|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2016 6:20 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2016 5:52 pm
 |
|
|
|
The First Night
Kaleb had never really remembered his dreams. Whether they were good or bad or just strange like dreams often were, most of them were lost in those brief waking moments as he rolled over in bed and reached for his glasses. All he could grasp was the vague sense that it had been a dream, and sometimes the remaining emotions lasted a couple minutes into wakefulness.
This time when he woke up he remembered it, right down to the unsettled feeling still curling around in his stomach.
Awareness found him in an empty street. Just standing there, right in the middle of the asphalt. The sky was grey overhead and rain fell around him, and his clothes clung to his body in a damp, chilly way. He had no umbrella, no coat, no bag. No phone. Almost immediately a cold drip ran down his spine, and Kaleb shivered as he looked around for something familiar.
The houses that lined the street looked to be of an older design, with larger yards and longer driveways than modern residents built in the city, but they didn't look so old as to explain the state of disrepair surrounding them. The sidewalks were crumbling at the edges, and the driveways were riddled with cracks slowly being consumed by weeds. Windows were nearly opaque with brown dust and grime, screen doors ripped and falling off their hinges. There was not another living soul in sight, nor any signs of occupation in any of the homes. No lights, and not a single car to be seen.
Kaleb quickly spotted a house with a long porch, it's fading paint and weathered wooden boards kept dry by an intact awning that leaned crookedly to one side. He made a dash for it.
Even though the atmosphere seemed flat and grey, the dim light uniformly distributed by the rain in the air and the heavy clouds overhead, the house cast an unusually dark shadow... For a second he thought about ringing the doorbell, in the hope there might be someone there after all who could let him make a phone call at least, but he never got further than that simple thought before he felt another chill run down his spine, this one having nothing to do with the cold and dripping wet.
Something prompted him to turn around, look through one of the dust-encrusted windows looking out over the front porch, but the glance was enough.
Shadows inside shifted, two uniform points of light disappeared.
Kaleb didn't pause to think on it, he immediately left the porch and headed back into the rain. This time he didn't look for shelter, he just headed down the ruined sidewalk at a decent pace. He would find out where he was as soon as he got to an intersection, and hopefully find his way back to the small apartment his parents rented for him during his stay at school. He could change out of those wet clothes, find out where his phone was...
That chill again.
The freckled teen glanced back over his shoulder, and nearly tripped over the uneven path underfoot when he saw it. Back at the house he had left, a dark shape sat hunched at the end of the driveway. It was no larger than a chihuahua, yet it's eyes were huge, disproportionately sized glowing discs that seemed to stare blankly into the distance.
As though sensing Kaleb's attention, the blank eyes turned his way and it stepped onto the sidewalk. Or perhaps it simply extended a leg out of the blackness of it's body, and then another. Slowly and blindly it gave chase.
Kaleb broke into a run, but this time he did stumble over the broken sidewalk. His foot slipped on a rain-slicked tuft of grass breaking through the old paving stones, and he fell hard enough to knock the wind out of him.
And that was when he woke up, his heart racing, and his mind disoriented. The teen eventually found his lamp, and the comfort of it's warm light illuminating the familiar apartment. Just a dream, he thought, and tried to lie back down. For a short time he read to calm himself, and then he read to try and forget that cold, rainy subdivision and that black thing with the large eyes, and let those memories sink back into obscurity like his dreams usually did. Eventually he read because he had to be up for classes in an hour or two anyway, and there would be no sleep to be had in the meantime.
The night following that, Kaleb slept with his light on. |
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 1:36 pm
|
|
|
 |
Observations
Science began with observation. Noticing what occurred in the natural world, recognizing consistencies and trends, and then testing individual variables in controlled environments. In many cases there were previous studies to look at, many factors already determined, with numbers and statistics and established validity creating a framework upon which future knowledge could be built.
Kaleb was used to that world of scientific literature. Yet on this side, where he could feel the magic in the air and shape it on a whim, there were no prior studies to reference. Anything was possible. How was he supposed to create a hypothesis of any sort, when the answer to every question was 'yes'?
He was tired of the uncertainty... So he figured he would start right at the beginning. Observations.
At a first glance, every visitor seemed to have their own unique skills. That indicated some sort of logic, some reason he had no awareness of, which would predispose different people to different magics. Yet it wasn't entirely unique. He had learned to draw magical lines after seeing Shiloh's ability to do so, and there were two whole classes of differentiated visitors who shared magical abilities.
Kaleb had noted on a piece of paper in a loose, gentle scrawl:
Quote: Assumptions - Different magic must have underlying differences, or every magical person would be able to do every magical thing. - Commonality? There are magic skills shared across groups, there is some potential for classification and grouping. - There is capacity to learn other magics.
From there he wondered, if abilities could be categorized, how far did those magical categories extend? How much did each skill rely on what might be considered a central magical ability? Would focusing on one particular skill somehow enhance this global ability, or were skills too far separated to see that sort of benefit?
He realized there was another side to consider as he thought back on his basic assumptions. Motivation and interest had their own place in determining what a person might be good at. On a more mundane level, some people were experts at distinguishing different birds, and others might be experts at distinguishing car models, yet these were just two examples of a certain skill set, relying on the same underlying mechanisms. Kaleb couldn't rule out the possibility that magic functioned in a similar manner, and what looked like individual skills were merely different applications of the same mechanism.
Perhaps that differentiation might make itself more clear after some basic observations were done, right now Kaleb didn't even have an idea of what variables would be important... Trends and observations, that was what he had to focus on. Objective measurements, upon which he could build and test additional theories.
But that was another stumbling block, how did you quantitatively measure magic? He didn't know if there were any tools specifically designed for that purpose, and even then, he could feel how much magic existed around him, and would a device even be giving him numbers he could use? Was there any way at all to completely control for magic itself?
Instead, he might just have to get creative. While Physics and Biology used very direct forms of measurement, Psychology had always been a bit more enigmatic. Memory was tested indirectly using variables like speed and accuracy even before technology had brought the insight of EEG and fMRI to the field. Perhaps instead of measuring magic, Kaleb had to find ways to measure the effect magic had on it's environment.
A couple lines down he added:
Quote: * * What magical skills can be measured? How can they be measured?
Thinking about his own skills, he knew how to make shields. Maybe there was a way to measure those, for area or hardness... But would he be able to hold a shield at the edge of his ability long enough to measure it? Or would he be able to get the specific tools required? It wasn't like he could bring pieces into the labs at the college for measurement. It would have to be something he could do by himself, on the other side.
What else could he do other than shields? He had glowing writing at his disposal, maybe with some help he could measure the length of a line before it started to disappear. What else could he do on the other side? Perhaps picking up a new trick or two right from the start would be a good idea, it would definitely give him another thing or two to think about.
He added a couple more notes.
Quote: Units of measurements should be: - objective scales - quick to take measurements - simple, no complicated equipment required. - tape measure, stopwatch, ???
Finally closing his notepad, Kaleb let himself just mull over the ideas. It would take a lot of work, but he would start small. For now, just observations.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
