“What is an aspect? That is the most important question and one we in the academia’s have been asking for centuries, millennia even. The truth is we don’t know. We don’t know where aspects come from or how long they’ve been part of our society. We don’t even know why we call them aspects universally in every language and across all recorded history.”
Albert began standing in front of a chalk board while teaching the girls about his favourite topic. Samantha listened earnestly if a bit absent mindedly while Valerie tried to just focus on what was relevant. Were either to take a standardized test they would undoubtedly fail.
“Aspects as we know them are bundles of power that can grant an individual strength in a particular field or talent. There are three main classifications of aspects: physical, magical and conceptual. The classic examples of each are the sword, fire and tool mastery.”
Albert advised writing all three on the chalk board and circling them.
“For physical, the most popular option is the sword, we know that a user can gain power while holding a sword as well as proficiency in its use. This same basic idea carries across to all known physical aspects. Holding your named aspect makes you and the object itself stronger. Magic however is the understanding of an element such as fire and how to conjure, manipulate or unravel it. If there is an element within our world there is an associated magic and aspect to utilize it. These two basic ideas for physical and magical aspects are ofcourse cheats to some as you can learn the same techniques through study and hard work sometimes even exceeding those who gained understanding through an aspect. This is where we get into the most difficult aspects to obtain: conceptual.”
Albert continued to write notes, draw arrows and add little diagrams to his chalk board while explaining the mechanics.
“A conceptual aspect is one that is founded not on a strictly real object but an imaginary one or one we ourselves have created such as mastery aspects or even job professions. You can gain power from the aspect of sword but not always skill in how to use a sword. Mastery however grants knowledge on how to use a sword but not necessarily power. Having both is a highly advantageous combination and many long-time practitioners of sword techniques do manage to acquire the set. Other concepts such as your aspect of the Hunt Miss… uh Hunt provide other benefits not strictly on how to hunt. A myriad of conceptual aspects exists, more than we can really count as anything that can be thought of or practiced can be an aspect as far as we know. Yes, you had a question, Miss Hunt?”
Valerie raised her hand to halt the man’s rapid-fire explanation that seemed to fly by a number of ideas like how do you obtain an aspect, is it possible to avoid gaining an aspect and so on. The one Valerie concerned herself with was personal.
“What determines if a person will get a mastery or weapon aspect?”
Albert clapped his hands happy for the question.
“I am so glad you asked. The answer is: you! Your perception and skill in a given discipline has been known to affect which aspect you can receive. Take Miss Trapper here, she has the aspect of the chain but no knowledge on how to use a chain as a weapon, so she didn’t receive chain or whip mastery. She perceived a tool or weapon as an object of power and was granted an ability to manipulate chains which then combined with her aspect of the shadow and well, I’m getting ahead of myself.”
Perception determines aspects? That sounded odd to Valerie, but she wasn’t any kind of expert. From a certain point of view, it made some sense, she practiced with her knife every day before accidentally obtaining her aspect but didn’t follow any technique or set regiment. She saw it as a weapon, a means to make her stronger and ultimately she got exactly what she wanted out of it.
“Your perception also affects how that aspect will behave. Apologies Miss Trapper for using you as an example again.”
Samantha waved off the concern while trying to balance a pencil on her nose.
“She has the aspect of shadow; we know very little about the mechanics of that aspect but in this dreadfully dull book I have been reading the main character uses shadows to pass between points as a form of teleportation. They are portals he can use to move from A to B and back again. The man describes ever so drearily that he ‘looked into the shadow and saw his path to redemption’ or some such drivel. It is not a good book.”
The librarian admitted getting off topic. Wiping away sweat from his forehead he continued.
“Granted it is fictional and we have no way to verify any of the details however the idea exists and thus it must be possible. Miss Trapper manipulates shadows as physical objects, something the book protagonist never does or mentions. If we think on Miss Trapper’s origins then we can posit that her environment determined her perception of shadows, not as an entry and egress point but as an all-encompassing domain where shadows have physical presence. She was surrounded by darkness at the point of obtaining her aspect and so her aspect allows her to surround others in shadows.”
In essence, Samantha’s creepy aura, ability to see in the dark and previous control of shadows was because she saw darkness everywhere and manifested a power to use the darkness to her advantage. Valerie followed along until she came upon a snag in the explanation.
“So, why doesn’t she have the aspect of Darkness?”
Samantha perked her head up at this having lost the plot somewhere in the explanation and started imagining riding a Duvolf into battle.
“Well, that’s because it’s impossible.”
Albert stated as a matter of fact.
“No one can obtain the aspect of Darkness nor its sister the aspect of Light because no one can truly understand such concepts. Or rather we can only obtain them at the point of absolute darkness a.k.a. death and absolute point of life or birth but that is only a theory and we can’t prove it because none exist or have ever existed who possessed either. The closest we have is Shadow, the obstruction of light, and Shine, the obstruction of darkness. Both exceedingly rare and if you ever do come across someone with the Shine aspect please do let me know I would love to study them too.”
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Valerie and Samantha shared a look, what were the chances they would meet someone with that rare an aspect? Getting back on topic, Albert continued with his lecture.
“Then we have the aspect of chain, a tool for binding others or so Miss Trapper has been taught to believe. Entrapped all her life she has known only the cold uncaring isolation and loss of freedom of chains to put it poetically. This is why I posit she lost the ability to directly control shadows upon receiving her second aspect. She could not break free from her bonds and as such could not manipulate them. That is changing however, I have noticed young Miss Trapper is slowly learning to control her shadows once again and move them freely. Not a lot at the moment but as her skills progress she will likely return to her full control soon.”
Samantha cupped her chin and thought on it.
“Yeah that makes sense I guess.”
She accepted the reasoning with no protest or further analysis.
“Turning to yourself Miss Hunt, you have the knife and the hunt aspects. From my understanding and your description of your adventures, you have described the knife as empowering yourself and hunt granting you knowledge on various monsters, correct?”
Valerie nodded, not sure how her perception could affect such obvious corelations.
“Well Miss Hunt you are in the lucky position to have two aspects with centuries of data and examples to pull from. Did you know several Knife users have found their aspects to empower not themselves but the edge of their blade? Some able to slice through solid stone like butter with no discernible increase to their strength. As for the hunt, very few have recorded information being quite literally injected into their brain. No, most gain an understanding of a monster’s attributes, able to tell how old a beast is, their gender, if their a runt or an alpha and most common of all a tracking sense. A tingle at the back of their mind telling them a monster is close or warning them of danger.”
Valerie thought on the idea feeling like she had been rudely dissected. She did think of her knife not necessarily as a tool to cut but for rending, tearing, and striking monsters down. She saw it as form of power and part of her own strength like an extra limb or more muscle mass. The hunt made even more sense in hindsight, she enjoyed the thrill of a hunt not trivia or avoiding peril. Her aspect didn’t give her power or foresight it simply told her what a monster was and what it could do, everything else she had to figure out for herself. She nodded along feeling she had a deeper understanding to herself and her aspects than ever before. It also explained her sudden revelation during her fight with Fandrial, in that moment she didn’t have strength so her perception changed to needing defence, as a result her aspects accommodated allowing her to act and react with greater proficiency. It was a rare and recognized phenomena that great duress forced change and power from deep in one’s soul. Feeling no duress, Samantha picked at her nose and flicked the booger away, her perception was she was bored.
“Now we all experience change, and your perception of your aspect is no different as you may have already come to realise. As you age you may find the power of your aspects is not so black and white, it covers many parts. Take fire for example, certain people have seen it as a tool for war and destruction then later in life found its purpose warming their home or cooking meals for the needy. You don’t lose a part of yourself by changing but your abilities with the aspect are broadened. Unfortunately, change is not easy and thus it can take years to adapt, learn and improve yourself and your aspect. This is where classes become important.”
Albert let the statement hang in the air, revelling in his students newfound interest. It was the idea that prompted his lesson so he had to build up to it properly.
“As I said, aspects are considered by some to be cheats for learning skills and classes are cheats to other aspects users. As you know aspects are exceedingly rare, most who acquire them will only ever gain one in their whole life. Those who, by some miracle, gain more than one can then have them combined and amplified into a class. A class will grant an individual power beyond their aspects current threshold or allow them to accomplish the seemingly impossible. Take for example a person who has the aspect of Sword and Sword Mastery.”
Albert drew a crude drawing of a sword and warrior wielding it.
“With both you could become the Blade Master class, don’t ask me about the name I didn’t come up with it. The Blade Master has all the proficiency of their aspects and skills beyond comprehension. One of most the famous examples being the foreign Blade Master Kenshi, a man who has been documented so thoroughly and features in so many books, plays and tales that he has become a living legend. Kenshi’s most famous move was the Quick Draw Slash, a manoeuvre where he would grip his sheathed blade and in the blink of an eye slash having appeared to never moved an inch.”
Albert quickly ran to a bookshelf and took down a whole row of books some fictious and others factual about the swordsman.
“He has inspired so many sword master’s that a class was even named after him and focused on his particular style: Quick Draw Kenshi.”
The pair were intrigued by the idea, all new power just by getting a class? Sceptical Valerie asked the important question.
“What’s the catch?”
Losing none of his vigour Albert explained.
“Not a catch so to speak but a caveat, a stipulation, a restriction. If you gain a class you lock your perception of your aspect and can no longer gain a new one. You have two right now and if you gain a class you cannot gain a third. Unless you go through evolution but that’s another issue entirely.”
So that was the rub of it, Valerie thought as she put the pieces together, gain a class for a quick burst of power but at the cost of being unable to improve your core self over time. Samantha raised her hand this time, finally paying attention.
“Are people with classes stronger than those without?”
Albert thought on his reply before answering.
“In the short term, yes. In the long term, well it’s debatable. Classes will allow you to do incredible things but stunt your growth, not halting it but forcing it to a crawl. You could still change your perception, and it may affect your aspect but it would take a monumental amount of time or a drastic revelation. That is unfortunately where evolution comes into play.”
Albert left the chalk board and sat opposite his students, tone growing sombre.
“Aspects are a part of life, and you cannot prevent yourself from acquiring one or changing your perception. Classes however are a man-made method to exploit power from your aspects at the cost of their natural growth. Evolution is the forceful addition of a new aspect when already possessing a class, but it is impossibly rare. For every one in a million that will gain a single aspect, one in ten million aspect holders will undergo a class evolution, and some would wish they hadn’t. There was a swordsman, similar to Kenshi, who became a Blade Master but was blinded while finishing off a monster. The man was left incapable of fighting and fell into a deep depression. One day he picked up his sword and began practicing once again, for months and years he followed the martial training he received as a boy until his class evolved. He became the Blind Swordsman, the first of his class, able to fight as he did once before like he had never been blinded. He gained the aspect of Sensory Sight, not true vision but the ability to view his surrounding with his other senses.”
Coughing Albert spoke in his chipper teacher persona again.
“It’s an ultimately happy ending but came through great suffering and only a handful of cases end up better for it. A case study some decades back tried to recreate the scenario, and their candidate did evolve their class but in the opposite direction. Their aspects were locked in place and they couldn’t alter their perception of them thus the warrior was left blind and in a worse condition than he began. This brings us back to my earlier question: are you sure you want a class? Doing so will stunt your progress into discovering yourselves but will make you more effective warriors.”
Valerie thought on the idea, she already experienced the change in perception that allowed her to better understand herself and her power. Was it worth giving up her potential for immediate power? Samantha held no such qualms.
“I’ll take a class.”
Both Albert and Valerie stared at the shadow user prompting her to explain.
“I don’t have time to wait and experiment so I’d like to gain as much power as I can right now before I die. If it can help my freaky energy, then even better.”
It was grim but sound reasoning even if Valerie didn’t believe it likely the girl would die so soon. It also brought clarity to the huntress, she also didn’t have time to wait, there was a threat out there that completely outclassed her and she needed to be better now.
“Hey Albert, does Fandrial have a class?”
She asked, the old librarian looking shocked at the question.
“Not that I am aware of, she has lived for a long time and all her aspects were gained through effort and practice. I don’t know if she would stunt that.”
Valerie grinned maliciously, that was exactly what she wanted to hear. A predator was only so strong but if the Gentle Sword had years’ worth of practice expanding her perception and the option to gain a class then she may just be the apex of apex. And Valerie would enjoy hunting the greatest challenge there ever was.