Back in Genaisa Roun was being subjected to equally, if not more, gruelling training under the tutelage of his parents. For just over a month his father had been focusing on his combat abilities, doing his best to change the way that Roun utilised countless years of martial arts training to which he had been subjected. This shift in application that he sought was geared towards changing the youngster’s approach to combat; from that of a friendly duellist to a fighter more geared towards life and death battles.

His mother’s training on the other hand took an entirely different approach to improving Roun’s abilities; involving no combat whatsoever and instead focusing on her son’s mental fortitude and resilience. Initially, this seemed like a welcome reprieve from the constant battering at the hands of Shin Itami, but after just a few weeks of Naomi’s unorthodox exercises Roun was starting to long for his father’s more physically and energetically taxing tests.

Interestingly enough, Roun couldn’t even say that his mother’s exercises were inherently difficult; they simply went contrary to the way that he had been educated up to this point. From his childhood, all of his training had been designed to maximise the efficacy of his physical prowess and his manifested channeling abilities. From meditation to yoga to qigong, each activity focused on strengthening the expression of the innate gifts with which he had been born. But his mother’s training dismissed all of the lessons that he’d learned from these trials; and forced him to rely on previously undeveloped traits.

To ensure this, she had taken her sons and the young Zadavia Moreno to Hisuii National Park; the largest of such parks in Tahzou’s capital. Unlike Geraheim in Merricent, which was specifically designed to be a welcoming haven for channelers, Genaisa’s Hisuii treated their channeling minorities like the threats that they had to potential to become. Public areas such as the national park were heavily regulated, with powerful DMZs to prevent channelers and unauthorised technology from tapping into the city’s ambient energy streams within these high-traffic, public areas. As a result, Roun, Seth and Zadavia found themselves all completely depowered within the recreational area.

As had been the case for the past three days, Roun and the others were required to sit quietly and focus their attentions inwards, attempting to make contact with the psychological representations of their own channeling abilities. For Roun in particular, this constituted an attempt to tap into the will of Synchros, which acted not just as the psychic manifestation of his own channeling ability but also the avatar for the legendary Guardian.

Unfortunately for the youngster, with his energies so heavily suppressed, this proved to be an almost impossible feat. This fact served only to bring about mounting frustration; breaking the youngster’s focus on his internal energies and causing his mind to drift towards his surroundings.

Despite being unable to actually tap into the energy streams that flowed around him, Roun could still sense the ambient zeta that permeated the atmosphere. As was usually the case for areas under the effect of demilitarisation, instead of this ambient energy existing in its wild, free-floating state it was ‘locked’ into an occupied but ultimately inert state. This unique phenomenon allowed the demilitarised zeta to be drawn in by his body’s natural energy-induction field but prevented it from actually being utilised for channeling effects. This meant that it could not be used to amplify his body or be coded into any of his natural abilities – a particularly frustrating fact.

As he focused his attention on this locked zeta, he began to visualise it, associating the abstract feeling that was his zeta sense with actual sights in his field of view. Soon he was visualising what he already knew, the fact that this zeta ran along highly organised grids, deviating only from these straight paths where it entered the zeta induction fields generated by channelers and zeta based technology. Soon he could actually perceive the beams of zeta streaming through the environment, bending only as they neared his body and those of his brother, mother and Zadavia. A smirk broke across his face at the unique sight, before he expanded the range on which he focused. Soon he was also detecting more subtle diversions of these energy streams as they passed by public data terminals, communication points and what he could only assume to be the underground locations of the DMZ generators responsible for the ‘locking’ effect.

Slowly his light smirk broke into a wide grin. The abstract tingling that he had previously felt in response to the energy signatures of nearby technology and channelers was now replaced by distinct visual singularities. For the devices in his immediate vicinity these points coincided with the locations of their zeta capacitors, the technological marvels that allowed them to draw in and store ambient zeta. But as he turned his attention towards the channelers around him, he found that he could also see their own internal capacitors of sorts – the single point from which their zeta-induction field seemed to emanate. As he turned his attention on himself his own body was no different he realised, as he looked down at a single glowing point within his torso. Almost subconsciously, this glowing point took on a golden hue and at that very moment everything that he was seeing ‘clicked’ for the youngster. This was the visual representation of his own channeling potential – the physical manifestation of the mental concept with which he had been trying to connect.

All he would do was smile at what he’d managed to stumble onto. Now he focused on this single point, using it as his anchor as he tried to connect to the psychological manifestation of the source of this unique phenomenon. As he closed his eyes once more, the visible environment faded from his perception but the interconnecting grids of zeta and the focal points created by channelers and zeta capacitors remained. Soon this energy grid filled his mind, drowning out even the sounds and smells of the environment. Instead his perception was filled only with zeta constructs and their unique properties. He could now visualise the unique energy signature of his mother and his brother, even Zadavia’s comparatively small zeta spike. He would sense how these ‘organic’ signatures differed in their dynamism from those created artificially through technology and he could even sense how these organic signatures differed from each other and more specifically from his own. It was truly an amazing feeling.

As he focused heavily on his own energy signature, the manifestation of his own channeling potential permeated his senses, its unique energy signature akin to a heartbeat pulsing in his ears. But as he continued to focus, he realised that it was slightly more than that. His eyebrow tipped upwards at this revelation, noting only now that this pulsing was not one or even two, but three ‘heartbeats’ – the representation of the three primordial forces churning within him. Realising this, he tried to break down the golden glow into its composite parts so that he could identify these forces. This took some doing, but soon the abstract glow became more defined, manifesting as a luminous golden core orbited by two rings of flame. Roun just smiled. The core of his abilities was undoubtedly his aesis; the crux of his channeling abilities and the energy that came most naturally do him. Around this core orbited his two secondary energies: the green flames of veranos and the golden flames of synchros, which manifested as spiralling rings.

As his channeling core became more defined to him and his focus more intent on it, the pulsations related to these three heart beats became stronger, drowning out the other energy signatures in his vicinity and then, slowly, even the locked ambient zeta that flowed around him. Soon all he could feel was the ebbing and waning of his own channeling potential and the sensation of his abilities washing over his entire body.

“Alright, that’s enough for today.” Naomi’s voice unfortunately shattered his focus, causing him to lose touch with the sensation and drawing his mind instantly back to his surroundings.

The feeling was akin to being roused from a dream, leaving the young channeler groggy and somewhat disoriented. Naomi watched as Roun blinked slowly, trying his best to get his bearings as he allowed his biological senses to once again take centre stage in his perception. This took some effort, but slowly the visual manifestations of the zeta in his environment faded and the pulsing of his own energy signature subsided. As the world sharpend into focus, Roun could have swore that he saw green and gold embers dissipating into the ether—but he knew that was impossible. Instead he just shook his head, refocusing his perception to filter out these apparitions as he focused on the three other channelers around him.

“I think we’ve all made significant progress today—” Naomi noted, as his attention turned slowly and fixed on her. “—so I’m giving you all the day off, we can pick up where we left off tomorrow.”

“That sounds great.” Roun muttered with the residual grogginess continuing to fade as he made his way to his feet after three hours of sitting.

“Yeah, you’ve been here almost two months now and you haven’t even had a chance to check out the old neighbourhood.” Seth asserted with audible excitement at the sudden development, bounding to his feet at this point.

Roun just nodded in response.

“That’s true.” Roun conceded as he now did his best to focus on the conversation and not be distracted by what he’d just experienced. “I wouldn’t mind checking out my old stomping ground.”

“I suppose your father and I may have been a bit overzealous with your training.” Naomi conceded with a solemn nod. “But as a result you are progressing rather quickly; so I suppose you’ve earned yourself a small break.”

“Yes!” Seth sounded, much to his mother’s amusement.

“Take the day off and entertain yourselves.” She added. “See the sights and sounds and introduce Zadavia to the best city on earth.”

Zadavia just laughed.

“I like the sound of that.” She replied, while Roun and Seth just chuckled.

“And Zadavia, you do me a favour and keep my reckless sons out of trouble.” Naomi replied in turn, causing Zadavia to nod at her request.

“I’ll do my best.” Zadavia asserted, much to Roun’s and Seth’s amusement.

“Do you want us to walk you back to Masamune before we take off, Ma?” Roun inquired now, but Naomi just shook her head at the query.

“That’s fine dear, I’ll call Ryuu to pick me up.” She replied. “You kids go ahead and have fun.”

“Will do.” Roun and Seth replied in stereo.