Playing with Fire (Jackson & Rebecca In-Between)

[Akirapryde]

It didn’t take Jackson and Rebecca long to reach the site of her workout area. It was a small Draw overlooking the main valley in which the Hollow resides in. “This is where I come to train to control and manage paradox” Rebecca said as she walked over to a large pile of stones. She placed her things safely behind the stones and fireproofed them. She could feel her spell drawing the attention of the Abyss, the fact that a lonely little mage like her could draw the attention of such a creature always seemed to fill Rebecca with excitement. An emotion that she didn’t bother to hide.

“I know it sounds crazy.” Rebecca turned to Jackson, “you have to understand that unlike most mages, Obrimos don’t deal in safe magic.” As she explained she walked over to Jackson and cast fireproof on him as well. And once more she felt her mage tempting the Abyss. She knew in her heart that today would be a good training day. She turned and walked to the center of the draw as she stretched out her mussels and got ready to face the monster. Not much different than a professional athlete, Rebecca was taking this very seriously. And her mannerism was reflecting this.

“Nearly every spell I cast attracts the attention of the Abyss. There was a time when I used to think I could out think the Abyss or be so careful that I wouldn’t attract its attention.” She explained coming to a stop in the middle of the draw. She reached out with her arms as she made sure her sights were up. “This was foolish thinking. The Abyss sees all and there is no out thinking it. No, the eyes of the monster and its minions watch for us, mages all the time.” She slowly turned around ensuring that no one was in harm’s way.

“Paradoxes are dangerous. This is a fact. But you can protect your spells by shielding them with coatings of your own magic. Forcing your mana to protect your spells can lessen the chances of a Paradox from occurring.” Rebecca drew in a deep breath and allowed her lungs to feel the bite of the cold air around her. She fireproof herself once more as she reached out through her magic and prepared to play with fire.

It was then in that moment her fireproofing spell tempted the attention of the Abyss. “Can you feel that, Stinky” Rebecca said in pain. “Once you feel the Abysses attention you can channel the magic and the abyssal taint through your own body to protect your spell.” Rebecca explained as she allowed her body to cleanse the paradox from her magic. It was clear by her voice that it hurt, “this kind of damage on your body can’t be healed magically. Like a broken heart, time will heal it.” She tried to joke.

“The Abyss is watching now” she said with a smile, and allowed the pain to wash over her. “When you first draw the Abyss in to you to protect your magic, it can be very disorienting and painful. Enough of a distraction to cause you to lose your focus during combat. But here, you can feel the pain and learn to push past it. Here you can learn to deal with the Abyss without fear of being killed by vampires or whatever.”

Rebecca turned and prepared to summon fire, “Listen if you lose control over your magic don’t lose your head. Understand some basic principles. The first level of Paradox is Havoc. That is where your spell is no longer under your control and is considered a Havoc spell. It WILL affects a randomly chosen target, or targets, if multiple targets were factored into the casting. No one knows how the Havoc will react. So don’t try to guess. One thing is for sure, your intended target or targets would be excluded from the new targets chosen.” Rebecca started to cast her spell and in that second it turned ugly and Jackson knew it.

It was in that moment that Rebecca started to glow with green runes across her body. Her spell was no longer under her control and there was a change in her voice. Quickly Rebecca dispelled her own spell before it could cause damage to the area. Based on her speed at casting the spell dispel, it was clear that she had practiced this for some time. Even if Rebecca wanted to, she couldn’t protect her spell from the Paradox. She knew that she simply didn’t have the strength to do so. She pulled her arms in to her chest and dropped to her knees. Her mind filled with voices from beyond reason. Her earlier experiments told her that this was nothing more than effects of the Paradox she just caused. She waved Jackson to keep his distance.

This new wave of intensity caught her nearly off guard. The voices were so familiar to her and so believable that she was almost fooled by the voices. But she knew better. She had been here before. She knew not to listen to them. Not to act on their impulsive suggestions. She knew that this was nothing more than the paradox affecting her mind. “I don’t do this because I like it. I do this out of survival. Here, I can learn to cope and deal with the different effects of paradox. If I were to do this in combat, my mind would no longer be focused. Just as I am right now and if this was in combat, I would be dead.”

She paused again taking in deep breaths and letting her breath out. She could see the steam and heat leave her body as she tried to refocus her mind on what she was saying. For Rebecca this was new, this was very intense. Much more intense than the last time she trained with Paradox. She realized that there was a connection to between the voices and her control over her magical arcana. It was valuable information that she had discovered today. Had this happened a few days ago with the vampires, Rebecca might had been rendered helpless during combat. “Allow me to continue the lesson.”

Rebecca closed her eyes as she continued, “the caster himself is included in this pool of random victims. But in knowing about this pool the mage can try to mitigate the damage of Paradox. The new target MUST be of the same type as the original target. If the mage targeted a living person, then the pool of random targets include only living people. If the mage's target is an object, then only objects are affected. If the caster is the only viable target present, then he is the target of his own spell. Though I have found that, just like a bit ago, if the mage is the originally intended target such as in a shield spell. Than the spell affects a target of a different kind, such as an object.”

Rebecca fought back the voices in her mind as she slowly stood up. “The second level of Paradox is Bedlam. This is where the mage suffers a derangement. Right now, I am suffering from voices in my head telling me to do horrible things. These voices are commanding me to do horrible things to you. At first these derangements were easy to cope with. As I have learned today, as you build your mastery over magic severity of this derangement becomes much more. I had played with Paradox’s since the first day we moved in. Only today, did I realize that there was a connection between your mastery over your Arcanum and the derangements you can experience.” She stumbled a bit as she tried to maintain her balance.

She slowly lowered herself to her knees once more and started to close her eyes. “You can try to fight it. At first it might not seem so hard. But……..” It was clear that she was trying to meditate but she seemed to be distracted by someone else speaking to her. “As your ability to master your Arcanum increases, so does the difficulty in resisting the derangement. Before today, I would have told you that I had experienced all of the derangements. And that they are generally more dramatic than their mundane counterparts. But these new more server ones make the earlier derangements seem like a walk in the part.”

“NO! I won’t kill him!” she snapped looking off to the side. Her voice was angered and filled with emotions. Rebecca took a deep breath as she tried to center herself once more. “But there is a silver lining. This lining is found in a common mistake….” she explained then trailed off. “I am getting to that!” She snapped once more turning her head to the right as if speaking to someone else. “SHUT UP BOTH OF YOU!” she said placing her hands over her ears. “If you know it’s an effect of the Paradox, you can try to resist it. But this is a mistake. You can’t resist it. Even though it’s an effect of the Abyss. You have to ride it out like a storm. Learn to maintain as much focus as possible during its effects. If you attempt to resist it.”

Rebecca lowered her hands and tried to keep her focus, “if you attempt……” she said than paused once more. It was clear that those voices were messing with her. “If you attempt to resist it, you will cause yourself more harm than good. Keep in mind, it is your own mind at work against you. I don’t think even Richard could effectively resis……”

“Yes I understand.” She said glancing to the left than to the right, “I say, we can trust him!” Rebecca fell silence once more as she tried to calm her mind to a point that she could continue. “The voices will go away once the Paradox fades. You have to keep telling yourself this. Hold on to this fact that they will go away. This little fact will help keep you from making a horrible mistake.”

Rebecca smiled in such a way that gave her a demonic appearance with this eerie green ruins across her body. “Yes, that’s right my little voice, you will be going away soon enough.” She said than paused for a long while. Her outburst came as a surprise, “CAUSE WE HATE YOU!” she shouted. “YOU’RE ALWAYS TRYING TO DO THE RIGHT THING, NO BODY CARES ABOUT THE RIGHT THING. YOU SHOULDN’T EITHER!”

Rebecca forced her mind back in to focus, “I know it’s hard to see and hear. You think I am crazy for doing this to myself. But no one in the Cabal knows how to deal with Paradox better than I do.” Her eyes fell upon Jackson, “even you, Mr. KNOW IT ALL.” there was a hint of another voice or maybe another personality but Rebecca was still holding on.

Rebecca resumed her composure long enough to continue, “When you manipulate magic. Not matter the scale. Rather it be covert magic or vulgar magic, you bend reality to your will. When you create Paradoxes, you can cause cracks in reality to occur. These cracks allow impossible things to happen. I have discovered that the area affected is usually in a radius around the caster. This radius starts at about 20 yards, but this is magnified by your mastery of Arcanum used in the spell or spells. While I haven’t seen this first hand, I have read that these anomalies are not affected by Sleepers but having them present will surely increase the chances of a paradox taking effect.”

“Shut up, I am teaching…” Rebecca spat, then paused once more. After a moment she continued, “The important thing about Anomalies is that they're unpredictable. I have never seen the same anomaly twice. You have no hope of controlling an anomaly, so don’t waste your time. I have seen that anomalies of different paths can build on each other. But more than one anomaly of the same Path in the same area can worsen the effects of both anomalies.”

Rebecca tried to focus but it was becoming more difficult for her. “Lastly is my favorite. Branding!” she said than snapped again, “Cause I like the way the runes look on my flesh. Is that so bad?” Rebecca took in a deep breath and whispered, “They won’t last…..they won’t last….” Her think Texan accent coming out as her control slipped. It was clear that she was focusing heard to maintain her train of thought. She paused once more before continuing. “Branding is your final warning. A warning that you are reaching the point of no return. Just like with the other paradoxes, Branding is linked to your mastery of the Arcana you just cast. Before, it was just these runes. But as you can see,” she paused and showed off her claws, “they can be almost anything. It is at this point you need to heed the warnings. This is the point you have to stop at.”

She turned her head to the side, “I don’t know what is beyond this. But I know enough to stop here.” She paused, “I am sorry Stinky” she paused trying to silence her mind. “They can be very distracting” she explained than paused again. “So do you have any questions?”

OOC:
Notes: Rebecca didn’t use a tool during this lesson.

Playing with Fire (First Spell): No Paradox Successes
Playing with Fire (Second Spell): No Paradox Success
Playing with Fire (Third Spell): One Paradox Successes (She took the lethal)
Playing with Fire (Fourth Spell): Four Paradox Successes (SOB! Really Rebecca?)