-= January 3, 795 TR =-

/\/\ist Phantom had said goodbye to his new teacher and left on a summoned drake just an hour ago. He had been training and learning about magic for the past month, and he had learned much. But he had felt that it was time to leave, to complete his Tower of Mist and to try and discover the secrets of the strange old tome he found in the ruins near the Tower. And so here he was, flying back to the Tower to finish its construction with his newly-learned magicks. Surely construction would go slower than it had before, but it would still only take him maybe a week to finish the Tower, since it was nearly done. 'After finishing that,' /\/\ist thought, 'I'm going to have to find a way to rebuild my drakes or at least replace them.....'

But /\/\ist didn't want to go out and study in some musty old artificers' workshop for another three or four months, not just yet. He had other things planned for the next few months. He'd had enough to studying, practicing, and being lectured by crazy old men for now. He wanted to go out and explore some more soon. But first he must complete the tower and go study that tome underground and see what kind of secrets it might hold, what knowledge it might contain, and what spells might have been scrawled upon its pages...

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It took another half an hour for /\/\ist Phantom to reach the nigh-complete tower. He landed his drake and unsummoned it, then walked over to the base of the Tower. He cast his whirlwind spell once more and blew all the snow away from the tower and the surrounding field, dropping the snow into the sea and dissipating the whirlwand. Then he set about the task of finishing the construction of the Tower. He saw nearly a dozen stone blocks lying about the base of the tower, left over from his clockwork drakes when they had finally rusted over and ran out of power. /\/\ist Phantom sighed. He would have to do most of this the hard way.

/\/\ist Phantom emptied his mind of all thoughts but one: finishing the Tower. He recalled the seas and rivers of his homeland, of a place far, far from Phaema. He drew on the power of the waves crashing upon the shores and cliffsides of his home, the power of the mighty underwater currents deep in the ocean, the power and speed of the rivers and rapids of his country. He focused their power upon the stone blocks before him, shaped it in his mind's eye to become nine ghostly hands grasping the stone blocks, and invoked the telekinesis spell he had learned. Mana flowed from his hands to each of the stone blocks and they shone with blue auras momentarily. Then he opened his eyes and mentally directed each block into its proper place in the Tower's walls. He extended the telekinesis to the last metal barrel of mortar left, unsealed it and levitated the lid to the ground. Then he levitated the mortar into place between the stone blocks and slowly loosened his telekinetic hold on the blocks and mortar. It quickly dried and fastened the blocks together and to the Tower's walls, and /\/\ist Phantom dispelled his telekinesis. He sat down and took a few moments rest before moving on the more difficult job at hand. It was going to be mighty tough telekinetically ripping stone from the ground and then having to carve it into the proper size, shape, and smoothness of the stone blocks his clockwork drakes had fashioned with their sharp, metal claws and mechanical precision. 'Oh yes, it will be very difficult indeed,' /\/\ist thought gloomily. And he would have to do a lot of it to complete the Tower. He sighed again and got up to re-invoke his telekinesis spell.

He focused on the newest of the pits his drakes had dug, where there was still some rock left bare to the surface. /\/\ist focused his telekinesis upon a small chunk of it and concentrated on tearing it free and levitating it up. After a minute of concentration, the chunk of stone burst free from the surrounding rock and soil and shot up a few feet into the air before stopping, then /\/\ist levitated it out of the pit and onto the ground. He continued to do this five more times before he stopped to take a break. His ethereal form flickered, dimmed, and dissipated a little every so often before resuming its normal shape and appearance. This spell was a difficult one, and it drained him very much. He'd have passed out if he were still living, but instead his ethereal form became unstable, weak, and barely remained in the material plane. He didn't push his luck too far, knowing that there are probably limits even for the wraithen. He longed to be normal and alive once again, remembering when he used to be a person of flesh and blood.......he could hardly remember what his flesh body had looked like, nowadays. Ah well. He might still someday find a way to be resurrected.

But right now he had work to do. He lay down and took a short nap to give his ethereal form time to stabilize once again. He really didn't need sleep, being dead, but he could still go into a trance-like state similar to sleep, where he didn't really dream but thought and focused his thoughts inward, becoming outwardly silent and immobile. He 'awoke' an hour later, when his form had returned to its normal stability and power. He drew on some more mana set to work shaping the stones and placing them where they belonged in the Tower's walls.

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After a few hours more of this, /\/\ist Phantom had decided that it was time to retire for the day and do some light activity and some thinking while the lands he drew power from replenished themselves. He wandered about the field and some of the neighboring forest while he pondered things and waited. Then, about four or five hours later, he stopped his wandering and his thinking. He felt a presence, somehow, surrounding him and blanketing him. Then he heard a voice on the wind, speaking to him.

The time approaches, young mageling. You will soon repay your debts and fulfill part of your destiny. You owe me your services in this matter, and it is your destiny besides. You must go to the plains far to the south, one tenday from now. There you will face your destiny and fulfill mine. You know who I am, and you know that you owe me this. The time nears. You have one tenday, then you must go as I say. Destiny waits for no man.

And the presence faded, the wind dying back down to its normal whistling. /\/\ist pondered the voice's words for a few moments before heading back to the Tower. He had one tenday to finish the Tower and study some of the tome back at the ruins of the ancient library.

(OOC: I will likely continue this in four or five days, depending on if my other two storylines have caught up enough... End OOC.)

~ /\/\ist Phantom ~
Shard, Sword Mage
Aphiron, Novice Warrior
/\/ecronis, Lord of Undead
Traug, Troll Mage