Taya stood across from everyone else, hands on her hips.

She’d noticed that over the last few days, Seang had been drifting away from her position as leader of the Easterners, though she still presumed herself as did the others. But she no longer stood with Taya, instead acting like she was a member of her party.

But all that was unimportant right now.

“You heard Ruhak.” Taya said, “War is coming. And that means our great enemy has decided to have another go at us. My party has never had to fight off an army and from what I hear, you Easterners have little experience combating Bane Knights and Royals.”

The room murmured in agreement with her assessment.

“I want everyone training these next few weeks. Everyone. Including myself. Our powers manifest because of our emotional journeys, and while we can’t expedite the process, we can make it more efficient. I want you to set daily meditation or reflections for yourself. They’ll do just as much to make you more prepared as physical training.” Taya said, “Spar with each other, teach each other, ask your comrades for help when you need it. Don’t be afraid to delve into the abyss of your psyche. We’re here to pull you back out. These are your brothers and sisters in arms now. I trust you all to have each other's backs. Understand?”

Everyone nodded.

“There’s not a second to spare. Get training.” Taya said, “Except Bjorn, I need to talk with you.”

Her allies scattered in different directions to work with their powers. Taya dragged Bjorn by the wrist into an empty pantry in the kitchen and closed the door of the dark, tiny room.

“Alright, so this is one of two things,” Bjorn said, “And I thi-”

Taya kissed him.

“It’s the second, then.” Bjorn smiled.

“I do actually have something to talk to you about, but...I don’t foresee us having much alone time until we start marching.” Taya wrapped her arms around the back of his neck and kissed him again.

Taya knew well that relationships between allies in what was soon to be essentially a militia were bad for morale, but she wasn’t about to let that stop her. As long as she and Bjorn kept it quiet, they could carry on and not deal with the affects it would have on the group.

Taya’s hands ran over Bjorn’s lean muscles, forged from years of fighting, while his hands ran down over her behind and picked up her thigh. She wrapped the leg around him as though she was trying to meld the two of them together into one body.

They broke off their kiss to breathe.

“Fuck, okay. Let’s put a pause on it here. I actually wanted to talk to you. I just couldn’t resist,” Taya said. “If I go any longer, I won’t stop for...well, who knows?”

Bjorn sighed but nodded, “I guess it’s kind of on us for deciding to start this thing in the middle of a war.”

“There are worse times.”

Bjorn chuckled, “Really? Like what?”

“During or right after a funeral.” Taya shrugged.

Bjorn part-scoffed, part-laughed. “So what is it you needed to talk about?”

“It’s about the Easterners. I’ll need to help them through understanding their aspects. I don’t think anyone knows what I’m really saying when I talk about Remembrance. But I have to keep training myself. I need someone else to help our party.” Taya said.

“You mean...me?” Bjorn asked, “I am equally clueless about all that stuff.”

“But I think you get the stuff I talk about the best. I’ve explained it to you once before.” Taya said, “And besides, maybe it’s not a good idea for all knowledge of the Companies and values to be in just my head.”

“I thought you said you got all that from archdruids.” Bjorn frowned.

“And is someone else going to go around Sklava for years, seeking hermits and dead men before it’s too late? Besides, I was the one who had to put all of their disparate teachings together. Give me that much credit.” Taya crossed her arms.

“Right.”

“And by the way, don’t go toting the definitions and mantras of the companies as slips of paper you can just hand out to people and make everything better. It won’t make anything better if the person doesn’t discover what these things mean to them. Our position is just as a guide. If they come and ask for help or if they need help, offer a few pieces of advice. So I won’t be telling you much more about Conviction.”

“Which ones should I know?”

“Frankly, all of them.” Taya said, “But for now, just the ones our people are in. The aspects are the big thing, not the mantras. Normally people will discover the mantras through their Shedim.”

“Um...does one of the mantras happen to be ‘true weakness is allowing fear to enslave you’?” Bjorn asked.

Taya blinked, “What?”

Did...did he already say one of the mantras?

“I said it on the ironclad when I was a prisoner. That was what caused the lightning bolt to hit it.” Bjorn said, “I think.”

Taya laughed in disbelief, “Gods and demons, Bjorn...that’s the first mantra of the Searing Breath.”

“So...what changes?”

Taya shrugged, “All the information I got was pretty vague, but you’ve probably earned something.” Taya shook her head, “Anyway, the values. Ruhak and Ricco’s problems have to do with ambition. Cecile’s with evolution. Gustave’s issues are with cooperation. Sila is with remembrance. Peng has issues with humility. Remember, these values are the goals they’re working towards, not what they already are.”

Bjorn nodded.

“So on ambition…”

____________________________________________________________________

Ruhak faced the door frame between the common room and the estate’s backyard as Ricco passed through the wall as though it weren’t there.

“What do you think?” Ricco asked, “Do I phase through, or does it look like I just appear there?”

The mercenary now wore a black brigandine vest that outlined his lean build, with plate pauldron strapped to his arms, making him look far more muscular than he was. The vest had a high fabric collar, which Ruhak was thankful for.

Something about Ricco just looked...wrong without a high collar.

“I...wouldn’t know.” Ruhak shrugged, “Your body glowed green when you stepped through and...nothing really changed aside from that.”

“Okay, let’s try it again, but watch to see if there’s...a gap between what you see of me on one side and what you see on the other. Like if I passed my arm through, does my arm look unusually long? Actually, let’s just do that.” Ricco said. His body glowed once again as his arm passed through the wall, coming out the other side.

Ruhak narrowed his eyes. “I suppose it looks a bit long. Why is this important?”

“Because if my body doesn’t just pass through surfaces and instead goes through somewhere else and appears on the other side, I think I may be able to do a lot more than just walk through walls.” Ricco held his finger up.

Everything the pirate said had some kind of latent enthusiasm behind it, which made his every word more charismatic.

“Hey…” Ruhak muttered.

“Yeah?”

Taya had said it: Ricco was his brother in arms now. He could open up to him. To any of them. It would strengthen him.

“We’re both in the same Company, right? So we have the same value, that being ambition.”

Ricco raised an eyebrow. “What about it?”

“Could you...tell me what you know about it? I’ve felt adrift ever since I got here. Without having to watch my back every day or worry about being attacked, I’ve been questioning why I’m here.” Ruhak sighed.

Ricco’s arms dropped to his sides, and he stopped glowing. “Look, I don’t have all the answers. But I know how you feel. Even though you know what’s going on is important, you just can’t make yourself care. You think that in order to feel you have any sort of meaning, you have to do something stupid.”

Ruhak nodded, “I suppose. But...I don’t really know how to fix that. All the things I’m good at-”

“Now hold on,” Rico cut him off, “If I’m not wrong, ambition isn’t about what you’re good at. It’s about what you want. I know that much.”

“Well then, what do you want?” Ruhak asked.

Ricco thought for a moment.

“I...I don’t know yet. Perhaps I want to want something. And that’s good enough.” Ricco shrugged, “Though I would argue that Taya has a lot more to say that could help you.”

Ruhak shook his head. “I think you understand my issue better. I don’t think Taya could relate. It seems she has things all figured out for herself.”

Ricco tilted his head. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that. No one really knows what they’re doing. Not even Taya. But she has faith that the path she’s chosen will work out for her. I think that’s what makes her different. And who knows, maybe she used to be just like us.”

Ruhak grimaced, “I’ll consider it.”

“What specifically caused you to ask?” Ricco asked.

Ruhak shook his head. “Nothing important. I just...wanna get your perspective.”

Ricco frowned, “Well, feel free to answer that again when you don’t wanna lie anymore.”

“I-” Ruhak stopped himself, “If that’s what you wanna think.”

Ruhak turned his back to the pirate and marched off. Who was he kidding? Of course, he couldn’t open up to Ricco. He’d barely known the man for a month and now they were supposed to act like battle brothers?

Just because Taya said something didn’t make it true.

__________________________________________________________________

Shakti stared at the blank page in her sketchbook, charcoal in hand, but completely stuck on what to do.

She’d drawn small animals, she’d drawn weapons and armor. She’d even drawn food and people. She brought all of those drawings to reality.

But none of them were real.

They could be seen and heard, but her hands passed through them like mist whenever she tried to touch them.

What was she meant to do with that?

While Seang channeled the power of the sun, Lokapele boiled the earth, Najeem hid in the shadows and Shahla brought men to sleep with the moon, Shakti couldn’t even bring her drawings to life. Rather, they were fake images. Nothing of actual substance that could help in a war.

Sometimes, they’d just up and disappear without her prompting. How was it she had such an unreliable power? Did the ‘master’ part of Shedim Master mean nothing? It was as though her power had a mind of its own.

The images would move or talk or make noise without her command. She tried her damnedest to control them, but they’d just vanish.

Shakti tossed her sketchbook aside. Why even keep trying?

She folded her arms on her knee and hung her head with a sigh.

“Your Shedim troubling you?”

Shakti glanced up at the Sklaveni woman before her, blocking out the afternoon sun.

“What’s the problem?” Taya asked.

Shakti huffed, “My Shedim is worthless.”

Taya furrowed her brow, but sat down next to her on one of the estate’s many stone benches in its labyrinthian gardens. “That’s a rather serious issue.”

“My power acts on its own, regardless of me. I don’t understand why it’s happening. I’m supposed to be a Shedim Master, aren’t I?” Shakti asked. She didn’t quite understand why she was spilling all her frustrations onto this woman. There was something about her that made Shakti feel secure, as though she could say anything and Taya wouldn’t judge her for it.

Taya let out a small laugh. Not a condescending one...or at least, Shakti hoped.

“Shedim Master is actually a bit of a misnomer.” Taya said, “We do not wrangle our Shedim like animals. That’s what Banebending is.”

“So then, what are we?”

“We bond with our Shedim. We aren’t masters and servants. We’re partners.”

“Well, mine appears to not care for that. My power continuously refuses to work with me and what’s worse is that the power itself doesn’t even do anything. I can manifest an image of anything I draw, but it’s not real! It just vanishes!”

“What’s wrong with that?” Taya asked.

“It’s unreliable.” Shakti said.

Taya narrowed her eyes, wanting to say something. “Illusions can be rather useful, you know. When we march, you could make it look like our army matches the Nikan million. You seem more frustrated with something else.”

“What would that be?” Shakti asked, perhaps a little too defensively.

“I don’t know yet. I’m not you.” Taya shrugged. “But if you really don’t think your power has any use, do some trial and error. Try the most outlandish things you can think of. All that matters is that you don’t give up. So long as that’s the case, you will find something.”

Shakti muttered, “Thanks. But I doubt that’ll happen.”

Taya frowned. “Why do you say that?”

“I’m a coward.” Shakti said, “I’m probably just going to give up, anyway. Hell, I almost sold out my friends to get an easy way out.”

Taya nodded, “See, that’s it. The thing you’re actually frustrated with. Talk to me.”

Shakti blinked. Taya spoke as though she’d said nothing. How? Why? Did she hear her correctly?

“On the Khongirat steppe,” Shakti started, mind more focused on the enigma before her than the story itself, “I was mistaken for Shahla and kidnapped by Sultan Ali. They let me go and wouldn’t hurt me on the condition that I take the watch shift when they would attack us and let them through. I didn’t tell anyone until hours before it happened.” Shakti gave the complete story before ending it with, “Orhan’s clan is dead. Because of me.”

Taya shook her head. “Orhan’s clan is dead because the Nikan slaughtered them. If you’ll let me speculate a little, I think...I think you see yourself in your power. That’s why you’re upset at it.”

“What?” Shakti asked.

“You dislike your power because it’s unreliable right now, right?” Taya asked.

Shakti nodded.

“Why are you upset with yourself about the steppe situation?”

Shakti paused for a moment, “Because I...I was unreliable as an ally. People put their trust in me and I betrayed it. My loyalty wavered because I wanted an easy way to escape.”

“So why did you end up telling them about the attack?” Taya asked.

“I had a talk with Seang right before. She said I...I deserve nothing less than what I want. What I want is to pursue my art. But under the Nikan, I won’t be able to do that freely.” Shakti said, “She knew I wanted to leave. But she didn’t tell me to stay.”

“She had faith in you. She believed you would make the right choice. And you did.” Taya said, “Now instead of having everyone dead, at least you and your friends are alive.”

“How does this relate to my Shedim?”

“Give the same benefit to your Shedim.” Taya said. “You can’t expect to bend it to your will and be happy about the arrangement. You both have the same goal: Defeat the Empire. Have confidence that it will be there for you and you guarantee it will.”

Shakti nodded. That’s right. It worked when Seang did it for her. She would do the same for her Shedim. But...it sounded simpler than she knew it would be.

“Everything is a spiral.” Taya said, “Our minds like to operate in spirals. By starting with a mere act of kindness or with a small inspiration, your mind will take that and dig itself further into positivity and prosperity. But the same is also true for Despair. That’s what makes Despair such a powerful enemy. Especially since it takes hold by default. But by simply choosing to fight it, you become fit to truly pose a threat to it.”

Shakti chuckled, “I...I think I have an idea.”

Shakti grabbed her sketchbook and charcoal before hesitating.

She put them down. “No, I don’t need these. Or maybe I do. We’ll find out.”

Shakti stood and took a deep breath.

She would regret this.

Why? She thought to herself.

No matter what she did, she wouldn’t have control of her Shedim. How was a surface-level change of thought meant to fix its behavior?

I’m done running from things I can’t control. That’s how relationships work. If I wanted to run from what I can’t control, I should’ve just stopped caring about anyone or anything.

Her Plague Scar shined bright pink as wisps of light gathered around her. They swirled around, becoming a coherent shape that Shakti tried ever harder to visualize in her mind. Cold ran through her veins, the power pricking at her from within.

Finally, the shape solidified into an exact copy of herself. Shakti moved her arms a bit, and the copy mirrored her actions. Elation washed over her as the copy displayed her success.

“I may not fight as well as the others,” both Shaktis said in unison, “But you’re right. I can find a use for this power. Hell, I can find a thousand. Even if my Shedim doesn’t cooperate, it’s better than lying around doing nothing! Who knows, its idea might be better than mine.”

Taya smiled, “I can wait to see what the two of you come up with.”

Shakti blinked as a string of words slipped into her mind. An undeniable truth that demanded to escape her lips, “True weakness...is numbness.”

A rush of cold shot up her body as her Shedim tore itself from her body, elegant as usual, but...powerful this time.

“Spoken, are the words of the Quickening Heart!” the Shedim announced triumphantly, drawing the attention of those who were training on the stone terrace, “Cruel is the coldness of Despair’s icy touch, but it is outdone by the warmth of Passion’s embrace!”

Shakti’s eyes widened with pain as she screamed and fell to the ground. Taya rushed over to help her. She could feel her Scars growing, stretching up her hand and wrapping around her wrist. Songs of all kinds filled her ears while everything around her started to look more simplistic, yet more abstract at the same time.

“Hear my kin, enemies of man! The Hearthkeepers will ignite their flames once again, fueled by the love offered by mankind! Despair will no longer encrust the vulnerable with shells, convinced to seek shelter from pain, for the rewards of love will rise above anything the deceivers offer!”

_____________________________________________________________________________

Bjorn was getting better.

A bolt of lightning had diminished to only a fraction of what it would’ve cost before saying the mantra. He never really saw the actual effects of joining the Searing breath, but here they were.

Not only was his lightning less costly, but it was now versatile.

He could create axes and javelins made completely out of electricity. He could unleash domes of energy that would protect him from just about any conventional weapon.

And most important, he could summon dark storm clouds in the sky above him to bring down bolts of lightning that before could only be thrown by gods.

He spent this morning practicing on the terrace, breaking in his new armor and weapons, getting a feel for them and how well they handled his powers.

“You’re still practicing?”

Bjorn came to a stop in the midst of his training and turned to look at Cecile. She had opted to wear nothing more than medical supplies and a simple blue Sarfan dress with golden trim instead of armor and weapons. Golden ringlets decorated her braided brown hair. It certainly didn’t look like she intended to do anything for training or practice more intense than a brisk walk today.

“Still practicing?” Bjorn asked, “Yes. What about it?”

Cecile shrugged, crossing her arms and looking off into the distance, “I mean...I get why Taya’s so insistent about everything. But do we really need all this?”

“What do you mean?”

“I just feel there’s a certain point where practice stops being helpful. We’ve trained for months with these powers and I think we’re okay to relax a little.”

“Cecile, there’s a war coming.” Bjorn said, “And even if there weren’t, we should still try to get better at using our abilities.”

“How? I don’t have any better way to use my ability. I speed up the movement of water. I cleave someone in two with a waterskin.” Cecile said, “I know there’s all the evolution stuff Taya talks about, but that applies to the ones new to this, not us. Aren’t I good enough as is?”

“I don’t think I can answer that question.” Bjorn said.

Cecile frowned, looking irritated. “Or you’re just too afraid to say. If I’m not good enough, just tell me. But as far as I can see, there’s nowhere else for me to improve.”

“I can’t answer it because I don’t know the answer.” Bjorn said, “It’s not my power. I don’t know all of what you can do.”

“Well, what about yourself? I’d argue you’re at your peak.” Cecile said.

Bjorn scoffed, “My peak? I barely scratched the surface of what I can do.”

“And you’re supposed to figure all of that out before we march?”

“Well, no,” Bjorn muttered, “I don’t really need to learn anything else for the sake of the battle, but war is a prime opportunity for anyone’s complacency to be punished. I’m going to do the best I can to make sure no one can exploit that. Your ability may seem stale, but I guarantee you there’s a thousand different ways to use it you haven’t discovered yet.”

Cecile sighed and shook her head, “Honestly, I think you’re just paranoid. Why bother to fix what isn’t broken?”

Without waiting for a response, Cecile simply walked off, heading back into the house.

Bjorn huffed. He wasn’t afraid to answer.

It’s okay if she thinks that way. She’ll figure it out, eventually. Have faith in her. He told himself, putting his mind at ease as he returned to his training.

____________________________________________________________________

Najeem exited his room, cradling his head. His mouth desperately screamed out for water.

Steel followed him, its dark form dragging shadows in the hallway with it as it levitated behind him.

“Najeem, running away from your contemplation isn’t going to-”

“Look, I just need a break, alright?” Najeem muttered, “All this shit is messing with my head. Isn’t meditation supposed to calm you?”

“Only when you think about nothing.” Steel said, “You’re so close to freeing yourself.”

“You know, I think I’d rather talk with another human about this.” Najeem said as he turned into the common room.

“What a coincidence. Here I am.” Taya said from a couch, sipping fragrant Koini tea.

Najeem stopped in his tracks as Steel vanished.

“You’re Shedim’s pretty chatty, isn’t it?”

“Didn’t you say you would train?” Najeem asked.

“I did. This is my break.” Taya said.

Najeem walked into the kitchen and poured himself some water into a ceramic cup from a jug and brought it over to the common room, seating himself on one of the cushioned benches.

“So what’s your Shedim pestering you about?” Taya asked.

Najeem took a long sip from his cup, then wetted his lips. “Humility.”

Taya let out a small chortle. “I think that’s probably the toughest one of all of them. Yet also one of the most vitally important.”

“My Shedim is on and on about expectations and how harmful they are.”

Taya sipped her tea, “But…?”

“But I can’t help but shake the feeling that I need some kind of expectation for myself. A standard to live up to.” Najeem said, “If I abandon all the expectations I have for myself, then what? How do I decide what’s right and wrong?”

Taya blinked. “How do you…your empathy, dipshit. You wanna tell me that without your moral framework, you would be apathetic to a genocide?”

“Well...no.” Najeem muttered, “Even so, I-”

“Look, it’s good to hold yourself to a certain standard. But more often than not, if that standard is somebody else’s, you’re just going to end up hating yourself every time you mess up.” Taya said.

Najeem sighed, “Well, it would’ve been helpful if my Shedim just put it like that. The more I try to reflect and the deeper I go, the more complicated it gets. Isn’t it supposed to be simpler?”

“Where’d you get that idea?” Taya asked.

“That’s how most things go, right?”

Taya gave him a look.

“Wrong?” Najeem amended his answer.

“Think about it. Reflection is a skill. You need to maintain the basics until they become second nature and continue to build on it. In order to progress, build on what you have. Take swordplay. Sure, practicing the basics is easier at your advanced level, but how about learning anything new? How often does that happen?”

“Barely at all.” Najeem muttered, “I guess...it is harder the further you go on. But then what’s the end? When does it stop being a challenge?”

Taya shrugged, “As far as I can tell, never.”

Najeem scoffed, “Then what’s the point?”

“To make the challenge less daunting.” Taya said, “You’ll never stop facing challenges. But the more you progress, the easier it’ll be to take on those challenges.”

Najeem huffed, “I’m thinking more than I ever have before, but am I really getting any better? I don’t even know what humility is. I get a different definition every time I try to think about it.”

“Well, let’s see.” Taya considered, “Humility has a lot of aspects. But as simply as I can put it: Humility is not expecting anything from anyone. Sounds pessimistic, but you can still believe in people and you can still have high hopes, but humility ensures disappointment does not destroy you. It lets you get up again from poor results outside of your control.”

Najeem pursed his lips. “That’s sort of what I thought. My focus has been on pride, though. But...given your definition, I guess I would define it as...having expectations? No, relying on expectations.”

“Precisely. To be strong is to be self-reliant.” Taya said.

“So then…” The perfect words seemed to spring to mind, “True weakness is expecting the world to fit your perception.”

The moment he said the words, pain shot up his spine, like lightning shooting up his body. He keeled over and let loose a scream of agony. A burning sensation climbed up his back from his scars.

His Shedim’s voice boomed with words he couldn’t hear well through the pain before it all suddenly stopped.

Najeem staggered to his feet, bewildered, “What the hell happened?”

“You joined the Calloused Hand.” Taya raised her hands slightly in almost mock excitement, “Yay.”

“You seem underwhelmed.” Najeem panted.

Taya shrugged, “Well after a while the speeches the Shedim give start dragging on.”