Arc 5: The Heart Within
Road to a Hero:
Three Chances in another world
Chapter 4. Spirit Bootcamp
Ryo floats mana around the group, the light blue and white specs lighting up the area. Leviathan soldiers look in awe at the sight, the pure beauty. For all the problems this world has, the monsters trying to kill people, a terrorist group taking down governments, and the pure destruction and madness that Gray has experienced in the three months he has been here. But he's also seen the calm and kind nature of the forces in this world, the gears that make the world go round. People take this beauty and wonder and make it a weapon for whatever they want, as people do. And Ryo intends to push this message, that with all the pain you’ve gone through if you just rest, focus, and calm down you’ll be connected.
Ryo: “I want you to collect yourself, feel the cold air around you, the freezing wind on your skin….nature itself. Close your eyes, and listen.”
And they all listen to him, and after a while, they hear the muttering of the spirits. Childlike voices rambling to their friends. They feel themselves sinking into their mind, becoming conscious in their consciousness. Gray’s the first to open his eyes and see something similar to what he sees when he talks to Azalea. Black fog on the ground, in a pitch-black dark room but somehow with no light you could still see perfectly. Gold and green spirits start to light up around him, forming into Soku and Rosemary. Rosemary notices that she’s in her golden knight armor, looking at the gold-colored plating and the black cloth under it. Soku feels the warmth and loving embrace of her brown coat and her once-long hair returning to her.
Soku: “What is this?”
Gray: “I dunno what to call it…a shadow garden, or void of thoughts. It’s like you’re in your OD or your mind.”
Rosemary: “The OD is like a gateway to the soul. An invisible black orb flows your mana in it, Alfheilm flows mana out of its plain of existence, through domains into your body. So this could mean we’re at that gateway.”
Gray: “Wait the OD’s your body then? Cause I was able to break Caesar's OD.”
Soku: “It’s not that complicated, the gateway or mana trail is the OD You broke his connection and stopped his flow of mana.”
Gray: “Ohhhh! I get it now.”
Rosemary: “Have you been here before?”
Gray: “I’ve been here…three, no four times. It’s how I was talking to Azalea.”
More spirits appear, glowing red and blue. They form Ryo, his red hair, kimono, and all.
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Gray: “Oh wait how did I never ask you this!”
Ryo: “What is it Gray?”
Gray struggles to remember the woman's name, and then it shoots into his memory.
Gray: “Shioreta! She wore a kimono! But hers was more detailed compared to your light blue one. What’s with that?”
Ryo: “It’s a robe from the north in Oni-Mas, I traveled there once and bought a few.”
Gray: “What’s Oni-Mas?”
Soku, looking annoyed, abruptly stops the conversation.
Soku: “Oni-Mas is the Northern continent, and most people just call it the North.”
Gray: “Wait…how many continents are there?”
Rosemary: “Should just be three, and then the Southern Islands.”
Soku: “Yeah, Oni-Mas, Gaia, and Saga.”
Gray: “Gaia as in the earth spirit…Oni-Mas, kinda like an Oni-mask if you stretch it, and Saga as in a Saga in a story?”
Ryo: “Yes, and you’re currently in Saga.”
Rosemary: “And most people agree that Shioreta is from the north.”
Ryo: “I connected your ODs, and let the spirits force you down into them. I want you to know what it feels like, to be within this force that gives you your power.”
Gray: “Wait! Is my spiritual connection so strong because I have so much mana? Because if I have a lot, more room has to be made in my gateway so it can pass into me. So the gateway is bigger, giving me a stronger connection to the spirits!”
Ryo: “Um…yes actually that is why. Very clever.”
Rosemary: “So what do you want us to do?”
Ryo: “Remember this feeling, this area. Know yourself and be okay with it.”
Ryo snaps his fingers and the entire area pulls away, the group's clothes turning to smoke and returning to their regular state. Leaving the shadow gateway and returning to their bodies. Rosemary and Soku are taken aback by the experience, barely being able to stand up straight. But Gray stands tall, ready for more.
Gray: “Now what?”
Ryo: “Moving dynamically.”
Soku shrugs her shoulders in dismay while Rosemary stands with more of a whatever feeling.
Ryo: “Do what I do.”
Ryo starts to do dynamic stretches, which the group copies.
Gray {Haven’t done this since tenth-grade gym class.}
Ryo pats his legs and stops stretching.
Soku: “Gray, you spent a month doing this?”
Gray: “Eh, kinda. You’ve seen it pay off, I would destroy my old self in a fight.”
Soku: “You just didn’t know how to fight.”
Gray: “Eh whatever, still beat you in the knight exam.”
Soku: “EHHH! I’ll fight you right now!”
Soku gets right in Gray's face, and Gray starts laughing in her face.
Ryo: “Calm down now, just flow your mana around your body and let it react. Use as much mana as your body can handle, but make it firm and stiff. Don’t just follow your mana, but harden it.
They all separate and sit down, Gray being the first one to do it. Suddenly a massive amount of mana flows around his body. At first, it’s like a raging flame, but it settles and turns into a light aura. Rosemary watches as Gray strains himself and decides to join him. She enters the fourth stage and suffers through the pain. Soku is the last to join in, she generates a vortex around her and makes it into a wind cloak.
Ryo: “Good, now for the fun part.”
Soku: “And…what…might…that…be!?”
Ryo: “You’re going to sit here for a while.”
Soku: “Ohhh…HOW FUN!”
Rosemary: “But…IT HURTS!”
Ryo: “Yeah it’s going to, but without pain, there isn’t going to be any gaining of strength.”
Gray: “So no pain no gain…hehe.”
Soku: “YOU SEEM TO BE HAVING FUN!”
Soku, Rosemary, and Gray struggle to keep their composure, constantly squirming and shaking due to the pain.
Gray: “OH I am, it hurts like hell but that’s spirit boot camp for you!”
End of Chapter Four