Elder-Creature

''Who have you had as your teachers?’’

‘’Many have been my teachers through the years,’’ he lists them as he remembers them and the things they have thought him. Fighting instructors, reading instructors, hunting instructors, training on the forms, training on meditation, learning to harness spiritual energies, chakra release seals.

‘’I see yes I see, mhmm, and you have learnt all these things at the same time?’’

‘’Not at the same time-‘’

‘’I mean within these years that you’ve been alive. So this scroll given to you by this Kazimoto was amongst the items you lost to Draug?’’

‘’Yes, it was in my ring here. It’s invisible now of course since that stone... have you ever heard of tuning-stones?’’

‘’This Kazimoto, he didn’t happen to be Dao Soul-Sword Kazimoto the Madman by any chance?’’

‘’Well, they did say he was mad.’’

Amazing, steal a uniquely made style scroll by a Dao from the poor human.

‘’So you have a soul weapon then?’’

‘’I am a soul-weapon.’’

‘’Excellent!’’ Truly a unique meld in this human. ‘’Could you show me?’’

*

‘’Your problem is not a lack of resources but one of understanding.’’

‘’How can I acquire this understanding?’’

‘’Tell me what you see,’’ the elder creature points about vaguely.

‘’I see everything I see,’’ how best to answer that?

Haha ha ha ahhh... The creature thankfully finds humour and not more impertinence in my response.

‘’Excuse me I haven’t had such a good laugh in ages, yes please indulge me. Tell me of the things you see around you.’’

‘’I see the stones about me, I see the soil the pond those trees over there with the strange leaves.’’

‘’Why do you think those leaves strange?’’

‘’I can’t tell what colour or tone they are, it’s as though they’ve been blurred, like smudged painting.’’

‘’How do you know it’s not a painting?’’

‘’Is it a painting?’’ I can’t tell now that I’m focused on them.

‘’You tell me.’’

I move from where I stand shifting angles.

‘’Well I can tell it’s not a painting because I can see the dimensions of the trees as I shift position, the colour of the light on the ground there shifts as the leaves move I’d probably be able to feel them if I got close enough.’’

‘’Your senses, you use them in synergy continuously.’’

This again, I tried it and nearly exhausted my mana just sitting around, mentally it was too much as well. The focus needed to pay attention to so many sensations in no joke. ‘’Yes.’’

‘’You can see and smell and hear and feel and you use all those senses at the same time continuously to tell you of all the things around you. They add to each other giving you more details about what you’re observing.’’

‘’Yes, I use my senses in synergy. It’s been that way since I was a child, it’s that way for all my kind. ‘’

‘’So then why don’t you do the same with your abilities?’’

‘’I tried that and I didn’t get far before exhausting my resources. For one they use very different mechanism, I have to split my mind’s focus just to keep up with the things happening around me physically and be able to think and strategise and be able to hold this conversation like this with you. When I use an ability that’s where most of my focus goes, casting a mana spell is particularly focus intensive and then there is the fact that all those energies aren’t infinite. Mana burnout is no joke, my spiritual energies have been limiting as well amongst other reasons I don’t just use all my abilities at the same time.’’

Arg, ‘’you are stating silly reasons. You are a child yet unused to its senses quickly getting overwhelmed by the world around you so you flinch away. If you opened up to energies within you and use all of them synergically to perceive the world as you do your bodily senses you would see much more. Now you see in many small parts, then you’d see as a whole.’’

Yea this whole again, sounds nice in theory but I couldn’t maintain that and I tried. ‘’Spirit depletion can have very serious consequences.’’

‘’Spiritual energy is the most abundant non-thing there is.’’

‘’I don’t even know what that means.’’

‘’You say you struggle with spiritual energy, where do you get it from?’’

‘’What do you mean? I get it from within myself.’’

‘’From where within yourself, how?’’

‘’I usually sink into who I am and deeply realise myself in sincerity, or some such meditation.’’

‘’Ahh, you manifest energy from your own spirit-body to cast your sorcery. Which explains why you run low and why you think it is dangerous. Spiritual energy used outside yourself is to be taken from the source, when you do that you will be free from ever worrying about depleting it again. The source is infinity.’’

‘’The source being?’’

‘’You don’t know where your spirit comes from, as experienced as you are in the craft of using it?’’

‘’Where my spirit comes from?’’

‘’The source where all spirit comes from.’’

‘’My spirit and your spirit are not the same.’’

Pffffh, ‘’a lack of understanding but a very limiting one. Of course my spirit and yours are the same, they are just in different forms which is why you perceive them as different. All spirit is the same.’’

‘’All spirit is the same?’’

‘’All spirit comes from the source.’’

‘’What is the source?’’

‘’You don’t know the source of your spirit?’’

‘’I am the source of my spirit.’’

‘’No. The spirit is the source of you.’’

‘’I come from spirit?’’

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

‘’Yes, this is known. Can you perceive soul-energy?’’

‘’In a manner of speaking.’’

‘’You can identify other soul-trained without needing to know anything about them.’’

‘’Yes. I always know when I meet another soul-samurai, even without their zanpakuto present.’’

‘’The soul is just spirit in a specific shape, taste, tone, emotion, colour whatever you may perceive.’’

‘’So you’re saying the soul also comes from spirit.’’

‘’Yes.’’

‘’Which comes from the source.’’

‘’Yes.’’

‘’How can I know anything you say to me to be true? You could even have a misunderstanding of things yourself.’’

‘’I may but I am very far ahead of you, whatever misunderstandings I may or may not have are not about how to advance from where you are to where I am. That I know more than you about suck affairs you should not doubt.’’

‘’Even if things would be as you say it might not be the correct path for me to follow.’’

‘’Which will quickly be discovered once you’ve tried it and found it not to work for you.’’

‘’Alright. Tell me, how do I get spirit from this source?’’

‘’Quite simply, you ask for it.’’

‘’Who do I ask?’’

‘’The source of course.’’

This source again, this is going in circles. If I ask what the source is it’ll ask the source of my spirit. What is the source of my spirit?

*Sigh.

Let me think this through. The source of my body is ma and da, I am birthed from the seed of their union. According to legend, Gaia made all humans and creatures in my homeworld but does that include our spirits? No, spirit is everywhere and has always been everywhere not just on Gaia. So where does it come from?

‘’Okay, how do I ask the source?’’

*

Sachihiro

Conversations with the elder creature almost always turn into impromptu lessons of some sort and they are always interesting. I don’t know how much time has passed while I’m here but there is a sense of safety and wildness within this place that speaks to me. Occasionally I try to leave just to test the leash but I can’t find the exit nor does anyone here seem willing to talk to me about the elder creature.

‘’If you can leave you can leave,’’ that’s what is said to me by anyone that even deigns to respond when I ask about the exit. You’d swear this was a cult I was locked in unable to leave. The fact that I don’t yet know what my best move forward should be keep me from rattling the bars of this gilded cage too much just yet. I can’t keep running around following the threads in my spirit, can I?

There are potentially thousands of little me’s running around if the sterility ritual of the Brothel didn’t work on as they were intended. Was it intentional that I impregnate the princess, a plan by the Brothel for whatever reason beyond what I knew and only happened once? Or didn’t the rituals work at all ‘cause of my lack of piety maybe and I literally have hundreds of kids running around in the world?

Honestly, I can’t tell, not from trying to read the spirits threads, they’re too unspecific. But it's roughly two directions I’m being pointed at from what I last remember of what was going on with me.

I spend most of my time in this multiple world pavilion exploring, meditating and working on my fighting skills. My style has matured now that I can call upon zanjutsu state at will even when training alone, well I’m not alone which is the point of zanjutsu. My zanpakuto’s spirit comes and embodies me as I embody it and I fight and move and dance about the desert sands at speeds only a weapon could move in ways only a weapon can move.

My style is not a true style but an amalgamation of the scrappy fighting I learnt at home, the sword forms I have been practising my entire adult life, the unique style, kyokugei, which Kazimoto the Beautiful Madman sold me and everything else I have incorporated into my movements through the years. From spear forms, aikido, yoga forms, battle-axe training, double wielding and everything else incorporated into how I move my body honed into a sharp edge in zanjutsu.

The Whirlwind finds me in the desert after what may well be days of silent solitude in which I push the limits of my body in zanjutsu whilst also trying to be constantly active in all my senses with the generous help of recovery potions.

‘’You are too obsessed with your body, it’s a human body born of mortal flesh there are limits it cannot cross.’’

‘’My body is not at its limits, nowhere near.’’

‘’Maybe not, but even you with your hubris must know your body is completely useless when trying to survive around the likes of us. The Draug has brought you into these circles now and it’s amongst these circles you have to survive, you need to adapt.’’

Change my weapons to those most fit for the job. Adaptability in combat efficiency is actually a barbarian trait we have always taken to heart. You’ll rarely find a barbarian only focused on a single type of weapons even though every individual has favourites.

‘’What circles are these?’’

‘’The circles of elder things you simpleton, stop feigning dullness in my presence your cleverness has become tedious.

‘’If you are to survive amongst the circles the Draug will send you on his behalf you need to arm yourself with weapons that are effective. Now your body is not one of those weapons, someday maybe it will but not in a very long time so it won’t be the focus of anything you learn here.’’

I got the vibe that I was being trained for something here but it’s the first time it’s being said outright.

‘’Now, I don’t want you playing with your body anymore, at all. You will seat there on that rock and you will study the scrolls I have selected for you. You will know them inside out, they are simple enough even for you. You will meditate on them. The entire time you are fully alert. You are what?

‘’Fully alert.’’

‘’I can’t hear you.’’

‘’Fully Alert!’’

‘’Good, now go.’’

I go, finding a rock boulder where the wasn’t one before and studying the scrolls picked out for me. Particularly interesting is a rune language named αλφάβητο, I like languages.

*

‘’Take this role as a gift and use it to grow your own power.’’

‘’How do I do that?’’

‘’It benefits the weak greatly to be close to the those above them, in this case, Draug is so far above you that even his leaving could be invaluable to you. Things he will generally take for granted could feed and grow you.’’

‘’Like him sending me to beings such as you to teach me.’’

‘’At the very least, but there are passive ways that could garner you immense reward.’’

‘’Like what exactly?’’

‘’Take your title for instance, Herald of the Draug. If you’d have that announced before powerful rulers as you do your duty, make it known in a way with flare and meaning such that the title has meaning in the minds of the great. You solidify its power and authority in the world or on a vast number of sapient beings. When everyone knows who or what Herald of the Draug means you’ll have greater weight and solidity in the spiritual which will directly benefit your presence and sorcery.’’

‘’I’ve never heard of being infamous making one strong.’’

‘’Many wouldn’t bother with fame of any kind if it didn’t give weight to their λογος. You can feel it to be true don’t you? I can tell you feel the truth when it’s spoken to you, it’s why you’re such a good learner. You know when to believe your teachers.’’

‘’Thank you for the compliment I fear I struggle with finding the truth as everyone else does but what you say does synergise with some things I think I know to be true.’’

‘’You think you know to be true?’’

‘’There are some explanations that make sense so I trust them to be true but I could never practically test so I don’t know them in my bones to be true.’’

‘’Powering yourself with a role or as you called it, ‘infamy’, isn’t something you’ve ever tested so you don’t fully know it to be true?’’

‘’It makes sense but also there are different powers within a person. You said spirit and presence, I know how I could use more spirit but how could I use more presence?’’

‘’You use both when ομιλια.’’

‘’When you what now?’’

''When you speak into existence.''

‘’How does one speak into existence?’’

‘’You use your presence you use your spirit you use your soul. You use your very being when you speak into existence.’’

‘’And what is that called?’’

‘’Ομιλια. Wizardry.’’

The word tolls in my head like a loud bell dispersing away every other sound.

‘’Omilia,’’ I say trying to catch the word as it drifts like a fading echo.

‘’You have all the necessary tools to make an effective wizard, with your presence so pronounced your spirit unlocked and your soul tapped into, your channels open all you need do is learn the λογια.’’

‘’Logia?’’

‘’Yes, the words.’’

‘’Okay, let’s reverse a bit this is getting heavy for me. Back to ways to make my spirit and presence stronger, I like the idea of increasing the meaning of my names and titles.’’

‘’Yes, think of it like how deities accumulate spirit by being on the lips of their followers. By the rituals done in their names, the homage paid in worship. Same with a particularly dreadful title, Herald of the Draug can turn into a curse or a blessing depending on the impression the Draug leaves in its wake but either way it has power. You could shape some of what the name turns into depending on how you go about that duty but even if you don’t the title will benefit you passively.’’

‘’Because the Draug is such a big shot I’ll be remembered.’’

‘’Yes, and because of the tier of beings to whom you’ll be heralding.’’

‘’How much of a benefit to my presence and spirit are we talking about?’’

‘’Quantifiable.’’

Hmmm, ‘’how best to go about shaping the meaning of this title?’’

‘’That depends entirely on you.’’

‘’Alright, I have some ideas... Anyways, about this wizardry.’’

Hehehe, ‘’you are so hungry for knowledge it’s refreshing especially from one still so young and malleable.’’

‘’What is wizardry exactly, what’s a wizard?’’

‘’Wizards are beings that can speak into the world and the worlds obeys them, they are very powerful, very dangerous and most of the time very mad. It is in a very good sense like you do with your body and hands to shape chakra into an ability, but using words instead of madras.’’

‘’Sutras?’’

‘’Sutras are very similar and a form of wizardry but sutras are to one’s self and for ones psionic, psychic or similarly internal benefit whose side effects may manifest externally. Wizardry is speaking a word directed externally having an immediate external effect.’’

‘’Is there a limit to what can be spoken?’’

‘’You can only speak what is true.’’

‘’What is true,’’ I can do that. ‘’And this wizardry is a superior weapon than my body?’’

‘’Yes.’’

‘’Teach me this wizardry then.’’

‘’I am teaching you.’’

‘’Yes but you said I already have some of the necessary tools to be a wizard, how do I do it?’’

‘’Like so, Abracadabra.’’