I looked deep inside of the tall man, Carlos, to train my sight. What I saw, however, caused me to question if I had pushed my eyes too hard. I had only been training for a little while, but I had spent a lot of time over the past few days staring at others to try and understand my power. Eventually, that meant I had an idea about what the average person was supposed to look like internally.

Most in the group had small sources that flashed with untamed energy at unpredictable intervals. An exception to this was Quentin, who had a larger source that was less prone to flare-ups. I have been developing a theory that it is Amaya and my abilities to control our Will that separates us from those around us. It makes sense when you compare my source to anyone else’s, mine is much larger and more controlled.

I was shocked to find that Carlos’s source was smaller than before. If before it was larger than average it was now a bit smaller. What was really odd about this was how unnaturally the energy around his source moved. Carlos was completely still internally, eerily so. There were no explosions of energy or fluctuations in the spherical shape of the source. It was unsettling to watch, but I found myself walking closer, captivated by the mystery.

The rational part of my brain realized I was being very suspicious, so I took a roundabout route to make my approach less obvious. I only looked at Carlos every so often so that I didn’t seem like I was staring specifically at him. At around five meters, the outline of his source was clear, and it was even more obvious that something was wrong. At this distance, I should at least see a few disturbances moving throughout the source, but I saw nothing.

Delaying my approach, I leaned against a nearby tree and acted as if I were inspecting the scenery. “What do I do when I get close to him and there is something wrong? Should I try to fix it, tell him about it, or leave it alone?” I hadn’t spoken with the giant man much, and suddenly appearing out of nowhere to make conversation might put him on edge.

“I’m sure that I’ve already gained a bit of a reputation with everyone here, so it probably wouldn’t surprise anyone if I acted a bit weirdly. Damn, when have I ever cared so much about what other people think of me?” I hesitated for another moment, but then steeled my resolve and stepped closer.

Ignoring the weird looks I was getting from the people nearby, I got within an arm’s length of the man’s back. Now that I was so close, I could see something surrounding Carlos’s source. A pale mist of purple energy had coalesced around the man’s source. The vapor sat millimeters from the round energy construct, pulsating every once in a while.

Without thinking, I reached my fingers out touch Carlos. “If I can touch him, I’ll be able to go inside and see what’s going on myself.” I reached out with my hand, my fingers reaching out to discover what was happening inside the man. Tears were running down my eyes as maintaining my spirit sight was sending pain shooting throughout my head. My hand was mere centimeters away when a voice broke my train of thought.

“Don’t do that,” the voice said sternly. Dazed, the color fell from my vision as I released my enhanced sight. I turned to look at the source of the command, not knowing who had stopped my opportunity for learning. What I saw was a thin, but muscular torso clad in a form-fitting black bodysuit. I craned my head upwards and saw the pale white face of Scalisth looking down on me with disdain.

I hesitantly lowered my hand as everyone in the area reacted to the new presence among us. The general reaction was surprise from him sneaking up on every, but some showed… excitement? It was weird, but some people even seemed excited to see the alien man.

I didn’t have time to consider the odd reactions of the crowd as I once again locked eyes with the Altum. “I didn’t mean to do anything bad; I was just worried about that purple thing around his source.” I spoke in a calm voice, as I really wanted to avoid confrontation with the Altum. No one had spoken with him since the transcendent being passed through, and I was worried that he would be quick to anger after the humiliating experience.

I mentally prepared for the verbal beating, but what I heard next blindsided me. “What is a source?” the Altum asked, confusion plain in his voice. I was confused that he wasn’t angry, but also surprised that he seemed just as confused as me. I looked at him for a second as I processed the question. Soon, though, I understood why he had asked it.

“O-oh, right, you probably have a word for it already. It’s what I call the glowing ball of light inside of people.” I drew a circle with my index finger over my chest to illustrate my point. He narrowed his eyes at my gesture, his mouth falling into a frown.

“You can see the boy’s, then?” Scalisth asked, his eyes moving over to look at Carlos. Despite his stature, the tall man flinched under the Altum’s gaze.

I hesitantly answered, “Yes? That thing right there.” I pointed at Carlos’s chest, my finger lined up perfectly with the glowing orb of energy and the purple ring surrounding it.

Scalisth then asked another question, “What does it look like, to you?” Yet another surprising question, but I was curious to see where the conversation was heading, so I followed along.

“Well, usually they’re kind of like this,” I said as I mimed a spherical shape with both hands. “And they usually have stuff coming off of them like this,” I then made exaggerated motions with my hands to signify flare-ups I see on a source. I finally concluded by saying, “His is strange, though, since it doesn’t move at all.”

It was hard for me to explain the sight with words, so I tried to give him a physical image to go along with my verbal description. He seemed to get the idea, as his eyes widen imperceptibly as my words sunk in.

He paused for a second before responding, “Interesting. That aside, I believe you and I need to speak together. Privately,” he said as he looked throughout the group. The vast majority averted their gazes while some turned around and left entirely. Scalisth didn’t wait for everyone to leave, though, as he turned around and walked out of the clearing.

I hesitated to leave the safety of the clearing, but shrugged and followed the man out. “This clearing is only safe because of him, so being next to him is practically doubly safe.” It was still unnerving to enter the thick brush alone, so I tried to catch up to the Altum as quickly as possible.

After walking for a moment, Scalisth stopped and turned around to face me. Once we were face-to-face a few meters away from one another, he waved his hand and whispered a quiet word.

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[ Silence ]

I heard the ambient outside noise go dim as a sphere of absolute silence cleared the nearby space. It was so quiet that I became distracted by the sound of my own breathing. I could hear every movement of my dry tongue in my mouth, and I swore I could hear my heartbeat speeding up slightly in my chest.

I got excited as I saw a learning opportunity present itself before me. Ignoring the pain, I entered my spirit vision to see what had changed. Before I could look at anything, though, Scalisth waved his hand again, and a wave of force dispersed the spirit gathered in my eyes. “Seems he really doesn’t want me seeing his techniques, huh?” I thought to myself.

Ignoring my actions, Scalisth broke the silence as he said, “What I will say next, you will not repeat to anyone else, understand?”

I raised an eyebrow at the implications of that opening remark. The Altum wasn’t asking me but telling me that this was a secret. The fact he would even share something private with me meant he was fully confident in me keeping it under wraps. Since I knew he didn’t trust me, that meant there was a deeper meaning to his words:

“If you tell anyone this, I will kill you.” My realization must’ve shown on my face, as Scalisth smirked coldly, his expression confirming my fears. “Whatever this is, it’s big enough to break his vow to keep his hands clean of human blood.” I shivered slightly at the new threat on my life, but nodded, nonetheless. What was one more thing trying to kill me when everything on this planet wanted me dead?

Scalisth’s smirk fell as he became serious once again. “I’m glad to see you’re not a complete imbecile. Yes, this is important, and only you can know of this.” He looked to me to once again confirm I understood what was at stake.

I nodded in confirmation and Scalisth continued, “Good. The first thing for you to know is that everyone back there is fine. In fact, they are better than fine, in some ways. That ‘purple stuff’ is a result of some powerful World Speech I used to alter their memories.” My eyes widened as I felt his words sink in.

“Altering memories? He can do that?!” In the silent environment, I could hear my heartbeat quicken as I imagined all the terrible things that power could do. Before I could ask the obvious question, Scalisth spoke up to answer it preemptively.

“No, I haven’t altered your memories. Your novice skill in manipulating the Nor, energy, makes your mind impenetrable to even the highest level of world speech.” I tried to take his words at face value but found that the tension didn’t disappear when claimed I was untouched. I thought about it for a moment and came to the conclusion that he was probably telling the truth. “Why tell me this if he could modify my memories? It would likely save a lot of trouble on his end.”

Despite my obvious shift in body language, Scalisth didn’t react and continued speaking. “I retracted their memories from the last three days and made those of their first day here rather hazy. Effectively, they all believe this is their first day here, and they do not remember any of the stresses from the past four days.”

I didn’t have time to be surprised before he continued, saying, “Only you and that other woman were spared this treatment for the reasons mentioned earlier. As you two are the only humans with full recollection of the past day’s events, you are going to have to be very careful with how you interact with the others.”

“What he really means is that we’re the loose ends that need to be cut off,” I thought as I looked the Altum man dead in the eyes. His milky white orbs looked back at mine, and I wondered if he was serious about killing me. Deciding not to test it, I remained silent to indicate I was ready to hear more.

Scalisth continued, “Do not use your Hait to dispel the mist. Your clumsy control would only cause further damage to their fractured minds, and they need time to heal from my tampering.” I gave him a confused look as I tried to figure out what he was talking about. Suddenly, it clicked, but I still wanted to confirm what Hait was.

I interrupted him, “When you say ‘Hait’ do you mean this?” I used my Will to nudge some spirit his way. The approaching energy was destroyed before it could reach him, but I could see that he had noticed it’s presence.

Scalisth looked down at me and frowned deeper. “Some of that display required Hait, if that is what your question was.”

I nodded in response, “That power I used to move the energy, the ‘Nor’, is called Hait in your language?” After receiving a nod, I added, “Well, I’ve been calling it Will, and I like that word better, so I’m keeping it.”

Scalisth hummed as he closed his eyes in thought. “The word ‘Will’ does cover a good portion of ‘Hait’, it is not a perfect match. Translating Hait as ‘identity’ or ‘authority’ would also be just as correct in many ways, but will should suffice.” I mentally cataloged his words, hoping that his insights into Will would shine through in his alternate translations.

Scalisth waved his hands dismissively, “You are getting distracted. The point is that it would be bad to use your ‘Will’ to interact directly with others. Even speaking to them about events they have forgotten might cause them tremendous pain, suffering, and potentially death.”

I grew slightly angry upon hearing his words. “If I make even a single mistake, then they’ll die? Why would you do something like this if it could end up with everyone dead? Wouldn’t something like that happening mean you failed your precious mission?” Immediately upon speaking, I came to regret it. An invisible wave of force clasped around my neck and began to lift me into the air. I felt eyes bulge and my throat tense as fear spread throughout my body.

Scalisth spoke quietly, but his words consumed the space. “Never. Say. That. Again.” Every word increase the force on my neck, and I was beginning to feel lightheaded due to a lack of oxygen. I began to reach up to grasp at my throat but couldn’t feel what was choking me to death. Within an instant, though, I felt the pressure disappear and my body fall to the ground. I fell to my knees and began coughing before taking shallow breaths to fill my lungs with air.

When I looked back up at Scalisth, I could see fury in his eyes, like none I had seen from the man before. When he spoke again, his voice was quiet as he reigned in his temper.

“An Altum is defined by their promises. To insist I would fail my duty knowingly is one of the greatest insults you can give. I would advise against mentioning it again.” I was taken aback by how his calm demeanor contrasted with his previously burning rage. “He must not have been doing as well after the transcendent being as I thought he was.”

I stayed quiet, and he seemed to take that as a sign of my understanding. “As your friend’s memory is also intact, she will also be informed of these rules. You may tell her beforehand, but we will speak no matter what.” I didn’t say anything, and Scalisth didn’t wait for me to answer, either. Instead, he turned around and waved his hand in the air. The dome of silence disappeared, and a torrent of noises momentarily assaulted my ears.

As he began walking away, he stopped and looked over his shoulder at me. “Your… Will control is abysmal. Choosing to heighten your perception is useless, since yours is already sufficient for your stage. Instead focus on your control, and you will see better results.” Without another word, he continued going deeper into the forest.

Still on my knees, I let out a deep breath I never realized I was holding. The tension fell from my shoulders as I sat quietly underneath the black trees of Altus. Raising one hand to my neck, I gingerly touched my skin with my fingers. It ached slightly, but the pain was fading quickly, and in an hour I would likely feel nothing. My mind, however, would never forget the feeling I had when Scalisth grabbed me with his power: It was death, and no matter what I might’ve done, I would’ve been done for if he hadn’t let me go.

I sat there in silence, as, for the first time, I wondered if I had been overestimating my survival chances alone.

///