Making a gesture to create the light orb was quite simple. I decided on a basic hand position that extended the lowest joint of each digit fully but kept the others curled inwards. It only took a few minutes to make it reflexive, probably because my skill at magic in general had improved dramatically thanks to my practice with force magic. Once I triggered the gesture I found that I didn't have to maintain it to keep the orb manifested either, powering and manipulating the “construct” took a much smaller mental toll than creating it in the first place.
The brightness was adjustable within a certain range, but not as much as I could like. The first thing I tried to do after working out the gesture was to create the maximum possible brightness by forcing out energy. While I could certainly make the orb bright enough that it hurt to look at, I couldn't quite get it to the level of a flashbang grenade which was disappointing. If I had a way to calculate the brightness in candelas I might be able to figure out my actual power output, I thought, judging the brightness of the light in my cell by eye. I also couldn't make a laser or a directed beam at all. Even though it made sense to me that magic should be able to do something like that, it just didn't work. Maybe I have the wrong mental image, I considered with a sigh.
Looking around my cell, now that I had better lighting, I found the hole that the beetles had crawled in through along the wall. The insects appeared to be afraid of light and scattered when I brought the orb too close. Intending to bait more of them out, I brought some of the bedding closer to their hole and then turned out the light. That solves one immediate problem, I thought, now to work on a way to get out of here.
The only things I had to work with were some stone from the knife I had made and some wood from the bed frame, so I decided to try to carve a key and use it to open the door. Thankfully for me, the glimpse that I got at the key while my door was being unlocked told me that the key was not of the matched variety that was used in inns, but instead just a simply two-toothed shaft that was designed to move the mechanism. Wood probably wasn't strong enough to turn it, but I had a plan for that.
Once I had finished up the key's basic shape I caught a few more beetles, cooked and ate them, then got to work testing out my theory. I gripped the key with my hands and began to bend it, but then carefully balanced force magic inside it to act against the direction I was bending. It felt a lot like pushing my hands against each other, but the key didn't snap as easily as it otherwise should have. Next, I did the same thing except I tried to use the wall for leverage against the key while holding the key so it wouldn't deform. The key snapped, which was annoying, but it took much more force than I had anticipated.
I carved another key, dulling the stone blade so much that it could barely cut anymore, and then began my test on the door. I reached outside the cell and inserted the key, facing towards myself, into the keyhole, then attempted to reinforce it as I had the previous one. When I started to turn I stopped immediately afterwards. The key was bending, and the reinforcement wasn't working. Damnit, I grumbled, it's because I can't see it. I tried again, focusing more and trying my hardest to make the magic work outside my sight line, but I didn't feel the telltale loss of power and I knew it wasn't working.
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Why is this different? I wondered as I chewed on yet another beetle. They made for surprisingly tasty snacks once I got used to the flavor. I can create heat inside an object with a bit of effort, so why not force? It's the same thing powering them. It's the same general process, the only difference is- The answer came to me so quickly that I felt like it had slapped me in the face. Heat acts equally on each particle in a volume, I thought, it doesn't need to know anything besides that the particles exist to add energy to them. Force magic, on the other hand, seems to act on discrete objects. Maybe something about it needs to be able to discern what matters belongs to each "object" to work.
Since magic didn't provide any sort of sensory input it meant that force magic was limited by what I could sense about the world around me. It's strange though, I thought, I can use it while my eyes are closed, so that can't quite be it. I sat down and levitated the key in my hand, then closed my eyes and paid attention. As far as my senses were concerned, there was nothing in front of me. Yet, the key didn't fall down into my hand, and when I opened my eyes again it was floating just where it had been. Is it because I knew it was there? I wondered, could it be that it needs knowledge of the object? But then why didn't it work when I just tried it in the door? I know what the key looks like, it's not complicated. Am I simply not skilled enough?
While I thought, I conjured up two orbs of light and circled them around each other, then once again felt stupid for not realizing something. I didn't need to continually concentrate on creating the orbs to keep them around, once they manifested they existed in my mind, and all I had to do was keep supplying them with energy. The key keeps floating because it's the same as the orbs, I sighed, it takes knowledge and sensory input to initiate the effect, but once it's working it's simple to keep running. Creating the construct and adding energy are two separate operations. Picking up the key again, I tried to reinforce it in place so that I could turn it in the lock. When I tried, the key nearly snapped again, and I growled out of frustration.
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This time I knew why it didn't work. The reinforcement wasn't a constant effect, it was an effect that turned on when I wanted it to and created a counter-effect to a force. Trying to create the effect in place without snapping the key meant doing nothing. It wasn't like a limb that could be tensed in both directions at once to become rigid, which meant it posed a problem. If I engage the counter-forces before putting the key into the hole, I'll snap it, just in the opposite direction, I thought, I need to get creative.
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The solution I found was essentially a workaround to the mechanics of magic. I engaged the counter-forces at around twenty percent of what I needed to use in the keyhole, inserted the key, then increased the magnitude of the forces as I turned. Since it was just a matter of adding more energy, it was something I could do with my senses as they were. With a click and a thunk, the door swung open in front of me. I stood in the open doorway for a moment, too stunned that my insane scheme had worked to move a muscle, then quickly pulled the door shut again without locking it.
How am I going to get out of here? I thought quickly, I could lock it again to make it look like I never touched the door, but that doesn't solve the problem. I need to do a quick scouting run, then come back, then make a real plan. Slowly, I opened up the door and walked out, shutting it gently behind me. Since it was advantageous to me, I put out the lanterns in the hallway and plunged the cells into darkness before heading upstairs.
The floor above me was empty as well. I checked each room, finding three of them to be interrogation rooms, and the final room to be some kind of supply room. No food or weapons, just shackles, keys, and other assorted odds and ends. There was a cloak that was much cleaner than mine, so I swapped it out before putting out all the lights and proceeding to the floor above.
This is the ground floor, I knew immediately when I peeked through the door. Just like the Steelheart Company offices, the guard office was arranged with a counter at the back opposite the entrance door. Must be a common setup, no telling which group originated it, if either, I thought. The stairwell door I was peeking out of was on the right of the room behind the counter, and unfortunately for me, the counter was staffed. A male guard was leaning forwards, looking a bit drowsy, and not paying very much attention. There was no way I would be able to sneak past him since he was looking straight at the exit door.
I walked back to the bottom level, using my light orb for illumination, and came up with a plan. I shouldn't kill him, I thought, they would immediately suspect me if something like that were to happen, and probably send out a squad to hunt me down. Then again, they might do the same when I escape. Still, it would be best not to risk it in case killing increases the degree of their reprisal. It was strange to not be able to kill someone. Such restrictions were exceedingly uncommon in my experience.
I came up with a plan. It was a bit of a stupid plan, but it would work so long as there weren't too many guards in the building. I saw sunlight peeking in through the bottom of the door, so I reasoned that the guards would probably be out. Assuming they even do their jobs, I frowned. Still, assuming that the desk guard was one of the only ones in the building, it would be a simple matter for me to incapacitate him and escape.
I walked to the floor above the cells, opened one of the doors, and slammed it as hard as I could. I didn't actually mean to use force magic in that, I thought, but I guess it helps with the effect. Then I stood in the darkness and waited. Nothing happened, so I opened the door and slammed it again. After the second slam, I heard footsteps on the floor above, then the door to the stairwell opened and someone began coming down the stairs. I dashed down the stairwell to the cells before the guard could see me, moving quickly in the darkness.
“Damned lanterns,” I heard the guard mutter as I walked to my cell. When I saw light coming down the stairwell, I picked up the stone knife and banged on the bars loudly.
“Hey!” I called out. “It's been dark down here for an hour! Can you come fix this? I can't even take a shit properly because I can't see.” Faint swearing sounded from the stairwell, then the guard walked down into the darkness. His own eyes couldn't see anything because they were adapted to the light, but mine were used to the dark and the pittance of light flowing in was enough to illuminate the room for me.
“Shit,” the guard swore, holding his hands out so he didn't bump into a wall. He didn't even notice the noise as I slipped out of the door, then walked right up to his face. I held out my hand, curled my fingers, then forced as much energy into a light orb as I could while my hand was just centimeters from his face.
The guard screamed as I blinded him, stumbling backwards. I hadn't needed to use the technique, but I wanted confirmation that it could be effective. Judging by his reaction I could use this at night to great effect, I noted. One punch later the guard was knocked out, and I quickly locked him up in my cell before he had a chance to awaken. I considered taking his clothing, but with rapid healing there was no telling how long he would stay knocked out for.
Instead, I dashed up two flights of stairs, then pulled up my hood and walked into the street, disappearing into the foot traffic before anyone had a chance to get a look at me.