Raysha

Raysha is the the protagonist of the Manifestation series. She was born with a massive well of aeon but with no ability to restore it from the environment. This resulted in her being unable to keep up with others her age becoming a social outcast. She manages to fix her soul with a spirit heart and joins the Academy in Hidan.

## Appearance

Raysha is a young woman with brown eyes and auburn hair. She has pale skin and usually keeps her hair in a long braid.

## Personality

Raysha is a very competitive young woman who prefers 'doing' to sitting around and thinking things out. Despite her dislike of academic learning, she was willing to follow through with her brother's statistic measurement guide when training her new technique and she researched about spirits from books before falling asleep. Raysha is very untrusting of the Houses because she feels that it would be like a leash. Raysha jokes around a bit and dislikes getting up in the morning. However, she is diligent about doing what she has an interest in like her rune forming and aeon control practices. Raysha is also prone to glaring.

> *"What sort of an artist sits in their room waiting for inspiration to strike? A stupid one, that’s for sure."*
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## Biography

### Pre-Series

Raysha was born in the village of Hayet. She had a relatively normal childhood up until the age of 9. When she uses her aeon for the first time and fails to wake up it becomes clear that she is broken in some way. She was not completely isolated as Vashi made sure she was included and protected her from the excess viciousness of children. Raysha receives limited training with aeon due to her causing a panic when training with other children. She is instructed to use the rune of Receptivity to levitate rocks and she does this each day, forming the rune when practicing and dissolving it finished to prevent wasting energy. This helps her develop very good aeon control and rune formations. Raysha becomes very restrictive when using her aeon because of her inability to regenerate from the atmosphere. Once her brother leaves to go the the Academy, Raysha is bullied, especially by Elha who mocks her for fainting after burning up a huge amount of power as a child by calling her "goat".

## Relationships

### Family

Vashi - Vashi is Raysha's older brother. They care deeply for each other as demonstrated when Raysha *vaporised* the spirit hunters who nearly killed Vashi. Raysha refers to him as Vash quite frequently as Vashi refers to her as Raya. Raysha also supported him when he suffered from the feelings of having to kill one of the hunters.

Palaya - Palaya, or simply Pala, is Raysha's younger sister. Raysha cares for Pala immensely and is willing to play with her and sends her clothes that she knows Pala will love.

Maya - Maya is Raysha's mother. Maya is one of the few people Raysha misses after leaving home behind a going with Vashi to the Academy. Due to Raysha's inability to restore aeon whilst living in Hayet, Maya had to help Raysha by heating her baths and other such tasks.

Kian - Kian is Raysha's father. Kian and Raysha joke together. Kian and Raysha have a very loving relationship as Kian reinforced the area of the roof where Raysha would practice so she would be safe during her training.

### Friends

Shirin - Shirin is Vashi's girlfriend. Shirin and Raysha have a good friendship after they met at the Academy with Shirin helping make Raysha's staff.

Leyli - Leyli is another of Raysha's friends she made at the Academy through Vashi. Raysha enjoys her company and finds her to have an infectious enthusiasm.

Kardan - Kardan has an crush on Raysha. Raysha met Kardan in the Academy through Vashi and they are good friends as Kardan got her a book of paths and explains technical things Vashi tries to tell her in food-related analogies. They exchange banter with each other.

Manzid - Sort of a friend. Raysha spent less time with Manzid than the others but Manzid is still one of the few students she knows the name of and likes.

Hlaya - Hlaya helped Raysha find the spirit heart needed to fix her broken soul.

Octavian - Octavian joined Raysha, Vashi and Hlaya on the trip to find the spirit heart. Octavian helps Raysha with her training and she sees him as a friend.

### Enemies

Miskar Whisperblade - Miskar is a member of the Whisperblade House. He tried to recruit Raysha but was condescending and rude.

## Abilities

### Spiritual Advancement

**Awakened**: Can use aeon. Limited to 2D formations. Raysha could reach Sixth Awakened whilst using simple runes. Raysha advanced to Initiate whilst at the Academy.

**Initiate**: Limited to 2D formations. First permanent physical enhancement. Will becomes strong enough for proper techniques. Raysha's aeon is as dense as the best Initiates because of the Silverspike elixir. She can hold aeon further away and lose less due to inefficiency. Advancing to Initiate allows Raysha to sense aeon easier. Raysha's revelation to advance to Initiate was "I seek power to impose my will on the world, both for my own gain and to help those I care about. I want to be free of oppression, free to do what I want, without having to worry about others. But I also want to help and protect my friends and innocent spirits. It’s not a bad thing to want both sides of the coin. Ambition is not immoral." Raysha advanced to Enlightened whilst fighting

**Enlightened**: Raysha advanced to the first realm of Enlightenment by building her core into a proper soulspace. Raysha designed it based on the Darian spiritual nexus with a lake, hexagonal basalt columns, grass, moss and a golden, twisting tree of lightning above her spirit heart. The self-actualisation that Raysha needed to advance was that her soulspace is was a sanctuary for her and any spirit that needed it. Raysha can now use intermediate runes and will be able to use 3D runes that interlock vertically. Raysha's body has been improved again by the physical termping of advancement. Raysha's aeon density doubled when she advanced.

### Path

#### Formation

Raysha's formation is made from the runes for: Lightning (intermediate), Force, Resilience, Reflection, Retaliation, Perception and Transference. Raysha can use her techniques and can use the runes individually. Integration is a capacitor - when you integrate a rune it saturates your body first, and then is slowly absorbed. The person then gains passive benefits in relation to the type of aeon they integrate. For example integrating Resilience will make a person's body more resilient until the integration wears off.

**Lightning**: Lightning attacks require large amounts of aeon. Raysha modified the rune by adding a line. The modified Lightning rune produces lightning bolts that are golden. Raysha managed to form clouds of dispersed aeon which launched a "burning bar of liquid gold" into her staff which she directed at Miskar which destroyed his *Dragonshell* technique. Integrating Lightening into the body allows Raysha to feel the differences in metals. Raysha has advanced from the basic Lightning rune to the intermediate version which is more powerful, has more range and greater velocity but has less focus for targeting.

**Force**: Force allows Raysha to add extra force to her actions like movements and swings. Force can also be used to form barriers. Force can be thrown out in bolts and orbs. Raysha can launch waves of Force-aspected aeon. Integrating Force helps enhance the body by adding extra force onto each action.

**Resilience**: Resilience can be used with Force to enhance barriers. Resilience can be used to make the body more resilient to damage and pain. Integrating Resilience helps prevent injuries and pain.

**Reflection**: Reflection is hyper-complex rune that requires high amounts of aeon and a strong will behind it. Reflection causes things to bounce away.

**Retaliation**: Retaliation is another very complex rune. Retaliation can be used with Reflection so that the reflected attack returns to the attacker.

**Perception**: Perception enhances the senses. When Perception is integrated, senses are enhanced and this helped boost Raysha's spiritual sight shared from Xora which means she can see the leaking aeon from techniques easily. Perception is considered a huge quality of life boost.

**Transference**: Transference is a relatively complex rune and Raysha needs it for her movement technique.

#### Techniques

**Silver Shroud**: Silver Shroud is a barrier technique made by Raysha. She can form three layers of the barrier. The barrier primarily works on the basis of reflecting attacks back at who they came from. The Resilience rune helps mute the damage from any attacks that bypass the reflection. Force helps the barrier's resistance. Because of the Lightning rune anyone who strikes at Raysha with their hands or metal weapons will get shocked. This technique requires a huge amount of aeon and causes Raysha to have to pit her will against an attacker's so she can reflect an attack. Raysha focuses on the mental image of a lake of liquid silver to help her will. The barrier is usually translucent but Raysha can adjust it to reflect most light that hits which seems to break up her image.

**Sunburst**: Sunburst is Raysha's main offensive technique, it produces a golden lightning bolt. This technique works by first forming a golden needle of aeon at her fingers which then launches as a jagged lightning bolt towards her target. This uses Lightning, Force and Resilience runes. Reflection was added but Raysha struggles to aim the technique in general. This technique can look like a lance of golden light when used with her staff. Imagining her target as a lightning rod helps Raysha aim. Imagining herself merging with a storm helps with this technique.

> "In her mind, Raysha imagined herself as a siphon underneath a roiling thundercloud that filled the sky from horizon to horizon. The storm clouds swirled and funnelled themselves down into her core, where the compressed storm strained to escape. She imagined her body merging with the storm, her veins becoming lightning, and her body a guide for the power inside her."
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**Steelsight**: Steelsight is Raysha's perception technique. Raysha channels Lightning-aspected aeon through her body and cycles it, pushing it back and forth through her body and increases the speed. This helps Raysha feel metal around her although the range is limited.

**Static Surge**: Raysha's mental image for her Static Surge technique is her as lightning following other lightning bolts. This technique works by Raysha launching a bolt of lightning in a direction and then the technique seems to cause golden sparks to crawl over Raysha's body and then she very rapidly moves to the point the bolt hits as she feels an almost magnetic pull from the bolt's path from the echo of the aeon. Static Surge needs Transference to work.

### Aeon Control

Raysha has immense control over her aeon from constantly breaking down and remaking runes. Raysha does not produce an aura when using aeon because her control helps prevent inefficiency. She can control her techniques very effectively and manipulate aspects of her aeon, like colour, with pure control. Raysha's control is so good she can form dark clouds of her own aeon.

### Aeon Well

Raysha has a massive well. A truly enormous well for aeon. Originally, unable to absorb atmospheric aeon, with her spirit heart she can now regenerate aeon. Because of the size of her well she can use her aeon costly techniques. Advancement has increased the density of aeon that she has.

### Spirit Bond

Raysha has a bond with Xora who is a spirit, marginally above tier 0, that Raysha found at a spiritual nexus and managed to bond. Xora lives within Raysha's core, which cause her core to stretch. Xora plays within the aeon inside Raysha's well. Raysha and Xora can mentally communicate however Xora is rather simplistic in communication but is improving. Xora is constantly consuming Raysha's aeon reducing her regeneration as around half her aeon is being eaten by Xora. Xora can exit Raysha's well at will. Xora's manifestation alters gravity.

## Equipment

### Spirit Heart

The spirit heart that Raysha absorbed was taken from Mkekhem. It is a plum-sized black crystal. It wasn’t perfectly opaque,and a faint sliver of light seemed to permeate through the structure. It was roughly spherical, and the structure was comprised of a fine, lace-like mesh of threads. The web of connections they formed seemed to spiral inwards. As Raysha fed aeon to the crystal it began to lighten in colour and the soft glow started brightening. Once absorbed, the spirit heart began to give Raysha power meaning she can now regenerate aeon and it takes Raysha over a day and a half to recover her aeon fully.

### Floodweave

Raysha purchased a floodweave vest and trousers. The floodweave is black and golden coloured and was made from Awakened floodweave spiders. The floodweave clothing is meant to last well into the level of Enlightened. The clothing is very soft. The clothes are very protective to the point where a sword would be dulled if it hit the clothes. The clothes fix themselves if damaged especially if Raysha pushes aeon into them.

### Staff

Raysha's most recent staff was made by Vashi and Shirin. The staff has two different formations - one to help it resist damage and one to allow the staff to act as a foci. The metal of the staff is dimpled for Raysha's hands go making it easier to hold. The glassteel that makes up the staff is blackened on the outside. One of the carved formations is inlaid with copper. The other formation connects two small garnets.

**Physical Strengthening Formation**: The staff is as indestructible as Vashi can make it as the first formation is Resilience, Toughness, Durability and Repair runes repeating down the length of the staff. This means Raysha can use it without any significant risk of the staff breaking.

**Foci Formation**: The staff's second formation uses the Attraction rune and its purpose is to the aspect to Raysha's aeon. When Raysha uses her Lightning technique with this formation the technique gains the imparted aspect, Attraction, and takes the form of a staggering, blinding, golden lance.

### Expanded Space Bag

Raysha got a bag with a 27 times increase in size internally and it reduces mass and inertia by 90% for everything inside.