arts.
  
 It was a slightly unwieldy system since any one could hear what you were going to do before you did it.  Will always thought it made things a little redundant at times. It was a slightly unwieldy system since any one could hear what you were going to do before you did it.  Will always thought it made things a little redundant at times.
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 He was walking down the streets at a steady pace.  There were several decent sized buildings, or at least tall enough to perhaps bring him to the range of the planetary barrier.  It was this final barrier that kept the really large space debris from causing them any harm. He was walking down the streets at a steady pace.  There were several decent sized buildings, or at least tall enough to perhaps bring him to the range of the planetary barrier.  It was this final barrier that kept the really large space debris from causing them any harm.
  
-Sadly, it was also this "protection" that created a conflict with the ozone layer that would otherwise absorb harmful biological by-products.  It was t+Sadly, it was also this "protection" that created a conflict with the ozone layer that would otherwise absorb harmful biological by-products.  Ever since it's placement, the world had steadily grown grey as the skies were no longer free to move as nature had intended.  It was odd how this control had brought the feeling as close to any casual observer. 
 + 
 +The largest building was a local apartment complex that rose over twenty stories.  If he could manage it, maybe the building's height would bring him close enough to the barrier that he could slip through it.  
 +  
 +Finally he reached the top of the building.  In the back of his mind, he thought about what would happen if this failed.  The instructors would be livid at this perceived escape attempt. He would be viewed as little more than a criminal, a traitor, or both.  
 + 
 +"It's a crazy idea," he thought to himself. Perha ps, but was death really any worse than a life in slow agony?  Nights passed when he wondered about his parents... who they were... were they even alive? It had been so long though that they had probably moved on; just as Will had been forced to do. 
 + 
 +The stone was in his pocket.  Will took it out.  For an instant, he thought about throwing it away, let someone else deal with it.  But the thought never amounted to anything.  No!  He'd crossed the point of no return.  There was no turning back.  There was nothing to turn back to now.  For the first time, Will was in charge of his own fate.  Not some hereditary authority or an appointed instructor. 
 + 
 +Will took a deep breath and pulled in all the air his lungs could bear to hold. His insides felt the waves of magical energy wash over as a surge began to overtake him. His  body felt good: a warm feeling like after having a glass of wine. The  old fetters of the academy were starting to loosen as his mind expanded out through the power of the stone. The  vortex of beyond was callling, drawing him like the draining of a sink. H e held tightly to his staff and the stone. Will  thought he heard a soft whistling song; a song he'd never known had existed.  A gentle tough, a free place where magic wasn't just rigid rules but living wild like the beasts of old. 
 + 
 +Will raised his staff and thought of the words to the lightening spell.  A rush of power came to first his right then left arms.  It lifted him slightly.  he put his hands together, clasping to both his staff and the stone.  
 + 
 +The sky looked clear for once.  Then the ground shuddered, shook, and fell away.  Will could finally feel beyond the barrier.  The fresh cool breeze of the autumn sky.  it was a welcome chill.  A light was growing from his right hand where the stone was.  Soon it was blinding and Will had to close his eyes.  He was reaching out blindly now. 
 + 
 +Yet the light continued to grow stronger.  Will couldn't feel anything beneath him anymore.  But it was okay.  The stone took control now.  the powers of the stone overwhelmed Will's mind as he was finally pulled free of Myrah.  He blacked out and fell into a peaceful rest. 
 + 
 +For the first time in a very long time, Will dreamed.  They were dreams without fear.  He was cut free of the "Grey" past, the harsh overwatchers, the constant expectations.  It was good.  Will smiled and knew, even though what lie ahead would be difficult, he somehow knew that things were becoming much more interesting now. 
 + 
 +//Continue to [[chapter 3]]...//