The Light that Guides

[Thimryl]

4th of Glade, Year 125, A.o.S

➸ Thimryl found himself at one of the lakes outside the capital, a quiet and serene area from prying eyes. He liked being out in nature, as it allowed for a more unrestrained freedom when he practiced. He didnt have to worry about collateral damage from his training or having it docked from his pay as a soldier. Today, he found time to practice his Traversion, recalling the lessons his father gave him on the basics, something he could practice while serving in his enlistment.

Using various objects he had acquired during his enlistment, he set them up in various spots within the open-air glade near the lake, and began to focus his aether as he ran through the different techniques. Sitting down, he began to use Spatial Mapping, allowing him to attune to the around around the small lake, with himself as the epicenter. It was looking through the eyes of a bird as it circled a given radius above him. He would meditate and soak in the area as his rune mapped out the space, marking where each object was placed.

Once he felt comfortable with the mapping, he stood to his feet and began, Blinking to the cup sitting on the shore of the lake. Stepping through the portal and coming out in front of the cup was jarring, like he had been pushed by several men as he came stumbling past the cup. If he wasn't careful, he could potentially hurt himself, as doing this in the city would be hazardous until he could get a handle on it. He tried it once more, Blinking to his helm by a cluster of rocks.

Again, the feeling of being pushed out of the portal found him stumbling, tripping over the set of rocks. He caught himself on the cool grass as he reoriented himself and sat there contemplating the best way to get used to that forceful push. ➸

"Common Speech"
"Mythrasi Speech"
"Self-Thoughts"

[Talon]

T A L O N

The rush of air felt calming as it glided over his body. Talon flapped his wings, allowing the currents of air to guide him on his skyward path. His inner eyelid was closed, allowing for him to fly with his eyes open, keeping a watch on the landscape that was around him. It had been many years since he had been able to explore Sol’Valen. While he would not venture too far from the capital city due to his personal research efforts, he had needed a bit of personal time in order to clear his mind. He had been spending the morning soaring, exploring and generally just stretching his muscles. As much as he enjoyed pouring over scrolls, tomes, and other old writings in search of answers, he needed some time outside. Spotting a lake below, Talon tucked in his wings and dove down toward the earth.

The feeling of air rushing past him was exhilarating. He reoriented himself, performing a somersault in the air, spreading his wings and catching himself before hitting the ground. The large gust of wind that buffeted outward from the powerful flap of his wings saw grass and forest debris scatter around him. Talon landed nimbly, striding forward toward the lake’s edge. Folding his wings behind him, he crouched at the edge of the lake, dipping his hands into the water to splash upon his face. He proceeded to lightly rinse his neck and clean off his bare arms, washing away some of the sweat he had worked up from his physical exertions.

He took a moment to glance at himself in the water’s reflection. His silver-white hair was braided. He wore a set of plain white clothing, a sleeveless shirt, with reinforced cloth boots, and a pair of humble bracers around his forearms. The softly glowing white witchmarks that decorated his arms and parts of his torso were easily visible. Talon never made a secret of his elven lineage. His skin had lost its pale complexion, largely due to the events that he had endured in the Imperium and Solunarium, and that led many to believe he was partly Hytori. The witchmarks however remained, the clear evidence of his Siltori lineage from his mother. While in Sol’Valen however, he felt like his elven lineage was perhaps more strongly at the forefront.

Talon was pulled from his musings as he felt a stirring in the aether. It was small but his sensitivity to fluctuations in the aethereal flux had always been heightened due to his use of both Semblance and Kinetics. He rose from his crouch just as a young elf stumbled out of a Traversion portal only to trip over a few rocks, landing in the grass. Talon arched an eyebrow as the elf picked himself up only to adopt a meditative posture, clearly thinking very hard about something.
Talon did not expect to be noticed. He kept a tight leash on his aura, which often masked his presence on a surface level, interfering with what mortals referred to as their “sixth sense” of awareness.

“Copper for your thoughts?” Silver eyes studied the elf not far from him.

[Thimryl]

4th of Glade, Year 125, A.o.S

➸ Thimryl was immediately thrown from his contemplative thoughts as he heard the unfamiliar voice speak out to him. Tumbling back towards the lakebed, he manifested his pact weapon. To his surprise, a rather imposing figure had gotten the jump on him. He couldnt sense any malicious intent from the male, and upon closer inspection, he seemed to be like Turuher. Though he looked hytori enough at first glance, he seemed...different from other special Hytori like Turuher in a way, but in a way Thimryl couldnt place at the moment.

Finally allowing his heart to stop racing, he dismissed his pact weapon, the broadsword evaporating with a burst of aetheric feathers. "Eikaen's balls friend, you got to give folks a warning before popping up out of the blue like that." he chuckled, flopping back onto the cooling effect of the grass as he went to answer the man's previous quandary. "I think I would need more than a mere copper. I'm trying to get better with my Traversion rune, but I can't seem to gauge landing out of the portal without almost falling flat on my face."

He continued to think about that, trying to come up with ways to mitigate the push from exiting the portal. "I guess if I'm blinking on land, I could tuck and roll each time." He mused to himself, before turning his jewel green eyes to the rather large winged hytori. "I suppose you wouldn't have any ideas on the Traversion for someone still getting the hang of it?" he posed, just now realizing he never introduced himself.

"My name is Thimryl, by the way, I get so wrapped up in my own thoughts and tasks I forget my manners sometimes." he giggled, scratching the side of his head, hoping the stranger wouldn't take offense. ➸

"Common Speech"
"Mythrasi Speech"
"Self-Thoughts"

[Talon]

T A L O N

He watched the man's reaction curiously, at first. The ensuing frown that crossed his features at the crass remark made in reference to his Divine Father was not easily missed. Where his expression at first had been open, now it was visibly annoyed. The feathers of his wings fluffed slightly in agitation. Couple that with the overall reaction to his rather gentle question and his immediate assumption was that there was something heavy weighing on this man. Something beyond merely practicing Traversion, not that such erratic thought patterns aided in the use of such structured magic. Traversion required disciplined focus and precision. The aligning of spatial pathways in order to end up exactly where one desired took calculation. With practice it could become habit but it was a slow process when one was first starting.

“Arcas.” The deep notes of his voice carried the weight of the High Realm itself. The silver in his narrowed eyes became mercurial, capturing the light. The light in the area gathered closer to him, rays practically seeking out the metallic silver of his feathers. For a brief moment, the ghost of his nimbus manifested, just long enough to be seen before softening. It faded, drawn back behind the veil of his mortality once more.

“I have many ideas, Thimryl.” His wings shifted on his back, the feathers settling back into their smooth state. “The first being that magic requires focus. Traversion especially requires not only focus but also direction.”

He made a grasping motion to a rock not far from Thimryl's feet. With little more than an adjustment of the spatial pathways, he wrapped them around the rock, enveloping it. Between one blink and the next, the rock was snatched from the ground, vanishing only to reappear in his hand. He held it up between his fingers.

“Traversion demands that you know your place in an ever-moving world. All around you are currents of power, an ocean of energy crashing against this world in unseen waves. You can sail them. You can swim through the currents. You need not be an island, but if you are not careful...” He grasped the rock between his middle and index finger. With a forceful flick he sent it shooting through the air toward Thimryl. At the last moment it exploded in a cloud of dust with the clenching of his fist. The dust spread over Thimryl like a wave, harmless but certainly an elaborate display.

"...you will drown."

[Thimryl]

4th of Glade, Year 125, A.o.S

➸ Thimryl saw the look that painted the man's face, and it only became even more clear as to why when he introduced himself. Arcas.....the Arcas in the flesh. He remembered the stories his mother told him about the valor and heroism of the son of Eikaen Pater, and to think he just insulted him by mentioning his father's balls. Thimryl was starting to think he was cursed to make a fool of himself around important people, no matter how hard he tried. He couldnt believe he did it again, and immediately went into an apologetic bow.

Lifting his head, he saw the faintest glimmer of his divinity, which left him completely dumbfounded in amazement. He listened to the explanation of the divine being as he demonstrated the nuance needed to be effective with Traversion. The focus Arcas mentioned was something he was lacking as of late. He didnt think that his restlessness was the cause of his failing attempts, but when he thought about it, it was clear that he wasnt really focusing. He was wrestling with the thought of retiring, traveling, gaining the experience he didnt think he could get outside the safety of the realm.

Sitting on the ground, he looked up at Arcas, letting out a sigh. "I guess I have been somewhat distracted on what I want to do with my life..." he began, his eyes trailing off to look at the lake near them. "I am grateful for living under this unimaginable peace that we as the First People have come to enjoy. But I long for more. I became a soldier because I wished to serve the Phoenix King, to become a great hero. But you can't do that if there is no enemy to be a hero to." he sighed, a hint of doubt in his tone.

"I do not wish to shirk my commitment as a soldier and in the defense of the realm, but something in me yearns to see what lies beyond these safe borders. I wanna see the world outside, and I guess that's the reason my focus is frayed." Hearing it out loud only made the realization hurt even more. All he had ever known was within Sol'valen, but he couldnt explain the feeling, the feeling that stirs him to want to go and explore. He felt a wave of overwhelming guilt wash over him. ➸

"Common Speech"
"Mythrasi Speech"
"Self-Thoughts"

[Talon]

T A L O N

“You have a misguided view on what it means to be heroic.” His tone was not biting. It was soft but pointed. His annoyance lessened at the apologetic display but it was not completely assuaged. The insulting of the Dragon King, in front of his son, would require more than a mere gesture to be fully forgiven. However, it was not for him to make such a demand. That had to come from within.

“Where will you go?” It was clear to him that Thimryl was not content with a life inside of Sol'Valen. In his view, the Kingdom of the Eternal Sun had more than earned its peace. The First People had suffered greatly in his eyes and deserved generations of peaceful quiet to rebuild themselves as they saw fit. He pointedly did not offer any more thoughts on what it meant to be a hero, only that simple critique. Thimryl had not asked him and he would not bar the young man from discovering the meaning on his own.

“If it is conflict you seek, there are many dangers beyond the borders of Sol'Valen. Dangers that will not wait for you to be ready for them.” As was tradition among the Synnekar, he had picked up a weapon and trained to become a warrior since he was old enough to fly. It was not a joyous tradition, it was a rite of passage born from necessity. Kalzasi prospered from the many resources that could be found in the Warrens. Those resources extracted a price from them and it was his duty to protect his people so that they could benefit from them.

“I would suggest that you take full advantage of the serenity around you. If you intend to venture away from it, prepare yourself for a world you have not experienced.” He had to wonder if Thimryl had studied any of the places beyond Sol'Valen. He could respect an inquisitive spirit. Talon was perpetually curious, sometimes against his better judgement. Nevertheless, he had both the training and skill to overcome many of those obstacles. Based on Thimryl's own admission, he estimated that the young elf was still relatively untested.

[Thimryl]

4th of Glade, Year 125, A.o.S

➸ Thimryl wanted to make up for his previous insult and because of that guilt he was feeling, it only added to him hearing his mother scold him and encourage he apologize. "I know a mere apology won't soothe the offense I have caused, but I sincerely am sorry for my outburst, speaking of your Eikaen Pater in such a manner. My startlement got the better of me, but if there is anything I can offer to appease you, I will do my best to see it happen. I dont have much, but I will give what I can." he bowed, and if he could have bowed any lower through the ground itself, he would have. If Arcas accepted such an apology

His head fell into his lap as he thought about it, and he didnt even know where he would go. As much as he wanted to see the world, he didnt even know what was out there, where anything was. He only half remembers the places he went with his father during their travels to different ports, but he didn't have an exact location offhand. He guessed he could have picked up a map or a book about a foreign land, but he didnt require it at the time, and now, in front of a demigod, he looked foolish. Mimicking what he saw Arcas do, he tried to focus on the aetheric paths between his hand and another small rock. When he aligned them as close as he possibly could, he blinked it from where it sat to his hand.

It fell a few inches short of his hand, but even then, that was progress. Though his eyes never looked back up to the Dragon Prince, his words did. "I grew up listening to the stories my mother would tell me as I fell asleep in her arms, of the heroes of the realm, of what the first phoenix king did to save our people, the heroism of the Dawnmartyrs during the war of souls..........of you. I always believed that one became a hero forged in conflict, in the fires of the darkness that encroaches upon all that is bathed in the light." he contemplated, blinking the rock back to where it came and once more back to his hand.

When he caught the rock in his hand, he smiled, his jewel green eyes finally revering the demigod once more, then looking out to the horizon in front of them. "Is it really that dangerous outside of the safety of Sol'valen? Speaking from the perspective of a demigod, I'm sure you have been many places." he inquired, going back to concentrating on blinking the small object from one place into his hand.➸

"Common Speech"
"Mythrasi Speech"
"Self-Thoughts"

[Talon]

T A L O N

“Good it is that I am not wrathful.” A slight smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. “If the appearance of a humble stranger asking a gentle question is cause to startle you, I would encourage you to examine why that is.”

He listened to the words that Thimryl offered up in thought. Certainly the stories about him were myriad. He knew them. He had lived them. In the heat of those moments he had never felt like he was performing some great act of heroism. If anything, he had never sought those battles. He had simply refused to back away from what he had seen as an injustice that threatened to blight the world. The idea of people suffering did not sit well with him.

He tried his best. That was all he ever did. Often times he succeeded but there were times when he failed. He decided that, perhaps, he should offer some clarity on what he thought about heroism as it applied to his own views.

“There is a girl, far from here, that does not seek the Light. She seeks the Darkness. She pleads with the shadows to cloak her, to hide her, to obscure all she does from view. She brings bread and medicine to the sick and hungry. Bread she bakes herself. Medicine she makes from the herbs she gathers in the wilds. She prays to my brother, beseeching Shaeoth to hide her that she might aid her community in the way she knows how. She prays to me, asking that the medicine she makes gives back to the people in her life that suffer.” He turned his head to the west, expression softening as he listened to the whispers of prayer that were always at the edges of his thoughts.

“There are cruel people who would harm her, who are the cause of the suffering around her. She is no warrior. She has no magic. What she has, is a heart filled with purpose. In her acts of kindness, there is defiance.” He turned his attention back to Thimryl. He studied the elf for a moment, Semblance sifting through the myriad layers of his aura to get a better sense of the young man.

“Heroism is in what we do in the moments that call for it. There are times when it is the warrior, wielding sword and sorcery. There are times when it is the baker who fills empty stomachs with food.” He gestured. The light around them shifted, shapes and places beginning to form softly. People, ordinary people, going about their lives. Hundreds of them filled the area where they stood. There was a pattern however. Acts of charity and kindness. A young man helping an older man hoist a heavy burden. What looked to be a soldier lifting a fallen beam to assist a family out of their burning home. Another was what appeared to be a healer, humming a song as they held the hand of a sick person who was bedridden. On it went, people doing things great and things small in every day life.

The people slowly faded. Talon rest his hands at the small of his back.

“I see them all. I see their triumphs. I see their failures.” He looked at Thimryl, his expression kind. “Yes. The world can be a dangerous place. Filled with challenges we are not always ready to face. The heroes of these moments however, are not the ones who stand brazenly, leading armies and smiting monsters.”

Talon brought up his hands. In front of him materialized one of the symbols that crowned his nimbus. It did not shine with blinding intensity as Light may have nor did it burn with the righteous fury of Justice. It was soft. It was warm. It was like the flame of a candle that refused to go out, comforting and inviting. He cupped it.

“Hope.”

He looked to Thimryl.

“A hero brings hope.”

[Thimryl]

4th of Glade, Year 125, A.o.S

➸ Thimryl listened intently as Arcas spoke. It wasnt often one got advice or held a convo with a demigod, and he didnt know if he would get another chance again. He listened to the tale about the girl and did his best to understand what Arcas was trying to impart to him. What he wasnt ready for was the visions of people in the light. It was......well, there were no words that could describe what he felt, the overwhelming surge of awe, and seeing how insignificant his musings were in a grander scheme of it all.

Arcas continued his explanation, showcasing these people in their daily lives as his words painted a clearer picture. It was clear to Thimryl that his views on heroics were very much skewed, childish if anything. "I see." he managed to allow the words to escape his lips as he stood, wiping his face of tears as he was moved by the divine's words. "I have been so mired in the thought that the only way to be a hero was to fight in some great war or slay a fearsome foe, but I see now that is not the only way. I thank you, Lord Arcas, for showing me there are other ways to achieve that goal." he thanked.

"If you are willing, I would like to learn more. The day is still young and I still have some practice to do with my Traversion rune, if you have time, of course. I'm sure you have more pressing matters to handle than instructing a fledgling traverser." he chuckled, trying to lighten the mood, his nerves skyrocketing as he was now able to see how handsome he was. It was enough to make the elf blush and turn his face so that the demigod couldnt take notice. ➸

"Common Speech"
"Mythrasi Speech"
"Self-Thoughts"

[Talon]

T A L O N

He considered the request put before him for a moment. In front of him was an opportunity to guide a man who was actively seeking to wander down dangerous paths. Silver eyes regarded Thimryl, peering beyond the flesh and into the depths of the very make-up of the elf’s soul. He saw many things there, threaded throughout the weave of the young elf’s aura. Talon stepped forward, raising a hand as he did so. He snapped his fingers conjuring several motes of light. With a gesture, the motes of light spread outward around them, floating above various spots.

The water in the lake behind him stirred, streams rising to form domes of water that enclosed the motes of light. Each of the water domes was large enough to comfortably fit Thimryl within its interior. At the center of each dome a mote of light hovered, suspended in the air just a few inches above the ground. The result saw a makeshift obstacle course around them comprised of seven domes with motes of light at their center.

“Your goal is simple. Traverse your way around the obstacle course. You must teleport through the water barriers and land yourself on the motes of light.” Clasping his hands at the small of his back, Talon shifted his wings slightly before letting them settle. He smirked softly as he looked at Thimryl.

“Success means you stay dry.” After giving Thimryl a moment to examine the obstacle course he nodded. “Center yourself. Take a deep breath. Extend your senses so that you connect with the Slipspace, the space between spaces. Thread your aether into the flow that is perpetually around us. Align yourself to your destination.”

He watched Thimryl for a moment before offering up one more thing.

“A running start may help.”