The tingle of a familiar presence approaching his room awoke Cyn from his meditative state. He got off his bed, stretched and opened the door before Ira could knock on it. As they looked into each other’s eyes, they immediately felt the difference.

Cyn’s augmented soul heightened his sensation capabilities. Despite being un-awakened to Aura, he could sense Ira’s Aura tumbling within the confines of her body in a chaotic manner. Ira on the other hand felt him look right through her and focus on something within herself. The pressure of his gaze upon her newborn Aura caused it to rebel against her rudimentary control like a recalcitrant child and burst out of her.

Cyn hurriedly stepped back from the oppressive presence she was radiating. “What was that?!” he asked, feigning ignorance. He was quite astonished by what he found as he analysed her Aura.

As the former Chief of the swallow tribe and an accomplished mage, he was familiar with the difference between the Aura of a mage and a martial warrior. He was quite shocked and discouraged by how the kingdom could turn a girl into a mage overnight.

He had spent years honing his prowess with Aura and only after many severe tribulations and great contribution to the clan was he acknowledged by the clan as the Chief. He had felt his Aura mutate as the thoughts of his fellow tribesmen had melded with him as they had prayed together to their ancestors for their blessings during his coronation ritual. When he had asked his wife, she had said that she felt much the same when she was selected as the successor of the previous shaman via the publicly held inheritance ritual. If even the steward of a noble scion was a mage then he could forget about his plans for revenge against the kingdom.

“My apologies Master Cyn, this one awakened her Aura last night and is unskilled in its usage. Please pardon this one for her shameful display.” Ira bowed deeply as she did her best to rein in her Aura.

“No need to apologize. I was just a bit startled. Umm… seeing that my awakening ceremony is forthcoming, could you give me an idea of what to expect?” said Cyn, curiosity written all over his face. As an old hand at politics, his control over his expressions was too exquisite for Ira’s discernment. She apologetically said, “I beg your forgiveness, this one is contractually bound to silence.”

Cyn sank into quiet contemplation as he led her back to seats by his study table. Her Aura had brought up a lot of questions and very few answers were forthcoming. The Aura of a novice mage or martial warrior was a glimpse into their psyche and the mixture of personality traits and emotions he could glean from hers was very different from what she had shown Cyn in their years together.

The dark thread of suspicion that welled up in his mind was bolstered by his hate for the kingdom and his distaste for any intimacy with a woman so soon after his wife’s passing. It warred with the affection that the younger portion of his soul felt for her and his face blanched and he staggered as he felt as if his soul was tearing itself apart from within.

“Young master! Are you all right?!”

The genuine concern dyeing Ira’s Aura as it escaped her control once again seemed to light a fire in the younger portion of Cyn’s soul. Despite the age and power of the augmented soul of the Chief, it was Cyn’s body they resided in and the rampancy of his teenage hormones that dictated their emotional state. Just as they started to think of themselves as two separate entities, a rending pain wracked their soul, the dark swallow trying to rip its newly formed tail plumes off.

Understanding the gravity of the situation, the Chief turned around their body and before Ira could react, slammed her by her throat into the wall. His eyes shone like black suns, scarlet capillaries spreading outwards from his jet-black iris and abysmal pupils as he locked her with his gaze. Ira could hardly breathe as the pressure from his soul drove her Aura deep within her core where it cowered in fear. Her muscles felt like water as she looked into those fearful eyes, not even daring to avert her gaze as tears rolled down her face.

The Chief’s mind worked frantically as he tried to ignore the soul rending pain from Cyn’s revulsion at his actions. He desperately searched for a middle ground between their emotions towards the girl. He hated her. He hated her from the depths of his soul. Cyn loved her. She was irreplaceable in his mind.

Why? Why did he hate her so? For the genocide of his clan? For the death of his wife? For the loss of the future of his unborn child? But. They weren’t her fault. She was miles away when it happened and as a mere steward of a noble scion, she didn’t have the qualification to be even indirectly related with the dispatch of an elite Knight company with a General in charge. Then, the solution to his current predicament was clear.

In a voice hoarse from the pain, he asked her through gritted teeth, “Which General has a shield with two lions on it? Tell me! Now!”

Ira quivered as she scrambled to meet his request as soon as possible, garbling her words in her rush. “Gen… General Leon. General A… Alfred Leon, Sir.”

Cyn’s eyes bloomed in nether worldly splendour as the Chief’s hatred found a drain port and some of his unconditional affection towards Ira was chipped away by the surreptitious blade of suspicion. The two dissimilar souls seemed to fuse on a much deeper level as they reached an agreement with each other.

In his inner world, the soul bird underwent momentous changes as its neck lengthened and its bifurcated tail filled out with plumes glowing with a multicoloured brilliance. The curse light had concentrated into the darkest of blacks and constituted the shafts of all its feathers, its beak and its eyes. The soul seemed to congeal further into reality, resembling a transparent bird rather than an outline.

Cyn closed his eyes and relaxed his grip on Ira’s neck as a feeling of contentment upwelled from the depths of his being as his soul reached a further degree of completeness. He was startled out of this blissful state by the loud sobs coming from near his feet.

To his consternation, he found Ira curled up on the ground, her whole body wracked with great, heaving sobs, bruises in the shape of his fingers forming on her throat. A deep sense of guilt struck him. After all, even to the Chief, Ira was but a child. He knelt down immediately, trying to comfort her but ended up aggravating the situation as she shrunk back at his proximity.

The fear he had inflicted upon her, originated from her soul and even he was unsure how he had done it or how to counteract it. His heart ached as he watched her beauty be marred by nasal mucus and tears. Her Aura was locked in a permanent situation of Reserva and condensed into a quivering mass deep within her core.

As he tried to reach for the power of his soul to heal her, every instinct in his body screamed out against him doing so. He felt a brittleness permeating the soul bird and a premonition that if he overdrew its energy, it would shatter and this time, there would be no second chances.

Panicking slightly, he ran towards his bedside and almost pulled the cord used to call the staff before calming himself down. He couldn’t let the news of what had happened leave the premises of his room. He had no explanation for how he had overpowered a user of Aura and reduced her to a blubbering mess.

The persona of Cyn Pavone was one exuding scholarly refinement. He had always preferred to solve his problems with words rather than his fists. The heightened tendencies for violence that he was displaying was a huge questionable point. The dread and awe he held for the kingdom had been heightened by experiencing Ira’s ascension onto the arcane path in a single night. He wanted to draw as little attention to himself as possible, steal the kingdoms secrets, expand himself and then when he was strong enough, wreak vengeance upon those who had torn him away from his family.

Thus, he had to solve this himself before anyone found out.

Cyn shut the doors of his room and bolted them before forcibly carrying the still sobbing girl to the bed. Ira stiffened when she was hugged into his bosom and for a moment he wondered whether her heart had stopped from the shock. Looking down, he found the girl looking up at his face with wide eyes, reddened from crying and filled with a primal fear. The slow rise and fall of her chest was the only part of her moving. Another wave of guilt washed over him as he remembered seeing a tiger carrying a live rabbit by the scruff of its neck towards its den. The rabbit was perfectly still, hoping against hope for another chance at life. At this moment, Ira looked just like it.

He laid her gently on the bed, kneading out the knots in her muscles as he slowly, methodically uncurled her from her foetal position. Throughout the process, Ira kept looking at him with eyes filled with fear, tears slowly soaking the pillow beneath her head. She kept her breath as shallow and silent as possible, as if hoping that by doing so, he would overlook her very existence.

He crushed this hope by keeping his eyes fixed onto hers in a soft gaze, the rainbow brilliance of his soul moving turbulently in the depths of his pupils, trying to convey the sincerity of his apology. He gently uncurled her fists, which she had clenched hard enough for her nails to draw blood and laid them flat, palms down, on the duvet.

As he worked, he recalled the scene of his wife lecturing him about her shamanic knowledge, her beautiful voice putting birdsong to shame:

“There are Five Aspects of Man. The body, the mind, the emotions, the memories and most importantly, the soul. They are all connected to each other in cycles and define what we are and what we do.

The mind controls the body to interact with the world, giving birth to emotions which are stored as experiences in our memories which nourishes the soul and the soul moulds the mind, determining how we will react to similar circumstances the next time we face them. We can also think of the soul as our will or personality or an amalgam of our core values. As we live our lives, experiencing more things, our souls grow, change and finally mature into who we really are.

Aura is a nexus for these Five Aspects which allows us to manifest them as a formless energy. It also allows the Aspects to interact with each other with greater ease and flexibility. For example, if an obese man wanted to get back into shape, then normally, he would have to exercise and diet until he reaches his ideal body type. But, with Aura, he can just wish for it earnestly with his Mind and depending upon the intensity of his wish, he can reach his desired body shape in a time ranging from days to weeks. This is why those who awaken are so handsome or beautiful, as over time, their body conforms to their ideal aesthetics.

The soul is the most elusive aspect as it is a representation of self. No one can see themselves. The best they can do is look into their reflections in the water. But even that can be distorted by ripples, not to mention the fundamental flaw of the reflection being laterally inverted. Thus, the only way to affect your soul is through Aura.

No one in the known history of our tribe has been able to perceive it but all previous shamans believe that it exists and that it can be inherited. They say that inborn instincts like the fear of snakes are a core tenet of our personalities and hence part of our souls. They believe that our Ancestors had touched the Domain of the Soul and left these instincts as a gift to their posterity to enable them to better survive in the wilderness.”

Cyn blinked away the tears engendered by the memory of his wife as he kept working on relaxing Ira’s body. Without Aura, he could only tackle the problem through an approach involving the Five Aspects. He had apparently implanted an instinctual fear of himself within Ira’s soul. But stories about overcoming one’s fears were one of the most common types of stories sung by the Bards.

The most common way of overcoming fear was by repeating the feared action until it became routine. The second way was via using an emotional outburst as a crutch.

Relaxing Ira’s body while in his proximity was his take on the first approach. Watching the fear in her eyes slowly receding was heartening, so he moved on to the second approach. After perceiving his soul, Cyn’s control over all of his Aspects had undergone a drastic promotion even without Aura. The increased control over his bodily Aspect was a large part of the reason why he was able to capture Ira so easily despite her Aura enhanced sensation.

Cyn took a deep breath, closed his eyes and focused on his emotions. When he had analysed Ira’s Aura, he had sensed a very unique feature: the synchronicity between her aura and her emotion of anger. Thus, he too focused on the wrath latent within himself.

“Live on for all of us and exact vengeance.”

His eyes snapped open, blazing with rage as he locked his line of sight with Ira’s. Something seemed to connect them as his emotions seemed to flow into her. He grew increasingly calm and apathetic while Ira’s irrational fear slowly gave way to pure unadulterated rage.

Cyn broke their staring match as he unemotionally analysed the success and failure of the operations. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flicker of movement but even with his advanced control over his body, he could only reduce the impact of Ira’s Aura boosted haymaker.

The world around him spun as he flew towards the wall, his last thoughts before passing out on impact was:

‘Experiment failed.

Failure link: Subject left unrestrained during experiment.

Probability of death due to mauling by enraged female:

100%.’