Wild Awakening

Zane blinked at the Spirit.

"…How do I do that?"

𝕋𝕣𝕚𝕒𝕝 𝕓𝕪 𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖, said the Spirit. Its face was as stern as always, but Zane got the sense it was enjoying seeing him a little stumped.

𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕞𝕦𝕤𝕥 𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕛𝕖𝕔𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕤𝕠𝕦𝕝! 𝔹𝕦𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖'𝕤 𝕟𝕠 𝕘𝕦𝕚𝕕𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕚𝕥. 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕠𝕟𝕝𝕪 𝕨𝕒𝕪 𝕥𝕠 𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕨 𝕚𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕗𝕚𝕟𝕕 𝕚𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕤𝕖𝕝𝕗. 𝕀𝕥'𝕤 𝕒 𝕞𝕒𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕠𝕗 𝕗𝕖𝕖𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕘.

With that rather unhelpful tip in hand, Zane turned back to the drake. It started opening its mouth. And a smoldering blackness gathered in the depths of its throat; a wicked heat poured out like some hellish furnace opening.

𝕀'𝕕 𝕙𝕦𝕣𝕣𝕪 𝕚𝕗 𝕀 𝕨𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦.

The Spirit was definitely enjoying this. It was even smiling a little.

Zane frowned at it. Then he closed his eyes, sank his mind deep into his body. Feeling things out.

He heard a rumbling before him—felt a tide of heat washing over, crackling, sizzling, felt sparks of it pricking at the edges of his soul….

ℍ𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕚𝕥 𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕖𝕤! said the Spirit.

Zane took a deep breath, probing deeper. In… out… in…

The fires blasted him in the face.

A crashing wave of smoldering shadow-flame—but his Red Moon Shield flickered up too, instantly blocking it off. The flames splashed against the barrier, sputtering out harmless. Zane heard the Spirit sigh.

𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕚𝕤 𝕞𝕖𝕒𝕟𝕥 𝕥𝕠 𝕓𝕖 𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕠𝕨𝕚𝕟𝕘, 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕨, grumbled the Spirit. 𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℝ𝕖𝕕 𝕄𝕠𝕠𝕟 𝔼𝕞𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕠𝕣 𝕨𝕒𝕤 𝕛𝕦𝕤𝕥 𝕒𝕓𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕤𝕠𝕚𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕙𝕚𝕞𝕤𝕖𝕝𝕗 𝕒𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕡𝕒𝕣𝕥. He ignored it.

He was noticing something interesting now that he paid close attention. His soul-body was not as solid as he'd first thought. It was pretty fuzzy at the edges. And his insides all felt the same.

He scratched his head.

It was not really a body, now that he looked at it. It was more like… a bucket. A bucket that held the stuff of his soul.

The shape of him was simply how he perceived himself. Big enough to hold all his soul. But that was all.

"Huh," said Zane.

This made a good deal of sense to him, actually. He had felt just how squishy his soul was when he had brought it into his body during his Nascent Soul breakthrough.

If you thought about it like that, maybe Skills were sort of like shapes. Shapes that held essence and soul.

It popped into his head as an idle thought, more of a feeling than anything. But the moment he had it something seemed to click. It just felt right.

In Zane's experience, if it felt right, it was. He seemed to have a pretty good sense of these things. Reina thought it was more than that—she was sure he had a gift for it, maybe because of his soul. That bit Zane wasn't so sure about. But it was how he tended to learn Laws and Skills. It was a good thing to trust his intuition.

In the background, he got blasted in the face again. The drake made a whining sound.

𝕀 𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕨, 𝕀 𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕨, sighed the Spirit. 𝔹𝕦𝕥 𝕨𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕒𝕞 𝕀 𝕤𝕦𝕡𝕡𝕠𝕤𝕖𝕕 𝕥𝕠 𝕕𝕠 𝕒𝕓𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕚𝕥? 𝕁𝕦𝕤𝕥 𝕝𝕠𝕠𝕜 𝕒𝕥 𝕙𝕚𝕞!

Zane kept prodding around in his soul. Tried extending the shape a bit, right around the belly—and the moment he did he knew he was right. It did feel like it kind of fluid. It stretched just as his shape did.

It was tied to how he thought of himself, he realized.

He kept poking around with it, fascinated. Trying to loosen the hard boundaries of himself. He quickly found changing his body shape here wasn't so easy.

First—his size made making any big changes pretty hard. But it was deeper than that. He thought about transforming his fist into another shape—maybe a hammer—and got whacked with a splitting migraine instantly.

He groaned.

It seemed Zane simply did not believe he was a man with hammer-fists. It was a matter of identity, of ego. It wasn't so easy to change on a whim.

Maybe he didn't really need to change it, though. Maybe he could just loosen the shape in places—pour some of his soul-stuff out. Release some of himself to chuck into an attack.

"Hmm," said Zane.

Another hot blast whacked him in the face.

He felt like he might be able to do it, if he really focused… it was worth giving a shot, he supposed.

𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕠𝕟𝕖'𝕤 𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕤𝕠 𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕪, 𝕚𝕤 𝕚𝕥? said the Spirit, stroking its beard. It sounded distinctly smug. ℙ𝕖𝕣𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕤 ℝ𝕖𝕕 𝕄𝕠𝕠𝕟 ℙ𝕒𝕘𝕠𝕕𝕒 𝕚𝕤𝕟'𝕥 𝕤𝕠 𝕤𝕚𝕞𝕡𝕝𝕖 𝕒𝕗𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕒𝕝𝕝! 𝕎𝕙𝕚𝕔𝕙 𝕚𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕓𝕖 𝕖𝕩𝕡𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕖𝕕—𝕚𝕥 𝕚𝕤 𝕒 𝕧𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕣𝕒𝕓𝕝𝕖 𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔻𝕣𝕒𝕘𝕠𝕟𝕤𝕡𝕪𝕣𝕖 𝔾𝕒𝕝𝕒𝕩𝕪. 𝕀𝕗 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕔𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕕 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕝𝕝 𝕚𝕟 𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕨𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕪-𝕟𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕪 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕔𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕣 𝕚𝕥𝕤 𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕤 𝕚𝕟 𝕒 𝕕𝕒𝕪—

Zane raised one big hand.

Light streamed out from him. Gathering before him, making a blob, burgeoning fast, growing more solid each passing second. Zane just held it there, brow creased, as it trembled—it wasn't an easy thing.

He had to cradle it with his will from the outside. And hold it together from his inside too, pulling with his soul itself. It was quite a strange sensation, pushing and pulling, keeping the shape. But the more he poured the more he felt solid with it.

His main body dimmed as that blob grew bigger and brighter.

The Pagoda Spirit choked off, eyes bulging. It was quiet for a few seconds. Then it hung its head and sighed. …𝔸𝕟𝕕 𝕠𝕗 𝕔𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕤𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦'𝕧𝕖 𝕘𝕠𝕥 𝕚𝕥 𝕒𝕝𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕪.

"What now," said Zane.

𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕤𝕖𝕖𝕞 𝕥𝕠 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝕗𝕚𝕘𝕦𝕣𝕖𝕕 𝕠𝕦𝕥, said the Spirit.

"…aren't you supposed to be helping me?" said Zane, a bit perplexed.

𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕕𝕠𝕟'𝕥 𝕟𝕖𝕖𝕕 𝕞𝕪 𝕙𝕖𝕝𝕡. 𝕐𝕠𝕦'𝕣𝕖 𝕕𝕠𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝕛𝕦𝕤𝕥 𝕗𝕚𝕟𝕖. 𝔾𝕠 𝕠𝕟—𝕗𝕚𝕟𝕕 𝕒 𝕨𝕒𝕪 𝕥𝕠 𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕚𝕥.

He got the sense the Spirit was a little miffed. Then—𝔸𝕝𝕣𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥, 𝕒𝕝𝕣𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥. 𝔽𝕚𝕟𝕖! 𝕎𝕖𝕝𝕝 𝕕𝕠𝕟𝕖—𝕓𝕦𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦'𝕣𝕖 𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕕𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕪𝕖𝕥! 𝕐𝕠𝕦'𝕝𝕝 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕤𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕖 𝕚𝕥 𝕟𝕠𝕨. 𝕄𝕒𝕜𝕖 𝕒 𝕨𝕖𝕒𝕡𝕠𝕟 𝕠𝕗 𝕚𝕥, 𝕨𝕙𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖: 𝕤𝕡𝕖𝕒𝕣, 𝕤𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕕, 𝕗𝕝𝕒𝕞𝕖 𝕚𝕗 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕨𝕒𝕟𝕥. 𝕋𝕙𝕖𝕟 𝕨𝕚𝕖𝕝𝕕 𝕚𝕥.

Zane blinked at the Spirit. Then at the drake, which was also patiently waiting for him. It appeared to have given up on blasting him. It had accepted its fate.

He inspected the shapeless shining purple blob floating above. It was like a giant boulder now, churning with thick currents of soul… there was quite a bit of weight on it. It shone at least as bright as the drake.

He considered how he would go about shaping it. There was a lot of soul floating there—it was quite hard just keeping it up. He got the feeling changing its shape would be quite a headache.

Then—

"Do I have to make a weapon," said Zane.

The Spirit stared at him. 𝕆𝕗 𝕔𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕤𝕖! ℍ𝕠𝕨 𝕖𝕝𝕤𝕖 𝕕𝕠 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕡𝕝𝕒𝕟 𝕠𝕟 𝕤𝕝𝕒𝕪𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕚𝕥?

"Why can't I just drop it."

𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥—𝕒𝕤 𝕚𝕤?

"Yes."

The Pagoda paused. Squinted at Zane's blob. …𝕀 𝕞𝕖𝕒𝕟—

Zane dropped it. The drake shrieked.

There was a crunch, and then a silence.

His blob rolled over.

The drake had been flattened quite nicely. It was mostly a bloody splotch, with chunks of bone sticking out here and there.

𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕟𝕖𝕕!

𝔼𝕞𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕠𝕣'𝕤 𝕄𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥 [𝕃𝕖𝕘𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕒𝕣𝕪 (𝕊)]

Nice.

…𝕋𝕙𝕒𝕥… 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥'𝕤 𝕟𝕠𝕥— the Pagoda Spirit was twitching a little. 𝕋𝕙𝕒𝕥'𝕤 𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕙𝕠𝕨 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕖𝕩𝕖𝕣𝕔𝕚𝕤𝕖 𝕚𝕤 𝕤𝕦𝕡𝕡𝕠𝕤𝕖𝕕 𝕥𝕠 𝕘𝕠.

It seemed to work out for Zane, though. He happily put away his blob.

𝕐𝕠𝕦'𝕣𝕖 𝕞𝕖𝕒𝕟𝕥 𝕥𝕠 𝕤𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕖 𝕚𝕥 𝕚𝕟𝕥𝕠 𝕒 𝕨𝕖𝕒𝕡𝕠𝕟, said the Spirit. 𝕋𝕙𝕒𝕥… 𝕨𝕒𝕤 𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕤𝕦𝕡𝕡𝕠𝕤𝕖𝕕 𝕥𝕠 𝕓𝕖 𝕖𝕟𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙 𝕥𝕠 𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕚𝕥.

"I am big," Zane informed the Pagoda Spirit.

𝕀 𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕤𝕖𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥, snapped the Spirit. It took a deep breath, pinched the bridge of its nose—𝔹𝕦𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥'𝕤 𝕟𝕠𝕥—𝕚𝕥'𝕤—𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕨 𝕨𝕙𝕒𝕥? ℍ𝕖𝕣𝕖.

It waved a hand—and a new ghost began to form. A broader shadow, lengthening fast—soon it eclipsed the size of the drake, rising to towering heights. Four heads, each drooling black tar, smoking black flames, eyes piercing red….

𝔾𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕄𝕦𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕥 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕨 𝔻𝕣𝕒𝕜𝕖 (𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟛𝟡𝟡)

Zane considered it.

𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕤𝕖𝕖? said the Spirit. 𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕖𝕟𝕤 𝕨𝕙𝕖𝕟 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕞𝕖𝕖𝕥 𝕤𝕠𝕞𝕖𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕔𝕒𝕟'𝕥 𝕤𝕚𝕞𝕡𝕝𝕪 𝕤𝕞𝕒𝕤𝕙? 𝔸𝕥 𝕤𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕡𝕠𝕚𝕟𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦'𝕝𝕝 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕥𝕠—

It cut off.

Because right then, a new blob was beginning to form.

The blob got bigger.

ℤ𝕒𝕟𝕖 𝕎𝕒𝕝𝕜𝕖𝕣! said the Spirit. 𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕔𝕒𝕟'𝕥 𝕤𝕚𝕞𝕡𝕝𝕪—

It choked off.

Since at that point the blob had swelled past the size of the drake, looming over it, drenching the realm in shocking Stormfire purple. It was like a scene out of time, a freeze-frame of a meteor about to wipe out a dinosaur.

"…"

The Greater Drake shrieked.

Zane dropped his blob.

CRUNCH.

His blob rolled away. The Spirit looked like it didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Zane nodded, quite pleased.

There really was a simple pleasure to bigness. After all that confusion today, this was a nice healing moment. It was just as he'd thought—bigger was better. This experience was restoring his worldview quite nicely.

𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕔𝕒𝕟'𝕥 𝕛𝕦𝕤𝕥 𝕜𝕖𝕖𝕡 𝕤𝕚𝕥𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕠𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕞! cried the Spirit, throwing up its hands. 𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕦𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕪 𝕦𝕤𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝—𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥'𝕤 𝕙𝕠𝕨 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝕚𝕥 𝕦𝕡!

"Okay fine," said Zane.

The next time it summoned a creature—some Earth Giant—Zane gave his blob a shape. Made it a bit smaller on one end, a bit bigger on the other. He named it the 'Club of Zane,' and whacked the thing. It got the job done nicely.

𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕦𝕡!

𝔼𝕞𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕠𝕣'𝕤 𝕄𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥 𝕀 -> 𝕀𝕀

Next the Spirit chucked up a Bog Hippo. It was much like a normal hippo—but bigger, messier, and muddier, with two tombstone-like front teeth.

This time Zane added a spike to his club. It was more of a dulled tooth than a real spike, but he was happy with his progress. WHACK!

𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕦𝕡!

𝔼𝕞𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕠𝕣'𝕤 𝕄𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥 𝕀𝕀 -> 𝕀𝕀𝕀

It didn't take many more whacks before he could fashion his soul into all the basic shapes. Triangles, rectangles. Rectangles on triangles—something like a sword. The shape didn't much matter—they all squished the same—but he enjoyed playing around with it anyway.

𝔾𝕠𝕠𝕕 𝕘𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕗, muttered the Spirit. 𝕎𝕖𝕝𝕝! 𝔸𝕗𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤, 𝕒𝕟𝕪 𝔸𝕤𝕔𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕒𝕟𝕥𝕤 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕒𝕔𝕣𝕠𝕤𝕤 𝕙𝕒𝕕 𝕓𝕖𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕡𝕣𝕒𝕪 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕪'𝕧𝕖 𝕘𝕠𝕥 𝕤𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕕𝕒𝕞𝕟𝕖𝕕 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕟𝕘 𝕤𝕠𝕦𝕝-𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕖𝕝𝕕𝕤—𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕟… It shuddered. 𝕋𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕚𝕤 𝕗𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕜𝕝𝕪 𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕣𝕚𝕗𝕪𝕚𝕟𝕘.

"What thing."

It just gestured to Zane. Or rather, his soul-body.

"Oh."

Zane was getting a bit exhausted by the end of the session. But he had made good progress. It still wasn't easy—even moving his soul around took a lot of effort. But he could see a clear path to that next Stormfire Concept.

Now he'd gotten this far, he also saw how much there was left to go. Making basic static shapes was not the same thing as lighting raging Stormfire. He would have to use those Skills in the physical plane and the astral, all at once….

He wasn't so convinced anymore he could put it together with just Law Visions. To get Plasma and Focused Intensity he had to experience greater Stormfires in flesh. He needed one more piece. But he felt pretty close.

𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕦𝕡!

𝔼𝕞𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕠𝕣'𝕤 𝕄𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥 𝕀𝕍 -> 𝕍

𝕋𝕙𝕒𝕥'𝕤 𝕒𝕤 𝕗𝕒𝕣 𝕒𝕤 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕘𝕠 𝕓𝕖𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕖 𝔸𝕤𝕔𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕒𝕟𝕥, said the Spirit. It looked like it had been through a lot. 𝕀 𝕤𝕦𝕡𝕡𝕠𝕤𝕖 𝕀'𝕝𝕝 𝕤𝕖𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕟. 𝕀𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕞𝕖𝕒𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕞𝕖… 𝕀 𝕒𝕞 𝕘𝕠𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕠 𝕥𝕒𝕜𝕖 𝕒 𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕪 𝕝𝕠𝕟𝕘 𝕟𝕒𝕡.