He saw a small bell hanging on the ceiling. A string ran up from the bell and then disappeared upward. Andy wondered if someone was at the door.
He grabbed the training manual before turning the lever that unlocked the way up. He climbed back into the house, summoned the glow, and was ready to call the blade as he moved towards the front door.
Who could it be? Those kids brought me here, but I bet everyone in their parcel knows about me now. Maybe word got out and the guards are onto me, or maybe it’s Ziesqe, wondering about his plan.
He looked through the window and saw someone with long crimson hair walking away. Andy opened the door. A breakfast tray sat on the floor. Andy was touched and ashamed of his suspicion and then his rudeness in not answering the door. Not wanting to waste the food, and grateful that he wouldn’t have to leave right away, Andy grabbed the tray, which smelled better by the second. He recognized toast and red butter. Though the tall pot of steaming soup featured one too many mussel shells and tentacles for his taste.
Andy took the tray to the sitting room. He idly noticed that it seemed a little different, cleaner and more organized than it had before. He sat down at a table by the window. Someone had been here and had taken the sheets off the furniture.
Andy ignored the changes and ate through the apple, toast, and flaky pastry before realizing that he was still hungry. Sighing, he grabbed the spoon and closed his eyes before taking a spoonful of the soup.
Seafood.
Andy cringed through a few bites and found himself surprised at the mild flavor. The texture was still a little sickly though. He averted his eyes as he ate and finished sooner than he expected. He had a taste of the tea and found it was more like a sweet coffee. Despite his reservations, breakfast was delicious. Putting his cup down, he resolved to thank whoever had left it.
Andy got to his feet and was confused about what to do with the tray. I don’t want to leave it outside. Oh well, they can come in and get it. I’ll thank them then.
Andy knew he should be nervous or cautious, but couldn’t be bothered with either. His stomach full, he went to the back yard. It was enormous and overgrown. Whoever originally designed the yard aimed for a natural effect, with curving pathways, and a small pond near a bench, but the silver-barked trees and the red ferns had grown out of control and overwhelmed the yard.
Andy sat on the bench and pulled out the training manual.
Novice bladesmen will find their untrained blades loose of form and occasionally fluttering or going out. This is due to a lack of honing. Twist the wrist as in Ill:2. Execute the following exercise to the point of nerve fatigue, and no further. Continue in this way until you find that position where your blade is most solid and your grip becomes comfortable. That is your hone. Never fight a Counter equipped foe without finding your hone. The results are disastrous.
You might find the blade changing shape, color, length, or even going slack, if so, consider charging your Argument and returning to the illustrations. It is also likely that you are making extraneous movements as a result of poor dexterity. A slight misplacement of tension in the fingers, upper hand, or wrist, can all mean changes for your blade. These changes will be instrumental in further technique, but for now, you must master this first step.
It was all confusing, and he wished a teacher were on hand to explain. He paused and looked up from the manual.
Did I just wish for a teacher?
Andy shook his head, got to his feet, and tried the exercise.
I’ve made the blade change consistency before, but I don’t think I’ve ever found the hone.
Andy tensed his fingers and moved them as it showed in the illustrations. The blade changed colors. It was now a striped, silver-copper color. Andy swung the blade a few times, feeling uncertain.
The blade popped and slackened into the pond. Steam shot up from the water, and he loosened his grip.
This will take a while.
Andy practiced until he felt himself getting hungry again. He loosened his grip and looked around the yard. Several trees were now missing limbs, which littered the grass. Andy bent to pick up the branches he had accidentally sheared.
He piled them up near the back door and then heard a slight clicking as he dropped the last load of branches.
Andy’s hand glowed, his tension almost autonomic. He stepped inside and saw his breakfast tray had been replaced. Andy rushed to the front door and stepped out into the street. He spotted red hair swaying in the distance. A few teal skinned children were playing down the street. They paused and looked up at him, one waved, but another pulled her hand down.
Andy sighed and waved back before going back inside to inspect the restocked tray. He tore through a pile of sandwiches and a tall pitcher of ice water.
Andy leaned back in his chair and looked out the window. Blossoming bushes swayed gently under a light wind. Their small leaves flickered and, for a moment, Andy felt like he was at home on a summer day. He looked down at his clothes.
I wish I had some jeans.
Andy took a deep breath and felt the urge to get back outside.
If I was at home, Dad would be yelling at me about homework, or Mom would be on me about taking out the trash and doing the dishes. I know I have to go outside and keep practicing, but it would be nice to have someone yell at me about it.
Andy laughed at himself and returned to the yard. He planted a few of the sliced branches into the ground to stand in as training dummies.
His blade was changing. After the hours of practice, it had continued adjusting color. It was now steel colored at the core and licked with a coppery flame. He ran across the yard, turned on a dime and sliced a path through the army of standing branches.
When he had reached the pond on the far side of the yard, he realized that his blade hadn’t failed during the exercise.
I almost forgot about the grip altogether.
Andy smiled, confident that he had mastered the first step, and returned to the manual on the bench.
Form II: a shield. It is requisite that the bladesman complete the Silversight preamble, before attempting to learn this form.” Andy flipped through the book, until he found the Silversight section. “The blade might be the more alluring of the two primary schools of Argumentation, but even the most basic blade forms depend on a solid understanding of the Fyr, or communing with God. Which is the traditional way of referring to containing the Argument orb within oneself.
A novice bladesman might find the blade a dependable weapon, as the Argument rests easily in his grasp. Further training will require the student to become comfortable with the Silversight, and then with a semi-permanent state of Fyr, or the act of containing the Argument form within oneself indefinitely, before they learn how to shift the Argument from limb to limb, within themselves.
Andy flipped the page, convinced he already knew how to use the Silversight. He skipped forward to the Fyr.
Hold out the off-hand and tense the muscles leading from your face to your off-hand. This is an ineffective method for moving the Argument form through your body, but it will aid your training. Maintain Silversight, and follow the preceding instructions.
Andy assumed the Silversight and felt overwhelmed by the rush of noise coming from all around. It was far louder outside than indoors.
I’ve never used the Silversight outside like this. Maybe I shouldn’t have skipped the last chapter.
Andy felt his head spinning and he stumbled inside to continue practicing. He focused and held out his arm.
I think I’ve accidentally done this once before.
He tensed his muscles and felt the sight leave his eyes. A pulsing warmth flowed down his arm and rested heavily in his off hand, which glowed.
Yes, I did this once before. But was it actually Caspian?
He looked back to the book in his other hand.
Practice moving the Argument essence from limb to Sight to limb, he read.
After a few minutes of practice Andy had to t
ake a seat; he was dizzy. He flipped back to the shield section and studied the illustrations; he considered them simple enough.
A few hours later, Andy was swinging at branches while bearing a blade and a shield, but only for a few seconds at a time.
I can maintain the forms indefinitely if I just stand with them, but once I move and swing it’s so much harder to keep the nerves flexed in the right way.
Andy set up a few more branches and tried to fight his way through them. His weapon and shield popped and sputtered out after a few swings. Andy reset and tried again. He continued training until he felt like it was going dark outside.
Looking up at the ceiling, Andy saw a tiny cluster of steel flashing between the other, more dominant colors.
Not sure what to make of that, he felt a rush of soreness from his complaining limbs. Yawning, he went inside, and was not surprised to find a tray of dinner waiting for him.
I wonder what they think about me. Why don’t any of them come and ask what I’m doing? Speaking of that, what am I doing?
Andy felt the desperate need of a plan. What were his priorities, and why did this Seer manual feel so critical? He tried to think back to Ziesqe and his plan for the city, but he shivered with shame and anger every time he tried to consider Ziesqe. He found it easier to keep flipping through the first few chapters of the manual. He felt like Pythia in the Juncture, and considered staying in the mansion for a few years, hiding and training. If they kept on feeding him, he’d never have a reason to leave.
Andy looked at his plate and realized that he had eaten half of his dinner: a pair of black lobsters. Afterwards, he crawled down to the hideout and fell asleep under the watchful presence of the Infiniteye.
He opened his eyes at the sound of the tinkling bell. He had slept in.
Andy got to his feet, failed to dress, and rushed to the door, hoping to thank the red-haired person who had been bringing him food. He stepped out into the street in time to see the hair, tied back today, swaying over the shoulder of a feminine figure.
I still haven’t even seen her face. She gets in and out of here so quickly, and I’m always distracted.
Even then, Andy had the urge to devour his breakfast and return to destroying the yard. After eating, he did just that, but shortly found himself stuck at the same problem. His blade and shield kept flickering out.
Andy returned to the manual and started at the beginning. He read the first few pages, which featured a basic training section:
Argument cessation is often caused by poor dexterity or body control. Run through these stretches, these strength-building exercises, and the focusing methods detailed on the following page as a requisite precursor to a daily routine.
Andy did stretches and pushups, as well as sprints in the yard. After the precursor exercises, he found his sword and shield combo would last longer. The training made him realize where tension in his body cropped up, and how it was disrupting the form.
I’ve been getting ahead of myself, Andy thought. I need better control of my nerves and muscles before I continue learning about the blade, but I can learn more about the Silversight.
Andy read and found he needed basic mechanical components to practice more advanced forms of the Silversight. He recalled seeing components that matched the description down in the hideout.
Andy found a few clocks and small steam engines, but also noticed a collection of strange implements that almost looked like wrist and arm armor in one of the footlockers. Andy knew what they were. He had just read about pressure clothing, which, when worn over various parts of the body, helped with keeping the correct nerves engaged. They were worn to counteract weak form. Andy put on a pair of gloves and sleeves, found dials on the wrists, and set them to sword and shield before trying the form.
Hmm, I can feel the pressure, but is it helping?
Andy took a few swings, careful not to destroy anything. He was surprised when the blade and shield refused to flicker out. He dashed across the room and turned on a dime, swinging as he did so. It made a considerable difference.
These are great, but the manual specifically says not to use them, for fear of dependency, and that they aren’t easy to manipulate in a high-stress situation. It’s impossible to change them from blade and shield to any other form in a fight.
Andy took the sleeves off and put them on his bed, before continuing to look for a mechanism. He found a box, described in the manual as a puzzle cube, bearing three switches on one side and a crank on the other. Andy took the puzzle cube, a watch, a small engine, and several tools, upstairs with which to practice.
With the Silversight, the cube was almost too simple to master. The only issue came from the trick of its construction, which featured three inner walls that, according to the manual, were specifically made to challenge Seers using the Sight.
The Silversight might seem a foolish tinkerer’s tool to the uninitiated, and it is the uninitiated who fail as a result of their neglect. Do not be like so many others who only learn the most basic forms and then return to the blade. Silversight training may begin with the tedious dismantling of toys, but even a moderate amount of effort will allow a Seer to accurately see through simple structures and walls, into spaces beyond. Not to mention, Seer architecture remains secure through the use of this technique. Do not fail to be its master, or you might find yourself starving on the wrong side of a Juncture enigma.
Andy sighed. I already know the truth of that, he thought. Thankfully Martin talked me through my first use of the Sight.
Experiencing the Silversight can be a frightening and daunting task for a novice. The masters, who pour their knowledge into this manual freely, admit that they are unsure about the schematized form in which reality appears to the Sight. What are these lines and the words that compose the world? Why do voices seem to read off what you see, even when you don’t want them to? The masters concur that these words and frames are representative of some truth inherent to their physical form. There is knowledge packed away in the framework of everything, but it might take a power akin only to God’s to comprehend the fullness of that complexity. For the beginner, it is only essential to know that what you see is real. You will spend most of your effort with the Sight trying to ignore these voices, and focusing on simple connections. Resist the urge to chase macro connections or to understand the essence of another living being, say, a tree, or another person. Even skilled Seers have lost themselves in these attempts. Let it be reiterated: You can lose your mind if you give yourself over to the Silversight. The simplest way to avoid this is to not stay connected to the Sight for more than an hour at a time. If you find yourself far too focused on one single strand or wire, pull back immediately.
Andy pondered over the previous paragraph. That’s scary. I remember feeling comfortable with the Sight once, back with Pythia. I didn’t realize this could happen. Luckily, she was there to pester me. He continued reading:
There are wonders that only the most heroic Seers of history have discovered through their use of the Silversight. It is said that the power to understand true motivation, and even to be blessed with the ability to speak, like God, rests at the end of this dangerous and misunderstood path.
Andy spent the rest of the day alternating between the tedious act of disassembling delicate machines, exercising, and practicing his blade forms. He had hoped to see the girl who brought him his meals, but would only ever find the tray on the floor outside, or on the table.
He spent the day this way, and the next, and then he lost count.
I’ve been here for five—no, six days. No, wait, I had lobsters again yesterday, that’s a week now.
Andy felt he had mastered blade and shield, and he had done it without the pressure sleeves. Though his moment of triumph foundered when he slipped in a rut he had worn in the yard. He smacked onto the ground and heard a truncated laugh.
Andy looked up and saw a teal face with golden eyes staring at him through a window. His cheeks went instantly re
d. Andy and the girl froze, staring at each other. She was striking. Her lips parted, half laughing and half afraid. He felt the twisting within worsen, the longer he stared.
“Hey!” Andy finally yelled, slipping as he tried to stand.
Once he had gotten inside, she was gone, though lunch remained. Andy ate, and tried to return to training, but he felt suddenly nervous.
I bet she’s watching me right now.
Andy shifted the Argument through his arms and into his eyes. He took apart the walls and looked as far as he could into the spaces beyond. In the process, he was surprised to see several mechanical components sewn throughout the walls of the house.
Andy tried to figure out what they were, or what they were connected to, but the whole thing was too complex for him to follow. Resolving to return to the problem with more experience, Andy continued his uneasy training, but felt himself formulating a plan for the next morning.
I’ve got the alarm clock working, and I have a good sense of when she comes with food; it’s always about the same time. I’ll just wake up early and catch her.
Pleased with his ingenuity, Andy spent the rest of the day training indoors, with the shades drawn, by the light of the spare Argument.
Andy moved ahead in the blade section, and quickly mastered the third form: blade and parrying dagger, finding it barely different from blade and shield.
Any weapon can be reproduced with the Argument, but for the weapon to sustain itself outside of your touch, or away from your body, is impossible to almost every Seer. Do not attempt to create a ranged weapon, of any sort, at this stage of training. Practice with recognizable forms, and you’ll find that most melee weapons are possible. Good results have been had with a long blade, and spiked knuckles for the off-hand.
Form IV: Armor. The leap from masterfully reproducing weapons, to shielding one’s whole body in the Argument is wide indeed. Practice your basic forms and exercises until absolute mastery, before attempting form IV.
The Immortal of Degoskirke Page 10
