Ozzy was confused, which was starting to become his most loathed habit of late. Vonder actually sounded curious, and sincerely concerned. Other than tapping his own forehead he hadn’t made any further movements. Well he had set his hand back down and he appeared to be patiently awaiting a response. Re-evaluating the situation Ozzy pulled himself back from the assumptions he was making. Just because someone was stronger didn’t immediately mean they were bad. That didn’t mean he suddenly trusted Vonder more than he had before. He would try to approach the situation again with a good measure of caution, but at the same time, Vonder seemed to have a good grasp of things, and could easily teach him something.
Ozzy brushed his hand across his forehead. Which gave him absolutely no new information. Yet, something deep in his brain needed the reassurance that there wasn’t some open physical wound with all the staring Vonder was doing. He readjusted himself in his chair and cleared his throat, though still didn’t start talking. He was quite sure the likely cause of whatever injury Vonder could see was his initial attempts at affecting his environment. He wasn’t entirely sure how to express what he was doing other than to say ‘I was trying to open the curtains’, but that sounded ridiculous. Something about Vonder’s mannerisms made him want to say things just right.
After another moment he came up with the best translation he could. “I believe it happened when I was trying to force my haven to open a portal to another,” He began slowly “Then either I pushed too hard or it retaliated”. Vonder took on a contemplative look and squinted at his forehead once more. Which was likely a completely superficial action as what he was examining was almost certainly his third eye. “What do you see?” He wondered.
Vonder raised his hand and above it Ozzy could see energy coalescing out of what appeared to be nothing. “It will be much easier to show you. This,” He indicated his hand and as he did so the energy began to vibrate and Ozzy could see light being absorbed into the energy with his eyes “Is an approximation of what I might see looking into anyone's head”. Above his hand Ozzy could see what looked like a shaded sphere. “Or, at least some variation on this” Vonder continued “The exact shape… boundary type… and size might vary”. As he said these the sphere morphed to something more like an egg, the border became hazy, then it shrank to nearly a point. “In fact in most cases this size is the most common” He added while the representation remained point like. The representation looked a lot like what he had felt in the haven before ‘falling in’.
“In your head I see something more like this,” Vonder continued. The Image above his hand returned to a larger sized sphere then became incredibly hazy, but also separated into multiple spheres arranged into a circle where a portion of all of them touched in the center. Looking from one pole it looked a bit like a camera shutter squeezed to nearly closed. “Only it’s a bit more like this” Vonder then adjusted the image again causing even more spheres to separate out forming a second sphere formed of multiple rings like the original representation. “It almost appears as if the normal single reservoir has been damaged and frayed like a rope into multiple much weaker versions”
Ozzy pondered the claim. He could see energy shining from the spot in Vonders head that he referred to but he couldn’t see any reservoir. He hadn’t seen any such reservoirs in the rats, or the imps, or in the haven. In the square of a haven though he’d felt such a thing. If it was indeed the same thing. He looked at the cat to get some comparison and could only see the expected domain he’d seen in the past. Nothing seemed to reside in its head. “I don’t see that, I can only see the energy” Ozzy surprised himself as he said it out loud. He’d been hoping to play things a little closer to the chest. As much as he was glad to be sitting and chatting about… anything really, he didn’t trust Vonder yet. His overwhelming strength didn’t help in that vein either.
Vonder squinted again this time at his hand above which still sat the image he’d conjured. “Maybe not injured after all,” Vonder mumbled to himself “Can you see which cup has energy around it?” He asked as energy began to form around his own cup. Ozzy nodded and pointed to the cup. After which Vonder quickly tested him a few different ways to be sure. Even making different shapes or sized things to compare. “You can see energy in great detail, but you cannot see reservoirs,” Vonder mumbled again to himself, tapping his fingers on the table and looking off.
“Well I can see the energy you have stored there,” Ozzy offered, pointing at his own forehead “I can see the cat’s domain as well, but he has no point of energy in his head like you do”. Unfortunately his brain started latching onto the discrepancies they were seeing and trying to solve them, so was unintentionally blabbering even more information without gaining much in return.
The comment made Vonder frown and look down at his cat. “The cat has a domain, yet you only mention a point of energy in my head, implying you do not see a domain around me”. He pondered again for a moment “Yet I do have a domain of control” he countered and demonstrated again by lifting a cup up which was only evidenced, it was him, by the thin layer of energy surrounding it before it began to rise. “which would imply what you are seeing is not a domain,” he postulated “what you are seeing is most likely the unrefined collection of energy of one who has not yet begun to control, coalesce, compress, and store it in their reservoir.”
Ozzy was beginning to feel a certain amount of kinship in Vonder’s thought processes which he seemingly broadcast play by play. Which engaged his own problem solving engine yet again and fired off a slew of responses. “Your statements suggest that you cannot see energy, and yet you can see what I cannot in turn” Ozzy formed a foundation, then quested out for a new brick “If you cannot see domains, can you see the membranes?”. As he asked he realized there was no membrane left on his domain after having dissipated them to control for his testing with the imps. “Like around the edge of all the havens” he added since he had none of his own to show.
Vonder was still staring at his cat for a few moments. He looked off at the edge of the space they occupied before responding. “Yes the border between the havens and the void is visible to me.” The answer wasn’t as clarifying as Ozzy had hoped. Vonder’s proclivity to phrase things in nebulous and varying terms was less than helpful. While Vonder continued to stare at the haven’s edge he tried to rectify the confusion by focusing on the domain that had been squashed to the surface of his skin, and slowly started to form a layer of membrane against it. He got wrapped up in it and was seeing an interesting effect. The portion of his domain being surrounded by a membrane began to lift away from his chest. Ozzy’s initial assumption being that it was repelling, resisting, or negating Vonder’s control in the area.
“Cederick said Benjamin was afraid of you but wasn’t clear on the specifics” Vonder’s comment Broke Ozzy’s concentration. Looking up he saw Vonder frowning while looking directly at the spot he’d been working on. “Those who dabble in things others do not understand frighten them.” Vonder continued to stare and frown. His statements again left too much up to the imagination, luckily he continued after a bit. “Though those are the sentiments of a fearful man and a teacher set in their ways” Vonder said shaking his head. “At most I am jealous. We had pondered the nature and function of the border while we worked together”
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Ozzy wondered how to word his response. Despite his claim to the contrary Vonder definitely seemed put out by what he was seeing, and more so than jealousy might explain. “It’s much easier to interact with when you can see what it’s doing.” He carefully began “It helps that literally everywhere here has one” Ozzy watched Vonder’s face as he was speaking and was disappointed to see a wash of different emotions travel across as he finished his last sentence.
“No,” Vonder said simply. “Not everywhere here has a border, or membrane as you say”. He still stared at Ozzy’s miniature membrane as he said this. The response didn’t seem to make sense as just being wrong about that shouldn’t have set him off. “The havens are just one of many types of places that exist in between”. Now turning to look into the distance he grew silent for a moment before continuing. “There are fragments of worlds out there, and places which are difficult to even comprehend or name, let alone travel to”. His tone implying he’d been to a few of these and would rather not have made the trip. Which helped his response become a bit more understandable.
“I was once warned by someone I respected to steer clear of such places” He looked up at Ozzy’s face and his own grew serious “Since I cannot expect you to understand or respect such a suggestion from me I will simply relay what happened when I visited anyway”. He began a tale not so dissimilar from his own. Thankfully nothing like Cedericks. He’d awoken on a square, it was bright like Ozzy’s own, and fumbled about. Eventually stumbling into another square that contained a cat. Which at first sounded like a nice alternative to the rats, and imps that Ozzy and Cederick had found. Though when it eventually came to hunger, thirst, and starvation it turned a bit darker.
Vonder didn’t focus or dwell on it though. He’d needed to survive and like Ozzy had done what needed to be done to get by. LIke Ozzy he had also found an intelligent resident of a haven, in fact the very cat he held on his lap. It was indifferent to his existence until it desired attention or pets. Not so dissimilar to any other cat. He’d felt a bond growing with it after visiting a few times and bringing it treats and brought it with him back to his own square. In the long run it essentially gave him a second haven to call home. Which gave Ozzy a few ideas. Not that he didn’t already have his own methods of growth, but adding more never hurt anyone.
After finding the cat his experience became more of a sedate day to day exploration. Moving further down his line of cat havens but otherwise just existing. Which made a certain amount of sense. Having someone, even if it was just a pet, to spend time with would definitely make the days go by more smoothly. Over the next few weeks he’d gained strength farming the less fortunate cats of the chained havens. Only after nearly three months of existing alone, other than his cat, did he meet with someone.
Even before he mentioned the person Ozzy could feel his mood sour. The descriptions also became hazier and the specifics of how they met were unclear. Though the person who he refused to name or really describe at all seemed like someone they liked quite a bit. Suggesting it wasn’t the person, but their likely demise which had him upset. They’d taught him to begin to control his energy and direct its absorption as Ozzy had discovered. It was all in descriptions based on feeling not sight. Eventually culminating in what the person referred to as forming a core. Though the descriptions implied the core was supposed to be formed in a different reservoir than Vonder had chosen.
Their instructor had been mildly perturbed at this, admonishing him for choosing what they claimed was the weakest option. Though Vonder disagreed based on the fact that it granted him visualization and expression of his strength beyond his body. But, his mentor continued to direct and guide him despite this. It was around this time that they found Benjamin. Who joined Vonder in learning to grow stronger in directed ways. Which spawned another disagreement when Vonder had encouraged Benjamin to attempt growing a core in his upper dantian as their mentor called it. Clearly they had some eastern influence based on their choice of nomenclature. Yet Vonder and Benjamin had felt a connection in their appetite for growth and learning about things as they are. Which resulted in Benjamin taking his suggestion.
Benjamin surprised them both in succeeding in accomplishing both of their suggestions. Somehow creating two cores despite their mentor's insistence that such a thing was impossible and that it was a waste to abandon the improvement of the body. With both paths available to him Benjamin had quickly become something of a favorite with their mentor. Causing Vonder to pull away and attempt stranger and more dangerous experiments to succeed at something. As neither their mentor nor Vonder had been able to accomplish what Benjamin had. The culmination of this rebellion had been Vonder discovering and traveling to places without a membrane, fragments of worlds that floated open and raw to the void decaying into nothingness. That was all he’d found at first. Stretches of nothingness quickly decaying into it.
His constant forays into the void were not yielding fruit, but he eventually decided to show Benjamin anyway. The place that Vonder took Benjamin to was the most interesting one he’d found. It seemed to decay into nothing faster than the rest. The rocks and soil crumbling away into smaller and smaller pieces at a visible rate. Which Vonder felt might be due to its age. Though they found he was incorrect, and that there was far more to nothing than they’d ever wished to see. Whether it was the fact that two of them were there now, or the Vonders constant visits, he didn’t know. Either way whatever existed there dismantling the very foundations of the existence had awoken and come after them.
They’d fled back to the havens, but the borders had begun to crack and fall away. Making them flee further. Eventually coming to their mentor to seek their help. Only to be ridiculed and told to continue fleeing while their mentor fought with something they couldn't even see. Neither Vonder or Benjamin had been contacted by, nor could they find, their mentor again. Eventually Benjamin had refused to ever leave his own haven again, and denied Vonder access to visit. With that Vonder concluded his history lesson.
“So, while I am intrigued by your abilities, and curious if you might be able to see what we could not that day, I hope you are cautious enough to steer clear” Ozzy wondered how he was expected to go visit these places he had no idea even existed before Vonder mentioned them. He held his tongue though. Instead nodding along as agreeably as he could portray. It was possible if Vonder had been alone with a cat for ages only visited by an overly talkative teenager that he’d lost some of his edge in conversation. “Your plight, and what it has reminded me of, has me reeling though, so I apologize, but I must excuse myself” with that he promptly stood up and taking his cat with him stepped to the edge of the haven. Before leaving he turned back “If you come to this haven again I should feel it and come meet you, if I do not come, leave a note” Then as suddenly as he had stood he stepped away. Leaving Ozzy sitting alone again.