In a large room complete with columns of marble and jade, the reader can find a Master and his Apprentice, engaging in the sacred art of teaching. The Master, a well-dressed man with a modest beard, was gesticulating wildly with his hands and pointing all around the room at the magical implements hanging from the walls, the ceiling, and protruding from the wall. The Apprentice, a young boy clad in the black and red robes of a Redeemer, listened politely and nodded at all the appropriate moments.
"Now, Muryllis, we will be doing some target practice. There are moving targets to your left, that spike over there can take any blow and probably won't break, and the stationary ones are right behind you. I know that you have some strange ethics, but I want you to practice silently casting the Unforgivables on those targets. If you can do that we can move on the fun stuff."
Syrus grinned and turned to one of the stationary targets. He raised his hand and there was a flash of green light that nearly blinded the both of them. The dummy was reduced to ash and sawdust.
The room was so full of magical items that even a Muggle could have felt the stranged aura; to him, it would have felt quite disturbing - to Muryllis, it was delicious. His eyes seemed to grow in diameter as he paced around the hall, soaking in both the magic and Syrus's detailed descriptions of the intricately-designed items adorning the walls. Soon enough, the came to a portion of the room where one could utilize groups of targets, both mobile and static, to practice more.. destructive skills. Syrus's directions were simple enough, though Muryllis wasn't a great fan of the Unforgivables; in fact...
"I apologize, Syrus; unfortunately, the only Unforgivable Curse that I have ever learned is the Cruciatus curse, and I only know how to cast it; beyond that, I am devoid of Dark knowledge." Of course Muryllis wasn't truly devoid of Dark magic; he had been a Shadow for a long enough time to learn of the Dark Arts, how they worked... he simply meant that he did not know of the truly Dark Dark Arts.
"I apologize, Syrus; unfortunately, the only Unforgivable Curse that I have ever learned is the Cruciatus curse, and I only know how to cast it; beyond that, I am devoid of Dark knowledge."
Syrus scowled and made a face that conveyed so much negative emotion that it is truly impossible to describe it. He sighed and patted Muryllis on the head in a rather avuncular manner.
"Then show me your Cruciatus, Muryllis m'boy, and then we'll move on to the big stuff."bg
As much as Muryllis despised the Cruciatus curse, his thirst for greater knowledge urged him foreward. Nothing in life is perfect, Muryllis, yet we must continue to plow through, he reasoned, aiming his wand at a target. His eyes glimmered briefly, his concentration poured into the spell, and his Roman wand vibrated for a split second before the dummy he was pointing toward began to shiver, spasming as the curse disturbed every molecule in it. The canvas on the dummy began to tear, and Muryllis decided to have a bit of fun the practice.
Raising his wand, he ended the curse; the dummy returned to its original form. Pointing at it again, he launched the Cruciatus at it - this time, however, it was twisted (a great technique he had been taught at Nostri Magi) with an Anima Rei spell, giving life to the nonliving doll. Once again it began to spasm, only this time it was more lifelike, falling to the ground in horrifying pain, writhing as the curse made its way to every part of the enchanted dummy's body. The fabric finally tore, and the entire thing broke apart, the wood on the inside catching on fire.
"How's that," Muryllis asked, peering over at his mentor.
Syrus watched with a hint of amusement on his face as his young Apprentice unleashed his magical prowess on the hapless dummy. It writhed, and spun, and tore, and very soon it's insides caught fire, making the shadows dance on the wall. And then it was still at last, lying motionlessly on the floor, the flames crackling quietly in the room.
"How's that," Muryllis asked, peering over at his mentor.
"Not bad," said Syrus, shrugging his shoulders a bit, "but let me show you what you are doing wrong."
His own wand appeared in his hand, a black and fire-hardened piece of Redwood, fourteen inches long with a core powered by an enchanted gemstone he had found in Siberia. It's slender tip positioned itself so that it was facing an undamaged dummy, the wand humming slightly in the silence of the room. Rather suddenly the dummy began to shake, its thin exterior tearing effortlessly. Within a second it had disintegrated, its core pulverized to sawdust by the force of the curse. Just as quickly as it had appeared, the wand was gone. Syrus turned back to his young student and smiled brightly.
"All livings things generate energy. Electrical energy, magical energy...whatever. This energy field is part of the great field that fills this universe, embracing us all. Where you take your magical energy from, Muryllis, is within yourself. You channel your own energy through that stick in your hand, and then use it to do what you desire. This is good, but it is not as good as it can be."
Syrus paused, stroked his modest beard, and continued his lecture.
"There is a part of every human brain which, when active, allows us to manipulate exterior magical and physical objects. In wizards and other magically attuned humans, this part of the brain is extremely active. As you well know, we are all made of atoms. Our minds can indeed manipulate matter, as I will show you later. But now you will see how they manipulate energy. When I cast my Cruciatus on the dummy, my magical energy was drawn entirely from the void. This increases my strength many times over. With a bit of training, you will be able to channel more external energy and increase your own strength. Now, a demonstration."
"Oy, you lazy bastards, get up!"
And the destroyed dummies promptly rebuilt themselves and returned back to their original places, fixed and ready for action. Syrus pointed his wand, again in his hand, at the once on the right.
"Bombarda!"
The dummy's head exploded, sending stuffing, wood, and fabric everywhere. He pointed his wand at the once on his left.
"Bombarda!"
The dummy exploded as well, but this time there was a noticeable difference. The explosion was louder, and accompanied by a flash of violet light. There was no shrapnel, really. The dummy was just...gone.
"You see, Muryllis? Energy from the void is much more useful than internal energy. Conserve internal energy for hand-to-hand combat. Now, Muryllis, try your Cruciatus again, but this time I want you to focus a bit before you do it. Meditate, open your mind to the energy all around you. Tear at it, twist it, make it obey your will. Make me proud, Muryllis."
This lesson was truly proving to be quite useful; in fact, Muryllis was beginning to see magic in a different way, much as he had hoped to when he joined the Society. He brushed a loose hair back as he pondered aloud on what had just been told to him. "Using energy from around the target? Well then, that makes a lot of sense.. in fact, that makes even more sense when you consider wandless casting. From what I learned, the wand is used to amplify the energy you channel into a spell; from what you just showed me, if one doesn't use their own energy, but rather the energy around the target, a wand isn't necessary, seeing as you don't need to augment that outside energy... correct?" This was all proving to be quite enlightening indeed.
Aiming his wand at a dummy, Muryllis noted, "You shall still need to teach me how to finally lose the wand; however, let me first master this deal with energy use." The Cruciatus curse.. Muryllis imagined the energy swimming around the target, thin wisps for the wizard to weave. A silent flick, and his mind's eye imagined that energy slamming into the dummy, once again twisted with the Anima Rei spell to also give it life. The effects were... the same. "Interesting... what am I doing wrong? Of what I had been told before, the most efficient way to cast is to use the imagination; am I not imagining this all correctly?"
"Interesting... what am I doing wrong? Of what I had been told before, the most efficient way to cast is to use the imagination; am I not imagining this all correctly?"
Syrus frowned, a look of disappointment etched onto his youthful face. He had expected Muryllis to grasp the idea instantly, but also to be able to implement it just as quickly. But he realized that in his joy at having a student he had overestimated his young charge. It is difficult to master the use of the imagination when it comes to casting magic, as he knew well for experience. Nevertheless, it was his job as a teacher and master to guide Muryllis down the right path.
"Listen, Muryllis," said Syrus, stepping closer and putting a hand on his shoulder, "these kind of things take practice. Just imagining it does not make it so, my young apprentice. If that was true, all Mages would now have powers beyond your wildest dreams. We can only practice, yes."
Syrus stepped away and pointed a finger at one of the unscathed dummies.
"That dummy, there. I want you to destroy it with any form of magic available. However, there is a little catch to this game. As you cannot summon the necessary resources to use void-based energy, at least, on an extremely rapid level, then I want you to sit down and meditate. Think about it. That's really all there is to it, for now. Eventually you will be able to do this efficiently and rapidly."
Syrus nodded, and sat down on the comfortable rug which had materialized beneath him. He motioned to Muryllis to sit down beside him, and then his frown reappeared, though not quite as bad as before.
The Dark Lord's instruction was brief, but meaningful; Muryllis gazed at the target he had attempted to destroy, thoughtfully tilting his head to the side as he pondered on the non-existant effects of his magic. "Meditation, a fine idea - a professor of mine back at Nostri Magi, the master of mentalism in the school, swore by the art of meditation. It probably would do to meditate on this process, to help with the imagination and summoning of the correct energies."
Once he has sat down in a comfortable posture, he pointed his wand at the dummy and closed his eyes; All went dark, yet the faint image of the dummy remained, as if imprinted inside his eyelids. Then, however, Syrus spoke again.
'Muryllis...what did you imagine, exactly?'
At this, his eyes came open once more, and he looked at his teacher. "A professor of mine once told me about the idea of magic being woven, and so I latched on to that idea, picturing the infinite amount of thread 'swimming' in the air. I then simplified the image by singling out only the few threads I needed, using my wand to direct them to the dummy and perform the effects of the curse. I don't, however, see where I went wrong; though that is a very rough description, I think it is good enough to summarize what it was I saw, and what it was I wanted. Any ideas?" The Ravenclaw, as typical of his house, was yearning for an answer - he wanted, no, needed, as typical of his old school, to conquer this obstacle, as he had all others before him; to him, knowledge meant everything.
Syrus smiled a little, now sure as to the reason why Muryllis had failed the first time. His eyes flickered like candles as he looked over at his Apprentice, a sinister grin on his face.
"You err, Muryllis, but ever so slightly. You have not advanced to the stage where you take the strands of magic and throw them around. You still need that stick of yours to channel magic. What you need to imagine is something else entirely. Imagine that energy that you had colliding into the object...imagine it colliding with you, fusing with you, giving you strength. Take that energy and channel it through yourself and into your wand. That is the key, methinks."
He nodded to himself, muttered something about magical properties, and closed his eyes.
"A plausible idea," he mumbled, glancing yet again at his lifeless foe. Muryllis then closed his eyes, the yew branch in his hand poised solidly between his fingers. His mind's eye focused on himself from the side; he now imagined magic, existing in a layered shell, wrapping around himself and fading as the layers grew farther away from him. He let himself want those outer layers, to desire them, causing them to come closer to him, ever so gently floating in toward his center.
This seemed to be working; Muryllis could feel the hairs on his arms stand, clueless as to what this new sensation was. Energy was slowly making its way into him, adding to the supply he intended to use on the dummy. Soon enough, this supply reached a level the Redeemer deemed perfect. He opened his eyes, drawing that energy from his center into his arm, reaching it up to his wand. A thin wisp of distorted light, pulsing with energy, made its way to the dummy; this was yet another Cruciatus twisted with an Anima Rei, causing the dummy to come to life, then promptly begin to spasm as shocks of unimaginable pain. The dummy fell apart.
"There we go," he said, a smile forming on his face for the newly-discovered talent. "I can practice this on my own later; what's next?" He truly was an eager learner...
Teagan Offline: This board is full of nostalgia.
Aug 22, 2020 8:39:09 GMT -5
Missing the old MH: gotta say missing when MH and all that was around.
Nov 6, 2019 0:02:30 GMT -5
Willow_lazy: why tf are there 400 posts about adidas
Sept 6, 2018 17:35:57 GMT -5
Azrael: I'm not hard to find, since I'm the only one there who goes by "Azzy", I'm pretty sure. XD
Feb 10, 2018 16:44:41 GMT -5
Azrael: Dunno if anyone still pops by here from time to time, but if any of you mofos do and still feel like gettin' yo nerd on, I've been hanging around this here place a bunch recently: www.roleplayerguild.com/
Feb 10, 2018 16:44:10 GMT -5
Azrael: hold onto your pantaloons
Jul 25, 2016 5:16:43 GMT -5