The next morning came too fast as far as Wyatt was concerned. Waking up the overwhelming amount of personal trauma everyone here seemed to have experienced added to his own was too much. He pushed all of those thoughts aside, and started to look around to see if anyone else was up. He almost let out a scream when he saw that Su was sitting up staring at him. He tried to recover from his almost scream by offering to show the sketches, but it didn’t come out quite right. “Sketches in my book look at them.” In his head he wasn’t sure what he intended to say, but it definitely wasn’t that. To his surprise Su giggled, and it had a very musical quality to it which further surprised him. He decided he didn’t need to say anything; they both knew what he meant. She moved over to him as he sat up. He was a little surprised she sat right next to him. In his mind he was still a stranger, but clearly that wasn’t the case to this little girl. She reached out her tiny hands and took the notebook.
Wyatt sat back, and just watched as she flipped through his sketches. Eventually she stopped, and seemed to be staring in puzzlement at whatever was on the page. When Wyatt had handed over the notebook, he hadn’t even thought about some of the sketches in there. As he wondered what had her puzzled, he almost immediately realized he had sketched an aerial type of view of the city complete with freeway and cars. That had to be the one. Which is why he was extremely surprised to see that was not the image she was looking at. The image that seemed to puzzle her was the drawing he had made of the hyena dissolving into light and flowing into him. He wasn't sure why that image was the one that she got held up on, but if she was looking for answers he didn’t have any.
Wyatt was saved from having to stumble through an attempted explanation when Argana walked over to see what had Su so puzzled. After looking at the image her eyes got wide with surprise rather than puzzlement. “Isn’t that interesting? I imagine if you drew this it was because you experienced it. How did you bond with the spirit of a slaza? Very peculiar. It’s also extremely dangerous. She looked at the image for another moment before stepping away and starting to take down the rune circle, she had laid out the previous night. Seeing it when he wasn’t exhausted Wyatt could make out a lot more detail; it appeared to be made from thin wooden slats that had what he figured were some types of runic markings on them. They were all attached via a cord of some kind that ran along the underside. He had no idea what exactly it did, but he knew it was some type of deterrent or possibly it was used to hide. That still didn’t answer his unasked question from before. How did they survive during the day? Considering all of the attacks he had experienced they were remarkably uninjured if they went through the same.
“That is just one of the many questions I have. My experience here has brought up a lot of questions. Between that, and books from my world that I guess you could call lore I have so many questions about what is and is not possible. I know you have already mentioned cultivation is a thing here which is not something we had in my old world. Is it possible to give me a basic rundown of how cultivation works?” The somewhat pained look on her face made him realize how insensitive asking her to explain cultivation to him was when it was killing her.
“I believe I will be able to answer your questions to your satisfaction, but a proper introduction to cultivation is not a question that can be answered quickly. As far as what the basic idea behind cultivation is, it is simply that there is energy of all types around us and through various means that energy can become a part of us. Depending on the amount of energy, the type of energy, and the means that was used to absorb it a lot of things that would otherwise be impossible become possible. Once you have absorbed the energy there are many ways to use the energy that range from uncontrolled discharges of energy to channeling it in specific ways to allow you to do something otherwise impossible like flying. Beyond that most of what you would need to know would be tailored towards your own affinity, cultivation method, and goals.”
“Wow, that was informative. It also mostly aligns with a lot of books I have read. Finding out my affinity and learning to cultivate will need to be a priority for me if I don’t want to get pushed around in this world I would imagine. Thank you for that explanation.” After a momentary pause Wyatt decided to continue. “What did you mean when you said I bonded with the spirit of a slaza? I am guessing that’s what this is?” He said pointing at a sketch of one of the hyenas.
After Wyatt finished Argana just looked at him as if he was a puzzle she was trying to figure out. After a moment she just motioned for his sketchbook. After she flipped through all of the sketches, she seemed to have figured something out. “I can’t be certain, but I have a theory of what has happened. Although there are many pieces that don’t quite make sense. This will require a bit of knowledge about the slaza before I give my theory. Slaza are an interesting species, and there have been instances when imbalances in Qi have led humans to change into various creatures. That is to say that there are slaza that are descendants of humans. There are also instances of slaza eventually gaining the ability to take a human form. You said that she howled, and that it made you feel sad. As I said before, pain recognizes pain. It is my belief that either as a slaza or as a human she experienced great loss, and she sensed that in you. I believe you freed her from her pain, and when she realized you were kindred spirits, she offered a bond of kinship. Knowingly or not, you accepted. That would also explain why you haven’t gone insane or started expressing more animalistic traits, and behavior. Without another form of Qi to balance it out, eating meat from animals with their own form of Qi can have severe consequences. She has been protecting you from the transformative nature of the Qi you are absorbing.”
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Argana had stopped talking at that point, rather abruptly as far as Wyatt was concerned. He waited assuming there would be more, but when she said nothing further, he felt compelled to start throwing out more questions. “So, what does that mean exactly? What is a kinship bond? Can I communicate with ...” mid-sentence he realized he had a question he had to ask that was to him more serious than anything else. Clearly sensing a shift in his attitude Argana focused in on him and waited for him to continue. With no need for further I invitation Wyatt blurted out “What is the purple moon?”
A rather intense look of fear overtook Argana’s face. Whatever reaction Wyatt had expected, pure terror was not it. She didn’t respond right away, seeming to need a minute to calm herself down. When she did it was in a whisper that conveyed the deadly serious nature of her following question. “Have you seen the orb of oblivion?”
“Well, I would assume so if you mean the large purple moon that rises somewhat randomly in the night sky? It seems to last for a few nights before disappearing again. It seems like given the size of it, and how dark the night is here that everyone would see the ‘orb of oblivion’ as you call it?” With every word he spoke the look of fear on Argana’s face seemed to deepen. Clearly the orb was sinister as he suspected.
She sat there looking at him for a moment, and then she sighed. “I will tell you what you clearly want to know, but I am worried your story may be much shorter than you expected. The orb of oblivion is seen by those who have a soul in such distress that they seek the release of oblivion. Not people who just want to die, but those who want to be erased. Those claimed by the orb have no afterlife, no reincarnation. They cease to exist. It is a very rare occurrence to see the orb and survive.”
Wyatt considered for a moment why he might have survived when clearly so many others did not. The answer was twofold as far he was concerned. He had stayed hidden when he felt the searching presence of the orb, and he also realized that he hadn’t seen it since he bonded with the slaza. He remembered her growling at the orb. The significance of that moment hadn’t been clear, but now he realized a few things. His bond with the slaza was from more than shared pain; it was from soul deep agony that just ending completely was better than continuing. Somehow the rage, the anger, the violence that had transpired between them had shown her his pain. He was extremely conflicted now as he knew he had made himself numb, but even with the deluge of emotions that hit him after he had never suspected that his soul wanted to quit forever. He also realized after the slaza had growled at the orb it hadn’t come back. That realization seemed to connect him to the spirit because he felt agreement. Then he felt some complex emotions. It took him a moment to sort out, but the general idea seemed to be that they were meant to meet. They would protect each other and help each other heal. He also had a sense of her name although it didn’t quite translate as it was more a feeling. She who runs joyously through the meadow. He wanted to condense that in case he was talking to her or talking about her to someone else. He tried variations, and joy became her new nickname.
Wyatt hadn’t realized that while trying to understand those emotions he had closed his eyes, and apparently stood stock still. When he came back to reality Argana was standing an inch away from him staring at him. It took him a moment to realize his face hurt, and connecting the dots he was fairly certain she had slapped him to try and snap him out of whatever was happening. “Why did you do that?”
“Communicating with a spirit when you have almost no Qi of your own is dangerous. Even if it takes little because of your bond it still takes something. I do not know a lot about spirits, but I do know that running your body out of Qi is at best extremely unpleasant, and at worst it is fatal.”
“It may be dangerous, but it was also necessary. We both saw the orb. Joy challenged the orb. She told it that while they both may have inadvertently sought oblivion that was no longer the case. Apparently, the orb agreed because it hasn’t been back.”
The surprised look on Argana’s face was too much, and Wyatt started laughing. Argana, realizing why he was laughing, started hitting him. “Ow, that hurts stop!” he managed between laughing, and trying unsuccessfully to dodge. His laughter continued for a minute, and once he got it under control Argana was giving him the stink eye.
“You do not even realize the implications of what you just said. A slaza managed to communicate with and be heard by the orb of oblivion. Just knowing that it listens to reason blows away the most common understanding of the orb. Then to add to that Joy as you called the spirit was able to sense the soul deep pain you both felt and determine that you could both heal. It is amazing.” The wild gesticulating Argana was doing as she spoke almost set Wyatt off in another laughing fit, but he managed to rein himself in.
We can talk a bit more in a few minutes. Come, let me show you a little something about this rune circle. There may come a time when the knowledge ends up saving your life. With that the conversation about oblivion, and spirits came to a close. ‘For now,’ Wyatt thought.