After two weeks of training his body ached and he felt the heaviness in his spirit which came with the constant exertion. Whenever he wasn’t in the training yard, he was meditating and pushing essence through his spirit. He was practicing the pattern which the teacher had shown him to help him channel two kinds of essence. It hurt.

It couldn’t be done at the same time, but he could keep his progress with stone essence by locking it in one corner of his spirit while he processed chaos and vice versa. However, as he had visited the training yard, he noticed the ease of summoning and controlling chaos essence.

He awkwardly fell as the weight of his blunt training scythe crashed back from the dummy he had been training on. He couldn’t use his real weapon or it would cut through the training aid in a flash. Luckily, the Chaos-Shaper’s had weapons of every sort on hand. And Dariea hadn’t been kidding when she had said they were talented warriors.

“Come on Jano. As we practiced, use the momentum of the weapon to power your strikes and control that momentum afterwards to position yourself for the next one.”

“I know. I just can’t seem to get it right. This handle is longer than my own and it seems to get caught up in my limbs. I am trying.”

The instructor held out her hand expectantly. Jano handed over the training scythe. With a crack, she snapped the bottom of the weapon. “Is that better?” She sneered.

“Yes.” Jano muttered. “Thanks for that.” He gave a small bow.

He struck at the training dummy and this time the momentum swung the opposite way. Expecting more resistance, he put too much effort into the swing. He crashed to the floor and looked up to see the instructor standing over him. Her expression was blank though he suspected a faint amount of disappointment lay behind it.

She walked away and Jano stumbled to his feet. He swung the scythe around in his hands to get a feel for it. It was similar to his own now. He struck at the dummy again and again. A shadow grew next to him and he was aware of the instructor once more standing by him. She shoved something at him. “Try two.” She said.

He looked at another training scythe, this one with slightly more snapped off the end. “I am sorry, but how am I going to be any better with two of these things than one?”

“Well, put it this way. You better be, otherwise you have ruined two of our training scythes for no good reason.” She said with no trace of a smile.

He let both weapons hang by his side. He felt increasingly nervous given the instructor's words. Though something felt much more even about it. He struck at the dummy with his right hand and then used that momentum to skip around and strike upwards with his left before following up with a swift downstroke with his right.

He began to smile at the equilibrium created with a weapon in both hands. Then he moved around the dummy and began to strike again, he missed the target as his weight shifted ever so slightly further than he wished and he nearly lost his footing again.

“Perhaps not a perfect success, but an improvement nonetheless. Maybe they were not wasted on you. Now, practice the forms I showed you and then get working on your chaos arrows.”

“No problem, I will get on that now. Thank you for your guidance.” He gave a small bow and then focussed back on the dummy. A newfound determination set in his eyes.

——-

He had spent all day working on variations of the forms set out by the instructor as she had commanded. He had to admit that the rather counterintuitive approach of adding a second weapon had made a significant difference to his progress. Even if he was still terrible.

However, he was becoming more proud of his mastery of the chaos arrows. In any case, the training centre had closed early with it being a religious day for the Chaos-Shapers so he packed his stuff away and decided to check out the market which had sprung up in anticipation of the festival which was happening in a few days.

The streets were beginning to be packed with people, most of whom did not wear the dress and ceremonial masks of the usual residents. Despite being situated on a series of hills, each pathway and road was wide set and easy to navigate.

He took a walk up from the school and followed a group of elders who he could never quite seem to get past. The market was being set up as he had left the palace grounds in the morning, so he knew where it was. What he found however, was on a different scale to the bare bones he had passed by earlier.

The wooden stalls were covered by a tarpaulin which was shaped as one long, multicoloured snake. There was even an elaborately carved head and tail at either end which were imbued with some form of essence or another to move in predetermined paths. Though from afar, and to the untrained eye, it seemed to be real enough.

Jano walked forward in wonder at the spectacle. There were stalls on either side, and a wonderful amalgamation of smells suddenly struck him like a blow to the nose. A smile spread unknowingly across his face. He checked for his coin purse and the allowance which had been paid to him by the King’s attendants.

He squeezed his way past the group of elders and found himself surrounded by joyous sounds of wonder at the items on display briefly interrupted by haggling over price. It was like the market back home, but a thousand times more lively. He passed stalls selling all sorts of weird and wonderful things. There were vibrant coloured pendants and a variety of decorative jewellery on one stand and then right next to it a selection of dangerous looking weapons.

He perused the signs. ‘Swords so sharp you can slice through rock!’ Read one. ‘Spirit pasties, get them while they’re hot. Boost your spirit and your stomach!” Read another. Other than the obvious things like weapons, he had no idea what most of the products on sale were meant to do. There were products which promised all sorts of benefits from boosting spiritual power or increasing strength and speed. How those items could go about doing that, he had no idea.

A small stall set between two large colourful perfumeries drew his attention, though he couldn’t place why. It was dark and drab and the man sat behind the counter looked as though he didn’t want to be there. An odd premise for a stall owner.

Jano clocked eyes with the stall owner and the man sprang upward. His entire demeanor had changed.

“You there. You’re just what I was looking for.” The man said.

“No thank you. I’m just browsing.” Jano responded.

“What? You don’t want a half-pure spirit stone for the lowest price in this place? I obviously got the wrong impression.”

The man turned around and sat back in his previous position. He eyed Jano with intent. Out of nowhere, Jano felt a hand on his back.

“How much for a pure spirit stone?” A familiar voice boomed through the noise of the market.

Jano looked at the owner of the hand on his shoulder. He was taken aback. His instructor had changed out of her usual combat ready clothes and into a black fitted dress. She wore sparkling jewellery which matched her ceremonial mask which covered half of her face. Or did, until she removed it as she was trying to figure out who it was.

“This man needs one, but none of that half-pure drivel you were attempting to sell.” She finished.

“Five gold and two coppers.” He snapped.

His instructor tutted loudly. “No. We will pay no more than two gold.” Her voice was commanding and she stood the same height as Jano, who was not small.

“Outrageous. Absolutely not.” The man replied.

“Very well, we will take our business to one of your competitors.” She said as she began to turn and she dragged Jano’s shoulder with her.

“Three gold coins!” The man shouted.

Jano was pushed back around. “Fine. But it better be pure.” She said in her booming voice. The man started rifling through his things, looking for whatever a pure spirit stone was. The instructor bent close to Jano’s ear and spoke so softly it set his hairs on edge. “You have three gold coins right?”

Jano grew immediately nervous and then remembered his generous allowance from the King and he couldn’t help but laugh. As someone who is used to being poor, he knew exactly how much money he had.

“Yes I do. But what is a spirit stone?” He responded in kind.

Before she had a chance to respond, the man thrust a glowing stone approximately the sign of an apple towards them both. Jano hastily fished three gold coins out of his purse and handed them over.

“Thank you.” He said and his instructor seemed to just nod to the merchant. He resumed sitting in his grumpy stance.

They walked through the market together now. Jano waited until they had reached a quieter part of the market before attempting to speak.

“Thank you for your assistance. Apologies instructor, but what is a spirit stone?”

“My name is Herat, by the way. I realise that we were never really introduced, though you will of course still have to call me instructor in the training yard.”

Jano smiled and bowed a little. “It is my pleasure to properly meet you Herat.”

She kept her mask off and smiled. “The pleasure is mine Jano, you have been working hard in my classes. A spirit stone is a vessel for an ancient type of magic. They vary in quality and size, but we can draw on the potent energy inside to help bolster our spirit.”

“Ah, so it will help my spirit get stronger. I thought we could only do that by practicing channeling essence into our spirit, by combat or meditation?”

Herat laughed and looked at him fondly, as an elder might to a child. “Didn’t they teach you anything in Qursa?” When he didn’t respond and looked sheepishly at the ground, she carried on. “You draw on the spirit stone while meditating. It just helps the process along a bit. Most people have used various amounts of them after starting their training.”

“Go home and try it out, though it may take a few days to fully absorb.”

Jano felt a sharp jolt of urgency at her words. He had been making progress, but he was excited to make more. “Thank you Herat, for all your help. I am deeply appreciative.”

“Don’t thank me too much. I have students ten years your junior with more power than you. I am just giving you a nudge. Give Dariea my regards.” She walked off into the crowd once more.

Jano looked at the stone in his hand once more and then ran home to try and use it.