TF Chapter 8 First Attempt
Time passes faster when you are awaiting something exciting or interesting, but slower when you dread something.
I dreaded what decision Celeste was going to arrive with from the higher ups, preventing me from settling down. Bora wanted us to try again but I decided against it as I was too unsettled to link our spirits.
I checked the time only to see that a few minutes had passed, yet to me, it felt like more of an hour!
I stood up and paced around the stone room, trying to put my mind off things, but it failed, so I came up with something else to do...
"Bora, why are you really here? To me, you seem like someone who doesn't really belong." I asked this question, which I would not have asked under normal circumstances.
"Mr. Nathaniel, everyone has their little secrets. Do you really want to probe mine?" She spat back, something dark in her tone, as if she would do something I might not like.
I coughed a little, deciding to keep pacing. I couldn't ask this same question to Danny boy as I knew that there was no way he would tell me anything. His secrets were something he had locked away and decided to hide away the key.
Footsteps sounded outside right at this time, signifying that someone had arrived. The short interval between the sound of each footstep made it appear that the person was moving fast, causing me to conclude that it was probably Celeste, because it had been the same when she had ran out of here earlier.
"...give me some time settle down first." She patted her chest and said, probably upon catching my scorching gaze upon her.
Even though she said that, my gaze didn't relent any one bit! My future here was hanging in the balance!
"It would be better if none of you ever spoke about what he narrated. Any you, it would be better for you to speak with me about any more visions you get before speaking with anyone else." Celeste's face contained a seriousness I didn't understand. Was my dream/vision really that important? I had my doubts that I was the only one who had managed to get a glimpse of Musana city's heyday.
"What did I really see? And how important is it?" I probed, expecting her to become tight lipped.
"What you saw was Musana city during a period when it was prosperous. The vision you got and the ones you might get in the future are important to us in knowing what happened for it to get to this state. For you, it will be easier to become a forger...no, if you don't become a forger with those visions, you will really be an idiot."
A forger! These visions can help me succeed in my goal! My eyes lit up at that!
'Hahahahahahahahaha...my specialness will allow me to achieve my dream!' I felt like laughing out loud and shouting at the top of my lungs, but that would be inappropriate, as Bora was already gazing at me enviously.
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For the third time, we remade our triangle, with the previous two times having failed to dampen our morale.
Though, this time, all gazes were on me, holding expectation, curiosity and a scorching feeling...with the scorching feeling particularly being felt on my back. Due to the fact that my spirit had awakened, I had become very sensitive to intent directed at me, so Celeste's burning gaze failed to escape my sense. I had the sneaking suspicion that my spirit was clashing with hers, hence the scorching feeling.
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I took a deep breath, deciding to ignore it since I too, was excited about the prospect of exploring the prosperous ancientness of Musana city, especially the academy. Those secrets were something I had to know!
Every human, deep within their bones have a certain thing for exploring the unknown. That something was stirring up excitement within my very own body to the point of almost vibrating.
We once again linked out spirits, the experience easier since we had done it before. This time, we had opted to distance ourselves a bit further from the molten metal in case I lost consciousness once again.
An invisible palm was once again conjured from the amalgam of our spirits but, the familiar tug on my spirit was nonexistent, causing all of us to spot puzzled expressions, especially me who was panicking inside whether this was a one time thing.
"Hey! Why didn't it work? What happened? Tell me!"
Celeste's yapping in my ears got on my nerves to the point that I wanted to really snap at her. My frustrations were already crushing enough yet she just had to buzz in my ears.
"I don't know." I answered the question, even as Bora's gaze became suspicious, while Danny boy didn't seem fazed.
"It failed. Could there be a period for such a connection to happen? A specific time?" Celeste paced around the stone room, her open shoes creating some sort of unique rhythm all on their own. Her mumblings caused me to consider things from other angles.
Maybe I should try it at the exact same time as before, waiting for the obligatory 24 hours to pass. Could it be that my spirit needed recovery or something I didn't know about?
It would be alarming if I over drained this damn new sense without even knowing anything!
"I will try it at the exact same time tomorrow as I did today." I spoke after seeing that Celeste's mumblings were going knowhere and she was starting to throw out some really crazy ideas, some of which were life threatening!
"Sure sure! How bad that I have to wait an entire 24 hours!" She pouted cutely in visible displeasure.
"Let's go back to our lesson, the one we really paid for!" Kim Bora decided to be the impatient one, a trait she was increasingly revealing more frequently.
"Yes! Okay, move a little closer to the molten metal." Celeste clapped her hands and said.
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I gazed into the molten river, my newly awakened spirit transmitting something like a shiver. It was most definitely hot, something my spirit was probably warning me about.
There is no human who wouldn't hesitate if they believed their life to be in danger. The same was for me, Kim Bora and Danny boy. We were all looking into the molten river as if it were our most deadly enemy.
Our amalgam of spirit was floating above the molten stream, the searing feeling being transmitted causing our hesitation.
"You should take the plunge! It won't be as bad as you think it will be. Also, I have to caution you! Never try to pick more than one atom as you will most definitely fail, hurting your spirits in the process."
I took that piece of advice seriously, after which, as if by prior agreement, we looked at each other with resolve.
Our spiritual hand took the plunge, the hotness and burning we were expecting not happening, much to our chagrin. Just a mild warmth, like soaking in a hot water bath.
After getting over that initial feeling, we started getting the sensation of many tiny things bombarding the spiritual hand, vibrating at such a high frequency that it was disintegrating.
In alarm, we chose a particle and tried to pick it up, only for its vibrational power to cause it to bore a hole right through the now thin spiritual hand.
-----
"That was hard!" Bora spoke, even with her face lacking sweat due to the nano suit, you could see the tiredness there, those sunken eyes which were probably mirroring mine and Danny boy's.
We had tried almost eight times to capture a particle, yet failing due to its vibrations.
"Celeste, do you have some piece of advice? A trick to it?" I asked with some high hopes.
"Nope. You will have to figure it out for yourselves. If I fed you that information, it wouldn't be fair to you in the long run." She spoke before making for the exit...
"...rest, I will come back in a few hours to resume this. Your spirit must recover." And then, we were three.
"I feel like someone is drilling into my head." Kim Bora spoke, cradling her head with her hands in such a way that I felt her pain.
I moved to a corner, my own brain pounding as if it was being smashed with a hammer. If this was how I was going to feel after every lesson, then it was going to suck!
"How did it feel to explore through the great age of Musana city?"
Danny boy's question caught me off guard. Did he really expect me to speak with such a headache? Wait a minute! Was he even nursing the same condition as us. I couldn't really tell by his expression, a frustrating thing!
"Nothing much really. What really awed me were the aliens." Eventually I spoke upon catching the telltale signs that even Bora was paying attention. Though, I really really wanted to simply close my eyes, lay down on the cold stone floor, and get some shut eye.