Sjal
Approved Character
Winter 34, 124
Sjal hadn't had much time to enjoy herself lately. It was all fighting and training and these days, it was raining so much. She had been thinking about initiating into some more arcana and fulgur was the next on her list. There were plenty of mages available to do the initiation. Sjal already did her research and knew about ninety percent of what was going to happen.
The rain was beating down so hard that even the merchants close for the early afternoon while waiting for the weather to clear up. For many people living here, in the depths of the forests of Motoku the weather could be more than overwhelming and unpredictable, what with Emberfall being right next to a volcano.
At least Sjal had started to feel at home here. Since her return, she had stayed mostly in the various houses available for soldiers instead of her pocket dimension. Not out of desire but rather because she was attached to the culture of the village.
Walking in the streets, she did not look where she was going sice she had her head immersed in a map which was taking her to the home of a mage that could initiate her. She always carried around at least one of these maps in her pocket so that she didn't get lost. She hadn't been in Jian all that long and as an exodus mage she knew that being familiar with each and every location was worth her time.
Reading a relatively funny name for a volcano, she kept her head hidden behind the map and started to laugh.
"Ouch!"
She looked at the person she bumped into with embarrassment. Kneeling down, she helped the person up. The young woman had dropped all her scrolls as well which Sjal also helped clean up.
"I hope I didn't hurt you..."
The woman was some sort of ensorceller by the looks of her. She didn't really scream 'mage' but it was easy to see that these scrolls were meant to cast spells.
"No, don't worry, I was mostly surprised, more scared than hurt." She gave Sjal a half hearted smile then hurried off. She then put her scrolls in a bag, smushing them together because they hardly fit in there.
"Sorry, before you go, do you know where Mishi Ayano lives?" Sjal asked.
"Mhmm, right over there," she said, pointing to a building. "You a new student? I'm his ensorceller."
"You could say that," Sjal said with a thankful nod, "I'm supposed to get initiated by him today."
"Best of luck!" the woman said before hurrying off.
Sjal went to the door, knocked on it and it slid open. Mishi stood before her – he was in his early thirties with a bald head and lots of burn scars on his neck.
"You must be Sjal," he said, "come, let's get started."
They exchanged pleasantries and Sjal gave a brief overview of her history and why she was looking to take on more arcana. Mishi seemed somewhat interested, but he had other things to do and he didn't want to spend all day chatting. Sjal presented her foot to him so he could mark it with his blood and then Sjal started to undergo the transformation.
The beginning wasn't all that bad, just a tingling feeling in the marked foot… but it quickly escalated from there. Her skin felt like it was literally boiling and the sensation travelled up her leg and radiated through the entire bottom half of her body. She screamed, but Mishi conjured a sphere of silence around her so he wouldn't have to listen to her whining. While she writhed, Mishi tied her down using some ropes because he didn't want her to knock over any of his furniture. A well placed mirror prevented her from even warping away.
It was a couple hours before Sjal finally calmed down. When it was clear that it was over, Mishi came over to her and said, "wow, you survived. I wasn't expecting you to, given how loud you were."
Sjal glared at him then said, "yes, I survived. Now let me out of these ropes."
Mishi stroked his beard and shook his head. "No can do. They didn't tell you? I do back to back initiations. It is my firm belief that Fulgur is useless without Zephyr as well. All of my students have both or none."
Sjal opened her mouth to protest but he smiled and conjured another sphere of silence around her. He kept Sjal there for a whole week, her needs taken care of by the ensorceller who she had met earlier. When the week was up Mishi returned to give her the mark of Zephyr. Unlike the last one, Sjal actually thought she was going to die with this initiation. She could hardly breathe, which was a very different feeling from simple pain. She felt like her lungs simply did not work. She literally begged for Mishi to force air into his lungs but he merely watched her with a sadistic grin on his face. When Sjal didn't die, he almost looked disappointed.
"Lucky you," he said after it was over.
He still didn't let her leave for another week. Something to do with recovery time or maybe he was just being an asshole. Either way he seemed to be happy to have her there purely because she was so unhappy and upset.
When the week passed, he finally let her go with a bunch of homework so she could start studying.
