Sachihiro

There are four of us leaving with the enigmatic man calling himself Western, who I have found nothing about from either Hara at the embassy or Sergei at his manor. No one knows him personally but Sergei did hint that this might be a Pathfinder, a title earned not specifically groomed in any of the various enclaves.

I’m not surprised to recognise the other three faces since my library acts as a dead-drop for some of the unofficial messages between the Conclave and its members, but I am surprised that one of the three faces is of a known Sandersonian spy that goes by the name Shadow.

Being a spy is not something the Council takes personally since there seems to have been some sort of unofficial completion between our recently established espionage program and the well established Sandersonian Ministry of Information. Though the Ministry was founded and established hundreds of years ago on Sandoria and is effective when dealing with their internal security and against the local kingdoms to some extent. It is also extremely new to the ways of the world outside Sandoria and has been trying to play catch-up for the past dozen or so years.

"Right we are all here, if none of you know each other personally now is the time for introductions. After that you all take these here stamina potions and we are on our way,’’ he says producing four stamina potions with a slight flair of mana from his storage wrist-circlet. Storage devices are some of the tools we trade in Paradisum to the rest of the continent and where most of the city’s money comes from.

Storage devices are very rare even to the rest of the world but were almost unheard of in Sandoria, fae storage devices are a grade above the rest as the fae are acknowledged world masters of space and time magic as far as Sandoria and Pangaea are concerned. Currently the only two places that Paradisum trades with, a population of over a hundred million sapient beings willing to trade now open to us from just those two landmasses and the few isles between.

We each take a blue vial of the stuff being handed to us, Hagan sniffing his before downing it in a single gulp, Seth the ghoul letting the nail on his smallest finger elongate to dip into the liquid and tasting the substance with the tip of his tongue. I doubt its poison, we all doubt its poison but none of us have lived this long by being careless. Why the need for a stamina potion is also at the tip of my mind but I store the vial in my ring whilst producing a stamina potion from my stockpile.

We all exchange mental handshake if you were, a mental puzzle that those in the Conclave are thought in order to confirm each other’s identities but otherwise we stay outwardly quiet.

‘’No?’Alright then lets go,’’ Western says walking towards the wrong direction but he quickly has an entourage of four, two on either side of him.

We head deeper into the Tundra to my worry. Passing quickly through the woodland area of the Liberia region and into the open grasslands roving with hares, snakes, wolves and birds. I am the only barbarian in this group and I know well that foreigners are not allowed deep into our lands, for good reason but thankfully no one is around to challenge us. We jog at a fairly fast pace, judging by what know of the men with me and what my senses are telling me Hagan and Seth are Awakened Kings, having reached the second tier of power. Shadow and I are only tier one Awakened, and there is a big difference between those two distinctions when all is said and done.

I have a small Silencer in an wrap on my back, Kata my single handed half-moon bladed fighting axe and Razor, my Hito made 70cm long o-katana in their harnesses on my weapon’s belt. I have a small push dagger also made of celestial steel tucked at the base of my neck underneath my long hair but that one isn’t a bound artifact. My bear charm rattle lightly on my chest as I run, charms and amulets something I adopted early on when I lost my spiritual energy.

Something happens, it a physical, spiritual and mana based sensation, almost like a noise but my vision gets bleary, both eyes and awareness. I stumble slightly as I find myself suddenly panting from hard exertion with my legs shaking and my arms leaden, Hagan’s back pack is discarded and lands with solid bang as testament to its weight. I’ve been wondering what he has in there but I suddenly find myself too tire to care, or even to take a full proper breath. Centring myself quickly and taking a full breath I look up from my previously bent position the try and figure out what just happened-

I’m bewildered at what I discover, it dawns on me slowly but eventually I notice that this isn’t the tundra. I actually turn to look behind me and there is a cliff there I have never seen before. I look at Western suspiciously, look at my other travelling partners, even the more powerful Hagan and Seth look haggard by what we’ve just done and Shadow is practically green.

I go alone to check out the surrounding area while the others rest, Western himself isn’t in the best of shape but at I reach the highest peak here and look I’m not surprise and how tired he is. In fact I’m wondering how he is even still standing because if my guess is correct we are on the other side of the Tundra, all virgin land. I look around in excited longing at the lush green, yellow, orange and ble hues of the forest before me. The soil is rich and dark, I take a deep breath and quest out with the meagre supplies of spiritual energy I have-

‘’Don’t do that,’’ Western says with a sudden hand on my shoulder. I turn to look at him mildly, I look at his hand on my shoulder, he removes it and takes a step back.

‘’We do not have time for you to claim land or other such luxuries, this isn’t a sight seeing trip.’’ He says before turning and waling back down to the others. He gets there quicker than he should but even while watching him I can’t figure out how he does it.

Disregarding him I look back at the forest laid out befoe me, Its not as thick as the Dawn or even the forest created and cultivated by the fae outside Paradisum proper. From what I can see it’s rocky and from here I can’t spot a single edible plant, but still... Virgin land is said to be rare, land that has never had any sort of claim enforced upon it.I shake my head thinking of the waste of just leaving such a place as it is. The fact that it’s unclaimed means there are no Awakened beasts here and obviously no humans, we haven’t explored this far yet.

I sit crossing my legs and close my eyes, focusing myself and falling into an alert meditative state, it comes easily. I seep a little of my spirit into the earth, experimenting as the others rest. Gaia accepts my spirit energy hungrily, pulling it from me with a sucking force before I get control of myself again.

‘’Time to go, we have a difficult journey ahead of us still.’’ Western sends to all of us and we are up and jogging through the virgin land, startling birds, deer and a few wild dogs that yip at our heels before we are again blinded and away.

*

Michael

I move through the void of what I can only call space without a body or form of any kind. I am nothing yet I am stretched out as far as I will go, sprawled bodilessly against an eternal space of nothingness. I am a mass of particles between nothing waiting to be formed, the electrons of the molecules that make up my current existence are vibrating darkly with quiet energy. Eager to form bonds and yet be as flexible in breaking as water molecules of a virgin spring. Energy of two realms wants to hold me together and wants to take my form, sparks too small to be seen with the naked eye cackle in black lightning around each particle, eager.

I remember, I remember my passage across the stars that was my Ascension to Gaia, I remember the glimpses of knowledge garnered there and swiftly forgotten, and so I gain knowledge again, and again I am given an opportunity to remake myself. That is all Awakening is, it dawns on me. This is the one chance I will ever have to design myself based on all the knowledge and tools I had to myself when this process started. All these people on this bloody planet make it seem like such a sacred and complicated thing with no exact way to do it as everyone’s is slightly different.

I break it down as far back as I can follow it in snips and pieces cataloguing all the natural advantages I think I have and the basic knowledge of anatomy, chemistry, machine learning and how to kill a man from Earth. The advantages of the life experiences I went through especially after losing my legs, the advantages of knowing despair and restoration. The anatomical knowledge I learnt in lectures at the Conclave at Hala; how elves, demi-human and animal bodies are designed. The mystical knowledge seeping into me from unknown sources giving insights and truths about anything I can think of.

I can design myself as I see fit and I’m given mythical knowledge on the mysteries of life, unlimited energy and very unique resources with which to work. The eldritch storm particles particularly interesting, I begin my work of myself, designing my body as carefully and as lovingly as possible. Designing my Awakening with as much hidden advantages I hope to grow into if I survive long enough, but it’s not so easy and straight forward.

For every path taken the is one left behind, for every advantage I give myself the is a disadvantage to balance it, I know my strengths and weaknesses even as I make myself. Everything seems to be relevant and adds or detracts from the tools I already have at my disposal, even the fact that I have a spiritual mate bond, the languages I can speak, the runic tattoo that is supposed to protect from spiritual possession I received after mating Saya.

I have no reference of time but it takes a while, a long while and as I make myself the particles that are to be me get closer and closer together. It’s also tricky cause I fear that when this is done I will again lose all the knowledge I garnered here so I leave myself little clues that I hope will lead me to discovering my own potential once I stumble onto them. But essentially there are three things that I’m particularly gifted at.

I know my own body, body manipulation is an ability I apparently developed from my first ascension but I’ve been unable to tap into my own advantages without mana as an energy source. After body manipulation my chakra levels are off the charts, I see and realise why the Zen masters were weary of me and the thing within me. And yes finally there is Storm, a ‘thing’ older than some of the gods here that has taken a hike within my spirit and in doing so completely changed even the makeup of my soul. The thing is part of me but here I could intergrate it further or I could get rid of it as is, we have already gained emersly from each other.

I don’t have enough hubris to think my opening of my seven chakra’s and my glimpse into the chakra’s beyond is by my own talent or even deserved. Even as I think it I know my connection with this eldritch force has opened me up to some cosmic frequencies I would have otherwise never come across, my affinity to all natural storms and weather is also undisputable proof of the thing’s influence. But I’d rather quit while I’m ahead than risk myself further by associating with the thing.

It feels my rejection and is hurt by it, an emotion it wouldn’t have had if it had never been connected to me, the thing has lived my life with me, through me. It knows me, its awake, it knows fear, danger, loss, love and passion, its much more awake than it’s ever been. We part Storm and I, and as it leaves me I am left hollow, a void forms that I fear my never be filled but then a moment later it is filled and I’m relieved, lost in remaking myself.

*

I open my eyes and look around, I’m in a dark cave with walls made of dark crystalline stone. No, not a cave, it’s too clean, too evenly made and the furniture is a indicator of this being someones home at least. I run my chakra through my body, checking if everything is still hale and it seems to be.

I stand slowly and stretch, testing my body before looking around again to ensure I’m not in any immediate danger. I can feel the mana coursing through my body now, the power in it is almost intoxicating but I keep a tight grip on my excitement. The very air though stale seems to circle around me lightly, seemingly wanting to embrace me and play with me.

A giggle escapes me lips, t turns into a full on laugh and I find myself bend over with tears in my eyes as I laugh happily. I made it, I’ve really made it, and if I remember what I think I remember correctly then I’m also pretty badass as well.

A door I didn’t realise was a door opens with a hiss and there stands Saya with Soal, Thandeka and a couple of fae I don’t recognise. We watch each other, them from the threshold and me from in this strange chamber. It’s almost like I’m in a bubble and they are just at the edge of it.

‘’Come,’’ one of the fae says. Saya gives a slight nod at the question in my eyes, giving the room one last look I walk to the door and it seems not even a day has passed since I started and finished my Awakening.