“This feels… weird,” Nyx said as she walked up to him. She stood beside him, gazing up at the aurora that bathed the field of flowers in green. “Powerful. Beautiful, even… but weird.”
“How so?” Jerome asked. He didn’t feel what she was feeling.
“It means you were right. The portal has been tampered with. It’ll separate us the moment we enter it.”
“... And that’s not supposed to happen, is it?”
“No.” She looked his way. “Csala would be able to take care of herself in your world. But what about Tara and Sheela?”
Jerome felt Achilleia stir in his mind to focus on the conversation. He could keep both women in question inside his void space where it was safe. But then what? Was that his goal? Was that what they would want? Was it optimal for their growth in strength?
“Of course not,” Achilleia answered in his mind.
“They need to test their strength against stronger adversaries,” he said. “This will help them. And if they encounter someone or something too strong for them, I’ll step in.”
Nyx smiled at him. “I knew it was the right choice to stick with you.”
Ms. Tara and Sheela joined them after stashing away their tent.
“We will be separated when we go through the portal,” Jerome said to them. He looked at both of them to see how they would react to his words. But they were both calm and collected.
Preparations to leave were happening all across the void world. Ms. Tara and Sheela hadn’t had much to pack up so they had taken very little time. The aurora seemed to intensify all of a sudden, drawing everyone’s attention.
Jerome saw Lang rise into the air. The older Sprout looked briefly at him and they exchanged nods.
“What was that?” Nyx asked. “Oooh! Tricky little Sprout he is, isn’t he?”
Jerome chuckled. Nyx was smart and she had been the one to let them all know that Lang was ready to advance.
“I’ll be back,” he said before rising into the air to meet up with the older sprout. As he rose, he did a little breathing exercise to keep from showing his excitement about seeing the advancement of a Sprout to the Spirit Realm. “So… what now?”
Do you know what causes the alignment?” Lang asked.
Jerome looked at the display of different lights; yellow, blue, red, orange, green… green being the most prominent of all. He watched as the lights shifted gently and changed shapes like a curtain in the sky.
He shook his head. “No idea,” he said. No need to bring attention to himself with knowledge he ‘shouldn’t’ know.
“Every fifteen thousand years the alignment happens,” Lang said as they continued to fly upward. “The planes align in such a way that interplanetary travel becomes possible between the two worlds — my tutor once hinted at there being other worlds it can happen with.”
Oh? That was new. He’d have to look that up.
“But Vorthe found a way to send Sprouts over before the time, and it takes a lot of essence to do so as you must have seen before we came here.”
Well, there were other things like the warping of space-time involved but… Jerome shrugged inwardly.
“And in turn,” Lang continued, “The Alignment produces a lot of essence as well. It’s the greatest source of energy a Sprout like me could ever ask for.”
“I guess you’re about to make history,” Jerome said.
Lang chuckled and inhaled. Jerome could almost see the pride in his eyes and the puffing of his chest even though he wasn’t looking.
“Do you know why the Spirit Realm is called so?” Lang asked.
“Because the sacred artist becomes aware of his soul and by extension his spirit?”
Lang nodded. “Yes, but shouldn’t it then be called the Soul Realm?”
“Well, you tell me,” Jerome said. They could both sense the essence of the aurora now, and it was… vast! Even from far away!
“It’s because when one reaches the Spirit Realm they gain the ability to draw power from their spirits. And such a power Jerome… nothing compares to it!” Lang rose higher, going ahead of him a little. “Spirit Realm artists are called Pillars.”
“Pillars?” Jerome asked.
“Yes, Jerome. Pillars. Those in the Essence-Gathering Realm are called Drudges. The Essence-Forming Realm? Blanks. The Core Formation Realm? Sprouts…”
“And those in the Spirit Realm are Pillars,” Jerome finished for him. “But why Pillars?” It had no… flair to it, he supposed.
“Because that is where they form their bloodline roots — the ‘Pillars’ upon which a stronger foundation is built. Magic beasts are born with their bloodline roots. Humans are not. But it gives one an edge in life… in battle. Essence becomes easier to wield because there is something else besides willpower and imagination backing up one’s intent.
“You could say it becomes like the magic of old that the fae races wielded. A spray of essence could become a mighty avalanche of power! Power unlike anything, Jerome!”
Jerome studied him for a second, to make sure he didn’t have a screw loose. He’d never seen Lang speak so passionately before. “That’d be wonderful,” he said, more to flow with the conversation than anything.
Lang stopped after a while and Jerome, a few feet below him.
“It’s time,” he said. “You may want to step back, Jerome. Advancement to the Spirit Realm can be… chaotic.”
Jerome nodded and dropped a bit more in altitude. The wind whipped around his overcoat and pushed his hair into his face — which he was only noticing now. Lang took a lotus pose midair and Jerome sensed him begin to relax. The man was taking a huge risk doing this with him just a few feet below.
At the same time he was communicating his trust in him. For that, Jerome was grateful. Plus he was sure if things went south, he was the only one who could help.
“You should focus on what’s before you, Xerae,” Achilleia said. “You might be needing the knowledge sooner than you know.”
I thought you said I still have a decade, more or less, before I advance to the Spirit Realm, Jerome said.
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“I said that, didn’t I?” Achilleia said. Her voice sounded almost broody. His gut told him he was missing something. Achilleia was never one to lack a certain level of certainty when it came to her claims.
He remembered the day she had told him he still had a decade more before becoming… Pillar? Is that how it’s said? Sounded bland.
What changed? He asked.
Achilleia didn’t answer. He could sense her processing her thoughts so he left her to it. He’d find out sooner or later. He focused on the meditating Sprout above him to see what wonders he was going to perform to advance to the next Realm.
“Now is as best a time to do this,” Achilleia said.
Do what?
“The barrier between worlds is thin enough to weave some of the pods of Hezvar into the fabric of the void world’s space-time.”
How will you do that? Jerome asked curiously.
“Focus on the pods, Xerae.” Achilleia dropped a few pods inside his void space. “Now push them out.”
It felt like sitting on a toilet seat and trying to push shit out of himself. The pods weighed nothing yet it felt like pushing the world.
Achilleia helped, weaving psychic energy around his. The air rippled around him and the pods turned invisible as they exited one by one. With time he pushed all eight pods out of his void plane.
Can I take some with me to my world? Jerome asked. It would help if I could use them to search for my family.
“You realize that the Transcendents of your world wouldn’t allow that, right?” Achilleia sad. “Their senses vastly outperforms that of beings like Muna. And yet Muna could sense my pods. Transcendents — territorial beings that they are — would come after you.”
So no such luck there. Guess he’d have to do things the old fashioned way. He focused his attention back on Lang. The older Sprout had begun cycling and he was not absorbing the essence in the air. Which could only mean one thing. He was cycling the essence from the aurora high in the sky. How he was doing that was a mystery to him.
“You remember when you cycled outside that cave you made? After the battle with the unbound?” Achilleia asked.
Oh, so it’s like that, Jerome realized.
“Yes, Xerae. You have begun to sense the impurities your body filters out when you cycle. He on the other hand can cycle specific attributes of essences amongst the available ones, and more. It’s one of the perks of being an older Sprout… doesn’t mean he’s as powerful as you though.”
Jerome nodded as he watched Lang cycle. If he had tried to do what the older Sprout was doing, he’d cycle every type of essence available. Maybe because he was not yet experienced enough to filter out the attributed essences he didn’t want. But now that he knew of it, he sure would try.
Lang continued to cycle for much longer than he expected. The essence from the aurora in the sky kept getting denser and it soon became slightly uncomfortable to remain in the air. It had a harshness to it that he could only attribute to radiation as it reacted slightly with the surface of his skin — like one of the forces. But it wasn’t one of the forces, or at least to his perception, it felt like essence.
Lang was unperturbed about it, though, and so was he. The older Sprout began to cycle faster and Jerome felt his presence swell. Lang’s psychic energy washed over him multiple times, as if trying to pierce through something — him maybe. Sprouts had the ability to scan things with depth so he wasn’t sure what Lang was trying to do that he couldn’t already do.
“Just wait and see, Xerae,” Achilleia said. “Not many Sprouts can do this on their first trial but I have a feeling this Sprout can.”
And this… ‘this’, is what exactly? He asked.
“You’ll see.”
Jerome focused back on Lang. he sensed some Sprouts flying toward him but they struggled to get to his position. He looked back to warn them off but he shouldn’t have bothered. Fei Lin, who was in the lead, plummeted back to the ground when she reached a certain altitude, as did every other Fei behind her.
“Without the completion of the Alignment, you should remain grounded… for safety reasons,” he said, making sure to project his voice far enough to reach the Sprouts on the ground.
Lang’s psychic energy washed over him again and the mind-calming stone stirred.
“I knew she would be interested,” Achilleia said with barely contained excitement. “Do you sense what the Sprout is doing, Xerae?”
Jerome shook his head. He felt like he was groping in the dark here. But Achilleia was excited about something so that most likely means he wasn’t in any danger.
Lang’s psychic wave came again, this time with… something else. It was hard to put a finger on it but for a split second, Jerome felt he sensed intent. That should be natural as everyone who could use psychic energy used it with their intent and others could sense that when they use it.
But this felt… different.
“Yes, Xerae. It is different. Care to guess?”
Jerome held his tongue… for now. If Lang did it again — which he was sure the older Sprout would — he’d glean more information from the experience. He was patient. Until the Alignment was complete they were going nowhere.
Lang did it again. This time Jerome sensed the older Sprout’s psychic wave before it washed over him. It tickled him at the edges of his senses and that intent flowed through again. No. not just intent, but a consciousness.
Jerome’s eyes opened in shock as it dawned on him — or at least he hoped he was witnessing what he thought was the exact thing happening.
“Is he elevating his mind?” he asked out loud.
“Use your inside voice, Xerae,” Achilleia warned. “He may be focused right now but his senses are hyperactive. He may have even heard you speak.”
Makes sense, he thought. He realized he wasn’t just sensing Lang’s psychic wave but the rise of his mind, so to speak.
“He’s now functioning on a mental wavelength that’s higher than yours. In this state, he can sense all minds in a radius of about thirty feet around him. In this state he wouldn’t need to use his psychic energy to find someone in close proximity to him. He can also sense the intents of the minds he senses if they are in lower Realms than he is. Or if they are less experienced than he is. This way, he leans more toward stealth and self preservation.”
Jerome sighed and shook his head. The life of the sacred arts just keeps getting more and more complex.
“Your life took a new turn when you started creating your core, Xerae. You’re becoming less human the more you advance. The evolving binding you call your core is evidence enough.”
Jerome humphed. Leave it to you to call a core a binding.
Achilleia had a very interesting take on things. He had never once thought of his core as a binding. A natural binding. How a human being could survive with a crystal inside them was beyond him. But he didn’t question the rules of the universe he found himself in.
A tiny shockwave pulsed out of Lang and his body shook slightly. His aura climbed again, his presence seeming to swell more and more. Sword Force began to whip around him and Jerome’s overcoat automatically put up an invisible barrier against it.
Lang laughed. His voice was loud and boisterous. His presence was more powerful than it was just moments ago. To Jerome’s senses, he felt denser; tougher. More durable. If they had another duel, with Lang as a Spirit Realm artist, it wouldn’t go as easy as it did the last time, Jerome was sure of that.
But beyond the changes witnessed during his advancement, Lang didn’t really change. He still looked the same. His presence might have grown but it still wasn’t enough to be oppressive — at least not to Jerome.
Maybe he had expected to see some form of sign that a Spirit Realm artist had been born — an acknowledgement from the world around them, maybe. But nothing. Besides the swirling Sword Force around him, that is. The Alignment sure didn’t give two fucks about Lang’s advancement.
He was tempted to ask for another duel but the wind picked up, pulling him with as much force as the cyclone he battled in a few days ago. The sky swirled into a gigantic cyclone! The lights from the aurora merged together with the cyclone, creating an otherworldly display of lights and magic.
Jerome felt the sky pull him upwards and sideways before an otherworldly green light bathed him and Lang. He resisted the pull. Lang turned back and smiled at him before vanishing in a green cloud. Jerome fought against the pull for longer — long enough to gaze back and see the many Sprouts he had fought alongside, vanish into a cloud of green aura.
He stopped fighting the portal and blacked out a moment later.