“……Shadow… noo…. Luca wa… wait…. Centa…. ruun” I murmured in my sleep. “Alice… don’t… please… stop it!” I yelled as I woke from a nightmare. I shot up in my sleeping bag,

“No! Get away from them!” I cried as I got to my feet activating my aura. A blue warm light coated my body like a fuzzy blanket. I looked around for Squirmy, but couldn’t see him.

That’s when I realized it was just a bad dream. It was still dark out. I laid back down and started sobbing quietly to myself, as the burning embers of the fire crackled and danced beside me. Every now and then I’d let out a quiet, “I’m sorry” to no one.

-Yukio-

I made my way through the beaten path. I’ve been on this walk many times before. So many that I could do it with my eyes closed. That thought made me want to scream. I hate this world. The only thing I still liked about it was the perpetual pink petals from the cherry trees. There was none out here though.

The lore keeper said she infused them with life aspects, so that they would always be in a state of constant bloom. A nice side effect was the slight boost to a persons natural healing. Lore keeper said It would even give vigor to the elderly. They also had a calming effect that worked wonders on PTSD and other metal illnesses.

Someone like Isaac would benefit nicely from it. That’s why they sent him here. That’s why I came here too. Just two crazies pretending to be sane.

The path curved through the forest like a coiling snake. The ground soft with treaded soil. I had to admit, it was at least well made.

I still couldn’t believe Master Brutus crafted this path with his own two hands. No tools, just brut force. Punching trees and pounding the ground with his feet. He's a real monster that one.

He even managed to pulverize the tree stumps into sawdust. Then dumped it all in our composter. That composter was where the lore keeper gathered life aspects for her trees.

Last I heard she’d already created several more saplings and was going to plant them soon. Her goal was to fill the area with them to expand and improve the area effects.

I thought I was done with all this crap. Master Brutus just had to rope me in. That asshole broke into my room at 2 in the morning, and threw me out the window right into the courtyard. Then said he needed me to beat up Isaac.

I hope that piss baby doesn’t hold it against me. I really could use that kimono. I don’t know what effects it gave, but it had to help with cultivation. Maybe I could find another way to grow my power. Maybe even get off this world and find…

My body filled with frustration. I reached for one of the two wooden swords at my hip, drawing it in one quick motion, cutting down the nearest tree. It went down with little resistance, as my constant level 0 aura grew to level 1.

It was always active and ready to jump a level. The day that piss baby beat me, I’d left my guard down. He moved so fast I didn’t really have time to defend myself. If I had, that dumbass would have been laid out flat on the floor.

I was nearing the clearing. I really didn’t want to be here. Being around Master Brutus was like falling into an angry gorillas cage. Actually the gorilla might be preferable.

The first thing I noticed when entering the clearing was a sleeping bag. The sight was a bit strange. Normally you're supposed to sleep inside a sleeping bag. Not on top of it. Something didn’t feel right.

The piss baby was… twitching? I quickly looked around. There wasn’t an enemy nearby. My first thought was a deadly snake bite, then I remembered who Isaac’s teacher was. Master Brutus had probably hit him with some kind of paralytic or neural toxin, but it wasn’t like that at all.

As I got closer I realized Isaac wasn’t hurt, he was just crying. For a man he sure was a crybaby, but…. I needed that kimono so... “Hey.” I moved to his side.

“What did Master Brutus do to you?” The brut in question was nowhere to be seen, which lead me to believe he might have pushed Isaac too far. I was still a little traumatized from my time with that big gorilla.

Isaac looked up at me with those strange heart shaped eyes. They reminded me of cherry blossoms. Seeing that innocent face covered in salty tears made me feel kind of bad for him. Which was strange, because yesterday that same face would have given me a sense of euphoria. That was before I knew the whole story though.

That moment. The one from yesterday when he went off on me. It was different from his crybaby self. That was 100% Isaac. The person in front of me now, felt more like a little kid. This had to be Aku’s feelings coming through.

From what lore keeper told me. Isaac is the driver, but Aku’s emotions influence how he went about accomplishing things. That sounded annoying. I couldn’t imagine getting anything done with a mind like that.

She had a theory about it. Whoever had the stronger emotions was the one influencing the bodies reaction, and since Isaac was a black hole of apathy, that only came alive when angered. Aku was usually calling the shots.

I gave him a hug. “It’s alright.” I said as I patted his back. He was so small. The little guy reminded me of my little brother in a way. He cried like this when the trial event happened. I wonder where he ended up.

Now wasn’t the time for that. Throwing my baggage on top of Isaac’s would be a bit too selfish, even if it is a medium for sympathy. There’s no telling how he would react, if I tried to one up him. I was trying to keep that kimono after all.

Still, that didn't stop the memories from crawling back. 1000s of players gathered together. The blood. We didn't stand a chance.

I felt my own tears start to gather, as the memories of the war flooded my senses.

-Isaac-

Yukio is really soft. She’s a girl so of course she’s soft. Should I really be doing this? I am married after all. I couldn’t stop it. No matter how much I wanted to pull away and man up, my body wouldn't move.

Aku wanted comfort and I couldn’t really give it to her the way we were stuck together. The question was, was it really just Aku that wanted it, or was I somehow feeling the same?

I couldn’t tell. Her emotions felt like my emotions. It wasn’t out of character for me to wish for comfort when upset. That dream would make anyone emotional.

Back in my home world. In my old body. I’d sometimes feel like I needed to be careful who I cried in front of. Honestly, I didn’t want it to be Yukio. She seemed like the type of person to use my crying as a way to hurt me in the future.

One of those, “Oh yeah! Well you weren’t saying that shit when you were crying like a little bitch!” type of come backs.

No one wanted to see a grown man cry. It was the least flattering thing in the world. A lot of people would probably make fun of you if you did. Apathy was the way to go.

Aku however, she was just a little girl. A kid. Her cries would bring sympathy and compassion. Maybe even annoyance if she was being too bratty about it, but for the most part worry.

I guess what I’m wondering is… if I’m in this body would that give me an excuse to cry in front of people? No, If I did that it would only make the people counting on me worry.

Too bad I've already failed on multiple occasions. Dad was that for me. I wish I could be like him. Strong and confident. That would be so cool.

I felt something wet land on me. Wait, was Yukio crying too? That didn't make any sense. Was she feeling sad? Maybe I can…

I wasn’t sure how it worked, but the moment I thought about it. My sympathy kicked in and I saw something. 1000s of people fighting. A silver haired Valkyrie unleashing giant azure beams of energy, vaporizing anything in their path. A single girl survivor. Still fighting even with a missing arm and broken leg. She looked just like… Oh.

I get it now. This was how her trial went. Was this what mine would end up being? Would I really just end up back on this world? All alone and frustrated. Haunted by the same memories over and over again. Yukio might be my future.

I couldn’t let that happen. I need to get back. I need to create a powerful army that can defend against a boss as powerful as that one. The weight on my shoulders only seemed to grow.

It took Aku a few minutes to calm down, and afterword’s I felt embarrassed. Yukio sat next to me on the sleeping bag. She was calm despite having some of my snot and tears on her clothes. I hugged Snowball for emotional support. Fully expecting her to make fun of me.

“Are you alright now?” She asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, sorry about that. I had a bad dream, and Aku wouldn’t calm down.” I said lamely.

She nodded. “Yeah… I get those too… you didn’t wet the bed did you?” She asked.

I blushed holding Snowball up to my face to hide my reaction. “I did not!” I yelled shaking my head back and forth.

“Riiiiiight…” She said sarcastically, before touching my legs. “Oh… it’s dry.” She said with a hint of surprise.

“Of course I’m dry! I threw Snowball at her face. Snowball jumped into action clawing her eyes out. She fell back holding her empty eye sockets while screaming in pain.

That’s what I thought happened, but really Snowball bounced off her forehead and landed next to me in a sitting position. “Wow, did you see that!? That was the coolest bottle flip ever!” I said excitedly.

“I’ll rip off its legs…” Mumbled Yukio trying to hold back her anger.

I gasped pulling Snowball away. “You said you’d be nice! That wasn’t very nice!” I cried.

She sighed. Then held her head. “Sorry… please don’t throw things at me.”

“Oh… I’m sorry about that. Did it hurt?” I asked.

“Yes it did. That things got a zipper.” She said clearly restraining her anger.

I felt bad now. Zippers hurt. “I’m thirsty.” I said.

“Sucks for you.” She said as she turned the other way.

“Is there a river or something nearby?” I asked.

She pointed to her right.

I thought about going, but then remembered all the doggies out there. “Will you come with me… please?” I asked.

She sighed again. “Fine.” Then got to her feet and started walking.

“Wait!” I said, as I tried to put my sandals back on to follow. I managed to get them on just as she went passed the tree line. Then rushed after her.

The only thing was, I couldn’t see her. “Yukio! Wait for me!” I begged as I tried to find her. She wasn’t here.

I kept going, but it just got darker as I went and it became so much harder to see. At some point I tripped over a rock, falling forward. My body started to cry so I sat up. “Wh-where did you go?” I whined.

“Boo!” Yelled Yukio now behind me.

I jumped in fear nearly biting my tongue. “Aah!”

That’s when she started laughing.

“That wasn’t funny!” I cried, balling my fists.

“That’s what you get for hitting me with a fucking zipper. Now come on.” She said before taking my hand by the wrist and leading me through the forest.

I stayed quiet as we walked. After a few minutes we came across a river. It wasn’t super big, but it did have running water.

Dad once told me running water is good for drinking, because it has less of a chance at having bacteria. I went ahead and cupped some water with my hands. After all the crying I was just about dehydrated.

By this point I was so tired of crying and being all emotional all the time. It was exhausting. I wish I could just go back to not feeling things. Then again, that was how Squirmy came to be. Maybe there was another way. How did dad make it work? One thing was for sure. I couldn't keep existing the way I have.

The water was cool and refreshing, soothing my dry throat. Now that I thought about it. Couldn’t I create water by mixing wind aspects? I did it before, kind of. It was all nasty and black though.

Yukio got her own drink of water. Once she was done I gave her kimono a gentle tug. She looked at me with her piercing purple eyes. I jumped in place as her sharp gaze infected me like a rusty knife. She could be really scary with her resting bitch face.

“I-I have to use the bathroom.” I mumbled while nervously shifting my weight from one foot to the other, and staring at the ground. I closed my eyes towards the end, bracing for impact, as my body flinched in anticipation of her response.

“You can just go behind any tree.” She said annoyed.

“I know that… but like… don’t I need something to… wipe with.” I blushed heavily.

She looked like she finally understood. “Ah, I see. Rookie mistake. Always bring your own roll when training with Master Brutus.” She pulled out a roll from her inner robe. It was only half a roll and it was flat like it had been crushed.

When I went camping with dad I used leaves and even rocks to wipe, but Aku wasn’t having it. She in fact had been very upset when I initially thought about it.

Yukio handed over the roll. “Thank you.” I smiled.

After taking care of business, we headed back to the camp sight. I was starting to feel sleepy again and almost fell while yawning.

As we went I noticed Yukio gathering sticks. Seeing this, I wanted to be helpful, so I did the same. By the time we got back she had a whole bundle of them under her left arm, while I only gathered six of them, or was it five?

This one branched out into two, so it was technically one, but if I break it. I could make myself look more reliable in Yukio's eyes. I decided to do just that. Only to make a loud snapping noise that probably gave me away.

Yukio put her sticks down next to the fire, before she started to feed them into the remaining embers. I Shrugged my shoulders. Then dropped my sticks on top of hers while smiling in hopes of being praised.

She didn’t praise me. Instead she ignored me, as if I hadn’t just risked my life gathering sticks with a bunch of wolves running around. How rude!

I took my sandals off, before quickly crawling into my sleeping bag. Yukio finished feeding the camp fire. The flame grew a little stronger as it excitedly devoured its meal. She put the left over sticks to one side for later.

“That’ll keep us warm. Are you going back to sleep?” She asked.

“I don’t think I could if I wanted too. I don’t want to have another nightmare.” I admitted shamefully. I felt like a little kid afraid of their closet. I didn’t want to close my eyes and see my dying body again. It was hard to sleep when I was in two places at once.

“Yeah, I get that.” She moved over to my side. I shrunk into my sleeping bag for protection. Snowball sat on top ready to pounce on her if she tried anything.

“Did you know that there’s a dream fairy?” She said.

“Dream fairy?” This sounded made up. Like something you’d tell little kids to get them to go to sleep. “I know I look young but I’m not a child.” I told her.

“What… no, this is real.” She insisted.

“Yeah, right.” I denied.

“You’ve met demons and gods, yet you don’t believe in dream fairies?” She laughed.

She had a point. Maybe Santa was also real. “Okay, what’s a dream fairy?”

“So there’s this dream god out there. He not only runs the dream realm. He also created purgatory. He doesn’t have followers like lady Cosmo, or lady Amaterasu. Instead he has dream fairies.” She said.

“Interesting so far.” I said.

“While the dream god believes in forcing people to experience certain dreams as a way to test mortals, warn them, or even help them figure out an issue in their lives. His followers the fairies. They’re a little more open to bribery. All you need to do is put a sugar cube under your bed and they’ll give you sweet dreams.” She rummaged through her robe before producing a small box. From within that box she drew out a sugar cube.

“You just carry that around everywhere?” I said.

“I like sugar in my tea.” She shoved the sugar cube under my sleeping bag. “That should do it. You’ll have a nice dream now.” She said.

“Oh… Thank you. What time is it anyway?” I asked.

“3 AM probably. Why do you ask?” She said.

“Don’t you need to sleep?” I wondered.

“I’ll just lay on the grass. No big deal.” She responded.

That sounded really uncomfortable. She would probably end up super grumpy in the morning. If she was mean before she would be even worse without a good night’s sleep.

“Do you want to share?” I said as I scooted over to the left side of my sleeping bag. There was enough room for two. It was kind of an emergency after all. Besides I’d hate to admit it but without someone by my side I wasn’t going to be able to sleep tonight.

While I didn’t really care about silly nightmares. I could tell Aku was having a hard time right now. Yukio seemed to think it over.

“You’re not going to do anything strange are you? You are a guy after all.” she asked.

“I was a guy... I’m also married. The thing is I’m still a little scared… or at least Aku is. Every time I close my eyes, I see that other place.” I felt tears start to gather again, as the screaming made its way across the blue void. I hated it.

Out of all the people in this world, why did it have to be Yukio that showed up. She was the opposite of cuddly. She was a pink cactus. The lore keeper would have been ideal in this situation. Hell even Mr. Brutus was more appealing than this girl, but she was the only one here at the moment.

“Fine, but I’d better get that kimono.” She said as she slipped her sandals off.

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“Really!” I asked excitedly.

“Yeah but if you do anything creepy I'm going to stab you.” She said as she pulled out a knife from her kimono.

“That's okay! It'll be like a sleepover!” I said excitedly. To me it seemed like Aku really wanted some kind of childhood. That was something I couldn't really give her. Not at the moment at least.

Yukio slipped into the sleeping bag. It was a snug fit, but not uncomfortable. I pulled Snowball in and hugged her. Then turned away from Yukio. Yukio turned her back to me also.

Simply feeling her body heat left me with a great sense of comfort. “Thank you.” I said.

“Shut up and go to sleep. Also, You’d better not pee on me.” She said.

It didn’t matter that she was being a little mean. That was just her personality. There was still one more thing that was bothering me.

“Hey Yukio…” I fidgeted

“Please don’t start asking me why the sky is blue.” She responded.

That made me laugh. I remember when ever I slept with mom and dad all I would do is ask silly questions like that. “No. It’s not that. I was just wondering. You went through a horrible event too right?”

I could hear her sigh. “I don’t want to talk about it. Go to bed piss baby.”

“I understand. I just wanted to know if you think I’ll be able to kill my demon. You say I’m really talented and all that but will learning all this stuff be enough. Could I really save my friends and wife with what I’m learning here, or will it end like it did for you? I’m so afraid.”

She was silent for a moment. Then said, “it doesn’t matter. Your still going to try. If it was me I’d do everything in my power to save them even if I knew I’d still fail. My advice is to find your loved ones and flee. Let lady Cosmo deal with it.”

I didn’t respond.

Could someone as useless as me really save the world? Yeah right, but I guess I would still try. Even if it meant I’d only save my friends.

I was feeling tired again and fell right to sleep. Then had the best dream ever. Where I killed Squirmy and got to eat cake as a reward.

It was the good ending. Where no one died and the city was fixed within a few minutes. It was full of smiles and laughter.

Later

I stared at my feet wiggling my toes, as I waited for something to happen. Mr. Brutus said we'd be training early this morning, but he was no where to be seen.

I thought about trying to perfect my aura by myself, but held off on it, since I didn't want to waste all my power. Instead I worked on gathering all the heat and wind essence I could get my hands on.

Without my Qi sight and kimono, it took a lot longer. In the end I wasn’t able to gather enough. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get the magic circle any smaller. It was small, but there still wasn't enough building blocks.

The issue was the heat aspects. They were slow to gather. The wind aspects also took a good amount of time, but came easier, with how abundant they were. In the end it took several minutes to gather all the power I needed and surely enough, I managed to make a ball of fire.

It was small and had little to no power. There was something wrong with the shape and flames. It looked deformed.

I wasn’t too excited. It worked sure, but it took a long time to do it, and I had to adjust the aspects around to get the right combination.

The power scattered into red sparks. Maybe if I use a mana stone, I can gather the power before hand. That made sense to me. I didn't have the control of a mage, and the gathering part will take even longer without the kimono. That was made evident by my current experiment.

These pajamas really were soft though. I felt well rested too. They probably have some kind of buff for recovery.

“I don't know what to do. What do you think Snowball.” I looked to my companion.

“Burn it. Burn it all down. Leave this world a pile of ash.” Said Snowball.

“What really?” I was surprised.

“No you little psychopath! Why don't you go talk to that girl. She's been doing this for a while. I bet she has some pointers.” Said Snowball.

She had a point. Compared to mine, Yukio’s aura was so calm. It was gentle and compressed, yet powerful and dense.

I sighed then got up and made my way over too her. The grass here looked like it had been trimmed recently. Now that it was day time, I couldn't help but notice the plants were way more wild on the other side of the tree line.

Yukio looked to be cleaning her wooden blades. They were glossy and thin. Why would she even want something like that. It didn’t seem useful at all. Was she planning on practicing her form?

“Hey.” I greeted her.

She made a noise as if she was acknowledging my presence. I sat down seating Snowball at my side.

“Can you show me your aura?” I asked.

She looked up, sighed, then started to speed up her Qi. Her body glowed a bright pink.

“Wow! Your really good.” I said.

“It's a basic level 1 aura. There’s really nothing special about it.” She said as her aura faded out of the visual spectrum.

I knew it was still there. I just couldn't see it anymore. That was how the auras worked for the players too.

“Can you watch me do it, and maybe give me a few tips?” I asked.

She rolled her eyes. “Fine.”

I smiled then started to cycle my Qi. Surly enough a blue flame flared to life around me.

“There's your issue. You go from 0 to 100 in the blink of an eye. Stop trying to force it to work. Take it slow. Get the energy to flow properly through your meridians. Not force its way through you like you’re a live wire.” She said.

“Hmmm…” So if I take it slow and focus on perfecting the flow, it’ll be more solid when I speed it up.

I undid the aura then tried again. This time I only used a single thread of Qi. It moved slowly. This was just to plan out the path. I played with it tightening the turns and straightening it’s trajectory.

“That looks better, but you should try to compact the flow more. Get it nice and tight. That’ll help keep your Qi from leaking like it does. The goal is to keep it from spilling. Meridians give energy a quick path to move through the body, however they cant hold it indefinitely. Power can always leave your meridians at any given time. Once outside the meridians the energy loses its momentum and can be lost. That’s why you leak so much Qi. Also, not having a level 1 aura to keep the energy from escaping means you have no way of recovering that power. There are techniques that require you to expel Qi but with your supplies they might be a little too advanced.” She said.

That was a lot of information. I tried putting her explanation into practice. The thread was moving so fast, it was basically chasing its own tail.

“It’s easy when you only use a thread. Try increasing the power slowly and keep compressing it.” She said.

I started by adding another thread. It didn’t feel that different, but to be fair there wasn’t enough for a full aura yet. “How come Mr. Brutus didn’t teach me this?” I asked.

“He does things differently. His body is so big that his Qi takes a lot longer to cycle. People like you and me can cycle Qi super fast, so we need more control rather than power. Think of the brut like a bulldozer and us like sports cars.” She said.

That made a lot of sense actually. “He’s always cycling Qi though.” I said.

“He has a lot of power. Also he can just keep refilling it through his cultivation. He’s always drinking alcohol after all.” She explained.

“Cultivation through alcohol? How does he convert poison into Qi?” I asked. That sounded super easy. I should learn to do that.

“It’s one of his affinities. He has earth and poison. For poison he drinks alcohol. For earth he gathers it through his feet. That’s why he likes coming out here.” She answered.

“That sounds convenient, but isn’t that stuff bad for cultivators?” I tried to breathe fire yesterday and it didn’t go well.

“He can refine it. It’s not that hard. If you see him stomping on the ground that’s apart of his refinement of earth aspects. He’s stirring up the earth aspects extracting the Qi. Its like how a washer spins water off of clothes. For poison he empowers his liver with Qi and spins the poison aspects within it diluting the poison aspects into Qi.”

That all sounded like things I would never be able to do considering I didn’t have those affinities. Which in turn lead to me asking, “What affinities and cultivation do you use?”

She sighed again. Then created a ball of swirling pink energy. A moment later the ball of energy ignited into a ball of spinning plasma.

“Cool!” I cheered.

“Not cool.” She said.

That brought down my spirits. “What?” I asked.

“Plasma is one of the hardest affinities to cultivate. Sure it’s powerful, but it’s not good for growth.” She said.

I then started thinking about what went into plasma. You basically had to strip electrons from neutrons and protons. So… wind aspects and lightning aspects? That didn’t seem too hard.

“What have you been doing?” I asked.

“Not much. I’ve kind of just been cannibalizing my own Qi, by feeding it into my spark. It’s slow, but it’s the only way I know to cultivate.” She said.

“Cant you just pull in plasma aspects?” I asked.

That seemed to irritate the girl. She snapped back. “Where the hell am I going to find that! Its not like there’s a star floating around! Sunlight wont cut it, trust me I’ve tried!”

“Do you know what plasma is?” I asked.

“Of course! I’m not stupid! It’s what stars are made of!” She retorted.

Was her plasma from a star, or was it more like a plasma globe? “Show it to me again, please.”

“Why? You’re not magically going to figure out a solution to my problems! Why would you even want to? What could you possibly know. I’ve spent years working on this problem and have gotten nowhere.” She complained.

I could get mad and tell her to fuck off, but trying to hurt me wasn’t her goal. She was frustrated. “Yukio… I’m not trying to insult you by calling you dumb for not figuring it out. I just want to help you. It won't hurt, right?” I said.

Her face seemed to soften before she gave up and recreated the ball of plasma. “look at it all you want. Maybe someone as talented as you can figure it out.”

I used Qi sight. It took me a minute to tune it again, but I was getting faster at it. The ball of plasma was pretty solid. The aspects were mixed perfectly together. There was lightning affinity for sure, but I wasn't sure what else. Wind seemed like the best bet, but I didn't know what type. If it’s a plasma globe then it had to be neon.

“Do you know what kind of wind aspects there are?” I asked.

“Wind? It’s just plasma.” She said.

Did she not know? I mean the entire thing looked really solid, but still plasma had to be a higher tier aspect. “I think plasma is a higher tier aspect. Most likely wind and lightning.” I said

“That can't be right… if that was true, then it would be… a tier… 3 aspect...” She said. Her eyes went wide. “Oh, My, Amaterasu!”

Before she could bring her realizations to a full conclusion a roar echoed from what I hoped was far away. We both turned to face its direction, only to watch tree after tree fall, as whatever it was got closer.

I got to my feet activating my aura. Then got in front of Yukio. She seemed to be too scared to react. Lucky for me there was already energy moving through my eyes, so I could see the creature.

It’s soul was a little stronger than the wolves and its shape was huge. As it closed in on us, I could also see the scatter of other animals. Birds, squirrels, and other woodland creatures were fleeing in terror.

If even they were afraid of it, we were in trouble. “Yukio get your head in the game! That things coming!” I yelled.

“Uh, yeah!” She scrambled to her feet, lifting one of her wooden blades. Her aura flared to life engulfing the weapon in an electric pink glow.

It looked almost like she’d given it an actual sharp edge. There was still so much I needed to learn. Before the beast broke through the tree line, I made sure to memorize the pattern of Qi inside her weapon. That sort of thing was so much easier now that I could actually see it.

I reached for the other sword on the ground, and tried to implement the same flowing diamond spiral. It was so much faster now that I had a picture for reference. With lots of effort the energy snapped into shape. I couldn’t help but notice how hard it was to move Qi through the sword. It was probably because it had no meridians.

Everything from my aura to the augmented wooden blade leaked way less energy than what I had managed to do yesterday. I lessened the flow of power to keep drainage low.

This made the leakage almost none existent while at the same time lowering the benefits. Still it was better than no aura. I could always increase the power when needed.

The monster broke through the tree line just as my weapon began to hum with a soft blue light. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but this made the most sense.

What came barreling out of the forest, was not a monster. It was a 10 foot tall bear, covered in bees. No wonder it was enraged.

“Alright kiddies! I brought you guys breakfast, but first you need to kill it. Yukio stand back and let Isaac try. If it looks like he’s about to die jump in and take over.” Said Mr. Brutus somehow smoking a cigarette beside me.

When did he get there!? Did he just say he brought the bear here? “Wait! You want me to fight that thing!” I yelled.

“That’s Master Brutus for you.” Said Yukio, sounding a bit dejected.

“Go on kid, kick it’s ass!” Cheered Mr. Brutus.

I was a little afraid at first, but then thought about Squirmy. Before dying I saw what he had become. Compared to that monster. This thing was nothing but a noisy fly. If I couldn’t kill the bear then what chance did I stand against Squirmy.

This was kind of what being an adult was all about. Bigger problems pop up all the time, making the smaller problems look easy in comparison. I wasn’t afraid anymore. This bear was just a springboard on my way to punching Squirmy in the face.

I gripped the sword tightly in my right hand, as the last of the bees flew away. The agitated bear pivoted it’s rage onto us.

“Hey Isaac. Let me take care of it.” Said Yukio.

I shook my head. “No, I got this. It’s just breakfast.” I said before dashing forward.

The bear roared, standing on its hind legs, as it readied its paw for a claw swipe. It took a swing, but I had the power of Cosmo and anime on my side. Just before it's claws could bite, I flung myself into the air.

The beast, being a beast, committed too much into its attack leaving it wide open. I thrust my blade into it’s chest, but the weapon wasn’t able to go very deep, as the muscles wrapping its skeletal structure hardened slowing the blades thrust. In the end, the glowing polished wood was stopped by it’s thick ribcage.

The beast roared before trying to attack me again. Since I was in the air I was unable to avoid it. All I could do was force more Qi into my auras pattern. This caused it to flare up. I wasn’t done yet, as I force my shell to harden on my left side where the bear was about to strike.

It's claws dug into my shell and even managed to cut a shallow wound in my side. What was even more devastating was the force behind its palm sending me flying.

By this point in my life, I was used to falling, so I rolled my body through the air and managed to somewhat soften the impact. The sword I once held, had snapped in two. Both pieces now imbedded into the ground beside me.

Crap. Fighting it head on was stupid. I wasn’t strong enough even with my aura… but that wasn't how I did things. I always cheated my way through fights. Like packing my punches, or using my surroundings to my advantage.

Cant reach their face? Find some steps to get a little more height. They like to punch? Put your back to a wall and let them fight the wall. It was dirty, but in a real fight there were no rules. If I was going to get my ass beat, I would at least make it super annoying for the other guy.

The bear was ready to charge. I felt fear, as I knew what would happen next. “I refuse.” I murmured.

I snatched up the longer piece of my sword, before pushing my hand into the ground, as the bear lunged forward to attack. Just before he could get me, I pushed off the grass becoming airborne.

The beast slammed its claws and bared its fangs at the spot where I once was. Regaining my composure I slammed my foot into its furry back before using it as a stepping stone to get away.

The bear didn’t waste any time to come after me. It swiped at me again causing me to jump away. This time however I threw a cloud of sand at its eyes, temporarily blinding it.

As for where the sand came from. Before I pushed off the ground I grabbed some of the moist soil. Then split the water aspects back into wind aspects. Thus turning the dirt into sand. Maybe not as precise as the lore keeper, but close enough.

“Nice going kid.” Said Mr. Brutus. I couldn’t help but notice he was holding Yukio by the shoulders, as if preventing her from jumping in.

With this opening, I ran around the bear, as it tried to rub its eyes in frustration. Quickly, I cycled my Qi through the piece of wood I had. Pouring vast amounts of Qi through its frame. Then snapped it into the diamond spiral pattern.

I began molding its aura into a sharper weapon. The power I put into it leaked like crazy, but I only needed it for a second. I dashed forward hopping onto the bears back. Ramming the blue energy blade through its heart.

The thing roared in pain as it thrashed about. I ended up falling off of its back and onto the ground. It was dead, but not in the way I wanted.

In its death, the beast fell back right on top of me. I felt a lot of stuff break as its weight nearly crushed me. The pain was absolutely un-BEAR-able. The terrible pun made me laugh causing a sharp pain in my chest.

Mr. Brutus was quick to move the bear off of me. “You alright kid?” Asked the giant.

I sniffled and sobbed as the pain decided to be extra perky today. “I-I’ll live.” I cried trying to sit up. “I-I think some of my ribs are… *sob* broken… Also… *sob* my arm looks funny.” The arm I mentioned was not only bent the wrong way. It also had a second elbow. I kept sobbing even though I tried my best not to. “It hurts.” *sob*

Yukio finally came over. She looked frightened. “Oh, shit… I’ll get the lore keeper!” She yelled before trying to run for flower mountain.

I say she tried, because Mr. Brutus had stopped her by holding her up by the back of her kimono. “Let me go, you fucking gorilla! He needs a healer!” She yelled.

“Hold on brat. This is a learning opportunity.” Said Mr. Brutus.

“No fucking way! This isn't how people learn healing auras! It’s too much!” She yelled.

“Isaac you wanna stop crying and explain to this brat what condition your real body is in? is it better or worse?” said Mr. Brutus.

He was right. How could I expect to heal my other body when I couldn't heal this one. It's all the same no matter what the situation is. Everything I do in this world is nothing compared to what’s to come.

Despite the pain, I sat up. My breaths were sharp and quick. I felt like I might pass out from the pain. Simply breathing hurt. My heart seemed to pound in my chest. So many parts of my body were throbbing like they had been smashed by a hammer.

My tears continued to fall, but that didn't matter. “H-how do I do it?” I asked.

Yukio stopped struggling. “Isaac you can't be serious! You don't have to do that! This asshole will break you!” She said.

“I have to!” I yelled back. That seemed to shut her up.

Mr. Brutus ignored her as she tried to break free. “Aspects… life aspects to be exact. You should be able to find them in the corpse of that bear. Gather them up.” He instructed.

I channeled Qi to my eyes again, looking at the bears flow of energy. Surly enough, silver like aspects was escaping it’s body. I reached with my good arm and started gathering it up. There was another aspect there. It was dark and the more silver aspects I took, the more dark stuff was produced.

It seemed to spread from the wound I’d created. I wasn’t sure what it was, but it sure as hell didn’t feel like life aspect. It was rotten, or the essence of rot.

The power gathered so quickly. I was surprised to be holding so much of it. It wasn’t that I’d improved. It was the fact that there was an abundance of life aspects.

As the energy left the bear some of it leaked from the stream, causing the grass under its path to grow quickly.

“Good job kid that should be enough. Don’t over do it. That is our breakfast after all. Last thing we need is rotten meat. How are you holding up?” He said.

*sob* “It’s getting worse.” I cried. The adrenaline I had before was starting to fade causing more pain to flood in. I felt like passing out as my old friend darkness came to visit again, and by that I meant the corners of my vision were darkening. “Hello darkness. When did you get here?”

“Master Brutus!” Panicked Yukio.

“I know, I know. Don’t worry about it. Remember this body is temporary so even if he dies, it won’t matter.” Said Mr. Brutus.

“When did all this oil get here?” I asked as that warm, wet, sticky feeling came to this world too. “Oh, that’s blood. Haha! Mr. Brutus check it out! It’s a blood bath!” I giggled weakly as my broken ribs messed with my lungs.

“That’s great kid. Why don’t you activate your aura now.” Said Mr. Brutus.

I tried to cycle my Qi, but with my new anatomy it was confusing. The pattern was less of a star, and more like a broken pretzel. I tried tracing my body with a strand of Qi to get a feel for the path.

Once it felt right, I added more power making sure to compact the pattern for better efficiency. Not because I needed it to be perfect, but because the day was young, and I didn’t know what else was in store.

Before I knew it I felt all fuzzy again, and my body started to glow once more. The aura was almost perfect. There was still a few holes here and there, but it looked pretty good.

“Good job. It’s close enough to start a life aura. Now the energy flowing through your body is creating a field around you. That field is your aura. You should already know this. What I want you to do is feed the life aspects into your aura. Let me be clear. DO NOT feed them into your body.” He instructed.

“G-got it… feed them into my body” I said weakly.

“No! I said don’t feed them into your body!” said Mr. Brutus.

“That’s so many rules though.” I mumbled.

“Its one rule! Don’t feed the aspects into your body! Infuse them into your aura!” he yelled.

Yukio started laughing, “haha! You dumbass can't you see he’s messing with you?”

I started laughing too. “Haha, got you Mr. Brutus.” I said. He sighed before taking out his flask and chugging a lengthy amount of what I hoped was orange juice.

“Okay, be serious for once. The most important part is your intention. Imagine the energy healing your body. Not just mending cuts or bruises, but fixing bones and internal organs.” Said Mr. Brutus.

I nodded in understanding. Then fed the aspects into my aura with the intent to heal. Immediately it’s vibe changed. Going from a fuzzy blanket, to a warm milky bath.

The process was a little like pouring water into a balloon. At first it just expanded. Then the aspect settled in, mixing with the energy field.

The feeling of warm milk spread even through my bones. It was wonderful… up until my bones started snapping back into place.

“Ah! I-it hurts!” I cried.

It was like my bones were breaking in reverse. Every injury sustained during battle felt like it was happening all over again, only all at once.

By the time it was over, I was left curled up in a ball, crying on the now long grass. I stayed there for a bit, unsure if I was about to feel more pain, but it never came.

Mr. Brutus was laughing. “Got you back!” he said.

This was far worse than what I did to him. Maybe I shouldn’t play games like that, if he was going to take it so far.

“Are you alright?” Asked Yukio.

“That really hurt!” I cried.

“Yeah, normally your supposed to use apathy aspects to numb the pain, but it was an emergency, so we couldn’t afford to take our time.” Said Yukio.

Apathy Aspects? There was so many different aspects! How was I supposed to keep track! More importantly Yukio was in on it! I felt my body jerk as I cried softly to myself.

“Need a hand kid?” Asked Mr. Brutus as he held his hand of betrayal out to me.

I smacked it away. “No! That was really mean!” I got to my wobbly feet just as Yukio came in to give me a hug. Before she could wrap her arms around me, I pushed her away. “I don't like you either!” I cried. I started balling my eyes out.

“Hey, its alright. Its over now.” Said Yukio trying to calm me down. She pulled a peace of betrayal cloth from her robe and looked like she was about to wipe away the evidence of her betrayal. I didn’t let her. Instead I ran away from them.

I couldn’t stay with these betrayers anymore, so I started gathering my things, as my tears continued to fall.

Both Yukio and Mr. Brutus looked confused, but Yukio was the first to ask. “Umm… Isaac what are you doing?”

“I hate it here! You guys are big meanies! I'm running away!” I whined, as I packed my sleeping bag.

“What?” She said.

I threw my backpack on. Then ran over to grab Snowball. She was also upset with them. I then started angrily marching away from the area in a random direction. “I said I’m running away! I hate you guys!” I cried.

Mr. Brutus seemed to laugh and shake his head, while Yukio looked like she was about to do the same.

I approached the tree line. Then turned back to look at my teacher and fellow disciple. They both seemed to not care.

“Okaaay…. I-I’m leaving now.” I said weakly as I took a step passed the tree line.

They didn’t say anything. Instead Yukio seemed to gather up the remains of the sword I’d broken, while Mr. Brutus started to skin the bear, mumbling something about making a nice coat.

I walked a little further before looking back again. They were still ignoring me! My crying intensified as I ran back. Breaking through the tree line I yelled, “Is no one coming after me! Don’t you guys care!? What if I get attacked again!”

Yukio sighed then responded, “Stop being a drama queen, or I'll hunt you down and throw you in time out!” She yelled.

I got nervous all of a sudden. “Oh… I’m sorry… I'll go cry over there then.” I kicked a rock looking away from the scary girl glaring at me. “You know since no one cares about me.” I added sniffling and wiping away my tears.

Yukio seemed to glare at Mr. Brutus, but he ignored her. I tried walking over to a corner, away from these betrayers, that didn’t seem to care if I lived or died, only to be intersected by Yukio.

She looked like she was about to bite my head off, so I hissed as a way to scare her off. Instead of running away like I thought she would. She picked me up and flung me over her shoulder like a bag of destined to be drowned kittens.

“Let me go! I don't want to drown in a river.” I cried as I kicked and struggled against her grip of betrayal.

“What are you on about?” She mumbled before plopping me down on the grass in a sitting position of betrayal. “Stay right there, while I get a few things. I don't want to hear another word out of you.” She scolded.

Strangely enough, the blood I got on her seemed to dry up and flake away. “But Yukio you guys started it!” I cried.

“I don't care! You’re like an actual child! Now don't move from that spot. You're in time out.” She scolded.

That’s when she pulled my backpack off of me and started rummaging through my things. “That’s my stuff!” I cried.

“Shut up!” She yelled.

Even though she was going through my things I couldn’t seem to move from where I was. She was kind of scary.

Yukio pulled out my kimono and a new pair of underwear. They were yellow with little mouse’s on them. I felt embarrassed, but didn’t say anything.

She came over and handed the clothes to me. I didn’t take them, unsure of what she wanted. Instead I stared at her angrily.

“Take them you little shit!” She yelled.

I yelped before grabbing the clothes. “Why? Haven’t you hurt me enough?” I cried.

“You’re covered in blood. I think you need a quick dip in the river, so let’s go.” She took my hand again and nearly dragged me.

It was like Shadow had possessed her or something…. I miss Shadow.