Blood Magic (Solo)

[Deleted]

People, Torin was not a fan. He had tried to interact with them, to "be" amongst them. He wasn't a big fan. Seclusion, that was how he liked it. It was how he had lived the vast majority of his life, so it was what he knew. Even though he had been in the company of teacher, teacher had been absent as often as not, and even when he had been present he usually may as well have not been. He gave Torin tasks, goals and then let the boy loose to achieve them. Torin had wandered deep enough in the woods that this time he would surely not be disturbed.

Torin would likely return to civilization eventually, but he needed to overcome a few setbacks. His bum leg being one of them. His time with Thalia had been enjoyable, but she had been afraid of him once she witnessed his magic. Good riddance, she was a distraction, something that would interfere with his progression as a mage and a warrior. Still though, his mind often conjured images of her.

Stronger, Torin needed to become stronger of body and of mind. He had once thought himself strong, but once defeated by woods, and mind clouded so quickly by a girl... he needed to become even stronger than he had previously believed even possible. The shadows were abundant this deep in the woods. His short sword drawn, he began to send threads of himself into the shadows, trying to manipulate them.

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Channeling I, Dark Arts I, k: 15, Simple; Threshold: 55 Vhh2Giy_

STA 40/45

[Deleted]

The shadows warped and bent to Torin's will. It was a rewarding feeling, a deep pleasure that filled a void in him. Oh how he enjoyed the feeling as his consciousness extended into the darkness around him. The shadows becoming ribbons, the ribbons as tendrils wrapping around things in the dark; an intricate web, Torin the spider sitting in the center waiting to pounce on his prey. A slight shudder and a demented smile overcame him. He cut his hand, blood dripping to the ground. Attempting to strengthen his hold on the shadows by adding a physical part of himself to the mix.

He had already had some success with similar techniques, using blood to make his magic stronger, to make it work in places where darkness was a rare commodity. Now he was experimenting, testing the limits of his abilities and getting a sense of what may work once he had strengthened himself. He was toying with ways in which to tie himself to the darkness that would grant him benefits. The first step was merely tying himself to the darkness. This was not a trifling task, it was something he had never really attempted, but he remembered the theory of it from teacher's books. Books that were now lost to him, and working from such a distant memory was not a simple task.

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Channeling I, Dark Arts I, k:15, Normal; Threshold 25 e89vnnsB

STA 35/45

[Deleted]

Torin failed to tie himself to the darkness in any meaninful way. He had merely managed to leave a gash across his left hand. He wrapped some cloth around his hand to slow the bleeding. "Well that didn't work." His mind had calmed a bit from his first success. When Torin's mind touched the darkness it was something of a drug, he wasn't quite himself, but it was a feeling of euphoria that left him wanting more. Afterwards he would recognize the madness that had begun to overcome him, as it had done so ever so slightly this time. Tying himself to the darkness was still too complicated for the fledgling mage, he needed to practice what he knew.

Torin once more tried to bend the shadows, elongating them, warping them into a ball. Something that could be thrown at someone should need arise. Now he would not be throwing at anyone, but gathering the shadows was an important step with which he had little practice. He concentrated on forcefully ripping the shadows from the environment, drawing them to a single point, and then allowing the shadows to dissipate harmlessly. He also focused on maintaining his personal awareness, not giving into the dark sensations, that maddening euphoria.

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Channeling I, Thaumaturgy I, k:15, Simple; Threshold: 55 Lj7hdVVp

STA 30/45

[Deleted]

Thalia popped into his mind, distracting him at the crucial moment of shadow manipulation. Was she really lost to him? He chose not to address the problem, instead choosing to suppress the thoughts. He took a moment to take in his surroundings. The woods, its hum, the droning sound that comes from the myriad life filling the woods to the brim. The sky was clear, a red tinge from the rings, the moons flooding the sky with light, the canopy casting such shadow that it left the forest floor dark even mid-day. The clearing Torin found himself in was not very large, the surrounding trees cast ominous shadows into the small clearing. Torin silently prayed nothing would come out of the woods for him, he didn't really know to whom he was praying... the darkness perhaps? He prayed nonetheless.

His mind cleared for the moment, he turned back to the task of gathering the darkness and releasing it. It should be simple, it should something he was more than capable of, he had experienced success even this night, but his most recent attempts had garnered no effect. He focused on the darkness and chanted the dark words that reverberated through the woods. He would bend the darkness to his will, it would become part of him. He would become a man who even the sorcerer king feared, just as teacher had planned.

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Channeling I, Thaumaturgy I, k:15, Simple; Threshold: 55 L1KLRGPx

STA 25/45

[Deleted]

"THE FUCK!" Torin cried out in frustration. He was not that bad at this, surely he had it in him to do more than just bend the shadows. He should be able to gather them, to throw them even. Here he stood, head sore from concentrating, with no success in doing so. Perhaps it was the cut to his hand, blood was supposed to make his magic easier, but perhaps the pain of the cut was disrupting his concentration. Or perhaps as much as he wished to deny it, he really did miss Thalia. She had cared for him for nearly two weeks. She had helped him find help for his leg, she had watched him nearly die and nursed him back to health.

It wasn't his fault, she had chosen to leave. She wanted nothing to do with a mage, especially one who was not sanctioned such as he. She may have even reported him to the authorities. Torin sat down, would she have? Surely not, he was in turmoil and his magic was reflecting such. "Do I love her?" Love was something of a foreign concept to Torin. He vaguely remembered the warmth from his parents, he had felt that warmth again with Thalia. However just as his parents had abandoned him, so too had Thalia.

His mind in the pits he tried again to draw the shadows around him, this time to create a shell of sorts, to erase himself from the world in a sense. Hiding under a rock so to say, perhaps the darkness could mask the feelings that the girl had brought out in him. That is if he could focus well enough to perform the task to begin with.

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Channeling I, Thaumaturgy I, k:15, Simple; Threshold: 55 wMjfhxqX

STA 20/45

[Deleted]

Once more, nothing happened. Torin was beginning to wonder if he had lost his edge. Was his mind so clouded by the girl? Torin thought for a moment, then decided it may be best to direct his focus elsewhere for a moment. To meditate in a manner of speaking, he would practice the blade. Perhaps if he could perform some of teacher's blade katas he would be able to clear his mind. With a clear mind, perhaps he could better practice his magic. He leveled his short sword, it was smaller than the blade he had learned with, but it was all he had been able to find so far. Hopefully it would be replaced with a legitimate blade soon.

The steps were more difficult with his leg in the state it was in, but the motions of the blade were as fluid as ever. He hobbled around, swinging his bum leg instead of taking his normal steps. This would be a severe detriment in a real fight, but if he could overcome it, he may be able to perform as he had with teacher once more. There was a reason he had come out here to practice his magic, with his leg his fighting capacity was diminished, but if he practiced his magic he could accommodate for his handicap.

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Swords I, Duelist I, Ability: 15, simple; Threshold: 55 e0oSAYkF

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Despite his handicap, he found himself able to perform the kata nigh perfectly. His mind focused solely on the blade as he spun about fighting off invisible enemies in the dark. As he came to the end of the routine he sheathed the blade, and reflected on what he had just done. While his leg was still screwed up, perhaps it wouldn't affect him as much as he had originally believed. If he could perform the kata so flawlessly, perhaps he was still a threat in a fight.

STA 15/45

[Deleted]

His mind now cleared, Torin decided to give his magic another go. Torin chanted the dark words while focusing on the shadows all around him. Attempting once more to bend them to his will, to shape them, to gather them into something that was tangible, something that he could wield as a weapon if the situation called for it, and then to allow the gathered shadows to return to their source.

Torin was breathing hard at this point, he had put a lot of effort into his practice. His head was aching and his body was growing fatigued. He could barely keep himself together, his mind may have seemed clear, but it was still clouded with a lot of debris. There was Thalia, there was Yumi. There was his failure as a human being, the grand injury to his pride. There was so much junk that he just couldn't get rid of despite all efforts, but still he tried. He cursed a the darkness in the dark tongue that should have allowed him to wield the shadows, but his mind just wasn't in the game. The shadows did not even sway.

Torin lay on his back in the tall grass, staring at the moons. "Perhaps you're the problem, you're so damned bright, I can't even wield the shadows." It was unlikely, but it was a thought. Torin stood up and headed into the woods a bit, perhaps here he would better be able to connect with the shadows.

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Channeling I, Thaumaturgy I, k:15, Simple; Threshold: 55 eCyN7FSg

STA 10/45

[Deleted]

Torin took his time, he did not wish to repeat the injury he had sustained on his leg. Despite the canopy, the light of the moons still gave the woods an eerie glow. Torin was not wrong, the shadows were more pronounced under the canopy, they practically spoke to him. He seated himself in the midst of the woods and set out to practice his craft. His chant muffled in the woods, trees all about, the undergrowth making the area barely passable. Torin remained stationary to avoid such isues.

He concentrated on the shadows all around him, attempting to gather them into a bundle of sorts, something that was nearly tangible. A darkness with substance. Even there in the darkness of the woods, the shadows resisted Torin's pull. Perhaps it was exhaustion, surely that was to blame Torin posited. Such was an easy thing to fix, he merely needed to rest. Torin returned to the clearing, taking his time. Once there he began to make a makeshift sort of bed to sleep for the night and a fire. There was dry wood under the canopy, but the field was somewhat damp with dew. It was however too dark to find dry wood and Torin was more frightened of injuring himself than of what might come out of the woods. Perhaps not the best line of thinking, but it was sound from the context of his own experience.

Failing to set up a decent camp, Torin merely lay himself down in the grass, hopefully the dew would keep his scent from attracting unwanted attention in the woods here.

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Channeling I, Thaumaturgy I, k:15, Simple; Threshold: 55 JzX5WVg3

Camping I, K: 15; Easy; Threshold: 35

STA 0/45·

[Deleted]

As Torin lay beneath the night sky, his consciousness slowly faded and gave way to the realm of dreams. He was with Thalia again, they were laughing together. Then her expression turned sour and she drew a knife, moving to stab Torin. Torin blasted her away with shadows leaving nothing but a pile of ash that blew away with the breeze. Then teacher was there, "You have to be able to get rid of your distractions... when you lived with me there was nothing to interfere. It was just you, me, and your training. Now that you are in the outside world, you have to learn to do away with what is clouding your mind. If not you will surely perish if you encounter any threats."

"What would you have me do teacher?"

"Eliminate your distractions, if you can't do it mentally, do it physically. I trained you for a reason, that reason is wasted if you wind up dead because some girl clouds your mind. You need to do away with her one way or another."

"I've never killed anyone... and I liked her..."

"You will kill many more than just her before your time is up, and whether you liked her or not is irrelevant. She is a threat to you, she knows what you look like, what your powers are, and you can't get her off your mind. She is a threat to your life and to your progress, you will have to do something about her one way or another."

STA 5/45

[Deleted]

Torin awoke, unsure what to make of his dream. It was still night. He wasn't sure what had awoken him, perhaps it was just the mildly demented nature of his dream. Regardless of the reason, he could tell he would be unable to return to his slumber. It was probably only a few hours until dawn and then he could attempt to make his way out of the woods, but that gave him a bit more time to practice his magic. Strangely his mind seemed clear of Thalia, perhaps disintegrating her in his dream had helped him let go a bit. He focused his energy on the shadows around him, chanting his dark speak over the darkness, willing the shadows to bow to his will.

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Channeling I, Thaumaturgy I, k:15, Simple; Threshold: 55 54gsa1We

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This time his will was imposed on the shadows much more simply than before. His personal darkness having been fed during his slumber, perhaps it helped him manipulate the shadows without. He easily gathered the shadows into a ball, a tangible mass of writhing darkness. He could unleash it on someone, he could use it to kill; instead he allowed the shadows to dissipate into the night. Content, he sat and waited for the sun to rise before heading out towards his destination. He may one day have to deal with Thalia, but for now dream murder would have to suffice.

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Meanwhile, several miles away.

Her family awoke for the daily chores just before dawn. They had a home to build, they needed to provide sustenance for themselves. Her brother came to wake her, calling out "Thalia, you gon' sleep the mornin' away!" No response from his sister, "Thalia!!" Still nothing, "THALIA!!!" Worried he came closer, intent on nudging her awake. What he found would leave him scarred, he screamed. Others came rushing to his side, more screams and cries. All that remained of Thalia was a blackened corpse.