The stone that changes emotions

[Ivar]

122 Frost 89th

People were all around. Noises everywhere. Lots of colors. The afternoon was real busy. Ivar was at the market with so many stalls. Folks selling stuff were yelling, and there was the smell of food too. But he didn’t want food. He wanted magical stuff.

There were so many stalls on the stone street. Every seller shouting about their stuff. Ivar moved through the people, looking around. He saw a place selling fancy cloaks. Another one had shiny tools. But he didn't want that.

He wanted dragonshards. He needed them for his scrivening. At last, he found a guy selling the stuff he wanted. There were shelves and tables with lots of interesting items. The good stuff like the shards were behind the counter where the mechant stood and they were sorted by colors. The seller was an old guy with an eyepatch. He was smiling at Ivar.

Then, Ivar saw one dragonshard that caught his eye.

"What's this dragonshard? I’ve not seen one like it before."

The seller looked at the stone. He smiled a bit. He picked it up and held it to the light. Then he said, "It's an Auralyth. It can change how you feel, your emotions."

The guy's answer made Ivar want the stone even more. A stone that could change emotions? He’d never heard of that. It could be a cool thing to experiment with. He really wanted to know more about this stone. He knew that a good scrivener always needed to learn more.

So, he didn’t wait much longer. He took a gold coin from his pocket. It was a lot of money, but he thought this was worth it. He left the busy market and went home. He could feel the Auralyth in his pocket. It wasn't just another magic rock. It was something new for him.

[Ivar]

He was more curious as he walked from the shop. He had so many thoughts. How did the Auralyth work? How could a rock change how he felt? He wanted to know right now. He could feel the stone in his pocket.

When he got back to his dorm, he took a deep inhale. His room smelled like old books and new paper. There were lots of shelves. Books and papers and ink and quills were everywhere. But he liked it that way.

He sat down and put a clean piece of paper on the small desk next to his bed. He put the Auralyth on the table. It looked cool in the light. The stone just sat there, all colorful and full of magic power he didn't know about yet.

"This is going to be cool, right? A magic rock that can change how we feel. Who would've thought?"

The room was quiet, and only his words were heard. He laughed a little. He told himself that talking to himself wasn’t crazy. He was going to start easy. He would think of a happy thing. Ivar cleared his head and thought about the Auralyth and what he was doing. He remembered the happiest day he could think of.

He focused on this memory and tried to get the power of the Auralyth. He felt something strange, like a little tingle when he tried to put his thoughts and energy into the stone. But it didn't work. He didn't feel any different.

"Okay, that didn't work. But I didn't think it would work the first time, did I? Let's try again."

He tried again, focusing more, putting his thoughts and energy into the Auralyth. This time, he remembered another happy day. The day he sold his first magic scroll. The good feeling, the happiness he felt when he got paid.

[Ivar]

He couldn't get the Auralyth to work no matter how much he tried. He was frustrated. He felt like he was close.

"It's not as easy as I thought, huh?"

But he wasn't going to give up. He would keep trying until he could use the Auralyth's power. After all, he was a student of a supposedly prestigious institution and he liked a challenge. He needed to get a feel of how to use it if he was ever going to be able to incorporate this into scrivening.

"Maybe the Auralyth is simpler than I thought. Maybe it just needs to feel whatever I'm feeling."

He tried to focus once more. He thought about selling his magic scrolls, his time in Kalzasi, his classmates, and the messes he had made in class. As he thought, he felt a little tingle in his hands. He opened his eyes and looked at the Auralyth. Was it brighter, or was he imagining it? He wasn't sure. But something was different. He felt like he was doing something right.

He kept doing what he was doing, letting his mind wander while he held the stone. Each moment, he felt his mood change a little. He was getting somewhere, and it was exciting. He was almost there, he could feel it.

"This could be it. This is the moment I've been waiting for."

He closed his eyes, focusing on the tingle. It got stronger and moved from his hand to his arm. He felt warmth going through his body. It was a good feeling, and it made him smile. He felt happy all of a sudden.

"Did it just... Hey this feels pretty good."

Ivar smiled but the feeling was short lived. He didn’t exactly expect the world out of this average quality shard anyways. All his attempts at using it had surely drained it of its power for the time being.

[Ivar]

Ivar held the dragon shard in his hand and spoke to it as if it were his best friend.

"Alright, listen up, you pretty Auralyth, if I can get you to vibe with my scrivening, there's a whole universe of crazy stuff we can do. Imagine this, a love letter. But not like a typical one. It's a letter, okay, but not just with words, it's crammed with pure emotion, love, raw and real, seeping into whoever reads it, making them feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Like, they're not just reading about love, they're feeling it, like really feeling it. How crazy is that? But hey, why should we stop at love? The world's full of emotions, right? What about a letter that makes you happy? Or a letter that can make you sad, or excited, or surprised?

Fuck, we can even have a letter that scares the pants off you. Think about the possibilities, it's endless! But wait, there's more. It's not just playing with emotions, it's also about empathy. Like, when someone reads the letter, they can actually feel what the writer was feeling. That could change everything! It could make people understand each other so much better. But I’m getting ahead of myself here, there's so much testing to do. I don’t even know if I can make you do all this stuff yet. But if I can, oh boy, that’s going to be a game changer.”

He spoke to it as if it would recharge off of his enthusiasm knowing full well it didn’t work that way. He sighed and set the stone aside in a safe place where he didn’t have to worry about theft from his roommates. Now he had to figure out something else to do to burn the energy he had left. He was way too hyper right now to contemplate sleeping.

[Ivar]

Ivar hit the floor of his room, hands under his shoulders, ready to get this workout going. His heart pounded in his chest as he closed his eyes, getting in the zone. And then, he started. Down, then up. One pushup. No sweat.

Again, he went down, feeling the floor under his chest. He pushed up, feeling a bit of burn in his arms. Two pushups. Cool, cool. He didn't stop, he just kept going. Down, then up. Three. His back was starting to hurt because of his posture.

His arms started to feel like jelly, but he wasn't gonna stop now. He was just getting started. Four. Five. Six. His arms begged him to stop.

"No way we got this. I want to be able to do ten pushups someday. I just need to keep working at it."

The muscles in Ivar's arms began to quake, a clear signal that they were feeling the strain. A heat crept up his neck and spread across his face, turning it a vibrant shade of red. He had made it to seven pushups, a respectable number given his past performance, but he knew he was capable of more. He took a quick breather, getting some air into his lungs. Then he went for another set.

He lost count of his total pushups after a while but his reps per set went down each time. All he knew was that his arms were on fire and his heart was beating like crazy. He could feel sweat dripping down his face and his body was getting hot. But he wasn't gonna stop now.

He finally collapsed on the floor, out of breath and totally spent. Lying on the floor, breathing hard, he made up his mind. He was gonna do this every day. Push himself physically so he could be well balanced.

[Imogen]

Review

Ivar

Lore: 6 lore (collectively, lores)

Points: 8, may not be used for magic.

Injuries/Ailments: A passing ennui, but only in passing

Loot: None.

Notes: Ambitious concept, to bare one's heart to a rock- what does it mean to find that a geode can encompass a mortal heart? Does it reflect poorly on our struggles to present humanity, or is it a fleeting reinforcement of the idea that any of it is real?

Not sure what the push-up session at the close was for, but maybe that's just how some people deal with vulnerability?

(Make sure you spend the money on the Auralyth- not sure what size or quality it's meant to be)