First steps on the road to madness (Attn: Tai'Dashan)

[Arath Faringal]

Arath stood at the site he had chosen to construct his new home.  It was a fair sized piece of ground all things considered.  Good areas were getting hard to come by with so many men joining the ranks of the Asha'man and building their own homes for themselves and their families.  He had never bothered with the chore of constructing his own house before.  It had seemed like such a waste of time and space to him.  Arath had no family on his own, he was barely 19 years old after all, and his housing needs were minimal.  However, it seemed almost scandalous for an Attack Leader to still be housed in a general Asha'man barracks, so after much goading and prodding he was buckling in to the pressure.  And besides, it would give his new mentee something to do.

 

So there he was, staring at a barren stretch of dirt and grass, trying to envision some sort of house in the spot.  Maybe he should ask Isha for help?  He'd been through this a few times before.  But Isha's house had a certain ... fortress like look to it, which wasn't at all appealing to Arath.  Maybe something more like his family home had been back before ...

 

A subtle cough behind him drew him back to reality.  Arath turned to face new Soldier Tai'Dashan who had been instructed to meet him here the night before.  Arath examined the other man from head to toe.  He looked slightly uncomfortable in the black uniform he now wore, even though the heat of the day had barely begun.  Maybe he was aprehensive now about what he was about to start learning.  Doubtless some of the other Soldiers had told him some of the goings on of the Farm, or made some sort of displays of the One Power the night before.  With a barely audible sigh, Arath began Tai'Dashan's first instructions.

 

"I don't usually give private lessons Soldier, so I'm not sure whether you can count yourself lucky or unlucky in your case."  This was the truth.  Arath had given only one private lesson to his last mentee, mostly because the fool drove him mad.  He was less likely to snap and kill the man with an audience.  "As long as you don't make a fool of yourself, you should be fine.

 

"Now then, you are here to learn to channel Saidin, so we'll get right onto it.  Firstly, in order to master Saidin, you must master yourself.  Master your mind.  One small error, and the Power will destroy you without hesitation.  In order to even touch the power, you must empty your mind of all thought, of all emotion.  This trick can take years to master."  Arath smiled slightly.  Siezing the source, he wove earth and raised a pair of low benches from the ground for the two of them.  "We unfortunately don't have years.  This is something you will practice non stop until you can achieve it almost effortlessly.  I want results today.

 

"Now, imagine a flame, a single flame, in your mind.  Feed all of your thoughts, feelings, emotions ... all of it, right into the flame until nothing remains but the flame and an emptiness, a void, remain in your mind.  Once you can achieve this, we can really begin."

[TaiDashan]

"Now, imagine a flame, a single flame, in your mind.  Feed all of your thoughts, feelings, emotions ... all of it, right into the flame until nothing remains but the flame and an emptiness, a void, remain in your mind.  Once you can achieve this, we can really begin."

 

Tai'Dashan felt uncomfortably hot in his black uniform. The sun was just up and already there was an annoying trickle of sweat between his shoulder-blades. The night before had been fairly interesting, ending in nightmares of Aria and going mad, sometimes both in the same horrid nightmare. As anxious as he was to wield it,  the One Power had a way of frightening a man. Arath had been quiet enough on the way out of the inn after his meeting with Linten. Tai'Dashan had been surprised to find his mentor was 7 years younger than him and wondered if like himself, Arath Faringal had demons he hid as well. But today was not about curiosity over his mentor. Today was to be his first instruction Arath had said, and he meant to show him how quick a learner he was. Closing his eyes and taking deep breaths to center himself, Tai'Dashan imagined a tiny flame. He imagined himself floating in front of the flame, breathing slowly and evenly. Feelings, thoughts, everything that flowed through him slid into the flame, directed with a thought. The heat of the day, the remaining weariness from the night before, all of it fed the flame made it bigger.

 

With no sense of time, Tai'Dashan fed the flame endlessly. larger and larger it grew, higher and more intense until nothing existed but him and the flame. Tai'Dashan fed all he was into the inferno the flame had become. Thought, emotion, sensation, his very being fed the flame. The only thing that existed, that ever had existed, or ever would exist was the flame. Tai'Dashan fed the last scrap of his being, the last shred of conscious thought into the raging inferno and felt himself become the raging heat of the flame. As he dimly recognized losing his identity, the flame became a searing, liquid, lightning bolt of ice. It raged within him wildly, writhing and wildly pulsing with decay. Desperately he grapled to keep his head above the proverbial water. His eyes shot open and the world crashed back in around him bringing him to his knees. Tai'Dashan trembled weakly and licked his lips. The tiniest brush with a power that indescribably massive had brought him to his knees, how was he supposed to control that? The rotten slime of decay had felt like he had turned himself inside out and bathed in it. The thought made him shudder and loose his breakfast weakly in the grass.

 

Slowly he got to his feet. Wiping his mouth with the back of one hand he scrubbed the other through his hair. He looked at Arath levelly,  wondering if the man had had a similiar experience. He had wanted to impress Arath with how fast he could learn. Now the stench of his breakfast drove away any chance of that along with his dignity.

 

"Now what?"

[Arath Faringal]

Arath stared down his student for a moment, releasing the shield he had woven on him and deciding what to do.  "Now what?  Now, you're lucky to be alive.  Now, you will do it again.  And now, you'll do exactly what I told you to.  The flame and a void.  The void, the emptiness, the protective bubble in your mind is beyond important.  You touched Saidin just now under two very foolish circumstances.  First, you were not in the void, and therefore likely to be distracted.  Second, you don't have a clue as to what you're doing.  Had I not cut you off from the source, you would likely be a steaming crater in the ground right about now."  At the surprised look in Tai'Dashan's eyes, Arath nodded.  "Yes, I can prevent you from channeling at all if I choose so.  It is something you will learn later should you survive until then.  Now, you will repeat the exercise again and this time, maintain an emptiness in your mind.  Do not explore the flame, nor any light your may perceive in the back of your consciousness."

 

It took a while, but within a half an hour his mentee had managed to form and hold the void long enough to proceed to the next phase.

"Good.  Now we will continue.  The problem you had on your first contact with Saidin is that you were relaxing.  To form the void at first, you must relax your mind and slowly dissolve all your thoughts into the flame.  To control Saidin is quite the opposite.  Relax for a moment and it will consume you.  You must fight it for control at every moment, bend it to your will.  The fight is intense, but manageable.  You must also deal with the foul taint, which I believe you also noticed."  He nodded to the small, quickly drying puddle of vomit nearby. "A vile, oily, disease which covers Saidin.  Every man reacts differently to it.  Some go years without any ill effects from the taint only to suddenly go completely insane.  Others struggle with nausea and headaches from the first time they touch it, and last a very long time.  But eventually, if the shadowspawn and dreadlords don't kill you, the taint will.  It is our curse.  A manageable one, but inescapable."

 

"Now then, I want you to form the void again, and this time you will reach into the back of it and take hold of Saidin.  Don't try to do anything with it, just fight to control it, to hold it.  I will be ready if anything should go wrong.

[TaiDashan]

Shock ran through Tai'Dashan at learning that he could have died. No wonder people had looked at him like they did for wanting to channel. Tai'Dashan was eager by nature, and constantly charging forward full speed ahead before thinking it through completely. Years had tempered that eagerness but had not quenched it. In that moment, Tai'Dashan realised that this was no game. He would need to learn self control, and fast.

 

It took him about half an hour before he got the trick down of emptying himself and achieving the Void. Once he did he was surprised at how hollow his own voice sounded. Well, surprised was not exactly the right word for it. Surprise, like everything else, skittered around the Void like the colors on a soap bubble. Tai'Dashan found use for the Void. Floating in the Void he was somehow, calmer. More calculating. After floating in the Void for a while he released it with a regretful sigh, feeling the heat return was his least favorite part.

 

"Now then, I want you to form the void again, and this time you will reach into the back of it and take hold of Saidin.  Don't try to do anything with it, just fight to control it, to hold it.  I will be ready if anything should go wrong.

 

Forming the Void took almost no effort now. Satisfaction danced outside the Void at that, and a smile that felt like someone else's touched his lips. Tai'Dashan could see the white hot light of Saidin Arath had instructed him to take hold of. He hesitated and fear skittered across the Void, dimly recognized. Reminding himself that Arath was ready to shield him should he fail, Tai'Dashan reached out and touched it. No, he grabbed hold and grappled with it! As before, he found himself surrounded by the chaos of ice and fire that was Saidin. If not for the Void he would have been utterly consumed, like a twig in a river of lava. Arath wasn't kidding, it took every ounce of will, every scrap of his strength to fight being obliterated by this freezing maelstrom of fire. Don't try to do anything with it? How could he do anything but fight to survive? Oh but Light! The struggle to control it, to fight the raging river of frozen, molten, light made him feel so Alive! Saidin coursed through him bringing the taint as well. He had thought his first brush with it had been bad! The vile slime permeated every fiber of his being, staining him to the bone with the Shadows Rot. It was enough to make him want to add to the now dry pile everything he had ever eaten. Releasing saidin, somewhat clumsily if not effectively, Tai'Dashan looked around him in amazement. It was as if the taint had settled on everything, making it dimmer, shadowy. All the color, all the detail, all the life had gone out of everything. questioningly he looked at Arath.

[Arath Faringal]

Arath tried to keep a grin off his face as he watched his pupil.  For the first time, he had released Saidin, and was dealing with the deadened reality around him.  "Now you see why the taint eventually gets us all.  As horrible, as vile, and as repulsive as it is, the rush you get from touching Saidin is irresistible.  You feel so alive, and without it life seems hollow.  You will never stop channeling for as long as you live now, because you'll want to experience that again and again, in spite of the taint."

 

Turning his back to the soldier, Arath faced the bare site of his future home.  "Soon you will be able to do many things with the power, but first you need to understand it.  The One Power is broken down into 5 elements, Earth, Fire, Water, Air, and Spirit.  The majority of the Asha'man are more talented in Earth and Fire, though there are a few exceptions.  Women are usually stronger in Water and Air.  Each of these elements are equally powerful, but in different ways and for different things.  They can be used for creation, or destruction.  For example, with Earth I can create a shelter..." With a raising gesture of his arm, Arath pulled small earthen walls from the ground in a rough cabin shape.  "... or I can destroy it." A violent tremor shook the ground, causing Tai'Dashan to stumble, and the walls of the shoddy little shelter to collapse around themselves.

 

For the next few minutes, Arath worked to instill a proper respect for the power of Saidin in his student.  The raw power that was inherent in each of the elements for both beneficial and destructive purposes.  After he had demonstrated a little bit of each element gazed at Tai'Dashan for a moment.  "I want you to sieze Saidin again, and this time I want you to seperate it into different elements.  I want you to try and do something with all 5 of them.  Something small will be fine."

[TaiDashan]

OOC: Good to have you back. ;D Good to know you're ok, I was starting to worry about you!

 

Arath made a gesture with his arm and earth rose up from nowhere. Tai'Dashan felt a small thrill of excitement run through him like he always did when someone did something with the power. And something....else. A vibration of sorts. All thought of this was literally shaken from him as the earth quaked and the earth fell, dust hanging in the still air. Arath had effectively demonstrated creation and destruction. The two opposite but similiar principles he had learned from Aria. At the thought of her and her love for philosiphy, Tai'Dashan gently tucked the thought away in his mind making room for his lesson.

 

"I want you to sieze Saidin again, and this time I want you to seperate it into different elements.  I want you to try and do something with all 5 of them.  Something small will be fine."

 

Tai'Dashan formed the Void and seized Saidin. It got easier the more he did it. Arath had said that would happen. Life filled him. Fighting the raging torrent of molten ice and filth, he looked closer at Saidin. Saidin was like a braid of 5 strands, each one thrust  through the other roughly like a sword, but woven tighter than even the wheel might weave the pattern. Tearing one flow free, Tai'Dashan instantly could sense, almost taste, that it was fire. He tore another free, water. Focusing on each flow was hard while fighting Saidin, but he wove a small ball of each in front of him. Air was next, he wove and the tiny balls of fire and water started to circle around each other. Sweat beaded his brow with concentration. This was really hard. The ball of flame flickered and almost went out as he reached for a fourth strand. Tai'Dashan renewed his concentration and wove spirit into the shimmering image of a sword between the rotating balls. His weaves seemed to flicker and thin. For a moment discouragement threatened to shatter the void, but Tai'Dashan strengthened his resolve, drank a little more deeply of Saidin, and wove a platform of earth under the construct. Immediately the weaves dissipated. It had only lasted for about 45 seconds, it was just too much to keep going at once.

 

Tai'Dashan released Saidin and the life went out of the world around him, out of himself as well. He stared dejectedly at the ground. "Sorry Arath. I couldn't hold it like you did the walls. It was too hard. I guess I will get better with time right?" He looked up hopefully at his mentor. When Arath smiled so did Tai'Dashan. "By the way, you can call me Tai', thats what my friends called me back home."

 

 

OOC: Tai'Dashan misunderstood what you meant by something with all 5 powers. Good oppurtunity to teach him about directing different flows into multiple things at once instead of all 5 into one weave and why that was so hard. Don't be to hard on him, he is eager to please you.  ;)

[Arath Faringal]

Arath smiled a little as he watched Tai struggle with all five elements at once.  This wasn't exactly what he had asked for, but he supposed his over eager mentee was struggling to prove himself.  He should initiative, even if he lacked a little common sense.  But he was eager to learn, and that counted for a lot.

 

"You're right.  It will get easier with time and practice.  Your problem now however, is that you over stretched yourself.  It was impressive for someone at your level to pull that off, but foolish.  I told you to do something with all five elements, but not all five at once.  Working with multiple weaves can be taxing for an experienced channeler.  Frankly I'm surprised you managed as much as you did right then.  You'll find it much easier to sustain a weave when there's only one or two elements involved.

 

"I want you to try again, this time with only one element at a time.  Start with fire."  Arath wove earth and pulled a small ring of stones up from the ground and formed them into a circle.  "Make a decent sized fire here.  Then do something with earth, then air, then water.  Spirit is a bit different, since there are no visible effects from it, but try to make some sort of shape out of it.  You might be surprised what experimenting can do."

[TaiDashan]

OOC: I forgot that spirit isn't visible for men because we can't see the weaves right? Anyway, here we go!

 

Once again, self depreciation and pleasure warred within Tai'Dashan. So he had done something well. He also had failed to do what was asked of him. His resolve returned as Arath gave him a new task. The ring of stones appeared and Arath voiced his challenge.

 

"Make a decent sized fire here.  Then do something with earth, then air, then water.  Spirit is a bit different, since there are no visible effects from it, but try to make some sort of shape out of it.  You might be surprised what experimenting can do."

 

So experimenting was dangerous but encouraged? Learning Saidin truly was a struggle for survival. Once again Tai'Dashan formed the Void and seized Saidin, and once again the fight to survive filled him with life. Slowly Tai'Dashan channeled fire and was pleased to see a flame burning on the barren earth within the stones. He suppressed an urge to look at his mentor's reaction. Keeping the weave of fire just long enough, Tai'Dashan wove water to put out the fire. This time he did look at Arath, if only to see if he disaproved of the multiple weaves. He seemed to appreciate the humor but Tai'Dashan figured he better not push it and get another reprimand. Weaving air, Tai'Dashan raised a small breeze that although was pitifully small, hopefully provided his mentor with a brief respite from this light-blasted heat. A thought came to him that almost caused the void to slip. Arath wasn't sweating. Tai'Dashan was dumping buckets into his new uniform, and Arath wasn't shedding a drop! Tai'Dashan spoke through the Void to his mentor.

 

"A thought just occured to me. When this is over, please explain to me why in this light-abandoned heat you are not sweating, and teach me how to do it."

 

Without waiting for the response he hadn't asked for, Tai'Dashan wove earth and raised a simple mound in the center of the stones. Earth seemed to be the hardest to weave, and for the life of him he couldn't figure out why. Tai'Dashan thought for a moment, what to weave with spirit? Doing the only thing he could think to do, Tai'Dashan wove a web-like dome around himself thickly. He didn't know if Arath could see it or not, but he spun it around himself like a whirlwind just for show. Tai'Dashan wondered if Arath could even see that weave and released Saidin waiting patiently for his next instruction.

 

OOC:Go where you want with him discovering the spirit barrier, explain what its uses are etc. Or just ignore it altogether that one's up to you   ;D

[Arath Faringal]

OOC: Bah, I have the hardest time remembering this thread  :P Sorry about the wait.  And men CAN see the weaves, just no glows or anything around another channeler.  I meant spirit has no visible, physical, effects.

 

Arath watched as his pupil struggled through the exercise, forming each of the elements in turn to some sort of effect.  He seemed to struggle the most with earth for some reason, but that was not unheard of.  His weave of spirit was interesting.  A little clumsy and ineffective, but he had a good start on weaving a ward.

 

"Ignoring the heat is a trick we teach when you reach Dedicated rank.  Think of it as an incentive to progress quickly."  Arath grinned.  He would probably end up teaching him the trick in a week or so, but he would work extra hard during that week.  "Good work on each of your weaves there.  Your spirit weave was interesting.  It didn't do anything at all really, but that's mostly because you still lack the skill to complete the weave.  If you enlarge that dome and weave it tighter, you form the base for what we call a warding.  If you weave slight amounts of other elements through it, it will serve various purposes, from serving as an alarm if someone crosses it, to blocking sounds, or even securing a locked box with a trap.  It's a useful skill, but a little beyond your abilities just yet."

 

Arath turned away from Tai'Dashan and looked at the area he had cleared for his new house.  "This lesson is mostly over.  I'll show you a few more things you can practice with on your own time, but how quickly your strength develops depends largely on you.  You will have many chores around here, assigned by any of the Asha'man, and maybe even some Dedicateds.  Unless you are specifically told otherwise, you are to perform all of them with the power.  From cutting wood, to hauling water.  All of it with Saidin.  Understood?"

 

Using earth and air, Arath brought a large stone out of the ground and placed it between them.  "This is a weave you will find youself using almost every day.  Lifting things with air can be difficult, but it's generally the easiest way to do things."   Arath showed Tai how to wrap air around the stone and lift.  "This exercise will help develop your strength."  Using the same weave again, Arath pulled a small bag which had been laying a short ways away over to him.  Retrieving a small bundle of stick from the bag, Arath continued.  "This one will help teach you control.  It's a simple matter to light a fire, but keeping it small is sometimes a problem for new channelers.  What I want you to do with these, is practice weaving tiny flames on the ends.  Doing one at a time is simple enough, but I want you to practice with several at a time.  Many tiny weaves at once to light just the ends of the sticks.  It's harder than it sounds, trust me."   He tossed the bundle to the soldier.  "Once you have a sufficient amount of strength and control, you'll be helping me to build a new house here.  You'll also be staying in it, so it will be in your best interest to build it well." 

 

OOC: Officially you only need one more response for this thread to count for you, but we can extend it a bit if you want.  Keep things interesting ;)

[TaiDashan]

OOC: I don't mind making it interesting, As long as I have posts to reply to that is  :P  ;)

 

Tai'Dashan smiled inwardly at the praise Arath gave him. He liked the man and it felt good for him to hear he had succeeded for once. It was better than 'you almost killed yourself you goat-brained fool!' anyway. As Arath raised the stone out of the ground, Tai'Dashan watched closely the weaves of air that wrapped around the head sized stone. Catching the bundle of sticks he sat crossed legged on the ground, setting them next to him. Assuming the Void and seizing the source, he duplicated the weaves of air and tossed the stone from side to side. The weave seemed to slip and, because of his inexperience, it plummeted toward the earth. But Tai'Dashan was a quick learner, and before it struck the ground he had caught it with air and thrown it high above their heads. Weaving an irritated combination of air and fire, the rock exploded into dust. Tai'Dashan watched it settle to the ground and sighed. He was always so impulsive. 'That weave was kinda cool though.' he thought to himself. With a grin for Arath he picked up the bundle of sticks and stood them up one by one, weaving a small ammount of air to keep them standing.

 

Tai'Dashan remembered how hard it was to hold different weaves at once, and focused intently as he placed his hands together in front of him, palms together. Slowly he spread his fingers and pulled his palms apart, fingertips still touching. A tiny ball of flame blossomed between his palms. Tai'Dashan could feel drops of sweat sliding down his already damp face in concentration, but floating in the Void it felt distant. A tiny thread of flame curled out slowly, like a hatchling stretching for the first time, and touched the end of the first stick. Thread after thread curled out and touched wood, sparking a tiny flame into life. The more tendrils of flame he made to light the sticks, the thinner he felt his control of Saidin stretch. Looking at the last stick to be lit he paused. Keeping those flames small was taxing and he wasn't sure if he could light even one more and keep control of the raging current of Saidin. Tilting his head in puzzlement, Arath's admonition rang in his ears once more. Suddenly a burst of inspiration, and he had the answer. Extending the weave of air higher, he contained the flames to their tiny prisons and stretched out the final flame to light the last stick. Triumphantly he released the weave and looked up at Arath. While acting rashly and destroying the stone, he had stayed patient and completed the second task. Tai'Dashan beamed with satisfaction as he rose to meet Arath's gaze at eye level.