[AN: So, I changed a term. cracks in ones aura is now gaps!]

Helen was stunned into silence when she saw Adam fall to the ground. After a moment she realized she had to get help. Starting to panic she looked around hoping to find someone near by. Unfortunately no one was currently in the wall garden. Remembering that there were soldiers stationed on the wall where the garden ends she ran over hoping they would help her.

The soldiers were a little baffled about that scream earlier. They were in the middle of debating who would check out what had happened when Helen ran up to them. A little out of breath and pale from her fright she hysterically asked: "Please help me! Adam screamed and then collapsed! We need to get him to a healer, please!"

One soldier said to the other: "I will go check on him. You stay here to guard the wall. At worst I will be back in around an hour if I have to take the boy down to a healer."

"Fine, I always hated going to the healers anyway."

A small part in Helen relaxed when she managed to find help. She quickly led the helpful soldier to where Adam had collapsed. The soldier gave Adam a quick look over before he carefully picked him up. As the soldier was making his way to the stairs that would take them off the wall, he asked Helen: "How well off is your family? Different healers will charge different amounts for their services. I don't have any money to pay for anything."

Helen was a little startled by the man's question. She then hesitatingly answered: "We live at Madame's. Adam's mom lives there with him but I am not related to them."

The soldier was surprised by her answer. He has passed by the area where Madame's is many times on his way to and from his post on the wall. After thinking for a moment, he said: "Madame's is actually closer than most of the healers I know of. I will take him there and then Adam's mother can call on a healer from there."

Helen was still nervous and worried about Adam's condition, but she had heard about the house call Healer Edward made when Adam and Vivienne first arrived. Surely they could call on this best healer of Hessler to help Adam again. She felt a small sense of security when she thought about this.

Walking through the streets, the soldier became quite the spectacle. Everyone saw him carrying a young boy that had trickles of blood flowing from his nose. Arriving at Madame's, a large commotion was made. Many people recognized Adam and were too frightened to ask for the reason why he was being carried in by a soldier. Someone quickly ran off to alert Janette and Vivienne.

The soldier took Adam towards the dormitory to lie him down. There was a small lounging space at the entrance where Adam was placed on a couch. Right after Adam had been lain down, Janette and Vivienne came bursting through the door.

Vivienne directly went to Adam's side with worry spread across her face. Janette bombarded the soldier with questions as to what had happened. After the soldier gave a small concise report about what he knew, he immediately left to resume his post. Janette then asked Helen a few more questions to figure out what had happened. It only left Janette with more questions then answers, they had no idea what actually happened.

Janette went next to Vivienne to comfort her. “I already called for Healer Edward, he should be arriving soon. I think that we should probably send Hansen over to the institute to see if this Cathryn would be willing to come look at Adam aswell.”

Vivienne could only nod her head in agreement. Perhaps this was something to do with Adam's efforts to become a spiritualist. If Cathryn was willing to come, they could certainly address this concern. It was another half hour before Edward finally arrived.

Edward came in with a small entourage of assistants, all carrying various sized bags. Edward came thoroughly prepared for whatever ailed Adam. One of the reasons why Edward was hailed as the best healer in Hessler was due to the countless supplies and healing methods that were at his disposal.

Everyone in the room held their breath as Edward went about his business. He asked questions of Vivienne and Helen, while examining Adam. His brow scrunched as he tired to figure out the problem and it's solution.

Eventually, after a half hour of examination, he sighed. “I fear that the problem indeed resides in his soul. The domain of healers is in the body, while the domain of spiritualists is in the soul. I can concoct a medicine that will calm any raging energies in his soul, but that is it. You would need a spiritualist to come and examine Adam to see if there are any problems or injuries to his soul...”

Edward felt bitter as he gave his diagnosis. He was once again unable to help the boy before him. He may have even created this problem by telling Vivienne of the possibility of the boy becoming a spiritualist. He gave off one more silent sigh before making the medicine that would calm the energies – the spirit essence inside his soul.

After administering the medicine, Edward decided to stay until Cathryn came. If the trip was swift, Hansen should be back in around an hour with her. Edward was staying in case there were any more bad developments in Adam's condition while they waited.

After waiting for another hour, Hansen finally came back. Everyone was excited to see him, but became confused. The person that followed in after Hansen wasn't Cathryn, it was Sebastian! Noticing their surprise, Sebastian said: “Cathryn isn't at the institute today. I have come in her place.”

Sebastian immediately approached Adam. Placing his fore fingers on Adam's temples, Sebastian closed his eyes. Concern and bafflement filled his face. After a moment he opened his eyes again and asked Edward if he gave anything to Adam.

Sweat started to pour of his fore head, as he thought Sebastian was implying he had inadvertently hurt Adam with the medicine. After telling Sebastian what he gave Adam, he hesitatingly asked: “It wasn't wrong of me to give it do the boy, was it?”

“Well, it didn't hurt. But it didn't help either.”

Sebastian's off hand reply struck Edward. It was the same as saying that Edward had done nothing! Shortly after this, Edward packed his things to leave. Adam would surely be in better hands with Sebastian, so he was no longer needed. With bitterness in his heart, he told Janette he did not need to be paid for today's services before he left.

While Edward was leaving, Vivienne desperately asked how her son was doing. Sebastian thought for a moment, as he collected his thoughts. “Adam's soul is healing. It appears that he managed to make the shift from being a martial artist to a spiritualist! But this change seemed to deeply impact his soul! This was unexpected, Adam had not been practicing martial arts for very long so this type of injury should not have occurred!”

Vivienne was deeply shocked. While she was relieved that Adam was healing, she remembered the warning Cathryn had given. This was a dangerous thing that Adam had chosen to do, but they mostly seemed to have ignored that warning!

Sebastian continued: “After the impact, Adam's soul wildly grabbed at the spirit essence he had collected to nourish and heal itself. This further pushed him away from the path of a martial artist, but may have caused a problem for him. The gaps in Adam's aura seem to be larger than those normally seen when one first becomes a spiritualist. As a spiritualist grows in power, they are able to increase the gaps in their aura to control more spirit essence, but this can harm the soul if they are not prepared for it! When Adam's soul was trying to nourish itself with spirit essence, it may have made these gaps larger than they should be to allow more spirit essence in to use.”

Sebastian then pulled a bottle, seemingly from nowhere, and presented it to Vivienne. “This bottle contains special pills. These pills are typically used to restrain spiritualists and keep them from using spirit essence! If we dilute the dose, however, it can become a beneficial medicine to Adam! It will close the gaps in his aura by a certain amount, so his soul will remain protected until he can gain control over his soul himself.”

While Vivienne was stunned by these words, Sebastian opened the bottle and took a pill out. He then split the pill in two with his fingers and handed half to Vivienne. “Go ahead and give him the first dose. Every morning he should take half a pill and he should be good.”

Vivienne happily and greedily took the pill and inclined Adam up to feed him the pill. After she fed Adam the pill, there was no change in his appearance, but Vivienne hoped that it was doing it's job. Sebastian told her: “Don't worry, the pill is doing it's job. The blood vessels in Adam's nose will heal on their own time. He will be fine. I will stay here until Adam awakes so that I can speak with him.”

Vivienne's shoulders relaxed a bit with relief. The moved Adam to his room and waited for him to wake. Helen was led off to her own room so she could sleep. She had also been worried about Adam for the last two hours and felt a small amount of guilt. It was only after she made Adam take a break that this had happened.

After they had moved Adam, Vivienne curiously asked: “Healer Edward had given Adam a medicine to calm Adam's soul. You said it did nothing to help him. But isn't the medicine you gave Adam similar?”

“Ah, yes. That is a small confusion. While Edward's medicine calmed the spirit essence that was gathering in Adam's soul, it did nothing to stop new more wild spirit essence from coming in. That medicine had already reached it's limits by the time I arrived. My medicine will reduce the spirit essence coming in and is longer lasting.”

Vivienne was not able to totally follow what Sebastian had said. But it seemed he knew what he was doing and had indeed given a superior medication to Adam. All she could really do to answe Sebastian was to say: “Oh.” with a nod of her head.

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It was another three hours before Adam started to groggily wake. At first he felt a little strange. His mind was slow to focus. He also heard the faint hum of a multitude of sounds. Vivienne quickly rushed to his bed side frantically asking if he was alright. “I'm alright mom.” Adam answered.

Adam then began to focus his thoughts. Adam noticed a change so big, he yelped in surprise. In his mind, he could some how see various faded colors drifting about. Some swirled together to formed solid shapes while others drifted freely. These colors were very static, coming and going in pulses. It was as though he was barely perceiving them.

Still, he could tell exactly what the shapes formed from the colors were. He was inside a square room with two beds. There were two people besides himself there. While he couldn't see the face of the person beside his bed, her entire figure was clearly defined. The way the hair was held up, the position of the nose, eyes, ears, and mouth. It was his mother!

Adam's blindfold had been removed when he was placed on his bed. His eyes were now clearly wide. His eyes moved towards Vivienne's direction, but still didn't fully focus. Adam exclaimed: “Mom!”

“Adam?”

Vivienne had noticed as his gaze turned towards her. His eyes still weren't focusing properly, but it looked even better than it did when he had that spiritual awareness. Adam smiled at her with happy tears streaming down his face. “I can see!”

No words could come from Vivienne. She only gave a happy sob as she fiercely hugged Adam. After Adam and Vivienne had their moment, they eventually separated from the hug. At this time Sebastian walked forward and asked: “How do you see?”

Adam was surprised to hear Sebastian's voice. As he looked at him, Adam's jaw dropped. It was baffling what he saw. Sebastian gave a grin and asked: “What's the matter Adam, see something interesting?”

Adam nodded his head with his jaw still open. Where Sebastian's head was, there was something extra inside. There were glorious lights concentrated in his head that gave off vibrant colors. Adam turned back to his mother and noticed similar but far weaker colors in his mother's head.

After a moment, Adam started spilling out all sorts of questions at Sebastian. Sebastian also asked some questions back, to ascertain Adam's current state and how his vision was. Adam found out many things. Those colors he saw in Sebastian's head was actually his soul! Adam could even see his mother's soul as well! All the colors that were swirling were actually spirit essence that he could see!

But then there was that problem with how faded the colors were and the pulses. These pulses were like emanating waves. When they passed through the things Adam could see, they would go totally dark and he could no longer see them. The wave then quickly passed and he could see the objects again, but it was still a little odd.

Sebastian informed Adam that both these issues most likely a side effect of the medicine he was given. That medicine reduced the amount of spirit essence that could go through his aura by closing it's gaps. This in turn meant that Adam's spiritual sense would be reduced, this included his elemental sight! After Adam learns how to properly control his soul, he will no longer have to take the medication and the pulses should go away!

Adam was giddy and excited. He had finally, finally managed to become a spiritualist! Vivienne was equally excited for Adam. Though she was still a little scared to let her son continue along this path, it was his choice. There was also a question that had been nagging her that she finally asked: “So Adam can see with this elemental sight now. But, why are eyes not focusing properly?”

Adam was a little startled when Vivienne asked this question. He put a hand up to cover up one of his eyes with mixed feelings on the matter. Sebastian answered: “Adam's elemental sight goes entirely through his soul and mind. It has no connection what so ever with his eyes. It is only natural that his eyes don't fully focus, even if he can clearly see something.”

Vivienne looked carefully at her son, who was covering one of his eyes. She didn't like poking at an issue that he was sensitive with, but it was something that was going to come up sooner or later. She had hoped Sebastian might have a fix to help Adam then and there so everything would be good.

There was another part of Adam's sight that he found a little dizzying. If he concentrated he could see objects that were hidden behind other things. As long as he was able to perceive their spirit essence, he could see it. Right now, Vivienne was blocking his view of the night stand where his blind fold was. Still, he was able to clearly see it as though he were having an out of body experience. He reached around his mother, grabbed the blind fold, and then put it on.

Vivienne could only say: “I'm sorry, dear.”

“It's fine mom. I can actually see things now! My eyes being unable to focus is small compared to that. I suppose with my blindfold, people will still stare. It also might be kinda cool to be a guy that walks around with a blind fold but can see clearly!”

Vivienne gave a gentle laugh at this as she hugged a gently grinning Adam. In his mind he also said: “It will also always remind me. I can and will stand up and fight for my family, even if I will be cut down!”

After making sure Adam was completely fine, Sebastian prescribed a day or two of rest before Adam should start trying to learn how to control his soul. Until they know how it would effect him, he was forbidden from any type of physical or martial training. Sebastian then excused himself and left them to rest.

The next day was a regular class day. Adam decided to stay home and rest. He really wanted to go and talk to Cathryn, but she would be busy today. Truthfully, he should no longer be taking the classes at the institute. He should be considered as having taken the first step to becoming a spiritualist and should be a student, rather than a candidate. He could use the institutes connections to move him to another city that had a branch that trained students, not candidates. But he wanted to stay here, stay home, for now.

For the next few days, Adam tried to rest. He wanted to play his flute, but found out that nobody had any idea where it was! Helen apologized greatly saying that they probably left it at the wall garden when they were taking Adam back. Hansen went to see if he could retrieve it, but didn't find a trace of it. A little sad, Adam didn't blame Helen and tried to find something else to do. The only thing of interest was looking at Madame's and finally seeing it for the first time.

Adam went around and greeted people he knew but had never seen before. He couldn't see the color of their hair, eyes, skin, or clothes, but he could see the definite shape they took. Adam met up with Alfred and the others every morning, but never trained with them. When Helen came by to apologize for loosing his flute, Adam was quite surprised. He could finally see why all those older men would chase after her.

Helen had a slim figure, but was not skinny. Her facial features were well proportioned and she would certainly become a beautiful young woman, in a few years. Even her hair was nicely kept! Adam marveled at this for a moment before he put that all aside and interacted normally with Helen.

After having rested for a few days, it was Helen that took Adam back to the wall garden. Helen was rather hesitant to take Adam there, after what happened last time. Even if Adam was better now, something bad had happened to him and she felt at fault for both that and for losing his flute. Adam assured her it would all be fine and was even grateful. Had she not told him to take a break, perhaps he would have been unable to step back onto the path of a spiritualist and would never have been able to see as good as he could now!

After reaching the garden, Adam once again formed that formation in his head. He felt something was extremely off though. The formation was really sluggish and hardly pulled any spirit essence, compared to before. It was like it was lacking something. Adam figured that it must have something to do with the medicine he was taking.

Still, he did make an interesting observation; when he formed the spirit formation, the wave pulses that interfered with his elemental sight became fewer and weaker. Since he was pulling in more spirit essence from the formation than he normally would, it makes sense that he would sense more spirit essence.

When he finally managed to gather a tiny amount of spirit essence, after a lot of hard work, he hoped that he would be able to do something with it. Since he had gained his elemental sight and his soul had nourished itself with spirit essence, he should be able to do something with it. But no matter what Adam tried he still could not move it at all!

Adam felt extremely bitter at this. He was happy enough to gain the elemental sight, but he could only perfect it if he gained some measure of control with his soul. In a few more days, it would be Zonntock again. Even if he could be considered as having graduated from being a candidate, he decided that he was still going to see Cathryn.

On Samstock, Adam was collecting his thoughts in the courtyard of Madame's so he wouldn't miss telling Cathryn a single important thing. Helen, Alfred, and the other boys all came up to him as a group. A little surprised to see them altogether at this time of day, Adam called out: “Hey, what's up?”

Helen, who had her hands behind her back, suddenly brought them forward, with a package, as everyone shouted: “Happy birthday Adam!”