Eiden woke up and ate breakfast with Fin. He and the Exorcist were now meditating at their “training-grounds,” the secluded piece of white cliff that dwelled between the Mundane and the young mage’s soul.

Meditation consisted of focusing on his breathing. Just that. It was excruciatingly basic compared to entering one’s own mind, or any other thing Eiden felt they could’ve done. But, nonetheless, Fin had emphasized how important it was. This specific meditation had a name, known as simply The Empty Breath. Eiden couldn’t let his mind wander, nor could he daydream. He had to focus only on his breathing for a quarter-turn of an hour. But, to the young mage, it felt much longer.

Eiden opened his eyes when he heard a click from Fin’s watch.

“Time.” Said the Exorcist. “You know you’ve got a sixth sense for knowing it’s time to stop, eh boy?” Fin let out a chuckle, his laughter warm and good-natured—a contrast to his hard and stern face. His face was like a carved idol made from wood, his creases and crinkles looking sculpted from an ancient oak.

“I know you don’t much like it.” Said Fin. “Young blood has energy that aches to be released. But, this meditative technique is important. It’s a building block for most other types of meditation and mind-altering magic.”

“Aye, that it is.” Said Eiden, remembering the morning’s talk with Fin about training.

“We have three major things we need to work on. First and most important is figuring out both your Arcanums and their underlying mechanics. Arcanums aren’t just types of magic. They are much more, and now that you need the full knowledge of it, I’ll give it to you.”

“Arcanums are bundles of Arcana, as you already know. Arcanums allow a mage to Transmute their bodily mana into a different mana type. What you don’t know is that Arcanums enable one to change reality according to the domain their Arcanum falls upon. They are much more than specialized Transmutation Mediums. Arcanums can bend the very fabricate of reality when they become strong enough.

“The more specialized an Arcanum, the more powerful it is, but the less versatility it has. A Fire Arcanum, for example, cannot as precisely control heat as a Heat Arcanum.

“Arcanums can be seen as how one’s soul interprets reality and what it most resonates with. We need to figure out what Arcanums you have so you can best focus on your strengths. We can shore up any cracks in your magic when we know your limits.

“The second major goal is Percipience, or integrating all of your magical Senses. Exorcists are investigators and trackers. They are hired to deal with things inside cities and have less leeway than a simple mercenary. But, they get better support from the Order and better pay. Your magical Senses will allow you to see when there is no light. Hear where there is no sound. Track your quarry across vast distances. And read the world like a book.”

“The last but not least objective is Concrescence, or augmentation of your body and spirit. Since your reserves aren’t cutting it in this Mundane land for heavy magic use, we’ll need to fix that while refining your physique...”

Fin snapped his fingers, bringing Eiden out of his memories.

“We’ll focus today on figuring out your Affinity Arcanum. Summon it once more.”

Throughout most of the day until the begging of the afternoon, Eiden had tested his Affinity Arcanum. Eiden summoned blue flames, wind, and the chill hoarfrost. All throughout, Fin asked Eiden questions about the feeling of the mana being Transmuted and the Call of Knowledge that whispered through Eiden’s mind.

“Your Affinity Arcanum is most likely a Vibratiokinesis Arcanum.” Said Fin. “The ‘movement of the spheres’ your soul whispered to you about is the internal movement of an atom—one of the smallest parts of reality. It’s what makes up everything that takes space and has weight. An atom looks like a tiny sphere. It’s so tiny you can’t see it, unless there’s a bunch of it or under the right circumstances. Like how sometimes you see dust floating in the morning light because of an open window.”

“So, what does that mean for my magic?” Asked Eiden.

“It means you’ll be able to control vibration. It has a lot of versatility but not a lot of power. At the fundamental level, vibration has many aspects—probably why your Arcanum appears as a crown with different facets of power. Those facets will be your most potent magicks, but you have much more under your control than that.

“Since vibration comes in many forms, it’s different faces appear to be entirely different from one another, but are at core quite similar—vibration is movement. Heat, cold, sound, and force are facets of vibration.

“Heat is the chaotic movement of atoms where they all go in random directions. If you were to measure their ‘strength’ so to speak, you’d see that it would equal zero. The movement is so chaotic that there is no primary direction. It cancels itself out.

“Cold is the lack of or low vibration. It doesn’t actually ‘exist’ so to speak. Cold is a fabrication of our senses. Cold objects have less internal vibration, and so, they sap heat from their surroundings. A lack of motion in one’s organs, such as the heart, leads to death, so our bodies have methods to alert us to the danger. The feeling of cold being one of them.

“Sound is a wave of vibration through the air that reaches our ears. And force is vibration with a specific direction, so you can think of it as order when compared to the chaos known as heat.”

“Interesting, and how do I control this vibration?” Asked Eiden. “So far, I can only Transmute mana into the three facets from the crown. I can’t actually control anything yet.”

“The Arcane Sight.” Responded Fin. “Where Aura Senses are mostly spiritual, the Arcane Sight is mostly soulceric or Sorcerous. Both use the Aura and soul but use different parts of them. Aura Senses use what you already have—sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch—giving you a glimpse into the magical. The Arcane or soulceric Sight is much more alien or otherworldly when compared to Aura Senses. The Arcane Sight opens your eyes to parts of the world seen through your Arcanums. Given the name.”

“Why didn’t I gain access to this sight when I connected with my Arcanums?” Asked Eiden. “And how do I achieve this sight then?”

“The reason you didn’t gain them was flight or fight. Your body enters this state when it thinks it encounters danger. Your latent strength, stamina, etcetera, come into play, and your senses heighten. The same is true for the soul and spirit. And like the body, parts of the soul shut down to increase chances for survival. The Corporeal body’s guts and intestines shut down to conserve energy, and rational thought becomes muddled to allow for more instinctive and visceral reactions.

“The Arcane Sight is shut off to avoid over-stimulus. It can easily overwhelm one untrained in its use in the midst of battle. It would be like having thousands of eyes and shining lights everywhere, easily distracting one from a blade ready at the throat.

“Unlocking the Arcane Sight after an Awakening as turbulent as yours will be no easy feat, considering you’ll have two of them. We’ll first train your Aura Senses, so your mind gets the hang of its extra senses. More specifically, we’ll unlock most if not all your Aura Senses.”

“Wait, all of them?” Asked Eiden incredulously. “I thought I was just going to be getting used to my present Aura Senses, not acquiring new ones.”

“No worries, lad.” Said Fin. “You’ll do just fine. In all due, though, you were going to have to acquire another Aura Sense type whether you like it or not. Your range of magical perception would be too narrow. The Empathic Aura Sense is based on the mind, and as such, only detects Mental mana at range. For you to sense another mana type, you would need to form a connection.

“With you acquiring more Aura Senses, the Arcane Sight will be much, much easier.

“No worries, lad.”

Though Fin’s face left nothing to be easily read, Eiden could tell what was beneath the amicable face filled with wrinkles. A hint of predatory glee came through Fin’s Aura, almost undetectable even to Eiden’s Empathy. Whether knowing of the emotion beforehand would do him any good, Eiden did not know. If anything, it made the young mage regret knowing. Trepidation filled his mind as Eiden asked Fin the question he had been waiting for.

“So, where do we start?”

“One moment, lad.” Said Fin, reaching to a bag he had brought with him to the cliffside.

The Exorcist lifted a handful of colorful, shimmering rocks like glass. Crystals. The crystals had their own light, producing incandescence the same color as their glassy exterior.

“This,” said Fin while arranging the crystals in a neat row. “Is how we are going to unlock your Aura Senses. You’re gonna smell ’em.”

“What?” Asked Eiden, letting out a chuckle.

“It’s best to unlock the closest and or hardest to grasp Aura Senses. Luckily for you, the closest for you is also the hardest one. Well, all of them technically are. Yours is just so far off from the most other Aura Senses that unlocking a second one will be hard anyways. But I digress.

“These are spirit or mana Crystals. They are crystals formed by high concentrations of specific mana types. The most common being Earth mana. None of these are pure, so they’ll have varying different mana types inside them.

“I will hand you different crystals, and you’ll close your eyes and form a connection with them. This will trigger a mix of Aura and soul Senses. soul or spirit Senses because you’ll be creating a connection with the living stones. Your Aura Senses will trigger because of your Empathic Sight.

“I will then throw a mana-forged rock, with roughly the same mix of mana found in the crystal you are holding, at you. Then, you dodge. And no opening your eyes. The added stress will help you unlock your Aura Senses faster than normal meditation.”

Fin’s mouth crinkled ever so slightly upward at the sides. His smiling eyes betrayed what his mouth was trying so hard to conceal.

“Which one will it be then, lad?” Asked Fin.

Eiden narrowed his eyes, his human right hand going towards an orange crystal. The glass-rock glowed with the orange-red of firelight, its incandescence shifting in waves like a flame.

Eiden extended a connection towards the spirit Crystal. At first, it seemed he had failed, not feeling anything from the living rock. Then, he felt heat and warmth. But, it was not on his skin—it was a mental feeling, coming from everywhere and nowhere at all except. The crystal itself felt warm in his hand like the cliffs under his feet on a summer day.

Eiden felt Fin’s mind flare in intent like a beacon in the night. Now.

Eiden quickly rolled to the side, expecting to hear the sound of a rock

hitting the cliff or “whooshing” past his head.

The sound did not come.

Eiden looked around until he saw Fin smiling smugly as the Exorcist sat with his legs crossed, basking in the sun.

“Remember, Mentalists can fake emotions. And I didn’t even need to fake any. I just decided to throw it and then decided not to instantly. My mind is much faster than yours.

“So, no cheating for you, young Exorcist. Only for me. The objective is to activate another Aura Sense after all, not hone your present one.”

Fortunately for Eiden, the young mage had held onto the firelight crystal without dropping it. Though, even if he were attacked, he could not let it fall to shatter. It was alive. Though he knew the dark truth of life, he could not kill something without a good reason. For one to live, another must die. That truth was weaved into the fabricate of all. And ever since Eiden’s Awakening, his understanding of it had grown in leaps and bounds. Eiden felt himself taking the essence of life from the food he ate, his Ethereal and Corporeal stomachs working in conjunction to replenish his gestalt being. Though he could not tell exactly what his stomach made of flesh and blood did, he could tell what his spirit did. It broke down mana found in food, creating Life and Blood mana and sending that towards his Ethereal Heart to be distributed.

Eiden’s connection to Blood mana allowed him to gauge his bodily mana usage and how his Corporeal blood flowed. His spirit used not only its own channels but also his body’s veins.

Eiden turned back to the rock filled with the precious blood of life, closing his eyes and focusing on its spirit.

Beneath the glass surface was a series of mana channels, not unlike his own. The rock itself had an Aura, undulating like a warm hearth and filled with the precursors of curiosity and inquisitiveness.

Eiden felt Fin’s mind flare once more. The young Exorcist ignored it.

Instead, Eiden let his Aura fill out the environment around him, covering himself in an Auric Shroud. There. A warm presence entered his expanded Aura, giving Eiden just enough time to roll aside.

“Aye, lad. Nice one… Catch!” Said Fin, throwing another crystal towards Eiden.

Eiden rolled towards the crystal, catching it with his clawed hand.

The scarlet-red crystal squirmed under his Vampirirc grasp. Inside the crystal, blood boiled its ebb and flow as tiny veins of glowing vermillion spread throughout the rock.

Eiden’s Vampiric hand was a wolfhound waiting to be sicked onto prey, its claws extending, and the digits themselves elongating like a bat’s wing.

Eiden quickly dropped the crystal with his left and caught it with his right hand. Close.

“Good thinking. But still, you’re gonna have to hold it with your left. You need to control the hunger and bloodlust. Or else, you’re gonna get your neck ripped out when inside a Crawler den—a Lesser Vampire found in caves that smears blood on the walls of its nest. Or lose your wits when you cut a brigand. Or… You’ll turn. Remember, lad:

“The only difference between a Blood mage and a Vampire is addiction. Surrender to the bloodlust, and you’ll suffer a fate worse than death. Not that I need to warn you what awaits a leech.”

Eiden gave the Exorcist a quick nod and put the Blood mana Crystal in his monstrous palm. Like last, both the claws and the rock were agitated when together. The living stone repelled at the black talons, trying to escape from its would-be predator. If Eiden’s left hand had a mouth, it would be frothing at the mouth, saliva dripping to the warm marble ground.

Eiden forced his Will and control over the claw. And like a puppy being scolded, it relented. The claws still relayed to Eiden their will to feed, but did not attempt to pry open the living rock like a clam to eat its soft insides. Eiden let out a sharp breath of relief.

“Ouch. Motherfu- Ah, stop it!” Said Eiden, jumping from spot to spot as Fin shot Forged stones at his feet and legs, one getting dangerously close to his stones.

“Don’t think you can drop your Auric Shroud so easily without reprieve.” Said Fin. “Besides, you’re doing it wrong. You should only envelope your surroundings in Aura when you’re not in a fight. It leaves you easy to attack since your awareness and attention are too spread out. If you were tracking prey, it would have sensed your presence like a beacon and fled. Aura Senses allow for ranged perception without the need to expend mana like an expanded Auric Shroud.

“Here, try this. Focus your shroud to three finger-widths away from your skin.” Seeing Eiden restrict his Aura to the correct distance, Fin continued. “Aye, that’s good. Now, you’re trying to activate your external magical Senses, not your internal ones. You were expanding your Aura to the point that you could form a connection with any Forged stone that entered your range. You may have felt some of its primitive mind mana but did not actually feel any other mana type. We aren’t trying to hone your Empathy.

“But, nonetheless, it was a good try. Your instinct to expand your Aura was a decent one, but remember that magic is a sophisticated art where leverage over power and precision is vital. Though you could connect with anything that entered your Aura, that connection would leave you weak. A mind mage could easily exploit that connection and create a mind Fog, the likes of which would leave you confused for weeks.

“Now, give me the Bloodstone and form another connection with the Firestone. Don’t expand your Aura. Focus your awareness on the spirit Crystal. But don’t form a connection with anything other than the stone in your hand. Oh, and enter the Empty Breath. Got it?”

“Aye. Let’s do it.” Said Eiden.

The young mage closed his eyes, brushing his Aura over the Firestone. Eiden kept his Aura restricted at three finger-widths away from his skin. The act felt like he was tightening a second layer of skin over his own like a blanket. Manipulating his Aura was remarkably like moving limb and muscle, being second nature.

Eiden felt the aspects of stoic earth and fervent heat radiating out from the Firestone. Underneath earth and fire was Life mana. What’s the difference between Life and Blood mana? The concentration of Vitality?

Eiden shook his head, shooing away the distracting thoughts.

Eiden descended into The Empty Breath. The young mage let out a breath, focusing on his breathing and on the Firestone. Though he could not hold both in his awareness simultaneously, he could alternate between them.

Breath.

Stone.

Breath.

Stone.

The words echoed through Eiden’s thoughts as he alternated his awareness between breath and Firestone. Burning at the back of Eiden’s throat opened his eyes in a blaze. The smell of acrid smoke burned through his nostrils as a Forged stone flew towards his head.

The young mage tilted his head slightly to the side, having no time to do more. The stone flew past, leaving Eiden unharmed.

“There you go, lad!” Said Fin with a smile plastered on his face. “Now we have to isolate that Aura Sense by itself so you can get a better feeling for it. The best way to do that is by creating a Mental Artifact or Construct that represents your Empathy. And then, you break it.”

“Won’t that destroy my Empathic Aura Sense?” Asked Eiden with eyes wide in worry.

“Yes and no. Yes, but only for a time. And no, because it’s reversible. You cannot permanently destroy a magical Sense while inside your mind. You cannot alter any part of your body while inside your mind without proper techniques. Otherwise, Mentalism would transform its practitioners into monsters every time someone entered their own mind.

"Besides, it’ll be too difficult to focus on a newborn Aura Sense when you’re still bonded with another.

“Enter your mind and summon your Empathy. Since it’s a place of pure thought, simply thinking of something will summon it if you do so with enough intent. When you’ve summoned your Empathic Aura Sense, create a physical representation of it. Think to yourself, ‘what is Empathy?’. The question should evoke some image. Then you must join the two together.

"Give me the stone.”

“Here.” Said Eiden, handing the Exorcist the Firestone.

“Sit and begin.” Said Fin.

“Ok.” Said Eiden, closing his eyes.

The world went dark as he descended into his mind. And then there was light and substance. With grey water under his feet, Eiden walked. Empathy.

mana bled from under the still water in clouds and fog, coalescing into an amorphous, undulating orb of Aurai. The white Aurai felt like thought, like connection. It was Empathy.

Arcs of lightning sprang from the Aurai cloud. The Aurai emanated consciousness and inquisitiveness of its surroundings. Intelligence, the stuff of the mind. Empathy is based on mind mana. But why is there Lightning mana as well?

Images flooded Eiden’s mind within a mind. Thousands of minuscule spheres with tinier still spheres orbiting them in turn. Atoms. But what are these tiny orbs that circle around atoms?

A tendril of lightning originating from the Aurai cloud surged towards Eiden’s mental form. From the form’s head came another tendril of lightning as well, racing through the form’s spine and down the arm towards its finger-tips. Lightning met lightning in an epiphany. mind mana and Lightning mana are alike. Those orbs that circle atoms are lightning! Actual, Godsdamned, lightning! Wait, everything has lightning? No, that’s a question for later. Focus.

The lightning orbs sprang from atom to atom, forming connections. It’s like mind mana. So, mind mana uses the same principles as lightning to create bonds. And this Aurai is my Empathy in its purest form. Now, I need to give it a physical form.

What is Empathy?

Nothing.

What is Empathy?

Nothing. Eiden received no images and no flashes. So no more gifts. Why was I shown something before, but now I get no more help?

Well, what is Empathy to me? A connection. A tendril of Aurai reaching out towards another. Lightning. A tendril of light and heat reaching out towards another. Emptiness.

Another epiphany hit Eiden. Lightning sought emptiness. It sought balance.

If lightning and Empathy are alike, how are they different? One seeks emptiness and the other…?

Substance. The connection itself is what Empathy seeks. A branch. Empathy is a branch seeking the sun. Seeking the substance of something else and of itself.

Eiden stopped the thought inside a thought, coming back to the Stillwaters of his mind. Empathy is a tendril. A tendril is a branch. A branch is a twig.

Eiden looked down at a branch in his hands. It appeared without warning at his thought of it. The twig was the sort of thing found at the forest’s floor, forgotten by its brethren atop where the sun graced their leaves. It was a memento of a once-connection. Of something greater.

Eiden snapped the twig in twain. He did so regretfully, the act itself filling him with pain and despair, the likes of which he only saw on that night.

The young mage opened his eyes to the world outside, feeling isolated. There was no call of connection. There were no emotions to be felt around himself. Insidious depression from within emanated like a spring of poison water. There was nothing else to ground him. There were no emotions that emanated from his surroundings to distract. Only that which came from within was present, forcing Eiden to confront the feelings he had hidden away and ignored.

No, not now. Focus.

Eiden looked at Fin, feeling no Aura or emotions from the Exorcist.

“It’s done.” Said Eiden, his voice as monotone as stone. A hint of despair, like the breaking of glass in a storm, wormed its way into his stone voice.

“Aye, lad. Now focus on your own Aura. I’ll Forge a stone, and you’ll guess its primary mana type. Don’t worry, lad, it’ll be over soon.”

Eiden nodded and closed his eyes, focusing on his Aura. In the absence of Empathy was another sense. Smell and taste. The two senses intertwined in his Aura, allowing him to feel the bleak world in another color. The wind smelled like rain and snow. Wind and Water mana. The ground tasted like metal and warmth. Earth and Stone mana with a bit of Fire mana.

Smell and taste-based Aura Senses were like having a nose and tongue in place of Eiden’s Aura. The young mage felt like a puppy, sniffing at the world around him, filled with so many new smells and tastes.

The smell of acrid smoke and blistering heat at the back of Eiden’s throat alerted him to the contents of Fin’s Forged stone. The smoke had tints of metal and the smell of dust. The blistering heat felt like his throat and tongue were on fire.

“It’s mostly Fire mana with a bit Earth mana mixed in.” Said Eiden, opening his watery eyes. “Pass me that waterskin. The heat from that stone is killing me.”

“Good job, lad.” Said Fin, throwing a waterskin to Eiden. “Descend into the Empty Breath, and unfocus your awareness on your Aura. The burning should pass quickly.”

Eiden took a swig from the waterskin and descended into the Empty Breath, unfocusing his awareness from his Aura. The burning quickly subsided, but there was still the smell of smoke and metal in the air. Earth mana lingers while Fire mana dissipates rapidly.

Eiden opened his eyes and nodded to Fin.

“Let’s do it again.”