He simply was not good enough, and did not have enough power to take on another prisoner; let alone an ithecal several times his size. Ran'dar was a “Veteran” in comparison to several of the other prisoners, and was far more powerful than he seemed to lead on. The ithecal was powerful in several ways; firstly he was physically strong, and extremely durable. Secondly, he possessed the magical prowess of several men and women combined or so it seemed. He was fast, intellectual, and an apex predator in terms of how he dealt with other prisoners. The sorcerer learned quickly; the seventh level had been far more than a simple prison. This was a haven for magic practicioners to hone their skills in combat as a whole. There were a lack of resources to be fought over; Mercedes had seen prisoners kill one another over rats. The very water that leaked from the walls of the cave for the men and women to lick had been fought over. There were monsters that carried diseases here, but Mercedes had never seen one before. Ran'dar called them “Couriers of Lissira”, and mentioned nothing beyond their capabilities of carrying disease.
The sorcerer had finally been dropped from the mouth of the large reptilian monster, and isolated alongside him in a corner not traveled frequently. The ithecal spoke to Mercedes; although he still took on the form of an aye-aye. “Com' out of that form you fuckin' fool. I'm going to teach you another lesson this trial. I would have snapped you up and eaten you if you did not owe me a debt. You're lucky to be alive, and If I wanted you dead I could kill you in an instant. Do not try to hide from me.. come on and take a seat.. Becomer.” Ran'dar spoke and commanded Mercedes. The sorcerer had been hesitant, but as he fell to the ground from the great beasts mouth; he simply complied. Mercedes had no choice; he was at the side of a large Ithecal and could not disobey orders. The creature was far more powerful than he was by a large margin. If he ran, Ran'dar would simply blink toward him and crush him to death even in human form. Rat-cedes walked forward, and came to a stop directly in front of the Ithecal.
He began the process of turning himself back into Mercedes; he grasped hold of the totem of self from Ran'dar and exhaled. In shifting shapes again he would become himself, and the direct result would be the loss of a strong sense of smell. Becoming gave the Becomer an animals enhanced senses too, or so it appeared that way. The pain began and struck in an onslaught of waves that seemed to originate within the depths of his chest cavity. The waves of pain resonated through the remainder of his body, and with a series of violent twitches the process begun. Ether had been required to shift shapes, and to shift back into ones original form.
Ran'dar looked on in entertainment as the amateur becomer changed forms again. This was the time for another lesson to be given. “You do know that when you transform, across both forms.. Your form is a totem no matter how you want to look at things, right? So even now your totem of self is nothing but a borrowed form, and your original body would be considered a borrowed form too. Once you are a practitioner of becoming, you are no longer yourself. You become something different entirely, and you have to roam Idalos in search of a new body every so often. Not necessarily that you are required to switch bodies, but because it is in your nature. That moment of nothingness you feel as you shift in between forms is simply the real you transitioning into another borrowed one.” The Ithecal spoke, and waited out the six to eight bit process of transformation. Mercedes totem of self had been nothing but a toe, and he concentrated every bit of ether in his being to transition. The bits passed, and the pain had finally become nothingness.
He felt as if all had been right in idalos; this was the sweet spot during becoming; when one stopped feeling the excruciating pain associated with its usage. Finally, after several bits emerged Mercedes; with his typical stubble covered visage, and somewhat lengthy hair. One would be amazed at how much hair grew when it went without maintenance for a short period of time. The explanation offered by Ran'dar had made quite a bit of sense. The reason that the feeling of “Nothingness” existed at all; was simply because the true person borrowed a different form. The sorcerer needed knowledge, and further instruction on how he could be stronger, faster, and better than the average mage.
“Right, Ran'dar.. Why don't you tell me something more. I want to know just how strong the prisoners are here. Why is it that you are so powerful, but you have not slain everyone in the beneath? “ The sorcerer beckoned, and did not mean to be insulting to the Ithecal. However, Ran'dar answered the question with a question. “If I were that strong, do you believe I would have let you live after I latched on to you? “ The ithecal replied, and chuckled simultaneously.
“No, and that is the very reason why I ask you this.. You let me live in exchange for me owing a debt to you that can be paid with something from the mines. If I mined enough I could pay off this debt to you, but I just do not understand. You let me live. Are you interested in allies?” Mercedes asked, but the answer had to be obvious.
“Yes, I need allies here.. I may be strong, but even I am dwarfed by some of the people and beings that exist here. I can battle for trials on end, and wrestle with the strongest of them all, but not even I am a match for someone with more intellect than I have brawn. Someone can be weaker, and more intellectual and strategic than me, and they could defeat me. My weaknesses are not so obvious, to someone like you. However, in the eyes of an experienced combatant, even I become an easy target.” Ran'dar spoke.
“Indeed, I will pay off the debt, but that does not mean I will stop being your ally. I will assist you and I have every intention on following your cause. I have a friend here, and I believe that you can help me find her. The name of that female is Maxine, but she goes by Max. If you could help me find her, I could assist you with a number of things and I will increase my debt to you two fold. “ The sorcerer spoke, and Ran'dar simply gave a nod of acknowledgment.
“Very well, but first I want you to transform again. You and I are going to train; you cannot be my ally if you are entirely too weak to be of any good use to me, Mercedes. If you are going to be killed in your first brush with combat, you may as well be one of the rats waiting to be eaten that breed here.. Fight me although you are a rat.. Move as quickly as you can or I will kill you, Mercedes.” Ran'dar spoke in an excited tone, and Mercedes nodded only to take a step backward.
The sorcerer focused again on his ether being channeled through the totem of a rat skull on a mere string. With several deep inhalations, followed by exhalations he grasped hold of the totem, and focused on the flow of ether. Ran'dar interrupted to speak in a soft tone “If you want to get better at doing this, you will need to concentrate harder than that, Mercedes.. Visualize the channeling if your ether..” He spoke, and The sorcerer continued to breathe in, and out concentrating on the flow of ether through the totem. He visualized ether like a running river, except he needed to control the direction of flow.
In, he breathed and imagined water that simply swirled about, and filled the cranial structure of the rat skull. Out, he breathed and then the process began, pain began to overtake him, but he needed to learn how to resist it. If he could simply make it to the end of the process; the pain would be over, and he would have shifted shapes yet again. The entirety of his body began to burn, and sweat poured down his visage as his form began to change. After two bits he could practically feel the insanity as it sunk in. The pain became a deep throbbing, and consistent one much like being struck repeatedly with a hammer. After the sixth bit the pain ceased, and the moment of primordial nothingness came to pass; as he stepped into the new form. While he attempted to speak nothing but a high pitch squeal exited his visage.
“Now! We begin!” Ran'dar exclaimed as he proceeded to swing his tail at Rat-cedes. The sorcerer moved awkwardly, and made an attempt to leap only to be caught in the momentum of the tail. The ithecal made him lose all balance, and slide across the stone floor. He made an attempt to recover and with hardly any time to react the ithecal charged again. Instinctively, he reacted by doing the only thing that he could; he made an attempt to grapple with the beasts massive leg. Rat-cedes latched onto the beasts many scales just below the knee, and attempted to bite his way through only to fail several times.
“Pathetic, but you are learning.. No matter what you face as a becomer you have to be prepared for it! You may be in a form so insignificant that you could hardly defeat a fly, but you have to learn how to battle a rock-snake when you are nothing but an owl. You are weak, you have to accept that and learn to fight around what little strengths you have, Sorcerer.” Ran'dar spoke, and concluded the lesson by placing Rat-cedes in his mouth, and running off again further into the abyss.
The sorcerer had finally been dropped from the mouth of the large reptilian monster, and isolated alongside him in a corner not traveled frequently. The ithecal spoke to Mercedes; although he still took on the form of an aye-aye. “Com' out of that form you fuckin' fool. I'm going to teach you another lesson this trial. I would have snapped you up and eaten you if you did not owe me a debt. You're lucky to be alive, and If I wanted you dead I could kill you in an instant. Do not try to hide from me.. come on and take a seat.. Becomer.” Ran'dar spoke and commanded Mercedes. The sorcerer had been hesitant, but as he fell to the ground from the great beasts mouth; he simply complied. Mercedes had no choice; he was at the side of a large Ithecal and could not disobey orders. The creature was far more powerful than he was by a large margin. If he ran, Ran'dar would simply blink toward him and crush him to death even in human form. Rat-cedes walked forward, and came to a stop directly in front of the Ithecal.
He began the process of turning himself back into Mercedes; he grasped hold of the totem of self from Ran'dar and exhaled. In shifting shapes again he would become himself, and the direct result would be the loss of a strong sense of smell. Becoming gave the Becomer an animals enhanced senses too, or so it appeared that way. The pain began and struck in an onslaught of waves that seemed to originate within the depths of his chest cavity. The waves of pain resonated through the remainder of his body, and with a series of violent twitches the process begun. Ether had been required to shift shapes, and to shift back into ones original form.
Ran'dar looked on in entertainment as the amateur becomer changed forms again. This was the time for another lesson to be given. “You do know that when you transform, across both forms.. Your form is a totem no matter how you want to look at things, right? So even now your totem of self is nothing but a borrowed form, and your original body would be considered a borrowed form too. Once you are a practitioner of becoming, you are no longer yourself. You become something different entirely, and you have to roam Idalos in search of a new body every so often. Not necessarily that you are required to switch bodies, but because it is in your nature. That moment of nothingness you feel as you shift in between forms is simply the real you transitioning into another borrowed one.” The Ithecal spoke, and waited out the six to eight bit process of transformation. Mercedes totem of self had been nothing but a toe, and he concentrated every bit of ether in his being to transition. The bits passed, and the pain had finally become nothingness.
He felt as if all had been right in idalos; this was the sweet spot during becoming; when one stopped feeling the excruciating pain associated with its usage. Finally, after several bits emerged Mercedes; with his typical stubble covered visage, and somewhat lengthy hair. One would be amazed at how much hair grew when it went without maintenance for a short period of time. The explanation offered by Ran'dar had made quite a bit of sense. The reason that the feeling of “Nothingness” existed at all; was simply because the true person borrowed a different form. The sorcerer needed knowledge, and further instruction on how he could be stronger, faster, and better than the average mage.
“Right, Ran'dar.. Why don't you tell me something more. I want to know just how strong the prisoners are here. Why is it that you are so powerful, but you have not slain everyone in the beneath? “ The sorcerer beckoned, and did not mean to be insulting to the Ithecal. However, Ran'dar answered the question with a question. “If I were that strong, do you believe I would have let you live after I latched on to you? “ The ithecal replied, and chuckled simultaneously.
“No, and that is the very reason why I ask you this.. You let me live in exchange for me owing a debt to you that can be paid with something from the mines. If I mined enough I could pay off this debt to you, but I just do not understand. You let me live. Are you interested in allies?” Mercedes asked, but the answer had to be obvious.
“Yes, I need allies here.. I may be strong, but even I am dwarfed by some of the people and beings that exist here. I can battle for trials on end, and wrestle with the strongest of them all, but not even I am a match for someone with more intellect than I have brawn. Someone can be weaker, and more intellectual and strategic than me, and they could defeat me. My weaknesses are not so obvious, to someone like you. However, in the eyes of an experienced combatant, even I become an easy target.” Ran'dar spoke.
“Indeed, I will pay off the debt, but that does not mean I will stop being your ally. I will assist you and I have every intention on following your cause. I have a friend here, and I believe that you can help me find her. The name of that female is Maxine, but she goes by Max. If you could help me find her, I could assist you with a number of things and I will increase my debt to you two fold. “ The sorcerer spoke, and Ran'dar simply gave a nod of acknowledgment.
“Very well, but first I want you to transform again. You and I are going to train; you cannot be my ally if you are entirely too weak to be of any good use to me, Mercedes. If you are going to be killed in your first brush with combat, you may as well be one of the rats waiting to be eaten that breed here.. Fight me although you are a rat.. Move as quickly as you can or I will kill you, Mercedes.” Ran'dar spoke in an excited tone, and Mercedes nodded only to take a step backward.
The sorcerer focused again on his ether being channeled through the totem of a rat skull on a mere string. With several deep inhalations, followed by exhalations he grasped hold of the totem, and focused on the flow of ether. Ran'dar interrupted to speak in a soft tone “If you want to get better at doing this, you will need to concentrate harder than that, Mercedes.. Visualize the channeling if your ether..” He spoke, and The sorcerer continued to breathe in, and out concentrating on the flow of ether through the totem. He visualized ether like a running river, except he needed to control the direction of flow.
In, he breathed and imagined water that simply swirled about, and filled the cranial structure of the rat skull. Out, he breathed and then the process began, pain began to overtake him, but he needed to learn how to resist it. If he could simply make it to the end of the process; the pain would be over, and he would have shifted shapes yet again. The entirety of his body began to burn, and sweat poured down his visage as his form began to change. After two bits he could practically feel the insanity as it sunk in. The pain became a deep throbbing, and consistent one much like being struck repeatedly with a hammer. After the sixth bit the pain ceased, and the moment of primordial nothingness came to pass; as he stepped into the new form. While he attempted to speak nothing but a high pitch squeal exited his visage.
“Now! We begin!” Ran'dar exclaimed as he proceeded to swing his tail at Rat-cedes. The sorcerer moved awkwardly, and made an attempt to leap only to be caught in the momentum of the tail. The ithecal made him lose all balance, and slide across the stone floor. He made an attempt to recover and with hardly any time to react the ithecal charged again. Instinctively, he reacted by doing the only thing that he could; he made an attempt to grapple with the beasts massive leg. Rat-cedes latched onto the beasts many scales just below the knee, and attempted to bite his way through only to fail several times.
“Pathetic, but you are learning.. No matter what you face as a becomer you have to be prepared for it! You may be in a form so insignificant that you could hardly defeat a fly, but you have to learn how to battle a rock-snake when you are nothing but an owl. You are weak, you have to accept that and learn to fight around what little strengths you have, Sorcerer.” Ran'dar spoke, and concluded the lesson by placing Rat-cedes in his mouth, and running off again further into the abyss.
