* * *
“Maximus?” exclaimed Elwin, embracing his upperclassman tightly. “You came all this way again? Why?”
“Can’t leave you in the blind on the eve of your decision, junior!” remarked Leonardo, stepping into the kismets’ quarters with Hina.
“Leonardo? Hina, too!”
“Huh, forgetting me?” chuckled Sandora, landing on the balcony outside with a jet of fire from her soles. She flexed her fingers and crossed her arms just like Katherine.
“It’s good to see you again. How fares the scar?” waved Hina.
“It’s getting better!”
“What’s –” paused Katherine, stepping out from her bedchamber with Isaac and Mirai. “Ms. Sandora Hamilton!”
“Relax the honorifics,” answered Sandora, rolling her eyes in jest. “We are not here to be exalted. We came here instead to give advice to each of you before your big day tomorrow.”
“Oh yeah, our decisions...” Katherine trailed off.
“Professor Aionia must’ve revealed to you all about the Encarnacion and about Mahanai, correct?” quizzed Maximus.
“Yeah,” Elwin answered.
“And you’ve met the Mahamusha?” asked Leonardo.
“We did.”
“Then let’s not waste time,” declared Maximus. “Everyone, you know what to do. Elwin, follow me.”
Sandora, Leonardo, and Hina each took Katherine, Mirai, and Isaac aside, corresponding to their Maht.
“What’s this about?” asked Elwin.
“To help you hone your vision before the decision tomorrow,” answered his upperclassman. “Lest you make the wrong choice, whatever that may be.”
Elwin gulped.
“Elwin,” asked Maximus, looking forlornly to the great ringed Moon in the night sky, “when you were first confronted with the knowledge of the Encarnacion and of the history of the world, what did you feel?”
“I felt...” paused Elwin, glancing at his upperclassman.
Maximus was much taller than he was, much taller than Lucian, taller than his contemporaries. His hair was done in a top-knot like he always remembered; two winters ago, Elwin had held onto his back as he swung through and around the rooftops of Ascension in search of something, someone.
“...I felt sorrow.”
The upperclassman glanced at him. “Then we felt the same.”
Breezes of night fluttered their robes.
“Do you think humankind can rise again like it did?” he asked, turning to Elwin.
“In pursuit of the stars?”
“Yes.”
Elwin lowered his head. “I’m not so sure. But we have to try.”
“Do you think such a mission is worth pursuing?”
“Yeah.”
“Pursuing on your own?” the past-champion inquired.
“On my own? Why? Wouldn’t my friends and family be with me to support my – I mean our – endeavors? We’re all in this together, aren’t we?”
“Yes. Many can pursue such a mission, and battle against Mahanai, together. But what I mean is not that. What I mean is that the path the Encarnacion walks is open to the Encarnacion alone.”
“I’m used to being alone. It was only recently that I found my kismets.”
Maximus gave an approving chuckle. Elwin was very much like him. “Back then against Ursus, and underneath the lost city, you showed all of us great mettle. Greater than any of your friends. What drove you to persist where most would’ve surrendered?”
“Because...” Elwin paused, finding his words, “because that’s what I wanted the meaning of my name to be. I wanted to become the hope that everyone could look to.”
“And you gave yourself the power to realize that meaning,” nodded Maximus. “You mentioned you trained with Professor Aionia, correct? Your movements against Ursus would only have been possible if you could perceive the ORI with your Asha.”
“Yeah!” Elwin exclaimed, astonished by the deduction of his upperclassman – “But wait, how did you know? Did you also train with Professor Aionia?”
“Yes, when I was a Fradihta.”
“Why? You must’ve already been adept at the Mashurmastra, right?”
“Correct. But I wanted to improve.”
“That’s how you were able to fight one-hundred-sixty of us last fall! All with your eyes closed!”
Maximus made a humble smile. “Yeah.”
“If I or one of my friends – kismets – choose to be the Encarnacion, will you help us battle Mahanai as you’ve said?”
“Without a doubt. I will be your ally, and teach you everything I know. That night of two winters ago, you said you wanted to get better with your Maht, didn’t you?”
“Back when you were the Astral Knight?” quizzed Elwin.
“Astral Knight?” asked Maximus, cocking his head.
“Oh,” said Elwin, smacking his own forehead. “Sorry. That was the moniker I gave to you, because I didn’t know your true name back then.”
“Ha!” Maximus chuckled, slapping the balustrade, “an interesting name! Is it because I wore the stars on my mask and on my cape?”
“Yeah!” he replied, shifting his feet.
“I guessed so.”
“What were you doing all alone as the – the Astral Knight – at Ascension? Your friends were downtown, right?”
“Ah, that...” sighed the upperclassman, mirth wiping from his eyes. “I was searching for someone. A culprit, you could say, responsible for stealing an heirloom from my family in our time of need.”
“An heirloom?”
“Correct. An heirloom that served to connect us to the Forms which our family used back in Jin. Told by my grandfather.”
“Forms in the Mashurmastra?” Elwin asked, recalling how Professor Thales explained the peoples of Jin used different Forms from those they used in the Republics.
“Correct. Before our family fled Jin, we used to perform ceremonies in honor of our ancestors with a special Form in the Mashurmastra. The heirloom taught the younger generations how to perform those ceremonial techniques.”
“Did you end up finding the heirloom?”
“No, sadly. I’m still searching for it.”
“You want to get it back so you can perform the ceremonies for your family?”
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Maximus’s countenance drooped into that of melancholy.
“They’ve risen to FOUNDER SERA’s bridge, but... perhaps it could be of some use in my road to master the Waters.” A brief shimmer of tears materialized and vanished on his eyes in the span of mere seconds.
“They’re... oh,” paused Elwin, witnessing the celestial bridge ascending to the cosmos above. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” the upperclassman assured, slapping his back. “I’m not here to speak of gloom. Rather about the infinitude of paths open to each of us.”
“Infinitude of paths...” Elwin murmured, tracing the tails of tiny shooting stars streaking across the sky. “To become anything we want to be?”
“As long as we will it.”
“What do you will for, Maximus?”
“To become the greatest master of the Mashurmastra the world has ever seen.”
“The greatest master?”
“Through all history.”
“Wow...” Elwin remarked by instinct, his mind coming to the story of Emperor Yanasura – the last descendant in the lineage of the FOUNDER of the Waters himself.
“That’s why I’m collecting all there is to know about the Mashurmastra, written or spoken,” continued Maximus. “My family heirloom included. And bringing their wisdom into reality.”
“So that’s why you are so skilled with the Mashurmastra already! They called you the Dragon of Water, didn’t they?”
“Who?”
“Those in House MANASURA?”
“Ah, indeed. A year ago during House Selection. I don’t deserve that moniker. At least not yet.”
“Why not? You should’ve been making a lot of progress as a Viatira, right?”
“Without a doubt, but certainly not anywhere near the level of a dragon as in the myths of old!” Maximus chuckled, slapping his back. “I’ve still got a long way to go.”
“Ow, I think you’re being too humble,” jested Elwin, folding his arms. “All one-hundred-and-sixty of us last fall before we forged our Quan, and you didn’t break a sweat!”
“Not true. I did break a sweat,” Maximus remarked, raising an eyebrow. “Just one drop.”
Silence. Then a corner of Maximus's mouth began to curl up in mischief.
Both of them broke into laughter.
“Oh, Maximus, you,” Elwin giggled, smacking the balustrade. “I’m guessing that single drop was when Sandora suddenly came?”
“Who else?” he jested, holding his head high and mighty with an expression smug, regaling the night with pompous imperial gestures. He broke his impression of an imperial aristocrat halfway through, chuckling himself.
They descended into more laughter and giggles.
“No... haha, oh the FOUNDERS, wait, a moment...” said Elwin, holding up his hand, “whew, I gotta breathe...”
It had been too long since Elwin could share a moment of cheer.
“So, I’m curious – heh, I mean, if that was you one year ago, then how much farther have you come now?”
“Want me to show you?”
“Huh? Right now?”
“What better time than now?” said Maximus. “Will be back in a jiffy!” he shouted towards the closed bedchambers, with Sandora’s muffled inquiry emanating beyond the doors.
“MAIOR FORTIOR!” Maximus commanded, as his cyan Quan lit ablaze with a cross of light.
“I’ve been trying to create a Form of my own. Say hello to the Rhythm of the Cranes!” he said, gathering his legs close and straight, and revolving his body in a single turn too swift to see, pulling the vapors of night into the misty shape of a crane that Elwin could touch, its form fluffing and roiling like cotton candy. The cloud-crane felt solid under his fingers: each drop of fine mist weaved, ducked, and vibrated across each other in hundreds of paths across the surface of the cloud, giving substance and repelling the push of his hand.
“Climb on!”
Elwin jumped onto the crane’s back, soft as a sheep's wool, and so did Maximus after him, the fluffy cloud-surface deforming under their weight yet supporting them nonetheless.
Twirling his fingers in invisible strings, Maximus threw his arms out and up like an orchestra conductor; the giant wings of the cloud-crane unleashed from its belly and towards the heavens.
“Hold tight,” the upperclassman instructed, as with the movements of his arms the crane jumped atop the balustrade and leapt off, free-falling into the great valley below.
“WOOOOOAH!” Elwin hollered, recalling that winter night of two years ago, as the treetops came to meet them in their dive – but in the last second, Maximus beat the crane’s wings and propelled it on a glide just a few inches shy of ruffling leaves.
“How – are – youaaaaaaaah – doooing this?” Elwin exclaimed, his mouth and lips buffeting and vibrating wildly with the winds on his face.
Maximus whooped loudly, embracing the sky with his Quan emblazoning the night in a cross of cyan rays; and with one more beat of the wings, he steered it towards the stars, rocketing them forever up into the rich viridian of night.
The brilliant star of blue rose like a comet against the light of the city of Utopia, falling away below and behind them.
From far away, Professor Aionia caught sight of them with tired eyes behind a cup of tea.
The bags under her eyes seemed to vanish.
* * *
Elwin and Maximus sat on the giant slab of rock atop the summit of one of Utopia’s low-rising mountains, and gazed at the stars above.
“...You wanted to become the greatest waterwielder the world has ever seen, right?” quizzed Elwin. “Who would be your judge? The entire world?”
“Nope,” Maximus answered immediately, his eyes shining with the light of the stars overhead, still looking up. “Nobody but myself.”
“Do you have a point where you will be satisfied?”
“Not until I rediscover the Rhythm of the Moon, and defeat Mahanai with it.”
Elwin widened his eye at the mention of the Form.
“Wait! You are trying to rediscover The Rhythm of the Moon? One of the forgotten Epitomic Forms?”
“Correct. Professor Thales mentioned it to you, didn’t he?”
“He – he did! Yes!”
“And inspiring it was to hear his speech. It allowed humankind to carve out canyons that spanned the length of entire continents long ago. And so much more. Some say it could even change the beat of time itself, though none now live who remember its secrets. So how great would it be for me to reforge it, rebuild it, and bring to the present the feats of FOUNDER MANASURA himself?”
“I – I also want to bring back all the lost Epitomic Forms! The Dance of the Sun, the Rhythm of the Moon, the Melody of the Two Earths! My father in my letter said that those three, and the Song of the Heavens, could defeat Mahanai once and for all!”
“He did?” Maximus’s lips parted in soft astonishment. “Your father, who has visited Jin and led great expeditions to worlds unknown – he confided in you that the Epitomic Forms can defeat Mahanai?”
“Yes he did!”
“Then all the more reason for me to push myself further beyond! We two seeking the same truth and transcendence – what more proof of the conjunction of the fates!” Maximus exclaimed. He smacked his open palm against Elwin’s, and so did Elwin against Maximus’s; palms and fingers finding solidarity, the upperclassman and underclassman gripped each other’s hands firmly midair like in an arm-wrestle oozing with manliness.
“If you wish to pursue this mission, then I will work with you and help you reforge the Epitomic Forms,” declared Maximus, nodding. Joy and resolve radiated from his countenance.
Elwin too could not conceal his bubbling excitement. “And I will be most honored to learn from you. But Maximus –” Elwin paused, softening his grip to pull away from his hand, “if you are so powerful, and if you plan to reforge the Rhythm of the Moon, why didn’t you choose to become the 51st Encarnacion? The council must’ve given you the same choice last year.”
“Because the power of the Encarnacion wasn’t what I wanted,” answered Maximus, chuckling to the stars and the bridge of SERA that stretched above.
“Why?”
“The Epic of Emperor Yanasura. Do you recall?”
“The Emperor’s tale? Of course,” Elwin replied.
"His story is why. Before him, all humankind was divided. We called each other by our own places of birth and by the shattered names of our clans, squabbling over one another for scraps of bread so that we may eke out an anemic existence under the tyranny of the Aeterii. But Emperor Yanasura dared to think differently. He dared to dream. He restored in us what it was like to dream of dreaming – brought to humankind a purpose and vision by breaking his chains and uniting us under one banner with the belief that we too, can be great. Though he failed, though he could not stay his hand from destroying his own creation by the errors of his hate, his name still rings true and clarion through the sands of time – even to us, right now. We remember his legacy, and though tarnished in places as may be, it still shines luminously in the minds of all humankind who tasted what it was to make a resounding cry to all that watched and dared erase us that: YES, we are here! We are Yanasuran!”
Elwin listened intently on.
“And hearing the Epic of Emperor Yanasura, I resolved also to make a meaning for my name, the name I’ve chosen – Maximus – so that it may ring thousands of years after our time. But I did not want to emulate the Emperor, nor do what he did; what he accomplished and sought to do was his own choice and making. I would need to find my own way to prove the worth of my name.”
Maximus continued without pause. “To that end, I resolved to become the greatest master of Mashur in the world, the greatest out of everyone before me, and use that power to defeat Mahanai and his evil, so that humankind could once again sail the stars. I wanted to achieve this goal with my own sweat, toil, and tears, my efforts alone, so that when I defeated Mahanai, I could say without blemish that this is what mankind was capable of – that this is the pinnacle we could reach, and those who shall live thousands of years after would hear my epic, and be inspired to overcome the tribulations of their future just as I was when I heard the epic of Emperor Yanasura.”
Elwin lowered his head. “And you wanted to defeat Mahanai with your own power, not the Encarnacion’s?”
“Correct. I did not want to borrow from the powers of anyone else, for it would not be mine.”
Elwin, despite his accomplishments, felt woefully small, as small as he did when he heard the tale of the Encarnacions. As luminous as Elwin wanted to become, by virtue of listening to Maximus’s conviction to triumph with only a power his own, he thought that perhaps he likewise should not borrow power from anyone else. To borrow power would be dishonorable, even. But the upperclassman was quick to understand his conundrum.
“Elwin, this is a goal I have set for myself, and myself alone. I do not demand others to administer unto themselves the same whip and toil I give myself on this path of ever-climb, or to be held by such a standard. The greatest paths are ones which people forge themselves.”
“But how can I create such an immortal meaning from nothing? Like Emperor Yanasura? Like you have chosen to do? What should I consider?”
“You already have an idea, from the words you sung against Ursus.”
“Against Ursus?” Elwin opened his mouth, recalling his triumph, his poetry of battle, the headmaster’s words.
“To hone that idea, you need only to ask: How do you wish to make your mark upon the world? What kind of legacy do you wish to leave behind? If you can answer those questions, then you need not fret.”
Elwin slowly broke into an involuntary smile.
He already knew the answers in his heart.
Both the underclassman and upperclassman gazed up at the star-studded cosmos, mist emanating from their breaths;
MANASURA and ARTAIA traced their paths across the sky, witnessing the two lonely figures marshalling their hearts.