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Post by Mila on Sept 10, 2017 11:17:57 GMT -6
A week ago
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The young sage voluntarily tucked herself away in a Inn's room. The room was average sized with a large window above her to let in natural light. The sage kept that window open in order to help relieve her of her anxiety about closed spaces. She was quietly, revising over her notes, and glossing over Ryerde's rising undead problem. The young sage sighed. The undead had become a problem in all sorts of places. It makes sense that they were the most common type of monster out there. As humanity had spread itself all over the continent, clogging the land with their offspring, and littering the underground with their corpses. The green haired sage shook her head. She really shouldn't be giving humanity such a bad rap. She was one of those pesky humans after all. But, she also knew that it was most likely the actions of one or several stubborn humans that drove the world into it's current chaotic state. And that will continue to drive itself into war and chaos as humans fight for resources. Fight other races for resources that does not belong to them. The sage's mind recalled the sight of the flyer upon the wall. Bounties placed for capture of the beast men that lived in Vinland. She remembered Nayru and her transformation. A living dragon. A cre.. no.. a person who's race was driven to the brink of extinction by humanity and their actions. She picked up a page of one of her notes, a well drawn image of a bone walker and it's variants. Perhaps.. this is humanity's punishment for all the things we did. And If it is.. is it really worth the effort to stop it? She thought as she inevitably plopped herself down on the floor. She was on her back, staring up at the sky through the window.
Those had been her thoughts for the better part of a month. Ever since her encounter with the cyclops in Eturia and the spiders in Tuscana. The spiders in Tuscana really shook her down to her core. As that was the first time she had seen spiders, Baels, creatures that she dismissed as acting purly on instinct, acting with an actual plan. She had a copy of the map somewhere among her papers. The pattern they made as they made a nest across the territories. As they destroyed villages and continued to breed with out limits. It was as if they were reclaiming the land for themselves. And perhaps this land was once their's in some distant past she had no record of. Or maybe they lived in some sort of strange relationship with the ancients like they did on Vinland. They served as both predator and prey for the taguel.
A servant knocked at her door and asked if she needed anything. In her melancholy sage had forgotten she requested someone to check up on her every few hours. As Mila had a tendency to become so engrossed in her studies that would lose track of the pesky things her body needed like food.
"Hot tea please, and a roll of bread." The sage spoke to the voice behind the door.
"Yes ma'm coming up." The servant spoke and Mila heard her shuffle off. The sage closed her eyes for a moment and tried to clear her mind. What's it all for? The mused. As it seemed even her most futile attempts to be recognized academically had failed. Few save for the ones she had met in person knew of her research with monsters. She had sent out letters to a few academic counsels who have declined her services. For a variety of reasons.
The servant returned. And Mila was forced to get up out of her mini nest of papers and answer the door. She took the serving tray with tea and bread. She gave the waitress some coin to cover the payment. As well as a bit extra for tip.
"Thank you ma'm. Ah here this arrived for you." The maid handed Mila a letter. Mila nodded softly and took the letter.
"If you need anything else just ring the bell." The servant commented before she dismissed herself from Mila's presence. The sage put the tray down on a nearby desk. She rummaged through her bag for a her tea leaves. She let the mixture of leaves steep in the hot water for a while. She took a moment to look at the letter. She didn't recognize the seal. The sage shrugged her shoulders and opened the letter. She studied the header for a bit. Ryerde's magical academy. She knew of the academy, it wasn't exactly a popular one back when she was in school. But, that was several years ago, and she knew this academy was rising in popularity due to it's tolerance and teaches all branches of magic. What confused her was that she did not send them a letter. At least not that she REMEMBERED sending them a letter. But, here she was holding some sort or response. The sage pulled the letter out of it's container and read it's contents. The letter itself was written in a language so flowery that it was a bit hard to comprehend. Mila was just summarizing the contents of the letter in her head.
The letter basically stated that the academy had learned of her existence. And that they request a meeting in order to discuss a possible job. It had an address, and that this letter was the former letter of introduction. She was to present the letter to the academy upon her arrival and request a meeting with the head of the school.
"A job. Doesn't say what type of job. Then again it is a magical academy. I could teach anima, literature, math, reading.. Hmm.. I could also be a file clerk, scribe.. Well.. I'm not going to say no. I could use the money and resources."
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Post by Mila on Sept 16, 2017 22:12:04 GMT -6
Three days earlier
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That was the worst wagon ride of my life! The green haired sage mentally commented to herself, as she rubbed her head. The road to Ryerde's magical academy was paved with all manner of sticks, stones, and pebbles. Lots of little annoying things that loved to make the wagon sway and stop. It also caused the passengers of said wagon to sway and hit their body all over the wooden frames. The sage emerged out of the wagon ride a bumpy and bruised mess. And what was worse she still had to PAY the Wagoneer for the awful experience. Hell, she probably would have been less unscathed if she had just walked the whole rest of the way. Regardless of what hazards the roads had. Mila sighed to herself as she made a vain and ultimately useless attempt at healing here own bruises. There were some things that the heal staff just couldn't do. She would have to make due with what she got. And if her interviewer saw her in her state she could always say that she got that way by fighting a bunch of monsters to get here. Yes! That was the best way to conduct an interview! By stating nothing but pure white lies!
She stopped at a nearby inn and prepared herself for what was to come. She knew it was too late in the day to walk into the academy now and be seen. No, she decided it would be best to wait until morning before walking into the academy and possibly landing a job. She really hoped she would. As this night at the inn had drained her of what funds she had left. The sage worked hard into the night preparing herself for what she would say. For what she COULD say? And what could she present? Sure, she knew she was a fantastic caster of magic. But, what she really wanted is for this place to recognize her for her talents as a researcher. Maybe? Something that would occasionally get her out of a stuffy old office. Provided if they even give her an office. Another sigh. Maybe she was thinking too far ahead into this?
Right. She that was it. She WAS thinking too far into this. Right now she needed to focus on the present. And that was making sure she was presentable for tomorrow. She washed her garments. The sage created drying rack out of Gaea's magic in order to hang her clothes to dry. She made sure to wash her body as best she could with the available resources. She washed and brushed out the tangles in her hair. And then wrapped it around her head, making sure to pin it as close to her scalp as possible. She didn't want it getting tangled as she slept. And she wrote a few letters while she was at it. She wrote letters to her family in Eturia making sure to leave out or at the very least hide away crucial details that could accuse them of something in the eyes of the church. She kept it simple. She wrote letters to her friends. To Vincent, Ryu, Drei, Sam, Donny just to let them know what was going on. Where she was and how she was doing. And what to do if things go horribly wrong and she ends up as a corpse somewhere. Because that's exactly what friends want to hear!
She glossed over her monster notes and made a few corrections to passages she couldn't get to before. Some additions. Some subtractions. And potential theories. The work distracted her from the fact that her room had no windows and was kind of cramped. Her phobias were being pushed aside for the sake of personal progress. That was until she inevitably felt the need to sleep. She moved her clothes away from the fireplace so that they wouldn't burst into flame in the middle of the night. She already accidentally burned down one building in her lifetime. She didn't need to burn down another. By dawn, the sage was up. She did a rub down of herself with a wet rag and put on her clean clothes. She undid the pins that held her hair in place and let the wavy locks fall down to her shoulders. She gave them a quick run through with her fingers before pulling her hair up in its signature ponytail. She pulled from her pouch a small mirror in which she used to spruce up her face. She applied her usual repertoire of makeup and light perfume. Unfortunately, makeup couldn't hide the bruise on her forehead, the lump on her head, or the various blotches of yellow-purple that covered her arms.
She gathered her belongings and made her way down the stairs and out of the inn. She bought a roll of bread from a baker and ate that for breakfast. Then the sage made her way down the main street and out towards the Academy.
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Post by Mila on Nov 28, 2017 21:28:51 GMT -6
Alright so the academy was a bit farther then she realized. The "down the road" turned out to be further down the road and near the outskirts of town. As she walked through she noticed the steady decline of houses and residential areas. The landscape changed to that of rural-ish farmlands and their barns. As she passed she could see people working the fields, some waved and she waved back as a courtesy. The closer she got to the school the more people she saw. Students. Mages. People with hoods. And some kids with an insignia attached to their clothes, probably the logo of the school. She probably should have paid attention to the logo on the letters she got. But, that wasn't important now. The important part was that she was certain she was going out in the right direction.
She really wasn't sure how she missed it on her walk up. But, those people she passed, those folks with the school insignia, they were mages! Practitioners of magic! Very impressive magic! She saw all three branches of magi being practiced outside the school grounds. Anima mages practicing Gaea and Flora magic. A pair of students who were challenging each other to a game of "who can make this thing the tallest?" As in, who can get what medium of magic up the highest in the air. Mila's money was on the boy who was using the flora tome.
She saw shamans using a new tome she didn't know about. The way they bent the nether into shapes reminded her of Drei's flux tome. But, this new tome seemed to be something, stronger. Strong enough to bend the powers of the nether, the power of shadow, into a tangible living(?) thing. They were small things. Like pets. She spied a cat and a little bird. Mila was so focused on all the people that she failed to realize the massive building in front of her.
She had to stop to look up at the massive castle that loomed in front of her. A massive castle made of stone and concrete. Vines from flora tome covered many of the walls. They were lined with little white flowers and seemed to be alive. She saw several mages using Gaea as a means to help with the building. She introduced herself to some of the guards who pointed her to the right department. She continued to make her way through the castle corridors, he hallways were lit up with a series of torches, and floating orbs of light magic. Some orbs were encased in multi-colored glass which gave a wonderful rainbow effect. She took note of how.. liberating everything felt. Her previous school in Eturia was small. A branch of the Delfia's academy in the southern borders of Eturia. Everything in Eturia, seemed to be leaning towards a focus on light magic, and Eliminism.
She wondered what sort of books their library had. She wanted to see their infirmary and maybe get some pointers for her own staff magic. She really needed to sit down and focus on improving her staff work. She kept making her way up and down the stairs towards the staff room. She sat down in a small waiting area and took a look at the walls. She saw the same detail of flowers as the outside adorning the ceiling and wall moldings of some walls. She thought it to be a nice touch. There were several potted plants around too that seemed to be in a perpetual bloom. The receptionist had something on her desk that looked like a little ball of fire inside a bottle. She used it as a candle to help illuminate her desk. Mila found it to be cute and really useful. There's so much stuff here. My gods.. how acedemia has changed in the last five years. She shook her head slightly. Head in the game Mila. You want this job. You want to work here. You soo want spend days in their libraries and make your own portable living lantern. After a few tense moments of mentally psyching herself up, she was called in to meet the head master.
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Post by Mila on Dec 2, 2017 20:52:26 GMT -6
And just like that, it was over. Mila spent a good hour or so in the interview. She explained her research. Her goals. dreams. And aspirations as well as her desire to work here. She told them her history. She was honest with her answers as any lies would be eventually found out. She explained she had no formal training in the art of teaching to students and that she mostly winged it when it came to one on one training. She left them a small sample of her work. A quick five-page well written out blurb of what she knew of the undead. Of course, she wasn't going to give them her whole life's work. These people while with the potential to be her bosses were still people. And people liked to steal things. The group of headmasters and other staff would need time to discuss what sort of future she had with the school, or if she even had one at all. They did give her a day pass which allowed her access to the school's resources. Which she thought was neat. She wished they gave her a week's long pass so she could truly enjoy what the library had to offer.
But, a day pass was a day pass, and it was to go into effect tomorrow. When she could truly take advantage of the whole day and not just the other half of the day that remained. She wasn't going to let the half of the day go to waste though. She wanted to go outside and let out a little bit of steam. She did just go through a particularly difficult interview with some stuffy looking folk. And the suspense of not knowing ANYTHING about her future here was slowly starting to nibble at her insides. So she made her way out towards the training grounds. She knew it was the training grounds because one she saw it on the way in and two she asked for directions. No sense getting lost when there was some pretty helpful staff around. Plus a few signs that glowed with magic which she found to be something super nifty. She really hoped she could learn how to do that to her books. Enchant the letters so she could read them in the dark. Or keep her books open to use as a night light for moments when the dark truly terrified her.
She found herself a small patch of the training grounds that wasn't in use. There were other patches of the training ground in use and she could see magic users of all types. Someone out in the far distance just used a pretty powerful light spell to neutralize an orb of pure nether magic. She thought that was cool. Perhaps it was a lesson on learning magic advantage and types? Or perhaps a practical way to avoid getting smacked by a dark orb of nether. She took a deep breath in and let it out. The green haired sage pulled out her Gaea tome and made herself some training dummies. She was starting to get really good at making those training dummies. She'd gotten faster at molding them out of the clay of the earth and putting the little details on them. This time she decided her "opponents" would be little baels. They were surprisingly easy to make as a spider's basic body structure, was basically three ball-shaped things with eight pointy legs. The bitty baels weren't as detailed as her human sculptures but their featureless bodies were kinda cute. She was half tempted to put a smiley face on one of them. She sighed and decided not to. She decided to put the realistic features on her blobby baels and quietly began to manipulate the earth to her whim. She found it oddly soothing to work out the little details on her baels. She used her fingers to make the hairs and the little blobs that would become the eyes. She then did the fangs and mouthparts. She then went to work on all of the little hairs on the bodies. Then the legs. And voila, her little bael sculptures were done. People sized bitty baels that looked like a solid color of the real thing. She let out a breath and wiped her brow. The sage had worked up a sweat in the process of making her target dummies. Gaea was an incredibly draining tome to use but the earth here was soft. That helped to relieve some of the pressures of using the spell.
She took a moment to admire her work. Like an artist did a painting. The mud manipulation sure as heck made her feel like she was painting a picture. Mila took a few steps away from her work and sat down. She needed a few minutes to catch her breath. Her little art project did what it was supposed to do. It wore her out to the point where she could forget about her own insecurities. She got up after a bit and put her Gaea tome away. She pulled out her Volcanon tome.
"Time to roast some bugs." She muttered to herself as she prepared to charge the spell. Unbeknownst to Mila, the sage had gotten a few watchers. A couple of students who watched her from the first ball of the bael. From the window one of the headmasters could see her casting. Mila closed her eyes for a moment. She raised her hand over her head and let the ball of flame hover just a few inches above her palm. She thought of the way she wanted the ball of flame to move. The ball of fire slowly changed, it's shaping swirled, and swiveled until it burst out of its spherical shape. The ball of fire became a slithering snake-like thing of fire. She guided it with her other hand so that it flew across the baels. The fire tore through the earthen baels then dissipated in a stream of smoke and sparks. Mila repeated the process once more this time hitting the clay baels from the opposite side. The baels broke down into a series of several charred pieces before Mila had to sit back down again.
There was some minor applause. Mila tilted her head back until she could see the sound of the applause. Children. Probably no more than seven, eight, or nine. They were upside down children because of the way her head was tilted. Mila pulled herself to a normal sitting position and turned around to see them. They wanted to see more. And that made Mila blush. Their teacher cast his own gaea tome to make what was left of the clay baels dissipate back to dust. The teacher explained her patch of training ground was reserved for his class. She apologized profusely, gathered her things, and went on her way. She returns to the school tomorrow and spends the day in the library.
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Post by Mila on Dec 20, 2017 20:25:02 GMT -6
Next day.
Mila returned to the academy with mixed emotions. On the one hand, the young scholar was ecstatic to use her day pass to read the books in the library. On the other hand, she was nervous because this could realistically be the only opportunity she had to go ham in the library. The sage was prepared to take as much knowledge as she could though. She had plenty of parchment, ink, and quill to copy over specific notes from various books. The sage presented her pass to the guard and made her way to the library. She had to thank the architect of this place for placing those convenient letters over the door frames that stated what specific rooms were. Bonus points for the ability to make it glow in the dark.
Th library was a vast expanse of the room, lined with shelves, and books of all shapes, sizes, and colors. The walls had huge gothic style windows that let in natural light. There were a few with a bit of a decorative flair that reminded her of some of the Eturian cathedrals, which made her think that this part of the school might have been a church at one point. Outside one could see the grounds that were full of students working their magic. On the opposite side windows, one could see the gardens through the windows. The gardens were alive and bright with flowers of different colors that really highlighted the capabilities of the Flora magic. She spied a tall palm tree nestled in a small grove of pine trees. The sage found a table for herself and made herself comfortable. She put her cloak on her chair and kept her stuff in her bag. That seemed to be a thing around here as she saw students do the same. She also noticed that it was apparently safe to leave your stuff unattended in the library. That was a bit of a relief. One could also leave particularly precious things behind the counter with the receptionist. After a bit of inquiry with the library staff, she was left to her own devices. She started her research with a brief history of what she knew. History, Math, Botany, Tea's, Monsters, and the basics of magic. It was super simple and super comforting to get a good refresher on the basics. And there were things in the tea section that she didn't know. Combination of teas that helped to keep one awake. And here she mostly used tea to keep herself calm, hydrated, or regular. She made a note of what ingredients and what quantities to look out for.
In the magic section, she learned of new things. Like elementals and Golems. Apparently, there was a way to create these things but involved a lot of time, patience, and resources. She wrote down a few key tidbits and promised herself to do more research on that when the time came. The section on monsters was a bit lacking. However, the information that they did have was pretty enlightening. She was glad to see that there were others out there who took an interest in these creatures for the name of research rather than glory. These monsters are older than we originally thought. She glossed over the words. Ancient. Origins: unknown. The book of monsters led her down a path to a book of beasts. She read that too. And then there was a small section with what was known of Vinland and their "beasts". The griffons. The Taguel. Mila shook her head. The geography of the island. Common plants. Mila finished that section and went on to another book. The subject of "beasts" brought her to another book about myths. Books that spoke of Minatours, Cyclopes, and bird-like creatures that bewitched men.
She then read books about the advances in the trinity of magic. The discovery of the "new" old magic. And what sort of practical applications they could have. She took a particular interest in Flora. And her mind came up with the idea to combine Gaea and Flora to make a sort of portable farm. She had to calculate how much energy that would take and if it were even possible. The whole thing might even require the aid of a Fimbulur's possible water magic to keep everything stable. Maybe the ability to grow fresh medicinal plants. Perhaps she should keep the idea simple. The ability to consistently grow fresh tea leaves in a portable pot. Yeah. That sounded something that she could do. Provided she didn't kill her own little plant. She shook her head again. Focus.
Mila spent hours lost in the world of books. By the time she snapped herself out of the magical world of knowledge, it was well past sunset. Mila felt her stomach churn and rumble. She had failed to do one of the three things humans needed to do to stay alive. She forgot to eat and or forgot she needed the latrine. The sage quietly put her things away. She passed the stack of books she read through back up towards the receptionist area. She was happy with what she had learned and would probably spend the night reading through her own notes. Editing her notes. And comparing them with her own private collection of journals and thoughts. She'd do all that after a good meal of course. The green haired sage made her way out of the school and back into town.
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Post by Mila on Dec 29, 2017 20:01:48 GMT -6
Next Day
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The next day started exactly like the last one. Mila spent an uncomfortable amount of time sprawled out on the floor reading over her notes. Though these notes were now full of newer more useful information. Info that she got from the library of the great school. And when the moon was low into the sky only then did she finally blow out her candle and drift off to sleep. Well as much sleep as she could get in her current state. Her body was a nervous wreck of jitters and the suddenly realizing she was in a confined dark place didn't exactly help much. She did the best she could and woke up once the sun started to peak its rays over the horizon. She fixed herself up as much as she could.
She ate a light breakfast and returned back to the school. Back to the school to learn about her fate with Veritas Academy. Upon her return, she was told that the staff was not yet ready to talk to her yet. She would have to wait until noon time. She grabbed a seat in the waiting area and kept herself occupied with a yet another book. She actually managed to pick herself up a copy of Flora tome. She read over the inscriptions and slowly began to learn the ways of the tome. It had been a while since she last picked herself a new tome. Her last new tome was Volcannon and she had gotten used to the upgraded fire tome to a point where she felt comfortable using it.
She read through the tome and started to recite the words. The words were familiar to her. But, the way they were structured, the way they felt coming out of her mouth, felt sort of foreign. She wanted to get an inkling of the magic before she went out to test it. When she first picked up the Gaea tome she did the same thing. She read it. Memorized it. Felt it. She felt that the magic of the earth had a weight to it that none of the three spells in trinity had before. And she needed to learn how to manipulate that weight with her own energy in order to make the earth bend to her will. Gaea tended to help her focus in a chaotic situation.
Volcannon felt like something completely different. Yes, it felt like fire, but it was heavier than the standard "fire" spell. She felt it have its own weight but at the same time, it was more fluid. Sort of like trying to lift a sack full of hot water. Or perhaps like a sack full of sand. It was easier to manipulate then Gaea but also a lot easier to lose control of. And the suped-up fire tome would burn her fingers and hands if she "held" it for too long. The Volcannon tome tended to boost her confidence.
But now she had to figure out how this "flora" would feel to her. Would it have Gaea's weight since she was manipulating plant life? Plants that come from the ground. Or will it be more fluid since plants are flexible things? She suspected that since plants seemed to be heavy but flexible objects perhaps she would feel like she was pushing mud. Or perhaps she would feel something else that was completely different.
She was so lost in the book that she almost didn't realize there was a person addressing her. Mila pulled her head up out of the book and turned to look. The receptionist was calling on her to go inside. The council of headmasters was ready for her. Mila blushed embarrassingly and put the book away. She went into the headmaster's office and took a seat there. It was revealed to her in a series of smaller conversations that they would hire her. She was to become a teacher to a recently created class that focused on educating students on monsters and how to defend against them. She would be given accommodation on the school grounds and a small salary. She would start a month from now and her students would be a mixed range of third-year students to adults. She'd have to follow the school's policy on things like grading and lesson plans. Stuff she had no idea what to do with but she'd have to figure it out. She had a month to figure it out.
Over the week she was moved into her teacher's quarters. She'd be sharing a room with two other teachers. An older woman who teaches botany and another woman who taught astronomy. She'd learn their names and personalities in time. But for right now, she needed to get to work! She was a teacher now. A professional! She needed to look and act the part!
(End thread)
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