“You don’t understand, yes it’s a terrible risk to anger Kouki. But, if I can eliminate him or even better get him under my control… he’s the encapsulation of almost all the lessons you can learn in the Veiled. If he trained my agents suffice to say world domination would be child's play. So, damn the consequences, all roads will eventually lead to conflict with him. It might as well be on my own terms.”

~ Krista Noches, The Director of the Veiled

Kouki

Summoned again to the Grand Councilwoman’s chambers and it’s no surprise what we’d be discussing.

“Sid breaking into the academy like this is an utter fiasco and obviously changes our stance. We can no longer tolerate the Veiled being out of line!” It’s been a while since my ears felt this kind of passion come from the Grand Councilwoman. But like I said, it’s not surprising given what went down. This guy just swoops in past all security measures, threatens a couple of students and without any reason leaves behind his purpose for even coming here. Then has the nerve to set an arbitrary deadline for his return. I almost admire his bravery. “Kouki, you wanted the job and now it’s yours. What is your plan?”

“It’s not very complicated. I’m going to ignore them.” The Grand Councilwoman shoots me a look that implies quite a bit of profanity. But it’s Kareasa who decides to actually question me.

“Excuse me?”

“Look, the only reason I asked for permission in the first place is because finding Noches is next to impossible. So the only way I’m gonna be able to get to her-”

“Is if you lure her out.” Kareasa interjects.

“Exactly. So, you’ve been playing your roles making me seem like the real threat to her goals and that means I’m marked for elimination. All they’re likely waiting for is me to get out in the open away from the academy. But it has to make sense and I have to actually be vulnerable for them to take the bait.” The Grand Councilwoman puts her hands in front of her face, taking a moment.

“What’s the timeline?”

“The plan will take six months. I prepared for this eventuality and everything I need will be ready in 30 days. Some of the steps are a little shuffled but it’s no big deal. I’ll leave the academy shortly to serve as the bait for my trap. In the meantime, there’s a student that I think has potential and before I go it’s important that he be set on the path.” The Grand councilwoman raises her head to look me in my eyes.

“What student and what path?” I can’t help but smirk.

“Well…. Don’t worry about that. Point is the trap will be set.”

“Well then, I’ll leave it to you.”

Good. With free reign to handle this all I really need to do is prepare my ace and give that kid his first lesson. Using my spirit sense, I track him down.

Chase

I’ve been thinking about what the Tether said. Does he really think I have potential? Would he have given me an impossible task like lifting the stone of Xaltas if he--

*KNOCK KNOCK*

“I know you’re in there. Come on out, I want to show you something.” That’s definitely the Tether’s voice. How did he even know I was here? I should still probably respond.

“Okay, coming… you’re not gonna kill me right?”

“Why would you ask me that?”

“Well you’re showing up mysteriously at my door and you have a reputation.” There was a small moment of silence…

“Fair enough. The thing is if I wanted to kill you I could have done it at literally anytime from the moment we met to now and you literally wouldn’t know it till it was too late. Besides, I don’t offer training to people who I want to kill. Now come out, there’s not much time.” Getting out of bed, I follow the Tether to the training grounds. He raises his arms, pointing to the Stone: A small mountain of a rock with two very large hand-shaped indentations. The legend states that Xaltas was the spiritualist of strength, able to shatter mountains with his fist, cause earthquakes with a single stomp of his foot, lift impossible things...like things that would collapse in on themselves if someone actually did lift them up. Supposedly this rock was the only tool he used for training.

“Here is the great Stone of Xaltas. Many think of his feats as just legends but I’m here to tell you they weren’t. He really was that strong and now it’s your turn to do what he did.”

“Like right now?”

“Of course not. But kinda yeah. Okay let me explain. See, the strength Xaltas had was a combination of factors. For one, his body was conditioned well beyond that of what even a naturalist should be able to achieve. However, the real secret is that Xaltas knew a secret. He had the ability to manipulate the intrinsic arcana of an object through his own spirit.”

“I don’t get it, Mr. Tether.”

“Don’t call me that. My codename is only for missions. You are to address me as Kouki. Let me demonstrate.” Kouki raises his hand, outstretching his palm and little crackles of orange lightning emit from his body, scorching the ground around him then racing into his palm taking the shape of an oblong circle…a chain link.

“This is my signature technique. It's called ‘Chain Lightning’. I can produce hundreds of these links and manipulate them any way I please.” He demonstrates by making the link as big as his own body, then as small as a pebble, long, short, thick and thin. Then he plucks the link, making it surge straight into the ground and causing a small explosion that leaves behind an impressive crater. Seeing this power and this level of control has me dumbfounded.

“Wow! That’s amazing.”

“If you think that’s amazing then watch this.” He reforms the link back into his palm but then he aims the link towards me. Wait, towards ME?

“Hey wait a minute!” I yell but it’s too late. He’s already plucked it at me. This whole time he only lured me here to kill me, after all. I should have known better. My eyes close as the end draws near...but then it doesn’t draw near. Opening my eyes the link is directly in front of my face suspended so close to it that a little bit of lightning jumps on my nose, causing it to tingle. Kouki recalls the link and then closes his hand on it, dissipating it entirely.

“Heh, I thought I was dead there.” The Tether gives me a concerned look.

“Look, there’s going to be some dicey moments training with me. But I kinda need you to trust me. Well at least enough to not think I’d murder you in the most obvious way. The point of that display is that I control the link no matter where it is or what form it takes because I’m controlling the arcana it’s made of. All things are made of arcana and that means if you can learn to control the arcana it’s made of something as simple as lifting it will be no problem.”

“Okay, so how do I do it?” The Tether places his hand on my chest and closes his eyes. I can see arcana starting to emit from his hand but it’s pure arcana instead of his lightning arcana. It makes a hand and goes inside of me, then the hand pulls and just like that I’m looking down at my body. This whole experience is jarring.

“What?!”

“Calm down. I just pulled your spirit out of your body. How does it feel?”

“It feels...free. No weight, no aches or pain, but everything looks completely different. I can only see arcana.”

“Good, now try to interact with me.” It takes a second to get my bearings. Floating around as a disembodied spirit is new to me, after all. Once I feel comfortable I move my hands or whatever the spirit equivalent of that is to the Tether’s shoulder and I slip right through him. The Tether chuckles then folds his arms.

“See, your body and it’s fundamental components are set to keep their shape. When you attempt to interact with something while in your body, you experience what we collectively call touch. However, you aren’t a physical entity right now and you aren’t set to keep any shape during your interactions. Try it again but this time focus on your hand. Tell it to keep its shape.”

I do as I’m told and concentrate entirely on my hand and the energy that makes it up responds by tightening into clusters. Slowly I move it to the Tether’s shoulder.

“Keep your shape...” My hand inches closer. “Keep your shape.” It starts to meet with the arcana that makes up the Tether’s shoulder and as I press the arcana in his shoulder gives, leaving my hand print behind.

“I get it. You’re trying to teach me how to manipulate my spirit by taking my physical body out of the question. Now that I know how it feels for my spirit to move and the kind of will it takes to move it I can move the rock.”

“Well… not exactly. That’s just the first part. The next part is getting back into your body. See, now that you have rudimentary control over the arcana that composes your spirit, you now have to return to your body before the spirit link to your physical body disappears and leaves you disembodied forever.”

“What?! Why did the stakes get so high all of a sudden? First we were having a good training lesson and now me getting to live is on the line. That’s just too high of a leap!” My senses are telling me that the Tether is smiling at his handiwork. “How can you be so casual risking my life like this?!”

“It's simple really. I know you’ll be fine. This lesson is simple, all you’re gonna do is something you’ve always done every moment since birth. You’re going to synchronize the arcana of your spirit with your body. Just float your way in and concentrate on shaping your spirit to your body, then tune the shape as you feel the arcana of your body resist until there is none. Just be calm and know that I’ll make sure they never find your body if you don’t succeed.”

As a spirit I can’t really make an angry face but I try to anyway. Floating over to my body is easy. Asserting my form to synchronize with it is turning out to be hard. As the arcana in my spirit clusters together, the resistance becomes too much and I’m ejected from my own body. How is that even possible? I try it again and instead of just being rejected, I get this feedback that feels more painful than anything I’ve experienced up to this point.

“I don’t get it. Why isn’t this working?” The Tether tilts his head.

“Try it again but this time go slow. Focus on synchronizing just your hand and the hand of your spirit. Sense, see and feel at the same time how the arcana of your spirit and the arcana of your body interacts with each other. Ease yourself in from there.” One more time. My mind is calm concentrating on the shape of my hand. The resistance is there so I shift the composition of its shape almost as if I were trying to put on a glove that's an exact fit. Eventually, the resistance lessens and then a new sensation is present: synchronicity. This feeling is a feeling of oneness, of completion...as if every part of me is in perfect harmony and peace. Using this feeling, the rest of my spirit slips back into my body.

“Good, now try to hit me.” I follow the Tether’s command and move towards him but I’m much faster, almost as if I didn’t move. It’s like the world moved him closer to me. My fist reaches out and hits the Tether’s hand, creating a shockwave. I’ve never experienced power like this before.

“How is this happening?” The Tether knocks my hand down.

“You tell me. What can you see?”

The arcana that makes up my body is all moving at the same time in perfect concert with the arcana that makes up my spirit. All of my power is moving all of my body. It’s like punching when your kinetic chain is in alignment. The power you produce from throwing your whole body into a punch is far greater than the power of a punch that only uses your arm.

“All of me is going into every move I make. It’s less like I’m mechanically moving my body and more like I’m puppeteering my body, forcing every bit of arcana to behave according to my will.” The Tether claps his hands.

“Wonderful! You understand. What you’re experiencing is Spirit Harmony. Now, I want you to remember how this feels. Your next step is to be able to achieve it at will and then the step after that is to harmonize with the arcana of other objects.” The Tether disappears right before my eyes again. But this time I can kind of sense him.

“Wait! Where are you going? Is that really it?”

“You still haven’t passed my test. Achieve the things I’ve laid out for you while I’m gone. Oh, and by the way, I’ll be gone for six months on an important mission.” Just like that he’s gone. His presence vanished completely. But, for the first time ever I feel like I can truly be powerful.

End ~