Glade 13th, 120th AoS
The winds blew in a northern direction across the peaks of the Astralar, sweeping their way down across the palace and it's gardens as a hint of warmth mingled in the cool air. Rickter felt the fabric of his shirt flapping from the air as the contours of his torso were prominent, his chest slowly heaved with each deep breath he took in and then released. He sat within the gardens of the palace with his eyes closed, his back leaned into the tree Talon and Aoren held him under just yesterday. Ever since his initiation with the power of Kinetics, and the lesson that Talon gave, his perspective on magic and aether had gradually changed throughout the day. Rickter had realized that aether existed more than in just specific things, it existed everywhere and within everything he'd ever touched.
It maintained a constant presence in his life somehow, and yet, he never once came to realize just how much until recently. Having four runes of power now he was starting to not just sense it, but actually feel it when he took time to just stop and look around. Within the grass, within the trees, within the very air that blew against him. Everywhere. He didn't have to use any magic to understand that now, it was an underlying essence that made up the fabric of the natural world. That's how he had started to perceive it at least, hence his need to just sit and breathe. To take into account the fact he hadn't lingered on the concept for very long, and in turn, do a bit of introspection as to discern his own limitations with aether.
He was a Negator first and foremost, a power that very much reinforced his role as a guardian. Then there was Elementalism. Though that had been the harder one to figure out for himself, he wasn't without his own inclinations with the magic. And of course, with Reaving he had the ability to create weapons out of aether, yet for the longest time he felt there was something more to it than just that. And now, with Kinetics, not only did he become aware of Aether's presence within the world, he could potentially shift its flow to induce a magical flux upon whatever he focused on. There was so much he still needed to figure out if he were to carry on like this, lest he just lose himself to the concept of power and forsake his own personal identity with it. Magic wasn't just a tool or extra muscle one just worked out, it was a literal aspect that became a part of one's entire being.
Rickter reached up to his chest when he reflected on that bit, thinking back to the moments spent in Talon and Aoren's embrace as the aether coursed through him. He could never forget the heavy discomfort he experienced, nor the constant support of his Bondmates, in the time he spent undergoing threshold sickness while under their watch. Now, as of today, he felt twice as good as he felt yesterday; having that sense of clarity that allowed him to just sit back and meditate for a while. And so he did. He breathed deeply with a mindful thought on each breath, thinking about the aether he practically absorbed through each inhale he took. Personal aether was limited where as world aether was more prominent, and that's what made the act of manipulating elements that much easier.
Yet his element... The element he thought he felt strongly connected to, was an element found excessively on rainy days or distant shores. Hell every time he closed his eyes to meditate, he'd slip into that space where everywhere he walked was but an endless ocean. The water served as the floor while both sea and sky stretched onward forever, which often led the wolf to wonder what it all meant to him really. How was it important to him? What about it did he connect with and in what sort of way? When his eyes opened to reveal the physical world before him, the wolf looked down at his hands in contemplation before he used them to rise onto his feet. Thinking about it was only going to get him so far, when in truth practicing the magic would help him further. Thus when his bare feet rested against the spikes of grass within the garden, Rickter walked out away from the tree he'd sat up against, taking point within the garden itself as he stood facing against the wind.
The wolf took a deep breath in before he reached his arm out, his hand opened as aether pooled to manifest into water before his palm. It started as just a globule but gradually increased in size, the bouncy surface of the water sphere rippling with tiny waves as he focused. "That was the easy part." He'd figured as he twisted his hand around so that his fingers were underneath the orb rather than over it. With his other hand brought up, he gestured as though he intended to pull the orb away, the water coalescing from its origin point toward the next before it accumulated before his other palm. Rickter narrowed his eyes on the bouncy water ball as he looked aside, hooking his arm up from the left in an arc, with his fingers then lined straight as though he attempted to cut the air with them.
The water responded in turn, the mass under his control practically streamed through the air, before it all splattered from his loss of focus and pelted the ground. "That's not effective at all..." He thought to himself as he looked to his hand consciously. "What good is water if I can't use it with force." He looked to where the water had drizzled moments ago in speculation, before it dawned on him that he could do more than just manifest water. Hell he wasn't even limited to using just his hands with it, as he recalled throwing some out using his other limbs during the Argent Hand trials. The memory led him to look down at his toes then after the recollection, leading the wolf to raise a foot up before stomping it downward. With a focus of intent through the stomp Rickter channeled more aether, generating a very minute wave that was short-lived, once it came cascading out from underneath the padding of his front foot.
"I see..." That was just a light dose of his aether then, just as the orb he generated earlier was maintained with such a small amount. "The more aether spent into a gesture, the more control you need to refine what you want to achieve." More was never a good thing in this case then, rather, gauging the amount one needed to spend to accomplish their intent. Looking at the small pool of water seeping into the grass before him, Rickter held his hand out again as he focused on it, the liquid slowly leaking back to the surface as tendrils began to worm their way back up before his hand. Rickter kept his eyes fixated on the water as it gathered into another orb, his hand slowly dropping until it hung at his side and the water just floated in front of him. "Gesturing makes it easier to carry out intent but it's not necessary." Control became more refined from practice after all, and so far his experimentation had led him to interesting conclusions. Probably basic in terms of what most Elementalists knew, but for him it was as groundbreaking as the night he'd learned how to combine magics like Elementalism and Negation.
Thus Rickter stepped back for a moment without looking from the water blob, the tendrils coalescing still as the orb within its center rippled vibrantly. Now... what shape could he make it take on? He tried to picture a sword or something pointed at least, a thought that caused the water to stir as it clustered into a singular form; before expanding out to maintain the solid form of a shortsword in his presence. "Okay, standard shapes are easy to maintain as well... Maybe something more complex?" But what would that be? He thought to try himself for a moment but that seemed too costly, even if he still had plenty of reserves his aether would still be spent on trying to control it as well. So... Perhaps?... "Start small with it at least." He figured as he looked intently to the mass of water, its form coalesced around itself again as he thought of the next shape for it to take.
As it pooled into one uniform blob the water started to pulsate in the air, Rickter's thoughts spent on how to perceive the next form and give it a sense of life. He started with the legs first as two tendrils snaked out to produce forelegs, with two more slowly protruding to create the hind legs of what he thought to create. And then came into creation before he focused on the head, the body of water quaking loosely as droplets began to drizzle from it. Almost there. With just a bit more thought he coaxed the body of water to form a more elongated posture, enough to where he could see where the head needed to be, before the rest of the body simply scattered into droplets that rained onto the grass. Rickter wound up exhaling heavily as though he'd held his breath for too long, his focus lost as his effort to keep the small body of water in a contained focal point.
And he was so close too, if he'd managed to finish it in time, he would've generated a wolf-like form with the water, the figure large enough to sit in his palm had he actually finished it. Still, he felt like he had a refined sense of control over it now, and with the water left on the ground once more, Rickter simply looked down to it with aether channeled on manipulating it once more.
The winds blew in a northern direction across the peaks of the Astralar, sweeping their way down across the palace and it's gardens as a hint of warmth mingled in the cool air. Rickter felt the fabric of his shirt flapping from the air as the contours of his torso were prominent, his chest slowly heaved with each deep breath he took in and then released. He sat within the gardens of the palace with his eyes closed, his back leaned into the tree Talon and Aoren held him under just yesterday. Ever since his initiation with the power of Kinetics, and the lesson that Talon gave, his perspective on magic and aether had gradually changed throughout the day. Rickter had realized that aether existed more than in just specific things, it existed everywhere and within everything he'd ever touched.
It maintained a constant presence in his life somehow, and yet, he never once came to realize just how much until recently. Having four runes of power now he was starting to not just sense it, but actually feel it when he took time to just stop and look around. Within the grass, within the trees, within the very air that blew against him. Everywhere. He didn't have to use any magic to understand that now, it was an underlying essence that made up the fabric of the natural world. That's how he had started to perceive it at least, hence his need to just sit and breathe. To take into account the fact he hadn't lingered on the concept for very long, and in turn, do a bit of introspection as to discern his own limitations with aether.
He was a Negator first and foremost, a power that very much reinforced his role as a guardian. Then there was Elementalism. Though that had been the harder one to figure out for himself, he wasn't without his own inclinations with the magic. And of course, with Reaving he had the ability to create weapons out of aether, yet for the longest time he felt there was something more to it than just that. And now, with Kinetics, not only did he become aware of Aether's presence within the world, he could potentially shift its flow to induce a magical flux upon whatever he focused on. There was so much he still needed to figure out if he were to carry on like this, lest he just lose himself to the concept of power and forsake his own personal identity with it. Magic wasn't just a tool or extra muscle one just worked out, it was a literal aspect that became a part of one's entire being.
Rickter reached up to his chest when he reflected on that bit, thinking back to the moments spent in Talon and Aoren's embrace as the aether coursed through him. He could never forget the heavy discomfort he experienced, nor the constant support of his Bondmates, in the time he spent undergoing threshold sickness while under their watch. Now, as of today, he felt twice as good as he felt yesterday; having that sense of clarity that allowed him to just sit back and meditate for a while. And so he did. He breathed deeply with a mindful thought on each breath, thinking about the aether he practically absorbed through each inhale he took. Personal aether was limited where as world aether was more prominent, and that's what made the act of manipulating elements that much easier.
Yet his element... The element he thought he felt strongly connected to, was an element found excessively on rainy days or distant shores. Hell every time he closed his eyes to meditate, he'd slip into that space where everywhere he walked was but an endless ocean. The water served as the floor while both sea and sky stretched onward forever, which often led the wolf to wonder what it all meant to him really. How was it important to him? What about it did he connect with and in what sort of way? When his eyes opened to reveal the physical world before him, the wolf looked down at his hands in contemplation before he used them to rise onto his feet. Thinking about it was only going to get him so far, when in truth practicing the magic would help him further. Thus when his bare feet rested against the spikes of grass within the garden, Rickter walked out away from the tree he'd sat up against, taking point within the garden itself as he stood facing against the wind.
The wolf took a deep breath in before he reached his arm out, his hand opened as aether pooled to manifest into water before his palm. It started as just a globule but gradually increased in size, the bouncy surface of the water sphere rippling with tiny waves as he focused. "That was the easy part." He'd figured as he twisted his hand around so that his fingers were underneath the orb rather than over it. With his other hand brought up, he gestured as though he intended to pull the orb away, the water coalescing from its origin point toward the next before it accumulated before his other palm. Rickter narrowed his eyes on the bouncy water ball as he looked aside, hooking his arm up from the left in an arc, with his fingers then lined straight as though he attempted to cut the air with them.
The water responded in turn, the mass under his control practically streamed through the air, before it all splattered from his loss of focus and pelted the ground. "That's not effective at all..." He thought to himself as he looked to his hand consciously. "What good is water if I can't use it with force." He looked to where the water had drizzled moments ago in speculation, before it dawned on him that he could do more than just manifest water. Hell he wasn't even limited to using just his hands with it, as he recalled throwing some out using his other limbs during the Argent Hand trials. The memory led him to look down at his toes then after the recollection, leading the wolf to raise a foot up before stomping it downward. With a focus of intent through the stomp Rickter channeled more aether, generating a very minute wave that was short-lived, once it came cascading out from underneath the padding of his front foot.
"I see..." That was just a light dose of his aether then, just as the orb he generated earlier was maintained with such a small amount. "The more aether spent into a gesture, the more control you need to refine what you want to achieve." More was never a good thing in this case then, rather, gauging the amount one needed to spend to accomplish their intent. Looking at the small pool of water seeping into the grass before him, Rickter held his hand out again as he focused on it, the liquid slowly leaking back to the surface as tendrils began to worm their way back up before his hand. Rickter kept his eyes fixated on the water as it gathered into another orb, his hand slowly dropping until it hung at his side and the water just floated in front of him. "Gesturing makes it easier to carry out intent but it's not necessary." Control became more refined from practice after all, and so far his experimentation had led him to interesting conclusions. Probably basic in terms of what most Elementalists knew, but for him it was as groundbreaking as the night he'd learned how to combine magics like Elementalism and Negation.
Thus Rickter stepped back for a moment without looking from the water blob, the tendrils coalescing still as the orb within its center rippled vibrantly. Now... what shape could he make it take on? He tried to picture a sword or something pointed at least, a thought that caused the water to stir as it clustered into a singular form; before expanding out to maintain the solid form of a shortsword in his presence. "Okay, standard shapes are easy to maintain as well... Maybe something more complex?" But what would that be? He thought to try himself for a moment but that seemed too costly, even if he still had plenty of reserves his aether would still be spent on trying to control it as well. So... Perhaps?... "Start small with it at least." He figured as he looked intently to the mass of water, its form coalesced around itself again as he thought of the next shape for it to take.
As it pooled into one uniform blob the water started to pulsate in the air, Rickter's thoughts spent on how to perceive the next form and give it a sense of life. He started with the legs first as two tendrils snaked out to produce forelegs, with two more slowly protruding to create the hind legs of what he thought to create. And then came into creation before he focused on the head, the body of water quaking loosely as droplets began to drizzle from it. Almost there. With just a bit more thought he coaxed the body of water to form a more elongated posture, enough to where he could see where the head needed to be, before the rest of the body simply scattered into droplets that rained onto the grass. Rickter wound up exhaling heavily as though he'd held his breath for too long, his focus lost as his effort to keep the small body of water in a contained focal point.
And he was so close too, if he'd managed to finish it in time, he would've generated a wolf-like form with the water, the figure large enough to sit in his palm had he actually finished it. Still, he felt like he had a refined sense of control over it now, and with the water left on the ground once more, Rickter simply looked down to it with aether channeled on manipulating it once more.
