Meet me in the Gray Plane when you see this message.

I stared at the small slip of paper, which had been taped to the door of the training room. There was no question that Master Tamotsu had written it, I thought. Two or three exhausting training sessions ago, I might have questioned the vague nature of his instructions. However, I learned quickly, and something told me it was pointless to question the note.

So I made my way back to the elevator and up to the lobby. Barely taking note of the crowd of people and only briefly waving at Meredith, I took the left-hand doors to exit onto the Gray Planes. Strictly speaking, I’d never done this before, but I knew it was the proper way. I’d noticed that anybody who exited via the left-hand door never appeared on the outside in the real world.

Sure enough, the first thing I noticed upon exiting was a large stone courtyard. There were a handful of Reapers stationed on the walls, dressed in armor and holding weapons. Feeling out of place almost at once, I shifted too, so that I would draw less attention.

“You guy see where Master Tamotsu went?” I shouted up at the closest guard.

He didn’t speak but pointed in a direction with his spear. Of course, the direction was away from the safety of the walls. Looking out of the gate in that direction, I could barely make out what looked like a low cloud at the edge of a black forest. Great. I started walking.

It was only as I got closer that I realized it wasn’t a cloud. Well, it was a cloud of smaller creatures that surrounded one larger figure I recognized as Master Tamotsu. He sat upon the ground with crossed legs, his eyes closed. The tiny creatures had their teeth bared as they zipped through the air on tiny silver wings, their dark blue bodies moving in a blur.

They were divebombing Master Tamotsu, a few at a time, from many different directions. Each time, they were knocked back with a nasty crack, holding their heads and chattering angrily. I didn’t know how Tamotsu was pulling it off. His defenses weren’t up until they were within a few inches, at which point a small wall of aura would flare into life, just in time for the creature to smack into it.

“Ah, good,” he said without opening his eyes. “You found the place alright, then?”

Somehow, I’d forgotten how raspy his voice was. It was almost indistinguishable from the buzzing of the tiny wings of the creatures. They paid me no mind as they continued their attack on him, despite the countless rejections.

“Yes, Master Tamotsu,” I said. “Uhh, what are they?”

“These are gnats,” he said. “They are easily the weakest creatures that live in the Gray Plane.”

“Gnats?” I said, looking at them. They looked nothing like gnats, I thought. They were about the size of my thumb. “Why aren’t you killing them then?”

“Because,” he said, climbing to his feet, his defense still perfect. “They are today’s lesson.”

“Oh. Am I supposed to kill them, then?”

“No. You will let them hit you. Or rather, you will defend against them.”

“Right,” I said slowly. They continued their attacks in vain as we talked. Even I could tell that they would pose no significant danger to me. “That’s it?”

Through the haze of blue creatures, I saw him smile. “Of course. But you will defend as I do. Only a small bit, at the right time. And you will close your eyes. Sense them without your eyes.”

“Alright then,” I said. “Let’s do it.”

Okay, so, I try not to talk too badly about Masters, even nowadays. But if I was being honest, that was easily the most boring training I’d ever received. Master Tamotsu would ramp it up in the following months so that his lessons became exciting, but I nearly fell asleep in that first one.

He pulsed his own aura, scaring the blue creatures away. Finally realizing that they had no chance with him, they instead swarmed towards me. In an instant, my field of vision was dominated by blue bodies and silver wings. The buzzing was annoying, but I gradually got used to it. I don’t know why I thought it would be harder, but once I got used to only activating a small section instead of my entire defense, it was too easy.

Master Tamotsu told me to sit at the base of the tree he’d occupied, and that he was going to get some lunch. I was to stay there until he returned. Letting out a long sigh once he was gone, I leaned more comfortably against the trunk of the tree. The most challenging part was resisting the temptation to sleep. Turns out that even with my eyes closed, the gnats were easy to track by sensing their aura and intent. When one tried to divebomb me, I put a little bit of aura in their way. Smack.

Okay. It was kinda funny at first, hearing their angry chatter as I rebuffed them again and again, one after the other. I could tell that they desperately wanted to tear into me and devour me entirely, but there was no chance in hell that I’d ever let that happen. So I just sprawled comfortably, wrigging every few minutes to dislodge a pebble or stick that poked into my backside.

Master Tamotsu returned after what felt like a lifetime of buzzing and chattering. I sensed his approach when he was about fifty feet away, and I opened my eyes. He was holding a brown paper sack in his right hand, and his left was holding up a smoothie that he sipped at. The sight of the convenience store food held by a figure in traditional Japanese robes and sandals made me laugh.

“Alright, now you can kill them,” he said, once he was in easy speaking distance.

Finally. They were really starting to get on my nerves. Before I knew it, my scythe was in my hand, and I started swinging. The gnats that managed to dodge my scythe were caught in the swipes of my aura. After hours of being subjected to their high-pitched voices and buzzing wings, I finally let out a sigh of relief as peaceful silence came back to me.

“Nice,” he said, “Still, a few got away.”

I glanced back at the trees, just barely making out the fleeing blue figures. I shrugged indifferently. “Oh well. What you got there?”

He tossed the paper bag at me. I caught it and registered the smell of onions and peppers. “I got you Moe’s.”

My eyes widened as I tore the bag open. Sure enough, nestled in the depths of the bag was a wrapped sandwich. Moe’s was a gourmet sandwich shop in my town. They had the best sandwiches ever. It felt like they baked a special loaf of bread for each individual order. My pleasure increased as I unwrapped the sandwich and saw that it was a Spicy Italian. My favorite.

“Thanks,” I said, taking a bite. “So, why was this lesson so easy?”

“Easy?” Tamotsu said, arching an eyebrow at me. “Modesty won’t do you any good, little Reaper.”

“No, seriously,” I said. I tried to keep my voice level, and not sound like I was mocking the man. “I mean, it was a little tricky to figure out how not to defend everything at once. But after that, all I had to do was sense their aura and intent, right?”

Silas almost dropped his smoothie as he let out a loud laugh, but he caught it in time. “Well, that’s a surprise. Most people struggle with that lesson. Looks like you’re a natural Senser.”

“Senser?” I asked. “Is that a specialty?”

He nodded. “Technically, it’s called Vision. But that’s a stupid name because vision is the sense we rely on the least. Well then. That is an interesting combo.”

“Combo?” I asked again. I was starting to feel stupid again. “What do you mean?”

“I talked with Gene over lunch,” he replied. “He told me you had similar success with manipulating your aura. It’s pretty clear that you are a Manipulator and a Vision. Even after one lesson, we can tell that.”

“Oh,” I said, feeling better now. “That’s kinda cool. I wish I had a good combat specialty, but that’s still cool.”

“Well, don’t worry,” he said, turning back to the castle in the distance and beckoning for me to follow. “You can have up to three. So you might just get your wish.”

I spared one more glance at the black forest, wondering what else it held. It only made sense that there would be stronger creatures hidden by the trees, and I was seized by a strong surge of curiosity. But I could always find out later, I told myself. I followed Master Tamotsu back to the castle, wondering what time it was.