City of IF

[ethereal_fauna]

Chapter 8

Jakeen toyed with the notion of simply playing the notes. The thought patterns described in the instructions ran through his head, and the music beckoned him to take up his lyre. He spared a long glance at the instrument beside the bed, but then caution finally found purchase in his mind and he decided not to play.

He read the parchment again, leaning closer to the lantern for better light. He could play the spell; he felt that. But would the spell work as he anticipated? Searching for answers to his dilemma, Jakeen allowed his eyes to roam the room. His gaze rested briefly on the man reposed in the adjacent bed, and he chastised himself for the fleeting thoughts he’d entertained.

“Although,” he muttered quietly in retrospect, “That’s not an entirely bad idea.”

He resumed his visual appraisal of the room, focusing on the darkened floor. Rising tenderly and favoring his shoulder, he took up the lantern and kneeled beside the bed, peering underneath into the gloomy recesses where dust gathered to avoid the broom. Nothing there but wayward lint. He moved on to the next bed, careful not to disturb the occupant.

Beneath this bed, in the far corner quivering in the gathered debris, a fat beetle lay on its back with shaking legs batting at the air. A casualty of the broom’s efforts, but not completely lost. Perhaps not the ideal test subject, but far better than using his own self as the experiment.

He returned to his bed cradling the insect, and read through the instructions on the parchment once again. He didn’t feel nervous, but shook with excitement as he took his instrument in hand. He stared at the beetle and then laid it gingerly at the foot of the bed. Its cracked carapace leaked sticky innards while the legs and antenna waved in futile disarray. Jakeen regarded the creature and felt its injury with his mind, seeing the wound and visualizing its repair just as the parchment had instructed.

He then watched remotely as his hands began to play, his natural talent rendering the music softly in the quiet clinic. His mind focused on the magic, his fingers touching the lyre, the music wrapping around the intended target like a comforting blanket. As the gentle sound faded Jakeen watched the insect as it righted itself and scurried a short distance, before stopping and rubbing its rear legs across the now-intact carapace.

An overwhelming sense of accomplishment filled the young bard as he watched the insect preen. Moments passed and the full implications of this spell soaked into Jakeen’s mind. No more missed nights of work…in fact, he could possibly moonlight as an unlicensed healer. Alluring possibilities washed over him. He scooped up the beetle and gifted it an absentminded liberation with a casual toss out the open window.

Sitting back on the pillows, Jakeen drew in several deep breaths to steady his nerves. He spared another read of the parchment just for good measure, and then began to focus on his own injuries. He remembered the surreal sensation of the earthen bullet piercing his flesh, the momentary delay in pain, and the breath-stealing agony that followed the pouring out of blood. His fingers touched the strings.

Awareness returned slowly as the final sounds of the music drifted away into the night, replaced by snoring from the adjacent bed and a tormented murmuring from the other end of the room. Euphoria coated Jakeen, a palpable sensation that radiated from his shoulder. The injury continued to hurt and the wound oozed blood into the tightly secured bandages, but a peculiar warming dripped like candle wax across the insult. Sleep crept unbidden upon him.
**

Morning broke with jubilant light pouring in through the window, as the nurse threw back the drapes and turned to tend Jakeen’s wound. “And how ye feeling this fine morn?”

She unwound the bandages and exclaimed in surprise. The reddened and weeping injury from the day before had healed into a bruised scar, with subtle purples and yellows fading rapidly into restored flesh. Jakeen smiled in triumph.

Properly dismissed from the clinic and feeling much rested, he first sought food and then went to find out when his next battle would begin. Another late afternoon fight scheduled for the following day, which was just as well for Jakeen. Hopefully he could avoid injury this time, and if not there was always this new spell. He indulged a hopeful and ecstatic mood as he made his way at last towards the Wormy Dog.

He entered the establishment with a bit of pep in his step despite a guilty unease at facing Mace, and was greeted by the familiar faces of the tavern’s usual clientele. Broad smiles spread across their hardened visages, and a fair share of raised mugs accompanied a brisk hallo as recognition registered. A brusque yet feminine hand clapped him on the back.

“Our own celebrity,” drawled Sarah, the corners of her eyes wrinkling with a smile. “Good job on winning yer first fight.”

Jakeen blushed profusely at the praise, and protested about blind luck and smiling fates, as several mugs were pressed towards him. Sarah pulled him aside into the stuffy kitchen.

“Mace got yer message from that young lad. I’m not thinking he’s too pleased that you done got yerself banged-up in the tournament, but he’s a fair man even if hard,” she confided to Jakeen.

He asked, “Where is Mace?”

“He’s out for something or another,” her inscrutable answer came. “I’m tending bar for the evening, and yer welcome to play here tonight if’n yer up to it.”

He nodded in response before heading to his meager room for a brief rest and change of clothes. Only a short respite before facing the intimidating fiery-haired man, but Jakeen welcomed the reprieve.

His evening and the following day passed in a relatively uneventful manner, save for the confrontation with Mace, and then he headed towards the arena to win his second battle.

(expect more about Jakeen and his encounter with Mace in an interlude chapter towards the middle of March)
**

Butterflies churned in his stomach as he entered the arena for the second time, staring across the battlefield at another opponent. A diffident human mage faced him. Her pale skin bore several garish scars, reminding Jakeen of Sheva’s frightening imperfection. He had heard that Bevorum favored shadow magic. Jakeen knew very little about the dark magics.

Bevorum spared no mana on any defense, and instead pressed her lips to a cloudy orb secured atop the staff clutched in her left hand. She spoke a sinister rune against the smooth surface of the orb. The sphere imparted a luminous glow empowered with her magic. An enigmatic smile spread across her face, and swirling lights spread between the sphere and her hand before darting unexpectedly across the arena and snaking around Jakeen. He shook free of the light without problem, batting at the illumination as if it had substance before stepping away as it dissipated. Then Jakeen’s world faded into a grey haze.

He strained to see in the sudden murkiness, and a feeling of unease crept over him as a soft flapping sound registered to his overwrought senses. The sound increased as something drew nearer, and he could see a darker mass forming in the distance against the backdrop of the shadows. The mass churned within the enshrouding haze, and upon closer inspection revealed not a solid object, but a seething throng of tiny furred bodies.

Bats! A multitude of frightened, flailing creatures swarmed around Jakeen’s head, and he suppressed a shudder. Certainly unnerving, but hardly a life-threatening or paralyzing event. He incinerated the magic-spawned beasties with ease, but heard an inexplicable groaning inside his head. He felt as if the magic spied on his private thoughts, and he could sense a gathering of the energy around him. Something else approached from the shadows.

A throaty growling issued forth from the gloom raising the tiny hairs on the back of his neck, and he heard the scratching of claws against the packed earth as more than one creature approached. He readied his lyre, eyes grasping for a glimpse of whatever stalked him just beyond the reach of his vision. The stench of fresh blood and animal dung assaulted his nostrils as the first beast skulked into view, open mouth panting fetid breath.

Two more of the beasts appeared on either side of Jakeen, glowing canid eyes surveying him for weakness. A memory of wolves attacking the livestock on a neighbor’s ranch surfaced from his childhood memories, and a desperate bleat reminiscent of the falling animals escaped Jakeen’s throat. The timid noise irritated him, but that flash of irritation was quickly forgotten as the monstrous canines circled closer, teeth bared.

Jakeen quickly played, fire warding away the beasts but only momentarily. His attacks wounded the creatures, and again he heard their groaning inside his head. What little he knew of such magic pushed to the front of his mind. He realized that he needed to dispatch the creatures quickly, or else his own magic would wear down but his opponent’s would not. These creatures were not illusions, or actual animals conjured from another place. These were incarnations of his opponent, summoned from his own mind somehow by her shadow magic. Each attack wounded her in some way, and each summoning of her incarnations cost her precious mana.

He focused on the nearest beast, and played the notes that he’d used to defeat Sheva. A column of wind pulled the animal into the air and dashed it to the ground with a crunching of bones. The other two animals avoided this tactic, and Jakeen proposed to take them both out with one blow. He played, F A D E, and blended in with the greyness around him. The creatures continued to circle, trusting their nostrils to detect what their eyes could not. He moved closer towards the nearest beast, in hopes that the two might move closer together in their pursuit. The trick had little success, but enough for a concentrated attack.

Jakeen again called fire into play, channeling his every effort into the spell. Tortured howling accompanied the smell of burning fur and flesh, as the foul incarnations burst into flames that arched between the two beasts and fed off of each other. A scream ripped through his mind in the same manner as the groans had earlier, and then silence fell on the murky battlefield. Jakeen waited, feeling the gathering energy around him, wondering what other unclean creature would come at him from the darkness.

The murky shadows around him diminished somewhat, and the arena lightened a bit for him. He could see the ground easily, and as he cast his eyes about he even caught glimpses of the spectators beyond the protective barrier, their eyes wide and incredulous. Clearly they could see something that he could not. He jerked his head about quickly, and then spun in circles, searching for the latest incarnation.

Burning sulphur along with some other unidentifiable aroma battered his sense of smell, and the strong warm exhalation of some extremely huge fiend pushed against his back. He turned slowly and found himself staring in the scaly face of a monstrous serpent, and barely dodged in time to avoid the jet of molten saliva that sprayed from the beast’s open mouth.

*Images retrieved online and may be altered from original works

** Okay team…Jakeen is in his second battle, facing another formidable opponent. He doesn’t face the mage directly, but rather incarnations of her that prey upon his own fears. He has defeated two of her manifestations already, but most likely those were merely distractions while the shadowy magic worked its way inside his mind. Bevorum has clearly made her major effort with this third personification, and has assumed the guise of a monster not so easy to defeat. Vanquishing this foe will either knock her out, or force her to concede for lack of magical reserves. But how to go about slaying the dragon? All suggestions and comments welcome, but please focus on what tactic Jakeen should attempt first when discussing this chapter. The poll will center around his starting point, and I will consider all suggestions as I conclude this battle.

**Poll 1: What does Jakeen do first?
Haste and a confusion/pain spell 0
Try to distract/lull the creature to sleep, and reverse the healing spell 0
Haste and then try to tie the creature into knots 1
Play to affect your own thoughts to try to change the way her magic manifests 7
Run from the beast and try to find the mage 0

**Poll 2: How does Jakeen affect his thoughts?
Make himself angry to overcome his fear and confront the beast 1
Create laughter to overcome his fear and/or alter the form of the manifestation 3
Evoke wondrous beauty to alter his perception of, or the form of the incarnation 1
Play to comfort himself and boost his confidence/security, giving him inner strength to face the beast 2

[Mother Goose]

Good chapter as usual - will come with suggestions if I think of some. Meanwhile, FIRST POST! :D'

[Shady Stoat]

Good chapter. I like the shadow mage. Atmospheric! :D

A dragon, eh? Well, the first thing he needs to do is get out of immediate range. His ability for 'haste' should help him with that. Once he's out of immediate biting, snapping and snarling range, maybe he could lull the creature to sleep? Confuse its senses so that it can't see, hear or smell who to attack?

I wonder if this will be the moment when he discovers how to create pain by his magic. Make his opponent writhe under the agony of listening to his music!

(actually, I think some of my piano students already know this spell) ;)

[jnmrcs]

Nice chapter.

The haste thing sounds good. But I'm not so sure about confusing it. If it will act like an animal confuse it can make it more dangerous.

Sorry I haven't think on anything yet.

A little idea:
If the dragon big? If it's big enough maybe you can hide down it and attack him from that point. (Need to think it more...)

[ethereal_fauna]

The dragon is fairy large, most likely too heavy to lift and dash to the ground with a column of wind like he did Sheva and the wolf incarnation. It is however serpent-like, and low to the ground. Perhaps difficult to get underneath, but possible if you think we should do that (although it would make a poor hiding spot and might get us squashed). :-D

Confusing the beast might work...keep its senses off of us, but as jnmrcs said it could make the creature beserk. Again a reminder, that some spells also affect Jakeen, such as the pleasure notes and even thirst when he created an intense thirst in his first opponent. If he lulled such a great creature to sleep, he'd be a bit drowsy as well, but I'm sure awake enough to continue the battle. That might be a great starting point, but then how to proceed from there?

Good discussion so far, and agree that Haste might give him an initial advantage. Keep the ideas coming. :D

[jnmrcs]

This is very interesting...

At least the haste could give him some is speed in case he goes under it, but not recomended (unless you got no option).

Also, a funny idea, he can try to run between it (under and upper it) to make knot with the dragoin own body. (maybe this didn't work at all but at least it's a funny one... :P sorry I couldn't resist :lol:

[ethereal_fauna]

:-o I actually like the knotted dragon idea...

:lol:

[Ingrothechundyer]

I suppose that if he reversed his healing spell on the dragon it would also harm himself and his opponet?

[ethereal_fauna]

He doesn't know much about the healing spell just yet, other than it mended a bug, and appears to have mended him. That's always an option to try. The tiny insect healed very quickly, and Jakeen overnight. But a reverse of the spell might have deleterious effects over the course of the battle, which would definitely work in his favor.

That spell requires a lot of focus, and he wasn't able to observe passive or residual effects in anyone else that heard him play. According to the scroll he had to visualize the injuries mending. Perhaps if he could buy the time to visualize the health of the dragon declining before he played, then it would work.

[luvd]

But then what? Then what would he face? I feeling a little daring. It's time to cut off the head to kill the beast....Well I don't mean kill the serpent. I mean go for the mage. He needs to end this from the source and quickly. So what if he looses a leg running from the beastie :lol: It's not the monster that's the real problem. :x

[ethereal_fauna]

He could try to find the mage and go after her, but is unlikely to find her. In the meantime, her draconic incarnation will be eating him for lunch :?

Defeat the dragon and you defeat her, or run from the dragon and hope you bump into her and defeat her that way. Either option you still have the same beast trying to devour you.

[jnmrcs]

I'm not sure about the reversing the spell. It can take some time to work, like it had on him. And the dragon is bigger, maybe it will need more time to work. Anyway, maybe you can use the knot (crazy) idea to have some time.

Something is for sure, don't try to find her. Defeat the animal and if you found her then you found but not try to search for her... it can be a waste of time (and even maybe a waste of a life).

[Key]

Nice chapter. A few thoughts:

- Maybe the serpent could be tamed, instead of defeated? Music has the power to soothe the savage breast, so they say. Suppose he could tame the serpent and ride it around in search of Bevorum.
- Does he know any magic that would let him transform the serpent into something else?
- If this serpent is coming from his own mind, maybe he has some power to control it non-magically, if he remembers or understands what memory or fear brought it into being.

[Eragon\'s Ego]

ok, just a thought but does devorum even exist (fully)? Maybey she's a monster created by herself i.e. magical surgery? maybey she's just projecting herself to be strong with his mind?

[ethereal_fauna]

Bevorum really does exist. She's a human shadow mage. Bevorum can't read his mind to know what is there. Her magic is cast, and that magic entered Jakeen and took the shape of his fears. A little magic resulted in little fears (like spiders or bugs, or in Jakeen's case bats) and as the magic found a foothold larger and more concrete fears formed, like the wolves along with the sights and smells from a childhood memory. Each incarnation drains the caster of more magic.

Jakeen could search for the memory or specific phobia or fear that this latest manifestation arose from. That might give him insight into how to defeat this creature.

I don't think Jakeen could actually tame the savage beast so to speak, or control it non-magically, although the idea that he could instead play a music to affect his own thoughts, thereby altering the form that Bevorum's magic takes, sounds intriguing. I hadn't actually considered that as I was writing.

Instead of attacking the beast or trying to locate his opponent, he could instead affect his own psyche in an attempt to either rid his mind of the magic, alter the magic in his mind, or simply alter his state of mind and affect the magic that way. Perhaps if he was no longer afraid, the power of the monster would diminish? Interesting thought.

Great discussion! :D Keep it coming. I'll be setting up a poll later next week.

[ethereal_fauna]

Polling has begun. Vote for the option you think Jakeen should try first, and feel free to post any more suggestions you have for the remainder of this battle.

Expect another chapter without decision point around the end of this week, and the completion of this battle along with a new decision point towards the end of the month.

[jnmrcs]

I'm not sure about this. I voted for the one I thought could work but if it didn't work we could add some of the others ideas... just in case.

[luvd]

Hmmm.

"Play to affect your own thoughts to try to change the way her magic manifests"

Sound's good to me. If it's formed out of the darkness of his own mind then he should be able to influence the darn nasty beast.....well in theory. But then I'm not sure he has the time to sit down, light a josh stick, put on some whale song and chant "There is nothing to fear but fear itself."

:-x

[Sorrow_A]

Voted, and I didn't know it at the time, but I went with the large majority: Change the way you think.

I also liked Key's idea of taming the beast, but realized that it came from his own mind: They also say the hardest person to convince is yourself...

[ethereal_fauna]

You lot are determined to make this difficult for the author, aren't you. :-x

As Sorrow mentioned, the hardest person to convince is yourself...

The ending of this battle should prove most interesting, to say the very least, unless by some bizarre twist of fate the vote suddenly swings completely in favor of another option.

Suggestions for the ending of this fight are most welcome. How should he go about altering his state of mind? Distract himself with discomfort or pleasure? Anything else?

Does it seem more likely that the manifestation would change from a serpent into something else, or that simply his perception of it would change (as in, it's still a monstrous dragon but he no longer fears it)?

Ideas appreciated! :D

[Shady Stoat]

Well, one idea is to make himself angry. Anger very often overcomes fear.

Then again, you get the problem that he may well affect the dragon that way as well. On the other hand, presumably the dragon already IS angry. Getting it more so might cause it to make mistakes due to blind fury, rather than calculating its attacks.

I wouldn't recommend distracting himself with pain. Pain and fear tend to complement each other, not cancel each other out. Pleasure might be a distracting way to win the match though :D

[luvd]

Laughter. Comedy is all about fear. All jokes are about fear. Even "why did the chicken cross the road?" is works on fear

Why did the chicken cross the road?

....I don't know? (I must know as it's unknown. And any lack of information, even the trivial leaves me open to attack that's why we have gossip....we all must know for ourt own psychological defence/attack)

To get to the other side.

HA, ha! (I laugh coz the answer is obvious and so my psychological defence hasn't got a hole in it)

Fear.

You laugh at a man falling down an open manhole coz it's not you. Your on a rollercoster, scared out of your wits so houw do you deal with this fear? You laugh and scream at the same time and afterwards you just laugh. Scary movies, how many times you leave the place and see men laughing as they talk about the goring bits, then start making bad impressions. We ridicule the things we fear so we can face them. That's what comedy is. The tool we deal with fear.

Not sure how that's going to work. Unless Jakeen does a dirty limerick while wearing a red nose.

[Mother Goose]

Maybe play to evoke wondrous beauty, in his thoughts and in their manifestation, so that it would change from a raging dragon of hate and fear to something awesome like a bird of paradise or a butterfly.

[jnmrcs]

This one is hard. We need to find the opposite of fear. It's confidence? Security?

For that he would need to think on something that gave him security. Maybe some person on his past who protected him (mother or something like that).

I'm not sure about the idea of laugh neither the angry one.

Maybe the beauty idea could work.

[jnmrcs]

I saw the music that he already knows. Pleasure is there ;)

[luvd]

jnmrcs wrote: This one is hard. We need to find the opposite of fear. It's confidence? Security?

For that he would need to think on something that gave him security. Maybe some person on his past who protected him (mother or something like that).

I'm not sure about the idea of laugh neither the angry one.

Maybe the beauty idea could work.

I suppose the opposite to fear is knowing. All fear is about ignorance. We over come fear by facing and naming it. Having understanding gives us power and control. Look at (again)rollercoasters. We ride them knowing full well how much they scare us, the same with the films. But we all still ride/watch them so we can face our fear and get to know it. People with a phobia tend to over come them by exposing themself to that which they fear. Now if only he had 20 years of meditation, therapy and gradual exposure to dragons he might stand a chance :lol:

HA! I just had a thought :P Can this dragon fly? Does it have wings? Does Jakeen know any levitation songs? If it moves about on it's belly then why not make it as light as air and watch it fly off up into the sky. No leg's means no craws which mean it can grab hold of anything unlike Jakeen who can hold onto something if playing effects him as well. If your not sure about the pieces on the chess board......why not just knock over the board :P I'm reaching here, aint I :biggrin:

[ethereal_fauna]

Great discussion...and I'm glad the spell list helps.

All wonderful ideas for me to ponder as I write- anger, confidence, laughter, beauty- good stuff. This chapter might not be so difficult to pen after all, and hopefully will be as interesting and exciting as the ideas you've all put forth. Keep 'em coming. :D

[jnmrcs]

Sorry luvd but he doesn't have the time right now... :P

And it's a great idea the knowledge thing but as I said, too late. Let's hope he can affect his mind to something that give him a similar confidence.

[luvd]

jnmrcs wrote: Sorry luvd but he doesn't have the time right now... :P

And it's a great idea the knowledge thing but as I said, too late. Let's hope he can affect his mind to something that give him a similar confidence.

What if he casts Haste and plays it really, really fast. So fast he slows down time to say 30 years :P

[ethereal_fauna]

NOW you're reaching :cool:

[Cowofdoom666]

If ONLY I could write like you, Fauna. Another brilliant chapter. Very well done.

well, I'm opting with changing Jarkeen's thoughts, as this is what his opponent seems to use for her advantage.

[jnmrcs]

luvd
mmm, you know... maybe you can help fauna on this story.

You really have nice ideas.... :lol:

[ethereal_fauna]

As I was gathering my thoughts to conclude this battle, I realized that there have been several great suggestions for how he should play to affect his own thoughts, to try to change the way her magic manifests.

I think the chapter would be too long if he tried to do them all. And likely he doesn't have the time to play hit and miss hoping that what he does to alter his thoughts will work. Soooo...

It seems a second poll is in order. :D

[Sorrow_A]

Anger and adrenaline have been proven to aid in fighting and competition, among other things. For instance, a certain species of Rhesus monkey will raise its testosterone levels to extreme heights in fights with other male monkeys, and the fights may go on for hours, tooth and nail (literally). The loser's testosterone drops at a remarkable rate, while the winner's testosterone level stays high for hours, no matter how screwed up he is.

If he makes himself angrier, then he will kill the beast. Maybe he'll need a few healing spells afterwards, but it will die, and he will have the strength to continue fighting afterwards.

EDIT Not only that, but it IS a dark and evil beast. Or at least, summoned by a dark and evil mage. It/She could probably sap his confidence or security very quickly, whereas firey rage would surprise it/her and would most likely kill it/her very quickly.