Vath woke up in a panic, shooting upwards with a loud gasp. A hand landed on his shoulder, and he almost thrashed his way free out of sheer hysteria before he heard and felt what was going on.
“Disciple Vath, you are in a healing house in the sect. Please stay calm. You are safe here.” a calm voice said. At the same time, he could feel the hand releasing life essence into his body. He stopped moving, trying to control his breathing and racing heart. “Good. Good. Take your time. You’ve been through a lot; let your body come down as calmly and steadily as you can. It’ll be ok. You’re ok. Good.” the voice continued soothingly.
His eyes finally focused to see a junior healer by his side, and he managed to give him a small nod. It took nearly a full minute for his breathing and pulse to return to normal, after which the junior healer told him to try to relax while he fetched a senior healer to check in on him.
Minutes later one walked in alongside Elder Lita. A routine set of tests followed, and it took very little time to determine that Vath was mending well. He wasn’t fully healed by any means, but everything that was left was minor enough that it would heal in days on its own for someone of his stage. She did caution Lita to keep an eye on his mental state, but she left soon after. Lita sat down at the foot of his bed and asked the expected question, “How are you?”
Vath sighed. “Better than I should be, honestly. It took me a minute when I first woke up to realize I wasn’t in a fight anymore, but now? Now I’m a bit sore, wondering how the others are, and wondering if I should be more bothered. It’s funny. Last time I was a wreck, and thought there was something wrong with me for not being able to handle it. This time I’m thinking there might be something wrong with me because I can. I killed people. Shouldn’t that be difficult?” he replied.
Lita nodded and responded, “To begin with, the others are all fine. As for the other thing… It’s hard sometimes to feel the difference, but not everything is the same level of hard. You’re asking questions like that. You’re worried about being a good person. And while it might be different than before, if you really think about it, what you did wasn’t easy. Doesn’t feel easy. Things can be hard without tearing you apart, Vath.”
Vath thought for a moment, trying to sort through the chaos his mind and emotions were, but all he could do was agree. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. It’s less painful, but it still hurts some. I guess I just have to watch for when it doesn’t hurt at all, huh?” he asked.
Lita looked at him solemnly as she answered, “Yes. The best thing you can do is have people to help you watch for that. We’re all blind to ourselves in one way or another.”
“I already planned to talk to them again later. I imagine they have some things to say, themselves.” he told her.
“Good.” she said as she stood up, “I’ll leave you to rest, but I do have one last thing to add.”
“Hmm?” he mumbled inquisitively.
She looked him square in the face, expression serious as she said, “I saw what you did at the end as I rushed towards the clearing. More than that, I’ve already spoken to Wald and the others. They all needed healing, but none nearly as badly as you.” She drew herself up and pronounced, “You saved my son’s life, and you risked your own to do it. I will not forget that.”
She swept out of the room before Vath could think of a response.
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A day later, Vath was walking down the halls of the healing house towards a cafeteria. He’d slept, and he’d needed it, but he’d slept so much that he couldn’t stand to be in a bed anymore. The others had come by throughout the day, but they were released before he was. The healer had said he’d heal the rest of the way naturally, but they still wanted to keep an eye on him since he’d taken the most damage. He commiserated with them for a while, and then encouraged them to go home. They didn’t need to stay all night just for him. Kaser had almost pulled a bed in next to him to prove him wrong, but Vath had insisted. So they’d left, and he’d fallen back asleep for a while, but now he was wide awake again.
He decided to get up just to move around, and his stomach had rumbled as soon as he did, so here he was. He neared the cafeteria, but he stopped when he heard voices softly talking about himself and the other three, curious what they’d say. It was Lita and another he couldn’t place for a moment, and then it hit him, it was Yartan, the sect master himself.
“How are they all doing?” the latter asked.
The former responded, “They’re ok. You don’t bounce back from something like this immediately, but they’re handling it well so far, all things considered. And physically they’ll be fine. Have you thought about what I said?”
A sigh was followed with a tired voice, “It’s a bad idea, Lita.”
“I can handle myself, Yartan. And I’m more motivated than anyone to see this done.” she replied, steel in her tone.
“That’s the problem, Lita.” the sect master responded, “You’re too motivated. I’m not worried you’ll get hurt; I’m worried you’ll make a mistake in anger. This is bigger than just revenge on your students. Something this targeted and funded has deeper roots. This has to be handled properly. Investigated with protocol. Not extreme vengeance.”
There was a pause before Lita spoke again, “Yartan. They hurt my son twice in under a year. I understand your concerns, but I won’t let you keep me out of this. I recovered the location. It’s my loved ones under direct threat. I’ll promise to do everything by the book, but I’m going. With or without your blessing.”
Another sigh sounded before the sect master acquiesced, “Alright, Lita. I really shouldn’t do this, but alright. But you’d best save every scrap of records, and take everyone alive you can. And you’re not going alone. Also, it’s impolite to eavesdrop, young man.”
Vath started, and then he kicked himself. These two had domains likely big enough to encompass the building, maybe more; they’d probably known he was there since long before he entered earshot even if they weren’t actively looking. His ears reddened in embarrassment, and he walked in. “Sorry, Sect Master. My curiosity got the best of me.”
A wry smile met his abashed expression. “It’s forgiven, disciple. You wouldn’t believe the things I’ve overheard in places I shouldn’t have been; I really have no room to speak.” Yartan said with a soft chuckle. Lita just shook her head with a small smirk.
Vath steeled himself, but asked the question he had burning in him, “You found where those men came from?”
“I did.” was the simple answer.
“Then I want to come with you.” he declared, “I’m the one they’re hunting. The others are targets because of what I did. Mucklan deserved what he got at every point, but I’m the one he was angry with. I don’t know who these other guys are, but I need to go. Need to see for myself. Deal with it for myself. At least, what I can.”
It was silent while the two looked at him, considering. Finally, Lita spoke, “There will be planning for an operation this big. Resource and information gathering. It will take time. When we assault their stronghold, I will be the vanguard. Wald and other inner disciples, senior and junior, will accompany me. There will be senior outer disciples in the back to help sweep up. To guard prisoners, keep watch for new threats, and other such things. IF, and only if you reach the requirements for senior outer disciple, you may come. You will stay in the back and do as you’re told, but I will allow it, and extend the same requirements to the others if they wish to come as well.”
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Vath frowned, “How are we supposed to reach those? We reached the essence control required ages ago, but you’ve been holding us back from advancing to Spirit Reinforcement. And no one’s told us anything about how to form a domain yet. We know the basics of what they do, but that’s it. I’ll work as hard as I have to get there, but I don’t know where I’m going, and you have refused to explain so far.”
Lita nodded, “It’s tradition to not explain domains or how to advance to various stages until it’s time to attempt them to prevent shortcuts or rushing. We had a reason to hold you from going further, and we’ll explain when we’re all together, no need to do it twice. You’re more than motivated to do it the right way, but I’m telling you now, if we explain, and one of you rushes the process, and does it the wrong way because they suddenly can? Then they’re not coming. We will explain, you will listen, and you will do things the right way, or I’m going to be very angry. This will be your chance to prove your maturity. Understood?” He nodded, and she continued, “Good. Now, go get some food and let’s talk about something less serious. Your stomach is going to wake someone up otherwise.”
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Two days later, they sat in the courtyard once again. Vath had been sent home the day before, almost completely healthy by that point, but their guardians had insisted they take the day to relax and talk amongst themselves. It had been a good idea. They were all handling the second attack better than the first, but there was still a surprising amount they had to say that none of them had realized until they started talking. It had been a bit difficult, but quite helpful.
Today, they were waiting for an explanation about the next stage, and both Wald and Lita looked pensive.
Finally, she started, “I’m going to reiterate what I told Vath, first. Normally we would let you keep going as you are until we were satisfied, and not tell you what to do until you were ready, but these circumstances are far from normal. So we will give you a goal to shoot for. Unfiltered, unhidden. But you will not advance without our permission even after we tell you how, unless you want to lose your spot on the stronghold team, as well as earning my direct disapproval.”
She waited until they all acknowledged her statement before she went on, “The first part, advancing, is simple. Part of the reason I’m allowing this is because this is the one stage where the method to advance is pretty obvious, and one of you might simply guess it out of impatience. All you need to do is complete the inscriptions, but this time, on the inside of your core. The symbols for the essence attributes themselves are different, of course, but the numbering is the same. It is the exact same process with slightly different symbols and ratios. The main difference in advancing through Spirit Reinforcement compared to Second Tempering is that tempering requires you to reinforce your body again, and it adds to your essence attributes through resonance with your core. In reinforcement, you instead cultivate to directly infuse new essence into the inscriptions, both inner and outer. This will directly empower both attributes, but it will do more for your essence attributes. This is both because you will use a larger ratio, and will have a slight bonus because you are directly upgrading your core. Once you finish that for all ten layers, those ratios are set for all future stages. We will work on memorization and picking your ratios once you reach the point we will allow you to advance. Now, for the reason you should not do it yet.”
Wald picked up at that point, “All of you should know that Spirit Reinforcement is the stage in which a domain is formed. What you don’t know is that it is not required to be. It is not directly tied to the stage, it is something that is formed when the cultivator is ready. It is based on your connection to your affinity. Yours, individually, and specifically. What you think of it, how you connect to it, how you express it. That is what a domain is in a literal sense. The expression of your understanding of your affinity powered by your essence attributes. It can be formed in Spirit Reinforcement, or in any stage after. The reasons it is formed in reinforcement are twofold: That is the first stage where your attributes can support one, and because it grows with you. It grows every time your essence attributes do, and it gets a large bump in power at every advancement; but it starts small and weak for most. And it starts that way regardless of how powerful you are when you form it. Someone at the sect master’s stage could still form one, and it would even be a little stronger than yours when you form them, but it would have missed out on so much growth, so many multipliers to its power, that it would be nearly useless to them.”
“Then why would anyone wait? I’m guessing there’s a trick that makes it difficult?” Kaser cut in.
Wald nodded and continued, “Just so. As I said, it’s tied to your affinity. Essence attributes and stage advancements contribute massively to its growth as it goes, but its initial power is determined by three things. One, the attributes you already have. These make the smallest difference since you need a minimum amount of attainment in this area to even form a domain, and by Spirit Reinforcement very little differentiation has occurred, but your specific spread will help shape your domain’s strengths and weaknesses. For example, a potent one will have stronger effects and bypass other’s defenses, domains or otherwise, more easily. Resilience will do what you’d expect based on that, and flow will assist in manipulation of your domain. Shaping it, retracting it to avoid detection, and to a certain extent, controlling its effects. Two, your affinity itself. The higher that number, the more your attributes will be brought to bear. And three, your understanding and connection to your affinity. This is often simplified to the number of epiphanies you have had on it, but your general slow and methodical understanding applies just as well. Your domain expresses that affinity, so if you have a shallow understanding, it won’t do much. You might have a very strong domain propped up by attributes, advancements, and a decently high affinity, but if you don’t have a specific understanding and connection to the affinity, all you will mostly get is a large sphere you can sense things in, with very little else.”
Lita carried on from there, “This is why we held you back, and why we had you fighting Beasts, especially those from your affinities. We wanted to give you combat experience, yes, but also, to grow your affinity and your understanding of it. The stronger that is, the stronger the base form of your domain, the more foundation there is for future growth to build on top of. You were all near peak affinity even before recent events, and we wanted you to perfect it, and add some connection to a specific concept before we allowed you to advance. The absolute perfect way to do so is to form the domain as you advance to reinforcement. The best you can do is perfect affinity, with a strong idea of what your affinity is to you, and what you want it to do. And accomplishing both at the same time is hard even with the repetition of the advancement making that part easier on you. We told you that we didn’t explain this because shortcuts have been taken in the past that we’d like to avoid, and that’s true. But the secondary reason is that affinity and your connection to it has to happen naturally. The more you try to consciously force it, the more impossible it becomes. That is why I was reluctant to do this, but I worried if I didn’t, one or more of you would go look up the symbols needed somewhere and then just rush through advancement, not knowing anything about domains.”
The six sat in silence after that, four contemplating what they’d been told, and two waiting for them to finish. Finally, Vath asked, “So I guess there’s just one question, then. We’ve hit the attribute requirements, our essence control is above what is needed, and I at least have hit perfect affinity in the last battle, and I bet the others are close. So… how do we know if we have sufficient understanding to form a strong one?”
Wald nodded and replied, “Exactly the question we were waiting for. The others are straightforward, but this requirement doesn’t have a number or a visual tip off. The only one who can know is you. It’s nearly guaranteed that you don’t have as much understanding as you need if you don’t have full affinity, but that is not always true. Some have formed great domains with a little less than full, and others have long maxed it out while still forming somewhat hollow domains, but both are rare. Beyond that though, all you can do is ask yourself, do you feel a connection? Not to the affinity in general, but to a specific part or idea? And how strong is that connection? The easiest way to tell would be a manifestation, but those almost never happen.”
“A manifestation?” Emara questioned.
Lita answered her, “A manifestation is when your affinity and understanding combine to alter your techniques instinctually. It usually changes it visually, and it always adds new abilities your technique was not capable of before. It is quite rare for anyone below power and understanding equivalent to a sect elder to accomplish, but it isn’t extremely common even then.”
“You mean something like this?” Vath asked quietly as a swirl of blue covered his form, wolf head overlaying his own.
A shocked silence descended as five pairs of wide eyes stared at him.