Timestamp: The Darkening in the Third Month of Summer As Majora and Melora are aligned.
So far Serion's stay in Natura had been pretty easy. The discussions with Lhyllis and Dhwae were progressing, and they had already gotten to work on concoctions that Serion would have to take in preparations for his bodily transformation. The last couple of brightenings had seen Serion training himself physically as well as mentally. Not only had he been made to follow a workout routine, he had been made to spend even more time reading up on texts pertaining to body form manipulation. Surprisingly, there were many entries from druids on transformation techniques, but of course there was nothing as permanent as what Serion wanted to attempt.
Either way, the dark elf found himself a bit exhausted, but the fact that the moons were aligning this very darkening kept his energies from fleeing him. As he returns to his room, a small hut actually, Serion digs through his belongings and draws forth the dark, black wood that he had unbound so many eras ago. The wood emit a slight glow from the green veins sap veins that wrapped around the slender shaft.
Placing the enchanted wood on his cot, Serion moves to the far corner of his hut, and begins the process of drawing out the pentagram required to perform the ritual. Tracing the pentagram out on the floor of his hut, the moonlight easlily covering it through the window, Serion will step back and compare it to the descriptions in the notes he copied during his studies the day a couple of brightenings prior.
Nodding, happy with his drawing, Serion moves over to his enchanted wood and takes it from the bed, drawing forth a silver dagger from the back of his belt, Serion steps just outside the circle containing his pentagram. Closing his eyes, Serion meditates, letting his mind connect to the Plane of Life. Upon attaining clara, the dark elf bends down, touching the circle, to let his energies light up the pentagram, so should the lines wipe away, the pentagram shall remain.
As the pentagram glows with holy energy, Serion stands up and step within, using his energies to raise two Circles of Magic, to keep himself from falling outside of the circle, and to keep anything else from coming in. With his protective preparations in place, Serion begins the first step of the ritual.
The Wizard takes a ceremonial dagger, and imbues it with the essence of his or her craft. The caster then uses the dagger to carve a rune of the mage's selection representing the self, the singular, the individual, upon the palm of the right hand. Blood must flow freely from the palm over the Enchanted Wood, and the Mage should invoke the Material Plane and call upon the four directions and four elements to affirm the identity of the spellcaster and the staff to which he is bound. Continue the invocation repeatedly as needed; only when the wound is magically healed, leaving a scar that tingles but does not hurt, and does the blood then seep into the wood of the staff, is the rite complete.
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Setting the enchanted wood between his feet, on the pentagram, Serion holds out his dagger, once more summoning forth the holy energies of the Plane of Life. Infusing the energies into his dagger, Serion moves the point to his right hand, slowly carving out the required symbol--a symbol of self.
As Serion removes the dagger's blade from his hands flesh, a crescent moon is left carved into the palm of his hand. Serion had suffered many wounds, but this one was different. It itched and burned as any other wound, but it also seemed to pulse and tingle with energy, as those that were within the dagger transferred into the symbol upon his hand.
Not letting this hold his attention for but a moment, Serion takes his right hand and reaches down, grasping the rod, letting the blood from the wound flow freely upon the wood, the rod glowing as he begins to speak.
"I call upon the Plane of the Material. I call upon the North, the East, the South, and the West. I call upon Fire, upon Earth, upon Water and upon Wind. I call upon you to see me for who and what I am. See me and recognize me, and the staff that now accepts my offering. See us for what we are, and accept us."
As soon as Serion spoke the first invocation and the energies between him and the rod were passed back and forth, the dark elf could feel himself falter a bit physically. While Serion had been putting himself fully into his training the downside would be that his body would be tired for a while. His mind however, was far from tired. With pure will he kept his legs from bending under the drain of transferring vis.
"I call upon the Plane of the Material. I call upon the North, the East, the South, and the West. I call upon..."
The second repetition led to an even heavier weight upon him. The pressure from the ritual was growing as the blood began to fade from his wound, the rod absorbing all of the life energies that had flowed from the carved symbol. The dark elf's hand pulsed strongly and only intensified the grip on the enchanted wood held before him.
Through gritted teeth, Serion finished the second invocation and pushes onto the third. The pentagram had grown to a blinding brightness, but the dark paladin seemed immune to its effect. Focusing on the rod and the invocation, the pain in the right hand begins to ebb. The blood was all but gone now, and Serion finishes the last of the third invocation.
"...and recognize me, and the staff that now accepts my offering. See us for what we are, and accept us."
As the invocation is completed the pain and tingling both vansihed from his hand almost instantly, and the glowing pentagram dimmed to it's original brightness--the first step of the Ritual complete. The Rite of Identity is complete... Serion thinks to himself as he examines the scar left upon his right palm. The blood that had flown over the enchanted wood was completely gone, absorbed by the magics of the ritual.
Raising his left hand to his brow, still gripping the silver dagger that he had temporarily imbued, Serion brushed away the small bit of sweat that had formed from the mental stress of the ritual. With a thought, and a wave of his hand, Serion brings down his barriers and walks over to his bed. Leaving the pentagram lit up, Serion figured it wouldn't hurt anything to leave it up during his stay. If anything else, he could always draw a new one if need be.
Placing the enchanted wood back in its wrappings and tucking it away again, Serion strips down for the night. His morning would be an early one, and he needed all the sleep he could get. For the next month he would put all he had in whatever Lhyllis and Dhwae threw at him. With what they had planned, the next alignment would be soon enough.