An excerpt from the Bible of Zadania, Priestess of the Stanti of the 11th Wave

We perceive the world as seperate organisms. All of us stuck in a fight to the death, each breath a prize to be appreciated. But that is wrong. We are all connected on a level that can barely be understood. Brothers and sisters, we must stop this endless fight and join in unity so that we may appreciate the life that has been given to us.

Sitting on the floor in my room within the Genesis Academy, I take in a deep breath. The air fills my lungs and I feel the familiar tension within my chest; it is the tension of full lungs, a pressure that tries to push the air back out. Focusing on my breath, I gently exhale through my nose, the air slowly escaping until all of it is gone. A sense of deep relaxation fills me as my lungs empty and my muscles loosen.

This process continues for a good while as I fall deeper into that relaxing, almost trance-like, state. Awareness of the external world disappears as my focus inward. I can perceive the flow of my blood and the loosening and tightening of my muscles with each breath.

Once I’ve gained full awareness and control over my internal world, I reopen my senses to the external world. I feel the rough hewn wood beneath me, a splintered surface that scratches against my legs, and the worn cotton of my clothes comfortable rubbing against my torso. These feelings, however, are pushed from my mind, as I direct my awareness towards the focus of my meditation.

A cold draft makes its way into the room and tickles my arm, causing goosebumps to form. Instantly focusing in on the feeling, I perceive the entire process in rapt fascination. The cold air of the breeze begins to disappear as it warms up to the ambient temperature of the room. My arm returns to normal after a few moments but I barely notice it, too caught up in a flash of inspiration.

The cold air sliding across my skin. The warmth of a fire on a chilly night. Oppressive and stifling heat on a humid summer day. Snow tumbling through the air amidst a vicious storm.

These ideas, amid thousands of others originating from myself and somewhere else, coalesce within my mind. A bubble of power and thought begins to pull them together, weaving them into a cohesive concept greater than any single idea.

It continues for a few moments, my mind processing things at an unbelievable rate, and then ends with a familiar ding. Letting out my final breath, I pull myself out of the meditative state and open my eyes, looking at the notification that has appeared in front of me.

You have discovered the Higher Energy – Temperature (R-7) Lvl 1! While most would focus on heat or cold, you see beyond these simple concepts to grasp the underlying truth: they are one and the same. Applying your understanding of physics, you impose your will upon the universe in order to manipulate Temperature, the amount of thermal energy caused by movement of particles. Increased Skill level increases manipulation ability.

In what has now become a tradition of sorts, I raise my only hand up to eye level and pull forth my new Mana. As the Mana flows down through my arm, it feels as though it’s being frozen from the inside and burned on the outside The sensation disappears, however, as I pull it out into the world for the first time. A flashing sphere emerges from within my palm and I stare at it in fascination. It wildly fluctuates between scorching heat and an icy frigid state.

Smiling in satisfaction, I stretch out my body and look out the small window to the side. Judging from the position of the light, it’s a little after noon, which means that I have enough time for some training.

I quickly get out of my sweat-stained shirt and throw on a cleaner one, before reaching down into my room’s basin to throw some water on my face. Looking a bit more presentable, I open the door and walk out the room, closing the door behind me. My steps carry me through the hall, down the steps, and into the main room of the Academy.

A few students, still working on their mastery of Elemental Mana, manage to get my attention and I take a few moments to give them some advice. One of them is focusing too hard on maintaining an absolute control over the Mana, while another’s mental image is too vague. They nod emphatically at my advice and then turn around to begin practicing once again, exchanging a few words of friendly banter on which one of them will be the first to succeed.

Chuckling to myself, I walk out of the Academy doors and into the city. I’m quickly overwhelmed by the sound of merchants hawking their goods and carts rattling against the newly paved roads, the smell of fish wafting up from the docks just a short mile away, and the feeling of the humid heat that presses down upon me as I walk to the training grounds. Fresh sweat begins to drip down my back.

It doesn’t take me very long to reach the grounds. People generally get out of my way whenever they see me, occasionally bowing their heads or kneeling on the ground. I’ve long since given up on trying to stop them; you can only ask people not to bow a certain amount of times before you realize it’s pointless and give up.

Walking onto the sands of the training grounds, I watch as the guards go about their business. Two young men, probably no more than eighteen years old, spar in the corner of the grounds, relentlessly pounding on each other with wooden training swords. The sheer amount of bruises on the taller one shows that his opponent is far more skilled than he is.

A few voices drift across the sands and I turn around to see Hakim.

Weaving and bobbing between the strikes of five fully armored guards, he moves with a confidence that I’ve never seen him display. Granted, I’ve been a little busy in the last few months, but it is obvious that Hakim has spent most of his time training, probably gaining a few Levels in the process.

His movements have adopted a breathtaking speed and fluidity. While nowhere near as quick as the man with the daggers, he easily avoids the guard’s attacks. He also responds to their strikes with pieces of advice; he encourages one guard to twist his hips while lunging forward, while another is told to control the strength he puts into his blows, especially when feinting.

I can’t help but feel a sense of pride as I watch him pass on everything he’s learned. Just half a year ago, he was a strength-obsessed bullheaded young man whose only redeeming feature was his refusal to ever give up.

Dodging another strike, he spins around and finally catches sight of me watching a mere thirty feet away. His eyes light up in recognition and a flash of light appears from his feet. It’s only with my high Perception that I’m able to see what happens.

He moves at an incredible speed and disarms all of his opponents in the space of a single second, their blades falling into the sand. The guards yell out in shock but Hakim just nods at them politely before running over towards me.

Stopping just a foot away from me, he holds out his hand and I instinctively reach out with mine as well. It’s only when I try to grasp onto his own that I’m again reminded of the price I paid in the last Trial. The lack of a hand is still … new. I haven’t quite gotten used to it yet.

His eyes widen and he whispers, “What the hell happened to your hand?”

It takes me a few moments to fill him in on everything as he listens with rapt focus. At the end of my story, he opens his mouth to speak but I interrupt him. “I was wondering if you had some time for a quick spar. The final Trial is in a few days and I need to experiment with some of my new Skills before I use them in a real fight.”

His face lights up. “Of course! Let me run over and tell the guards to clear out a space. It won’t be hard though, they’ll all want to watch!” He finishes with a laugh and then chases away the other people within the grounds. I can see their eyes widen as they glance over at me and then each of them runs off to get more people. I can’t stop myself from chuckling at the sight; sometimes I forget that Hakim is just a kid.

Ten minutes pass and I find myself standing across from Hakim, thirty feet of tightly packed rough sand between us. Dozens of guards have positioned themselves at the edges of the training grounds, watching us in eager anticipation.

Hakim cracks his neck and meets my eyes. “So, how do you want me to fight? Want me to take it slow or go all out?”

I can’t help myself as I smile back at him. There’s something deeply satisfying about training with a friend, with someone who understands what you are capable of. Of course, Hakim has never truly seen me fight with everything I have, but that’s not what I’m trying to do right now. No, the point of this spar is to give myself a combat understanding of what I can do with Temperature alone and there’s no way I’ll be able to do that if he doesn’t fight at full force.

“All out. Show me how much you’ve grown.”

He smiles in response. “All right, you asked for it!”

His feet are like spotlights, blindingly bright, as he sprints forward with the same incredible speed that he displayed earlier. Each of his steps sends clumps of sand flying behind him and, as soon as he’s within ten feet of me, he jumps off the ground. Light begins to glow around his shoulder as he pulls back his arm.

I wait until he’s in the air until I make my move. Filling my body with an immense amount of Mana, I take a single step forward and dash under his body with near uncontrollable speed. I catch myself by slamming my hand into the sand and using the motion to pivot, watching as Hakim lands heavily a dozen feet away.

Before he has a chance to react, I reach out with my will and begin to perceive Temperature in a way that I’d never been able to before. I feel the vibration of the thermal energy around me and instinctively know exactly what it represents. A breeze of cold air feels like a gentle fluctuation whereas the heat of a fire feels like rapid pulsation, with thousands of other different energies also rushing into my mind. For the first time, I feel as if I’m not creating the energy as much as I am simply manipulating it.

Hakim manages to spin around before I raise my hand and release a massive wave of Temperature Mana out towards him. He manages to take a single step before the Mana hits him. Upon contact, the Temperature Mana sinks into his body and begins to gather the thermal energy, a moment later, two thin spires of shimmering heat erupt out of his back.

He takes a single step, his entire body wracked with oppressive shivers. My new understanding allows me to perceive that his internal body temperature is falling as the two spires on his back vent out all the heat from his body. I can see that he’s trying to take another step forward but his body doesn’t respond as it is too busy trying to stay alive.

Teeth clattering, he slurs his words as he says, “Thisss isss new.”

Standing up fully, I make a gesture with my hand and all the lost thermal energy goes rushing back into his body. I wanted to test the Skill in a combat situation and it proved to be even more powerful than I could have imagined.

The crowd around us mutters as Hakim sits on the sand and begins rubbing his appendages, trying to work heat back into them. I imagine this fight must have been extremely boring for them but perhaps they’ll manage to draw a lesson out of that. Combat isn’t always flashy and exciting; more often than not it is short and deadly.

After a few seconds, Hakim looks up at me and says eagerly, “Another round but without that cold attack this time?”

Laughing, I nod.