“I really don’t know if training the spirit is going to make that much of a difference,” Elric muttered as he leaned back, stretching through a lazy yawn. “Sure, maybe I can endure a bit longer, but it doesn’t feel any different from the first time. Still something just… out of reach.”
Above me, Thea sighed, her voice tinged with mild frustration. “Yeah… I feel a little closer, but it’s not the kind of progress I was hoping for,” she admitted.
“What about your Unveiled Perception?” I asked, curious if either of them had picked up on anything I hadn’t.
Elric gave a half-hearted shrug. “The foreign energies are starting to separate a little with the training. Less than the complete blur.”
The four of us fell into a heavy silence until Griffith spoke.
He ran thick fingers through his wild beard, and I couldn’t help but feel a sharp sting of jealousy at how effortlessly it had grown. Something I wasn't able to.
“Understanding,” he muttered, almost under his breath. All eyes turned toward him., and sensing our attention, the large man continued, voice low.
“I’ve trained for years. And Peter…” he paused, glancing at me, “well, despite appearances, it’s not just that he’s talented—he knows things beyond what we do.”
A reluctant smile pulled at my lips.
“It’s likely just because common sense works differently where he comes from,” he added.
The compliment had me feeling good, but unfortunately he kept going.
“Educated or not in social practices,” he emphasized that 'or not' part with a pointed look, “you understand fire. Not just physically. As a concept, and as something spiritual.”
Thea’s hand slipped from mine as she jumped to her feet with sudden inspiration. “Then there’s an easy solution!”
Elric caught on too, grinning like he’d just seen the path forward crack open. And yeah, I could already see exactly where this was heading.
Explaining fire as a science? I could manage that, but spiritually? I’d sound like a bad philosopher, or worse, the false dragon.
Griffith nodded in agreement with Thea. “A spiritual guide,” he said with mock solemnity. Then, slipping into his newer, half-teasing tone, he turned toward me. “Our leader. Sect Master. You’re going to tell us everything you know. The physical and spiritual.”
I groaned and sat up, giving Thea’s legs a little space. “I’ve got, what? A day before Serith shows up?”
I glanced toward the horizon. Looking up at the darkening sky, I imagined it was much less. Not really sure what time she was coming anyway.
Griffith nodded. “Of course. That comes first. Train your all for it. But after?” His voice pitched upward with anticipation, just as excited as the others.
Truthfully, the water flow circling around my arm had almost become second nature. Not quite automatic yet, but close. Thanks to my Precursor Sense, I could maintain either fire or water without much thought. But both at the same time? Impossible with the little time I had.
For the upcoming match, I’d be sticking with what I knew best: explosion-infused ice crystals.
I shook my head at the three of them. “Let’s just start now.”
I adjusted my posture, sitting up straighter so they could all see me clearly. Since I figured it was easier, I started with the science. “So… Well, fire is energy.”
Griffith immediately furrowed his brow. “Yes. It all is. We know that.”
“No, I mean—” I stopped myself. I'll let someone else handle this part. “You know what, forget that. Spirituality first.”
There was no easy way for me to bridge the gap between non-magical energy science and a world where everything seemed to hum with mystical power.
“Let’s talk about creation. Life, stability, and destruction.”
You’re doing great, Wyrem said encouragingly in my mind. Far less helpfully, he added, Now, draw out your words. Really stretch them out. Get them leaning in, hungry for meaning. And then… say something totally nonsensical! Doesn’t matter if you understand it because they won’t either, but they'll try! Their awe will be their—
I cut him off before he could finish, only for Luna to chime in for him. Wyrem wanted to say downfall.
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I sighed and shook my head.
“Just try,” Thea said gently, her voice soft with encouragement. “Even if we don’t get it, it’s not your fault.”
It was kind, but it also completely missed the problem I was currently having with the creatures invading my mind. I continued on anyway.
“Okay. Think about life outside yourself. Not as an individual, but as part of something older. Think way back. A time long before recorded history.”
I searched my thoughts for a usable image. “In the visions, I saw the Shattered Continent whole again. A bridge, intact.”
Griffith leaned forward slightly, curiosity sparking. “Think about that? Why?”
“No,” I clarified. “Not that. Before that. Before anything. Fire was everything. If you had it, maybe you lived. If you didn’t, you died. Fire gave life and took it. A force that inherently serves two roles.”
Thea tilted her head, eyes narrowing in contemplation. Not quite confused. They understood the concept. It wasn’t a hard one: fire helps or fire harms. But I wasn’t just trying to explain that fire burns or saves.
I was trying to explain that fire is in a way that was beyond even what I truly understood.
“The point is...” I said slowly. “It’s all of it. Fire isn’t just warmth or danger. It’s the origin. The creation of life. It's volatile and devours everything it births, but still, creation. Of the space above, the stars, and even us. Playing its role all the way to the moment existence began.”
I raised a finger.
A tiny surge of power sparked at the tip that was no more than a puff of flame.
Poof.
“That’s all it took. A small explosion of power, of energy, of life to create everything. To breathe life into every particle of the universe and simultaneously, to extinguish it all. Unforgiving in nature.”
Griffith finally sat back, every moment that I spoke inching uncomfortably close. “Really? A small explosion? That’s all it takes?”
Well, I wouldn’t exactly call the expansion of an infinite singularity small, but I nodded anyway.
“How do you know?” he asked, already pulling out his notebook. Pen in one hand, journal in the other, he began to scribble furiously, even as the question lingered.
The others watched me in silence, waiting.
“I—I kind of saw it?” I said hesitantly. “It was in the vision I had when I gained the Fire Essence. A giant lion appeared. It created—”
“I’m sorry,” Elric cut in, frowning. “A what?”
“A lion,” I repeated. “You know. Big cat. Four legs. Long tail. Short fur. Huge mane. Kind of like the Goldmanes, but it was made of fire. In every color and shade, moving."
Elric’s face twitched with confusion that only momentarily cleared.
“You saw this?” Thea asked quietly.
I nodded.
Griffith's pen scratched several lines across the page, marking away what he had just jotted down. From what I could tell—though my reading was still a work in progress—he was revising something from “theoretical” to “near certainty.”
“You’re focusing on the wrong part,” I said quickly, trying to reframe the moment. “The cat, lion, whatever, that’s not important. The idea is. The concept of creation. Of destruction. Griffith, think about your Earth Essence.”
“Earth stuff,” I parroted him. “Mountains rising. I imagine Continents splitting, merging, only to separate again. A world that starts from dust itself. Gathering, condensing under immense pressure until it is something beyond fire. More and more until there is Earth.”
His pen stopped mid-scratch. He looked at me slowly. “I didn’t tell you all of that,” he said.
At this point, I was really starting to believe it wasn’t a matter of raw talent. I wasn’t special. It was just that my background, my knowledge, gave me an edge in understanding these things.
Even the most basic science I learned back home was enough to help me grasp the patterns these people were still searching for.
“A cycle,” I said, pressing the word like an anchor. “Everything feeds into everything else. Every element has a role. A purpose. They guide and shape the world, keeping each other in balance. Water? The nurturer and balance. Fire? Birth and destruction, wrapped in the heat of absolute power. And Earth?”
I turned my gaze to Griffith, waiting.
“Structure,” he said, voice steady. “The structure where life can take hold.”
I smiled.
Then turned to the others. “You getting anything from this?”
Neither of them answered right away. But from the way they were staring down at the ground, deep in thought, I knew something had clicked. Thea stuck her tongue out suddenly, mumbling gibberish under her breath.
And for a second, I couldn't look away.
Until she stopped and asked the question that made my breath catch.
“What about Natural Force then?” she said. “How will Vel understand that?”
I don’t know how he did it, but somehow, he broke through.
Maybe it was the stunned silence in my mind, the way that Thea’s question caught me so completely off guard that my own abilities failed to keep him blocked.
SAY NONSENSE! Wyrem screamed in my head with far too much enthusiasm. I BELIEVE IN YOU, PETER! You’ve laid the foundation, now it’s time to herd in the sheep!
Sheep felt… a little rude. Then again—
“The constant where every cycle exists, empowering them. It is the line walked between it all. Equilibrium.”
I’m so proud of you, Wyrem whispered, his voice thick with emotion. There was an audible tremble in his tone.
Each word I spoke left a strange, bitter taste in my mouth. Only the first sentence had any basis in actual experience. The rest was pure improv. And yet... they reeled. Pages turned in a flurry. Griffith’s pen moving quickly, the sound only accented by the wind rustling through leaves.
Clap. Clap… Clap…
A ripple of radiant light flashed through the clearing, forcing my hands up to shield my eyes from the brilliance. Serith had arrived.
She stood before us now in a gown of dazzling, iridescent pink. Layered with panels of transparent fabric.
“That was an incredible lesson, Peter,” she said with a crystalline smile, her lips now a deeper, glossier red than usual.
Was that… makeup?
“As much as I’d love to hear more,” she continued, and it almost sounded like she meant it, “it’s time to go.”