Originally Posted by
Cremela
Is he not a priest for a Christian "church" then? or is it one of those denominations where they use grape juice instead?
He's a priest of a Lutheran Church.
Originally Posted by
Yato
arvi is smitten and waits for her to return
Winner!
blank 4
‘I finally find an interesting girl and my opening line to her is “Hey, baby, ever met a mass-murderer before?”’ I sighed. ‘Bloody hell, I need to get some fresh air.’
I threw away the blanket on top of me and tried my best to ignore the pain which was caused by any sort of movement. My mind was hazy and my ears were ringing. I entered the balcony. The moment I did so, my mind cleared up and I realized four very important things. First, it was cold outside, and very windy. Second, I was on the ninth floor. Third, I had not a single item of clothing on me. Fourth, Anna-Liisa looking right at me from the street.
I ran back inside and closed the door. I shivered, partly due to the cold and partly due to embarassment.
‘Hold on. I don’t remember undressing. Actually, I don’t remember anything what happenend after the ritual.’ My eyes widened. ‘Hannes! I need to make sure that he’s —‘ “Achoo!”
I wiped my nose clean. ‘Okay, warmth first, Hannes second.’
I decided to look around the apartment in hopes of finding my clothes. The apartment was extremely small so I was sure it would take me no time at all, and I was right. It did take me no time at all to come to the conclusion that my clothes were not there.
‘This is the only way,’ I thought while staring at a closet which I had found during my search for clothes. I realized that I could’ve simply gone back to bed and slept until Anna-Liisa’s arrival, but I did not want to do that. ‘I shoud be proactive, not simply sleep what’s left of my life away. Even if it means wearing…’
Inside the closet were two sets of identical clothes: combat boots, long skirt, tank top and leather jacket. The only non-black things in the closet were the tank tops; they were white. I took one set and put everything on, including the jacket.
I closed the closet door and looked at the mirror hanging there. ‘If it wasn’t for my stubble, people could actually mistake me for a woman from afar,’ I thought. Out on the streets, people did not put much thought into their appearence and because of that, I noticed that my blonde hair had already grown past my shoulders.
I wanted to call and check up on Hannes, but I realized that my phone - or rather, the phone I found - was gone along with my pants. Even if I had had it, I doubted that it would've worked. Smartphones had a tendency to stop working when they were drenched in water.
Making my way to the kitchen, I took out a pot from one of the cupboards. Due to my hunt for clothes, I had a good feel for the place. Finding things was no longer a problem. I filled the pot with tap water, then fired up the stove and placed the pot there.
‘I haven’t had coffee in god knows how long. I’m sure she won’t mind if I make some.’
✙
After finishing my fourth cup, I leaned back on the chair and looked outside the balcony window.
‘This night view is gorgeus,’ I thought, realizing why she had placed her desk there. Just by looking outside and seeing the entire neighbourhood, I felt calm and peaceful. Even the pain had become a lesser issue. I took a deep breath and finally glanced away. I needed something to do so I began shuffling through the drawers of the desk, hoping to find a book or something else which would allow me to pass the time.
“What’s this?” I muttered aloud.
At the bottom-most drawer, was a thick notebook. The cover was made of leather. I could tell it was old just by smelling it. It was actually really nostalgic, as I had spent most of my life amidst old archives and dusty libraries. I flipped through the pages, noticing two distinct handwriting styles. The large majority of the text was written in big and sloppy letters while most of the corrections or footnotes were written in a small and neat style.
‘This is about magic,’ I realized.
I lit the desk lamp and started reading from the beginning. The fact that the first page was covered in blood-spatters immediately caught my eye.
My dearest daughter,
Despite my best efforts, you have gone to great lengths in order to make your wish heard. Your wish of becoming a magician. After years of pestering, I have finally given in. Yes, yes, you can wipe that grin off your face now, Anna-Liisa. Remember the saying I tend to throw around often. “If you want something done right then do it yourself.”
Naturally, I will apply this sage advice to our current situation aswell.
From this day forth, you are to remain in your room and study magic. It is paramount for you to work through this entire notebook. At the end of the journal, you will find 42 excercises composed of both theoretical and practical tests. Solving them is going to require you to apply all you have learned.
Once you have done so, you will have permission to talk to me again. No man, master of magic or not, should be allowed to poison the mind of a novice. Understand this, Anna-Liisa, that such drastic measures are for your own good. I’m sure that you will thank me later, as I thanked your grandfather once upon a time.
Until that time, however, you are to remain in your room.
I have faith in you, dear daughter, so I believe you will work through the journal faster than I did. I’m sure you’ll make me proud and work through the journal in under 20 years. I'm sure you're as excited as I am, just thinking about that glorious moment!
P.S. I suggest you solve Problem #1 as soon as possible. The answer should be a spell. Use it only at 7 in the morning, at noon and 6 in the evening. It will teleport food to your room and back, but make haste! We will remove the plates from the designated teleportation spot after 2 minutes.
A magician has to be punctual.
‘This is messed up,’ I thought, flipping the page.
From your impatient nature, I can already tell you’re just waiting to get right into the meat of things! But, child, remember that you are on a journey to become more than you were. Something beyond a regular human being. Magicians learn things in order. Therefore, it is appropriate to start off with basic theories. I say theories, because the history of magic is shrouded in mystery. While I am going to include pure hard-cold facts here, keep in mind the theories, the possibilities, the meanings behind everything!
Magicians are ascended humans. While they are physically indistinguishable from any ordinary dim-witted individial, magicians have one extraordinary thing going for them. Magicians are enlightened.
The reason why I had wanted to keep you away from magic was simple. Every spell needs power in order to be cast. And where does this power come from? From yourself, from your life force, from your future!
Now, now. I know what you’re thinking, but it’s not as bad as it seems. The dim-witted peons, the caddle or sheeple, if you will; without even knowing, they are buring away their pitiful existance. Understand this, above anything else; humans are extremely inefficient creatures. The thing which seperates the sheep and their herders is a simple understanding. Magicians are fully in control of their own life force.
To put it simply, if Dr. Haumacher’s theory is right, then every living being starts off with the same amount of life force. Let’s use the number 35000 for ease of example. When he is first born, Person A’s body automatically takes 0.1 units of life force from his reserves. As a baby, such a small amount is fine for sustaining his existance. However, as he grows, the situation changes. 0.1 will no longer cut it. And how does the body react? By drawing double the amount of energy the next day.
The human body is a very simple machine. It draws energy from its reserve and divides it up even further between different body parts, in order of importance. If the energy runs out, that person is going to feel weaker that day. The next day, however, it draws double the amount and repeats its process. If that amount is fine, the body is going to keep on drawing that amount until even that is not enough. Then, it will double the amount again.
Even though that whole process by itself is extremely inefficient, I’m afraid it only goes worse from here.
Let’s say that Person A’s body normally uses 0.3 units of energy per day. That is what he needs to maintain its existance. However, his body draws 0.4 units from his reserves every day, because it only knows how to double the amount taken. One day, Person A gets sick and the needs of his body grow higher. Let’s say that he got infected by something horrible and he now needs 0.9 units per day. First day, the body draws 0.4 like usual, then realizes that it’s not enough. The next day, it draws 0.8 and realizes once again that it’s not enough so the day after that, it draws 1.6 units. After a while, he gets better and his bodily needs return to 0.3 units per day. However, his body keeps on taking 1.6 units, day after day. Not only that, but instead of sending the surplus back to the reserves, it simply wastes the excess!
I hope you’re paying close attention, Anna-Liisa, because this is going to be in one of the tests.
To their credit, there is one positive and wondrous thing about the human body. No-one knows why, butWrong. Sleeping restores some of the energy used that day. Whether by spells or not.
sleeping allows you to retain some - but not all - of your excess energy.
The first step of any novice is to gain control over his energy flow. See Appendix 1:1 for specific instructions. Before anything else, you must understand the theory behind it. Remember it well my dear daughter.
Once a mage has done so, he can freely regulate the amount of energy taken per day, and if needed, take any amount left in the reserves at a moment’s notice. And this is how magic becomes possible.
Seeing as you were always distracted by shiny objects, I have drawn you a diagram that I’d like you to take a look at before I explain any further.
I, along with the rest of my peers at the Modern Society of Magicians, believe that the fantastical nature of wonderment that is magic, is categoriezed into five distinct classifications: Temporal, Spatial, Holy, Unholy and Infinity or Source. Even though no magician has ever understood what the Infinity actually is, it is widely believed that such an element exists, as there are number of theories to support such a claim. See Appendixes 16:1 to 16:21 for the most prominent examples.
Temporal magic governs anything that has to do with the passing or the perception of time while Spatial magic focuses on manipulating objects in a more direct matter. I’ve heard of tales where people have used Spatial magic in order to gain a deeper understanding of items they were holding or the rooms they were in, but to me, that just sounds like hogwash. Pay close attention to my notes on Spatial magic if you want to eat anytime soon.
By far the most popular type of magic is Holy. Amusingly enough, it is usually the least used type of magic, second to Temporal, of course. Most academics, myself included, consider Temporal magic to be I thought you hated puns.
an absolute waste time.
Most young novices all focus on Holy magic, claiming they all want to become healers or warders against evil. The truth is that most of those hot-blooded goons are simply thugs who want to enchance their body and have the ability to do that even on Sacred Grounds. They ignore how important it is to understand Unholy and Spatial paths, not to mention the Infinity. Some insolent little brats have even dared to go against the teachings of our Grand Masters and dared to discredit the existance of Infinity. I know that you’re a good-natured little girl, Disowning me like Andres?
which is why I have no reason to fear.
Once you begin studying the Unholy path, do not be afraid. Do you remember your old cat, Lagrits? When you were only four years old, she disappeared for a few days. We told you that she ran away, but the truth is that she died. I simply used magic to bring her back. Unlike the urban legends you might hear in the future, you need to understand that necromancy is not possible. Yes, I brought back your cat, but that was just me animating its body with Spatial magic while warding off its smell using Holy magic. Fortunately you were so creeped out by the cat that you wanted us to get rid of it. If you had wanted to keep her, I would have had to ask my colleague to stop the decomposition with his Temporal magic. Perish the thought!
Knowing how curses or hexes work is a necessary precaution every magician has to take. Otherwise you would most likely be useless, should any be directed at you. Modern Society of Magicians is a surprisingly cut-throat organization. You need to be able to take care of yourself, if you want to rise to the seat of a Grand Master.
And last, the Infinity.
Unfortunately, that part of the journal had been teared away. Disappointed, I turned the page once more, becoming more and more absorbed in the journal. As I did so, the apartment’s door creaked open and a bloodied Anna-Liisa fell to the ground. I dashed towards the door and looked at her in horror. Anna-Liisa was wheezing hard, but that was the least of her concerns. Her body was filled with holes, likely caused by some type of a bladed weapon. On top of that, most of her clothes, along with her skin and beautiful black hair, had been burnt to a crisp. I looked away and carried her onto the bed. It looked as if she was in some sort of a haze, on the border of consciousness and unconsiousness.
“Anna-Liisa, Anna-Liisa. What happened? No, that can wait! I need to call the ambulance and—“ I said.
“—gnar,” she said, her voice barely audible.
I went closer and asked her to repeat herself.
“Get Ragnar. He lives at—augh!” she screamed. “He lives at Poska street, 34-5.”
“House 34, apartment 5. Got it. He can help you?” I asked.
“Yes, yes. But before that, look at my sword belt,” she said. “Do you see a sheath with a checkered pattern and a white sheath with a blue circle on it?”
I looked at her sword belt. From the seven she usually carried, one sword was missing. I looked back at her and said, “I see the checkered one, but not the other one.”
She screamed again, although it seemed as if that one was due to anger, rather than pain. “Fucking piece of shit! Of all the god damned swords, he just had to get his hands on that one!” she yelled. She tried to take a deep breath, but it came out as a weak wheeze. In a quieter voice, she continued, “Take the checkered sword and piece my heart. No. No! Stop looking at me like that and do it now or I will slap you so hard that you—“
Her speech was interrupted by a sword piercing her skin and making its way to her heart, then through it, nailing her onto the bed. Her expression softened. She closed her eyes and with an even quieter voice, she said, “You did well. Get Ragnar. I have a little time.”
I checked her pulse and sighed in relief. Then I stood up and ran outside.
✙
I ran all the way to the nearest bus-stop, knowing that I could get very close to the place I needed with bus nr. 5. Running there was out of the question, as it was way too far and I had almost collapsed just by running down the stairs. Sure, it was the ninth floor, but I still felt subpar. I had wanted to take the elevator, but it was out of order. No notice or sign anywhere, it simply refused to work.
I sat down on the bench, trying to catch my breath while waiting for the bus.
Every time a bus drove by, I looked up to see if it was nr. 5 or not, although it never was; except for that time. I noticed bus nr. 5 stop at the opposite side of the road. I was about to turn my head back down, but a strange feeling in my gut stopped me from doing so. I looked closer at the bus, and suddenly my eyes widened. Among the passengers were Hannes who an empty - almost ghastly - look in his face and Erik, with his hand around Hannes’ shoulder, smiling broadly. I glanced left and saw my bus waiting behind the red light.
‘Why is Hannes with Erik?’
As the traffic light turned yellow, I knew what I had to do.
end
And what exactly is the thing Arvi knows he must do?
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