A Veil of Power I
Posted: Wed Nov 06, 2024 10:30 pm
29th of Ash, 124 AS
After her experiments with the chaotic magics of entropy, Lyra had allowed herself some time to rest and observe. Whenever she had gathered enough aether she cast her senses into the void to peer out through the shadows in the laboratory. She saw the man Stefan most often. Whenever he appeared he seemed focused and intent on the bones in whose shadows she hid, but she could not quite tell what it was he was attempting to do. Whenever he attached the wires to her prison the sudden drain would pull her from the shadows, and she would again be forced to claw at her own power to keep it all from being torn away from her. Then from time to time another man would appear, this one she did not recognize, but she could see it was he who delt with the wards that bound her. She was especially curious about him, but when he worked his magic she found it difficult to maintain the link to the void and often had to withdraw in order to consolidate as much of herself as she could.
He will have to die. Lyra thought one night after the man had left. It was clear he was a powerful mage that had that frustrating magic known as Negation. If she were to truly escape, she would have to find a way to counter his efforts at all cost.
When she was not observing from the shadows Lyra was instead examining the wards of her prison. After several more days of observation she had begun to notice some small patterns in the aether as it flowed through the stone. Each of the divots, the funnels to the outside, also acted as the anchoring point for most of the stones defensive properties. This observation alone was not overly useful, for while one could say these points were a weakness in the schema, they were also the most heavily protected.
The passive draw on her aether also followed a few set patterns. She had first thought it was random, but after several more days of simply observing Lyra realized it was simply cycling through a dozen or more patterns seemingly at random. It was almost rhythmic the way it happened, like a very specific magical heartbeat. The pattern also seemed to dictate which parts of the wards were refreshed or strengthened, though this observation was lacking as it appeared that her power was also extracted outside the stone to be utilized by something else beyond her sight. Perhaps with another few weeks she would be able to discern the full scope of her prison, but for now she simply made due with what she could see.
From what she saw there were two primary states that the stone would exist in. The first was the most common, passive draw state that rotated through several patterns over the course of a few days. The second was a less coming, yet stronger, active draw which pulled heavily on her very soul, and was the hardest to resist. This seemed to happen most often when the man Stefan was doing his experiments, when the other man refreshed her wards, and other times which she could not determine their cause. All of these observations lead Lyra to a conclusion. She needed to devise a more efficient method of resisting the pull on her aether, specifically against the active aether draw that was the most detrimental to her continued efforts.
Her efforts with Nyx had shown some promise, so it was that she drew upon this power again when she felt the passive draw beginning. Once more she activated Fortis and wrapped herself in the shadows of the prison, solidifying the darkness around her in order to resist the pull. Again she felt the resistance, and she shifted her attention to the wards themselves.
She felt the wards pulling against her magic, almost like wind being sucked through a tube, a vacuum of sorts. The draw was omnidirectional as her power was pulled from all directions, and when she followed the flow of her aether she found hundreds of small foci in the pictographs which formed when the wards draining effects were activated. Normally this would not be visible, but due to her own grand mastery of scrivening and the gift of Myshala Lyra was able to visualize the flows of aether as pictographs.
As her power was drawn in there was a secondary function of the ward which acted as a filter, extracting her inherent will from the magic and dumping it back out into the prison. That left raw power that was slowly dispersed across the ward. It was fascinating. The simple fact that the wards of this stone was able to identify her will, extract it, and then convert her essence to raw aether to fuel the magic of the wards was nothing short of genius. The more she examined the mechanisms of her prison the more Lyra wondered if it was even possible to be made by mortal hands, let alone by mages of this age. She had seen the skills of the 'Scriveners' that lived in this century, and to say they were lack luster was to be too forgiving. Was this the work of Stefan? That other man? Or was there someone, or something else working in the background, feeding them knowledge that they could never possess on their own.
Whatever the case Lyra knew she would have to find a method to counter this ward, and condensing the shadows around her did seem to help. She observed as the wards tried to pull in the fortified shadows. Like her other magic, the wards tried to pull it into the foci within the ward, yet when it did it seemed as if the filter struggled to separate her will from the magic itself. Then, in another display of cleverness, the foci that encountered this magic reduced its pull around the area where the shadows were condensed, as if it were trying to pick around the unfamiliar magic to try and gather the aether it knew how to process. This was a very clever mechanism, as it allowed the wards to autonomously shift focus to pull in aether it could more easily process, but that also meant it could be exploited.
Again, the passive draw was omnidirectional, and every foci in essence could pull in aether within a specific area within the stone. It could also focus its draw within certain parts of its area of influence, ignoring areas it could not easily process. This made the wards very efficient at sustaining themselves, as the more energy they used processing the aether the less they gained overall, and it seemed the purpose of these wards was to maintain themselves and whatever else the stone was connected to outside. Because of this mechanism, if Lyra wanted to keep a part of her aether from being drawn into the ward, she simply needed to wrap a specific area in several layers of fortified shadows. After a few passes the foci would shift its focus to a part of its area where her aether was loose in the air, leaving the small spheres of shadow alone.
The observations held a lot of promise, but unfortunately it still resisted in a net loss for Lyra. The aether she used to form the spheres barely offset the loss to the wards themselves. Whats more, if she did not focus the shadows became thin and the wards were able to draw out more useable aether, which prolonged the foci's focus on that area. Yet still, the mechanism was interesting, and it told Lyra there was more here that could be exploited. She simply had to determine what the best method forward was.
When the draining stopped Lyra released her magic, capturing as much of her aether as she could when the shadows dissipated and she examined the results. She still lost more aether than she saved, yet the loss WAS less than it was when she did not resist. It was possible there was a more efficient way to veil her aether from being pulled in, thus increasing the amount she saved over time, but there was a risk. She had to allow the wards to draw just enough aether that would continue to function 'normally'. If she were to suddenly cut off power to those passive wards, it was just a matter of time before her wardens would notice and make moves to suppress her resistance. That meant in addition to finding a way to resist the passive aether draw, she had to find a way to offset the cost to ensure she could gather power and still keep the illusion that the wards were working as intended.
The problem was a complex one, but Lyra was certain she could find a method to achieve the goal. It was simply a matter of time... and then she would have her vengeance against the ones who held her captive.
After her experiments with the chaotic magics of entropy, Lyra had allowed herself some time to rest and observe. Whenever she had gathered enough aether she cast her senses into the void to peer out through the shadows in the laboratory. She saw the man Stefan most often. Whenever he appeared he seemed focused and intent on the bones in whose shadows she hid, but she could not quite tell what it was he was attempting to do. Whenever he attached the wires to her prison the sudden drain would pull her from the shadows, and she would again be forced to claw at her own power to keep it all from being torn away from her. Then from time to time another man would appear, this one she did not recognize, but she could see it was he who delt with the wards that bound her. She was especially curious about him, but when he worked his magic she found it difficult to maintain the link to the void and often had to withdraw in order to consolidate as much of herself as she could.
He will have to die. Lyra thought one night after the man had left. It was clear he was a powerful mage that had that frustrating magic known as Negation. If she were to truly escape, she would have to find a way to counter his efforts at all cost.
When she was not observing from the shadows Lyra was instead examining the wards of her prison. After several more days of observation she had begun to notice some small patterns in the aether as it flowed through the stone. Each of the divots, the funnels to the outside, also acted as the anchoring point for most of the stones defensive properties. This observation alone was not overly useful, for while one could say these points were a weakness in the schema, they were also the most heavily protected.
The passive draw on her aether also followed a few set patterns. She had first thought it was random, but after several more days of simply observing Lyra realized it was simply cycling through a dozen or more patterns seemingly at random. It was almost rhythmic the way it happened, like a very specific magical heartbeat. The pattern also seemed to dictate which parts of the wards were refreshed or strengthened, though this observation was lacking as it appeared that her power was also extracted outside the stone to be utilized by something else beyond her sight. Perhaps with another few weeks she would be able to discern the full scope of her prison, but for now she simply made due with what she could see.
From what she saw there were two primary states that the stone would exist in. The first was the most common, passive draw state that rotated through several patterns over the course of a few days. The second was a less coming, yet stronger, active draw which pulled heavily on her very soul, and was the hardest to resist. This seemed to happen most often when the man Stefan was doing his experiments, when the other man refreshed her wards, and other times which she could not determine their cause. All of these observations lead Lyra to a conclusion. She needed to devise a more efficient method of resisting the pull on her aether, specifically against the active aether draw that was the most detrimental to her continued efforts.
Her efforts with Nyx had shown some promise, so it was that she drew upon this power again when she felt the passive draw beginning. Once more she activated Fortis and wrapped herself in the shadows of the prison, solidifying the darkness around her in order to resist the pull. Again she felt the resistance, and she shifted her attention to the wards themselves.
She felt the wards pulling against her magic, almost like wind being sucked through a tube, a vacuum of sorts. The draw was omnidirectional as her power was pulled from all directions, and when she followed the flow of her aether she found hundreds of small foci in the pictographs which formed when the wards draining effects were activated. Normally this would not be visible, but due to her own grand mastery of scrivening and the gift of Myshala Lyra was able to visualize the flows of aether as pictographs.
As her power was drawn in there was a secondary function of the ward which acted as a filter, extracting her inherent will from the magic and dumping it back out into the prison. That left raw power that was slowly dispersed across the ward. It was fascinating. The simple fact that the wards of this stone was able to identify her will, extract it, and then convert her essence to raw aether to fuel the magic of the wards was nothing short of genius. The more she examined the mechanisms of her prison the more Lyra wondered if it was even possible to be made by mortal hands, let alone by mages of this age. She had seen the skills of the 'Scriveners' that lived in this century, and to say they were lack luster was to be too forgiving. Was this the work of Stefan? That other man? Or was there someone, or something else working in the background, feeding them knowledge that they could never possess on their own.
Whatever the case Lyra knew she would have to find a method to counter this ward, and condensing the shadows around her did seem to help. She observed as the wards tried to pull in the fortified shadows. Like her other magic, the wards tried to pull it into the foci within the ward, yet when it did it seemed as if the filter struggled to separate her will from the magic itself. Then, in another display of cleverness, the foci that encountered this magic reduced its pull around the area where the shadows were condensed, as if it were trying to pick around the unfamiliar magic to try and gather the aether it knew how to process. This was a very clever mechanism, as it allowed the wards to autonomously shift focus to pull in aether it could more easily process, but that also meant it could be exploited.
Again, the passive draw was omnidirectional, and every foci in essence could pull in aether within a specific area within the stone. It could also focus its draw within certain parts of its area of influence, ignoring areas it could not easily process. This made the wards very efficient at sustaining themselves, as the more energy they used processing the aether the less they gained overall, and it seemed the purpose of these wards was to maintain themselves and whatever else the stone was connected to outside. Because of this mechanism, if Lyra wanted to keep a part of her aether from being drawn into the ward, she simply needed to wrap a specific area in several layers of fortified shadows. After a few passes the foci would shift its focus to a part of its area where her aether was loose in the air, leaving the small spheres of shadow alone.
The observations held a lot of promise, but unfortunately it still resisted in a net loss for Lyra. The aether she used to form the spheres barely offset the loss to the wards themselves. Whats more, if she did not focus the shadows became thin and the wards were able to draw out more useable aether, which prolonged the foci's focus on that area. Yet still, the mechanism was interesting, and it told Lyra there was more here that could be exploited. She simply had to determine what the best method forward was.
When the draining stopped Lyra released her magic, capturing as much of her aether as she could when the shadows dissipated and she examined the results. She still lost more aether than she saved, yet the loss WAS less than it was when she did not resist. It was possible there was a more efficient way to veil her aether from being pulled in, thus increasing the amount she saved over time, but there was a risk. She had to allow the wards to draw just enough aether that would continue to function 'normally'. If she were to suddenly cut off power to those passive wards, it was just a matter of time before her wardens would notice and make moves to suppress her resistance. That meant in addition to finding a way to resist the passive aether draw, she had to find a way to offset the cost to ensure she could gather power and still keep the illusion that the wards were working as intended.
The problem was a complex one, but Lyra was certain she could find a method to achieve the goal. It was simply a matter of time... and then she would have her vengeance against the ones who held her captive.