The Rift: IV

[Taelian]

41st of Frost, Year 119

"Beyond the initial concepts of Transposition, Ebon Knight, there are certain detractors from the magic known as Limits. These are, really, what separate us from the Gods in our control over spatial reality; the first of these things is Time." The woman opened a portal before her, doing so quickly. A single wave of the hand was all it took, and the portal was large enough for a man of Riven's size to step through. Taelian stared into the depths of the portal with relative awe, intrigued by the door. He could see through to the other side -- it was a meadow, perhaps not far from here. The stalks were beige-colored like wheat, but he did not imagine they were even particularly alive. Dormant, perhaps, from the season of Frost.

"This is what people conventionally imagine when they think of Portals; in reality, it is a fairly advanced technique. Like all of them, however, it is limited by Time. To maintain a portal costs aether; too many will quickly drain on a mage, particularly an unskilled one. Unstable ones drain more-so; yours, as a novice, are unstable at best if they even form. You will find them to be rather taxing as you perform them," the woman further explained. Taelian felt that he followed well; it was a simple enough concept.

"There are three more Limits, but I will only go over the next one before I ask you to cast your first true portal, via an ability. This next Limit is known as 'Distance', and like Time it is a fairly self-explanatory one." Eloise paused, and closed the portal before her, perhaps due to Time: she did not wish to needlessly waste any more of her reserves. Closing it appeared as simple as opening it did; her eyes shut for but a moment and her temples tensed, appearing to focus on something. And then, it collapsed upon itself, and space was restored to its normal composition.

She smiled faintly. "That portal was perhaps a hundred miles south of here, away," Eloise stated. "Even doing so, it took from me a significant reserve of aether. There is the energy already required to create a portal, and it increases exponentially based upon distance. At your level, you scarcely have to worry of distance save for the fact that you are limited by it to an extreme: you cannot project portals very far at all. Once you get to my level, though... you can walk between nations in a single step. Or so we would like to believe. Again, it is a taxing process."

"Why is it more draining?" the Ebon Knight inquired.

Eloise's right brow quirked, and the smile upon her lip seemed to quickly curve before cooling. "I'm glad you asked," the Umpire replied. "Nodes, really. And Streams. And the sheer difficulty of asserting mastery over space that is a thousand miles away from you. With great distance comes the need for precision, but more accurately more aether thrown at it all to force everything into place. A proper substitute for precision, perhaps; only an Elder can really travel long distances with ease."

A loaded word, he imagined. He was uncertain of what an Elder was, though he imagined it may open a can of proverbial worms to inquire. He decided to do so, anyway.

[Taelian]

"What is an Elder?" the Siltori asked.

Eloise pressed her lips together, and whiffed a short breath between them, as if to call Taelian an irritant. She still answered, regardless.

"It's a complicated topic to unravel. An Elder is -- a... well, do you know what an Ascendant mage is?" she asked. Taelian shook his head; he'd perhaps heard of it once, in Daravin, but he did not genuinely understand it. He had some vague conception that it may or may not have been a master mage; some sort of threshold passed that allowed one to advance to a further degree of progression. And that Ascendants were rare. He'd never met one before, after all... not even Aldrin was one.

"An Ascendant mage is a mage who has truly mastered one of their Runes, and has - in a way - melded with it, becoming innately tied to it as an intrinsic characteristic of theirs. In this way, the Rune can never be deprived from them, as it has grown to become a part of their very biology. They are, perhaps, still the mortal they were before... but not the same sort. On a fundamental level, cosmic concepts and distinctive aspects of... what some would call divinity, reach and communicate with them. But Ascendants are not Gods; they are fallible mortals. While they may seem like Gods to the simple ones beneath them, I myself have seen multiple rise and fall, often quickly. As always, hubris undermines them."

Taelian did not feel that her explanation was entirely satisfactory, but he decided not to further push it. There was a lot they still had to cover, even on this topic alone. "So... Elders are Ascendants?" he asked, curling the corner of his lip as his eyes seemed to narrow in confusion.

"Yes," she replied. "They are among the most common, perhaps, but that does not make them any less significant. And... they do not appear common, for they are travelers that roam all across space; wading through one plane after another, shifting through the dimensions of reality as if transitioning between the steps of a stairwell. I am in the process of attempting to achieve this state myself, Taelian. But not all such things go very well."

[Taelian]

He was not surprised to discover Eloise’s intentions, as he had known for some time that she was… ambitious. That was why she was here, after all; in an attempt to recruit him to effectively act as her pawn. A recruit, he supposed, if he was being charitable.

Still — there was nothing wrong with being that way. She was right: he was ambitious too, and becoming an Elder did not sound altogether unappealing to him. Or any other Ascendant, if it would bring his people nearer to their revolutionary ends. He knew that Éloise would likely chastise him for his single-mindedness, but Taelian continued to think on those terms alone.

“What are other types of Ascendants? I’m curious,” the Ebon Knight inquired. Éloise frowned.

“Do not distract yourself with faraway possibilities. I mentioned the Elder only in that I wished to laud their ability for long-distance travel. You, dear Ebon Knight, will likely follow a different path in the future that is to come; I can see that becoming a wanderer of space would only suit you poorly. You are grounded to this world, and the mysteries closest to us. In time, that will lead you to your answers.”

It was… a fair response. Taelian could not complain — she was right. He was drawn to the near, to the immediate, to the things most pertinent to him and the people he had always known. Though he admitted that in part, things of late had led him to question what was of more importance; he weighed these things with one another constantly. Riven versus Sil-Elaine… somehow, that was a difficult choice. He often wondered if his Arlaed would truly choose to venture there with him, if he had the chance. And certainly, he had never summited the courage to ask.

“Taelian, focus,” the woman sternly ordered. He nodded once, and raised his hand in a ready gesture, hoping to open the first of his true portals. “We will begin with Window. A Window is an opening in space that allows a limited quantity of things to pass through it. Light and sound are, of course, the most important of these things though other applications may be relevant to some. Heat and aether both come through, but in the latter case it is only the raw and untapped sort. Mostly, Window is used either to spy or communicate. Our mages often communicate with one another through Windows, held across long distances. It is very useful for our purposes.”

Absent instruction, Taelian looked to Éloise with confusion. She had a tendency to explain things at length, though Taelian’s mind often thought mechanically. He wanted to know how it was formed, what distinction carried that made these portals unable to process physical matter.

“I know you have questions, but magic is sometimes drawn by intention. Will for only those properties to carry through - or more importantly, will specifically for a Window to be drawn - and that is what you will get. Try.”

He nodded slightly, and focused on the Aether Flux around him, as he had in processing and performing his other small feats. He felt all the same as before, though somehow it was slightly more clear. Taelian waded what he felt was like an aethereal grip into the flux closest to him, drawing clusters of energy together to form two separate Nodes. Then a Stream, then connected to him via his Anchor. He closed his eyes, and focused on this Window as he imagined it.

But when the Nodes collided, they created nothing but a momentary twist and a foiled warp of space, quick to collapse upon itself. He frowned, because he had failed, even though it was only his first attempt.

“Try again,” the Umpire demanded. “It will take many tries to learn each ability; sometimes in your frustration you will continue to pursue these attempts, only to overstep. I beckon you, always, to try with caution and to learn your limits… but to be unafraid of making a second, or even fifth attempt.”

The Ebon Knight nodded. He would keep going.

[Etro]

♅ The Rift: IV ♅

XP: 5 {Can be used for Transposition}

Pieces of knowledge:

• Transposition: Time
• Transposition: Distance
• Transposition: Window
• Transposition: The Elder
• Transposition: Be Persistent
• Transposition: Portals vary in what can pass through

Comments: This was so good, I love the relationship between Eloise & Taelain. I find his way of approaching things a different type of pace than most pcs and enjoy his approach to different pursuits.