“I dont think that you should be taking this so casually” said Liv trying to keep up with Meno as they made their way to the training rooms through the corridors of the temple of Det’er. It had been a month since they sat on the river bank and had lunch with Liv and Harold. True to her word, Liv had arranged for training for Meno, she allowed him and Angie access to a private training room, and Paba was not too concerned with joining them at all.
She had watched them in a few sessions, and at the suggestion of Efreet, her personal guard who had been impressed with both, offered the opportunity to join in training with the Traes guard, which was of course accepted by Meno immediately. Today, he was entering into his first spar with one of the soldiers.
“I’m not taking it casually,” he said rubbing his hands with a grin on his face, “I’m just really excited, Liv, that’s all. I haven't sparred in years,” he said, near to licking his lips, she thought, “My trainer got old, and couldn't keep up anymore so…He would have loved this,” he said with genuine excitement breaking through.
“Are you sure that you are ready though?” her concern was real, the soldier that Meno was going up against was a professional soldier and a primer on top of that.
“Why are you so worried?” he said laughing, “I’ll be just fine, it’s just a sparring match, nothing more” he said trying to reassure her. She supposed that he was right, but she still didn't feel that he was in any way prepared for this.
“Because he’s a soldier you numb skull” she said indignantly, “You should be worried, he’s a highly trained primer who has experience in combat, Meno. I told Commander Morris, no, but he said it was up to you”
“There we go” said Meno looking at her flummoxed face with a bright smile, “It’s up to me, and I want to do this” he gave her a broad grin and then continued into the training room where a group had gathered to watch.
A few of the soldiers smiled and nodded to him as he walked in, offering a low bow to herself as she passed through the double doors of the training area. It was a large circular room that was on the highest point of the right-hand tower of the temple, with a circular opening in the roof that allowed the sun to gush in. Liv took her place on the balcony that surrounded the room and watched Meno walk down the stairs onto the training platform. In the centre of the room was a large compacted sand ring where the sparring usually took place, and surrounding that was a ring that allowed for about 5 meters of room for soldiers to practice their techniques, the walls were lined with a vast array of different training weapons and automatons used to simulate real combat, as well as tech tools that could simulate fighting against different users. She placed her elbows on the stone balcony balustrade and watched as Meno greeted the guards who were wishing him luck and the soldier, Abram August, the man whom he was about to spar against.
Abram August was one of the premier soldiers within the Traes forces, a primer, who was by no means a genius in the larger scale of the galaxy, but one of the most effective soldiers that the Traes had ever had. Given the name, Zap by his colleagues, he had the ability to manipulate and energise static electricity. He was known for being a hand-to-hand combatant with the ability to deliver shocks to his opponent through his technique while they fought, seizing their muscles and hindering their ability to fight against him at their full strength. He was known for being a complete handful to take on.
“Did I miss it?!” roared Paba as she ran into the room and bent over the balustrade to look into the training room,
“You are just in time, Paba” Liv said as Paba came and stood next to her, brushing up against her as a hello.
“Hi Efreet,” Paba said flirtatiously to Liv’s personal guard who blushed, which then made it even better when Paba blew him a kiss. Liv didn't know if Paba was just that forward, or just liked to make him feel uncomfortable, either way, she loved it, even with Efreet’s protests for Paba to remain more professional.
It had taken some time, but Paba had forgiven Liv for pushing so much on the riverbank that day. Now Liv had found her to be gentle, caring and rather funny, regardless of all the ridiculous things she would say that would force people to think the opposite. Paba had started working on some of the Palace systems, though offline for security purposes, Liv understood this. She had heard that Paba had made some serious improvements to their weather management systems by creating a pattern to allow it to flow more easily over the lands and create a more complete system. There were even discussions of allowing her access to the network to see what other changes she could make, though this had been shot down pretty quickly by Morris and her father, not wanting to invite any threat after just one month of Paba being on site. They had reluctantly allowed her to see offline systems in the first place, but she had proven herself to be a remarkable talent.
“So this guy that Meno’s fighting is meant to be pretty good right? Like, he’s a primer?”
“He is, and he’s one of our best” said Liv feeling like this was a worse idea the more and more she thought about it.
“You’re a primer right?” she asked knowing very well that Liv was, as it had only been a few days since that she had explained her, underwhelming technique. Liv had the ability to see energy, not like others who could feel it through some form of sixth sense, or be sensitive to it’s effects which would prickly the skin or give a person a sense of it. No, she could physically see it, like threads coming off of a user, tangling and flowing, each with their own signature and colour.
All energy that came from primers had different signatures, a word that she always thought was aptly used, as she could quickly identify whose energy was being used when she saw the strands move in and out, and each primer had its own particular colour, way of flowing and structures that they would take. August had a bright white energy about him, and his strands moved erratically shifting from side to side as though rubbing across one another, as though creating the static. One of the reasons that she was so worried about Meno in this sparring session was that she had seen him train, and she had never seen any threads coming off of him, which was in itself peculiar, though not something completely new. People who didn't have primer abilities had far more subtle threads, sometimes not visible at all unless under stress, and it was sometimes only once they used tech that Liv would be able to see uniform strands of energy moving around them.
Tech gave off the same signature regardless of the person, if two people used the same tech, the signature would be the same and one of the only differences that would be seen was when different tech was used. Sometimes the tech user's own colour would alter the true colour of the tech signature, but this would only alter the colour slightly, not change it completely.
Tech built for different purposes had different signatures, but the same tech was mass-produced using the same signature. So Liv was always able to tell what kind of tech people were using by the threads that were emitted from it.
Liv had been noticed as a child as she would pull and tug on the strands and cause abilities and tech to go off in unexpected ways, something which she avoided at all costs now, not wanting to cause any trouble. It was useful when reading people though, she could often see slight changes in even subtle energies for people under stress or joy, which had always come in handy, especially in her role. It was similar to what a seer would see when trying to discern a lie.
“We haven’t missed it” Paba said turning to the doors of the training room Liv saw that Angie had made her way into the room, clearly choosing not to run in as Paba had. As usual, she was inspecting the room, looking at who was in there, where they were. She was a typical soldier like that, always on alert, always gauging a room before making a move. It saddened Liv a bit, that Angie was still not able to feel comfortable here. The other two had seemed to embrace living on Yeley so far, but Angie mostly kept to herself when she wasn't babysitting Meno and Paba. She had training with Meno initially, though declined to join in the training with the guard when it was offered, choosing to stay in the private training room that Liv had offered. She hadn't been difficult or upset, she just kept low and stayed quiet. If she wasn't training, or watching her two friends, she would be in their apartments, watching over the city. Meno had told Liv not to worry, that this was just something she was more used to, a slower type of life. Liv would do anything to make Angie feel more at home.
“I’m glad,” the old soldier said with a kind smile and a courteous nod to Liv.
“What do you think?” Liv asked nodding down to the grounds below. She knew not to ask Angie how she was doing, or if she was alright, as she would just get a generic deflective answer.
“Well, it’s going to be interesting either way” Liv stopped herself from sighing at the generic, non-commital answer, and smiled as though this was a perfectly reasonable opinion to give. She turned back to see Meno stretching out his hamstrings in conversation with Zap, Abram August, was average height, skinny and had sharp features, a pointed nose and chin, wide eyes and dead straight hair. Liv had often wondered if different abilities altered the appearance of its user.
Meno laughed and began to stretch out his back. He looked as though he didn't have a care in the world as he warmed up to fight a pro soldier. She then heard the Commander of the Traes guard speak up from the other side of the balcony,
“Shall we begin?” said his deep voice. Commander Morris, a well-built elder man with a massive black, almost too black moustache and a shining bald head. Liv saw Meno nod enthusiastically and bump fists with the soldier, pulling away quickly after it looked like receiving a small shock, they both laughed at the gesture. Liv thought that August may have been checking Meno’s energy barrier, which of course, the idiot didn't have.
She watched as, even though they were just measuring each other now, August was building up his energy, presenting as the usual toroidal force, like a bubble wrapping around him with his chaotic threads thrashing against one another in a constant flow, building from his core and flowing out of him to about a meter before flowing back into him, in constant motion. Liv still saw nothing from Meno, but perhaps the shyest shimmer, like the change in air above a fire.
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Liv moved back as the shielding began to energise in front of them, a blue hue came before them and the training ground and the hum of energy blocked out most of the sound that came up from there. She heard through the corridor of the balcony the words of Morris as he shouted,
“Begin!”
Liv watched as Meno and August began to circle each other, each watching the other's movements very carefully. Paba was practically shaking next to Liv in the excitement of watching what was about to unfold, Angie kept her composure as she watched.
Meno edged his foot closer to the soldier, who suddenly launched himself at Meno, his torus field of static energy lagging behind him for a moment, they collided with a flurry of blows, the soldier proving that he was experienced but Meno holding his own and showing that he was competent in the fight, but the force around Meno started to engulf him. Liv watched the threads move around Meno as August got up close to him as they passed and parried fists.
The soldier’s power built up with the friction in the air, but just then Meno landed a thrust into August’s stomach. Still, the soldier recovered quickly and dodged another blow which put Meno in a compromising position. The soldier took advantage, delivering a blow that Liv could see was wrapped in the chaotic static electricity, the blow landed on Meno’s left forearm as he attempted to block the thrust which pushed him backwards allowing him a reprieve from the fight.
Liv watched as Meno looked at his left arm that he had used to block the blow, as though not understanding what had happened. August clearly had the advantage of experience and his ability over Meno. The blows that they traded were good and Liv could see that Meno knew how to handle himself, but August was showing that he knew how to handle himself against an opponent better than Meno did.
He shook his arm out and smiled at August, he said something, but through the energy barrier that protected her, she could not hear.
She thought perhaps that Meno would try and keep his distance from the soldier after that, but no, he ran directly at the soldier and picked up his leg delivering a forward kick that the soldier dodged, but Meno kept his balance well and immediately followed it up with a flurry of blows that August blocked. Liv saw the soldier using his energy to soften the blows as they came, but he seemed to be struggling to stop Meno who must have been receiving shocks from each hit, though, it didn't stop him at all, and he threw more and harder at August. Eventually, the soldier got himself out from under the combination and delivered two heavy blows to Meno, one in the stomach and the other to his jaw before Meno dropped back.
Paba gasped next to Liv, and she looked up to see that Angie had a smirk on her face as she watched. Meno was wringing his hands out and then touched his jaw still smiling nearly maniacally at his opponent, who was smiling too, though with a look of confusion, as though not quite understanding how he was doing this. Liv didn't understand either, perhaps the soldier wasn't adding too much power into his technique, but it certainly didn't look like it. The threads were bright and highly energised, Meno should have been receiving some large shocks from each hit that he landed or received. This is what made August so difficult to fight against, Liv knew.
She could see the soldiers around them and those on the grounds below nodding and discussing the fight. They all seemed to be as fascinated as she was.
Before Liv could consider this more, Meno once again launched himself at the soldier, who seemingly hadn't expected this either,
“Go, Meno! Get him!” roared Paba,
Meno looked like he was going to kick once more, and once August got into position to block the move, changed his position, the kick had been a feint, but the soldier moved in time and blocked the move, and he grabbed Meno’s arm, Liv saw the threads vibrate quickly and glow as Meno was delivered a massive shock that seized his muscles and contorted his back. The soldier stood up straight, with Meno slumping below him. She wanted to shout out that August should let him go, the soldier might have been under the impression that Meno could protect himself against the shocks with his own energy, but she still saw no sign of it at all. Before she could shout though, Meno managed to move his right hand and with a heavy strike he slammed his fist into the soldier's face to an ‘oooofff’ from the crowd.
“Yes, Meno! Woooo!” cried Paba next to Liv who stood in shock, how had he done that? She saw that Angie was still smirking next to her. Did she know something about how Meno did this, was it some new tech or something?
The soldier blinked his eyes as his nose began to bleed slightly from the hit. Meno had quickly moved away from the reach of the soldier after receiving the shock from him, looking as though he wasn't sure what had happened to him again. He shook as he readied himself once more. The soldier wiped his nose with his sleeve and stood with his arms held out to Meno, beckoning him forward. Liv could see that the soldier was now building up more power, under the idea that his power was not taking effect on the young man.
Stupidly, in Liv’s opinion, Meno leapt forward again, and once again began hurtling blows at August, though not losing his shape as he did so, it was clear that they were both well trained, but August had the edge as he blocked and moved Meno delivering two blows in the blink of an eye, the threads glowing with each blow that he delivered and Liv knew that he had just thrown two heavy shocks into Meno’s body with each hit, but Meno didn't stop, swivelling he grabbed onto the shoulder of August and pulled him in close attempting to head butt him, but the soldier moved out of the way and pulled a knee up into Meno’s stomach. Another ‘ooooff’ went through the room,
Meno wasn't done, he pushed back at August and followed quickly with a violent thrust forward of his right hand which was blocked by August, but pushed him backwards, his feet sliding against the floor with the weight of the blow. Where did that power come from? It seemed that August was asking himself the same question. Angie was now smiling at Meno as though this hidden secret that she knew was now showing itself.
The crowd below were now speaking furiously, and Liv saw that August’s eyes shot around him and noticed this. His pride was on the line now. He stood up straight and smiled, saying something to Meno who was now also bleeding from the nose from the last bout. Meno smiled and set himself, a look of determination etched on his face.
Liv saw the threads from August begin to move violently, shaking and building, brightening with that white light, the air seemed to tense and little sparks of light began to take the room. Meno once more rushed forward, this time at a speed that Liv hadn't seen from him before, he was much faster, but the soldier's technique was already in full force, and he thrust both of his hands forward. The room erupted in light and cracks as the soldier unleashed the full force of all his energy at Meno. Liv ducked below the balustrade to shield herself from the light and she heard Paba squealing next to her. Angie still stood but covered her eyes.
The light dissipated and Liv quickly stood to look down. That was too much, Meno wouldn't have been able to… he was standing there, his arms covering his face as though blocking an attack that now had already passed. She could see that his eyes were wide, and he was in complete shock at what had just happened. There were scorch marks on the ground around him from the burst. Liv didn't know if he was able to move or not, and then the shields in front of them were lifted and Commander Morris walked into the ring.
“Fantastic, just fantastic, what a spectacle” he said resting a large hand on August’s shoulder before quickly pulling it away as he received what Liv would now imagine to be a rather large shock. To her absolute relief, Meno dropped his hands and looked up at the Commander of the Traes guard, and his face still in a look of absolute shock, let out a peep of laughter.
“How…?” Liv heard herself say as she watched Meno gather himself somewhat, blinking furiously, as he tried to regain himself. “That shouldn't have been possible,” she said looking at Angie near accusingly, but Angie wasn't smirking anymore, she herself was looking in the ring with a very serious expression, as though she also didn't understand this.
“He’s mad” Paba said almost dismissively, “But he can fight!” she said laughing looking between Angie and Liv, noticing too late that her reaction was very different to theirs. Liv looked back down and saw that Meno was now being spoken to by both Morris and August, the Commander with his arm on Meno’s shoulder, finding it safer than his own soldiers. Meno still seemed to be in shock at the scale of the technique that August had thrown at him, but he laughed nervously. August was smiling too and rubbing the blood from his nose that hadn't stopped bleeding yet.
“Angie” Liv said moving closer to her and pulling her attention away from the fight below, “What is he?” the old soldier looked taken aback at the question from Liv who was now standing right in front of her. Liv didn't want to seem panicked, but what she had just witnessed shouldn't have been possible. “I think that both you and I know that he should not have survived that?”
“What?” Paba said indignantly,
“He was trained well” said Angie, looking at Liv as though trying to figure out what would be the best answer here, Liv could tell that this wasn't the full truth though and gave the old soldier a look of disapproval to show that this was not a good enough answer. “I don’t know, I’ve seen him fight before, and it didn't make sense then either” Liv didn't drop her glare and Angie chortled, seeming to realise that Liv wasn't going to give this up, “Honestly, Lady Olivia, I don’t know. He fought people before that had tech and he won
“Angie,” Liv said moving toward her, “What is he?” she said not knowing a better way to phrase it. The woman chortled and softened her expression heavily,
“Honestly, Lady Olivia, I have no idea”
*
Olivia sat her in Harold's conservatory, at a wooden table with a purple and gold bonzai in front of her. The room was humid and surrounded by plants of all colours. The room smelt so fresh, it was one of her favourite places in the temple, with its large windows and trees that stretched to the glass roof. Harold had been teaching her about the plants of Yeley and how the ecosystem should be maintained and managed. He was always throwing great philosophy lessons in with it, using the plants as a metaphor for coexistence and growth, but today, she could not concentrate at all. Her mind was still caught with all of her thoughts from the fight the previous day.
She couldn't understand, and piece it together. How had Meno even survived that? Usually, someone would need to wrap their own energy around themselves just to protect against an attack like that, and even then, it would need to be energy that could combat the static force, or be strong enough to completely blow it away. Meno didn't seem to have any of that, let alone any energy in the first place.
She watched Harold as he wandered over, humming, a plant in his hands as he made his way over to the other side of the table with Olivia. He glanced up at her and she had the distinct feeling that he knew she was burning with a question for him, but as usual, with his broad ever-present smile and monk-like disposition, he waited for her to ask it. She didn't quite know how to phrase it though.
“You knew Sha-En then, right?” she said deciding that this may be a good place to start.
“Yes, you know that,” he said looking up at her though with a look of intrigue, “I visited their capital Tlon on a few occasions”
“Did you find them…dangerous?” she asked nervously, firstly not wanting to give much away, but secondly not wanting to show any prejudice that she didn't have. She knew that the Sha-En were villainised after the war and that this was wrong.
“Dangerous, eh?” he said smiling, “Does this have anything to do with the Kryptea arriving tomorrow?” she took a second, having completely forgotten that the Kryptea were coming. It was all to do with the Lotus being attacked, but it wasn't because of the attack that the Kryptea were being sent, it was because of who was attacked, Lord Sonny Matise, a friend of the Traes family. The Kryptea were being sent as a goodwill gesture by the Autarch to protect the heads of planets within the region. A way of saying that he would still offer protection even to those who were independent. Her father had told her not to worry about this, and it was purely a political move, nothing to do with the riots that were gathering in intensity, as well as frequency. “I guess it wasn't” said the old advisor gauging her reaction correctly.
“They used energy differently, right? Like they didn't, or dont” she added, knowing that even though the Jinn was called the last Sha-En, he wasn't actually the last of his people, their planet Uqbar had been destroyed by the Kryptea, but not all of the Sha-En were on that planet, they were scattered throughout the galaxy. What she did know from her teachings was that after the war, they were considered dangerous, and the Kryptea’s actions while deemed as a horrible crime, were somewhat justified in the threat that the Sha-En could pose. It was of course propaganda against them. This line of thought was adopted by most of the galaxy though, as it was known that the Sha-En, while prominent themselves, were part of the Masma, Bel, the old god-emperor’s empire. “Not like how we use our own signature to create a desired effect, they manipulated the very energy itself?”
“So, the fight yesterday eh?” he said with that knowing grin, “What did those eyes of yours see?”
“Nothing” she blurted out, dropping the pretence, “That’s the problem, I didn't see anything coming from him at all. He didn't have a single thread come through, he showed absolutely no energy manipulation whatsoever, so I can’t understand how he did it. That’s why I want to understand how the Sha-En did it, they changed the energy around them in different ways, right?”
“Yes…” he said thinking for a moment, “And you suspect that young Meno is like that?” she nodded sharply, hoping that he could offer some answer to that, “Tell me why?”
“When using energy, you need to shape it, you need to make sure that you are recycling the energy around it and forming it within your own signature, taking what is around you and using it to amplify the energy that is within your control” she recited, knowing that this was the textbook example, “But that leaves a trace, it is shown and can be felt, and I see it as threads coming out, but he had no threads, no traces. Even the Kryptea have some form of this” she said thinking back to the one time that she had met a Kryptea on a visit from the attache of the Autarch who was accompanied by one, their energy was there, but it was held close to the body, just within the skin, held tight and swirling within them.
“Could it be tech?” he asked with a smile, she knew that he loved it when she worked things out herself.
“We scanned them when they first came in, he only has tech comms, same as Paba and Angie did not have any tech on her at all” she said, having checked this before their conversation, “I don’t know what it was, but it could be something like a Sha-En ability right?” she thought for a moment and knew that Harold would allow her the time, “Or…Masma?”
“What are you really asking, my lady?” Olivia took a moment before answering, and then looked up at him seriously and asked,
“Should we not be nervous about someone like him?”