Reial ignored the bleak landscape as they passed through Recundian countryside. He couldn’t quite control…whatever this was, but he could at least look at something that didn’t remind him of someone’s pain. It was all he could do to keep himself together.

Charette remained silent as she followed him. She hadn’t made mention of the incident at the fair yesterday, nor had she pushed him for answers. He appreciated that she was giving him some personal space. Regardless of how physically close they were.

The plume of Scorch’s tail brushed against his pants leg as he walked just ahead of him. Reial glanced at the drog, seeing that there was a tiny blemish at where his heart would be, though it was located somewhere in the pit of his stomach. He averted his eyes from it immediately. No, no more.

A blessing, or a curse? Reial had no idea what to make of it, however, what he did know was that it was a cruel gift bestowed to him by some higher being.

“What’s happening to me?” He asked the Linithesis.

There was a disturbance in his mind, like the sun rising over the peaks of a mountain. Slow, steady, and inevitable. The Pneuma didn’t respond immediately, instead, he was hesitant. As if he was too afraid to answer.

“It is, you may say, a boon of sorts.” He said with uncertainty.

“A boon? Are you calling what I have a boon?”

Linithesis’s presence shrank. “In a manner of speaking. Call it what you want, it was only a matter of time before you received this ability.”

“I don’t want it!” Reial boomed in his mind. “Take it back.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t.”

“Why?”

Linithesis sighed. “What is mine, has always been ours. I can no further restrain you from accessing them than I can myself.”

“Then teach me how to avoid using them!”

“I’m afraid that’s not possible. A Pneuma’s ability is ingrained into their very being. The inner recesses of one’s conscience. It’s as much an automatic instinct as it is an evolutionary trait.”

Reial’s anger began to boil over. “Get to the point.”

“Controlling our abilities is as intrinsic as it is superficial. Mental barriers, restraint, they hold no logic or sway over the anomalies we are. Be it man, Pneuma, or Almagest. How we come to tame them varies. A postulated theory—and one I believe in—states that a rite of passage is required.”

“And does it work?”

“Perhaps.”

“What do you mean ‘perhaps?’ I need a real answer.”

“Then I’m afraid that’s as real as it’s ever going to get. Mind you that this was during Solis Vaylius’s. Even the brightest minds in the universe can’t account for everything.”

Reial groaned. “Vaes’s hand, just tell me what I need to do then.”

“Go on a journey of self-discovery. It’s as simple as that.”

Reial was at a loss for words. Linithesis’s answers sounded like nothing more than the ramblings of a philosophical major. Vague outlines with nothing but disconnected factoids to hold the thin threads. Hyvas, can’t you be any easier to understand?

“I heard that.”

Reial rolled his eyes. “Look, if you really are from Solvaylius’s time, then how come you don’t have an exercise or answer to combat these abilities?”

Linithesis grumbled. “Fine. Quit seeking what you desire.”

“That sounds incredibly vague.”

“Just do it.”

“Can’t you be more specific?” He asked.

Linithesis hummed. “I’m not sure how I can be. I gave you the best answer I have.”

“And it was just as helpful as the last thing you said”

“Answers lead to more questions. That’s the beauty of curiosity.”

Reial heaved a sigh. Great, his answer might as well have been a riddle for all he cared. “Stop looking for what you desire.” What did that even mean? He had everything he could ever want. The freedom of choice. That was good enough for him.

“You don’t have to be afraid to admit what you truly desire. Then you could shut it off.” Linithesis advised.

Reial lifted his gaze and looked at the rolling hills that dotted the landscape. No scars this time, just unblemished land. It was beautiful in a mundane sense, save for when fields of flowers covered the hilltops.

What he wanted more than his freedom of choice was to be by his lonesome, but even then that was within reach. No other desire came to mind.

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“It’s okay to be afraid. People often are when they seek out others, but you aren’t weak because of that.”

Weak? He knew how to talk to others. Why would he be terrified to approach strangers?

“Distracting yourself with lies isn’t going to help you.”

“I don’t know what you want then! So quit acting like you know what my problem is.”

Linithesis made a sound similar to when Scorch snapped his jaw closed. “I suppose a different approach is needed. Focus on what you desire most then.”

“Really?”

“Yes. With all of your heart.”

Reial frowned and focused on what he wanted most. To be alone and have no one dictate his choices in life. To be free of everything, and everyone he had disappointed. Color washed over the land once again, and the blemishes were hidden from his sight.

It was surprisingly easy, although it left him feeling hollow. Like finishing a lengthy assignment. Sure, he finished it, but that just meant there were others like it in store. Was there something more to it, something he was afraid of acknowledging? Reial shook his head. Maybe I’m reading too deep into this.

Linithesis grunted. “Well done.”

“Thanks,” Reial said. “Now how do I stop it from happening again?”

“Same as before. Focus on what you think you desire most.”

“Right.”

Feeling like there was nothing more to say, Reial went quiet. Sometimes silence was the best remedy for a situation. That, and he still didn’t know how to properly communicate with a Pneuma.

Most priests of the Almagestian church claimed that they deserved as much respect and reverence as the Veil Striders of old. He didn’t know why. Sure, tales surrounding them usually spoke of how wise and powerful they were, but they never did much. Usually lounging around some desolate location until a hero came to commune with them. I wonder if any of those stories are true.

Reial stopped atop a small bridge overlooking a slow-moving river. Charette and Scorch joined him, with the drog slipping his head past the slots of the wooden structure. The bridge bore a distinctive Aunesfernish finish, that being the sloping redwood rails. A piece of home amid these woodless lands.

“Look,” Charette called, pointing to several bright speckles of water.

Upon closer inspection with his Veil Sight, Reial realized that they weren’t fish, but rather bugs floating atop of the river. Each with two large eyes and horn-like protrusions on their heads. Four fin-like limbs hung out to the side and what appeared to be a tail was dipped into the water, acting as a steering device to avoid obstacles in their path.

Some were primarily yellow, others violet, a few green and blue, and some couldn’t decide what they wanted to be. Their bodies flickering like a faulty lightbulb. It was captivating.

“What do you think they’re called?” She asked.

“I don’t know, bright bugs?” Reial guessed.

Charette snorted. “A bit literal.”

He continued watching them as they floated east. So carefree, so at peace. Then again, they were insects. They probably didn’t have a care in the world. Although, he did have to admit that they were beautiful, if not cute.

The Almagest must have gifted them with the capacity to wield Essence, though he wasn’t quite sure how ‘aware’ an insect could be. Pneumas, drogs, and even dragons were one thing, but bugs? He’d sooner believe a nezerine was as intelligent as a person.

Scorch snapped at the passing bright bugs, sending them skittering across the water on their spiny flippers.

“Scorch!” Charette cried. “Bad drog! Don’t do that! You don’t know if they’re poisonous.”

Reial took the image of the bugs and skimmed the Sygnal, where he soon found his answer, and their name. Lure bugs. “They’re not,” He said.

“Really?”

Reial nodded. “Yeah, the color is nothing more than the Essence they continuously recycle in their body. I’d go as far as to say that they are edible seeing as how they’re a popular choice of bait here.”

“It’s still wrong. Something that cute shouldn’t be eaten.” Charette muttered.

“Fish have to eat something.”

As if on cue, a pair of slender fish broke through the water’s surface and skewered several lure bugs on horn-like protrusions. He and Charette watched in stunned silence as they splashed back into the river, swimming away swiftly from any that threatened to steal their catch.

“Like that,” Reial said.

Charette remained silent and turned her gaze back to the land, where the river perfectly divided the grasslands. Tall hills surrounded them like mountains of green. He’d never seen real mountains before in person, but he always imagined they looked something like this, just rockier.

The river carved a long winding valley through the countryside, where flowers and trees alike flourished. He even spotted a lone wooden shack down by the riverside, though it didn’t appear to be occupied. Reial stared down at his reflection in the water and blinked. So unsuspecting. For a moment, he could fool himself and believe that there was nothing wrong.

His gaze shifted to the reflections of the white fluffy clouds passing through the sky. Drifting without a care in the world. He envied them. What was it like to be free as a bird, to be free as a Glider? Cousins not through blood, but divine will.

The same divine will that shackled him to a life and future he had never wanted. He wasn’t allowed to roam freely like the Striders of old. That was long before his time.

Perhaps he was nothing more than a well-off brat nearing the end of his second decade, but could he truly say that he had lived his life? What good were material possessions and money when they didn’t bring him happiness? What good was the help when he had to fold and do his laundry, help around the house, and study just like any other child? What was the purpose of any of it?

Every thought bore more questions, and with each one he grew more and more frustrated. No answer was good enough. They all failed to sate him.

“Peace,” Linithesis whispered, his presence glowing like a dying ember.

Peace? How could there be peace in his mind? It tormented him daily, giving him more and more reasons why he had failed to be. As a person, and as a brother.

“There are more important matters at hand.”

Important how? He couldn’t focus on a topic for more than a few moments until the darkness threatened to pull him back. It always did, no matter how often he tried to ignore it.

“Quell your thoughts with a dose of reality. Know that what they say is a lie, and what you hear and see is the truth. You need not listen to your mind; you’ve done so for long enough. Listen to your heart. As They had done before. As He had done before.” Linithesis paused and made a clicking sound. “It’s okay to be afraid. That just means you have to be brave.”

“But I can’t pretend I’m not afraid,” Reial argued.

“Being brave isn’t about pretending. Being brave is knowing that you’re scared yet you still choose to confront said fear.”

“Words are easy to say.”

“If they’re so easy to say, then why haven’t you told your sister of your plans?”

Reial froze. How far could the Pneuma read into his thoughts and heart? Was he capable of delving into the pit that Reial could only ever glance at, or was he only aware of its surface? His distractions, the turmoil in his heart, his lies, were they clearly visible to this great being?

“Recunda’s nice, isn’t it?” Charette commented.

Reial broke free from his self-inflicted torment. A brief respite from the poison that thrived in his mind. One he would soon have to return to, whether he wanted to, or not. After all, it was all he knew.

“Yes, it is.” He muttered, staring down at his reflection.