Private Moment of Emergence

foggydoggy · Jan 14, 2021

Although Adelaida was immensely proud of her protege's progress, she had come to an impasse. One that could not be solved with prodigious skill alone.

Her pupil was, so to speak, on the precipice of greatness. She could no longer walk forward however, and there as a choice to be made, one Adelaida could not make for her. It was also one she had hoped wouldn't have had to come to play, but circumstances showed that there was no other option. She had to bring up that accursed question.

For quite some time now, she had been preparing the garage in her house for this lesson that she knew was to come soon. At cost, she had prepared it with all sorts of magical safety measures and precautions in case things went awry. After all... they were to deal with something beyond themselves.

All the precautions were ready, all the implements and tools set.

All that was needed now was the pupil herself.

@Hyper

Hyper · Jan 15, 2021

Michi hadn't missed any of her meetings with Adelaida, religiously keeping up with their one-on-one lessons and her assignments. Even so, there was one thing that had worried her for a while. Michi looked at her hands, currently covered with a pair of opera gloves just to keep them out of sight. At least until she was left with only her mentor. At first both of them just thought it was possible just from the ink, and Michi was ready to accept that reasoning simply because of how much she'd used them even at home. Only except it kept going. At one point, it had covered her whole fingers, then her hand. By now, it was reaching to her elbows, with some stray streaks going even past it. Was it a point of concern? Maybe, but she decided since she wasn't feeling any adverse effects that she didn't like, she wouldn't ask any further. Though lost in her thoughts, she managed not to miss her stop, double-checking the note she scrawled in the book she had on hand -- a small reference for herself in case she forgets a few things. She didn't really need to inspect the place too hard because just to the side was the garage, at the moment wide open and seemingly prepped up for... something. "Uh.. Adelaida?" she tried to call out, hoping it'd catch her mentor's attention.

a song from beyond

foggydoggy · Jan 16, 2021

"Yes, yes, come on in," Adelaida said, putting on the finishing touches to her arrangement of books and all sorts of materials.

She came on in with a big hug and a wide grin for a moment, and then broke away to shutter the door behind her. On the inside it had a large and complex rune etched in it, with a small gem inlaid in the center.

Adelaida took one of the chairs she'd set up in the garage-turned-laboratory. She sat down with a cup of coffee and let the grin fade. "Alright, I don't think I explained enough or at all why today's session is different and important. But I'm gonna. In a bit."

"Well... we're going to have to make a big choice today, something that affects the entirety of your magical studies going forward."

Hyper · Jan 17, 2021

Michi was greeted with a hug, to which she reciprocated warmly, almost catching that wide grin Adelaida had greeted her with. "Whats with the decor?" Michi asked, her eyes wandering the space as the door closed, revealing the rune etched into it. For a moment, Michi stared at the gem, momentarily spellbound before Adelaida's voice pulled her back into the moment. Her eyebrows shot up as Adelaida steered their conversation. A big choice that was going to affect her magic studies? For a moment, the obvious simply just went over her own head. "That sounds pretty ominous," she stated plainly, though there was a hint of humor even in her tone while she set her things down an empty desk. "What is it?"

a song from beyond

foggydoggy · Jan 17, 2021

"Ah... I wanted to not have this talk if I'm being honest, but we kinda have to now. It'll be impossible for you to progress otherwise."

Her words were a bit ominous, menacing even, so Adelaida made sure to keep a bit of a smile up as she offered some homemade crostinis on a plate for the two of them to eat while talking.

Adelaida was visibly hesitant to talk, but this was a decision she knew had to be made, and it had to be made soon. Better that it be addressed early. "It's... you know how you're, shall we say... touched by some sort of eldritch power? Well, at first we were using that thing as sort of a battery for your magic. I was content to let it be because it was jumpstarting your progress until you got to where you are now, where you don't need to rely on it..."

The next bit was the tough bit. The choice. She held one of Michi's hands in her own, inspecting the blackening of her fingers.

"But in your current state where you don't need it but it's there, it's going to actively stop you from improving, and the more magic you use without dealing with it, the more it'll interfere... right now it's just darkening your fingers but it'll do more and more if it's not addressed. You have to decide if you want to keep it around or get rid of it. I've set everything up today for whichever you choose."

Hyper · Jan 19, 2021

Michi tilted her head with curiosity as Adelaida prefaced today's plans. Her words brought no comfort, and for a moment, Michi heard static in her head, a chorus of concerned whispers mirroring her own concern. Of course, Michi still didn't know what Adelaida had planned untile she continued. It took a moment longer for Michi to process what followed. She stared at Adelaida, the voices in her mind filled the silence, debating with each other in her stead. Michi looked at her hands, still covered with her gloves, but even then she knew what was underneath. She took the gloves off, showing how much it had spread of what she assumed was ink seeping into her skin. At least at first. She tried to ignore the spread and use the same excuse over and over, but nothing came out of it. The darkness only spread, and it was still spreading for all she knew. Adelaida took one of her hands, inspecting the tint and for a moment Michi didn't say anything. "So..." her voice seemed to trail off. "You're saying I have to choose between letting it do its thing, or I get rid of it right?" Michi asked, trying to form a question in her mind amongst the chatter. "Okay but you said I'm using it as a battery of sorts, right? What's the difference compared to using... y'know. Enchanted brushes? You did warn me about those before..."

a song from beyond

foggydoggy · Jan 20, 2021

"There are three options. Ignore it and let it slowly take over, take control of it and use it as your own, and expunge it from yourself. I've prepared a little jail cell to put it in," Adelaida said, pulling out an intricately engraved metal sphere with a little cavity in it, with a little stopper. It cost quite a bit of time to meticulously create the engravings on it, some of which were hair-thin. And it cost actual money to get the right materials to begin with, something that could actually activate and sustain the prison she designed.

All it needed was someone to "press the button."

And even if Michi decided to not take that option, this little bauble was something she was going to need for other reasons anyway.

She considered Michi's line of questioning. It seemed that she hadn't been entirely clear on why the restrictions were in place during the lessons.

"That's a bit different. I didn't want you using special tools that made the process easier so you don't skip steps and end up learning wrong or relying on shortcuts. Using this thing as a battery doesn't lead to that because it's become a part of you to the point that you're basically using your own internal magic power anyway as you normally would, just with a little boost. It's like the difference between having a trainer assist you at the gym by telling you the proper form, and said trainer putting you on a steroid hookup so you can get big quick."

She put the sphere down gently on the table on top of a bit of padding, making sure it wouldn't get scratched anywhere.

"But that's besides the point. Point is, you have a choice to make. Now, whichever one you choose, I've got prep for it, but I can't choose on my own. I can help you understand your options better and that's it."

Hyper · Jan 21, 2021

Michi was quiet in thought, carefully considering the options she had. On one hand, her whole goal was to get rid of it for herself and also her friends. And as according to her mentor, she was pretty much ready to pull off that spell on herself. On the other hand, ever since she'd started out, the screaming in her mind had gradually faded into the backdrop. Either she'd gotten used to them or the voices were now on her side, agreeing with her thoughts. Curiously, she picked up the sphere Adelaida laid out for today's procedure, carefully inspecting the engravings around it and finding the patterns and commit them to mind. It was complex from her perspective, and the materials would probably not be something she could easily pick out without Adelaida's guidance. "So then... I'm not technically skipping anything or cheating in anyway by having this battery, right?" Michi asked, almost distantly, her thoughts still following the lines around the sphere in her hand. After a moment, Michi set the ball down carefully, making sure it stayed in place. There was more silence as she considered her options more. Sure, she hadn't completely gotten rid of the... side effects, and she'd still had to experience hacking out gross black sludge more often than before she started working with magic. Of course, it still hurt when she did, but she was definitely feeling lighter than before. By now she didn't feel as adamant about removing it and if she could keep making use of it, what was stopping her from doing so? "What about the second option? Taking control of it."

a song from beyond

foggydoggy · Jan 22, 2021

The conversation was going about as well as Adelaida expected, and in the direction she thought it would go too. Michi had a taste of the good life with some side effects, so why would she not choose to go for the good life without those things weighing her down?

"Well, it works a bit like this. There's multiple stages here but the first step is we're going to remove the entity in you. If you were going to be removing it, the process stops there, but since you want to control it..." Adelaida began, illustrating it on a paper as a diagram.

"We remove it from your soul and temporarily put it in this ball. While it's in the ball, we ready your soul by means of magic to essentially put in a "compartment" that's similar to this ball except it has connections outside. This step is permanent. Even if you don't take this entity in, the space for it is going to be there forever so you'll have to think if you're okay with that. It doesn't do much while it's empty though. Think of it as... you're making a USB slot in your body and the entity's a USB drive. You're able to access what's in the entity and use it, and if it ever gets out of hand you can cut it off until you regain control."

Adelaida continued drawing out the process on the paper, though her illustrations were getting slightly less coherent as she continued. "Now, the process where you 'plug' it back in is excruciatingly difficult and painful, because the entity does not want to be reduced to a power source. What we're going to do here is I'm going to borrow your magic power since I have none myself, and I'll do the circuits for you for this step but you'll have to basically fight it out inside your mind until the process is over. This is why it's so risky. If you lose focus, the entity wins and takes over. That's why this room is so heavily protected right now."

Adelaida pointed towards the runes on the walls. Some of them were of the sorts that Michi would not have found any use for - termination spells. Essentially, the room was covered in failsafes to kill off the entity if it took over permanently.

"Think you're still interested knowing that?"

Hyper · Feb 23, 2021

Michi nodded along as her mentor illustrated the process of this new ritual. Trying to keep track of the details as they go -- which to be fair, was pretty simple. "So basically, we're isolating it, but I can tap into it if I wanted, right?" she said, reiterating the first part. Sounded simple from that explanation and for a moment Michi felt a little confident this would be an easy task to work with. After confirming Michi's query, Adelaida continued, with Michi struggling to keep track this time as the explanation turned a little more... complicated. Michi was not at all a fighter, and thinking about having to "fight out" an entity she knew next to nothing about made her falter for a moment. But what else was there though? She couldn't possibly pass off such an opportunity of having a powerful magic source like that after having it for the past couple of months of her training. Michi's eyes looked back at the runes surrounding them, most of which were now familiar to her which only made the gravity of her choice clearer to her: If she wins, she gets to keep a quite uncommon power source. If she loses, she could possibly die herself should the entity take control. The voices in her mind were conversing in hushed whispers, talking amongst themselves as if keeping her out of the loop. While Michi pondered her options, a moment of silence hung between mentor and apprentice (though not that Michi would have noticed). "I think I'm willing to take a shot at it," she declared, already decided. "What should I do?"

a song from beyond

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