Tom arrived to foundations class early. He saw four other students, some of whom he thought he recognized from his earlier classes.
The other students weren’t chatting much before classes which Tom chalked up to first day nerves.
He didn’t feel like chatting much either so he couldn’t really blame them.
The classroom if you could call it that was made up of multiple wooden benches sitting in the shade of a large oak tree.
More students trickled in until there were ten total sitting or standing near the tree. A minute before class was set to start, an older woman with dark black hair arrived.
“Hello students,” the woman declared, “My name is Dr. White and I’ll be helping build your foundations.”
“Before we begin, is there anyone who can’t sense their surroundings?”
None of the other students made a sound, but Tom assumed she meant the thing Arthur had done earlier to find the safehouses while they’d been traveling here.
Tom spoke up saying, “I don’t think I can.”
“Follow me then.”
Tom followed her roughly fifteen feet away to a large grooved metal ring that appeared to be built into the ground.
“Go ahead and sit in the middle of this ring please.”
Tom did as instructed crossing the metal ring to sit at the center with his legs crossed. The dirt mixed with pine needles was slightly grainy but soft.
He felt slightly embarrassed seeing the rest of the class watching, but Dr. White didn’t seem to mind.
He watched as Dr. White pulled a round white stone from her pocket, touched her finger to the surface of the stone, drew a circle, before placing the stone on the ring.
She looked back to Tom saying, “I’ve marked this stone with a special symbol that will project energy. Given time and focus, you will learn to feel this energy and locate the stone…”
She pulled a black strip of fabric out of her pocket and finished, “Even with a blind fold on.”
Tom took the blind fold from her and began tying the back so it would cover his eyes. Before it fully blocked his vision, he saw her push the stone which began slowly rolling around the metal circle. “Your goal is to track the energy with your finger. Good luck.”
In darkness now, Tom was at a complete loss for what he was supposed to be doing. He’d seen Arthur do this and even heard his description of a warm sensation, but that didn’t do much for his ability to do the same.
First, he tried sitting still and focusing on whatever it was she wanted him to focus on. When that didn’t work, he tried pointing in random directions hoping he would feel something when his finger landed on the stone.
He got tired of that and tried pointing in one direction, waiting for the stone to roll in front of where his finger was pointing. Eventually he resorted to listening for the sound of the stone rolling on the metal, but apparently she’d picked a very quiet rock because he didn’t hear anything.
By the time Tom started to get frustrated, he heard her from a few feet away say, “Focus more on what you’re doing and less on what the rock is doing. What are you looking for?”
Tom stewed on her words but inspiration didn’t come to him. He tried to focus on what he was doing. He was breathing. He was sitting. He was existing. None of those helping him point at the rock though.
Tom sat in silence scouring his brain for anything else he was doing but came up blank.
He sat for ten more minutes still not feeling anything.
After twenty minutes in silence, he started feeling frustration again but he pushed the feeling away.
After forty minutes, he stopped pushing the frustration away.
‘I don’t even know what I’m supposed to be doing right now. At least Vincent told us something about transforming and exercises we could do.’
Tom thought about removing the blindfold and asking for help, but he didn’t want her help. He wanted to figure this out on his own.
He knew that he was being stubborn, but he’d already sat here in the dark for essentially the class. It was even worse considering he could hear the rest of the class getting instruction from her on different techniques.
Meanwhile he was sitting here trying to point at a rock. How was he the only one who couldn’t sense this stuff?
He resolved himself to focusing solely on sensing the rock. Nothing would interrupt his focus.
Only him.
The rock.
Him.
Rock.
It was at that time, just beginning to deepen his focus, that Tom heard Dr. White announce class was over.
He stood, took off his blindfold and felt defeated seeing the small white rock that was nowhere near where he thought it would be.
Tom felt that this was going to get old fast.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Arthur arrived to foundations class just in time to see the previous class leave, along with a frustrated looking Tom walk away without a word.
He wasn’t sure why Tom looked so upset but he made a mental note to check in on him later.
Getting closer to the forested classroom, he saw a few students beginning to take seats on benches. A woman with black hair was standing off by the oak tree seemingly lost in thought.
As more students trickled in and each bench was filled, the woman turned and addressed the class.
“Greetings. My name is Dr. White and I’ll be helping build your foundations.”
“Before we begin, is there anyone who can’t sense their surroundings?”
Arthur raised his hand and asked, “I think I can sense things but I’m not really sure.”
The other students turned and looked at him but Dr. White seemed unconcerned.
“Follow me. There’s an easy way to check.”
Arthur followed her over to a metal ring in the ground where she indicated for him to sit in the center, which he did.
She proceeded to draw a circle with her finger on a small white stone sitting on a groove in the metal ring.
A blindfold appeared in her hand which she handed to Arthur. He put on the blindfold and heard her say “Your goal is to track the energy with your finger. Good luck.”
Arthur couldn’t see anything or sense anything in his immediate surroundings.
If anything, he felt something coming from the right where the rest of the class was likely watching him from. Arthur didn’t know what to make of that.
He focused harder but still only felt something coming from his right. He decided to point there regardless.
“You seem to be pointing past the metal ring,” Dr. White commented.
“I don’t really understand it, but I only feel something coming from over to the right where we just came from,” Arthur admitted.
“Well, that would make sense considering the stone I wanted you to point to is behind the oak tree. I didn’t do anything to the stone rolling around you.”
“Go ahead and remove your blindfold. You can certainly sense your surroundings. If you’re still feeling new to the skill, that’s fine.”
“It takes practice to fine tune and constantly feel exactly where the energy originates. Think of it like learning to look for four leaf clovers. Once you know what you’re looking for, it starts to pop out all over the place.”
Dr. White addressed the class saying, “Now, let’s get to something as a group. We’ll be taking it slow these first few weeks to make sure everyone gets acclimated.”
“We’ll begin with enforcement. This is one of the most basic skills for you to develop, but don’t underestimate its value. This skill could very well save your life.”
She pulled out a piece of black string the thickness of a shoestring and held it in her clenched fist displayed out as if she was going to give a thumbs up the students.
Watching closely, Arthur thought he felt a slight change of the energy in her hand, which resulted in the string beginning to defy gravity and float straight up.
The string kept rising until it reached a full height of what Arthur guessed was eight feet uncoiled.
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The string defied gravity for a full five second before dropping back down to the ground.
“Who can tell me what just happened?” Dr. White aksed the crowd.
A girl to Arthur’s left answered saying, “You infused the string with natural energy.”
“Correct but not very descriptive. Let me specify. Why did the string go up?”
None of the students seemed to have an answer.
Dr. White carried on in an exacerbated tone, “That’s the problem with training today. I’m sure many of you have used this exact type of rope before but no one has any idea how it really works. Just that it does.”
“Well let me be the first to tell you that this rope has a special core of fibers resembling muscle cells inside the human body. When I apply energy to the string, the fibers begin contracting with the base of the rope being the starting point for the reaction.”
“Any direction I tilt my hand would result in the rope straightening out in that direction. Be that horizontal, vertical, sideways or any other direction. The only limitation is that I can’t make the string bend in any way. It can only straighten out linearly.
“Now, everyone take a string.” Dr. White began handing out identical thin black strings to each student.
“It can take some getting used to, but the best place to start is sensing the energy in your hand and trying to push out into the string. Go ahead and try.”
Arthur was shocked how many students had the string rising within seconds.
He looked at the string grasped in his own right hand wondering if he’d manage the same.
Arthur closed his eyes and focused hard on his right hand, the feeling of the rope, and the pressure of his hand closing on the string.
He didn’t feel anything. Opening his eyes revealed the string hadn’t moved at all. It was still dangling from the side of his hand like a limp noodle.
Arthur didn’t know what he’d expected but something would have been a good place to start.
Regardless, Arthur closed his eyes again and kept focusing on his hand, trying to feel the ‘energy’ he supposedly had the ability to sense.
He heard Dr. White speak up, “Some of you are likely wondering why making a string defy gravity will be of use to you in the future. Well, let me be the first to inform you that this skill applies to any objects in your surroundings.”
“Your clothing and even skin can tougher than steel, your weapons can be unbreakable, and your movements can be amplified. This string simply serves as a way to experiment with projecting energy far from yourself.”
“Some substances like this string transmit better than others but continue experimenting and you’ll find most objects can be fortified to some extent.”
“Throughout the year, we’ll experiment with different ways to use enforcement. Many of you may develop your own styles and tricks which I encourage.”
Arthur once again wished for a notebook to write down the new information, but he figured there were bigger fish to fry at the moment.
Dr. White had stopped talking, so he closed his eyes again, returning his focus to the string.
He really wanted it to move.
Even an inch would be fine.
He’d probably take half an inch.
Just something.
Since he still couldn’t feel anything from his hand or the string, Arthur focused his breathing on a meditation style his mom had taught him.
He sat down in the dirt with his legs crossed and imagined the air traveling past his lips, down his throat, into his lungs before making the return trip out the same way.
In and out.
In and out.
Air coming in, resting, and being pushed out.
He wondered if his energy did the same?
Or was it flowing through him steadily? Did it have a unique rhythm?
He focused on his chest where his heart and lungs were currently keeping him alive.
Dr. White had said something about projecting energy from himself. That meant the energy had to be coming from somewhere inside him. He figured his chest was as good a place as any to have energy lying around.
Arthur slowly shifted his focus from his chest, up to his shoulder, down his arm, past his forearm, into his palm, and through the coarse string resting in his hand.
“Great work young man! Pay attention to what you’re feeling right now. Let the sensation flow through you,” Dr. White said from his side.
Arthur continued his approach, letting his focus travel slowly from his center out to the string. He kept repeating the same path, not paying attention to anything around him.
His focus traveled faster as he went. Slowly, he was speeding up and traveling past each part of his body smoothly.
Arthur opened his eyes on a whim, looking to his hand and saw something amazing.
The string was suspending gloriously in the air, defying the effects of gravity without fail.
A whole two inches.
That was more than he’d hoped for!
The string promptly fell and went back to being limp in his hand.
Arthur stared at the string, questioning if he had hallucinated it standing up just seconds before.
Looking around, he saw the other students focused on their own strings. He was shocked so many of them were managing three or even four feet of elevation.
Thankfully, he saw two other students closer to his level of success but even they had at least five inches.
Arthur closed his eyes again, focused on the path from his chest to the string and moved as fast as possible to the string moving one body part at a time.
He opened his eyes as soon as his focus reached the string, hoping to see it standing higher, but it was barely elevated one inch. Why hadn’t that worked?
Arthur closed his eyes again intending to continue practicing, but Dr. White spoke up saying, “Class is dismissed everyone. Keep those strings for practice and see you all tomorrow.”
Arthur couldn’t believe it had been a full fifty minutes. Regardless, he got up, dusted himself off, and began making for the sidewalk that would guide him to his next class.
While sad he couldn’t keep trying to mess with the string, Arthur couldn’t stop his excitement from making it rise. While transforming into an animal was objectively cooler, he’d been transforming for so long that the mystique had worn off slightly.
With this, he had a completely new skill that he barely knew the limits of. Sure he could only make the string rise a few inches now, but who knows what a few months of practice could do.
He thought back to when he first learned to play the guitar and knew that some dedicated effort could turn chaos into melody.
With a large grin plastered on his face and a fist grasping the string tucked into his pocket, Arthur wondered what a few months of practicing enforcement would become.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ez arrived to foundations class and took a seat on a wooden bench closest to the large oak tree shading the area.
He saw a woman near the tree who was likely the professor. The other students were still trickling in, but Ez was more focused on the woman. He wondered what this class would entail.
“My name is Dr. White and I’ll be helping build your foundations.”
“Before we begin, is there anyone who can’t sense their surroundings?”
No hands were raised from the rows of benches.
“Let’s begin with a skills lesson then. First is enforcement. Gather around.”
The student got up and crowded around her to watch as she pulled a black string from her pocket.
Ez watched the string rise and listened as she explained the value of the tool along with how it worked.
She handed out ten strings to the class and instructed them to let the string grow upward as they practiced.
“Now go ahead and try to make the string rise.”
Ez felt the energy flow out his hand and into the string. The string slowly rose higher before settling at two feet up from his hand.
He held if for five second before letting the string drop. He looked around and watched the other students practice.
The majority of the student’s appeared to be reaching the three to four foot mark. He even noticed one boy whose string had to be at least eight feet up, almost all the way straightened out.
Dr. White continued talking about the basic theory behind enforcement while moving amongst the students offering individual advice where she saw fit.
Ez continued raising the string and letting it fall. He experimented with letting it rise quickly and fall slowly in addition to stopping it at foot intervals.
Dr. White offered him some advice on changing how he controlled the descent of the string, but beyond that she remained silent whenever she stopped to watch him practice.
After fifty minutes, Dr. White dismissed the class and informed them to keep the strings for practice outside class.
With foundations class finished, Ez had completed his first day of class and began walking back to the dorm.
The other students were keeping to themselves, but Ez figured that was normal considering it was only the first day of class.
He focused on walking and kept an eye on the students moving around campus. Everyone should be done with classes now, but many of the students were still out and about.
He was surprised how many used the cafeteria, but Ez supposed many didn’t like cooking for themselves. It always took him a while, but he liked making his own food when possible. Usually tasted better that way at least.
Unlocking the door, Ez arrived home to an empty apartment. He assumed Arthur and Tom were still walking back from class.
Ez pulled the black string out of his pocket and pushed energy forcefully through his hand into the thin string. It shot out horizontally to its full ten-foot length and stayed suspended over the couches in the living room.
“Still got it,” Ez chuckled before letting the string drop and dragging it with him into his room.