Master Of None

What was really the worst about their situation was that they could not see a single thing. They did not know what or who was holding them in place. They just knew that they were trapped and that they were being kept there until there was something done about it.

”Little one, why do you move toward what I am here to protect? I sense your greed for knowledge. I sense your desire to study. I know of those things. So tell me. Why.”

The words shook the space around them making the pressure even clearer to them. It was something unlike what Walker had ever felt before. It was entirely different from what he did when he used manas to isolate an area by stopping them from moving. This was complete control over manas and space around them to ensure that nothing could move at all.

”I came looking for-”

”Speak clearly and tell me what you need and what you would venture this far.” The words again hit like a wave of pressure, this time only focused on Walker making his face redden. He was trying his best but the pressure was almost too much with those words.

”I want to learn more and grow more. I need to learn about life mana, death mana. Time mana. And space mana. I need that to keep protecting the people of the world.” He blurted out in a rush making it seem that the words had been forced out rather than spoken in conversation. It was a forced phrase that was more than just true though. Even Walker felt that the words he had said were more influenced than just him telling the truth. Like there was a sincerity in them that allowed for nothing to be left to be desired.

”Good. Then you may glimpse upon what i raise. You will not be allowed within, it would contaminate such a place of purity. It will one day bolster new growth within a hundred elemental planes.” Walker felt the pressure disappear and he sucked in a deep breath. He could tell that the words were believing what he had said, but he also sensed that he was under extreme scrutiny.

He wasn’t just being watched, he was being guided like a pet on a leash. It was demeaning but also clear that he had no trust with whatever or whoever this was. A being that was much more powerful than him but certainly not an origin race member. That alone made him wonder just what kind of guardian would be this powerful that the younger origin race members would not even be able to hold a candle to them.

”Do not pry child. You are an infant compared to those that reign here. We watch, we guide, and we report to only those greater than the average. We are those that foster the very fabric of what you know. Do not believe that in our gardens you are a master to anything. You are just one that comes to learn the art we have been breathed in to existence to foster.”

The words hit like a falling mountain. They spoke of one that had become more than just what they preached or what they were asked to learn. This being was and would always be one that existed to ensure the growth and protection of this life elemental plane. Its garden was something that existed because it allowed for greater things than just itself.

That understanding was easy to feel, that was a purity beyond elemental manas being pure. This purity was in sense and law. It resonated with the way of existence to the point that Walker believed he may be speaking to a being that could possibly interact with the very will of existence more than what Walker was even able to comprehend.

”Do not wander in thought. I feel your wavering. Your theories and curiosity is both a blade that cuts you and defends you. If you were to wander in to the death elemental plane you would have become nothing by a mere moment of existence before vanishing in to it.”

These words made everyone’s skin crawl. They didn’t feel there were lies or untruths within. This was just a fact. A clean and clear fact that if Walker had gone toward a death elemental plane then he would just cease to be. Plain and simple, he would not be treated like he was now to where it could even be called compassionate.

In a push of space, the entire party and Walker was dragged right in front of the golden green life elemental plane. ”This is the garden of life, a plane where the life mana gathered. Look upon it and understand that all life is minuscule until given the chance to blossom. My garden has grown for three thousand years and has allowed seventy three elemental planes to be grown properly.”

The resonance in these words was mirrored by the ripples in the mana below. Thai mana was nothing that Walker could touch and influence. He was unable to grasp it because he had never been able to control and grasp life mana to a denser degree. He could spur his life mana and others mana mana to develop and heal, even help alter the race of someone because of their innate connections and paths.

That was something that the will of the world and will for existence could also do through the systems they put in place. Systems that were obsolete since innate abilities, skill, and even quests were becoming something natural that didn’t need to be watched and seen, they were felt as part of what everyone was. It was just another fact of everyone and everything.

”It’s beautiful, just like when we heal someone, it’s more than what…” Alice wasn’t speaking to anyone. She was speaking to herself in a mumbled tone while light mana within her seemed to be released a little. She was distracted and not focusing, but looking at this, she felt the same senses as when she was healing someone. She could feel the same vibrance.

Gil and Su struggled to grasp anything though. They were not in the same line of thoughts as Alice and Walker would be. Su had worked with whalers and still couldn’t catch on. She did feel the mana resonating with her though. So did Gil. It inspired them slightly to the point that they felt any past wounds were less known and any scars were fading because their body was healing them even cleaner than ever before.

In Midnight and Onyx’s perspective, they were feeling what Walker was sensing slightly. Meaning that their minds were racing as they understood more about themselves. The life mana within them was spurring their bloodlines to develop as they should. For Midnight, she was being able to merge her affinities as a true dragon champion even better within her body. It was solidifying what she was to start.

For Onyx, he was isolating his race more. He was a monarch, a patriarch, a being that was the first and leader of his race now. Since that was the case, the stability he had within his body was not the same as others who would be born a hundred years later of his race. Now though, he was solidifying a foundation that would allow him to remain in power and guide those ten times better if he remained focused on such things.

Remey thought she was awestruck. Her knowledge of alchemy has always been directed at helping those she cared for. Therefore, that time in the orphanage and her goals to learn alchemy for her sick siblings had been a core aspect of who she was. The very foundation for her goals to be more than a brawler.

The alchemical brawler she was had never seen something like this. And as the first of her unique class, she has focused immensely on alchemy since she had learned to fight previously for her whole entire life. This moment gave her the recognition that as an alchemist she had been missing things.

The life mana within the herbs she used were wasted. That mana had always been ignored since she had not even considered it. Meaning that all potions she had were not that good. Not better. ”I can go beyond grand potions. I can make… I don’t know what they would be. I can do more though.” The flames in her eyes had sparked in to a slightly golden color proving she had grasped the essence of her direction as an alchemist and how she would use it to form a path that used her strength and understanding even further.

An alchemical brawler who would step forward toward a new goal.

Walker though. He couldn’t comprehend what to do. He was stunned and also racing. He was stuck and always running forward. His body felt like it was being offered water after being trapped in the desert for years and years. He felt that he was being shown and given just what he had been missing if only a small portion, it was enough.

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Please say no to piracy! Don’t take part in crime! Don’t patronize thieves!

Drop those golden tickets!