This week was pretty productive. I realized a while back that Zuriel basically only existed in my mind in the context of Aila, so I have been working on exploring his past and his character so that you can actually root for him instead of wondering why you would care at all what this piece of paper does. It has been a different kind of fun. As a side benefit, a lot of the more minor characters have taken on more color and dimension because they can’t reveal anything about Zuriel if they are also pieces of paper.
As far as actual numbers I wrote 4,558 words this week bringing the total up to 33,524. Because I am filling out a lot of the details I just kinda skipped over in the first draft, I am not approaching the same part of the actual story as I was in this part of the first draft. Which is fine.
For my excerpt this week I have a scene with Michael’s first session training Zuriel in his sorcerer magic. Enjoy.
“Sorcerer magic doesn’t quite work the way naim magic does. A sorcerer’s magic fills their body, not just their mind. It’s a bit of a difficult concept, but you have to pull from your entire body.”
“My entire body?” Zuriel thought a moment. Trying to think of his toes and chest at the same time. He remembered when he had accidentally set the block on fire, he hadn’t done that from his whole body. “I think I did it with just my mind before.”
Michael crossed his arms, looking with interest at Zuriel. “Really? What do you mean? When?”
“Uh, I was training with Halvar, putting a block up and I lit it on fire.”
A slow smile spread on Michael’s face. “Perhaps you are uniquely capable of accessing it through two channels.” He stepped back. “Show me.”
Zuriel hesitated. To do it on purpose and doing it by accident were different things. He thought of the levels Michael had explained and tried water. He took a deep breath and much the same way he formed blocks, he tried to summon water. He succeeded in forming a small orb of water, holding it above his hand. He lifted his eyes past the water to Michael who was frowning. “What?”
“Is that all?”
Zuriel dropped the water which splashed onto the grass at his feet. “Well, I have never done this before, cut me some slack.”
Michael laughed, “No, I mean I have seen young sorcerers summon much more on their first attempts. The naim magic must not be designed to accommodate the elemental magics. Try pulling it from your whole being. See what you can do.”
“Alright.” Zuriel nodded and shook his hands out at his sides. He closed his eyes to focus, imagining the water flowing from his chest out through his limbs. He held his hands out before him from which a stream of water shot.
Michael dodged it, stepping aside with a laugh. “There we go.”
Zuriel stopped the summon abruptly, surprised at the difference between his first attempt and the second. He laughed awkwardly and smiled at Michael.
“Again.”
With less need of preparation, Zuriel repeated the jet of water. He did this several times, each proceeded with Michael’s order to do it again.
“Try to focus it. Aim it at something. Try to feel the level of power, control it.”
He struggled a bit to change the amount of power he fed into it. It was something like driving a car you are unfamiliar with. You want to slow so you push the brake, but it’s more sensitive than you think and it stops abruptly, throwing you forward in the seat. It was all or nothing for the first few attempts. Then he could do a small orb or a powerful stream that touched the far wall. Gradually, he determined how to control the power and could approximate different levels of power.
“There you go.” Michael smiled approvingly. He had trained many sorcerers when he first joined the forces. Few had made such progress on their first day. Agur had explained to him, that Zuriel had the fully formed channels, he only lacked the knowledge. He didn’t have to build up the capability over time like the others he had trained before. He had all of it, he only needed to know how to access it and control it.
Zuriel grinned, he was enjoying this magic more than any of the others. While he did enjoy the naim magic, especially the fact that he actually got to do it rather than learning the basics of it through books or lectures like the others, it was more satisfying to see what he was doing rather than fumbling through like a blind man dealing with a magic he could not see.
“Alright, now I want you to see the max of it.” Michael turned and pointed at the far wall. “I want you to hit that wall, full force. Soak it.”
“Alright.” Zuriel nodded and shook himself out again. He wasn’t sure it had any effect, but it had quickly become part of his process. He raised his hands and unleashed all of the power he could find in himself. He focused it forward, unleashing a jet of water that was not only extremely powerful, more than squarely impacting the far wall, but was rather wide. The water hit the stones hard enough to make the wall tremble, though it was too far away for either Michael or Zuriel to see.
Suddenly aware that he was feeding forward power from a reserve that now held nothing he dropped his hands, cutting off the stream of water. His head spun and he stumbled backward. Michael rushed forward to steady him and led him over to the bench.
“That was good. Sorry, I forgot that you haven’t built up your power yet. That should come in short order. The more you max, the more you will build up.” Michael explained as Zuriel held his head in his hands, trying not to puke.
“Magic Cardio.” He mumbled, a smirk on his face. While he felt like absolute garbage, he was still extremely pleased with sorcerer magic.
Michael laughed. “Yeah, magic cardio.” He watched Zuriel a moment before letting him know that they were done for the day.
