The group had been split into three: Taika and Shouri would be alone in their endeavors, while Pacifica and Rebecca were paired up.
Taika wasn’t sure what to expect with her training, all she knew at the moment was she had some kind of uncontrollable telekinetic force. It helped her in the past, easing the burden on her physical body without her knowing.
But now that she knew of its existence, everything felt so much more difficult. If she was at the top of her form, she had to suppress herself otherwise she’d unleash her power with just her stray thoughts alone.
She had done an okay job controlling it thus far. Okay. Adequate. That was a lie, she had done a dreadful job reigning in her power.
“First off,” Sarayul’s voice broke the vixen out of her thoughts. “Change into this.” He dropped a neatly folded set of clothes in front of her. “You can change in there.” He pointed her to a separate room.
The fox girl nodded slowly and scooped up the garments. She shuffled over to the side room and closed the door behind her.
Privacy secured, she quickly disrobed and unfolded her new attire. It seemed… oddly familiar. Black robes with tan pants. She felt like a monk wearing these clothes. There weren’t any shoes included, so she put her usual running shoes back on.
Though… she had become disconnected from Shouri or any outside rhythm for that matter. “Huh?” Her mind fogged up as she lost the mind-clearing effects of etude. The clothes were light and afforded her a complete range of motion, physically speaking. From a rhythmic standpoint, it was as if she was being held underwater.
She uneasily exited the room, carrying her normal attire with her. “I feel funny,” she told the Ethereal.
“Good, that means it’s working.” Sarayul grinned. Taika didn’t like that.
“Now your task will be to pierce the center of that target.” He motioned to the very top of the ceiling where a paper target hung. Given the construction of the temple, that was quite a tall ask, however.
Taika guesstimated it must have been at least three stories in the air. What’s more, she didn’t know what she was supposed to pierce it with. It was a printed piece of paper, so getting something to go through it wouldn’t be difficult.
“What do I-?” Before she could finish her thought, a cold object forced itself into her hand. Upon opening it, Taika found a small ball sitting in her grasp.
“You will focus your power on this bead and force it through that paper,” Sarayul told her. “Those robes absorb your rhythm, keeping you at zero,” he explained.
“Isn’t that dangerous?” she questioned.
“Zero is merely the point where you begin draining your soul’s rhythm reserve rather than your physical body’s. Your soul and body are two sides of a mirror, by making your soul stronger, you increase your body’s capacity for rhythm,” he further elaborated.
The cloudiness of her brain wasn’t helping Taika tie the disparate concepts together. “How will that make me gain control of my power?”
“Volontà Estesa is an extension of your soul, practicing while the physical is suppressed will sharpen your mental blade. By the time you can strike the center of that target, you will be capable of great feats,” the fox ethereal said with a knowing chuckle.
Taika gulped. This sounded like it was going to be difficult. Though… based on how much Sarayul abused his own Volontà Estesa to perform mundane tasks, it would be worth the effort. With mastery of this skill, cooking, and medical practice would be a cakewalk – it would be as if she had hundreds of hands all at once.
“Okay, I’ll do it,” Taika said, grasping the bead tightly in her hand. She threw her head back, studying the ceiling. It felt like it was rapidly retreating away from her. She wasn’t afraid of heights like Pacifica, but this task seemed… daunting.
“Knock yourself out, but don’t kill yourself,” Sarayul said with a casual wave as he took his exit. “I still need that card from your Maestro,” he muttered to himself before leaving Taika to her own devices.
The fox girl examined the bead in her hand, then the target above her. “Uhhh… how do I do this?” she asked.
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“So what are we doing?” Rebecca asked.
“I’m still not sure why I’m even here,” Pacifica said with a sheepish chuckle.
Standing opposite the fox and otter were the mysterious Nina and Talys.
“Should we show them?” questioned Nina.
“Of course. Knowing is power, that is rhythm,” replied Talys.
Nina took a breath and willed a flame fox into existence, the same type as the ones summoned by Rebecca’s Famiglio Incendio. The little rhythm beast sat at attention unlike the playful kits summoned by Rebecca.
“Okay?” Rebecca raised a brow, not seeing what the big deal was.
Without a word, Nina and Talys joined hands. Then Nina followed the same procedure as before to summon another fox. Except what appeared was beyond Rebecca and Pacifica’s expectations.
Rather than a fox made of flames, a fox made of bubbles appeared next to its fiery counterpart.
“What the…?” Rebecca’s eyes were at their maximum width as she was at a loss for words.
“B-but… water cancels fire… how can you?” Pacifica rubbed her eyes, unsure if she was seeing this right.
“The blazing fire makes the soul,” Nina said.
“The gentle water forms the body,” Talys added.
“Together, they create life,” the two foxes spoke in unison.
Rebecca and Pacifica had no words, and the pair of foxes wouldn’t allow them to recover as they unveiled their next trick. “Borrow the fundamentals and…”
Three more rhythm beasts spawned: A fox made entirely of smoke, one of ice, and another of water.
“There must be balance,” Talys spoke.
“Pure etude, naturally flowing,” Nina added.
“So, we can do that? This isn’t some kind of weird Ethereal cheat code?” Rebecca pointed at the array of rhythm beasts sitting before their summoners.
“Indeed, this art was lost as etude was ostracized from society,” Nina said.
“A deliberate act that sought to divide and conquer,” Talys followed.
Those words were troubling. If these two truly had lived for over 500 years, they would know better than anyone what kind of spellcraft would have been lost over time.
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Learning a lost technique only reinvigorated Rebecca’s zeal for this training. Having her rhythm beasts be capable of other types of magic was an exciting prospect.
Rebecca turned to Pacifica. “Let’s go get Sho!” she exclaimed, tail twitching excitedly.
“But he’s doing uh, something.” Pacifica wanted to try out the spellcraft as much as her fellow Resonator, but Shouri had been specifically taken to do some kind of special task. What that entailed was a mystery to the rest of the party.
“No need,” Talys interjected.
“The ambient rhythm of this chamber is enough to facilitate spellcraft,” Nina elaborated.
Rebecca and Pacifica shared a skeptical glance before the fire element decided to just try it. She closed her eyes and focused on her understanding of Famiglio Incendio. She envisioned summoning one in front of her.
“Oh, you did it!” Pacifica cried out.
Upon opening her eyes, Rebecca met her number one summon – she knew as much due to how familiarly it greeted her, scampering up into its summoner’s arms. Rebecca couldn’t help but giggle at the beast’s affection.
Studying the various foxes their opposite, Pacifica realized there was a key piece of information in their demonstration. “I understand,” the otter whispered her realization.
Closing her eyes, Pacifica focused on casting Meravigliare Bolla, the bubble spell. She hadn’t used the spell much, though that was mostly on Shouri since he directed her in battle most of the time. Either way, she had zero difficulty creating several bubbles, allowing them to float around harmlessly.
With both girls confirming to themselves they could cast the spells they needed, there was only one thing left to do: piece it all together.
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“Alright, you made me wait in here with her; what are we doing?” Shouri questioned upon Sarayul’s entrance to the room.
Shouri and Vienna stood in a smaller room in the temple. Where Taika, Pacifica, and Rebecca were assigned to lovely wood-adorned training rooms, Shouri and Vienna had been stuffed into a shed. Or at least that’s what it looked like upon first inspection.
At odds with the rest of the resplendent temple, this storage room had a grey uneven stone floor, with well-worn and poorly maintained walls. There was no air conditioning, and the ventilation was poor at best as it was quite stuffy in the cramped space. A single dim lamp hung above them that served the light to the tiny room. There was a massive mound of black muck piled in one of the corners. A wooden table and chair sat in the center of the space with a small bowl. Several needles and small knives were laid neatly next to the bowl – the cleanest part of the entire set-up.
“Your task is simple – you will be making Taika’s medium; the object which she will channel her powers into. Not only will this act as a weapon for her to utilize in combat, but if it is crafted correctly, it will act as a proto-tuner,” Sarayul explained.
The Maestro’s eyes widened. “Even if my tuner gets taken away, she’ll still be able to cast spells,” he muttered.
“Bingo! This process will give you a near-permanent link to her,” Sarayul said. The grin he wore on his face bothered Shouri, however.
“What’s the catch?” Shouri asked, his eyes narrowed at the Ethereal.
“This process is going to be quite taxing on you,” the Ethereal said with a mischievous titter. He motioned to the huge pile of black sludge in the corner. “You will mold 107 beads out of this clay,” he began.
“It’s not normal clay,” Shouri said, his glare focused on the fox.
“Indeed, it is not. Think of it as powderized rubato crystals,” Sarayul told him. “To get the best refinement, a particular process should be followed.”
The fox man walked over to the mound and plucked a small amount from it. With a razor-sharp fingernail, he made a small cut on his hand and rolled the clay into a ball, his blood mixing into it as he worked.
Finally, he set the completed orb on the table. In that short time, the dull lump of black clay had transformed into a shining obsidian pearl, as if it had been perfectly fired.
“Rhythm is life, rhythm is the soul - it flows through your body as long as you draw breath. Sound familiar?”
Shouri hummed in thought. “Just like blood,” he mumbled.
“Exactly, you get it.” Sarayul grinned.
“Why blood though?” Shouri questioned.
The Ethereal shook his head, shrugging as he did so. “You knowledge-types,” he said, keeping his tone even despite how outwardly annoyed he was. With a mental suggestion, the perfected bead floated from the table, slowly orbiting around its creator. “Your blood gives the beads life, it becomes the beacon that links your rhythm to them, meaning your rhythm with always try to reach out to what it perceives as part of you.
“But the blood cells will die,” Shouri countered.
“Look kid, I can argue with you all day on this – it works because I say it does, now get to rolling,” Sarayul growled, pointing at the mound of clay.
“Fine fine, whatever,” the Maestro relented, though was still bothered by the whole idea.
Sarayul turned to leave. “Remember, 107, that’s the magic number.”
And with that Vienna and Shouri had been left alone.
“It’s blood fossilization by the way, before the blood cells actually die the clay ‘remembers’ everything about them even the little signals they send back to your rhythm network that make it part of your body,” the Lyrebird finally spoke up, elaborating where Sarayul had given up.
“Oh, he could have just fucking said that!” Shouri complained. The room fell quiet for a moment while the Maestro studied his tools for the day. “So why are you here?” he questioned, breaking up the silence.
“Gotta make sure you don’t get infected since you’re gonna be slashing your hands up to make this shit,” she replied with a huff.
It was clear to Shouri that Vienna didn’t want to be here – he figured Sarayul must have strong-armed her into the task. “Well, I appreciate you being here so Taika can focus on her training.”
“Whatever,” she grumbled while rolling her eyes.
“Let’s get to work I guess,” said Shouri.