Aias woke up feeling hazy, he could barely open his eyes, his eyelids where just too heavy. He tried to massage his eyes but couldn’t feel anything, had he lost his arm, or was he just too tired to feel it.
Aias memory felt foggy, he had no idea what had happened. Last thing he remembered was fighting in the training exercise against the other children of his class, but he could only remember fighting ten or so opponent. Was this defeat, had he finally lost. It felt odd, like something was wrong. Before coming to acceptance with loss he first wanted to know how many he had actually managed to beat.
Aias used some effort and got his eyes open. He looked around to see where he was. It appeared to be a normal room but the walls designs seemed different from the ones the orphanage use. The orphanage used marble walls with inserted earth elemental mana for protection, these walls on the other hand appeared to be made from stone. However though the walls may be of simple stone Aias did noticed a small trace of energy overlaying them, this was most likely a fortification spell to make them harder to break if something attacked.
Aias had for a long time read books concerning energy and how its can be used, one use that almost all energies share are inscriptions. Inscriptions are patterns to make a spell be used long after the caster had left it. Looking at what an actual inscription looks like in both form and energy made Aias realise how complicated they really were. In all the books and scrolls it only looked like squiggly lines and dots but now looking at the real inscription was like seeing the difference between day and night.
After inspecting the walls briefly Aias remembered that he didn’t actually know where he was. Aias tried to stand up to leave the room but there wasn’t so much as a twitch from his body, even his head couldn’t move around making him unable to even look down at himself. The only parts of himself he could see where his cheeks and nose, and he noticed something was wrong, the color. His normal rose colored cheeks now appeared to be dark blue.
He had clearly taken a hit to the head and that was most likely why he had been knocked out. The damage from the hit might have even hurt his spine enough that he wouldn’t be able to move for a while. Hopefully it wasn’t anything worse.
As Aias came to terms with his inability to move he decided to take the opportunity to study the complex formations on the walls while waiting for whoever had placed him in there.
Three hours later he still couldn’t grasp even a part of the complex inscriptions on the walls but now he heard footsteps outside the room.
In entered O’jghar, he brought with him a tray with soup. “So you have awoken. You are far stronger than I expected” O’jghar said expressionlessly as if it wasn’t a compliment but just a fact. “However you have hurt yourself far too much, it took sixteen surgeries to repair all the damage that was done to you!”
Aias eyes widened and he couldn’t believe it, just how badly was he hurt. “From what the headmistress told me, you even died three times while she operated on you.” O´jghar added.
Aias didn’t doubt him, his tone, the look in his eyes, the corners of his mouth, all of it pointed to him being serious. Just how badly hurt was he! Aias tried to ask a question but found that even his mouth was unable to move.
O’jghar noticed how Aias appeared to want to say something and decided to give a thorough explanation.
“After you beat the last of your classmates you still stood there unable to move, or even think, at that point you were confirmed dead. The teacher noticed your condition far too late and didn’t stop the fights in time, he has now been fired and given capital punishment for risking a student's life in a situation like that.” O´jghar looked to see how Aias would take the news of the teachers punishment and was surprised at the calm look he got back.
“You were quickly brought into a medical room and the headmistress began a surgery trying to essentially resurrect a dead person. Luckily she managed to make your heart beat on its own again after six hours of infusing energy and reconstructing it. It was short lived however as you were only alive for about two hours before your heart failed again. It took her another three hours to make you stable again and she continued for another six just to be sure” O´jghar’s usually tranquil uncaring face now became pained after thinking back.
“That also was a short lived success as your heart only lasted one hour without her energy supporting it, at this point she gave up on restoring your heart and instead focused on finding other problems with your body, and there were several. Your lungs had pieces of rib bone piercing them, your liver, kidneys, stomach, pancreas, intestines, spleen, all smashed. Basically every part of your body was destroyed except the brain. The headmistress is currently in an especially bad condition herself after being forced to use all her power to heal you” The look O´jghar gave Aias wasn’t one of resentment or any type of hate, he just looked sad.
Aias had expected himself to be hated for having the headmaster use everything she had to help him. But it appeared as is O´jghar was more concerned for him.
“The headmistress could only get you out of critical condition before going into a coma of her own, you have also been in a coma for about a month now. Also as you have noticed you can’t move, she only got you out of the critical state, your muscles and bones haven’t been healed one bit”
Aias wasn’t very surprised, his whole body had been destroyed, what was he supposed to expect, magically everything would be healed and everything would be fine, a coma and a lot of lingering damage, he was really lucky.
“I will be helping you take care of the damage to your body so none of it becomes a lifelong disability but it will take some time till you can move normally. Im expecting it to take about four years till everything is back to normal.
F, four years. Aias mind couldn’t handle the sudden news. There was so much more he wanted to know but it all disappeared with the words ‘four years’. ‘That’s far too long a time to not train during’ was all he could comprehend in the end. What was he to do, he didn’t want himself to waste away laying in bed while others were becoming stronger. ‘Is there anything i can do to recover quicker?’ Aias had to at least ask.
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O´jghar noticed the look in Aias eyes and understood what he wanted to convey “Sadly the damage to your muscles, bones, and nerves are far to severe for any healing found in the Antrim kingdom to help with. What you did was far too much for yourself to handle. No, for anyone to handle! Fighting against twenty five people who are all physically stronger than you is insane!” O’jghar’s voice carried with it concern but also fear for what Aias would do.
This wasn’t the type of fear that one had for someone with potential, or someone strong, it was meant towards those who you can’t understand, or those who are actually able to risk their life without a reason.
“Either way you are now my disciple and i will teach you everything i know, academics, energy, and techniques. You will be taught as much as i can teach you before you turn sixteen, then you are free to leave” O’jghar had changed his tone back to the almost emotionless state it was with before.
Aias became somewhat confused, what can he be thought if his body is in a constant state of paralysis. Sure he could read books, well, be read books unless someone turned the pages for him. And so he could become an academic but that wasn’t why he decided to become O’jghars disciple.
However he quickly realised that he had never been lacking in physical prowess, on the other hand now that he had tried out energy location he could tell that he himself compared to anyone else was a mile apart. When it came to anything related to energy, he was a failure.
Now that he couldn’t train his body he instead had to train his energy. Aias definitely wasn’t going to let himself waste away, he was going to get back his strength but first he would learn to control this new power!
Energy location was considered to be a very easy step in the process of training with energy however it took him three months to find it the first time. So how was he going to handle the next step, manipulating the energy he had found.
The energy manipulation stage was considered far harder than the energy location stage, most people would need months to make considerable progress and the time it takes to progress just keeps getting longer as you get stronger.
Energy location and energy manipulation both continue improving as you gain more experience however time is needed to work on them yourself. And the hurdle that is the first step of moving the energy of your core through your body is a huge experience. Aias remembered some of the fights he had had during the other day’s combat exercise and it seemed some of the other children could still only summon some energy to their fingertips and that was while using all their attention to energy manipulation.
All Aias could do was hope that he wasn’t as bad at energy manipulation as he was with energy location.
………
Aias was told to rest for the rest of the day. They were to begin lessons the next morning as O’jghar appeared to wish for Aias to start learning as soon as possible.
When Aias awoke the next morning he sensed energy seeping into his muscles. The feeling was faint as he wasn’t able to feel anything from his body, only his core was able to sense the energy. He knew the energy was coming from outside himself but he had no idéa where as his head was still pointed towards the ceiling.
Aias had now gotten a proper rest and with it came more clarity of the situation, everything he had done, and the consequences it had brought. But he didn’t regret anything! No matter how long the recovery took, or how long it took for him to learn to control his energy, he definitely wouldn’t give up.
If what O’jghar had told him was true then he hadn’t lost to any of his classmates. He had remained victorious even when the odds were against him.
Aias saw O’jghar in the corner of his eye, he appeared to be sitting by a table on the other side of the room.
O´jghar appeared to be concocting a potion, whether this was for him or something else Aias couldn’t tell as he had no never properly learnt alchemy, chemistry, or herbology.
After roughly an hour O’jghar finally finished fiddling with ingredients and sat the potion on a brewing stand to let it heat up. O’jghar walked over and sat next to Aias.
“Before i begin my first lesson I will tell you what you will be learning under me” He sat there contemplating how to tell Aias. It was clear that O’jghar had never taught anyone before, at least not on a personal level. But Aias remained patient as he wanted to get any information he could as clearly as possible.
“Your body shouldn’t move at all for another three years, so during that time I will concentrate on teaching you about energy. I will teach you the three steps of energy control and help you master them as best as i can. After you have begun being able to move around again then you can start learning important academic subjects like alchemy, herbology, geology, astrology, cartography, history, mythology, inscription, and smithing. Smithing you will start learning when your body is fully ready” When O’jghar finished explaining what he was going to teach he looked to Aias and saw how he didn’t seem enthusiastic about learning the many subjects.
“Alchemy, inscription, and smithing are all useful if you are ever in a situation where you don’t have the necessary equipment to handle a situation and there are no close towns to get what you need”
“Herbology, and geology are obviously used for alchemy but can also be needed for basic survival. Knowing what is and isn’t poisonous and how to safely determine if it is are all good skills for a traveler!”
“History, cartography, astrology, and mythology are all useful if you explore unknown lands, and ruins, or come in contact with countries where you have no ties. They can all help greatly during a transaction or contract”
O’jghar briefly explained what merits each of the subjects would give someone who wishes to travel the world. Aias knew he had to learn some academic subjects but to think so many would be useful for something other than officials work.
“I will be giving you some lectures on the different subjects while you are still bedridden but i feel it’s better if you focus on learning energy manipulation first” O´jghar quickly pointed out before continuing.
O’jghar once again began to ponder over how he was going to explain his next lesson. “We should begin with learning about the three important steps of utilizing energy. First energy localisation, you have already learned how to do it and without this no one can use the energy they have”
“Though you do already know it i will still explain it before continuing. Energy localisation is to enter one's deeper consciousness where everything that your being is is contained and find your energy. In this space the most bare thing you will find is your core” He paused to think, it appeared he wasn’t sure which parts he should explain and which parts were unnecessary.
“A person's core is comprised of many different energies, some have special energies and some don’t have certain normal energies. The only energy that is known we all share in common is ki. This is because ki is something created inside us humans as we live. Most monsters don’t have ki unless they have managed to absorb it from a human”
“Energies that are created inside a creature or plant are called internal energies and are often contained inside the being that created them, not seeping out to the environment around them. Then there is energy that is created from the world itself. Water, fire, earth, and air all create mana. The mana in nature always mixes with other mana making it neutral, which is why the mana inside us doesn’t naturally have any affinity, however we can remake it inside us to become the elements they were originally made from”
Again O’jghar paused wondering what to explain next but Aias had a question, ‘You said the core is the easiest thing to find but what else is there in my consciousness?’ Obviously he couldn’t ask it, but he tried his hardest to focus his eyes to convey what he wanted.
O´jghar noticed and wasn’t sure which part Aias wanted to ask about so he went through the speech again this time looking at Aias reaction. When he came to ‘most bare thing you will find is your core’ Aias eyes flared up trying to convey his message.
“Are you perhaps wondering what else there can be inside a person's consciousness?” Aias eyes again flared up to give his approval.
“This can’t be explained, every person has a different consciousness so we all have different things contained within. The only thing known to always be in there are a person's soul and core. And even if you were to go through your entire consciousness you would most likely only find your core, this is because you aren’t strong enough to feel anything else yet” he waited to see if there were any other questions from Aias but he had understood.
Aias also came to the realization that maybe the ‘other core’ he had found maybe wasn’t the foxes but just some ‘special’ energy that he had found because he had gotten slightly stronger. He had no idea if that was the case and no way of testing it. He would have to find out when he knew more about energy.