Adamant Blood

Learning how to be a mage started with astral body stretching, and Mark had mixed feelings during the whole experience. On the one hand, it was simple. He could do this part on his own, and indeed, he had been doing this every so often on his own anyway. On the other hand, he didn't see how this was actually going to allow him to cast spells, so right now this whole thing was a leap of faith.

Not a large leap, seeing as how it made no sense at all for Elaria to lie to them like this, but it was still a leap of faith.

Meditation was a big part of the process.

Then came attempts at completely separating from one's own Power, which involved Elaria bringing Mark and Isoko to a meditation room in her mansion with walls made of sound-eliminating foam. The goal, there, was to become 'nothing and no one, not even hearing the sound of your own heartbeat'. It was unnerving to be inside of that room. Mark could not hear his own heartbeat. Everything was muffled. Even standing next to Isoko and Elaria, he had to half-yell to make himself heard.

Elaria had them focus on stillness.

Mark had to tap out of that experience after 10 minutes and Isoko was right there with him, and Elaria grinned and told them that both of them lasted longer than usual, which was a good sign.

"When you can stand being in the silent room for an hour, you'll have a much easier time understanding your map. It's not easy to get in touch with one's own map, but the room helps!"

And then they moved to other rooms and Elaria directed them on astral body stretches, which both Mark and Isoko had already done a lot of.

"Of course you have! Everyone does," Elaria said, and then with a knowing tone, she asked, "What were you stretching your astral bodies for, though? What exactly, I mean."

Mark said, "For range on Union, of course, but also to use my adamantium outside of the limitations of physical form. To spin a blade fast enough for flight."

"A kinetic's flight is going to be the easiest for you to achieve, yes, but we'll get you something better eventually. How about you, Isoko?"

Isoko answered, "For range and breadth of capability. My Union range is nothing like Mark's, but stretching Union has helped with Platinum Body's Tactile Telekinesis, and that's just been so useful."

At that moment, Mark realized that when the gods granted Powers to their people, they were probably changing the maps of their astral bodies. Like a Skiller for the Empire, a mage, or any number of other people. The gods directly altered a person's map, and then reinforced that altering so that it did not decay like normal magic decayed when used.

Elaria nodded, and then spoke of an interesting fact, "The capabilities of Skills grow over time, and with use. This much is known. Stretching the astral body is like working muscles, and in the work, the muscles improve. You alter your maps naturally if you use your Skills in new and different ways. This is the normal way of things for all Awakened people. In this way, practice is like working out at the gym. Work those biceps or thighs or shoulders, and so on and so forth.

"Magery is steroids.

"Magery is giving you access to the way your muscles work, allowing you to pump up the natural human growth hormone in the body, or any number of other ways in which you might strengthen yourself in a permanent way. Forget working for years to get bigger bench presses. Just make yourself more capable, directly!

"But, understandably, casting magic could lead to death if you do it wrong.

"So, for now, I want you to feel the way in which you stretch yourself, and how it works inside, and meditate on that stretch. Eventually, you will be able to feel your Binding. Once you can feel-see-touch your binding, we will proceed with mapping.

"It is a slow process, and this is just the start of it all, but you'll get there. I know you will." Elaria looked to Mark and added, "You'll probably learn how to fly with adamantium propellers and proper wing-shapes long before you learn how to adjust your Binding. This is normal." She looked to Isoko. "You will likely learn Protect long before you're ready for flight magics. Such is the nature of Platinum Body. But with Platinum Body, you'll be set for learning a great deal of other magics. I cannot teach you more than Flight and Protect, though. I am telling you now, Isoko: You need to think about making a deal with Grand Mage Solari to learn more than what I can teach you, because you will go far. Platinum Body is incredibly good for magery, and you will eventually find out why."

Mark nodded, loving the idea of flight-through-kinesis, even if it was janky for now. That's how he was planning on flying, anyway.

Isoko steeled herself for the long, long road ahead, but she seemed thrilled that her future held more power than most. She just really wanted flight for now, though.

"Let us continue." Elaria smiled a little, and then she raised her arms high, Mark and Isoko mirrored her, and Elaria continued, "Raise the arms! Push your astral self as far as you can in that direction, and now lower to the ground…"

An hour later, Mark and Isoko were sweating with an odd sense of strain that both of them hadn't experienced in a long time. It was Power fatigue, and a deep one at that. They only used Union to heal themselves at the end, because Elaria asked them to refrain from healing in the middle of the session. Even after healing, though, the strain didn't vanish like most strain. The Power fatigue was still there.

Mark asked about that.

"It's not too bad, is it?" Elaria asked, over another set of cookies and a pot of tea.

"Well… No," Mark admitted. But it did feel odd to feel weak at all. Mark felt like he was 17 again and he had lifted too many weights that day, or he had done too much on the field. Too many tackles, too many strains. But in a kinda-good way. "It's not a bad feeling." Mark looked at his forearm as he made a fist, and he felt… worn out. "Just a deep fatigue?"

Isoko said, "Like a hard run, before I Awakened. Or after healing people for several hours."

"Yes, like that," Mark said.

Elaria nodded. "Skill fatigue is pretty normal for most people. Union users are lucky in that they can heal that astral body weakness, but most people feel what you're feeling right now practically all the time when out in the field. As long as that's all it is, then you're fine."

Mark nodded.

Isoko made a small hum of agreement.

"If you feel weak in another 30 minutes, then you might have cause for concern, but you were doing a whole new series of stretches. Rest and relax, and prepare yourself to do this every single day, and to know that this was nothing compared to what is to come."

Stolen story; please report.

Mark was already feeling strained, but…

Mark said, "I look forward to it."

Elaria grinned. "All of this was preparatory work that you can do on your own, and which you are expected to do on your own. Stretch high, then low, then left and right then forward and back. These are the Six Ways, as I explained earlier. And then you do the Six Ways again and again until you feel strained again. And then, you do a little bit more. When you're done, take a break and heal naturally as much as you are able. Union is great for healing the astral body, but you need to feel your weakness before you can feel your Binding. As you heal, and as you stress yourself again and again, you will eventually uncover your Binding. Try to refrain from healing in the middle of a session, though. That delays self discovery." Elaria said, "Eventually, when you are able to see your Binding, we can begin with the Forms and with mapping."

Isoko asked, "Does Union's ability to heal astral strain impact Opening the Bindings?"

Mark thought that was a very weird question. It shouldn't, right?

Elaria surprised Mark by nodding slightly, and saying, "Yes and no. Some would say yes, it impacts the process, because breakthroughs to understanding your Binding usually happen when you're at your weakest and you need to do just a little bit more. Take the standard example of a soldier stressed from a war and then needing to eke out just a bit more from his Skill or he will die, and thus, in the delirium of battle, he learns his Binding and what he can really do. A Shaper breaking the physical-astral connection and spinning metal truly fast would be a common battle-level breakthrough.

"In being pushed to the brink you can find yourself. This much is very true.

"But! Most people die when they are that strained.

"So, being strong all the time is also fine, and some Skills don't allow their users to become weak at all through normal means. So those people, like you and Mark, need to learn how to find your Binding while remaining strong." Elaria changed the subject, saying, "But that's enough for today! What are you two kids going to do for the rest of the day? I suggest some sleep and relaxation, but you two strike me more as the kind who wants to go out and fight something."

"I think we're both buying things from the Artificer's Guild," Mark said.

Elaria's eyes brightened, and then she smiled, asking, "What are you getting? I love talking about magical items."

Mark smiled a little and found it easy to talk about the stuff he wanted to get. Isoko seemed the same way as she spoke about buying a hoverbelt, even if she couldn't use it properly.

"I still want one," Isoko said, quite firmly.

"Flying never gets old!" Elaria said, happily.

Soon enough they finished off the tea and Elaria had Sekail pack the cookies into a bag for them, which she insisted upon. Elaria instructed them to do more stretches every single day until the next meeting, which she tentatively scheduled for next week.

Elaria added, "But winter will be here in another week or so, so we might be snowed in! I hope not. There's still a lot to be done. I'll let you know when the next meeting is."

Mark and Isoko had both heard about the vagaries of weather on Daihoon. It was currently deep winter on Earth, at Memphi, right on the other side of the Veil, but here on Daihoon, it felt like spring. None of the trees were bare and all of the land was full green, or otherwise lively. That could change, though, and rapidly.

Mark asked, "Is the weather of Daihoon really that weird?"

Elaria laughed. "Earth weather is the weird weather. It's all based on wind moving around and heat from the oceans and rivers? And on the tilt of the axis of the Earth? No no. Here the weather is much simpler. When the ice auroras are in the sky, then it is winter, and you can tell how bad it will be based on the density of the ice auroras in the sky."

Isoko said, "That seems weird to me."

Elaria chuckled.

Soon enough, Mark and Isoko were at the door to Valen Manor, bowing at their instructor.

Elaria smiled and bid them farewell, and then they left Valen Manor.

They had made no progress toward understanding their Binding today, but that was normal—

"Oh!" Isoko said, pointing toward the north. "That must be winter approaching! Ha!"

Mark looked toward the north.

Tendrils of ice blue light snaked through the aurora sky, just above the blue half of the heavens. The light barely stood out against the normal blue, but they were there, and they were headed this way. Slowly.

Very, very slowly…

Were they moving at all?

Mark asked, "Wonder how long those have been there? Never noticed them."

"They're not moving?"

Mark held out Quark and pointed him at the sky, asking, "Is winter approaching the settlement, Quark?"

Quark's screen flickered silver as he came fully online. He glowed. And then his camera activated to take an image of the sky. A few seconds later, Quark said, "Winter will be approaching this location in approximately 7 to 10 days. Based on current atmospheric conditions, expect 8 to 10 centimeters of snow per day, with an average temperature of -10° to 2°."

"Snow!" Mark said.

"Freezing temps sound like snow to me," Isoko said, grinning a little.

Mark put away Quark, saying, "I'm so glad the snow doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would."

"Ha! Florida boy!" Isoko said, grinning wider, doing a little hop as she walked down the street, toward the tram. "I love the snow."

She was in a good mood.

Mark smiled.

He was in a good mood, too.

Mark asked, "Want to go check out artifacts?"

"Gods yes!"