Welcome to Gaia! ::

Seraphis trudged through the snow, his eyes fixed on the ground before him. His teeth did not chatter. He did not shiver. The fact was, he barely felt the cold. He was clad in a different robe now. The robe he wore was red with golden flames embroidered on the hems. This robe, he had prepared for winter travel by placing an enchantment on it that kept the wearer warm in the presence of cold. It had taken him many months to get the enchantment right, but it was all paying off now. He had lost count of the days they had spent traveling toward Hightide Pass. All he knew was that they had been trying, both physically and emotionally. He did his best to help Blade keep the party warm with his own magic, however, his range of spells in specific areas were limited. He had elected to learn a variety of spells, broadening his selection, but there was only so much he could do with fire and heat.

Seraphis had tried to communicate with Silver on several occasions during the journey. There were times when he was turned away by a baleful glare from Silver. Other times, she had simply refused to speak to him. However, no matter the encounter, he always ended it with a brief, but heartfelt apology. He lifted his head briefly to look at the half-elven woman walking in front of him. He did not begrudge her for her cold attitude towards him. He did deeply lament the loss of a friend, though. Truthfully, it was tearing him up inside. At times it showed on his face, but he did his best to hide it. Deep down, he wanted to talk about his troubles. To unburden his mind. He had made small talk with the others, getting to know them on the surface, at least. He knew he had a friend in Leon and perhaps more within the party who would be willing to listen, but his natural reaction to such situations kicked in and, when he wasn't trying to mend things with Silver, he preferred to sit alone and brood silently. The people he traveled with were his friends. However, in that one day, Silver had become his dearest friend. Without her, he suffered alone......and it was agony.

Seraphis was still having trouble sorting out his feelings. Normally, he probably would have accepted the fact that there was nothing he could do to make things right. Now that Silver refused to acknowledge his presence, however, he began to discover how much he really cared for her. Sometimes, when he would glance at her, he felt like curling up in a dark corner and weeping. After analyzing the tragic event over and over, he had a good idea of what he had done to her and now, a better understanding of why he had done it. He didn't know if he could apply the term "love" to Silver yet... But he knew that he liked her a great deal. This caused a great deal of conflict within him. He still clung to his past love with a vice like grip, especially now that it was all he had left, but he could not ignore his feelings for Silver either.

To say the very least, being Seraphis Darkstar was hell right now... But at least he was warm.

Seraphis' ears twitched at Blade's question. It was something he wanted to know himself so he listened intently. Then Blade was buried in snow. Normally, he would have let out a light hearted chuckle, but his mood was and had been far too dour for him to appreciate any sort of humor.

It was...cold. Really, really fricking cold. The thief grumbled to himself as he lagged behind the party, staring up as he watched the snow fall from the sky.

"I ******** hate snow." he announced to himself, watching the others chatting to one another about this and that. "Hate it. All the birds leave for some reason, all the big things go to sleep, lakes freeze over. The only thing I can actually eat for free during times like this is the snow, and the yellow ones taste like crap."

He didn't have a cloak, nor any real thick material. Just his rags and sandal boots. Sniffing loudly as mucus threatened to fall out again, he took another step forward as snow collapsed onto the ******** hate snow...just as much as I hate magic..." he grumbled. He had hung back several times when the group cast heat spells on one another, refusing to have magic cast on him.

He listened curiously to the song the Leader sung, a small smile appearing on his face. A drinking song? He had heard several of them when he hung around the bar, hoping to steal something off the drunken idiots inside.

"99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall..." he hummed to himself as the Leader asked the Unhappy Mage about a fire spell. Looks like he'd have to hang back ******** snow. ******** magic."

(apologizes for the small size of it all. I'm working right now and its ******** up my muse)

Seraphis had registered Blade's question and silently thanked her for the distraction. He opened his mouth to answer when, suddenly, Silver had made a startling revelation. He watched as his surroundings began to shimmer and melt away, revealing the towering walls of stone that surrounded them. Despite his mood, his jaw dropped in awe. Whoever had cast that illusion was very good. Seraphis hadn't even sensed the presence of any sort of magic in the area. He made a mental note to find someone that would teach him some of this elven magic when this was all over.

"Amazing," he said softly. Once the wonder had passed and the group had begun moving again, he picked up his feet and fell into step beside Blade.

"There are four types of magic that are widely practiced throughout the world," Seraphis said, beginning the impromptu lesson, "There is arcane magic, the art of creating something from nothing, then natural magic, the art of manipulating what is already present, then elven magic, the art of combining both arcane and natural magic, and finally, divine magic, the art of manipulating things through intense prayer. The magic you wield is inherent to you, it draws on the things around you, and sometimes within you, to get its power. This is a form of natural magic. To achieve the effect that you want, you need to delve into the realm of elven magic. Elven magic is one of the most difficult arts to master. It requires many decades of study to even master the basics. However, I do know of a quick and dirty way to achieve what you want." He then opened his bag and pulled out his own spell book. Opening it, he began to flip through the pages, searching for the right one. Finally, he found it and placed his finger under one of the runes penned on the page.

"Arcane spell casting is performed in the ancient language, using ancient runes of power," Seraphis continued, moving the book so Blade could see, "The basis of this is that you use your will to enforce the power of the runes on your personal energy, or mana, as we call it. Since your energy already has the shape and properties of fire, you need not worry about most of the casting process that I use. Now, this rune here, and pay careful attention to the inflections that I use when I speak it, this rune is called 'Ogahm' which means 'amplify' in the ancient tongue. It works in a similar fashion to the way you do it now, but it will speed the process quite a bit. Now, I want you to look at the rune and burn its shape into your mind. When you want to use this rune, you must call its image forward in your mind and it must appear there flawlessly. No one line can be out of place. Then, when you speak it, you must say 'Ogahm' flawlessly. If you make a mistake on either of these steps, it will not work for you. That is the exact reason I need your protection in battle. If my concentration wavers even for a moment, my spell will be rendered inert. Anyway, the effects will be carried out instantly you may repeat the process as many times as you wish until your fire is the size you want it. However, I would recommend that you throw it before you reach the third repetition. Four repetitions would make it large enough to blast anything within a twenty yard radius! However, be aware that every time you call upon the rune for power, it will drain your mana and cause you to tire. The only thing that will lessen these effects is practice. If you would like to use this, I will write the rune down for you. I would recommend that you practice writing it to get the form down and practice saying it to get the inflections correct. When you feel confident enough to try it, start practicing. You will not get it the first time, or even the second. But keep trying and eventually you'll be able to do it in your sleep." At that last bit, Seraphis smiled slightly, his mind now far from his woman troubles.

"If you wanted to learn a true fire ball spell," he added as an afterthought, "It would require several lessons on the basics of arcane magic and lots of intense practice. However, I would be more than willing to teach you if you have the will and the dedication to learn."

Doina hated the cold. She really, really hated it. She had hated when her teacher had lesson in the village mountains, she was always the one complaining as they walked up and when they came back down. But this cold was even worse than the cold of her mountains! He cloak was wrapped around her as tightly as she could get it and her hood was up, shielding her head from the winds. She was grateful for the warming spells that were cast when they stopped, but it did little for her personally. She thought that it made going into the cold even worse!

Unfortunately once the weather turned colder her mood darkened a bit and the normally chatty elf was quiet. It was always like this, she would get irritable when there was nothing she could do keep herself warm and to avoid snapping at one she sort of distance herself from the group. She would make small talk with them if they engaged into conversation with her but she didn’t go out of her way to start a conversation like she usually would.

‘Cold, cold cold!’ she thought as she hunched her shoulders and crossed her arms over her chest inside her cloak.

Her eyes narrowed and peeked from under her hood as they continued on. Something seemed really, really off. She wasn’t familiar with this area, so she didn’t know what animal life would live around but the fact that not a single plant moved with the winds howling as they did struck her as odd. Silver stopped and confirmed her suspicions that they had been tricked by an illusion. Silver dispersed it and lead them through the right path.

Doina was so happy that Silver had figured it out, she didn’t know how far this illusion would have taken them off the correct road and she hoped that very soon they would be away from the cold. Even though they were going in this area to find the Wind Spawn she would take almost anything to get out of the cold.

‘Careful what you wish for Doina…you just might get it…’ she scolded herself.

Blade stepped back a little to get closer to Seraphis as he explained her how spells are cast. Doina moved a little closer to them, partly because what he was saying was interesting and the other part was that they had the most body heat. She was familiar with what he was saying, she had been taught a history of the magic of the world and the bases of elfin magic. But once that had been learned she had been taught in healing magic while others drifted off to other areas of it. So she didn’t know very much about arcane magic. It seemed difficult to learn, added with all the steps you had to take to get an effect, but that was what she had thought about her own magic before she was taught it.

Then Blade began to speak of her dark magic. It wasn’t uncommon for shadow magic to be elfin, though that kind of magic was one of the most dangerous. But as Blade began to describe it, Doina couldn’t help be enwrapped in the conversation. She knew that the question was directed to Seraphis but she couldn’t help but say her opinion on the issue.

“The different abilities you possess with the shadow magic and the fact that you can actually dissolve in it leads me to believe that it’s changing the structure of your form to fit whatever function is needed at the time.”

She looked at Blade and Seraphis apologetically.

“Sorry about cutting in. I’d thought you’d like another opinion as well…”

Leon was inwardly surprised by Silver's findings, but didn't show it. The surprise itself was not much more than a shimmer that died. There were places in the deep forest that were just as quiet, but this explained it for this location. He kept his ears on the conversation in front of him and smiled as he followed the group along the correct path.

Being true to his nature, he couldn't resist butting in. "I'm sorry, Seraphis, and Doina was it? I've never been one who was good at names. Anyway, I believe that I have a theory on the origins of Shadow Magic. And this theory is not just my own, but that of quite a few magicians and the like. You see, you said yourself that shadow magic was diametrically opposed to divine magic. And also that it takes a great toll on the caster. Well, what thing do we know about on this planet that has taken a great toll on it's casters to create? The very thing we hunt now. It is my belief that Shadow magic was born in the birthplace of Tidal. That is not to say it is bad, per se." Leon said as he picked up a hand full of dirt and covered it with both hands. "All magic, regardless of origin may be used for good," opening his hands, a small plant was sprouting, "Or evil." and with that he blew on the plant and it withered. "It's all up to the caster on how it is employed. Sorry for the interruption, I'll get back to guard duty." he said, obviously unaffected by the cold. He took out his jug and took another swig before capping it again.

Blade listened to both Seraphis and Doina carefully, puckering her lips occasionally in thought. Then she licked her lips in an attempt to moisten them. After being unsuccessful in her effort she merely sucked her lips in, nodding every so often. At Leon's statement she turned her head to look at him, frowning a bit.

"I'm not so certain about that," Blade responded, shaking her head. It wasn't out of disagreement but merely to rid her hair of some of the snow that was clinging to it. "I'm not sure about Ibixian knowledge, but forms of black magic has existed since divine magic has existed. It may or may not be the type that you know. However, according to history books, when divine magic appeared a counter form of it showed itself several years later. Als-"

Blade was cut off when she heard something fall, making her look over. She immediately ran over to Silver's side, worry marked on her face. She lowered herself down on her ankle, frowning. It was incredibly cold, and Blade had a feeling that that wasn't helping Silver's leg.

"Come on, let's find a spot to rest." Blade stated, holding her hand out to take if Silver wanted it. She would carry Silver if needed and wouldn't mind it. The extra heat from a body might just warm her up. She admit that it was an extreme tease to be so close to their destination only to stop, but she had been waiting for quite a while for a bed and could hold out for longer. Blade was a magician, spawn hunter and loved to study; all of which took the skill of patience.

He raised an eyebrow as he watched 2 Swords suddenly collapse and slid back towards where he was. The second eyebrow has raised as she began to show that she was in a tremendous amount of pain, gritting her teeth and so on.

"Holy s**t! Hey lady, lady, how many fingers am I holding up?" he cried, holding up a fist. She didn't respond, probably in too much pain too. "That's right, zero!"

She gritted her teeth again as a new wave of pain hit her.

The leader ran over, a concerned look on her face as she crouched down to 2 Swords' level. Mage Boy ran after the leader, speaking in that creepy magic language of his, summoning a...floating metal disk?

He stared at it, resisting the urge to pull out his dagger and poke it.

Mage Boy proceeded to pick up 2 Swords and gentle placed her onto the floating disk (he still wanted to stab it), looking at her in the eyes before turning away.

The disk began to obediently follow him.

The thief sighed, exhaling that weird mist that usually appeared in cold climates.

"Looks like we're camping...again." he mumbled, throwing his hands up in the air in defeat. Their sluggish pace was really starting to irritate him, along with all this magic talk of theirs.

"Spontaneous combustion is the only cool looking magic I've seen so far..." he grumbled, following the group up the slope to a safe area where they could camp.

"THE FINAL BOSS BETTER BE WORTH ALL THIS" he shouted angrily at the sky. "DO YOU HEAR ME? YEAH I'M TALKING TO YOU!"