A Friend Indeed

When Altair asked the Imuchakk how to determine one's magic type, Yakuroro pondered for a moment before replying. "In Magnostadt there is a magic tool which can tell you which type you have the highest affinity for...but most magician's find out on their own through life. For example, I saw blue rukh and heard its voice before I ever knew what magic was. If one is attuned to the rukh and listens to its guidance then it's likely they will learn their primary magic type without ever going to a teacher or school to learn." With the explanation over Yakuroro nodded to himself as if to self affirm what he had just said like he wasn't one hundred percent sure about it. But this was waved away by a gesture in response to Altair's statement. "I've never taught anyone magic before, I don't know if I could teach it very well. I only know the basics myself. If you want to learn then I think you should travel to Magnostadt and give up on your silly quest to enter the dungeon." But as he denied the request Yakuroro noticed pure white rukh gathering around the Shepherd.

It was unclear what the gathering of white birds significance was but Yakuroro suspected they were responding to the man's frame of mind. But without seeing inside the human's head this was only a theory which could not be proven. Yakuroro watched as Altair suggested they begin investigating the giant crystal and the Imuchakk nodded in agreeance. But as soon as the Shepherd touched the glowing gem a sphere of purple light and magoi spread outwards encasing Altair. "What's going on!?" Yakuroro shouted as he stared in shock at the work of magic taking place before his eyes. There were so many advanced ceremonies and commands involved in the spell that Yakuroro questioned whether or not it was even possible for a group of mages to manage. "Altaiiiir!" Yakuroro shouted but to no avail. While he could still see the human his words did not reach past the strange barrier and Altair was staring at the light seemingly mesmerized.

Yakuroro attempted to force his way through the wall of purple light with his staff by wrapping it in his borg. "Gyao!" Akatetsu growled is he tried to help Yakuroro push the staff inside but it was only able to penetrate half way inside before there was another bright flash of light. Yakuroro and Akatetsu were blasted backwards as his borg shattered. The light faded and Yakuroro sat up to see that the crystal and his friend were gone. To make matters worse, so was the bottom half of Yaku's Unicorn Horn Staff. These realizations came just before the ground suddenly shifted beneath the Imuchakk and his Chimeric companion and they looked at each other with worry. Without any more warning the ground beneath them fell apart leaving the two at the mercy of gravity to fall into a deep dark pit...

~1684/2000~

"Yakuroro! Yakuroro!" Altair ran through the streets of the town, carrying the broken staff of the Imuchakk Magician. He yelled for his friend, who had disappeared when he was transported. "Has anyone seen a large, blue haired, giant? Please, it's important that i find him!" Although Altair yelled at the top of his lungs, nobody seemed like they were listening to his cries, or even cared. Finally, he turned to grab someone by the shoulder. "Please! I need to, Oh!" He exclaimed, as his hand went right through the man's body without touching him. Altair went very still. What was this place? He was like a ghost here. Life went on around him as though he didn't exist at all. Altair looked at his hand, and then closed it into a fist. He had to get out of here and find Yakuroro. He might know a way to undo this effect.

Altair walked towards the entrance to the white Pyramid. he still walked around people, trying not to run into them as that sensation of passing through them was rather unpleasant. along the way, he heard what sounded like the spell that Yakuroro used to pull water from the ground. Altair stopped to listen and watch what the apparent magician did. "So, you see, that by giving specific commands to the Rukh, i can cause them to work much more efficiently than simply by willing the end result. So, for this spell i simply gave the command "gather water", and the Rukh converted to blue to collect it." Altair watched with interest as the man continued to explain how to give commands to the Rukh, and how through combinations of commands, you could get the Rukh to do almost anything. The man then proceeded to pull out a small object that looked like a glass head. He told those listening that this object could tell them what type of magic they were attuned to. "You don't say... That must be what Yakuroro was talking about earlier." He watched as student after student walked up to the idol and placed their hands on it. The idol spewed fire, water, force, and other kinds of energy at the students, prompting the teacher to say, "Type 1, Type 2, Type 7..." and so on. There was one time in particular that caught Altair's attention, when a young woman walked up to the idol, and it sprayed flies at her. The teacher nodded and said, "Type 8. A Life Magic user." Then the teacher began to lead the students away to practice spells themselves. Altair walked up to the idol, and reached out to touch it. He figured he wouldn't be able to, but to his surprise, it still responded! The idol turned purple and sprayed flies at Altair. He sputtered reflexively, even though he knew the flies would pass right through him. "Well. now i know what type i am. And what luck, i'm a Life Mage. That will certainly come in handy." Although Altair already had a hunch of what type he was, it was nice to have some positive reinforcement.

Altair continued down the path to the pyramid and finally found his way back to the door. He walked up the now well lit path, all the way back up to the top room. But instead of a lone Amethyst, he instead found a council of the King and four Mages. Altair was about to hide around the corner, when once again he realized that he didn't need to. He walked around to the side of the room and listened in on their conversation. At first, he had no idea what they were talking about, but after listening for a moment or two, he figured out that they were having some kind of struggle with energy. They had apparently been talking about this for some time, and tensions were coming to a peak. Altair had never been a fly on the wall for something of this magnitude before, so he listened as best he could to their conversation.

A man who appeared to be the King spoke first. "We can't sustain this kind of power for so long. Our defenses will fail us, and it could wipe us out. We must shut down the power." A mage in yellow stood up then, yelling, "No. If we shut down the power, the whole city will fail. We won't be able to recover from that kind of situation." Another mage, this time in blue yelled at the yellow mage saying, "Don't be a fool Barnabus! If we don't, you know what the repercussions will be! There will be no survivors. We must enact that plan." The king spoke again. "I agree. We should never have tried to tap into the power of the dead. It is forbidden for a reason, and now we are reaping what we have sown. Ezekiel, i am entrusting the ritual spell to you. You may begin when ready." A purple mage sitting in the corner of the room, and unspeaking, nodded. He, with the other mages gathered there, then began to chant in complete silence. Black Rukh began to gather in huge swarms, mixing with the purple energy that was coalescing into a solid substance that Altair recognized as the crystal from earlier. Then, all at once, everything started shaking. The earth roiled, and the pyramid shook. Altair saw something horrifying then. Souls, screaming in agony began to stream into the pool of energy, in numbers uncountable. They tried to resist, but there was nothing they could do. Their screaming faces spiraled into the purple void, where they were never seen again. The mages seemed surprised at this development, and the blue mage yelled, "What is happening!? this isn't supposed to happen!" The king himself began to scream, as his soul was sucked out of his body, and flung into the void. His body decomposed instantly, leaving a pile of sand on the floor. Then, each and every one of the mages succumbed, with Ezekiel, the original caster succumbing last. the crystal lowered to the pedestal below it, and came to a rest on top of it. The Rukh disappeared to Altair's eyes. Suddenly, Altair was thrown backwards into the same stream of memories that brought him there originally. It lasted only a moment, but soon, he was back in the room where he and Yakuroro had found the crystal. But this time, Altair held a perfectly round piece of it in his hand. Feeling dizzy, Altair retched, fell to the side, and passed out. His hand was tightly gripping the orb. He had no idea that Yakuroro, his friend, had disappeared along with his son down the hole next to him.

~2000/2000~

There was not enough time for Yakuroro to use his magic carpet to break the fall being the Imuchakk and Akatetsu both crashed into a cold dusty stone floor. Yakuroro coughed as the fall knocked the wind out of him causing him to gasp for a mouthful of dust laden air. Akatetsu growled softly to let Yakuroro know that he was alright but hearing the low groan only made the adoptive father worried. "You okay Tetsu? You aren't heart are you?" The chimera gave a slightly more energetic response to clear the message but Yakuroro still fumbled for Akatestu in the darkness reaching his hands across the dirty floor to probe for the young beast. The giant's hand touched cold bone and for a moment Yakuroro froze thinking he'd found a skeleton instead of Akatetsu. But the movements and happier "Gyao!" told him that he'd found the little guy.

There was no time for a reunion however as the walls began to shift in the darkness and a stone ceiling moved to cover up the hole they'd fallen through. "We need to move...Lets go Tetsu!" The Imuchakk began by mounting his flying carpet to try and beat the ceiling that was quickly closing off the way they had come from but to no avail. The stone settled into place with a loud crash. It didn't seem like there was any safe way to go as more walls were closing but in the midst of his panic Yaku noticed the faint sight of yellow rukh. "4th type...?" The Imuchakk magician curiously turned to pursue the rukh following it down a hall. The wall ahead of him was closing though and even with his carpet he would not likely make it in time. So the Imuchakk made a desperate effort and kissed the remains of his Unicorn Horn Staff before throwing it ahead of himself.

A stroke of good luck caused the staff to be caught between the closing wall and the side of the hall it was moving towards. The opening was just big enough for the carpet and passengers to slip though only seconds before the tip of the staff was crushed into bony splinters. But there was no time to look back, more walls were closing and Yakuroro had to will the carpet to weave and out between them chasing after the yellow rukh. It eventually led him into a chamber with sunlight pouring in from above. Somehow this room was connected to the surface and the reason why had become evident. There, in the middle of the room was a large staff impaled into the ground. The sand nearby had been turned to a thin layer of glass and it looked as though the same process had occurred as the object burrowed its way down here from the surface. The Imuchakk stopped his carpet in front of this staff awed by its craftsmanship despite the walls that were closing all around the room as it began to fill with sand.

"This should help us out of here..." Yakuroro said in a confident tone to let Akatetsu know that they would be fine now. The Blue magician took the staff in hand and felt the yellow rukh begin speaking to him but now was not the time to be learning spells. Yaku pushed the voices to the back of his mind and called out commands he knew very well. "Deep Blue!" As Yakuroro fed his magoi into the staff it converted into blue rukh and water gathered from the atmosphere as Yakuroro willed it upwards into the small skylight the staff had created. Once the hole was filled with water Yakuroro cast his second spell, "Bubble burts! Hold on tight Tetsu!" The magoi at Yaku's staff surged upwards into the water and created a giant cavitation bubble in the hole.

The resulting explosion sent sand and water raining downwards into the chamber but it also blew the hole wide open so it was wide enough for the carpet to fit through. Yakuroro willed the flying tool upwards against the weight of the desert and all the water until he finally erupted from the ground at high speeds carrying a stream of sandy water with him. It almost looked like a miraculous geyser had just sprouted amidst the dunes.

Not knowing what happened to Altair, Yakuroro decided to wait outside the ruins above ground for a few days. It would be at least two before the Shepherd ever emerged again suggesting that the magic they'd witnessed somehow affected the flow of time as well. Since Yakuroro would not be aware of that until Altair showed up and told him of what happened, the Imuchakk spent the rest of his time trying to recall the grand magic formula's he'd witnessed in the gem's chamber while also practicing with his new staff.

~2000+/2000~
Magoi/Stamina: 190/250

Spoiler:

Altair was in a forest. It was lush and full of life, the colors of the forest were in full bloom in the flowers and trees. Altair slowly got up. "Where am I?" he thought to himself. He looked around to find something of an exit, but to no avail. So, instead, he sat down to think. He didn't have long to wait. One after another, beasts came from the jungle unlike any he had seen before. They were amalgamations of other animals, from tigers to crocodiles, from sheep to birds of prey, they flooded out from the jungle. Altair was worried that the creatures might harm him, but instead they came close to him and nuzzled up to him. This was certainly strange for Altair, as he had no idea what or who the creatures were. Suddenly a pang shot through his leg. He looked to see it bubbling and frothing from the inside, causing Altair to gag. The Crocodile-like creature merely growled at it, and the pain instantly stopped. Altair had certainly never seen powers like this before. Or had he? He began to remember. Yakuroro had been explaining something to him. Something about the color purple. Something... Something... LIfe Magic! At the moment the thought struck him, the beasts exploded into purple light and Rukh, surrounding Altair and giving him butterfly kisses with their wings. Then something amazing happened. They spoke to him. Words of power, commands that the Rukh could follow flooded his mind, and turned into a simple spell. Altair hesitated, fearing what could happen if he messed up. But the Rukh wouldn't let him be discouraged. They urged him on until finally Altair spoke, "Heal." immediately the bubbling in his leg stopped, to be covered by a purple sigil. The seal barely did anything but stop the pain, but that was enough. Altair had just learned his first spell. The sigil remained for a few moments, allowing Altair to study it. Altair wondered what would happen if he repeated the same spell phrases over again so that they overlap. He tried again, but this time the Rukh didn't respond. it seems he was missing something. Altair thought for a moment before bonking himself on the head. "Of course. I need a staff!" Altair picked up his shepherds staff and concentrated. But once again, the Rukh didn't respond. Altair looked to his shepherds staff, and then to the broken piece of Yakuroro's old staff. He also felt the unfamiliar weight of the crystal orb in his hand. He wondered... Maybe he could use the ambient magic of the area to fuse all three together? No, that was crazy talk, even for magic. But even as he thought that, the Rukh responded to his call, and the broken staff and his shepherds staff began to meld. The bead in his hand flew towards the top of his staff, and stuck there. A purple star atop his tree of life staff. After a moment, the objects were fused, and Altair picked up his new staff in awe. He then turned, and immediately pointed it at his leg and muttered the phrases he had tried earlier. The same sigil then appeared four times overlapping over his ankle, and the wound closed with naught but a tickling sensation.

Altair woke with a start. Surely there was more to that then just a dream. He looked to his shepherds staff to see that it indeed had fused with the broken staff and the bead. Altair picked it up in awe and marveled at its simplistic beauty. But he didn't have long to stare. The pyramid began to shake, prompting Altair to get the hell out of there. He ran for the exit on his newly healed leg, jumping for joy at his good fortune. Along the way, Altair's mind began to race, thinking of all the new spells he could create. He was running for the white obelisk when he realized that the sloped stairs would never allow him to get back to the surface. So, betting on a hunch, he made a turn for the black obelisk. Altair arrived at the door, and was shocked to see that the inside was entirely bare. No stairs, no nothing but a sheer ceiling a hundred feet above. But with the sand collapsing behind him, Altair had no other alternatives. He stepped into the black obelisk and waited. Finally, frustrated, he slammed his staff into the ground cursing under his breath. But the staff seemed to have activated some old magic in the obelisk because suddenly there was a huge blast of wind from below, and Altair flew up into the obelisk.

Farther and farther up he flew, until he finally breached the top of the obelisk and rocketed into the sky. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and Yakuroro was practicing with his new staff about to be struck by a flying Altair. Wait. Crap.

Tech Training: Four-Fold Sigil of Healing ~828/500~

When Altair finally emerged from the sands in a burst of wind and sand Yakuroro was busy training with his new medium for magic. The Imuchakk had spent the last night listening carefully to the yellow rukh it produced, intent on learning their secrets. It was much more difficult than learning commands from blue or green rukh due to Yakuroro's poor compatibility with lightning magic. But just as the Shepherd reached the surface the Blue magician succeeded in learning the name of the powerful magic tool. "Staff of Storms!" Yakuroro shouted as he rose the staff high in the air completely oblivious of the human on a collision course with him.

All the Imuchakk could see and hear was the splendorous wonder of the yellow rukh moving into action in response to his command only to be joined by white rukh as wind and lightning magic danced together. A wild and massive orb of wind would begin to whirl around Yakuroro only to be filled with powerful lightning. While the Imuchakk was safe from harm at the eye of the storm everything else nearby from sand to the air borne human would be sucked into the spell and shocked violently. When the ability finally subsided Yakuroro would find Altair landing in front of him covered in 2nd degree burns comically burnt to a crispy black texture with frizzy hair thanks the the electric shock.

"Altair!" The Imuchakk rushed over to his fellow adventurer but not to see if he was ok. Instead, Yaku lifted him to his feet forcefully and began shaking him as he asked where Altair had been and explained that several days had passed since they were separated.

Magoi: 150/250

Spoiler:

Altair hit the dirt like a missile. sand exploded out around him, even as the lightning storm turned it to shards of glass. without even a moment to recover from his landing, Altair was quickly picked up and shook like a ragdoll, bombarded with questions about where he had been the past few days. Altair let out a cough of black smoke in response, and then promptly fainted, much to the chagrin of the blue mage.

He awakened later on the magic carpet, as it flew away from the ruined city and the white pyramid. Altair got up slowly, grabbing his staff to cast his newly acquired healing spell on himself. "Four-Fold Sigil of Healing." he said, as purple light washed over him. It took only a few moments, but Altair was healed of some of his worse injuries. He saw Yakuroro guiding the carpet, and sat down next to him. Without missing a beat, he was bombarded with more questions about where he had been, and what he had seen. Altair began to explain in the best detail he knew how to the Blue Magician. He told him about what happened when he touched the stone, and the city of memories. He told him of the council of elders and the king that eventually led to the destruction of the city. He told him of the dark power that used to power it. And Finally he told him of his dream and the way the Rukh spoke to him. It was all very new to Altair, this whole Magic thing. Before today, he would never have dreamed he would be able to do the things he did. And certainly, had never seen himself casting a spell. Altair laid back on the carpet then. "All in all, not a bad adventure, wouldn't you say Yakuroro?" Altair smiled and looked up at the night sky. The stars were big and beautiful out here, away from the lights of the big city. Altair allowed himself to enjoy it for a moment before saying, "You know Yaku, after this escapade of ours, we might not see each other for a while. I'm heading to that dungeon. I need the power it contains to reach my goal. But Yakuroro, promise me something. Promise me you will be there when i get out, ok?" The shepherd was so exhausted at this point, that even before he had given Yakuroro a chance to answer, he had fallen asleep.