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bogkeep · 10 months ago

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-> to greygale, Gleamspire is a symbol of everything wrong with magic. caring for nobody but themselves and their precious records. the disregard for life, especially those of ordinary folk. and most of all: digging too deep in places they should not. -> (greygale was very young when their parents signed up as volunteers for a magic study. something about manipulating the delicate tworls of the soul connected to the mind. whatever compensation they had been promised, the cost was too great.) -> lizerd wizerd, far better known as just zerd, is a magic mechanic. a damn good one, who's always had the ability to see the shape of magic with her eyes, right in front of her, all around her. she knows what pieces to move and tweak with her engraved tools to solve spells gone wrong. a very rare skillset, almost unheard of so far away from Gleamspire... -> (it's worth keeping a low profile when you've accidentally merged your soul with that of a dragon and created a sentient sword with the leftovers.) -> (it's a great sword, the wordwield. sure, it snarks at you, but you can set the wheel to summon all kinds of elemental magic.)

-> sparrow is not only exiled, but hunted. Gleamspire may have the defenses to keep the Beast out - it is not the first of its kind, though it may be the most powerful - but the rest of the world is not so lucky, and sparrow is no longer of Gleamspire.

-> the Beast yearns to swallow up the rest of sparrow's life, subsume xem into itself, become independent. sparrow cannot let that happen. it stalks xem, slowly and destructively. xe does xyr best to lead it away from civilization - but xe is so tired and helpless and has nowhere to go except for following the fragile leads for a solution.

-> (and xe does wonder, despite xyr best attempts not to, should xe have been executed after all? did the council of Gleamspire choose wrongly? would the Beast die with xem, or gain xyr powers? the gamble is too horrible to consider.)

-> sparrow is at the end of xyr rope when xe finally finds the magic mechanic in the remote town of Stonehade. it doesn't help that xe has a bit of a terrifying run-in with the guardian of the town - the notorious greygale, seeting with hatred for mages, and wielding a dark sword that can cut through magic. how did they even get such a thing? -> (maybe zerd took pity on a young and orphaned teen, many years ago. maybe she just wanted to give them a way to defend themself.)

-> zerd really does want to help, just. What The Actual Fuck Happened Here My Guy. How Did You Mess Up This Badly!!!! so many wheels of sparrow's life force spin so fast, so savagely, she doesn't have the tools to even begin fixing this mess... -> sparrow does xyr best to warn the town guardian about the Beast. xe knows it's approaching, xe knows time is ticking away, but there is nowhere. left. to go. xe knows, xe knows!!! -> pros: the guardian is kinda hot.

-> cons: greygale is the last person you want to tell about the magically summoned God Beast that may or may not raze the town that's harbouring an exiled spellcaster who's also responsible for all this.

-> cons: greygale is going to swing a sword at you.

-> the sword is flung out of their grip and clatters to the stone floor. sparrow never moved, but the spinning cogwheels of xyr life force could not be cut so easily.

-> sparrow curtsies and takes xyr leave, taking advantage of a stunned and unmoving greygale.

-> sparrow collapses almost as soon as xe is out of the building and the adrenaline runs out.

-> zerd does her best to take care of sparrow as well as furiously scrawling out notes and diagrams, no closer to a solution. the deadline is not helping.

-> also not helping is greygale coming to her workshop with sword needing repairs, for... Some Reason. they did not expect to find sparrow.

-> it is under a precarious truce (and zerd's strict workshop safety rules) that greygale and sparrow... Talk.

-> magic can do so much. it can build and heal and create. even Stoneshade has a strong foundation of magically made buildings and infrastructures - maybe not as sophisticated as a metropolis such as Gleamspire, but still useful, good. sparrow only ever wanted to do good things. great things. singlehandedly change the world for the better.

-> greygale's glare does not change.

-> sparrow sighs. xe is never seen without a smile or a smirk - but xe drops it now.

-> it's easy to get lost in Gleamspire. it's easy to forget the rest of the world when you're drowning in splendour and miracles. it's easy to forget people live outside of the race to the top. when you're only ever surrounded by your peers, competing to dismantle reality and put it back together, it's...

-> sparrow made a horrible mistake and doesn't know how to fix it.

-> greygale's expression softens, just a little bit.

-> greygale isn't sure what to do when a person you absolutely despise is being vulnerable and also crying????? awkwardly cough and leave? yeah. yeah

-> zerd says she's totally gonna fix greygale's sword please come back for it later!!!!! (she's actually dismantling it. the guilt has been eating away at her for years.)

-> i'm sure more things happen but only so much can happen before the Beast approaches.

-> sparrow makes the Choice.

-> xe will let greygale sever the connection between xem and the Beast, even if it means sacrfi- what do you mean you don't have the sword.

-> ZERD WHERE IS THE SWORD

-> adding a new functionality to the wordwield VERY FAST UNDER LOTS OF PRESSURE, CAN THE SWORD PLEASE SHUT UP WHILE WE'RE PERFORMING SWORD SURGERY ON IT

-> the cut needs to be extremely precise and powerful. zerd can tell greygale exactly where to cut, but if they stray even a little bit things can go horribly wrong - oh good the earth is shaking from the thunderous footsteps of the Beast!!!!! -> in the nick of time and with no other nicks at all, the wordwield cuts cleanly through soul and hair.

-> the spinning wheels stop.

-> the Beast freezes.

-> the severed wheels fall apart.

-> the Beast disintegrates.

-> sparrow sinks to xyr knees, severed braids all around xem, breathing heavily.

-> for a moment, xe thinks xe might die after all, they just amputated xyr soul, a huge chunk of it. xe blacks out, barely hearing greygale and zerd yelling xyr name.

-> xe wakes in a bed.

-> it's not the first time zerd has had to patch up wounds in the soul, it's actually considerably easier to do on someone other than yourself!! sparrow will definitely suffer some Consequences, but xe's alive, isn't xe?

-> sparrow is already weeping and gasping laughing with relief when xe spots greygale in the room as well. are they blushing? their expression is almost always so sour, it's hard to tell...

-> xe winks at them.

hey! if you want to, i’d love to hear more about sparrow spellcaster? xe seem very very cool!!

YES, i can tell you more about sparrow spellcaster :D xyr story was supposed to become a webcomic, but that's... not happening, as i do not have the resources to work on a project like that right now. i still hope to tell xyr story through an actual format of some kind someday! but until then...!

- > in this world, everything is connected. if you know how to look, how to listen, how to feel, you can find the clockwork connections between it all. your own life force, tied to every part of your body, and the way the wheels and parts move and are moved by all that is around you. if you know how - you can move these. you can manipulate reality itself, like rearranging the pieces of a puzzle. that is magic.

(very old visual explanation of the magic system here)

- > in this world, those who can practice magic are mages, naturally. mages go to the prestigious university in Gleamspire. one of gleamspire's star students is Sparrow Spellcaster. Sparrow is not just a regular mage, no. as the title xe has earned indicates, xe can cast their spells, change the world around xem with a thought. most mages can only change that which they touch, but sparrow is a prodigy.

- > magic is a dangerous practice. the pieces you are playing with are those of your own soul and body. if you do it wrong, you can cause serious harm to your own body or your own soul. the road to discovery of new ways to utilize magic is paved with pain and accidents and horrible outcomes.

- > to sparrow, magic comes intuitively, easy as breathing. xe is not afriad, even when xe should be. worst of all, xe is enabled. never have the professors had a student like this - think of all the things they could discover! all the things they could try!

- > sparrow thrives on the attention, thrives on the glory, and xe is proud. it's hard to tell how it happens, exactly - did xe do it for a bet? did xe do it for the audience, to prove someone wrong? did xe do it because xyr teachers asked them to do it, made them do it? either way, the outcome is the same.

- > sparrow spellcaster summons a god, creates it out of thin air.

- > magic is a dangerous practice. you should never summon any living being. you do not know their strength.

- > a glorious beast, like a statue come to life, perfect because sparrow's magic is perfect. perfect and vengeful, drunk on its own rage.

- > that is when sparrow realizes - xe can't reach all of xyr life force anymore. the wheels are spinning, powering the creature xe has brought forth, but xe cannot take back the control. it's like half of xyr strings have been cut, but xe is still tied to the puppeteer.

- > destruction follows. it takes every mage in gleamspire to drive the god beast out, and it will only continue its rampage elsewhere.

- > they almost executed sparrow, but nobody knows for sure if xyr death would have stopped the beast, and xe has too many friends in high places for the suggestion to go through. in a bitter act of mercy, sparrow is exiled from gleamspire.

- > sparrow is fatigued. so much of xyr own life is powering something else. xe keeps falling asleep at random places, random times. xe no longer has the strength to groom xemself, to redo xyr braids properly. xe can no longer cast spells as xe used to - there is still power left in xem, they still have skill, but so much of it is simply out of reach, inaccessible.

- > xe cannot stop the god beast on xyr own.

- > xe has to try anyway.

(here's another very old comic explanation)

#haiz writes #sparrow spellcaster #greygale #lizerd wizerd #oc #HERE'S ALL THE PLOT BEATS THAT I HAVE. ENJOY

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