#req_rp

It's getting hot.

Beads of sweat were beginning to form on Req's brow as he moved sightless through the tunnels below the Institute. After months of traveling back and forth between the resonance chamber he'd made, he should know them better by now. Had he taken a wrong turn? He didn't remember the path sloping quite this far downward, and it was getting steep. A solitary drop of sweat ran down the side of his face as he turned a corner, and immediately lost his footing on precarious gravel. 

The stone slid out from under him and he lost control of his trajectory, plummeting down an even steeper incline than the last. In the dark, it was all he could do to keep himself upright, and even that was more a matter of magic than real balance. Up ahead, he noticed a dim red glow, just for a moment, before something passed in front of the light and collided with his head. Balance lost, he began to tumble head over heels down the rocky slope. Again his head crashed into rock, and again, until darkness abruptly claimed his mind.

Req looked around the cavern, his blue eyes taking in the finished product of a week's worth of work in secret. Using a hextech planing grinder he'd carved the walls into gentle curves matching the projected dimensions of the ruined resonance chamber he'd studied in the Shumiran ruins, shaping the originally jagged and asymetrical cavern into what could best be described as a squashed sphere. The cave was about a mile west of the Institute's garden, deep within the mountain where natural light wouldn't penetrate. It was stiflingly warm in here, a product of the lack of ventilation, and beyond that Req tended to run hot when he gave something his all. It didn't matter, he was finally about to finish. 

The algae he'd gotten from the seas north of Freljord was the final piece of the puzzle, something to reflect magical energy in a consistent manner with minimal energy loss. He'd come across writings about it in the Institute's massive library, a silver algae that thrived in the frigid seas. When dried it could be used to make a varnish most often used in sealing containers for dangerous magical items, to contain and essentially nullify their emanations, keeping them within the sealed container. Hopefully they'd serve the summoner's purposes well enough. 

The walls had taken on the dull silver color of the algae, reflecting the small light Req had brought to work by. "I suppose now's as good a time as any for a test run," he said, finishing the final coat on the "door," a piece of curved metal to be placed over the cavern's entrance. He walked to the center of the cave, closing his eyes and focusing hard. He welled up power within himself, feeling the mana gather around his core, and once he had enough, released it in a wave outward, not in a spell, but simply as energy. It spread out, hit the algae-coated walls, and bounced back towards him, intensified. The rush of power was invigorating, delicious even. He bounced it back against the walls, and again it rushed back, stronger than when it had left him. 

The third time, instead of just projecting force, he decided to put structure into it, although he had to think for a moment about what to do with it. The answer struck   him only a moment later, the only true magic he could do solo. "Burn," he whispered, scarcely allowing himself to think that it could work. He'd never been a capable pyromancer, only able to call up heat rather than flame, but through his eyelids he saw a flickering, uneven light come into being, and a warmth surrounding his outstretched hand. Opening his eyes, he saw fire hovering less than an inch from his palm, though despite the proximity it wasn't burning him. An instant later, it sputtered out, leaving the cavern in complete darkness.