Chapter Thirty-One

Trying to push his spirit out of his body was a lot easier explained than actually done. It was made harder by the fact that Lazarus began to have Melanie and Jackson spar while they did it. He claimed that true spirit mastery and, thus, true aura mastery came from being able to do it even when someone was trying to harm you.

“What? You think your enemies are just going to stand there and let you manifest your aura? Maybe have a long monologue with you while you do it. The real world doesn’t work like that, children. You need to be able to empower a weave or skill on the fly, and if you can manifest your aura in the midst of combat, you’ll have a massive advantage. Now, I hope for it. Hop, hop,” he gestured at them in an up-and-down motion as he spoke, a wide grin on his face. They groaned but squared off and went at each other. As Jackson deflected Melanie’s powerful blows, he tried to immerse himself in his spirit and push it outward. All he succeeded in doing was losing concentration on the fight, and Melanie’s fist slammed into his side, and pain rushed through his body. He groaned and shook his head.

“That looked like it hurt, lad! Come on now, you need to split your focus!”

Melanie, for her part, seemed to be doing better. Jackson could have sworn he saw a bright green flash of energy envelope her for a split second. She tumbled a second later, and he made her pay for it with the same strike she had given him. She grimaced, and her eyes flashed. Lazarus laughed.

“There you go, lass! Use that anger!”

Melanie got control of herself, but Jackson saw another flash of that bright green. Somehow, she was doing it. He gritted his teeth, took a breath, fended off a few of Melanie’s strikes that targeted some sensitive areas, and tried to calm his mind. A lecture that Lazarus had given earlier floated across his mind.

“In fighting, any kind of fighting really, but especially unarmed fighting, you need awareness, but you also need focus. The issue is that if you focus too much, you lose that awareness. It’s a bit of a paradox in a way, but it can be mastered. The critical part is a harmony within yourself. You must clear your mind. Here’s something that may help: imagine your domain, how it looks, what it means about you, everything. When you have it in mind, feed your emotions into it. All of your thoughts, all of those pesky feelings—feed them all to your Domain. They’re still there, apart from you, but not bothering you.”

Jackson tried that. He brought forth an image of his Domain to mind. That stream of blood in that abyssal nothingness represented destruction. He fed his thoughts into it. The way Melanie moved and his growing attraction and feelings toward her went to the Domain. He fed his growing concern over his hunger and how he tried to secretly ignore the fact that he had begun to notice the pulsing in Melanie’s neck and the way her blood seemed to sing to his senses.

He fed all his fears of the future to his Domain; all of it went in. Suddenly, his thoughts were empty of everything except an acute awareness. It was more than just being aware; it was a feeling. He could feel the connection this world had to Lazarus, and he suddenly knew that this was not only Lazarus’s world, but he was also this world. Somehow, Lazarus had brought them into his Domain, into the very manifestation of himself. Jackson could feel Melanie’s movements and the way she was able to call on her spirit. She was able to direct the flow of her spirit outward, as if directing a stream.

He knew what he was doing wrong in that moment. He had been trying to embrace his spirit, immerse himself in it, and then force it to do what he wanted. It was two different paths, and of course it fought him. Instead, he chose just one path. Instead of immersing himself in his spirit, he seized it with his will. He fought it, and though it felt very much like he was fighting himself, it worked. Like enchanting and working with mana, he showed the spirit what he wanted, and it responded, flowing outside of him in a bright, iridescent blue that blazed like fire.

At the same time, Melanie’s bright green aura flared and remained steady. Lazarus’s mouth fell open as his gaze flicked from Melanie to Jackson. He nodded at Melanie, and she nodded back.

Then they blurred towards one another with inhumane speed. They danced with her and him; their auras not just empowering them but blanketing the area around them. It sounded weird to put it that way, but it was true. Jackson could feel who Melanie was. Her determination, her empathy, her attraction to him, her uncertainty over her path, her loyalty to her friends, her vulnerability. It was all there.

An image of Melanie came to mind—an image of a black-furred female wolf standing on a high cliff in front of a pack of wolves. The wolf’s hazel eyes glittered in the moonlight that bathed the pack, and she lifted her head and howled, a howl of determination and a howl filled with purpose.

The pack is all. Through bad times and good times, through all the world through it, through grief and anger, through every argument, the pack was still all and would not be abandoned no matter what. The pack was strength, and it was the core of Melanie. Jackson could not say if she saw him in the same way, but at precisely that moment, they both staggered back, their auras fading from around them as they both seemingly lost control of their spirits.

Jackson shook his head, trying to clear it, and in the process, he lost the state of harmony he had been in. He could still hear that wolf’s howl in his head. Lazarus spoke up before they could ask anything, and his tone was filled with surprise and awe.

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“I have never seen anyone manifest their auras so quickly. I expected you to take a few more days, at least, to get even a partial manifestation. Not only that, but you achieved a Domain Gaze as well. Remarkable.”

Jackson raised his eyebrow at him and took several deep breaths. He felt absolutely wiped out.

“What is that? A Domain Gaze? What just happened there?”

Melanie was also breathing hard, hands on her knees, but she looked up at Lazarus, clearly wanting to hear the answer. Lazarus tapped his chin, arms crossed.

“How do you explain it? Some people are able to immerse themselves in another person's spirit. Not completely, mind you, just a peek in a way. A gaze. It allows you to see the other person on a much deeper level—the deepest, in fact. To some, it manifests as music, a poem, or in other really interesting ways. The bottom line is that you can tell what kind of person someone is. It’s disgustingly intimate, so many try not to do it, but it appears you two are particularly sensitive to it. Fascinating, in a way.”

Jackson rubbed his face and allowed himself to sit down. He thought about asking Melanie what she had seen, but decided against it. He didn’t want to know. Melanie asked,

“Is that going to happen every time we manifest our auras?”

Lazarus shook his head.

“Nope. It’s a one-and-done sort of thing. You will need better control, however. Otherwise, you’re going to end up gazing at anyone who manifests their aura. Not something you want to do in the middle of a battle.”

Jackson almost groaned but merely muttered to himself,

“Yet another thing to train.”

Lazarus beamed at him.

“Exactly! Lucky you two! However, we are going to take a break. It’s time to work on concepts. You can’t go much farther with aura manipulation until you get that down, and the sooner you have one, the better your progression will be moving forward. Melanie, lass, have you given this any thought?”

Melanie positioned herself so she was sitting cross-legged. She had caught her breath and answered Lazarus quickly.

“I was thinking of a forest concept. I have been considering how that may look.”

Lazarus let out a thoughtful grunt.

“A forest concept isn’t bad, but you really want something that will complement what you already have. See, you already possess a nature aspect; a forest concept would just be more of the same. My advice is to pick something that is related to that but is different enough to give you more options. Focused without being too focused, you get me, lass?”

Melanie pursed her lips but nodded and closed her eyes, clearly thinking. Lazarus looked at Jackson.

“Your turn,” he said.

Jackson hadn’t given this a lot of thought. They had been busy, after all, surviving. He racked his brain for a few seconds, then shrugged and shook his head.

“I really don’t know.”

Lazarus tutted.

“Disappointing, lad. Give it some thought. You need something that compliments you. You have two aspects: blood and destruction. What concept would tie those together? What fits with that?”

Melanie lifted her head and smiled.

“How about a werewolf?” She stated it excitedly.

Lazarus head tilted.

“Why that concept?”

Melanie pointed at Jackson.

“Jackson is a vampyre. If he used his weaves, he would probably trounce me in the speed and strength department, even with me empowering myself. In addition, he has regeneration. That’s something I don’t have, and if I did, it would complement my unarmed combat, especially in situations where I couldn’t use my bow. I also think I could use it to bond with wolf companions or summon forth wolves made of mana.”

Lazarus nodded slowly, rubbing his chin.

“Sound reasoning there, Lass. It sounds like you’re excited about the prospect as well, and ultimately, a concept is a personal thing. Alright, go for it. Make sure you have a vivid image of the concept in mind, and go slowly when you weave the image into your Domain! There is no rush, and messing this up would not be a good thing!”

Lazarus lifted his finger in warning and let it fall when Melanie acknowledged his words with a nod. Then the ancient spirit turned his attention back to Jackson. Jackson sighed and closed his eyes. Blood and destruction—what ties in with that?

He decided to break down the aspects, trying to understand what they were on a deeper level. He had done this earlier with blood, and he had come to understand it as having a deep connection with life. Obviously, this was true, as losing your blood meant losing your life. Yet, what about destruction, and how did that relate to blood? It was hard to see destruction as anything other than what it was. It was easy to destroy; it took barely any effort.

Creating things, though? That was hard. He sighed and cracked his knuckles.

“Fidgeting isn’t going to get you anywhere, fledgling.”

He glared at the spirit, who merely beamed at him. He shook his head and tried to dismiss him, as he thought. Perhaps he was thinking about this wrong. There were many purposes for blood, yet its main purpose was life. So, what was the purpose of the destruction? Often times, it was just simple violence, but could destruction serve some other purpose?

He nodded; it could, in a way. Depending on how it was used, Sometimes you had to destroy so you could rebuild. Sometimes, out of the ashes of destruction, life bloomed. Destruction could save if used to defend oneself and one’s people. He was suddenly reminded of Rob and his people. They had been destroyed, in a way, by losing people they cared about and by losing hope of getting out of the dungeon.

Yet they had built something despite that. Sure, it was a little flimsy and came with its own challenges, but the point was that through their destruction came determination. You needed to tear down the old and ruined in order to build something new. He latched onto that thought, and he connected it in his mind. Blood and destruction, from the ashes, life.

An image came to his mind. He smiled as he saw it clearly in his mind's eye. He had his concept.