Aura patterns were difficult, and trying to make the loops more loosely defined was hard to do in practice. Originally it wasn’t too bad once I got the hang of it, it felt like what I thought crocheting would be like, but going over previously looped aura to give it new intentions was just annoying. I’ve heard it said that your soul and, by extension, your aura reflected the person. That's why tech that used it as a power source acted weird, like lightbulbs shining brighter when you paid them attention.
The problem was that I worked best with more rigid rules, as then I knew I wasn’t doing something wrong, so when I loosened the intent, my aura just stayed in the original pattern. Edward’s red aura went as far as to become more defined out of spite. It was frustrating. It was almost as bad at trying to get myself to stop procrastinating when I needed to do work. I needed to change tactics.
I flicked through the book that Keter had given me previously for advice, looking at the chapter on redefining patterns that I had only skimmed before. Rereading it gave me more insight into what I needed to try, so instead of relaying the new intent on each of the aura loops, I started the pattern at my centre. I redefined the pattern as if it were a cooking recipe, the measurements and timing of which were easier to take as just guidelines, ever-changing as I learned new things or wanted to do random things.
As I followed the pattern with this new context, Edward’s aura stayed more spitefully defined, and mine became more dynamic, almost jumping between loops with an idea of rules. This new push of meaning became more and more difficult as I followed the flow further and further away from my centre, the will be inflicted on the aura lessened, I then got a second wind as I felt a guiding push behind me, giving me more power to help direct the change. I managed to make it through to the end of the pattern back to my centre.
I relaxed as the newly defined pattern settled; a wave of mental exhaustion hit me. I fell back onto my bed, feeling the cold breeze pass by, making me aware of my now sweat drenched t-shirt. I felt Edward also become unconscious as both our body and spirits were worn out by the power play against ourselves. My last thought being, “Thank fuck, it was only completed in the torso.”
***
I woke up with the sound of Edward groaning back to consciousness, “Uh, fuck me, it feels like I went on one of Jacq’s training courses while having a hangover.”
The usually bright static red flames of his spirit seemed to be duller, with the area around his white eyes being the brightest, and the further away, the less lustre he had. Even the clocks that littered his body were seemingly moving slower. The redefinition of the aura technique had more cost than I’d initially thought and would likely take longer to recover than just a single blackout session.
I also felt weaker, closer to how I felt before awakening. The extra strength I had grown used to evaded me as my soul recovered from being overtaxed by the technique. The best course of action was to use our auras and legacies as little as possible to get back up to where we were before.
“Tom, wake up!” Mathew yelled, with what sounded to me like evil glee, “Or we’re going to be late for Jacq’s lesson.”
“What?” I replied, still half asleep from exhaustion. “Isn’t it tomorrow?”
“Well, it would have been if you hadn’t spent the day asleep yesterday.”
Edward and I simultaneously had the same thought, “Shit.”
***
I, honestly, just felt heavier and slower as we walked to Jacq’s lesson, my leg almost dragging as it weighed me down more than it usually did. The rest of my team were not faring much better. Matthew burned his tongue at the cafeteria, making his spells more difficult to pronounce, and Oliver somehow managed to get a papercut right on his bow fingers. Alex was the only one who had seemingly not suffered.
Apparently, it was a special lesson, as everyone was in the stadium rather than in separate rooms, as was typical. Judging by the bags under people’s eyes and people with pained expressions, a lot of other people also made bad choices recently.
Jacq, who is currently male, held a far too bright expression as he looked over the crowd of students, causing some of them to wince in pain. Stood next to him was the man with grass-green eyes I saw the other day, with the apologetic look that seemed to be his default.
“Good morning, everyone!” Jacq began, his unwarranted cheer seeping into his voice, “I’m sure a lot of you are regretting recent decisions. Maybe you forgot about this lesson, got food poisoning somehow, or have any other bad luck. It’s no coincidence that so many of you are not in the best condition as this lesson is to teach or, at the very least, see how you are at your worst. I got my buddy Yin here to remove some of his control of his legacy.”
Recognition ignited on people’s faces.
“I thought the fortune twins were identical?” Edward thought with tired confusion.
Yin just looked tired, with bags under his eyes. Some of his clothes looked slightly frayed, with what looked like small stains. He took a breath before he started speaking.
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“Yes, as Jacq stated, my legacy is bad luck. You’re probably more familiar with my sister, Lucky Charm, as good luck is more favourable.” Yin stumbled on his words, “So yeah, every year Jacq wants to test how students perform when they’re not in the best condition, as they think it’s a better show of how teams would be in the field, as you’re more likely to not be on top of your game then or something.”
“Yup, today’s lesson is saving mes from wreckage. There are no Shades, but let's just say you are emulating the evacuation of people after a fight or attack after another group has dealt with them.”
Jacq gestured to the rest of the arena, “As you can see, we’ve kitted out the area to look like the aftermath of a Shade attack with collapsed buildings, broken floors, and trapped people.”
On cue of Jacq saying trapped people, a female voice was heard from the rubble, “Oh, despair, I am trapped; please save me!”
Jacq smiled at the audience, “See?” The crowd looked on with unimpressed, tired expressions. “Uh, you guys are no fun. Anyway, you have an hour to save as many people as possible. The team who saves me the most wins. Try not to add to the wreckage. There are a lot of domestic things to look out for, such as electricity and water, which can cause fires, so watch out.”
Jacq disappeared as if to show the start of the timer, but as soon as people moved to start, they reappeared.
“Oh yeah, I forgot. Yin is the one judging you on technique and skill, plus he’s not turning off his Legacy.” Jacq spoke, paused for a moment, and added, “He’ll also tell you when to begin.”
Jacq disappeared again.
Yin looked put on the spot, as he was also moving to the side the first time Jacq disappeared, not expecting to be back in focus. He almost tripped but managed to catch himself.
“Oh ok, um, yeah. Just watch out for broken electrical lines, work out a safe place to put the civilians you save. I’ll give you five minutes to discuss with your team before you start.” He shifted himself so he had a more stable stance, “I’ll yell start when your prep time is done.”
I brought my team into a huddle.
“Ok, Alex you seem to be the most able at the moment, I’ll leave you to handle the heaviest things to lift out the way, plus, there must be at least some tech that you could use inside the collapsed buildings to help. Mathew, any spells you have available for this?”
Mathew glared at me.
“Really, nothing?” I shook my head, “You're taken out of commission by a too hot chocolate; my, how the mighty have fallen. Not even any sign language spells?”
“Thereth a chanth that if I do try, it might back thire.” he replied, annoyed with his swollen tongue. “It hothully will havth healed in around hath an hour.”
I gave him a sorry look as I held back a laugh, “Ah, misspellings, my greatest enemy, and I thought I was the dyslexic one.”
I turned to Oliver. “Ok, Oliver, you seem to be the second most able. You can still use your bow at a push, though the only way I can think you’d need it is maybe leverage with rope to help pick up more heavy stuff, so I’d say you’re best suited to just help out Alex.”
Oliver replied, “Sounds like a plan, but what about you?”
“Well, despite being practically unable to use my speed, I’ll scout out the Jacqs with the Aura vision with Edward. Mathew, are we at least able to secure a telepathy connection?”
“I than try.”
Mathew's eyes started to glow as the symbols started to appear, though slightly more crooked than typical. The sound of an instrument playing in reverse was heard softly but less skilled than the previous times I’d heard the spell. Mathew was concentrating more than he did usually as he tried to make the sound right to connect our thoughts. The runes seemed to click in place.
“Di-... -t.. -ork?” I heard in my mind, like having a weak signal.
“Yeah, though the connection is a bit spotty.” I thought back.
“Wa-... -unes… -shully conect-... -’ll do… -or now.” he thought at me, then gave up and said out loud, sighing, “I gueth the wunes conethed slightly.”
“The runes connected partially; it’ll do for now?” I repeated back at him, and he gave a confirming nod, “Ok, with the weak connection and the fact I never got around to getting us actual coms, just try repeated simple messages over thoughts till Mathew is healed enough to re-establish the link properly, that good with everyone?” My team nodded in response, “Good, once we start then I’ll run ahead to scout out the Jacqs, everyone else do your best to get them out and to a safe place.”
I felt secure in the plan I had come up with, even with the hiccups caused by Yin’s bad luck.
“So, Edward,” I looked over to where Edward was lazily floating, “Are you ready to do some Where’s Wally with Jacq’s soul? Just point in the direction of the olive brown. It should shine a beacon to where they’re hiding.”
“Yeah, I’m ready, though I feel you’re underestimating the severity of how the bad luck can and will have on everything you are going to do,” He replied in a warning tone, still sounding tired but now with more focus than he had a moment ago, “Especially with the higher likelihood of miscommunication with a shoddy form of communication like Mathews unstable spell. Bad luck is a real problem; that’s why people typically say no plan survives the enemy. Do not underestimate it.”
“Okay," I took a breath as I tried to logic my way around the issue. " To double-check that the telepathy spell is actually going to only cause minor communication issues, everyone just try saying their name to everyone else twice.”
“Ma-..ew..-thew.”
“Oli-.. Oliver.”
“01000001 01101100 01100101 01111000, 01000001-... 01111000.”
“Yeah,” I put my face in my hand, “This is going to be an issue.”
“I’d say,” Alex said, “I just got part of that song by They’re Probably Dwarfs in response. Professor Worm, I think it's called, but I could be wrong.”
"Alex, that's not important now, but it looks like I need to simplify the plan," I sighed, gave up on complexity and said with a hint of defeat, “I’ll just yell; we’ll hopefully get partial-”
“START!” Yin yelled.