by Philip Read
My body is fast reaching its physical limits but is still remaining active maintained by my spirit aura’s honed body, healing spirit and enhance effects.
I start slowing down as the fight continues on and on for 10 minutes, then 20 minutes, then 30. At limit break I can’t maintain the fight for as long as I normally would have been able to I starts to realise even as the mental toll starts making itself felt beyond the just physical pain that my body is experiencing.
We fight and Zaraya speaks the entire time, projecting to my mind in Universal that my rage doesn’t have to be tamed, that I have to understand myself as deeply as I can, even the deep dark corners of my soul that I usually try to avoid, corners that usually keep my cold rage.
Even if I’m not listening its hard not to hear someone in your head, her insistent voice like a spirit oppression skill that insidiously digs into ones psyche planting doubts.
Why have I been fighting the rage for so long I ask myself, it feels great being in this state I’m now in, its liberating, focused and the power is twice anything I’ve ever experienced without the rage.
Even my skills are different like an entire part of my power that is usually locked away I have access to when I embrace this cold Rage.
Intellectually I know that I don’t want to not feel, I don’t want to hurt those I love but to be honest even in the cold Rage I do feel, its just the pesky moral compass that likes to get in the way that I seem to have done away with. And obviously my loved ones wouldn’t get in my way without expecting to die when they see me in the Rage so there would be no need to kill them.
Zaraya twists and surprises me by unleashing two phantom arms at me, I cut at one but the other knocks me spinning through the air. I twist in the air and land crouched on my feet but my knee collapses under me and Zaraya pins me down with her invisible arm that sometimes has hands and is sometimes shaped like a hammer or a stake.
“Well done Sachi, but I see you are at your limit. At least the limit of what your body can sustain before giving out.” She says out loud walking towards me and squatting a few inches from my face. “Can we have a conversation now?” She asks after having completely dominated me.
“Speak.” I say thoroughly defeated even in my best fighting form, even in my Rage that seems to be the panicle of power I can achieve, and it’s the second time the Rage hasn’t been enough to make a difference.
“You are in the berserker rage now but I want you to try to think clearly and rationally”, if only she knew I’ve never been more clear in my life, “I want you to catalogue all the skills you have access to now that you usually don’t when not in the berserker rage. I want you to teach yourself those skills so that you can always have access to them, do you understand?”
Even as she speaks I try to follow what she is saying and I try to do as she suggests but light and different colours are seeping into my vision again. Like the coming of the dawn to chase away the splendor of the night I’m losing my rage as it seeps away from me like water flowing down a drain, I try to reconcile my two personalities even as it does.
Who am I really, am I the person I am when in the Rage or am I the person I am now as I feel like I’m blinking awake. There is a deeper more intimate connection between my Rage self and my normal self now, I think I understand him better and with that understanding there is a lessening of fear.
I sigh as I fully come back to myself and notice Master Zaraya’s hand on my chest the entire time.
“Amazing.” She says with a smile as darkness claims me.
Chapter 61
Zaraya
Sachihiro passes out on the floor but watching the transition from berserker to normal with aware examination is beyond fascinating, almost everything about him is different when he is in the berserker state. I’ve been keeping close watch on all my disciplines progress these past 4 ten-days and they have all made steady progress in ether saturation as expected from Erika’s latest experiments.
The regiment is still mostly experimental but we can all say without a doubt that those that are carefully undergoing the regiment designed to help people with ether blockade or deprivation helps increase the rate of ether saturation in the unAwakened.
With this information we will be able to help everyone within the conclave Awaken at much earlier stages in their lives and much easier, though that will have it’s own impacts on our society and its dynamic.
I close my eyes as I perceive the skills Sachihiro has kept as he fully transitions from berserker to normal.
Sachihiro van Damage
Blessing of Tongues
Class: –
Specialty: Master Swordsman, Expert Axeman, Justus Spearman, Justus Unarmed combat.
Health: 14%
Mana: —
Stamina: 20%
Vitality: 10%
Endurance: 10%
Strength: 3%
Agility: 6%
Perception: 0%
Reaction: 0.2%
Resistance: Mental 46%, Aura 12%, Spirit 88%, Soul 100%, Physical 2%
Willpower:14%
Intelligence: 100%
Wisdom: 100%
Spirit: 8%
Soul: 67%
Ether: 72%
Abilities: Berserker Rage, Divided Soul, Limit Break
Skills: Spirit Sense - justus, Aura Sense - novice, Spirit Shielding - expert, Spirit Oppression - novice, Spirit Summoning - novice, Spirit Cleanse - justus, Spirit Aura - justus, Mental Shield - novice, Soul Presence - novice, Quiet Mind - novice, Body Awareness - novice.
Spirit Aura: hone, amplify/enhance, protect, healing.
I try to catalogue his skills while I still can and check on his progress these last few ten-days and yes it seems his ether saturation has increased by approximately 2%.
In the short time that he and the others have been following the regiment he has improved greatly and it is amazing to have this rate of ether saturation on any normal human.
If it continues at this rate Sachihiro a 28 or 29 year old young man with only a marginal amount of talent when it comes to ether and mana will become an Awakened within the next 3 years, and that’s the pessimistic opinion.
In Omega children Awaken at the ages of 13 or 14 like its a coming of age indicator or just something to symbolize the passage of time and gaining of adulthood. A world in which everyone and nearly everything is at least a tier 1 Awakened just in adolescents.
This new regiment goes a long way into cutting that gap in power and perspective between us and them. Making it easier for people to Awaken will increase the bar on what is considered powerful on Gaia and the perspective with which we see true power, which currently for most people seems unattainable.
Decreasing the time and expertise it takes to Awaken will also help promote earlier self Awakening so that more hidden or overlooked talents will have an opportunity to Awakening without having to rely on a mentor or master that then requires mana contracts that can stretch on for decades of essentially slave labour.
The number of more competent and specialised people will increase because of course Awakening comes with increased intelligence, beauty and health as a by product not just power. Erika and Eronica have already started implementing the regiment themselves and amongst their more favoured disciples to see what effect it may have on those long since to have Awakened that thought themselves stagnant in their growth.
Everything counts at certain levels where skill sometimes completely trumps power. What Gaia and specifically the Conclave has in abundance currently is skill, at least a great depth of skill at lower levels in comparison to the average person on Omega.
This is because it takes a great deal of effort and skill to move from tier 1 Awakened to tier 2 and then tier 3 and tier 4. Since everyone on Gaia stays in the same tier for decades or even centuries everyone here gets to be more deeply familiar with their class of Awakened compared to those on Omega who gain power quicker and easier.
We have greater depth of skill on ave
rage than the creatures on Omega do which is one of the primary reasons so my newly Ascendants survive their first few months there as opposed to dying immediately. And if you last the first several months you automatically achieve the next level of power depending on how close you were whilst still on Gaia, and you achieve what is known as Ascendant level of power, tier 5 power.
* *
Sachihiro
I wake up inside a warm viscous liquid with only my face in the open air. I blink my eyes to accommodate to the light and realise I’m in a room with a tree and the tree has a face that’s looking down at me disapprovingly, not even sure how I know it’s disapproving but I do. I try to move but a smooth whip like branch extends from the the creature and pushes down on me indicating I shouldn’t move.
Great, I’m being cared for by one of the Oakro and by the smell of it I’m in some sort of sap up to my ears. The oakro are a semi humanoid sapient tree people that are originally from the planet Terra. According to my lectures they are the strongest most resilient humanoid creatures to ever walk the face of Gaia.
They have multitudes of limbs in the form of branches but usually divide the lower portion into two legs but they have no feet seeming to glide with their root branches in and on top of the ground. Their arm limbs are in multitudes and though the Oakro are very slow when moving from one position to another but their branching limbs can move at speeds that any Awakened warrior could respect.
They don’t burn due to their sap neutralizing fire and their unsapient cousins the Oakro tree’s sap is apparently used on the continent of Terra as a coat on their buildings to ward against fire damage.
A contraption is placed in my mouth by the Oakro person before he/it/she starts pushing my head slowly into the sap fully. “Relax, and use the mouthpiece to breath.” Zaraya projects to my mind from somewhere and my struggling ceases.
My head goes down and I close my eyes being completely submerged in whatever this thick sap is and I test the mouthpiece pulling in a deep breath and pushing it back out.
“Meditate on your body, learn what there is to learn about it’s condition without seeing, without being told, I’ll be right out here most of the time.” She projects again and I do as advised, slowly sinking into a meditative mind before trying to focus on my body.
It isn’t usually easy to feel your body as a person especially without outside stimuli. We as people usually have to touch ourselves or be touched by others or the environment to feel our skin and other organs. This is mostly because the senses are mainly the domain of the subconscious mind and without there being anything wrong for the subconscious to report it runs everything without bothering the conscious mind.
Like all things human though, we can learn to actively quest our bodies for information on a conscious level and I do so. First things that clear is that my body is a wreck and since the Conclave doesn’t have access to powerful fae magic like absolute restore, it takes a while to fully treat such deep damage.
My muscles are shredded and inflamed all over my body, my bones have stress fractures at places, my tendons and ligaments and strained and even snapped at places. It’s almost as though I did everything during that fight without honing with aura to protect my body but I was.
So how much more would I have broken myself if I hadn’t learnt to use spirit aura to hone? Another point for visualization training which helped me combine my vast spirit abilities with my meager aura ability to create spirit aura and all it’s benefits.
After becoming fully aware of the state my body is in I sigh inwardly and try to think on my experience with my Rage this time, it seems to be slightly different each time though. Like each time I spend in the Rage my berserker rage personality matures a bit more because the first Rage I experienced after the forging was completely indifferent to all and that scared me.
But it seems my Rage state is gaining a personality as I experience it and spend more and more time in it. Maybe like Om I should try to induce the Rage outside of combat experiences, maybe by doing so it will learn to be less psychopathic. I will learn to be less psychopathic whilst in the Rage I should say.
I look deep within myself as I send my spirit sense questing and I feel and hear the him of my zanpakutō not far from me. “What are you doing Sachi?” Zaraya asks in my mind.
“What better opportunity to get to know my berserker self than when I am almost incapacitated in the care of one of the strongest creatures on the planet?” I project back as me and my monster connect, me and both my monsters connect.
I open my eyes as I sink into the Rage and immediately try to billow out a cry even as I push myself upright with a strength that seems impossible for my physical state but the Oakro is there to push me back down into the viscous liquid. I Rage and fight captor with everything I have further fracturing my arm bones as I try to summon my blade.
“I’m here, relax, no one will hurt you, I’m here, I’m watching over you.” I don’t immediate recognize the voice but it calms me down slightly as I assess the situation I’m in with vibration sense and soul presence. I can’t summon my blade because I don’t have enough spirit energy remaining for that action but I have enough to keep my mind protected from outside influence.
I’m in a large open space with multiple other stone tubs similar to the one I’m in all around. The Oakro is a very big and powerful creature standing at well above what I can determine being submerged as I am but I can see/feel Zaraya and another person… Shea, yes that is Shea that spoke a person of some consequence to me I gather.
The mouthpiece is placed back in my mouth and I start breathing again as I contemplate my situation. I have never not had a blade in hand while in the Rage and the distinction seems to me important, monumental.
I calm myself down and as I do I realize Shea is still talking to me, I start paying attention as she talks of her life in the Underworld.
Chapter 62
Zaraya
I sit upright with my feet in the water twirling them around as the little cleaner fish nibble at them lightly, Erica is by my side listening to herself as we share a quiet smoke between us to pass the time and think about shit.
Some of the people that have been working against us have been identified but its only the tip of the iceburg because the real threats are the spirits involved, and not the stupid motherfuckers that have made deals with them to help destroy our world as we know it.
This Circle is only the 4th group that has been identified to have a similar mission from the spirits from beyond and the cults are just gaining more and more popularity all over Gaia as people give up control of their miserable lives to their gods for favourbanf because they don’t know whatnto do with them.
There are even kingdoms and forms of governance popping up all over the world that involve the cultists priests in ruling or positions of power as much as they involve the state or aristocracy. Forms of governance known as theocracies or similar are becoming popular and some technocratic or meritocratic societies are including these cultists and worshipers because they are given hidden and acult knowledge by the spirits they worship making them seem wise and able in the eyes of the desperate or fearful.
Already the Posh Technocracy is full of cultists from different beliefs as the ruling representatives compete as to who knows more acult secrets or has more power from their gods. It always comes down to power and the knowledge these spirits bring from their realm has a lot of potential to be disruptive or helpful, changing the balance of power.
Erica and I are just back from an Conclave Council meeting at the Sistysis Compound that involved more than 200 people actively involved in the discussion and planing. I never even knew so many people were already in trusted leadership roles. I had thought the Conclave was only recently put together and only involved primarily the 17 friends at the top positions. And it mostly does but I had failed to account for the other trusted friends they must have made throughout their lives, the disciples they must have taken, the lovers, confida
nts and children they must have had.
So yea the senior ranks of the Conclave are already filled with competent powerful people that are all working towards the same goal and I’m glad I got to meet many of them today.
“What’re you thinking about?” Erika asks as she moves to put out her pipe but I signal her and take it wondering when the last time I was mentally compromised was.
“Nothing really, was just surprised at how well structured and already established the hierarchy and ruling structure is you’ve established here is all.” I say as I pull in a puff of the dream-weed and hold it in my lungs so it permeates deep and has time to diffuse.
Erika shrugs and looks out across the water playing with the little fish nibbling at her feet. She looks like a little girl with her beautiful flowery dress rolled up and with a bluem flower vine braided into her hair.
I blow out the white cloud of smoke slowly almost immediately starting to feel the effect even as my body tries to cleanse it from my system.
I look back across the little pond and think back on the decisions that were taken at the Enclave Council only a few hours ago. This circle is only considered a greater threat than any of the other such groups and kingdoms doing the bidding of spirits because it seems to have a knack for infiltration and it’s focus seems to be binding and unbinding seals.
We aren’t exactly sure what they are trying to unbind since our source apparently didn’t know but there are so many creatures, phenomenon and forces of nature that have been bound and sealed away since before humans walks on Gaia that it’s terrifying to imagine what they may be trying to unleash at the bidding of gods only knows what spirit.
And a double circle of 50 people with 25 in the inner circle and 25 in the outer is a high working that could change the face of a continent if enough power is gathered beforehand according to the experts at sorcery and such. Not something we can ignore as a group that takes upon itself the role of safeguarding Gaia from the coming threat.
