EVENT #7: THE SIGHT

[abraxasmods]

Event #7 - The Sight

go to the OOC event info and plotting post

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The night before APRIL 18, your dreams are disrupted by a vivid image of the same eclipse that occurred last month. The black sun seems to be an endless void in the sky, growing ever darker - until it suddenly opens into an eye that stares straight at you.

When you wake up, much of your night seems a blur except for the vivid dream of that eye. Whether you find it unsettling or try to ignore it, the image is something you cannot get out of your mind. If you ask, you will discover that none of the locals of your faction saw another eclipse. Speak with your fellow Summoned, however, and you may learn that while there was no eclipse that formed over the world, you were not the only one who had this dream.

Of course, dreams don't need to mean anything. You can't feel or see any immediate effects, and nearly everyone around you is going about their day as usual. Maybe you should do the same.

The Awakening

It might happen that very morning or a day or two later. You could be discussing the dream with a fellow Summoned or perhaps you simply brush shoulders with them as you walk by. Whatever it is, as soon as you make brief physical contact, one of you is struck with a sharp pain in your temple that grows into a terrible headache. It's disorienting and painful as the world around you shifts to someplace you may or may not recognize. Like an old film reel, you watch the events of the past play out before you: the past of the other Summmoned. It might be something they would rather hide, a moment of failure or despair, or something they are immensely proud of and brings them great joy - or even a jumble of several images over the course of a person's life. But you see it as if it were real and right in front of you all the same. When you come to, you'll likely find yourself on the ground or bent over, possibly with one or more people around you to see if you're okay. It'll take you a bit to gather your bearings, and the subsequent pounding in your head could last from minutes to hours.

Or, maybe you aren't the one who receives the vision. Instead, as you watch, another Summoned might grasp their head and crumble in front of you. They may go silent or groan in pain. They'll be impossible to shake out of their stupor until it's over. If you ask what happened, they may be inclined to tell you the truth - that you, you were what happened to them.

Or, if your Arcana signs happen to line up in a specific way, you'll see each other in the shared memory itself. You may also find that for certain Summoned, you can help soothe the effects, calm their emotions, or help draw them out of the memory before it consumes them for too long. It's not entirely clear what determines which effect, but one thing is for certain - within each memory, every Summoned as they appear in the past seems to wear the mark of their Arcana somewhere on their person.

For some, they might experience this only once. For others, they might experience it multiple times: with the same person, with several other Summoned, or with a different memory each time. Over the next 7 days, you'll find the Summoned around you are all receiving a glimpse into each other's past, as if the Singularity has awoken an eye within each of you.

Flee for the safety of the Horizon if you want, but you'll find that in there, it's much the same. In fact, inside the Horizon, the other Summoned don't even need to be anywhere near you - just existing in the Horizon space itself together will be enough to possibly set off a headache-inducing vision.

The Factions

What has occurred between the Summoned will not go unnoticed within the factions. While it's difficult to say how faction officials have picked up what's happening, it'll be obvious they do know.

In THORNE, characters will be asked to remain in the castle walls until further notice. Characters will not be allowed to leave the castle grounds, not even to go into the surrounding city, and anyone who is already outside will be requested to not leave again as soon as they return. If asked, they will be told it's for their own safety, given the Singularity is behaving unpredictably and the Summoned have a unique connection to it. Soothing potions and healers are on hand to offer assistance, if anyone is particularly suffering from ill effects.

In the FREE CITIES, characters will find the army by the outposts show more activity than usual. A higher number of guards will patrol the streets throughout the event, particularly in areas frequented by the Summoned. Anyone who publicly and visibly experiences the effects of the memory share (pain, doubling over, etc.) will be offered assistance by the guards. They are generally there to help, but they are also there to maintain order and ensure anyone behaving erratically due to this incident is properly contained. This might include confinement for a day or two if anyone is especially posing a risk, but no one will be punished except in the most extreme cases, as the locals are aware this is not within the control of the Summoned.

In SOLVUNN, the locals will be watching what's happening with a mixture of trepidation and curiosity. Host families and neighbors will be on hand to help with charms meant to offer protection, as well as general care and assistance (soup, blankets, and so on) if your character seems to be especially under the weather or afflicted by the event. Towards the end of the event, more elders and mages will be out and about to check up on the Summoned to make sure they're doing okay. If asked, the mages will say they aren't sure what's going on, but that they are currently divining with the gods and hope to have a definitive answer soon in the upcoming days.

None of the factions appear to be doing much more than keep a watchful eye on the situation - but as the week comes to a close, officials will start making a decision as to what they want to do and how to handle the Summoned who have demonstrated this unforeseen connection to the Singularity.

Comments

[hextechhead]

Jayce wishes all the time he could go back. Not to this minute, though, to later, when he and Viktor proved the theory and the entire world seemed ahead of them, unstoppable. Those were the good years full of discovery and excitement, brilliance and fun, before the weight of the world fell onto Jayce's broad shoulders and kept pressing down until he was ready to break.

"I really thought it was over after this, but my partner was there, we didn't know each other then, he approached me later and helped me solve the problem. Together we finished it." Viktor saved his life. Jayce glances over at the crowd and he finds Viktor, pointing at him. It's dark in the rest of the room, but he's in some of the light. In case Kell ever comes across the other engineer later. Jayce is always so quick to give Viktor every ounce of credit he deserves, since he knows he's the only one who ever would.

"Magic has always been in the hands of people born to it, and they have not always used it well. So anyone who could never imagine having magic themselves, fear its power. Until we proved anyone could use magic, with the right tool." So it was a question of access. Once Hextech existed, magic was less terrifying or alien, it was real and it was there. And normal people could see it right in front of them. Jayce is pensive. "A mage saved my life when I was a child, my mother and I were going to die, and he teleported us to safety. I loved magic, I just wanted everyone else to see what I did."

The beauty more than the power. The wonderful things it could do, in the right hands.

[blackeyedprince]

"I see."

Kell's eyes follow the man's gaze as he searches the crowd for someone. A partner. Kell can't help but feel a sting as he hears the word. Must be nice to have someone just like you. Even if the other man is nothing like the one, Kell is conversing with. None at all. This partner of his, more like a shadow to his light, all sharp line and angles. Tall, thin and sickly, where he stands straight and proud. They don't look like a good fit.

But it must be nice.

"I guess that you made them see." Must have, since he just said they changed their minds in the end. "So what happened?"

It's a guess, but the man didn't exactly sound triumphant when he said that. More sad. It needs little genius to realize it couldn't have been all roses and rainbows afterwards.

[hextechhead]

Jayce and Viktor are as opposite as people can get, outside of their mutual passions, but those are what define them better than all their other differences. Science, creation, altruism, discovery, progress. They should not have been a perfect match, and yet most of the time they were.

An astute question. Jayce's smile turns a bit wry, but he's used to being read really well by others. He has no subtlety unfortunately, most of his feelings and thoughts are right there on his honest handsome face. Even his attempts at a diplomatic face can't help his expressive eyes. It'd take years to get better at masking, and he hasn't tried.

"They only wanted us to make Hextech useful to them and their pockets, we wanted to create inventions that could be used by everyone. There's also ... a political divide. Our city is made into two parts, the upper class." He nods at the Council chamber, how could it be anything else? "And the lower class, they literally live beneath us, in the Undercity. Someone down there started to figure out my tech, Jinx, but she used it to kill people. I was made a councilor like them, to be the one who cares, I guess."

At the time Jayce did feel like it was an honor, something a low house like him could never imagine being. Maybe he would have been good at it, in a better time, with more practice. He has mixed feelings about it. He tried his best, but it wasn't enough. "But I couldn't fix what was broken between our people. I'm not sure even our inventions could help, for all I know they never intended on letting them have any." Piltover would think of these as right for their workers, but the Undercity? Probably not. He really didn't used to see that.

[blackeyedprince]

At first, Kell is only confused, but his frown deepens the longer he listens. His London is far from egalitarian. There's the royal family, the aristocracy, and the rest. He's not blind, never has been. He knows that there are those who fare better in life only because of their better station. That the nobles would turn their nose at everyone else. So hierarchy existed, but it had duties too and not only privileges. The royalty and nobility were there to provide for the people, as much as they got to benefit from their position, and they did.

To have actual underclass? Living literally beneath you? It's hard to comprehend.

Kell turns to look at Council members currently arguing over the verdict. He can't understand those people.

"If you made your inventions for the benefit of the people, then who were they to keep those from them. Don't you have a king to make decisions in such matters?"

[hextechhead]

"The Council, these people, they are in charge of the city. We don't have a monarch. They -- we -- vote." He admitted he was made one of them, so he can't forever imply they're separate from him. "They've been entrenched in power for decades. They're not bad people, just selfish and blind." They are displaying their fear here, and that fear is what keeps the city held back too.

The strongest voice in that room is Heimerdinger, clearly the one in charge in the end. The way he shouts enough makes them all go silent, but earlier he winces when Jayce says magic, like he knows it's coming. There's an intimacy between them, more so than everyone else who seems to see Jayce as a stranger. The way Jayce's eyes fix on him, pain and anger equally shining in golden-brown eyes, is because it's personal. There's love in there too, even now.

"Professor Heimerdinger is the head of the Council. Or he was. He was my mentor, we were close." Heimerdinger tried not to make it obvious in that room that Jayce was special to him. It would make him seem biased, which he was. "He was very old and wise, but his arrogance meant he preferred to ignore, he thought we were all better than we were." Heimerdinger himself included.

[blackeyedprince]

There was a time when Kell thought himself quite cunning. When he thought he could read people. Maybe not understand, but at least put them into some discernable categories. Then he made those who made no sense to him. Their motives and goals so incomprehensible to him, that the understanding came too late to act.

Those people below? The Council. Them, he can understand. The more he looked at them the more they reminded him of his own aristocracy. Not bad people, just lacking direction. Trying to pretend they have a grasp on what is to rule, when in fact they were all just seeking leadership from someone stronger. Someone who had what they didn't. A vision. All, save the Head Councillor.

"I take you two had a fall-out. What was it about? The expulsion?"

That doesn't seem like enough. Kell doesn't need to guess why the professor is so harsh. Why he's pushing for such a dire punishment. He's trying to teach a lesson here.

[hextechhead]

Heimerdinger had a way of making everyone feel like he had it all under control. He was reasonable and wise and positive and supportive, but it was a lot of talk. Not a lot of action. When Jayce got to see more closely how dysfunctional their government was, how many things were going wrong or going missing with no one caring at all to look into it, it put everything in a new light.

"No, although he was mad there I didn't listen, he told me I'd just get a slap on the wrist if I lied about the magic." Heimerdinger felt then that he had to teach Jayce a lesson, not only for going against him, but because he brought up something that could lead to questions. And he never wanted anyone to do that, not when he'd already said no. Jayce exploded into an explanation in the trial, that much is clear, he had a rehearsed speech of what to say. But his spirit is not so easy to squash.

"My friend is sick. Very sick." He doesn't use the word dying but it's there in his tone, the heaviness of the reality facing them every day. "We found something that might have been a way to help him, using science similar to our project, and he wanted us to destroy it. He said it was too dangerous." So it was Viktor's life in the balance, and for Jayce, that made it very simple. "I ... had him kicked off the Council so he couldn't stop us." Jayce out-maneuvered him, a better politician than he ever thought possible.

It's hard not to feel guilt over that, but it was a desperate situation. "He also was turning a blind eye to everything wrong with our city. He was overly cautious and controlling." Jayce sighs, crossing his arms against his chest. "He was like a second father to me, I didn't want to hurt him, but we couldn't see eye to eye anymore."

[blackeyedprince]

How do you say: I brought my brother back from the dead using forbidden magic that shouldn't exist, be possible, or at least exceed my ability to cast it, drawing on a source of power so corrupt it could - and did - destroy worlds. And I would do it all over again if I had to? Simple, you don't.

This Horizon place, it seems to draw people with similar experiences together.

"And he genuinely expected you will sit and watch your friend suffer if there was a chance to help him? Even if it was risky?"

Kell shakes his head in disbelief. How disconnected you must be from the world not to realize this is a fool's errand?

"That's not only cruel, that's just stupid. It's not how people work."

Not that he's an expert.

[hextechhead]

"Yes, he did. And Viktor was his assistant, he also looked up to him as a mentor, but we're all just blips in his long life." It makes him angry, that lack of empathy, that lack of respect for the people who loved him. Heimerdinger was adored by his students and the people alike, because he had many qualities to adore, but his flaws made him blind in all the worst ways. His apathy toward Viktor's life was not unexpected but it was hurtful.

"It was stupid to think we'd be an exception for him, but I did anyway." He can't speak for Viktor, who may have been more realistic about it, but there was something emotional and not logical to this situation. Maybe logically Heimerdinger was right, but emotionally his lack of compassion for them is what sealed his fate.

"He would have stopped us and had our work destroyed, and given nice but shallow words at the funeral." That was an outright admittance to how serious the situation was, but he's feeling bitter at the moment, and Jayce is not good at regulating his feelings. "It was probably inevitable that we would clash. Even after this moment, when I proved my theory was correct, he always hated it, always tried to stop it or force it backward. And he had the power."

So Jayce took it from him.

[blackeyedprince]

Kell stares for a moment like he's not understanding what he's just heard. That this Heimerdinger person would just cast them away like.. what? Like trash? Like they did not matter. This is not only insane. This is... evil.

"I wouldn't say it was stupid. You could have expected he'd act like a -- normal person."

He almost said human being. Even if it was obvious, Jayce's mentor even from the appearance was not a human at all. Not a non-human like magic was. Not a non-human like oshoc was. Though the mere thought of the thing that has consumed Holland made him shiver. It was a different type of non-human, a no less frightening one. And this thing hated and feared magic. Kell can't say he can have any warm feelings or it. It would have hated him too.

"You were absolutely right to oppose him," he declares. Might have come a bit louder and stronger than he intended, but screw that. He hates this stupid furball below. "You were right to protect yourself, your friend and your work. You can't have someone like that rule over others."

[hextechhead]

While Jayce goes back and forth on his feelings about the situation, righteousness mixed with genuine guilt, it feels really good to have someone so strongly agree with him. Everyone else had personal feelings mixed in, their own motivations, but this is an outside point of view. He looks at Kell with gratitude, nodding.

"I'm not sure he was wrong about the Hexcore invention, Viktor later on asked me to destroy it too, but only because he had to try desperate measures and it seems to have backfired. But if Heimerdinger helped us, put his influence and knowledge behind it, maybe we could've finished it safely." So he resents that. Maybe all of his blame isn't fair, but when it comes to Viktor's life, Jayce isn't capable of being fair to anyone who wouldn't prioritize it. "He didn't even want to try to save him. Viktor never said if that hurt him or not, the indifference from our mentor, but ... how could it not?"

There are a lot of things Jayce could forgive him for, and ask forgiveness for in his own actions, but hurting Viktor is not one of them. "Our city was a mess, there was a civil war going on, and all he could do was make speeches. It ...." Jayce doesn't even mean to, really. He can remember that moment so clearly, the council meeting when it all came to a head. Maybe since they're already in his memory or head it's what happens, because the trial goes away replaced by a new memory.

Heimerdinger making a speech about togetherness, ignoring the fact his obliviousness has led them here. And Jayce finally pushing back. Now in his Council garb, the same he's wearing now, clearly having gone up in power and influence himself. No longer the boy that let Heimerdinger come down hard on him, pushing back instead. It's still difficult to watch. Heimerdinger's face, his heartbreak, stays with him.

[blackeyedprince]

"Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't," Kell replies with a shrug. He's far beyond the benefit of doubt with Jayce's former mentor. "In the wrong hands and the wrong circumstances, a fork can be dangerous."

It's not fair of him to compare a potentially world-altering force to a kitchen utensil. The degree of damage is incomparable. His point still stands, though. Sometimes the risk is worth it.

"If he helped you, that might have never had to happen. Desperate people use desperate measures when forced to." Believe him, he's been plenty desperate a couple of times. "They might not become desperate if someone makes an effort to prevent that. But this never happens by talking. Not only."

Kell has many very strong emotions about his own city, so it's easy to recognize similar ones in the other. Sometimes he hated Red London, resented its people for the way they treated him, but he always loved it. It has always felt like home to him. He would have died to protect it. He's not really sure that he actually didn't.

The scene changes, and there's nothing in it that would have changed his mind. Heimerdinger, the same as he was. Still, out of touch with reality. Still, doing nothing but talking. As Jayce has quite correctly pointed it out to him, earning himself a verbal equivalent of being dragged across the room by his ear.

"He could have at least stopped treating you like an errant apprentice."

Too blind to see he has brought this on himself.

[hextechhead]

Jayce agrees with everything Kell is saying, so in a way, it's helping ease some of his guilt. It's not that he wanted that to be how his relationship with his mentor ended. He would have appreciated any kind of middle ground, a heart-to-heart, a promise to meet them halfway, or compassion for Viktor's situation. He did what he had to do to protect his best friend.

It's hard to watch it again but now he can only see all the reasons they ended up there, and how easy it would have been for anything to go differently. "He couldn't, I was never going to be his equal in his eyes." His eternal protégé. Jayce's lips press together and his jaw tightens. "This speech was because of how angry he was at me for refusing to destroy it. He was building up to scold me for it. This was right after we fought about it, he was bringing it to them to block me." So honestly, the speech was a personal attack in a lot of ways. Designed to humble him, as if he didn't have their city's best interests at heart.

"I knew after he swore to destroy it no matter what I said, this was my only option. I had to protect Viktor. No one else looked out for him, no one else cared. Because he's from the lower class, they all dismiss him, no matter how much work he does, or how they've benefited from his brilliance." Jayce has done everything he could to try and combat that. He gives Viktor credit for everything, in any conversation he's in about Hextech, he mentions him, but it never worked.

Jayce knows that he's probably said too much about Viktor. His face softens and he looks over at Kell, anxious all of a sudden. "If you meet Viktor here, please don't bring up too much of it, he's very sensitive to people knowing about his condition. We're hoping to cure him here, we didn't have healing magic there. I've been training." He doesn't think healing alone will be able to cure Viktor's condition, but it can pause it.

[blackeyedprince]

Kell's perpetual scowl is back as everything Jayce says confirms his own conclusion on this mess of a situation he's witnessing. Those people could really benefit from having a good king. His hunch tells him they almost got one in the person of the man his just talking to. As close, as they could get to having one at least. Maybe he's too fast to judge people, but it's obvious that Jayce cares deeply for his city. All parts of it. And he's charismatic enough to pull his coup off.

"Not to question the brilliance of you two, but did he really think that such a thing would end with you? That no one else would try? If he's really that old and wise, he should have known better."

In the end, that's irrelevant. Even the wisest people can be pretty blind at times. There were plenty of things he did not notice before it was too late, and he's not stupid.

There's one detail that Jayce mentions that makes Kell think, makes him realize their cities might not be that different after all. It's just an issue of scale. In Red London you were in deep trouble if you didn't have talent for magic. Most of people had at least some. You had to be born into royalty, or at least aristocracy, for it to matter less.

"I won't, I promise. I hope you will be able to cure him. I ... " Kell pauses. He's not usually so fast to making offers, but... "There was healing magic back home. Plenty of it, actually. I'm not a healer, but I know something." Blood magic. It's blood magic. The only one he feels confident enough here to offer. "Not sure how effective it would be here."

Or rather how effective it would be after his collar incident. He's been reticent to try anything bigger since he was Summoned. First week, it plainly did not work. Later ... he knew it came back, but what if it's not how it was? What if it never will be?

I'm back!

[hextechhead]

Jayce would never feel comfortable with a title like that, but in essence it was where he was climbing toward in Piltover's version of it. He was famous and immensely popular with the people, the council were bending toward his ideas, he spent most of his time trying to make decisions for the better of the city without their input. He investigated crimes on his own, trying to get answers about Silco's operations which eventually led to Marcus being outed as a spy. Jayce is a doer, he can't sit back quietly while events were happening. But he feels he went too far. Whether he had a right to be a leader after his impulsive violent actions is a question for his future in Piltover. Not for now.

"He claimed that it happened before, or something like it, and it was destructive and evil. It's why he was so insistent. But it didn't feel justified, to assume the worst. Destroying something instead of understanding it is a short-sighted response in my opinion." And frankly not really the way he thinks education and progress should be. Jayce already proved in his trial that he was frustrated by backward thinking within the greatest academy in the world. He only wanted to go forward.

"He used to tell me I always reminded him of himself. I thought that was the greatest compliment ever given to me." That is how close they were, how much he admired his mentor's opinion and craved his respect and support. "But he would tell me about his former mentees who he trained and watched through their lives before they died. Maybe immortals or long-lived will never be good leaders of people with average life spans. They'll never understand." It's a kinder read than just Heimerdinger was cruel and ignorant. He was flawed. He wasn't a good leader of Piltover, what happened under his watch was proof. But his apathy came from hundreds of years watching everyone die around him. Jayce can sympathize but not really forgive.

His eyes brighten. "You know magic? Trust me, I'm willing to try anything at this point. Even knowledge about other kinds could be helpful." Jayce doesn't know if he would use everything he learned to help Viktor, but he is never one to shut doors on knowledge. It hits him then, how focused on his own stuff he's been, slapping his forehead and looking sheepish.

"I've been so absorbed in my own drama, I'm sorry, I didn't even properly introduce myself or ask about you. I'm Jayce Talis and ... usually better about this." He's good at schmoozing, but he's best at warmly getting to know people. Jayce loves people! He loves getting to know them.

Yeaaah! Welcome back!

[blackeyedprince]

"Then he should have known better. That it won't just go away, if he closes his eyes and sings loud enough."

Kell knows on some deeper level that he's being cruelly unfair to Jayce's former mentor. If the magic of their world is anything like the magic of his, it is immense power. But he will never agree it must be evil. Magic, uncontrolled magic, can be a fire that burns the whole world down. Isn't it what the history of Black London was all about?
But to outright ban it instead of trying to understand it? Instead, of trying to harness its power safely? That's just as stupid and as short-sighted as giving it a free rein over yourself.

"I do," Kell is quick to admit, but there's a caveat. "But it's not something I can teach. My magic comes from my blood. It is powerful ... " he pauses, hesitating. Is it? "or rather, it was. Back home. I... haven't tried to really use it here just yet."

Kell smiles, an awkward, embarrassed half-smile. He never smiles... and yet here, it's almost easy. He should have introduced himself. Why didn't he think about it earlier?

"I'm Kell..." There's a fleeting, almost imperceptible urge to leave his surname out, but it passes. It's not only the royal surname, it's probably the last thing that connects him to his brother here. "Kell Maresh. And I am absolutely awful at this." Now he just blunders out, his usual scowl returning in full force. "Or so my brother says."

He's the exact opposite. Cranky loner that has to be dragged to social events by force of his unrelenting brother. Who has resigned himself to brooding in the corner even if he gets dragged to said events. But he's also used to people being mortally scared of him. So maybe it's not such a surprise that he's not exactly a people's person.

[hextechhead]

"I agree, any form that technology is in, once it is made, it will eventually be used by someone. That's why being able to contain and nurture it is the best move." Jayce feels this way about every project he makes. Most of the time it is in the vein of trying to do good, but it can always be used poorly too. Like when he gave Vi his gauntlets; not the best move, probably, but once it existed, sooner or later someone was going to put them on and use it for more than fissure work.

Jayce worked so hard to make Hextech safe, to prove to Heimerdinger it was better than he thought it was, and it was never enough. "I wish we didn't end on such bad terms, but I know if he was still in charge, things would be even worse than they were when I was taken here." And that's saying a lot as it was a terrible situation in Piltover. But Heimerdinger wouldn't have been willing to do the broad and controversial strokes of peace that Jayce was, after his own fall from grace. Nothing bold would ever happen with that group. Jayce still doesn't know if the council will appreciate his meeting with Silco, but he thinks they will.

Jayce raises an eyebrow at him and then furrows both of his thick eyebrows. "Why haven't you used it here?" Blood magic as far as he knows isn't a taboo. All magic is a taboo in Piltover, outside of Hextech. He doesn't really see any magic as inherently bad, it's all beautiful to him.

"Can you explain to me how you harness it? How it feels? Or show me sometime?" Jayce is still flying blind, going by feelings, so experts showing him how they use theirs genuinely has helped! He's still so new to it. "Healing is all I'm doing for now, but I'm hoping some day to have access to a lot of other spells." If it was up to Jayce, he'd be an expert in everything one day.

"Does he? You seem pretty good at it to me." They did just literally start up a conversation within Jayce's memories and maybe it's because they have some good topics in common that it came easily. But they've been talking for a few minutes smooth as can be, so it seems like Kell is good at this, actually.

"I'd rather have talks like this any day than going to parties or making speeches." There's a wistful edge to that, a weariness. He's good at schmoozing and he's good at inspiring speeches, and he likes the attention and prestige that comes with it, but it doesn't mean he prefers it to intimate, thoughtful conversations.

[blackeyedprince]

Exactly? Why didn't he try using his blood magic even after the initial week has passed? That's a pretty loaded question, and Kell hesitates if he really wants to give an answer to that. But they are doing well... and he feels that would cut the conversation short.

"I got myself into a trap set by an old enemy and --" How do you even describe it. The horror, the fear, all the hopelessness of this situation. "and I almost lost it. To be honest, I thought I really did."

Having his magic ripped out of him was the most painful experience of his life. Second only to feeling Rhy's heart slowing down with every second passing because of it. Knowing what this means.

"The first week when I couldn't use it, I almost thought I've lost it completely. So I think I'm just more cautious now."

When it comes to magic, Kell can be called an expert without exaggeration. He didn't learn how to harness the power of his talent only because he had to. He truly, genuinely liked it.

"There are special words, commands, in the Antari language that work to direct magic to certain results. Though, I don't really like the word commands for them. I've never thought about them as orders. For me, it's more like a conversation with magic yielding to me not because I made it obey by force, but because of who I am and that I ask politely."

That's where Holland's words hit him the hardest. How he never needed to be strong, never needed to truly fight for what he wanted. Half-truths, but no less painful for that.

It seems there are topics where he can be pretty eloquent. Small talk, pleasantries, politics don't cut it, but magic? He can talk about magic.

"Fortunately, no one was insane enough to ask me to give a speech."

[hextechhead]

Jayce listens to his explanation without pushing, he has a tendency to overshare (obviously) so he tends to ask a lot of questions of people, too curious by half. He is pretty good at backing off when he needs to, it's just not his automatic response to things. "That's terrible, I'm sorry. I can't imagine what losing something so precious would be like." Well, he does in terms of people, but not in terms of skills. It would be like losing his mind, for him, and that would be very alarming. He knows that for some people magic is a part of them that closely.

"Well, that sounds like a better way of approaching magic than people who want to bend it aggressively to their will, you know? More respectful." Jayce doesn't know how a relationship with magic could be that type of give and take, but it sounds nice. He also is a very polite person so he gets it.

He laughs quietly. "They're both exhilarating and exhausting, in my experience." Hearing people cheer? Amazing. Feeling all eyes on him? Incredible. Once it's all over? Exhausting. "Hold on let me ... make this more comfortable." Jayce realizes that it's not only his memories they're in, but it's also his domain they're in, Kell must have been wandering. It could go either way around here. He focuses and suddenly they're at the bottom of a tower with what looks like fake blimps in the air.

Jayce gestures for him to follow and he and Viktor's space is tall rather than wide, a lift bringing them up. "Viktor and I share our Horizon, we've always shared a lab so it made sense." He gets them off on the second floor and into the lab in question. It's a wide space with two very clear workspaces, Jayce's desk covered with tools, gears, and sketches, and Viktor's more orderly and clear when he's not in there. He's more private at times, Jayce just leaves everything out, he's a little on the messy side. There is a chalkboard with a lot of writing and numbers on it.

Jayce focuses and on his desk appears the polished arcane crystals that he perfected back home. They're beautiful, blue, smooth, and even here there is a pull of power to them, an energy humming. "This is the only access to magic I have back home, these are the arcane crystals I used to create Hextech with."

[blackeyedprince]

He did wander. Something he does out of habit, not event thinking about it. Whenever he got send over with a message, it was rare for him to just go and deliver it. He always wandered around, always curious of other places. The one that Jayce shows him, Kell instantly likes. It's a kind of surroundings that he feels most comfortable in. Simple, messy, work has been done there. It was arranged to be practical for it, and not flashy to impress others.

"You can share a Horizon with someone?"

Kell turns to look at Jayce, away from his desk, but then is immediately drawn back to it, disregarding his question, the moment the crystals appear. He can feel the thrum of magic from the inside, a steady pulse of magic that makes the air around them light up with their inner glow radiating outward. But there's one more thing he can feel. Power, or a promise of power. The force inside the crystal flows and weaves in intricate patterns. Sleeping, waiting to be released. It is such a different type of force from what he knows from back home.

"They're beautiful."

[hextechhead]

The lab is in no way impressive, something that's been remarked on before by Mel and Heimerdinger before, but it is what suited him and Viktor best so they wouldn't really compromise on it. They only showed off their inventions to them here, and if it had to be shown off, it would then be moved to a bigger hall. This lab feels very lived in and comfortable and meant for them.

"Yeah, I guess so. Basically, I just created spaces branched off from what Viktor already made." And the two of them can go anywhere within the space so it's shared. Jayce and Viktor didn't pause to think about it, this naturally happened the first time he went into the Horizon with his memory intact. "We would've just ended up in each other's spaces more than our own anyway if we didn't." Most likely Jayce would go to Viktor's so he wouldn't have to travel anywhere. This was easier.

Jayce looks at the crystals with actual love in his eyes but he has good reason to, they are his life's work. "Yes they are. It took years for us to be able to stabilize them like this." He reverently brushes his fingers along them and then picks one up, offering it to Kell. If they were back home, he would not be so free with them, but they are in the Horizon.

"One of these could probably power an entire building alone, really it is an endless well of energy." Even people who don't know what it is would probably be able to tell this simple orb is special. In Kell's hand it will vibe, glow beautifully. "Magic in the only form I could touch, before here."

[blackeyedprince]

"Oh, I bet you would have," Kell replies with a nod, that's part understanding, part envy. "Especially, if you're used to working together."

He never had anyone to work with. Even when he was still in training. Even if his mentor went to extreme lengths to ensure he's not being treated differently from other students. He was always different. So he's used to doing things completely on his own. But it stings a little seeing others get a chance he didn't.

Good then Kell's attention is so easily redirected to the crystal. The offer genuinely surprises him. It feels overly generous. This is years worth of work. But it's also Horizon ... so probably it's alright? He can't really break anything here? Kell is still struggling to figure out the rules of this place. Still, his hesitation lasts mere seconds. He had one, extremely unpleasant encounter with solidified magic before.
This? This is completely different. It's not crystallized, it's ... contained.
The orb looks like a jewel in his hand, soft glow spilling outwards between his fingers. It's so ostentatiously magical, but in an eerily unthreatening way. It is power. He can feel it. But no ill intent. No hunger lingering on the edges. Just stored potential.

"Endless?" That sounds dangerous. "How were you able to contain it then?"

[hextechhead]

"We've never really been apart for the seven years we've known each other, it's a little co-dependent, although more so on my side than his." Jayce shrugs with a faint smile because he is pretty aware of the unique nature of their close friendship. Viktor managed to stay here for two months without him and seemed to do just fine, whereas Jayce was flipping out at the barracks for about two days. Different personalities. Viktor was used to being solitary before Jayce.

No one is supposed to get their hands on these in his world outside of a select group, but they aren't there. Jayce is in complete control of his Horizon, almost too much so since he forces the place to be hot when he's in the forge even though it doesn't have to be. He's not worried about Kell doing anything with them. He trusts very fast.

"Maybe not endless, but definitely long-lasting. We created giant magical teleportation devices that can fit entire blimps through using them. They can teleport across the world." So they have extraordinary power all things considered, that is a huge piece of technology the crystals power permanently. It took years to complete, but the Hexgates are immaculate now. And those were with the unstable crystals.

"A lot of practice. And a lot of blowing things up." Jayce shrugs. "In their unstable form, they can blow up half a city block easily if handled poorly. It took awhile to create the right type of containment. It is not glass, the orb, it is a highly refined type of metal that took a lot of chemical work to get right." It looks simple, what the magic is within, but it's not in the least. "You can hit this as hard as you can, and it won't break." He is proud of that as well as everything else. None of this was easy.

"But we had to go through a lot of breakable tries first. Honestly it's probably a miracle we didn't end up blowing ourselves up."

[blackeyedprince]

Codependent? Kell has no idea what that word even means - and no way he's going to admit it - but if he did, he'd recognize the situation right away. At least, Jayce and Victor are like that by choice. Not a luxury he has been given. Not that he'd changed anything much in his relationship with Rhy - apart from the obvious of not having to save his life by illegal means - but the choice was never there.

He nods through the explanation. That's what you can do when you use magic correctly. It makes sense. The teleportation feat is impressive though. To achieve this using technology and not a conscious mind steering and controlling the process. It IS fascinating. The combination is fascination. His people do not bother with technology much beyond the basics.
When magic is so wide spread and accessible, there's little reason to put time and effort, all the trials and errors of the process, to come up with a piece of technology.
When magic is so revered, people with ambition flock there. They're not filling the ranks of inventors, but magicians. It makes him wonder what it would do for Arnes to have at least one inventor like Jayce.

"You don't learn magic without blowing a few things up, either. So I see the similarities in the process. If handled incorrectly or by the inexperienced, even our simplest elemental magic can do a lot of damage."

He knows. First hand experience.

"I am glad that you didn't blow yourself up then."

[hextechhead]

Teleportation was Jayce's first idea because it was precisely his first type of magic witnessed. He watched the only mage he ever saw teleport them across the world and it was extraordinary, so when faced with the only way to display magic, he had to do it with what he knew. He mimicked what he observed, and it worked. It took a long time for the Hexgates to be tested safely and approved of, even Heimerdinger did by the end, but Jayce is very proud of them and what they did for Piltover.

Jayce and Viktor are still the only two scientists who do this type of work, but Jayce does hope some day that it will be its own topic in the academy. He'd like to teach others how to use it, it's not supposed to die with them.

"Technology has always been that way too, dangerous unless you know what you're doing. Although it does take more know-how, it's not an in-born talent.

Jayce is great at it but it took years of study and work. Not like the magic he's already experienced here, that feels like it comes from inside himself. He's still kept to mostly only healing, but he wants to try a few other academic spells since he's memorized them. It's such an exciting idea.

"Wait, let me show you something fun." He grins, he's honestly so eager when it comes to making new friends and connecting with them. Like a puppy. Jayce pats Kell on the back in his friendly easy way and walks them back toward the lift. They go down only one floor and he opens what looks like a very ornate door into Heimerdinger's lab from that special night all those years ago.

The key part of why this room is interesting, outside of the fact it is bright blue and glowing beautifully inside, but it has absolutely no gravity inside of it. There are already objects, books and gears and things, floating in the air. This is something that Jayce made and kept, because he is deeply sentimental.

"There's no gravity, you can go swim in the air if you want. This is where we proved Hextech, this actually is Heimerdinger's old lab."