Chapter 131: Quinn Larisch (Part 3)
As I joined the general beside the briefcase, he informed me that in order to start the awakening process, the shard must come in contact with my bloodstream. Following that up with a question asking if I had any open wounds, the general emphasized that he could painlessly cut one open himself if needed. I shook my head and revealed a scrape I received earlier on my tricep, and the general told me that’d work.
Handing me the shard, the general said not to do anything until he was safely backed away and advised me when to begin. After a few seconds, the general stood about fifteen feet away as he gave me the green light. Bringing the shard across my body, I touch it against my left tricep and suddenly feel an overwhelming rush of iris surge through me.
My entire left arm, all the way up through my shoulder, felt like it was being scorched alive, and my vision of the world disappeared, replaced by a blinding blend of constant color changes. As I endured the agonizing torment stimulating throughout my entire body, I wouldn’t allow myself to succumb to the pain and collapse in front of the general.
Seconds? Minutes? Hours? I don’t know how long I was standing there, screaming my head off, but it felt like years had passed when the pain finally started declining. As the pain dwindled to something manageable, I regained control of my labored breathing and became conscious of my surroundings again. The general was clapping his hands, and my dad was somewhat comforting my mom, rubbing her shoulder as she leaned on him with a proud smile stretching from ear to ear.
“Well done, Quinn. You’re among the few who completed the awakening process without passing out. I know I keep repeating myself, but you continue to impress me, kid,” said the general. “If you look at your tricep now, your wound should be healed, with a unique tattoo taking its place.”
Looking at my tricep, a tattoo of a brain with two arrows creating a circle inside the brain was etched into my skin. The general then sauntered over, pulling out a device from his pocket. The device appeared similar to a scanner, but I’d never seen such a device before, not even in the books at the academy.
Scanning my tattoo, the general waited a few seconds before the device materialized visual projections containing information, “Interesting, you’ve inherited a power under the myalo category.”
Walking around to stand beside him so I could read the projections, the general explained, “Now, I know this will sound confusing, but you already know all of this information. When you awaken your iris and inherit an ability, your brain subconsciously receives… hmmm, think of it as a data file. This data file contains information about your power, including the name, the category, and basic functions. However, it can be overwhelming if you don’t know what to expect if you've just acquired your first-ever iris ability. This device has multiple purposes, including a clear, visual representation of what exactly iris is and how it has changed you.”
The first-ever ability I awakened was called ‘Override,’ a power that utilizes ‘the manipulation of the mind', and falls under the category of myalo. For comparison, the general explained that some standard Myalo abilities were like basic powers involving the mind, such as telekinesis, photographic memory, and telepathy. Mine is a bit more unique.
With ‘Override', I can overwrite another person’s memory to whatever I desire. Initially, I assumed my ability could be incredibly useful in certain situations, especially if I worked as a government agent. But the general also clarified that with every power, there are always limitations or drawbacks.
Suppose I use override to change the memory belonging to another person. In that case, I lose a random memory of mine that’s considered equal value. Additionally, I can only manipulate a memory if I’m aware it exists. For example, if I walk up to a random person and attempt to change the memory of when they woke up that morning, I could not use override because I would not know when they woke up. But if I asked them when they woke up and they told me the truth, I could change that memory if I desired.
Also, I could only change the memory to something that would make sense to the original memory. If I tried to alter somebody’s memory of when they woke up to a memory of them eating an orange in the middle of the day, my ability would fail to work. However, if I changed the memory to where the person wakes up four minutes later, my ability would succeed.
As the general finished describing how my ability worked, he said to my parents, “It’s getting late, and my job here is done. I’ll be back tomorrow morning, so please explain everything we talked about to Quinn tonight.”
With that, the general thanked my parents for their hospitality and saw himself out. Striding over to the side of the yard, the general disappeared as he wrapped around to the front of the house.
After the general left, my parents sat me down and told me everything they knew about iris. About fifteen years ago, a world-altering event called ‘the shard shower’ occurred before I was born. This event saw thousands of glimmering shards fall through the atmosphere, scattering themselves around the globe. It was sudden, and there was no scientific explanation for why such a phenomenon occurred. Still, supposedly ancient tales referenced a crystal with very similar traits to the iris shards.
Ever since the day of the shard shower, the world has never been the same. People with supernatural abilities began to pop up worldwide and were given the term ‘Wielders of Iris’. Technology, war, travel... everything changed as a new era was birthed.
Although neither of my parents had an iris flowing through them, they were well aware of the ins and outs of an iris. They told me that awakening my iris was the first step of a long journey. Confirming what the general had said about an individual innately understanding their powers upon absorption, my parents stressed that although iris has gifted me with an extraordinary ability, the raw energy of iris flowing through my body now could also be utilized in many creative ways.
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By channeling my iris into certain areas of my body, such as my eyes, fists, feet, and more, I’ll one day be capable of tasks such as utilizing my iris to run on walls or leaping fifteen feet in the air. However, to master these techniques, years of training and dedication awaited me.
I was then informed that I am now what is called a ‘solo wielder’, or somebody who carries one gemcore within them. Overall, a person can wield up to three different gemcores at the same time, meaning they have three special abilities. I had just inherited my first ability, which means that if I wanted to, I could obtain two more abilities in the future.
However, anybody who has attempted to wield four different iris abilities has died almost immediately, so three is the limit. After awakening and inheriting my first ability, iris now courses through my body just as blood does, and my gemcore is integral to my body’s survival.
After being given the rundown about iris, including the three classes, seven categories, and the two distinct parts of a gemcore, my parents dived into a new topic regarding the gemcore. Not only acting as the beating heart to my iris, they told me that my gemcore would also develop over time as I trained. The protective shield to the iris core, the gem component of the gemcore is just as important as the iris core inside.
There are five known development stages in the gemcore and an iris wielder’s overall development. With each stage, the gem changes shape and becomes tougher to break through, amplifying a wielder’s defense over their iris core. In order from lowest to highest, the five stages are:
1. Awakening
2. Emergence
3. Evolution
4. Advanced
5. Mastery
Stage one, or the ‘Awakening Stage’, starts when a person awakens their gemcore. Throughout stage one, the iris wielder’s gem is in the shape of a sphere, the same shape as the iris core. The awakening stage is all about the wielder feeling out what iris is and gaining a basic understanding of their ability.
Stage two is the ‘Emergence Stage’. More of a transitional stage, the emerged wielder becomes more comfortable with iris throughout this stage. Additionally, their gem starts to stretch in shape into more of an ovoid, or a three-dimensional version of an oval. The iris core gradually develops into a much stronger, denser state during the emergence stage.
The third stage is the ‘Evolution Stage’. After the wielder has developed their iris capabilities to a certain point, their gem core has a breakthrough, and the gem becomes the shape of a tetrahedron, or a pyramid with a triangle base. Wielders who advance to the evolution stage also unlock some new traits for their abilities, and one of which even has to do with orasi. Once a wielder has a gemcore that reaches evolution, they can determine the stage of other wielders’ gemcores using orasi. That said, evolved wielders can only see the stage of a gemcore that matches their own stage or below.
The fourth stage is the ‘Advanced Stage’, and the gem becomes the shape of a cube. By this point, the wielder has grown so capable and symbiotic with iris that almost everything comes naturally to them. Like the emergence and evolution stages, the iris core again progressively becomes denser until there’s another breakthrough at stage five.
The fifth stage is the ‘Mastery Stage’, and only a tiny known handful worldwide have reached the fifth stage. The gem becomes the shape of an octahedron, a three-dimensional figure with eight triangle sides that come to a point at the top and bottom. And from what’s known about master wielders, their gemcores are so densely developed and bright that some people have even gone blind by trying to inspect them with orasi.
When an iris wielder moves onto the next stage, and the gem core changes shape, the amassed density cultivated by the iris core is transferred to the gem. This gives the gem a tougher shell, making it more difficult to break through, while the iris core inside maintains the same spherical shape.
Once my parents wrapped up their explanation about the five stages, they started talking about iris capacity. Basically, after a person undergoes the awakening, they naturally obtain a starting pool of iris they can draw from. The starting iris capacity a freshly awakened wielder gains is the same for every person who awakens their iris, as every shard has the same amount of raw iris inside. The only way for a wielder to increase their iris capacity so they can sustain it for longer periods of time is to train it through control and circulation. Without proper training and carelessness, a person can very easily overuse their iris to the point their body gravely suffers, the worst-case scenario being death.
No matter how much I trained my first iris ability and developed my gemcore, my parents expressed that if I ever inherited a second ability at some point, my overall supply of iris would increase simply because I acquired a second gemcore. This is because, with every new gemcore, that same initial iris capacity contained within every shard is awoken within the wielder, regardless of whether or not that wielder had developed their iris beforehand.
That said, if a person absorbs two iris shards... therefore becoming a dual wielder and carrying two gemcores, it becomes much more difficult for them to control, train, and master their iris.
This is because having a second ability puts far more strain on the human body, meaning it takes longer for the human body to acclimate. And every time a dual wielder uses their iris, they have to expend twice as much iris than a solo wielder would. The same concept applies to people possessing three abilities, the tri-wielders of the world, as the potential dangers increase drastically for them once again. That said, mastery of iris is always possible through proper training and dedication, no matter how many gemcores somebody carries.
Bringing back up the topic of the five stages, it’s possible for an iris wielder to have gemcores at varying stages. For example, if I trained until I became an evolved wielder with only my override ability and eventually obtained a second gemcore, my second gemcore would start at stage one while my override gemcore would still be at stage three. Typically, wielders who manage their gemcores so they progress around the same rate development-wise find it much easier to use their iris more effectively.
But lack of control isn’t the only danger an iris wielder needs to worry about. As in this world, iris abilities can be stolen. Located just underneath the tattoo on my tricep is my gemcore, and the iris core inside it is around the size of a tiny marble. The iris core is what holds the coding for my unique ability. While it’s critical to develop the gem to obtain that tougher outer shell for protection so the iris core isn’t stolen… there’s always a lurking possibility that an iris core can be stolen from you.
If somebody were to obtain the iris core buried beneath my tattoo and it makes contact with their bloodstream, they would effectively steal my gemcore and my ability away from me. If that were to happen, I would lose not only the ability to utilize iris... but also one-third of my remaining life force. If a second core were stolen from me, two-thirds of my remaining life force would be lost. And if a third core was stolen, my final third of life force would be erased, and I would die right then and there.