Chapter 63: Lost Connections

He tried to remain silent as there was a surprising current of energy that passed pleasantly through the pillar into his arms and seemed to travel as if his arms were wrapped in a hot blanket. Then the heat settled pleasantly in his chest as if he had quickly drunk a hot beverage. His body then was slowly lifted off his feet, like the others, his chest aligned in position over the pillar. The dome began to close as Trint prepared to lose consciousness like the others. The enclosed dome began filling with a mist that grew thicker. Trint took a tentative breath of the vapor. He continued to breathe with his eyes closed to avoid seeing the impending bright flash of light.

Indeed, a light flashed but with the flash, the heat in his chest was gone. Trint felt icy cold on his skin and opened his eyes. He was no longer in the dome over the pillar.

Trint was standing in a brightly lit room. Looking around the room it reminded Trint of a mix of an advanced computer lab and a jewelry store. There were gems of various sizes and colors in jars on one wall. They were organized by color with the reds on shelves at knee height and then progressing up to a small handful of violet gems seven feet high. The other walls contained a host of machines. Trint thought they resembled walls of computers with readouts and monitors. Then in the back center of the room was what appeared to be an exam table and a glowing form resting on it facing down. Trint’s eyes then drifted to the only other person in the room. They were facing away from Trint, intently examining the holographic display on the table. Trint quickly realized it wasn’t just any person, it was him. The blinding flash of light from Trint’s test was on display as it coursed through his body in an extremely slow motion. The light had already dimly lit branching pathways in his body. The recent changes in his core and his Spirit Body blazed a different color. But the branching pathway spread like roots up from the pillar, through his chest. The main roots went to his head, his shoulders, and then down to his stomach. The branches off shooting from there were just barely visible but were getting brighter by the moment as the test proceeded. The flash was spreading millimeter by millimeter through the display but the longer he watched the more the branches glowed. They had begun red but as the flash pushed forward the light changed along the spectrum, growing deeper and becoming opaque. From red to orange, to yellow for the briefest of moments, then to green and blue but rapidly it all went to violet and then black. But the formerly opaque colors now black glowed dark blue internally and began to leak a mist that filled the image of Trint, not going beyond his skin. It looked like a billowing fog and became like clouds. These storm clouds began to have small static charges that began forking into miniature lighting, no longer than an inch but increasing from one every ten seconds to more and more.

“Excuse me,” Trint finally spoke to the person observing his image over the pillar. “Where am I?”

The person startled and turned as if hit in the back. The observer was a man wearing a thick tan apron over a blue robe. It appeared heavily used with holes burnt into places and stains in random splatters. Various tools were sticking out of pockets on the front. He adjusted his large glasses to sit on top of his head and leaned forward towards Trint. Then back at the display he had been observing and pointed.

“How are you…here?” The man wondered, looking back and forth.

“I don’t know. I was hoping you could help with that. Where is…this?” Trint spread his hand toward the room.

“Where? No, I need to know the when? What year is it where you are from?” the man asked excitedly.

“I’m sorry I don’t know. I’m not familiar with the calendar of the people who are running this test. What year or time are you from?”

“Founders Calendar 1756 or 1756 FC I suppose. I really wish you knew. Apologies, I am Phinry or Phin,” He took a steadying deep breath. “I am…no, was lead researcher, during the Founding of Cease. Is it still called Cease?” Phin paused to ask.

“Yes, I believe so. How are you here and why am I here?”

“Well, I, or at least my Soul was mirrored to empower several devices like this to continue my research of the Souls. I was not satisfied with seeking Ascension before I understood more. Unfortunately, I couldn’t share my data with my original self. I was reduced to sending basic information through this device. It should have helped further the understanding of Souls. Can you tell me what the current understandings are out there now? I’ve sent so many data points, they must have discovered more.”

“Unfortunately, I know very little. The basics of what I know are very limited. I was told that Souls need an anchor to have a Lineage, a Seat, and a Name if you are fortunate enough to get them. Other than that, I saw that there are colors along a spectrum. I don’t know how it all works and how it is different from what those in the System versus the Subsystem Cease people know.”

“Hmm, such limited knowledge and basic understanding. Even if you are not part of our people…,” Phinry trailed off, rubbed his chin, and pondered to himself. His attention snapped back to Trint as he adjusted his glasses. “Please take a seat,” Phinry indicated for Trint to sit across from him. “I have no idea how long I have before you must leave and if you can take some knowledge back maybe it will help. I usually get a few hours to examine the projections and run a few simulations. I will set the simulations to run while we talk,” Phinry turned back to the table and began pressing buttons and observing a display. “Are you new to the System, young man?”

Trint took a seat across from the desk as Phin finished his inputs and moved away from the holographic display table, to take a seat at his desk.

“Yes, I have recently come from a world outside the System and was introduced to the iterations rather abruptly.”

“Hmm…Well, then. That makes a little sense.” Phinry looked at his wall of gems as he trailed off in verbal contemplation. “You must have found a way from the iterations to the Subsystem and caught the attention of the Cease and now they are testing you, clearly an anomaly,” he said, looking back at the display of Trint’s glowing holographic form. “What you said about Anchor, Lines, Seats, and Names. That is true but it leaves a lot out. I am left to assume, either you are ignorant since you are so new to the System or due to changes in Cease understanding. I am going to explain a few things assuming the worst. That being that the key understanding has been lost or misunderstood over time.”

“Rather than try to verbally explain all I can fit into our time, I have a much more efficient way to pass you the information. I wish I could give you everything, but I think we need to focus on foundational training, assuming key components were lost. I also need you to take the cutting-edge information back. All these stones represent data, test results, and experiments. I have stored the information of generations of testing in the gems. I, as a Scholar, chose to focus on first classification, then potential prediction and next theoretical implications, and finally on True Ascension preparation based on my hypothesis.”

“Okay, where do we start,” Trint’s eagerness and excitement were now seen in a widening smile.

“Well…” Phinry jumped out of his chair and went over to some drawers. He pulled out a box and returned to the desk. Carefully he set the box down and opened it, so the contents were seen by him first. “Yes, this is the one,” Phin sighed with fondness. “This represents the foundation of my teaching before being mirrored and stuck here. Please take the gem and will it to melt in your hand.”

Trint leaned forward to peer into the box. Carefully he reached into the box and grabbed the gem. It was the size of a walnut but appeared to be a sophisticatedly cut yellow diamond. It was beautiful and it weighed a lot more than it should. Trint eased back into his seat, looked at Phin, and then thought about the gem melting and flowing into him. As he did the gem did as his will asked. Bright white filled his vision and then it was gone.

“That was faster than I imagined,” Phin turned back to Trint. “That only took five minutes.”

“That felt like it was a few seconds of blinding white light. Why don’t I feel different or know things I didn’t before?” Trint felt a little deflated.

“Don’t worry, it worked,” Phin grinned happily. “You just won’t be able to access the data till you leave here. You aren’t truly here anyway. Your Soul is. And in the Soul or matters of the Soul, time does not pass normally. How long did the test of an individual take while you were watching others?”

“Not long, maybe a few minutes,” Trint said.

“Yes well, here I perceive each test about 100 times slower. In some powerful Souls, time seems to cease flowing. The tests usually run for 1.8 seconds in your world. The rest is just the instruments preparing for the test. So, we would have about another 175 minutes. Your test is just about to deliver the initial readings.”

Stat Average: 54th Percentile

Mana Rank Average: 15th Percentile

Spirit Stat Average: 100th Percentile*** (Multiple Errors)

Skill Proficiency Average: Common 20% Mastery, Common (Average)

Soul Potential: ***% Black (Multiple Errors)

“What’s this!” Phinry looked back and forth between Trint and the readouts. “I expected surprises with the results, I mean no one has manifested in my lab before and the display was abnormal…” Phin mumbled to himself. “These errors! How can you be so weak in mana and have such terrible skills for your level and yet seem to have complete Spirit mastery? And more importantly, how is your Soul beyond Violet? Wait, don’t answer that…” Phin held up his hand indicating Trint not to speak yet.

“I need to check the specific errors…” Phin ran to another screen and began inputting commands. He was visibly showing signs of anxiety and paused only to run a hand through his hair while thinking. And the tapping of his right foot began increasing in speed.

“No, this won’t do. I mean I probably won’t exist here forever, but I can’t let this destroy my entire facility…” His thoughts began spilling from his lips but not directed to Trint. Dropping his head in resignation he stayed that way for a few seconds.

“Time for you to go,” Phin sighed with sadness. “The last thing I thought I’d get is to see another person. But I can’t risk keeping you here longer. If the machine continues processing your results to isolate and quantify your errors, I fully expect this testing site to become inoperable. It is a matter of its limitations and your results being both beyond my measurable parameters and that the energy your Soul is pushing through my machine will destroy it and therefore me if given much more time.”

“How can my Soul be pushing against your machine? I don’t even have my Soul yet?” Trint challenged.

Phinry smiled a big and curious smile. “You don’t know what you have, do you? Or what it can do? Do you even know who gave it to you?”

“Well, I was adopted by a powerful family in the higher iterations…” Trint was cut short.

“Not that! I can easily see you are an heir and a Sovereign. No, it’s the other connections you have…”