... throw yourself off the top floor of your building?
The weather here this past week has been mostly grey, overcast and rainy. My friend was complaining about the weather while she was driving, and I was nodding away semi-attentively. And then she said something that made me sit up. She said that the suicide rate in Seattle, WA is one of the highest in the US, and that the city also happens to have rainy weather for most of the year. Apparently, the weather was so depressing that people wanted to kill themselves!
I haven't checked the veracity of either statement about Seattle, nor have I tried to find out if there exists a correlation between weather and suicide statistics. But despite the morbidity of her statement, I found myself interested in and amused by it. I asked myself, how would I feel if I looked out the window and found it raining most of the time?
The first thing I thought was that we grad students are indoors, in our labs or apartments so much that it hardly matters how the weather is outside! Then I forced myself to treat the question more seriously, and the answer was surprising. I would love it if it rained everyday! I like the smell of rain, wet grass and damp earth. I like the pitter-patter of raindrops. Rain whets the creative part of my brain, makes want to write poems and listen to music. If I knew any musical instrument, I bet I would whip it out on a rainy day!
If you are reading this, I want you to drop a comment and say: how would you feel if you looked out the window and found it raining all or most of the time?
Cheers,
Prashanth.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Sunday, June 25, 2006
The week gone by...
Pay it forward
Channel surfing does pay off now and then: this movie starring Haley Joel Osment, Helen Hunt and Kevin Spacey is one of my all-time favourites and I was happy to watch it again after all these years. "Pay it Forward" is Haley's submission for his social studies homework: think of one thing you can do to make the world a better place. The idea is that each person does three "favours". Each favour has to be something huge, something extremely difficult, even painful for you to do; but it must go a long way in helping another person. In return, you ask that person to do three more such favours, to other people. If things go right, you ought to have a chain reaction of people helping people, and the world will be a much better place.
I'll not go into the details of the plot itself, but I highly recommend this movie to anyone who hasn't seen it yet. Haley's acting is brilliant, and I miss the kid's presence on the big screen.
Face your enemy
Aeons ago, my teachers called me a math prodigy. However, from high school onward, I slipped slowly to average and even lower than that. I know for a fact that I had poor math teachers, but I'm sure a good percentage of the blame lies with me. Over the years, I've come to think of mathematics as my enemy, and I've tended to perform poorly in courses that are heavy on math content. Anyway, the time for reparation has come. My research requires that I be a math genius all over again, and all my courses next semester are geared toward restoring my math skills. I haven't a prayer of keeping my 4 point GPA after this, but what needs to be done has to be done.
Playing in the big leagues
I've been assisting my advisor in writing a project proposal this week, and although I was given some rough instructions, guidance and feedback, I essentially had to do the research and write the proposal myself. I had been under the impression my advisor would draw upon his vast experience and rewrite the document, using my research for the "meat". Imagine my surprise when the final draft was 95% the same as what I'd written. My friends asked me why I was surprised, for grad students are the ones who are supposed to do the research and write such proposals, and often the final draft is 100% the same as the one submitted by the student. I shook my head and told them that I couldn't believe that the proposal for a several hundred thousand dollar grant for work in a cutting edge research area had been written by inexperienced li'l me. It's going to take some getting used to, playing in the big leagues with minimal supervision. In a few years' time, the work I do might be instrumental in saving lives around the world. How's that for work pressure?
Of good books and bad books
Being in the bad books (and I mean extremely bad) of important people in my life is no fun. Sometimes it is for standing up to what I believe is the right thing. Sometimes it is inexperience, lack of concentration, or plain human error. Either way, the seriousness of the repercussions, real and possible, staggers me numb. Adult life sucks. I wish the only books I'd have to worry about are the novels I borrow from the public library, but life has other ideas. I know, I'm twenty three and I have to face these things like a man. But why does it have to be so hard?
Cheers,
Prashanth.
Channel surfing does pay off now and then: this movie starring Haley Joel Osment, Helen Hunt and Kevin Spacey is one of my all-time favourites and I was happy to watch it again after all these years. "Pay it Forward" is Haley's submission for his social studies homework: think of one thing you can do to make the world a better place. The idea is that each person does three "favours". Each favour has to be something huge, something extremely difficult, even painful for you to do; but it must go a long way in helping another person. In return, you ask that person to do three more such favours, to other people. If things go right, you ought to have a chain reaction of people helping people, and the world will be a much better place.
I'll not go into the details of the plot itself, but I highly recommend this movie to anyone who hasn't seen it yet. Haley's acting is brilliant, and I miss the kid's presence on the big screen.
Face your enemy
Aeons ago, my teachers called me a math prodigy. However, from high school onward, I slipped slowly to average and even lower than that. I know for a fact that I had poor math teachers, but I'm sure a good percentage of the blame lies with me. Over the years, I've come to think of mathematics as my enemy, and I've tended to perform poorly in courses that are heavy on math content. Anyway, the time for reparation has come. My research requires that I be a math genius all over again, and all my courses next semester are geared toward restoring my math skills. I haven't a prayer of keeping my 4 point GPA after this, but what needs to be done has to be done.
Playing in the big leagues
I've been assisting my advisor in writing a project proposal this week, and although I was given some rough instructions, guidance and feedback, I essentially had to do the research and write the proposal myself. I had been under the impression my advisor would draw upon his vast experience and rewrite the document, using my research for the "meat". Imagine my surprise when the final draft was 95% the same as what I'd written. My friends asked me why I was surprised, for grad students are the ones who are supposed to do the research and write such proposals, and often the final draft is 100% the same as the one submitted by the student. I shook my head and told them that I couldn't believe that the proposal for a several hundred thousand dollar grant for work in a cutting edge research area had been written by inexperienced li'l me. It's going to take some getting used to, playing in the big leagues with minimal supervision. In a few years' time, the work I do might be instrumental in saving lives around the world. How's that for work pressure?
Of good books and bad books
Being in the bad books (and I mean extremely bad) of important people in my life is no fun. Sometimes it is for standing up to what I believe is the right thing. Sometimes it is inexperience, lack of concentration, or plain human error. Either way, the seriousness of the repercussions, real and possible, staggers me numb. Adult life sucks. I wish the only books I'd have to worry about are the novels I borrow from the public library, but life has other ideas. I know, I'm twenty three and I have to face these things like a man. But why does it have to be so hard?
Cheers,
Prashanth.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Soccer fever hits everyone but me...
No, I'm not exactly working hard either. I'm playing computer games but if someone asks me why he hasn't seen me lately, I blame it on soccer :P
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
The Elements of Style
Towards the end of my last semester, I had to write and submit several project reports in record time, thanks to my procrastination. Unintentionally, I'd slipped into the informal language that I would use, for example, in this blog, rather than the formal and correct usage that is expected in such reports. That earned me a mild rebuke from my advisor, who was subjected to two of those reports, and knew that he would have to read several more by the time I finished my Ph.D. So he asked me to read the book, The Elements of Style, by William Strunck Jr. and E.B. White.
It turned out to be a rather interesting guide to correct writing, albeit in an annoyingly didactic, almost supercilious tone. It is an old book, and any authors who are still alive must be squirming on seeing what the english language has degenerated to. Consider, for example:
... Omit needless words. "The fact that" is an especially debilitating expression. It should be revised out of every sentence it occurs.
... Do not attempt to emphasize simple statements by a mark of exclamation. The exclamation mark is reserved for true exclamations and commands, such as "What a wonderful show!" and "Halt!"
... "as to whether". "Whether" is sufficient.
... "regarded as being...". Not appropriate. Simply say, "regarded as.."
... "Certainly". Used indiscriminately by some speakers, much as others use very, in a attempt to intensify any and every statement. A mannerism of this kind, bad in speech, is worse in writing.
... "character". Often simply redundant, used from a mere habit of wordiness. "hostile act" is equivalent to "an act of hostile character"
and so on and so forth. The acerbic manner of meting out this wisdom nearly led to my abandoning the book half-way through, and I would have if not for two things: the advice was sensible, and it was punctuated by a dry wit that reminded me of a close IIT friend who is now in IIMA. For instance,
... The hyphen can play tricks on the unwary, as it did in Chattanooga when two newspapers merged - the News and the Free Press. Someone introduced a hyphen into the merger, and the paper became The Chattanooga News-Free Press.
... The word people is best not used with words of number, in place of persons. If of "six people" five went away, how many people would be left? One people?
So, after a day of getting discombobulated about the placement of commas and hyphens, the use of colons and semi-colons, the consistency of voice and tense, the identification of unnecessary and pretentious words and phrases, and a million other things, I'm living in fear of the acidic tongue - or pen - of William Strunck Jr. If it improves my writing skills, I guess it is a fair trade!
Cheers,
Prashanth.
It turned out to be a rather interesting guide to correct writing, albeit in an annoyingly didactic, almost supercilious tone. It is an old book, and any authors who are still alive must be squirming on seeing what the english language has degenerated to. Consider, for example:
... Omit needless words. "The fact that" is an especially debilitating expression. It should be revised out of every sentence it occurs.
... Do not attempt to emphasize simple statements by a mark of exclamation. The exclamation mark is reserved for true exclamations and commands, such as "What a wonderful show!" and "Halt!"
... "as to whether". "Whether" is sufficient.
... "regarded as being...". Not appropriate. Simply say, "regarded as.."
... "Certainly". Used indiscriminately by some speakers, much as others use very, in a attempt to intensify any and every statement. A mannerism of this kind, bad in speech, is worse in writing.
... "character". Often simply redundant, used from a mere habit of wordiness. "hostile act" is equivalent to "an act of hostile character"
and so on and so forth. The acerbic manner of meting out this wisdom nearly led to my abandoning the book half-way through, and I would have if not for two things: the advice was sensible, and it was punctuated by a dry wit that reminded me of a close IIT friend who is now in IIMA. For instance,
... The hyphen can play tricks on the unwary, as it did in Chattanooga when two newspapers merged - the News and the Free Press. Someone introduced a hyphen into the merger, and the paper became The Chattanooga News-Free Press.
... The word people is best not used with words of number, in place of persons. If of "six people" five went away, how many people would be left? One people?
So, after a day of getting discombobulated about the placement of commas and hyphens, the use of colons and semi-colons, the consistency of voice and tense, the identification of unnecessary and pretentious words and phrases, and a million other things, I'm living in fear of the acidic tongue - or pen - of William Strunck Jr. If it improves my writing skills, I guess it is a fair trade!
Cheers,
Prashanth.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Reductionist is passé
Caution: Mild geek content
A lazy weekend afternoon at home. I'm watching TV with a roommate and he makes a comment on seeing yet another ad for a low-calorie food product, "The American view on diet is so f***ed up, man."
I smile, and taking one feather from my own cap and one from my Mom's, I dive into an explanation of how the American ideas on diet are reductionist in nature as opposed to the traditional Indian view. We never said ghee is bad for health just because it has hydrogenated fat; we know that there is little harm in having some ghee with rice as long as vegetables and pulses form the greater proportion. I stopped myself in the middle of a sentence when I realized that I was lecturing - I seem to be doing a lot these days. Perhaps this PhD is turning me into a professor, whether I want to be one or not!
But the funny thing is that I'd never voiced that particular point of view before; so where did it come from? The answer: my research. I think I started seeing the distinction between Reductionist and Holistic more clearly after I read a book on Chaos theory.
Chaos theory attempts to explain things where conventional science fails. It says that there are some systems where the equations or rules simply cannot be solved because of the interdependencies; and they cannot be simulated beyond a point because they are extremely sensitive to the variables. There is a famous story in which Edward Lorenz was simulating a weather system, and noticed a re-run of the simulation diverging completely from the original run even though it was the same system with the same initial conditions. So, he re-checked the initial conditions and realized that he'd rounded the floating point decimals down to a precision of six (I think) digits. Essentially, a difference of 0.000001 had yielded a completely different result after just a few iterations!
Think about the fact that in real life, there could be a million different external or internal perturbations on a variable, not to mention the difficulty in measuring values accurately beyond a certain point. Chaos theory accepts the infeasibility of studying such systems in the reductionist manner, and instead tries to identify patterns. Today there is quite a bit of formal mathematics involved, but initially, chaos theorists were looked upon as quacks.
My next leap in understanding came when I studied complex networks. This is the science of naturally evolved, large scale networks in a plethora of fields, covering everything from Social Networks to The Internet to Cellular Biology. Why, if you consider co-stars in a movie as linked, then on considering all Hollywood movies ever made, you will come up with a huge actor collaboration network. The science of complex networks identifies amazing similarities in all these networks, and the fact that such a complicated interaction network can yield results that are extremely counter-intuitive. Again, you cannot simply break down the system to the individual parts and rules and expect to easily predict the behavior of the system. With a multi-layered, large-scale network, taking the reductionist approach is but the first step in understanding the system.
Systems Biology is the science of life studied in a holistic manner. As one scientist put it, we are trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. We have decoded the entire human genome; yet, we are far away from understanding how the same genes work together to create proteins, which work together to regulate individual biological processes, which work together to "run" a living organism. The same kind of problem is being faced in many, many other fields.
Chaos theory and non-linear dynamics, complex networks and systems engineering; these are are all interconnected fields that try to understand things - and perhaps build systems, with their inspiration - from a holistic viewpoint. These are the new challenges in Science; Reductionism is almost passé, and is increasingly being thought of as the first step in a long process. It is extremely humbling - and interesting - for a scientist to study and understand such complexity in nature. Our ancestors were nearly as good at it as we are now!
Watch your diet,
Cheers,
Prashanth.
Postscript: I made a start to the Science Blog that I was talking about, but decided that I would just include a few semi-scientific posts in this blog. This is one of them.
A lazy weekend afternoon at home. I'm watching TV with a roommate and he makes a comment on seeing yet another ad for a low-calorie food product, "The American view on diet is so f***ed up, man."
I smile, and taking one feather from my own cap and one from my Mom's, I dive into an explanation of how the American ideas on diet are reductionist in nature as opposed to the traditional Indian view. We never said ghee is bad for health just because it has hydrogenated fat; we know that there is little harm in having some ghee with rice as long as vegetables and pulses form the greater proportion. I stopped myself in the middle of a sentence when I realized that I was lecturing - I seem to be doing a lot these days. Perhaps this PhD is turning me into a professor, whether I want to be one or not!
But the funny thing is that I'd never voiced that particular point of view before; so where did it come from? The answer: my research. I think I started seeing the distinction between Reductionist and Holistic more clearly after I read a book on Chaos theory.
Chaos theory attempts to explain things where conventional science fails. It says that there are some systems where the equations or rules simply cannot be solved because of the interdependencies; and they cannot be simulated beyond a point because they are extremely sensitive to the variables. There is a famous story in which Edward Lorenz was simulating a weather system, and noticed a re-run of the simulation diverging completely from the original run even though it was the same system with the same initial conditions. So, he re-checked the initial conditions and realized that he'd rounded the floating point decimals down to a precision of six (I think) digits. Essentially, a difference of 0.000001 had yielded a completely different result after just a few iterations!
Think about the fact that in real life, there could be a million different external or internal perturbations on a variable, not to mention the difficulty in measuring values accurately beyond a certain point. Chaos theory accepts the infeasibility of studying such systems in the reductionist manner, and instead tries to identify patterns. Today there is quite a bit of formal mathematics involved, but initially, chaos theorists were looked upon as quacks.
My next leap in understanding came when I studied complex networks. This is the science of naturally evolved, large scale networks in a plethora of fields, covering everything from Social Networks to The Internet to Cellular Biology. Why, if you consider co-stars in a movie as linked, then on considering all Hollywood movies ever made, you will come up with a huge actor collaboration network. The science of complex networks identifies amazing similarities in all these networks, and the fact that such a complicated interaction network can yield results that are extremely counter-intuitive. Again, you cannot simply break down the system to the individual parts and rules and expect to easily predict the behavior of the system. With a multi-layered, large-scale network, taking the reductionist approach is but the first step in understanding the system.
Systems Biology is the science of life studied in a holistic manner. As one scientist put it, we are trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. We have decoded the entire human genome; yet, we are far away from understanding how the same genes work together to create proteins, which work together to regulate individual biological processes, which work together to "run" a living organism. The same kind of problem is being faced in many, many other fields.
Chaos theory and non-linear dynamics, complex networks and systems engineering; these are are all interconnected fields that try to understand things - and perhaps build systems, with their inspiration - from a holistic viewpoint. These are the new challenges in Science; Reductionism is almost passé, and is increasingly being thought of as the first step in a long process. It is extremely humbling - and interesting - for a scientist to study and understand such complexity in nature. Our ancestors were nearly as good at it as we are now!
Watch your diet,
Cheers,
Prashanth.
Postscript: I made a start to the Science Blog that I was talking about, but decided that I would just include a few semi-scientific posts in this blog. This is one of them.
Friday, June 02, 2006
Play to Win
Yet another evening at the Bridge Club. I take my seat at a table where a conversation is already in progress. One guy - who I think of as the comedian of our club - marks my entrance with one of his trademark, grand sweeping statements: "...but Prashanth, he plays to win!" Much amused, I comment, "Of course! Don't we all?" Judging by the expressions around the table, it was the wrong answer.
Now, there happen to be a lot of people at our club who have far more playing experience than me; and yet, they do not bother to learn or play complicated partnership conventions; they do not make or figure out deceptive plays; they do not read advanced playing tips from books. But for me, those things are like bread and butter, for without them, you will remain at best an average player even if your basic technique is sound. I do play to win. And not just in bridge. It's an in-built urge to be competitive and be a winner; be it academics or games.
But many people just play to have fun, and it doesn't matter whether they win or lose. I wish I could be that way; but I wince every time I make a mistake, and I feel a little unhappy if I lose badly. Yet, I still wear my smile, because I know I just learnt one more lesson! I adore my partners who explain my mistakes and teach me the way to avoid them; but they are not as well-liked by others, for I've heard statements like a rueful "He lectures!" or a semi-jesting "He's a meanie!"
The interesting trend I noticed here is that the younger (relatively speaking: people in their fifties come under this category in bridge!) people are more competitive than the older players. Perhaps this is a sign of things to come. Everybody wants to win these days. And yet, I do not see it as a bad thing. To not strive to do better is to be less than human, in my opinion.
I'm sure there is a line somewhere that separates the competitive from the over-competitive. But many people draw it at the wrong place. "Being competitive" is no excuse for a transgression of ethics; but "Being over-competitive" is no excuse for mediocrity.
Cheers,
Prashanth.
Now, there happen to be a lot of people at our club who have far more playing experience than me; and yet, they do not bother to learn or play complicated partnership conventions; they do not make or figure out deceptive plays; they do not read advanced playing tips from books. But for me, those things are like bread and butter, for without them, you will remain at best an average player even if your basic technique is sound. I do play to win. And not just in bridge. It's an in-built urge to be competitive and be a winner; be it academics or games.
But many people just play to have fun, and it doesn't matter whether they win or lose. I wish I could be that way; but I wince every time I make a mistake, and I feel a little unhappy if I lose badly. Yet, I still wear my smile, because I know I just learnt one more lesson! I adore my partners who explain my mistakes and teach me the way to avoid them; but they are not as well-liked by others, for I've heard statements like a rueful "He lectures!" or a semi-jesting "He's a meanie!"
The interesting trend I noticed here is that the younger (relatively speaking: people in their fifties come under this category in bridge!) people are more competitive than the older players. Perhaps this is a sign of things to come. Everybody wants to win these days. And yet, I do not see it as a bad thing. To not strive to do better is to be less than human, in my opinion.
I'm sure there is a line somewhere that separates the competitive from the over-competitive. But many people draw it at the wrong place. "Being competitive" is no excuse for a transgression of ethics; but "Being over-competitive" is no excuse for mediocrity.
Cheers,
Prashanth.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
A Short Story
The Wizard Tower trains gifted youth to cast magic. After a long period of Apprenticeship, they take a battery of tests to graduate into full Magehood.
The Temples to the Gods of Light, Darkness, Fire, Water, Air and Earth train youth touched with the Divine Gift of that sphere to act as Clerics on the field, or Priests in the temple. Paladins are ungifted but dedicated fighters serving the temples.
Kael spurred his horse to keep up with Jared. However, his mind was still hovering over the events of yesterday and he couldn't help but smile.
"So who's the girl?" asked Jared, with a twinkle in his eyes. He slowed down to make conversation easier. Kael looked confused for a second, then grinned. "There's no girl. Just that I overheard my teachers praising me behind my back."
"And one of them is the guy who teaches that Heck class?"
"FEC, not Heck, you idiot," said Kael, leaning out of the saddle to land a punch on Jared's shoulder, "Fire Elemental Control." He was amused that Jared had remember that much from his incoherent tirade last week.
"Whatever you say, oh mighty Apprentice. I'm sure the Arch Mage himself is jealous of your power!"
This provoked another punch that Jared neatly evaded by swerving away and pressing his horse to a gallop. Kael gave chase but couldn't catch up until Jared pulled up on reaching a spot close to a stream he knew. The conversation resumed as though there had never been a break.
"So, they were giving you a hard time not because you were bad but because you were good huh?" pondered Jared as he teethered his horse to a tree, "Well, fortunately, we know you're bad at this, so you know exactly why I'll be giving you a hard time!"
Kael groaned. He hated these hunting lessons, but Jared seemed to think that it was critical that he know how to survive in the wild. Fortunately, the Gods seemed to have heard his silent prayer and it began to rain. He looked up and was rewarded with a lightning flash, boding a good long storm ahead.
Jared swore. "I remember seeing a cave near here. We can take shelter until the storm blows over," he said, and got back on his horse. Ten minutes later, soaked to the bone, they arrived at their destination.
Jared immediately set himself to the task of starting a fire, but the driest brush he found was still too wet to catch fire, even when doused in oil. He sighed and sat down, resigned to a cold evening until the brush dried out. Kael snorted and waved his hands theatrically, and the brush started crackling with fire. He held it until he was sure it would continue to burn, the sat down near the fire.
"Show-off!" grumbled Jared, but he couldn't hide the admiration in his face. Then, he frowned and stood up abruptly. "Did you hear that?" he said.
"Hear what?" asked Kael, as Jared prepared a make-shift torch and started walking further inside the cave. Kael sighed and followed him, and then heard it himself - a muffled call for help - and suddenly, they were both running, and came to a barred steel door.
The call was coming from behind the door, and they could make it out more clearly now: it was a female voice, frantic and pleading. "I don't understand it," said Jared, examining the floor, "Nobody's been this way for years. Maybe whoever is inside came in another way."
Kael's mage sense told him a different story. There were residues of conflicting magics on the walls and on the door, but he didn't have sufficient training to make sense of it. He shared his fears with Jared, but that merely made up his mind to go through the door. "If magic is involved, someone must be in deep trouble." He examined the lock. "I can't pick this lock. Can you unlock it with your magic?"
"I can try," said Kael doubtfully, and took a deep breath as he let his mind quest into the workings of the lock. He patiently worked one tumbler after another as Jared paced the floor. Five minutes later, he announced, "Done."
They lifted the bar and pushed open the door. As they walked through, Kael sensed that they'd triggered a weak ward spell of some sort, but he was distracted by the sight in front of him.
Miles away, Cleric Penedra stiffened as the breaching of a secure location sent warning bells ringing madly inside her head. She was already in full armour; her job demanded that she be ready to head into a fight at a moment's notice. She grabbed her mace and set off at full gallop in the stinging rain, the distance and direction of her target spell-burned into her mind.
Even further away, Paladin Ferarthor was in prayer at the Temple of Elnys, when the spectacle of several senior priests jumping to their feet simultaneously drew him out of his meditation. "To the High Priest's Chambers!" one of them barked, but Ferarthor was already running. A handful of Clerics and Priests, including a visiting Priest of Pyr, were gathered. The High Priest looked grim. "Where?" asked Ferarthor. "About 20 miles south-south west. An old one, we didn't even know it was there until the wards were breached just now. Penedra should be there before us. Hurry!" said the High Priest. Ferarthor's heart sank. Penny. Elnys protect her! He ran to the stables, the rest of the team a step behind him.
Jared and Kael stood transfixed by the sight of a cylinderical, magical cage of crackling scarlet energy, holding a solitary prisoner. She looked up as they entered. She was a young woman, with delicate features and rich clothes suggesting noble birth. On seeing them, she burst into tears, "Oh! Help me! Help me please! They killed my father and imprisoned me here! I don't know how long I've been here, it must be years!"
Jared moved to console her, taking care not to touch the wall of the cage as he cajoled the full story out of her. She spoke between sobs, and he gathered that her father had been a nobleman, and a magician to boot, but had many enemies. They'd kidnapped her and lured her father to this cave, where they killed him. For some unknown reason, they spared her life but put her in a magical cage where she never felt hungry or thirsty, and had no sense of time passing.
Jared's face was a mask of rage as he turned to face Kael. "Can you break that spell?"
Kael shook his head. "It's too powerful. I doubt if the Arch Mage himself could break that one."
The young woman spoke, "My family ring had a powerful protective spell on it. Maybe if I put it on, I could walk through these bars unharmed."
"And where is this ring now?" asked Jared.
"It might still be on... on my... father's body," she shuddered, and pointed towards the far corner of the cavern.
Jared wasted no time in rushing to that corner, and found the body exactly where she'd pointed. It had been picked clean to the bone, and only the skeleton remained. Nevertheless, it had a ring on one of the fingers, and Jared prised it off. "Ugly one," he commented, and started walking back to the cage. Kael stopped him. "Look there!"
Jared looked and took in his breath in a sharp hiss, as several dead bodies lay strewn around the area where Kael pointed. He called out to the girl, "Was there a battle here?"
"Not a battle," she replied gravely, "Treachery. They fought amongst themselves."
"That explains it," he muttered, and continued walking.
"Jared, wait!" hissed Kael, "This doesn't make sense. Why would they spare her, and then go to all the trouble of fashioning that cage? And a spell to keep her from feeling hunger or thirst? I've never even heard of such a spell, leave alone think of a way of creating one! And I found traces of magic on the walls of the cavern we came from, can you explain that? Jared! Are you listening?"
Too late, he noticed the vacant expression on his eyes, and the insidious signature of a charm spell on Jared's mind. "No!" he screamed and tried to pull Jared back from the cage but being the stronger man, he just shook him off and proceeded to hand the ring to the woman. His fingers could not go through the magical barrier, but the ring did, and the woman snatched it out of his hands as soon as she could.
Inhuman laughter reverberated around the cavern as she put on the ring. Jared had snapped out of the spell, and was looking a little dazed. "You witch! Who are you?" asked Kael. The woman looked amused. Her voice changed to the deep one of a middle-aged man, and her appearance changed to that of a cadaver. "Not a witch. A Lich. A hundred years have I languished in this prison, the key to my freedom lying but a few feet from my grasp! A hundred years did it take to weaken the wards and erase the warnings! At last, you blundering fools walked in!" She - or he - or it, broke into another paroxysm of laughter and then started chanting a spell, and the magical barrier visibly thinned to a light pink in a matter of seconds. Then, realizing that they were still there, the Lich said, "Oh! I don't need you anymore," and waved its hand. A dozen of the dead bodies in the corner stood up and walked slowly towards them.
Jared was still dazed from the spell and caught a swipe from the lead zombie full on his leather armour, and went sprawling. Kael snapped out of his shock just in time to fashion a shield of air to stop the first blow. "Elnys!" came a roar as a cleric came charging in through the door, in full battle armour and wielding a mace that looked too heavy for the young woman to swing. She bashed the skull of the zombie that had struck Jared and it crumpled to the floor. Meanwhile, Jared had come to his senses and was chopping away with his sword. A zombie lost both its arms but persisted in its attack. "The head!" shouted the cleric, "Chop off the head!" Jared complied and was rewarded with the headless body crashing lifeless to the floor.
Kael blew two zombies into the far wall with a powerful blast of air that should have knocked any human dead. But the zombies merely stood up and began their ponderous walk back to their target. He shook his head and cast a ball of fire into the midst of a closer pack. This brought a more satisfying response as they screamed as they burned. Then they fell, and didn't get up.
The Lich stopped his casting to wave at the burnt bodies, and they rose again - this time, only their skeletons were left, their rotting flesh having burned away completely. "Delay them!" barked the cleric, and started casting a spell of her own. Jared kept the undead creatures at bay with broad swings of his sword. Kael just stood there, all blows bouncing off an armour of air he'd cast around himself. It took a whole minute for the cleric to finish casting her spell, and then the cavern was filled with a searing bright light that caused Kael and Jared to cover their eyes, even though they had their backs to the cleric. When they opened them again, not one of the creatures still twitched.
She turned to the Lich behind the barrier - now down to a faint translucent sheet. As they watched, the barrier winked out completely and the Lich bent its neck as though amused and said, "Now you die!" The cleric dropped her mace with a clang and sunk to the floor, gasping for breath. Jared lunged with his sword but the Lich batted him away like a bug, and he went flying across the cavern.
"No!" screamed Kael, and flung a magical bolt of energy at the creature. It hit an invisible shield inches from its body and disappeared, but it drew its attention and it released the cleric, who lay unconscious on the floor, but breathing. Kael tried a different tact and started a fire right on the Lich's body. The creature laughed its inhuman laughter again. "Boy!" it said, "You cannot destroy me that easily!"
But Kael's eyes blazed with fury as he thundered, "You will not harm me, nor my friends, nor any mortal soul upon this Earth. Foul creature! You will not leave this cavern alive!" The fire increased in intensity, and crackled nearly as loudly as the creature's laughter.
At that instant, the contingent from the temple piled in through the door, but they could do no more than gawk at the spectacle in front of their eyes. The Lich threw a bolt of energy that was absorbed by a shield Kael had magically erected around himself. "Go back to the world of death, whence you came to our blessed land. This cleansing fire shall rid the world of your evil presence!" The fire now turned white hot, and the creature screamed in pain. It started throwing one spell after another at Kael. His shield weakened and gave out, but it was too late for the Lich. The fire waxed in a final flare, and all that was left was ash. Kael stumbled, dizzy from his expenditure of energy, and collapsed unconscious to the floor.
Ferarthor rushed forward first. "Penny!" he cried, on seeing her body. "She's alive!" he cried, with relief. "There's another boy here. He's unconscious as well, and might have a broken rib." came the shaking voice of one of the clerics. The Priest of Pyr was bent over Kael.
"It is fortunate that one of your Order was here," observed Ferarthor. The man shook his head. "He is not of Pyr. Look," he said, and pointed to the crest of the Wizard Tower on Kael's robe. "A Mage. That explains it." replied Ferarthor. The Priest shook his head again. "Look closer. He is an Apprentice."
"Impossible," scoffed Ferarthor, "Only a powerful mage or one touched by Pyr can command fire the way he did."
"You are right," replied the Priest under his breath, but Ferarthor was already busy supervising the healing and transfer of the three unconscious bodies to the temple.
(Ah well, that didn't quite come out as gripping or adventurous as it was supposed to. Looks like I have a long way to go before I can call myself a writer of any talent - or even just a writer! *sigh* )
The Temples to the Gods of Light, Darkness, Fire, Water, Air and Earth train youth touched with the Divine Gift of that sphere to act as Clerics on the field, or Priests in the temple. Paladins are ungifted but dedicated fighters serving the temples.
Kael spurred his horse to keep up with Jared. However, his mind was still hovering over the events of yesterday and he couldn't help but smile.
"So who's the girl?" asked Jared, with a twinkle in his eyes. He slowed down to make conversation easier. Kael looked confused for a second, then grinned. "There's no girl. Just that I overheard my teachers praising me behind my back."
"And one of them is the guy who teaches that Heck class?"
"FEC, not Heck, you idiot," said Kael, leaning out of the saddle to land a punch on Jared's shoulder, "Fire Elemental Control." He was amused that Jared had remember that much from his incoherent tirade last week.
"Whatever you say, oh mighty Apprentice. I'm sure the Arch Mage himself is jealous of your power!"
This provoked another punch that Jared neatly evaded by swerving away and pressing his horse to a gallop. Kael gave chase but couldn't catch up until Jared pulled up on reaching a spot close to a stream he knew. The conversation resumed as though there had never been a break.
"So, they were giving you a hard time not because you were bad but because you were good huh?" pondered Jared as he teethered his horse to a tree, "Well, fortunately, we know you're bad at this, so you know exactly why I'll be giving you a hard time!"
Kael groaned. He hated these hunting lessons, but Jared seemed to think that it was critical that he know how to survive in the wild. Fortunately, the Gods seemed to have heard his silent prayer and it began to rain. He looked up and was rewarded with a lightning flash, boding a good long storm ahead.
Jared swore. "I remember seeing a cave near here. We can take shelter until the storm blows over," he said, and got back on his horse. Ten minutes later, soaked to the bone, they arrived at their destination.
Jared immediately set himself to the task of starting a fire, but the driest brush he found was still too wet to catch fire, even when doused in oil. He sighed and sat down, resigned to a cold evening until the brush dried out. Kael snorted and waved his hands theatrically, and the brush started crackling with fire. He held it until he was sure it would continue to burn, the sat down near the fire.
"Show-off!" grumbled Jared, but he couldn't hide the admiration in his face. Then, he frowned and stood up abruptly. "Did you hear that?" he said.
"Hear what?" asked Kael, as Jared prepared a make-shift torch and started walking further inside the cave. Kael sighed and followed him, and then heard it himself - a muffled call for help - and suddenly, they were both running, and came to a barred steel door.
The call was coming from behind the door, and they could make it out more clearly now: it was a female voice, frantic and pleading. "I don't understand it," said Jared, examining the floor, "Nobody's been this way for years. Maybe whoever is inside came in another way."
Kael's mage sense told him a different story. There were residues of conflicting magics on the walls and on the door, but he didn't have sufficient training to make sense of it. He shared his fears with Jared, but that merely made up his mind to go through the door. "If magic is involved, someone must be in deep trouble." He examined the lock. "I can't pick this lock. Can you unlock it with your magic?"
"I can try," said Kael doubtfully, and took a deep breath as he let his mind quest into the workings of the lock. He patiently worked one tumbler after another as Jared paced the floor. Five minutes later, he announced, "Done."
They lifted the bar and pushed open the door. As they walked through, Kael sensed that they'd triggered a weak ward spell of some sort, but he was distracted by the sight in front of him.
Miles away, Cleric Penedra stiffened as the breaching of a secure location sent warning bells ringing madly inside her head. She was already in full armour; her job demanded that she be ready to head into a fight at a moment's notice. She grabbed her mace and set off at full gallop in the stinging rain, the distance and direction of her target spell-burned into her mind.
Even further away, Paladin Ferarthor was in prayer at the Temple of Elnys, when the spectacle of several senior priests jumping to their feet simultaneously drew him out of his meditation. "To the High Priest's Chambers!" one of them barked, but Ferarthor was already running. A handful of Clerics and Priests, including a visiting Priest of Pyr, were gathered. The High Priest looked grim. "Where?" asked Ferarthor. "About 20 miles south-south west. An old one, we didn't even know it was there until the wards were breached just now. Penedra should be there before us. Hurry!" said the High Priest. Ferarthor's heart sank. Penny. Elnys protect her! He ran to the stables, the rest of the team a step behind him.
Jared and Kael stood transfixed by the sight of a cylinderical, magical cage of crackling scarlet energy, holding a solitary prisoner. She looked up as they entered. She was a young woman, with delicate features and rich clothes suggesting noble birth. On seeing them, she burst into tears, "Oh! Help me! Help me please! They killed my father and imprisoned me here! I don't know how long I've been here, it must be years!"
Jared moved to console her, taking care not to touch the wall of the cage as he cajoled the full story out of her. She spoke between sobs, and he gathered that her father had been a nobleman, and a magician to boot, but had many enemies. They'd kidnapped her and lured her father to this cave, where they killed him. For some unknown reason, they spared her life but put her in a magical cage where she never felt hungry or thirsty, and had no sense of time passing.
Jared's face was a mask of rage as he turned to face Kael. "Can you break that spell?"
Kael shook his head. "It's too powerful. I doubt if the Arch Mage himself could break that one."
The young woman spoke, "My family ring had a powerful protective spell on it. Maybe if I put it on, I could walk through these bars unharmed."
"And where is this ring now?" asked Jared.
"It might still be on... on my... father's body," she shuddered, and pointed towards the far corner of the cavern.
Jared wasted no time in rushing to that corner, and found the body exactly where she'd pointed. It had been picked clean to the bone, and only the skeleton remained. Nevertheless, it had a ring on one of the fingers, and Jared prised it off. "Ugly one," he commented, and started walking back to the cage. Kael stopped him. "Look there!"
Jared looked and took in his breath in a sharp hiss, as several dead bodies lay strewn around the area where Kael pointed. He called out to the girl, "Was there a battle here?"
"Not a battle," she replied gravely, "Treachery. They fought amongst themselves."
"That explains it," he muttered, and continued walking.
"Jared, wait!" hissed Kael, "This doesn't make sense. Why would they spare her, and then go to all the trouble of fashioning that cage? And a spell to keep her from feeling hunger or thirst? I've never even heard of such a spell, leave alone think of a way of creating one! And I found traces of magic on the walls of the cavern we came from, can you explain that? Jared! Are you listening?"
Too late, he noticed the vacant expression on his eyes, and the insidious signature of a charm spell on Jared's mind. "No!" he screamed and tried to pull Jared back from the cage but being the stronger man, he just shook him off and proceeded to hand the ring to the woman. His fingers could not go through the magical barrier, but the ring did, and the woman snatched it out of his hands as soon as she could.
Inhuman laughter reverberated around the cavern as she put on the ring. Jared had snapped out of the spell, and was looking a little dazed. "You witch! Who are you?" asked Kael. The woman looked amused. Her voice changed to the deep one of a middle-aged man, and her appearance changed to that of a cadaver. "Not a witch. A Lich. A hundred years have I languished in this prison, the key to my freedom lying but a few feet from my grasp! A hundred years did it take to weaken the wards and erase the warnings! At last, you blundering fools walked in!" She - or he - or it, broke into another paroxysm of laughter and then started chanting a spell, and the magical barrier visibly thinned to a light pink in a matter of seconds. Then, realizing that they were still there, the Lich said, "Oh! I don't need you anymore," and waved its hand. A dozen of the dead bodies in the corner stood up and walked slowly towards them.
Jared was still dazed from the spell and caught a swipe from the lead zombie full on his leather armour, and went sprawling. Kael snapped out of his shock just in time to fashion a shield of air to stop the first blow. "Elnys!" came a roar as a cleric came charging in through the door, in full battle armour and wielding a mace that looked too heavy for the young woman to swing. She bashed the skull of the zombie that had struck Jared and it crumpled to the floor. Meanwhile, Jared had come to his senses and was chopping away with his sword. A zombie lost both its arms but persisted in its attack. "The head!" shouted the cleric, "Chop off the head!" Jared complied and was rewarded with the headless body crashing lifeless to the floor.
Kael blew two zombies into the far wall with a powerful blast of air that should have knocked any human dead. But the zombies merely stood up and began their ponderous walk back to their target. He shook his head and cast a ball of fire into the midst of a closer pack. This brought a more satisfying response as they screamed as they burned. Then they fell, and didn't get up.
The Lich stopped his casting to wave at the burnt bodies, and they rose again - this time, only their skeletons were left, their rotting flesh having burned away completely. "Delay them!" barked the cleric, and started casting a spell of her own. Jared kept the undead creatures at bay with broad swings of his sword. Kael just stood there, all blows bouncing off an armour of air he'd cast around himself. It took a whole minute for the cleric to finish casting her spell, and then the cavern was filled with a searing bright light that caused Kael and Jared to cover their eyes, even though they had their backs to the cleric. When they opened them again, not one of the creatures still twitched.
She turned to the Lich behind the barrier - now down to a faint translucent sheet. As they watched, the barrier winked out completely and the Lich bent its neck as though amused and said, "Now you die!" The cleric dropped her mace with a clang and sunk to the floor, gasping for breath. Jared lunged with his sword but the Lich batted him away like a bug, and he went flying across the cavern.
"No!" screamed Kael, and flung a magical bolt of energy at the creature. It hit an invisible shield inches from its body and disappeared, but it drew its attention and it released the cleric, who lay unconscious on the floor, but breathing. Kael tried a different tact and started a fire right on the Lich's body. The creature laughed its inhuman laughter again. "Boy!" it said, "You cannot destroy me that easily!"
But Kael's eyes blazed with fury as he thundered, "You will not harm me, nor my friends, nor any mortal soul upon this Earth. Foul creature! You will not leave this cavern alive!" The fire increased in intensity, and crackled nearly as loudly as the creature's laughter.
At that instant, the contingent from the temple piled in through the door, but they could do no more than gawk at the spectacle in front of their eyes. The Lich threw a bolt of energy that was absorbed by a shield Kael had magically erected around himself. "Go back to the world of death, whence you came to our blessed land. This cleansing fire shall rid the world of your evil presence!" The fire now turned white hot, and the creature screamed in pain. It started throwing one spell after another at Kael. His shield weakened and gave out, but it was too late for the Lich. The fire waxed in a final flare, and all that was left was ash. Kael stumbled, dizzy from his expenditure of energy, and collapsed unconscious to the floor.
Ferarthor rushed forward first. "Penny!" he cried, on seeing her body. "She's alive!" he cried, with relief. "There's another boy here. He's unconscious as well, and might have a broken rib." came the shaking voice of one of the clerics. The Priest of Pyr was bent over Kael.
"It is fortunate that one of your Order was here," observed Ferarthor. The man shook his head. "He is not of Pyr. Look," he said, and pointed to the crest of the Wizard Tower on Kael's robe. "A Mage. That explains it." replied Ferarthor. The Priest shook his head again. "Look closer. He is an Apprentice."
"Impossible," scoffed Ferarthor, "Only a powerful mage or one touched by Pyr can command fire the way he did."
"You are right," replied the Priest under his breath, but Ferarthor was already busy supervising the healing and transfer of the three unconscious bodies to the temple.
(Ah well, that didn't quite come out as gripping or adventurous as it was supposed to. Looks like I have a long way to go before I can call myself a writer of any talent - or even just a writer! *sigh* )
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
