8 years ago

“Karim, it’s time for your lesson.” Shouted a tall, middle aged man with crisp black hair, the shadow of a beard on his face, striking brown eyes and a body that looked like he’d picked up a heavy object and repeated the action an inestimable number of times. In short, he looked strong, and all those that had had the misfortune of meeting him in combat would affirm that his looks were not deceiving.

Two years had gone by since Lark was assigned to live at this lakeside mansion by the Old Master. His sole job was to act as Karim’s tutor and protector.

“Uncle Lark….is carrying heavy things and running really far, the only way to train? Can’t we do something else?” asked Karim timidly as he ran towards Lark.

“Don’t forget running really far while carrying heavy things.” Lark remarked smilingly, gently gazing at Karim. He was not Karim’s actual uncle, but he was a distant member of the family.

The kid was a hard worker. Living in isolation was deemed the only cure for the child’s mental demon, however, was it really a mental demon that afflicted Karim?... Was a question Lark found himself asking when there was no one around.

As long as the kid didn’t fear you, he appeared like every other child, just a little timid and understandably traumatized by the fact that he had to live here emotionally alone.

Sighing, Lark dismissed the random thoughts in his head. The tantrums this kid threw when he was afraid of the ‘force’ inside him, as Karim called it, were no joke. For those reasons, this arrangement was probably for the best.

“Why? Are you bored of the training?” asked Lark.

Shaking his head, Karim quickly answered, “Not at all, uncle I’m ready to start.”

“There’s no hurry, today I’m going to explain to you why we train the way we do, when we do and also what makes us different from others.” Said Lark beckoning Karim to sit down.

“What makes us….different?”

Smiling Lark began, “Yes, what makes us different. As you already know our people, the Hayawani, are not originally from this planet. Where we come from, why we came here, and even how we lived before we came here are questions neither I nor anyone outside of the Heads of the Original Houses have answers to so don’t bother asking. All I know is that this place is very suitable for our growth.”

Karim suddenly raised his hand to interrupt.

“Go ahead and ask, no need to raise your hand. If it’s something I can answer I will.” Said Lark.

“Wouldn’t those who leave Binguni and come back have some answers?” Karim asked.

“You’re not supposed to know this but I’ll tell you a secret. Once you grow up maybe you can repay the favor and tell me a couple more.” Joked Lark, he then continued, “Those who are strong enough, can choose to leave Binguni but from my understanding there’s never been a single person to come back.”

“No one?....Why?”

“Apparently, if you leave you’re not allowed to come back. That’s what I was told, anyway let’s forget about that for now as even if you have more questions, I probably won’t know the answer. Let us stick to the lesson.”

Confused yet intrigued, Karim held onto his question and simply nodded in understanding.

“Good, now where was I? Yes, what makes us different. Binguni is blessed with abundant spiritual energy and as such is thriving with life that has been nurtured by this spiritual energy. And we rely on this life to cultivate and train ourselves.”

“Wait.” interrupted Karim. “What is spiritual energy?”

“Don’t know.” Replied Lark. “I don’t think there exists a single Hayawani that knows enough about spiritual energy to give you a complete answer. That’s because we can’t sense it, or directly draw it into our bodies and absorb it like spirit beasts can for example.”

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Knowing that his explanation wasn’t convincing enough Lark re-elaborated, “Anyway while I can’t tell you what spiritual energy is, the spirit beast tamed by the Old master once described it to a group of us as a vast energy source blanketing the entirety of existence, populated by all the laws, elements and rules that make up and govern the Universe.”

“But as for what that means, I haven’t the faintest idea, nor do I really care and neither should you. Do you want to know why?” asked Lark.

“Because we’re Hayawani?” answered Karim.

“Exactly.” Praised Lark. “As Hayawani we don’t need to understand or attract and absorb spiritual energy as we can just devour the efforts of the spirit beasts as well as the spirit plants and other spiritual energy reliant beings to achieve a similar effect. Of course, there are limits to how much we can eat, so consume too much energy too quickly and you’re liable to get a stomachache, one bad enough to make you disappear of the face of Binguni.”

“So, we train. Everyone has their methods, but each of us try to achieve the same thing which is to increase the capacity of energy that we can digest and convert into our physical strength. The noble Houses like our House Night is similar, we train to increase our capacity however, unlike the common Hayawani we convert the energy and use it to grow our bodies towards the direction of our innate Element. Eventually strengthening it to the point where we are one with the Element.”

“Innate Element?” wondered Karim.

“Every member of every noble House is born with a physical body attuned to a specific element. These elements make up a part of spiritual energy and they include, fire, water, air, earth, darkness and light. There are probably more elements out in the Universe, but these are the ones the noble Houses of Binguni hold.”

“Why are we born with elements? What makes us noble?” asked Karim. Some of the concepts he wasn’t quite catching but either way he would remember everything.

“Again, I don’t know. If you’re asking me for my opinion though, I think we just devoured too much of one type of spirit creature or plant that had a single element and after a really long time passed, and countless generations later, voila, descendants with that element. Just don’t tell anyone about this…theory. Keep it between us.”

“Okay, Uncle Lark.”

“In any case, why we have an element doesn’t matter, the fact is we’re born with one and descendants of House Night hold the Darkness element. When young you can’t really feel it or use it but once you build up a strong enough foundation through consistent physical training, eventually you’ll have a big enough capacity to digest energy and you’ll participate in the awakening ceremony. Which is where, well, you’ll awaken to your innate element.”

Seeing the growing bewilderment on Karim’s face, Lark chose to end the lesson on a final note.

“In summary, just think of spiritual energy as a very powerful, inexhaustible energy that permeates everything in the Universe and exists everywhere. Then there are countless creatures and beings that acts as parasites, feeding off this energy in order to grow and evolve. And we Hayawani devour these parasites and use them to grow and evolve. Simple.”

‘Parasite?’ Thought Karim. For some reason he couldn’t help but think about the force within him. He had tried to think about what it could be and at one point even started believing it really was a mental demon.

‘But what if it was a parasite?’ However, the thought lingered for only a few moments before he thought of how ridiculous the notion was. If the force within him wanted to feed off of him, he’d already be dead. Its purpose was clouded in mystery and as of now he was powerless to resist.

Lark sighed upon seeing Karim lost in thought, ‘Perhaps I said too much?’ He thought.

“For now, don’t think about it too much, if you want to know anything then just ask me, I’ll be here anytime. What you need to focus on though, is building your foundation which is simple, before the age of ten if you can digest grade 1 spirit food your foundation is solid, grade 2 spirit food before the age of fifteen and your foundation is a mountain that can’t be moved by even the harshest storms.”

“So, let’s get to running and lifting.”

Present day

Looking outside the car window as it zoomed by on the way back to the place he once called home Karim could not help but reminisce.

“You don’t seem that thrilled to be going back.” Said Lark, seated beside him. In Karim’s eyes Lark appeared as he did on that day eight years ago having seemingly not aged a day.

“Should I be?” replied Karim.

“True. Home is probably an unfamiliar place to you.” Said Lark, patting Karim on the shoulder.

“Not as unfamiliar as I wish it would be.” To say the memories of that place and his experience there no longer haunted him would be a lie.

“Try not to think too much. Leave the past where it belongs, only then can you move forward. You’re not who used to be.” Said Lark.

However, as his words seemed to unsuccessfully coerce a reaction from Karim he added, “You know I believe you about everything you have shared with me, but you’re still a child. As you grow, you will come to realize how unfair it is to judge people by their secrets, after all they’re hidden for a reason.” Sighing he continued, “The world of people is ugly by nature and the misfortunes and curses of today might just turn out to be the blessings of tomorrow.”

“I’d like to say I understand Uncle…”

“The point is not to understand, at least not right now, after all you’re still my cute nephew and you have a few more years of being a child. Who knows, you might just remember this time as a fond memory one day. Just….don’t forget.”

Karim nodded in affirmation. The carriage thus fell into silence.