As TaeJean and the other teens entered battle, the memorial service was about to begin. Keshawna had the T.V. on the correct channel. Healing Hands Baptist Church was the location. It was currently 8:55. The service would start in 5 minutes. Keshawna viewed the news channel, which was currently focused on the reporters outside the church. The anchor, a man in his 40's, spoke. “Today is the memorial for the most devastating and recent Stem attack in the United States. The entire main street and several surrounding blocks are shut down for this long funeral procession. Many of the bodies were unrecognizable. Our cameras are about to go live inside the church, where Reverend Martin Murray will give his speech."
The clock struck 9. The cameras switched to interior of the church. The pastor spoke upon the podium. Kee looked at the screen. Suddenly, the cjurch interior became gray. The light and sound warped, and the girl heard a ringing in her ear and felt nauseous. Then the eyes appeared. They resided within the screen, yet it seemed to Kee they had a 3D effect. Hundreds of eyes overlayed the scene in fractal wheels within the church. They seemed to peer through the screen at Keshawna. She had been raised in the church, and suddenly she remembered something. “Ezekiel!” the memory clicked suddenly. This was an angel as described in the book of Ezekiel! Then the eyes “spoke”. “Child, even in these temples you have always rejected my Father. Now, the evil energies that were removed from your foremothers have returned unto you.” The eyes moved in continuous rotating motions as they spoke.
“They are definitely within the church! Does no one else feel anything?!,” she thought as she pressed the power button on the remote. She was completely freaked out!
Kee then sat for a few minutes thinking about what she had just experienced. She then recalled a conversation she had with Cherrae a day ago:
Keshawna approached her in the kitchen. “Ummm hey. You gave me a disc the other day. What was it exactly, miss…” “Cherrae. It’s an inherited family name. And that disc was your training primer. It explains your new powers.” Kee: “I was wondering about that. Am I a Stem now?” Cherrae: “You make a Stem look like a regular human. You my dear are a Soul-Borg.” Kee: “A Soul-Borg?” Cherrae: “It’s exactly how it sounds. To put it simply, nanomachines are running through your body. The battery for them is magic. Or rather, not magic, but the energy provided by your own soul. Magic is the application of this energy. I don’t actually use it myself, so that's the best I can explain it for you. Watch that disc. It will tell you everything you need to know.”
So with nothing else to do, and needing answers, she looked at the disc labeled “Soul-Force Training.” She popped it into the DVD player, and turned on the television. She pressed the correct buttons immediately, as she was not trying to see the eyes again. The girl was relieved when she saw the screen said “Welcome To Soul-Force” in big bold letters. She would experience more excitement in a few seconds.
As the letters remained, a pale woman with jet black hair appeared on the screen and began to speak. Though she spoke, it was almost as if she was singing a symphonic metal song. "Greetings dear watcher. My name is Ms. Lady Salem. You can say the whole thing, or call me by two of the words in correct order for short. Ms. Lady, Ms. Salem, or Lady Salem. And now, welcome to the Soul-Borg arts. What are the Soul-Borg Arts? Well I’m glad you asked. If you are watching this DVD you are most likely a Soul-Borg. However you could also be another magical creature looking to expand your power, or you could be a mere mortal about to start your magical journey. Which is why, I am going to use a spell imbued within this DVD to scan you, and see who you are, now.” Suddenly, the woman reached her hand out of the television! It went right into Keshawna's head, and the girl froze! Just as suddenly, the hand retracted into the screen! Keshawna was freaked out again.
Ms. Salem spoke: “Sorry if I scared you. Now, it seems you are a Soul-Borg. Good! This system was created with you in mind, but any being with magical power can mimic it, even if not fully.” The screen behind her changed to numbered list titled “Lessons.” She continued: “Now, there may be some spells on this disc, but it still functions like a normal DVD. In fact you will find that to be a common theme with magical objects. That being said, you can skip forward or backwards anytime if you don’t need to watch one of these chapters, but I am assuming that even if you are a Soul-Borg, you are a beginner. So lets look at the list!”
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The numbered list looked as followed:
Lessons
* Chapter 1: The basics of Conceptual Energy
* Chapter 2: The Truth of Reality
* Chapter 3: How a Soul-Borg functions
* Chapter 4: The Property Shifts
* Chapter 5: The P^3^2 = 9P
* Chapter 6: Gaining more power!
The girl looked at the video. She had always been a visual learner.
“What the heck is Chapter 5?” Ms. Salem spoke and ignored her: “You probably saw me reach out. I had to first know what manner of being I was dealing with. If you were a mere human just beginning your journey into sorcery, you would likely spend days just trying to learn lesson one alone, as you wouldn’t be able to even see your soul. This DVD is built so that certain chapters can not be seen without clearing the previous one.” Kee: “Wait didn’t you say I could skip at any time?” Ms. Salem: “That is only if you know what you are doing already. I will test you. This isn’t live by the way. I am actually a Stored Spiritual Projection. My real body left one of us on each copy of this DVD. So ask questions. I have a vast well of knowledge, though I can’t actually learn anything new, as I am like a programmed NPC. But if you put me in a video conference with someone I could most certainly fool them into thinking we were having a real conversation. Now, if you currently have no more questions, let us begin Chapter 1."
Ms. Lady Salem continued. "What is Conceptual Energy? Well, it is a modern updated, more ‘scientific’ name for spiritual energies. Application of spiritual energy to get effects, aka magic, is something all of humanity has always known. Like alcohol or warfare. It is something that unites us all and we all have our own styles of doing it. In fact, alcohols and war are both very spiritual in different ways. Very old spirits as well. But I will explain more about those in Chapter 2. But we are only about 20% done with this chapter. To continue we are going to have you do a little exercise. You are a Soul-Borg right? Your body should feel ‘different’ to say the least right? Like it is and isn’t heavy at the same time? Like everything is expanded despite the mass being the same? Well all forms of energy and matter wish to spread from high to low concentrations. Heat, water, gas, even solids right? Nothing is ‘still’. That extra 'mass' is simply your Conceptual Energy wishing to spread. I’ll go into deeper detail in Chapter 3, but simply by becoming a Soul-Borg, the power of your soul, which is the pure forge of your own Conceptual Energy grew exponentially, and in fact will continue to grow like that for the rest of your life. It is actually quite scary and ridiculous. Don’t worry though. I won’t teach you everything I know, so I will remain the most powerful being on the planet for a while longer. But I digress. Now, as for the lesson. You can release that extra mass from your body simply by focusing and flexing it, like a muscle. Focus on the spot you wish to release it from, and watch it come into reality. Though you feel it, it actually doesn’t physically exist or effect reality until you activate it. Go on. Like twitching a finger."
And so the girl focused on her right index finger, holding it in front of her face and pointing up, and suddenly, wispy sparks of neon purple manifested! “Whoa!” Keshawna exclaimed. Lady Salem spoke “Congratulations. You just did your first conscious use of Conceptual Energy.