31st of Ash, 124 AS
Over the course of a few days Lyra continued to experiment with Nyx and Fortis. She found that, no matter what phase of the pattern she was in, the effects of her reinforced shadows remained relatively the same. Attention got diverted to areas where the aether was not already purposed for Nyx, and when she attempted to 'clog' the foci with her fortified shadows it would eventually divert its power away to other parts of the ward, where the draw would increase in intensity. There were several ideas that came from these observations, as Lyra could see the potential in clogging specific points within the wards to create safer pockets to gather her aether in. If she did so she could possibly gather more of her raw essence in these spaces where the foci attention was diverted away from, thus allowing her to use less aether fortifying the shadow spheres to keep the siphoning effects at bay.
Unfortunately, this was ultimately zero sum approach. If she used her shadows to supress one foci, the ones around it would draw with greater force, thus pulling in more aether to compensate for what would have been gained from that foci. It was frustrating, but Lyra did not allow her focus to remain on the insight for long. Instead she thought of another possibility.
It seemed that the passive draws were most efficient at pulling in, as she thought, 'unpurposed aether'. That is, aether which was not passed through a rune of magic or involved in an active magical effect, such as with Fortis. Yes the wards could process purposed aether, but it had become clear that the prison was specifically designed to counter certain known abilities that Lyra possessed. Specifically Mesmer, which she was certain her captors were aware she possessed. The few attempts she had made to initiate a hymn the wards had aggressively dismantled her spell before it had even begun to take shape. It made Lyra question just how much they knew about her, and to what extent their preparations extended.
When the passive draw began again Lyra once more gathered her aether toward one point, and there she created what she now coined the "Veil". Darkness and shadow became a sphere of twisting void which resisted the draw on their surface, but like always there was some give and Lyra could sense thin tendrils of her shadows being drawn into the Foci. That was when Lyra tried something new.
Reaching out to the sphere Lyra began to alter the shape of the shadows that formed the Veil. Unfocused and warbling lines sharpened into smooth curves, silhouettes that shifted not chaotically but in rhythmic patterns. With focused concentration Lyra made the dark magic dance a controlled dance, and when the lines of shadow moved they created an ever evolving shape which formed a pictograph that had been molded into the shape of a sphere. The design of the scripts were simple, merely repeating patterns of glyph meant to represent strength, preservation, and of course shadow. These three glphy patterns repeated in twisting patterns to form a larger pictograph that looked similar to a cloak, whose threads were formed of these repeating glyphs. Simple, yet effective. As Lyra ran the magic of Fortis through these glyphs she felt their resistance grow, and to her delight Lyra saw the amount of aether drawn from them steadily decreasing. It was not completely gone, but it was noticeable, so much so that by the time the passive draw had stopped Lyra realized she had retained slightly more aether than she had lost.
It seemed her hypothesis was correct. The passive wards had a difficult time processing purposed aether, especially aether reinforced with scrivening to give it definitive shape. This was a revelation which would greatly increase her odds of escaping when the time came.
Unfortunately, the active draw was not so easily resisted. When she felt the power begin to be drained out of her through the larger funnel points Lyra once again tried to wrap a portion of her aether in the undulating ball of shadows, yet despite her efforts she could only watch as her glyphs were dismantled and her aether slowly being drawn out and through the mesh where her power escaped into whatever apparatus existed beyond.
This was a problem that Lyra had come to truly despise over the last few days of her imprisonment. It seemed that no matter how she twisted her aether, or how much she resisted, the stronger siphoning force simply broken down all of her defenses and tore her power from her soul without much effort. The filtering mesh on the egress points was also far more efficient at processing her purposed aether than the foci on the passive wards. So much so that almost none of the aether she put into her spells were returned to her when the power draw ended. It was clear that her methods up to now would not suffice... So she looked elsewhere.
A spark of golden, chaotic energy flickered through the darkness of her prison, twisting and tangling into unrecognizable patterns which refused to be shaped without focused effort. With her attention on one of the egress points Lyra shaped the golden magic and held it loosely in her mental grip, and just as the force of the siphoning force reached its peak Lyra launched the energy at the filter. There was a sudden and powerful blaze of energy as golden energy unfolded itself into a thin, translucent net which exploded once it hit the mesh. The Entropic Ward cracked and shattered as quickly as it was formed, fragments of the golden magic being flung into the ward like shrapnel. To Lyra's surprise, the ward was badly damaged, but the energy being pulled through that particular gateway was suddenly halted. Quickly she drew her essence back into herself, and she watched the gate she had damaged slowly begin to knit itself together once more.
The mesh was still in tact, but it seemed as if the surrounding aether was disrupted slightly, this was what caused that particular gate to release its pull on her power. Whats more the energy that had been going outside of the prison was partially diverted to repair the minimal damage to the egress point. It did not take long before the repairs were finished and the siphoning began again, but Lyra still felt a sudden sense of victory. It was small, but it was possible limit how much of her aether was actively drawn from her during this active siphoning process.
When the draining finally came to an end Lyra settled into the center of her prison, wrapping her smokey form around herself as she contemplated the lessons she had learned. She could resist the passive draining, and she could disrupt the active. It was likely she could disrupt the passive one as well, yet ironically she suspected that would be noticed far sooner than interrupting an active draw would be. After all who knew what all her power was being used for. It is likely any of her experiments during an active draw phase could be interpreted as a result of the draw itself overwhelming some ward or process. With the passive drain, however, it would be very obvious that it was Lyra who was interrupting the stones natural processes.
These thoughts began to weave themselves into the start of a plan. During the active draw phases she would attempt to find ways to disrupt the total amount of aether drawn, thus increasing the margin for error for when the passive draws began. When the wards were passively draining her magic she would focus on resisting, using the aether saved from the active draw to pacify the needs of the wards themselves while maintaing a net positive aether hold of her own. It would not be easy, but given enough time Lyra knew she could begin to stockpile aether to perform more complex works of magic. With the extra magic she would be able to test new methods, and possibly begin to extend her influence to the outside once again.
Then what was next? Lyra supposed she needed to device a method to... store her aether somehow. A method that would let her create stockpiles of aether inside her prison, which would also completely resist both the active and passive draining methods of the wards. Then as her aether stores grew she could begin to explore new options for gathering more aether. Her first thought was to venture into the Void itself, physically stepping into that other plane to explore what options it might hold. Yet if she wanted to do that she would have to have a lot more aether.
Her mind drifted over her options, across all the magics she knew, and what she had learned over centuries of life, especially in recent years. An idea was forming. One that would be difficult, but if she could do it would spell a shift in the dynamics of her imprisonment.
Over the course of a few days Lyra continued to experiment with Nyx and Fortis. She found that, no matter what phase of the pattern she was in, the effects of her reinforced shadows remained relatively the same. Attention got diverted to areas where the aether was not already purposed for Nyx, and when she attempted to 'clog' the foci with her fortified shadows it would eventually divert its power away to other parts of the ward, where the draw would increase in intensity. There were several ideas that came from these observations, as Lyra could see the potential in clogging specific points within the wards to create safer pockets to gather her aether in. If she did so she could possibly gather more of her raw essence in these spaces where the foci attention was diverted away from, thus allowing her to use less aether fortifying the shadow spheres to keep the siphoning effects at bay.
Unfortunately, this was ultimately zero sum approach. If she used her shadows to supress one foci, the ones around it would draw with greater force, thus pulling in more aether to compensate for what would have been gained from that foci. It was frustrating, but Lyra did not allow her focus to remain on the insight for long. Instead she thought of another possibility.
It seemed that the passive draws were most efficient at pulling in, as she thought, 'unpurposed aether'. That is, aether which was not passed through a rune of magic or involved in an active magical effect, such as with Fortis. Yes the wards could process purposed aether, but it had become clear that the prison was specifically designed to counter certain known abilities that Lyra possessed. Specifically Mesmer, which she was certain her captors were aware she possessed. The few attempts she had made to initiate a hymn the wards had aggressively dismantled her spell before it had even begun to take shape. It made Lyra question just how much they knew about her, and to what extent their preparations extended.
When the passive draw began again Lyra once more gathered her aether toward one point, and there she created what she now coined the "Veil". Darkness and shadow became a sphere of twisting void which resisted the draw on their surface, but like always there was some give and Lyra could sense thin tendrils of her shadows being drawn into the Foci. That was when Lyra tried something new.
Reaching out to the sphere Lyra began to alter the shape of the shadows that formed the Veil. Unfocused and warbling lines sharpened into smooth curves, silhouettes that shifted not chaotically but in rhythmic patterns. With focused concentration Lyra made the dark magic dance a controlled dance, and when the lines of shadow moved they created an ever evolving shape which formed a pictograph that had been molded into the shape of a sphere. The design of the scripts were simple, merely repeating patterns of glyph meant to represent strength, preservation, and of course shadow. These three glphy patterns repeated in twisting patterns to form a larger pictograph that looked similar to a cloak, whose threads were formed of these repeating glyphs. Simple, yet effective. As Lyra ran the magic of Fortis through these glyphs she felt their resistance grow, and to her delight Lyra saw the amount of aether drawn from them steadily decreasing. It was not completely gone, but it was noticeable, so much so that by the time the passive draw had stopped Lyra realized she had retained slightly more aether than she had lost.
It seemed her hypothesis was correct. The passive wards had a difficult time processing purposed aether, especially aether reinforced with scrivening to give it definitive shape. This was a revelation which would greatly increase her odds of escaping when the time came.
Unfortunately, the active draw was not so easily resisted. When she felt the power begin to be drained out of her through the larger funnel points Lyra once again tried to wrap a portion of her aether in the undulating ball of shadows, yet despite her efforts she could only watch as her glyphs were dismantled and her aether slowly being drawn out and through the mesh where her power escaped into whatever apparatus existed beyond.
This was a problem that Lyra had come to truly despise over the last few days of her imprisonment. It seemed that no matter how she twisted her aether, or how much she resisted, the stronger siphoning force simply broken down all of her defenses and tore her power from her soul without much effort. The filtering mesh on the egress points was also far more efficient at processing her purposed aether than the foci on the passive wards. So much so that almost none of the aether she put into her spells were returned to her when the power draw ended. It was clear that her methods up to now would not suffice... So she looked elsewhere.
A spark of golden, chaotic energy flickered through the darkness of her prison, twisting and tangling into unrecognizable patterns which refused to be shaped without focused effort. With her attention on one of the egress points Lyra shaped the golden magic and held it loosely in her mental grip, and just as the force of the siphoning force reached its peak Lyra launched the energy at the filter. There was a sudden and powerful blaze of energy as golden energy unfolded itself into a thin, translucent net which exploded once it hit the mesh. The Entropic Ward cracked and shattered as quickly as it was formed, fragments of the golden magic being flung into the ward like shrapnel. To Lyra's surprise, the ward was badly damaged, but the energy being pulled through that particular gateway was suddenly halted. Quickly she drew her essence back into herself, and she watched the gate she had damaged slowly begin to knit itself together once more.
The mesh was still in tact, but it seemed as if the surrounding aether was disrupted slightly, this was what caused that particular gate to release its pull on her power. Whats more the energy that had been going outside of the prison was partially diverted to repair the minimal damage to the egress point. It did not take long before the repairs were finished and the siphoning began again, but Lyra still felt a sudden sense of victory. It was small, but it was possible limit how much of her aether was actively drawn from her during this active siphoning process.
When the draining finally came to an end Lyra settled into the center of her prison, wrapping her smokey form around herself as she contemplated the lessons she had learned. She could resist the passive draining, and she could disrupt the active. It was likely she could disrupt the passive one as well, yet ironically she suspected that would be noticed far sooner than interrupting an active draw would be. After all who knew what all her power was being used for. It is likely any of her experiments during an active draw phase could be interpreted as a result of the draw itself overwhelming some ward or process. With the passive drain, however, it would be very obvious that it was Lyra who was interrupting the stones natural processes.
These thoughts began to weave themselves into the start of a plan. During the active draw phases she would attempt to find ways to disrupt the total amount of aether drawn, thus increasing the margin for error for when the passive draws began. When the wards were passively draining her magic she would focus on resisting, using the aether saved from the active draw to pacify the needs of the wards themselves while maintaing a net positive aether hold of her own. It would not be easy, but given enough time Lyra knew she could begin to stockpile aether to perform more complex works of magic. With the extra magic she would be able to test new methods, and possibly begin to extend her influence to the outside once again.
Then what was next? Lyra supposed she needed to device a method to... store her aether somehow. A method that would let her create stockpiles of aether inside her prison, which would also completely resist both the active and passive draining methods of the wards. Then as her aether stores grew she could begin to explore new options for gathering more aether. Her first thought was to venture into the Void itself, physically stepping into that other plane to explore what options it might hold. Yet if she wanted to do that she would have to have a lot more aether.
Her mind drifted over her options, across all the magics she knew, and what she had learned over centuries of life, especially in recent years. An idea was forming. One that would be difficult, but if she could do it would spell a shift in the dynamics of her imprisonment.
