Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

The Element moved into what remained of the docks, her feet dragging with trepidation. Only a couple trials had passed since the events leading to this disaster. She walked with a bit of a limp and a fresh scar marked the right side of her face. Thanks to Faith’s efforts the woman was healing quickly and had set off to the docks as soon as she could to aid in the relief effort. There was truth in the fact that Sephira had contributed to the collapse itself. She had lost control of her magic once she’d overstepped, her Spark taking the opportunity to grow in strength. It had ripped open a massive portal in the ceiling of the underground chamber, destabilizing the room. The bomb they had later found that had partially detonated had also lent itself to the damage that was done, but there was no doubt that Sephira had a part to play in the hundreds of deaths. That guilt had sent her limping to the docks as soon as she was able.

A couple other Elements had volunteered to accompany her to the docks. Two women were with her, Flame Assistant Su’an and Flame Element Emily Ducar. Both were people that Sephira might consider friends. Emily had been a member of the mage’s graduating class when they were admitted into the Flame Troops and Su’an was the first Element Sephria had met on the trial she joined the military.

Su’an was an uncompromising but spiritual woman, who was a mage as well; Emily was an excellent investigator and steadfast ally. The three women were all off duty but still wore their Element’s pins as both a sign of solidarity and so that passing people would know that the Elements cared enough to send members of their number to assisted in the disaster relief. Honestly it had been Sephira that had asked them to join her, but she was certain that the military would quickly take credit for their presence at the docks. However, that didn’t matter as much to her as helping in cleaning up a mess that she had made.

When they arrived it was early in the afternoon and piles of rubble were loosely strewn about. Entire buildings had collapsed; those with multiple floors had toppled over and wrought massive destruction. Amid the ruins a depression could be seen where the underground chamber used by the cult had been. Many buildings had fallen into the chamber, filling it in during that horrible night. A small woman carrying a clipboard approached the three women, wearing a green cloak marking her as a member of the Order of Adunih. She had short mousey brown hair that curled delicately around her ears in tiny ringlets. Her eyes were a soft green that suggested the calm demeanor typical of healers.

“Are you three here to help in the relief effort?” She asked; exhaustion was woven throughout her voice.
Su’an responded while Sephira and Emily remained silent.

“We are here representing the Elements, we will help however we can. “The Flame Assistant said in her rich accented voice.
“Two of us are mages if that is of any help to you, however I think my Defiance is best left unused unless absolutely needed. People are frightened enough as it is.” Su’an conceded with a somber tone. “Although she possesses Attunement, it is a gentler magic, and could be useful for locating survivors.” The Defier added with a soft nod toward Sephira.

“I’m afraid I must agree.” The healer replied with a concerned expression, turning to look at the wide scattering of volunteers behind her. “We really don’t want to frighten anyone with magic right now in this...delicate time. Magic would only traumatize people even more that they already have been. Though I’ve never really heard of Attunement.” The healer added with a quirked brow.

Sephira cut in, her face was nearly as pale as a ghost. Obviously being here amid the destruction that she had helped cause was troubling her. “Attunement is a quiet magic, there is no sound or visual cues. It allows me to seek out sounds, vibrations put off by living things, it...it’s difficult to explain. I could use it to search for survivors, with your permission.” The mage was not going to force magic on anyone that didn’t welcome it.

“That may be useful.” The healer replied thoughtfully before looking out toward the ruins. “We have been finding survivors in the debris, but we are running out of time. Without water for three trials, any remaining survivors will not last much longer.” The healer turned to Su’an and Emily. “You two can go assist Petri with the clean-up, he’s over there.” She said, pointing in the direction of a middle aged man hunched over a wheelbarrow.

With that the green eyed woman snagged Sephira by her elbow and tugged her toward the rubble. “You, come with me. I’m Marie by the way. Marie Nichols.” She said with a weak smile.

“Sephira.” The Element replied numbly, her eyes fixed on the towering piles of rubble.

The woman complied mutely with Marie, her eyes swirled with hued of deep emerald green. It was horrible to see the devastation, and she could only guess at the number of lives lost.

“Do we know how many are missing?” The mage asked tentatively, crossing her arms tightly against her chest as she followed along behind the young healer.

“We really don’t know, at least I don’t. “ She said, her voice wavering slightly. It was then that Sephira noticed how very young Marie was, she was perhaps only fifteen years old, barely considered an adult, but she was out in this mess doing her part.

“They haven’t found my brother yet.” Marie spoke tightly as she brought them to a stop near a particularly large collapsed building. The structure still dwarfed them, but it had collapsed to nearly half its original size.

“He’s an Element like you; may-maybe you could look for him…” She said softly, her voice dropping to nearly a whisper. The young girl obviously still held out hope that her brother was alive. Sephira grew quiet, remembering the dying words of the earth cultist that has been slain defending the women.

“My little sister.” He had said, with his last words. It would be a huge coincidence for Marie to be his sister, but Sephira didn’t let that stop her from feeling remorseful. Regardless of the identity of her brother, he could be dead now because of her actions. Dampness stung at the corners of her eyes, but the soldier buried her grief away into that deep, dark place in her mind where she hid all her fears and worries. It was the place where she had packed away her pain over losing Elias, and the despair of her mother rejecting her after learning that she was a mage. The greatest burden hidden there was the knowledge that she had played a definitive part in the collapse, and the deaths of hundreds. The unknown faces of the many dead were hidden there, clawing away at the most distant corner of her mind...demanding payment for her actions. Sephira had been defending herself and the captured women when her spark flew out of control and destabilized the underground chamber, but it didn’t change the result of those actions...all because she had pushed herself too far.

The woman was jolted away from those thoughts by Marie’s soft voice.

“Try...using your magic, or whatever it is you do. Let me know if you find anyone alive and I’ll call in a team to dig. “Marie instructed, her voice was much stronger now as if she had managed to get her emotions under control.

Sephira nodded, closing her eyes and infusing ether into her Attunement Spark. Casting her awareness around her she was soon drowning in frequencies. She stumbled back on her left foot, taking a sudden sharp breath at being assaulted all at once by the plethora of painful notes. There was sadness and death clinging to them along with agony and mourning. It took the young mage a moment to get her bearings before she managed to find herself again. Focusing on the Frequency of her own soul and her sparks helped center her focus to allow her to more easily inspect her surroundings.

Attuning was a bit like standing in a dark room and slowly illuminating parts of it over a length of time. It took patience to find what you were looking for, especially if you didn’t quite know where to focus yourself. It took several bits but eventually tiny flickering Notes of Life bubbled into existence in the distance. The Notes reverberated like quivering gems, barely emitting any energy, but ever present. There was cluster of them, at least two or three foreign frequencies that she didn’t recognize. The Attuner focused on the nearest to her and began the process of fully attuning to her target. It would take at least three full bits to do so, but within that amount of time, Sephira was able to grasp a light understanding of the person she was Attuning to. It was a man, a lay person who had worked at the docks for a long time. He had a family, with notes of Love and Concern overlaying his Frequency.

Once fully attuned the mage opened her eyes and focused on using his Frequency as a Compass to lead her toward her destination. Her Attunement spark seemed to tug her closer to the seaside where a massive building lay sheared in half, with the top section laying in a pile of rubble on the ground. Marie followed silently behind the mage as Sephira started climbing the piles of stone and shattered beams. Her booted feet slid over sheets of metal and planks of split beams as she pressed forward. The building lay mostly on its side, and from what she could tell the Frequency was coming from somewhere beneath ground level.

Marie ran off to gather a team of rescuers, calling for shovels and medics to join them. All the while Sephira continued forward as if in a daze, her eyes swirling with multiple shades of blue. Approaching a shattered window she clambered through, emerging on the inside of the collapsed building. It was terribly dark, but somehow with her Attunment spark active she could “feel” the space around her in a new and unusual way. Even there in the gloomshe could feed ether into her spark and almost press outwards with her awareness, allowing her to sense nearby frequencies innately and notice where shape of the room changed, and where the group beneath her feet ended and began. Pinpricks of awareness glimmered around her, sending out pulsing waves that illuminated the parts of the building that were swallowed by darkness. It was almost like a new kind of vision, something that allowed her to “feel” the world around her rather than just seeing it; An Omnivision of sorts. Feeling a little more confident with her bearings, Sephira continued threading ether through her Attunement Spark, noticing that utilizing Omnivision along with Compass had increased the speed that she was using up ether. The mage would need to be wary of overstepping since she was using multiple techniques at once.

Stepping past an overturned table she continued following the call of the Frequency she had attuned to. In the corner of what had once been a kitchen there was a depression in the floor, right where the Frequency she was tracking was located. At that moment Marie returned with two men in tow with shovels along with an additional medic.

“So you found something?” The young woman asked worriedly, climbing through the same window that Sephira had used. The mage pointed toward the depression in the earth.

“Down there, I can feel something.” She replied without sounding as concerned as she felt. The mage was always careful to keep her emotions hidden behind a disciplined mask.

“We need to hurry.” Marie said, frantically gesturing toward the two diggers. One of them tossed Sephira a shovel which she caught in her right hand.

“This building is already unstable, and digging is only going to make it more dangerous. Be careful.”

With that Marie exited the ruins to stand outside and watch. Perhaps it was best that she wait out there while they worked, at least if they were crushed, then the Order wouldn’t be down another healer.

Sephira set to work with the two men, maintaining her magic, allowing her to both sense the general structure of the surrounding building and to keep a fix on the frequency emanating from below them. They began furiously digging at the collapsed earth, kicking up gouts of dust while they toiled away. The mage's arms burned with exhaustion after over twenty bits had passed. She really wasn’t accustomed to repetitive manual labor, but she kept at it all the same. The hiss of shovels being stabbed into the sandy earth was like a discordant tune that was exchanged between the three diggers.

Eventually after digging five foot deep hole one of the men hit something hard that soon proved to be a buckled wooden beam. Part of the ceiling had crumpled when the building had fallen before being covered with rubble. Sephira pushed outwards with Omnivision, etheric reverberations danced through her awareness, outlining what felt like a small five foot wide pocket beneath them collapsed beam. She focused again on the Frequency of the man she had detected earlier, his Notes were fleeting and weak, but still there.

“There is someone down there.” The mage whispered, sharply looking up at the diggers. “Maybe more than one.” She added tightly.

The two diggers gave her a quizzical look before seeming to notice the Flame Element pin at her collar and nodding to the soldier. Flame Troops were known to be mages or to have special skills, and evidently that was enough justification for her to be believed.

“Anyone down there!?” The nearest of the men bellowed.

A couple trills passed and Sephira stood there with bated breath. Finally the soft voice of a child weakly cried out.
That was the only confirmation they needed and the two men and Sephira began using hands and shovels in concert to pry at the collapsed beams covering the small pocket of beneath their feet. It was grueling work, Marie returned, bringing three additional healers with her along with stretchers and medical supplies. Eventually a hole was torn open, roughly a foot and a half across which led into a damp crevice that had been created by falling beams. Inside the fissure the mage could feel the outlines of three individual forms through the use of Omnivision. Lanterns were brought in to fully illuminate the hole and the rescuers finally caught sight of a middle aged man crumpled inside, holding a small boy and a young girl to his chest. Tears stained the cheeks of the children who wildly reached toward the medics who were leaning through the hole to grab them. The man was barely conscious, his eyes were barely cracked open but the corner of his mouth twitched with relief.

Sephira sagged back, letting the shovel fall from her hands as waves of dizziness racked her head. She had pushed herself a little too far with her Attunement and she was paying the price. Overstepping was never pleasant, but she had only just pushed her limits. The mage instantly shut off the flow of ether to her attunement spark, closing off that otherworldly sense she had gained with Omnivision along with the fix she had on the Frequency of the survivor below. Her arms ached and her head thrummed with pain but she had managed to actually do some good with her magic. She moved back, clumsily making her way out of the building as more medical staff swarmed the father and his two children that they had found. Her part in the search was done, and she had paid back a tiny piece of the debt she owed the people of Scalvoris.