After the storm sage finished his explanation, Thane walked forward and took another look at Jay's arms.
“The next part will take a while guys; you don’t need to stick around.” He said. “If you need to prepare anything, do it now. He’ll be ready to go as soon as I’m done.”
Selena wished Jay good luck before walking up the stairs to another level of the tower. The storm sage nodded, clicking his fingers before instantly disappearing.
“How the hell does he do that?” Jay said, nodding at the spot where the storm sage stood a moment before.
“You know, I’m not too sure myself. I think it’s either a boon from the coliseum, or a high-level domain ability.” Said Thane. He rummaged in his satchel, muttering to himself as he searched. By the time he’d fished out several rolls of bandages and a glass pot of deep green paint, Jay still had confusion smeared across his face. He didn’t need words to get his point across.
Boon from the coliseum? Domain ability?
“Hold your arms out, I’ll explain as I work.”
Thane took one of Jay's arms. Starting right at the fingertips, he began rolling out the bandage.
“People like you are different from people like me or Selena.”
“How come?”
“You’re a fighter in the coliseum. You can pull up your rankings, watch old fights, view the leaderboards, and get all the other benefits that I just don’t know about. All for the low low price of having to fight to the death once a week. Well once a week for you, the higher tiers get more time between fights, but that’s beside the point.
“The coliseum grants you these benefits as a gladiator. I don’t provide my services to the coliseum, so it doesn’t grant me these boons. Even Selena, who is currently an affiliate of the storm sage, only gets to use the system when the sage wills it.”
“Huh, interesting. But what does it have to do with the sage disappearing?”
Thane had finished his fingers and was now encircling Jay's wrist. It looked familiar, reminding Jay of having his hands wrapped before a fight, but of course he couldn’t feel a thing. “There exists a third class of person. The storm sage falls into this category.
“As much as I don’t like to give him credit, the old guy is strong. Frighteningly strong. If you ever see him fight, you’ll see why people call him the storm sage. Going up against him is like trying to fight a hurricane, there’s almost no point. Anyone that strong is a great person to have around the coliseum. Budding young fighters like yourself, and even the more experienced ones, could learn a thing or two from the old man. So the coliseum wants to keep him here. Rather than wandering off and meditating in a cave for years at a time or whatever sages normally do. Here the sage gets a fancy tower with a seafront view and who knows what else.”
“So, the coliseum can just give him the ability to teleport? And it does that to try and make him stay?”
Thane nodded as he ripped a strip of bandage off with his teeth, tucking it within another wrap near Jay’s elbow before starting another coil.
“Potentially. The whole island is the coliseum’s domain, so it might have the ability to grant such a boon. Or at least something smaller, like letting him teleport within his home and the area around it.”
“That makes sense I guess. As much as anything can make sense in this crazy place.”
“You’ll get used to it.” Thane laughed as he looped the excess bandage around Jay's shoulder, neatly tucking the last scrap behind a previous layer. “Everyone does.”
He double checked each loop before moving onto the other arm.
“Do you know much about domains, or Zhou’s Four Heavenly Strata?”
Four heavenly what?
“I’ve heard of domains, They’re a manifestation of your personal essence, right? I’ve got no idea about that other thing though.”
“Perfect. Don’t bother learning about the Strata, it’s just a way to try and quantify Harmony. They serve their purpose well but aren’t worth thinking about. Domains are far more interesting. By manifesting your personal essence, you’re granted an element of control over that space.”
Thane paused the wrapping for a moment to point at the pot of paint he’d taken out of his bag.
“It’s what I’m going to do with the paint. The enchanted bandages heal your body, whereas the paint makes your arms a part of my domain. It extends my essence to them, increasing your pathways’ regeneration.
“But back to the sage. I don’t know the extent or specifics of his abilities, but I wouldn’t put teleportation past him. I could easily see him having a gigantic domain, and the skill to teleport within it.”
Jay mulled over the new information while his second arm got wrapped up. What Thane had said didn’t make any sense. But Jay’s new home wasn’t tied down to the laws of common sense and physics like his old one was.
Jay wondered what his friends would make of the sage’s teleportation. Akira would probably find a way to spin it into an Earth analogy to help Jay understand it better. Both twins described him as a savant and Jay saw why, it was hard to believe he wasn’t born here.
Jay hoped Lyra and Akira wouldn’t worry when he didn’t turn up this evening. He didn’t expect the storm sage to give him any free time over the next three days.
Then again, he had trusted them to find a solution to his injuries. They had to trust him to find one too.
Once Thane had finished wrapping both arms, he let out a deep breath and moved over to the desk.
“Final step. Sit on the chair and lay your arms flat out. I’m going to overlay my personal essence pathways over the bandages. Don’t worry, it’s nothing permanent. It’s just so my regenerative essence can remain close to your arms without fizzling out or clashing with your own pathways once they’re reformed. I need to focus for this part. So no talking, and keep as still as possible.”
Jay nodded, prepared for whatever was to come next.
As expected, Jay felt nothing until the paint reached his elbows. While Thane covered the bandages on his lower arms, Jay looked at the pearlescent jade paint and wondered how it would feel. The paint was there to channel regenerative essence, but what did that mean? What was so specific about regeneration, that differentiated it from simply healing? How would that difference manifest itself?
Even after the swirls of paint passed his forearms, Jay was no closer to answering his questions. Perhaps the intricacies of essence weren’t something you could feel so easily, perhaps he just wasn’t skilled enough to observe it? He was enthralled, however, by the patterns emerging atop his arms. For the third time today, river like pathways covered his arms. For the third time today, a familiar yet intrinsically unique pattern emerged.
Agatha’s were the simplest. The mists running over his arms ran in thick channels, occasional offshoots would wrap around his arm, but the general structure remained rigid. Jay wondered why this was the case, perhaps it derived from her personality? Perhaps it was a byproduct of apprenticing under the high matron? Jay filed that line of thought for a later date, preferably one with Akira and Lyra alongside him to help answer any questions. While it would be nice to know the mechanisms behind how pathways worked, it wasn’t pressing, and could wait for after he’d sorted his own mess out.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
The High Matron’s interpretation was radically different to her student’s, with no similarities except for the mists. It twisted and turned faster than Jay could even notice. Initially, its movement seemed random, but the more Jay looked, the more he’d begun to see a logic behind it. Why had the master’s interpretation appeared so differently to her student’s?
Jay suspected it was because she was adapting the mists to Jay's personal pathways. But he had no way to confirm that, so he switched his attention to the drawn pathways in front of him.
As well as wrapping around his arms, the painted lines seemed to expand inwards. If that was even possible. The deep green paint appeared to delve deeper within its own lines, as well as reaching around Jay's arms. Although Jay knew it was just a layer of pigment coating the bandages, it felt like far more. Chasms, sinking into Jay's arms, emerged in each line. He knew they weren’t actually there, but he believed them anyway.
Seeing the differences in each person’s pathways gave Jay confidence he’d made the right decision. He didn’t know what the storm sage had prepared for him, but it was a trial he would undertake. Not a procedure that somebody else would do to him.
Jay wasn’t sure what the effects of regeneration would be on his essence pathways, his nervous system, or even his body. But he knew it would be his own solution, and for that he was glad.
Thane finished the final brushstroke and leaned back. He barely had a second to admire his work before the storm sage appeared in a puff of smoke.
“Did you need him to sit on my chair… Or did you do it because you knew it would piss me off?”
Thane winked at Jay, the storm sage could only see the back of his head. “I would never do such a thing. Oh venerable storm sage.”
The sage’s eye twitched. “Is the procedure finished?”
“Yep, he’s all yours.” Thane turned round to Jay and held up his fist. “Good luck kid. Whatever the old guy has planned for you, it won’t be nice. Keep fighting.”
Jay clenched his jaw with stony resolve. He’d calmed down from the stress of trying to find an answer to his injuries. Now he had to face the storm. Cold steel faced starlight as Jay met the storm sage’s unflinching gaze. The two men knew what had to be done. The sage nodded slightly in what Jay hoped was a sign of acknowledgement and respect.
“Let’s go.”
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Damp, humid air pressed against Jay's skin. The sage had teleported the two of them into an underwater cavern. Small rockpools littered the uneven rock beneath their feet and Jay could almost feel the pressure of the ocean smothering him. Two arches stood on opposite sides of the cave, each shrouded in darkness.”
“The first and third days of your training will be spent subjecting your body to the foundational essences of lightning and fighting.”
“What about the second day?”
“Day two will be spent recovering from day one.”
Jay expected at least a hint of a smile out of the storm sage. He got nothing. His mentor was as serious as Jay had ever seen him.
“Which trial do you want to undertake first?” The sage said, gesturing at both arches.
“Does it matter?”
“Most people only have one foundational essence, the issue with having two is the complexity needed to intertwine them. You must combine both essences in the perfect way to match your own personal essence. With a challenge so complex, every aspect is important.”
“If it’s so complex, why am I not just using one essence as the foundation? I know fighting well, it’s what I’ve done all my life, shouldn’t I just start with that?”
“I said it was complex, not impossible. The reason I’m pushing you towards two foundational essences is because I believe you can do it. I’m somewhat familiar with your home world, you don’t have elemental control there in the way that some worlds do. Yet you come to me, three days into joining the coliseum, perform outstandingly in my trials and defeat a stronger opponent in a single strike using thunder essence. An essence barely adjacent to the one you have the best affinity for.
“Yes, you could use only fighting essence as your foundation. But me telling you to do that would be a disservice to you, to the coliseum, and to myself. It’s extremely rare for someone with an elemental affinity to turn it inward like you did with your nervous system, it’s even rarer to do it of your own volition. Forming a foundation of fighting essence would heal your arms, it would create adequate essence pathways. However, it would be like using a silk scarf as a cleaning rag. Functional, but a grievous waste.”
Jay didn’t expect to hear such praise from the sage. Jay knew he was a good fighter; he wouldn’t have climbed up the world boxing rankings if he wasn’t. But he didn’t know if that would translate to the coliseum. The sage may just be buttering him up, building Jay's confidence up before throwing him into a trial. But it didn’t feel like that. It felt real. Jay looked at the sage’s serious expression. Realism intertwined with hope.
He’d seen this face before.
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Coach had scooped Julian under his wing before Jay had even laced up a pair of gloves. Jules was always his golden boy, even when Jay followed him into the gym. But there was one moment that made Jay feel like the king of the world.
Jay was shadow boxing next to the sparring ring. He’d gotten to training early because Julian had extra practice before their class. His eyes were closed, and all Jay could see was his imaginary opponent in front of him. His brother. Bigger, stronger, smarter than Jay. An unclimbable mountain, but one that Jay yearned to summit anyway.
The brothers, one real one imaginary, began their dance. Even though he was fighting shadows, Jay felt every punch his opponent landed. Not through physical pain, but the agonising sting of being outclassed. No matter how quick he was, he couldn’t escape every hit. If it really were his brother in front of him, he’d have been on the floor already.
Jay opened his eyes to look at his older brother, the real one this time, in the ring. He didn’t see Julian punching the pads with coach. But rather the pair looking at him standing there.
The tubby kid, just starting to fill in his frame, prancing about trying to act like his big brother.
Julian beamed at his baby brother; face filled with nothing but pride. Coach’s face told another story. Its surface showed approval, he liked what he saw, but beneath that was delight. He knew that in both Leonard brothers he’d unearthed something good. But beneath even that, imperceptible to Jay, imperceptible to Julian. Imperceptible even to Coach himself, as an undiscovered sliver of fear.
Just what could this kid become?
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The poster-plastered walls of Jay’s old gym faded into dark, disjointed underwater rocks. The sage looked at him expectantly.
“It’s already starting. Good.”
What’s starting?
“You’re about to embark on a personal journey. The path of Harmony is an inherently internal one. One about finding, and making, your place in the world. It would be more surprising if you didn’t relive a few memories on the way.” The sage replied, almost as if he’d read Jay's mind.
Regardless of any memories, Jay had a decision to make. Which trial to take first. He mulled over it for a minute, not wanting to leave the storm sage waiting.
“I’ll take the trial by lightning first. When can I start.”
“You can start immediately. But tell me why you chose lightning first?”
“I’m more familiar with fighting. It’s been almost my whole life. My connection to fighting is a lot more concrete than my one with lightning. I don’t know what the trials will be, what they’ll do to me. But I’ll bet I have more control over the outcome of the fighting trial.” Jay said, almost entering his own world as he explained his reasoning.
“So I have to decide whether it’s better to have the more known essence first or second. If it’s first, I can create my foundation of fighting essence, and then embellish it with lightning during the second trial. This makes some sense. But if I was going to do that, why not form my core out of just fighting essence and add lightning, or anything else I want, later? You said it before, a core isn’t even real. If I’m understanding it right, it’s a manifestation of your self-understanding. Just like a domain is a manifestation of personal essence. Taking that path would acknowledge who I am now, but not who I will become. It’s safe. It’s grounded in truth and understanding.
“But you didn’t bring me here to play it safe.”
Jay stared into the distance, immersed in his reflection, but he managed to sneak a glance at the storm sage. Precisely when he wasn’t expecting it.
His face wasn’t impassive and professional anymore. Slight curls of pride twisted at his lips. Jay knew he was on the right track.
“Just because I don’t know lightning as well as I know fighting, doesn’t mean it’s any less a part of me. I just haven’t discovered that part yet.” Jay said, unable to hide the excitement from his voice as he edged closer to cracking the puzzle. “I need to undergo the lightning trial first. Not despite of, but because of my lack of understanding. I don’t know what the outcome will be, but if I go into it with the fighting trial under my belt, I’ll have something that I need to conform the essence to. If I take it first, I’m a clean slate. I can take my affinity to its full potential. Then, because I know fighting better, I can work around my initial foundation to form a duality that properly represents me.”
Jay rushed out his ideas. Afraid that pausing to breathe might derail his train of thought.
“Good choice.” The sage smiled, and Jay knew he’d hit the mark.
He wondered why the sage even gave him the choice of what to take first. Jay had promised to do exactly as he said for the next three days, so he was at the sage’s mercy either way. Perhaps, understanding the basis behind the trials was as important as taking the trials themselves?
Jay didn’t want to remind the sage of their agreement though. So the question remained unanswered.
The sage walked towards one of the shadowy arches and pressed his hand into the rock beside it. White sparks leapt from his fingers into the wall’s crevasses. They lit up the archway, but the shadows remained. Jay started walking.
“Wish me luck.” Jay said as he passed through the arch.
The sage didn’t respond.