August 02, 4021 08:00 [Matriarch 04- Classroom 23D]

“As you’ve seen, combat training can help unlock your Shakti potential. Those triggers are key catalysts for getting you accustomed to the energy around you and within you. With that being said, we can focus on more traditional methods of training now. I’ll be teaching you how to harness and control the Shakti that you’ve unlocked,” Tengri explained.

The four of them, including Indra, Kuvira, and Garou, sat in a small classroom. Tengri leaned against the instructor’s desk. Behind him was a blackboard diagramming the practice of Shakti control.

“Right now, most of you have a rudimentary grasp of control over your Shakti; this often appears to be in bursts of energy rather than carefully measured releases. I assume the three of you imposed certain subconscious restrictions upon yourselves that allowed your latent abilities to surface during the sparring session yesterday. The goal for today will be to figure out what those restrictions are.”

“And how would we do so without breaking our restrictions?” Kuvira asked. She was wrapped in bandages from head to toe.

“You created your restrictions within the time frame of the match, so think back to the point at which you experienced a change in your abilities. What was the thought or the need that had to be fulfilled to facilitate such a transformation?”

Indra pondered for a moment, recalling the instance when he had spawned the black flames. He had been arguing with Usha about his need for power. Okay, but what did I restrict in order to take his power? He noticed Tengri watching him carefully.

“Got something?”

“I know when I created the restriction. I asked for more power to defeat my opponent, but I’m unsure as to what I gave up in exchange. Everything feels the same.”

Tengri scratched his chin. “That’s a start. What about you two?”

Kuvira furrowed her brow. “My opponent was crushing me against the wall. I felt a strong urge to free myself, naturally. That was when I gained the ability to produce blades of air. I managed to cut her up pretty badly, though she still won. I’m not sure about the trade-off.”

Garou sat deep in thought, eyes closed. He looked to be carefully considering the framework behind his restriction. He finally opened his eyes, grinning. “I have no clue.”

Kuvira put a hand to her head as if used to his idiocy. Indra stifled his laughter.

“Is that so? Well, maybe a few laps around the building will jog your memory,” Tengri remarked.

“Easy!” Garou grinned, flashing his canines.

“Ah, but you’ll be wearing this,” Tengri said, tossing him a small ring. He wore an amused expression.

Garou’s face faltered. “Oh, a limiter.”

“That’s right. Better get to it. And don’t come back until you have an answer for me.”

“Yes, Sir,” Garou sulked as he left the classroom.

“As for you two, let’s figure out what you exchanged for power.”

Tengri scrutinized them, walking around their seats. He addressed Kuvira first, asking her to stand on top of her desk and change form. Kuvira obliged, morphing into a large Andean condor. Indra watched with intrigue trying to figure out what Tengri was attempting to accomplish. The instructor abruptly shoved her, after which Kuvira unceremoniously fell to the floor, flapping her wings wildly. She morphed back into human form, fuming.

“What was that for!?” she exclaimed.

“Well, we found out what you gave up,” Tengri stated, crossing his arms. “You can’t fly anymore. That avian form is next to useless unless you’re trying to catch some worms.”

Kuvira’s face went red, realizing what she had done. “Seriously? Why would I give up flying?”

“Considering how weak those gusts of wind were when you fought me, I think you were focused on strengthening your damage output. You gave up flight in exchange for increased control over air compression; not a bad trade-off. Plus, we can probably figure out a way to use that power to increase your aerial mobility and mobility on land by using pressurized blasts of air to propel you forward.”

“R-right,” she said, picking herself up and brushing away the dust on her uniform.

Tengri turned to Indra. “Yours is pretty simple. I noticed it after your fight with Jin’s guy, Kaluza. Your portfolio says you have a quick healing factor, correct?”

Indra nodded.

“Great.” Tengri made a swiping motion. “Yep, that confirms it.”

Indra’s palm felt warm and slick; dark blood flowed rapidly from a deep cut. He clutched his hand in disbelief, expecting an explanation from Tengri.

“I cut you with a dagger. Are you healing?”

“Of course not! If you use Amrita I’m not going to heal at all.”

“See, that’s what I thought. When you come into contact with an object that’s been purified, it acts like poison to you. But I just cut your hand with a regular dagger; no Amrita and you’re still not healing.”

“My healing factor’s gone?” Indra was distressed.

“It appears so. Amrita affects you negatively, but now it looks like you won’t be able to heal at the rate you’ve become accustomed to for common injuries.”

Then what happened after taking one of Stanley’s pills? He said they would only drive Amrita out of my body. So wasn’t it my healing factor that mended my injuries?

Tengri raised his eyebrow. “Something on your mind?”

“N-no, I’m just thinking about where to go from here.”

“I’ll tell you where. You don’t have control of your Shakti reserves and how much energy you can output. Knowing how much energy you can store and release is an important skill to practice. So, for the next few weeks, on top of the drills and combat training we’re having you do, you’ll need to master this technique.”

He brought out a small device with two steel marbles resting on a disc. A thin spherical bubble film covered the disc, similar to a snow globe. Tengri held it out in one hand so they could see the device better. The marbles started to spin, one after the other. A digital display increased in value, starting from [0]. The marbles accelerated until they were nothing more than a blur. The bubble film remained steady until the number hit [80]. Tengri had a satisfied look on his face. He handed a device to Kuvira, fishing through his desk for a second one to give to Indra.

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“These are Shakti meters,” he explained. “They measure the amount of energy that you’re pouring into the device. Seems easy enough, right? However” —he pointed to the film of bubble above the disc— “if you imbue too much energy at once, the bubble will pop and you’ll need to start over again. Too little and the marbles won’t spin fast enough. This’ll help you manage your energy output accordingly. It’s a careful balancing act, and quite tedious, but once you get the hang of it…you’ll become a force to be reckoned with.”

Tengri looked outside the window, watching Garou. “You keep practicing. I’m going to see what’s taking that moron so long to come up with an idea.” He made for the classroom door. “Oh, and one more thing, you’re not allowed to leave until you reach ten at least, got it? Have fun,” he laughed, exiting the classroom.

Pop! Indra looked over to Kuvira. She grit her teeth in frustration, staring at a flashing [0]. Something told him they would be here awhile.

***

A disc was thrown at the blackboard, shattering the delicate instrument. Three Homunculi sat slumped against the walls of classroom 23D, exhausted. Sweat collected on their backs and the pits of their arms as they stared at the ceiling with vacant expressions. Garou tore at his hair screaming obscenities to no one in particular. Indra wiped his forehead, eyeing the disc next to him; [5] it read. They had been chipping away at the task for several hours, making incremental progress as time passed, but not nearly enough to leave. Night had fallen, trickling into the early hours of the following day. Indra checked his Nerve Cord, sighing in exasperation; the time read 03:00 on the display. Tengri was long gone, throwing them comforters and pillows before he left. To make matters worse, they were to report to training at 07:30, regardless of their progress. Indra groaned, rubbing his eyes. He chuckled half-heartedly. Just days before, he had been dealing with insomnia, and now? What he wouldn’t give to have that problem again.

“I’m gonna put another pot on,” Kuvira yawned, walking to the instructor’s desk. She had disrobed down to shorts and a training bra.

Had Indra not been so exhausted, he may have blushed. Instead, he simply nodded, thanking her as he cracked open a window, letting the cool morning air inside.

“How far are you?” he asked her, taking note of the bandages wrapped across her torso.

“I just reached eight. Garou?”

“Three,” he grumbled.

“Do you mind me asking who you faced?” Indra was curious, though he had a strong suspicion he knew the identity of the person in question.

“Not at all. It was your friend, the gravity girl,” Kuvira replied, operating Tengri’s coffee maker.

“Right. I figured as much—since you mentioned being crushed.”

The crook of her mouth twitched. “You know, that match between you and Kaluza, I’ve never seen a Trait quite like yours. It was…vivid.”

Indra raised an eyebrow. “Vivid?”

“Beautiful, some would say.”

“Like who? It’s a mess of an ability dictated by emotions that I can’t control,” Indra scoffed.

“It didn’t seem like that, especially to your friend. Her eyes were glued to you the entire time. When those dark flames appeared, well, she just about lost it, screaming her head off. You didn’t hear any of it?”

“No, I couldn’t hear anything. It was like a mental block. All I could do was concentrate on surviving.”

“Fair enough,” she said, handing him a steaming mug.

“Thanks,” Indra said, taking reserved sips.

“We probably won’t finish this by the time training starts,” Garou mentioned.

“I might, but you two will definitely be coming back here this evening,” Kuvira laughed.

“Hey, Kuvira?”

“Yeah?”

“Your name—”

“No, I’m not. Sorry to disappoint. My mother was a historian; she loved the old tales of Devas and their battle against the Sirens. It’s tragic what happened to them, and your country. Your people suffered greatly.”

Indra grimaced. Unfortunately, the Sirens were very much alive and still kicking.

Kuvira took notice of his demeanor, apologizing profusely. “I-I’m sorry I didn’t mean to be rude.”

“No, no! You’re fine. I was just…thinking about some things,” he assured her. “How were the matches?” he asked, hoping to change the subject.

“They were interesting, to say the least. Garou and Xiāoshī were paired up, although it wasn’t really a fair fight,” she chuckled. “He sniffed the poor guy out almost instantly. Then it was just a matter of breaking his defense.”

Garou grinned, relishing in the victory. “He curled up like a turtle, hehe. I thought: ‘If only I could bite down harder, I could get past the invisible barriers he had placed’. And then, I was suddenly able to do so.”

“What did you give up in return?” Indra asked.

Garou pointed to his nose. “I still have my hearing. That’s all I’ll need.”

“Really? I've never heard of a hound without a nose,” he teased. “What about Emil’s match?”

“He wiped the floor with Móhú and Chōuyān,” Garou scoffed. “Reinforcement, my ass. He should’ve been placed in Release instead. Those thorns are deadly.”

“He took them on at the same time?”

“Yeah, and he left without a scratch.”

Indra whistled, impressed. “He told me he had won his match, but I didn’t think he was that far ahead of the curve.”

“Same goes for Prasanna,” Kuvira remarked. “Those two are frontrunners for sure. I would put you and Kaluza right under them.”

“Me? No, I’m not fit for the position. I don’t even want it,” he sighed. “I was supposed to go through processing like all the other Traitless and request a transfer to the Levante-Yuèliàng border to help my friends. My sister’s there as well. Instead, I’ve been told that we’re being deployed to a completely separate location to fight an unknown threat and there’s a possibility that I have to lead a unit of soldiers. It’s pure lunacy! They expect us to step up to a position in ten weeks that other Homunculi train towards for five years! Human soldiers need at least twenty years of experience to even be considered for the same type of position!”

Kuvira shrugged. “Complain all you want, we don’t really have a say in the matter.”

Indra leaned on the windowsill, downcast. He stared at the empty streets, devoid of life; it was eerily pleasant. He had half a mind to jump out of the window and take a short stroll around town without fear of garnering looks of contempt from the townsfolk. What he wouldn’t give to live a quiet life in a place like this. Of course that would never happen.

“You mentioned that your mother was a historian. Were you born here?”

“That’s correct, it was just me and her. She used to do freelance work with researchers in Matriarch 06.”

“What was it like growing up in a city?”

“Not as glamorous as you would think,” she said, smiling sadly. “We lived in a small apartment in an overcrowded building. Money was tight, but we would always manage to get by. However, when my mother fell ill, we couldn’t afford to pay for medicine, so I got a second job selling ‘produce’ for a local vendor.”

Indra was able to draw his own conclusions as to what she really meant.

“That’s how Garou and I met. We were partners. I would sell and he was there as my muscle in case things went south.”

Garou stared at the ceiling, silently frowning.

“Of course, it didn’t matter in the end. My mother passed away. After that, I only had him.”

“How’d you end up here?”

“Somebody died and we got caught. It was a choice between serving a life sentence or signing up for the military and serving there for a few years. Since we were still minors at the time, we were eligible for the Homunculi program. It paid well, and our offenses would be waived just for joining. So that’s exactly what we did,” Garou answered, morosely.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have pried.”

Kuvira shook her head. “It’s fine.” She picked up her Shakti meter, concentrating as the marbles began to pick up speed. After a few moments, there was another pop. Kuvira sighed heavily, dropping the disc at her feet; [9] it read.

“It’s almost 06:00. We should hit the showers and get something to eat before training starts,” she said.

They shuffled out of the classroom, quickly. Indra stopped at the door, taking one last look at his disc on the floor, still blinking [5]. More. I need to become stronger if I want to protect myself and my friends—no, my family. The room was still and silent when he left. Then…his Shakti meter began to spin again.