Saraf paused briefly and continued, more seriously and imposingly. He knew what he was about to say would shake them.
‘There is something else to do. Every Aorian should learn how to defend. Fight. Some will not be as strong as others and will fall prey to this energy.’
‘That’s outrageous’ Lint shouted. ‘We have lived peacefully forever and now you want us to learn how to kill one another? What do we do after we solve this problem? We’re going to be a bunch of goalless warriors.’
‘Saraf is right, Lint’s other son stood up for him. ‘What if, somebody loses their mind next to your children and tries to kill them? They will not know how to defend themselves. Until somebody dares stop them, they could end numerous lives.’
Lint burst out.
‘Me, learning how to kill my own kind …’
Akdarosif intervened, the voice of his mind coming down on everybody, loud, clear and imposing:
‘What if I go mental? It is obvious that if I throw my claw once I will kill twenty of you. I do not want to boast about it, but the only one among you able to defeat me is Saraf. What would the rest of you do? Soak the soil in your blood until he arrives?’
Some started laughing even though the image created in their mind was quite gory.
‘How are we going to do it then?’ one of the leaders at the table asked. ‘We all master some basic techniques, some can even control an energy form of a higher level, yet this is not enough to be able to protect ourselves in every situation.’
‘I will teach you and you will teach others.’
‘I refuse to take part in this’ Lint said. ‘I will help you with whatever you need, but I will not teach anybody how to take somebody else’s life.’
Silence enveloped the table for several second, then Saraf continued:
‘Return to your Menoms for the time being. I will give each of you a copy of the crystals I have shown you so that you, in turn, should show them to your Aorians. Then, in 25-days’ time, we will reconvene here and I will teach you as much as I can. In the meantime I will continue to train Afaris and start training other Aorians from my Menom.’
‘25 days? Saraf, I live on the other side of the planet’ one of them said.
‘You can ask a Nymph to take you or you can pace up. Time is valuable. And we cannot waste it.’
‘We’ll be delighted to help you, if you wish. I will also inform all the Nymphs. With your permission, Saraf, I think it would be a good idea if we joined the training sessions. We could learn how to protect each other.’
‘I agree. Having said that, would anybody else like to take the floor?’ Saraf asked.
After a few moments of silence, Saraf stood up and clapped once.
All his daughters and sons stood up.
‘Do you all agree with your duties?’
Except for Lint, they all hailed ‘yes’.
‘This council meeting is now over.’
They headed for the tower’s energy pit, talking and exchanging views about the situation. The Nymphs took off to leave room on the balcony. Some Aorians, too eager to wait in line to descend on the energy wave jumped directly from the balcony trusting their forces.
Akdarosif, together with some other Nymphs volunteered to fly Saraf’s sons and daughters to their Menoms. Some agreed and thanked him for his help, others decided to walk. The idea of the sky height gave them the chills.
In a few minutes, the tower cleared. Nymphs had taken off and Aorians had left for their homes or to their activities prior to the council.
Afaris remained with his mother at the council table, waiting for the crowd to go away, and Saraf to greet everybody.
‘We did it’ Afaris said when his father eventually sat down at the table with them.
‘Yes, we did it, but this is just the beginning.’
Chapter 8
Learning survival
The following day, soon after sunrise, Afaris and his father went out on the tower’s balcony to start training. Saraf’s intention was to dedicate much of his time to training Afaris, always pushing his limits. He had great expectations from him.
Outside, the temperature was low, and the wind was blowing strongly, shaking their white cloaks. The grass growing on the vast round balcony was still covered in dew, and the sun’s weak rays were reflecting in it. Around the tower, Saraf-Menom was gradually waking up, as the energy stones turned off.
Afaris went to the balcony edge and looked in the distance. The tower was so high you could see beyond the horizon. To the west, where the sun had not set, Afaris noticed the energy pillars of several towns whose energy was rising incrementally to the sky. The closest town was Urfius-Menom, which still illuminated to the west, creating the impression that as a sun was rising behind them, another was descending in front of them.
Within this landscape, Saraf and Afaris emptied their mind of all thoughts and anxieties, to focus exclusively on their training. After a few moments, they opened their eyes and started to the tower centre, standing one in front of the other.
‘Firstly’ Saraf said ‘shorten your hair. I do not think you want your fringe in your eyes during a skirmish.’
Afaris focused on his hair. The tips caught fire reducing the hairs to one quarter of their normal length. Then the hair bent slightly on his back.
‘So far I have taught you how to gather energy, create small energy entities and bend the energy around to your use. Now I will teach you how to defend yourself. You remember the fight with the Nymphs on the mountain, right?’
Afaris nodded.
‘You saw I used energy shield against their attacks. I want you to do the same.’
In theory, it was simple to control the energy, if you imagined something and your energy was strong enough, that thing could become reality. Afaris stretched his arms, palms towards his father and imagined an energy shield as big as him. Soon, the energy inside him caught a form in front of him and the shield was activated.
Saraf lifted one arm and a stone appeared in his palm. The stone started floating in front of his eyes, then he cast it at a deadly speed towards Afaris’s shield. It hit the shield and deflected from it.
Afaris lost focus, taken by surprise by the force of the impact, and the shield shattered.
‘Again, this time try not to lose it.’
Saraf formed another stone as big as the first one and threw it to Afaris’s shield. The shield cracked on impact and the stone hit Afaris’s shoulder, causing him a nasty wound and smashing his bones.
‘Ahhh’ Afaris screamed in pain.
He grabbed his wounded shoulder with his healthy hand and channelled his energy to the wound, healing it.
‘You should not fear or doubt yourself or your powers. You must believe firmly that your shield will block the attack. Otherwise, if you do not trust it, it will let you down.’
‘Can you, at least, hit more softly, since I’m a rookie?’
‘I could, but I am positive I do not need to. Come on! Again!’
Afaris reactivated the shield, raising his arms in front of him. He was agitated, yet he tried to channel energy into the shield. The light of the shield grew as more energy fuelled it.
Saraf cast another stone to the shield, this time it shattered on hitting the shield, and the shield remained intact. Saraf smiled, satisfied with his son’s breakthrough, but he had no intention to spoil him. Another stone flew to the shield, faster, with the same outcome. Then another one and another one …
Afaris managed to deflect his father’s blows, one after another. Sweat was running down his forehead, and the muscles of his arms hurt from effort. Every blow pushed him one step farther.
When Afaris thought his father had ceased, Saraf generated a much bigger stone, which caught fire on the spot. Saraf threw it at Afaris at full speed.
Understanding he could not duck such an attack, Afaris gave up the shield and jumped to one side, the huge fire ball shaving him. It continued to fly until it collapsed into the forest in
a cloud of smoke and a muffled thud.
‘How do you expect me to fend that off?’ Afaris reprimanded his father.
‘I did not want you to fend it off. You must master your mind. The energy you control is limited. Regardless how much you have, eventually you will run out. You must use it wisely. You are using too much energy and that is wrong. You are keeping your shield on and this is consuming you.’
‘If I don’t hold it, I risk not being fast enough and be hit.’
‘Right. This is another aspect we must work on. I will tell you what we need to do. I will strike more softly and you use your energy when the impact is imminent and immediate.’
Afaris nodded, wiping the sweat off his forehead. Saraf generated several stones which he guided so as to form a circle around Afaris twenty meters from him.
‘Why did I expect it to be easier?’ Afaris wondered.
One by one, stones started flying to him, at a lower speed this time. Using his senses, Afaris succeeded to avoid some, either by fending them off with an energy shield smaller than the previous one or ducking them. Every now and then a stone would hit him, taking him by surprise, either in the back or leg or chest, cutting off his breath and provoking burning pain.
‘That is fine, continue, you are doing great.’
As the attacks hit him, he was becoming more and more agitated and, as he grew agitated, his power and concentration increased. Shortly he managed to fend off successfully all the blows.
After several minutes, Saraf stopped attacking him. Exhausted, Afaris slammed on his back panting.
Saraf came next to him and spoke down on him.
‘You are complaining I am forcing you. I am doing it because I know you are up to it.’
‘I know’ Afaris said panting.
‘No, you do not. Believe me, there are not many people on this planet who can advance as fast as you are.’
‘Well, then, in tens of days you will have a fully functional weapon.’
‘Good. We can train on equal terms’ Saraf said, full of pride.
Afaris rose to his butt, and his father bowed to him.
‘Pay attention, regardless of your brute force, you will always be defeated by a smarter opponent. You need to think.’
‘What could I do against you, for example? You can destroy me with one thought.’
‘Fend off my attack. If my attack fails, I have consumed much energy generating it. Thus, you can drain my powers and turn the tables on me.’
‘By the time you consume your energy … it’s not as if you can’t regenerate while charging.’
Saraf sighed, thinking how to increase his son’s trust.
You have a powerful mind, Afaris, you cannot even imagine what you can do with it.’
‘No use if I’m not strong enough.’
‘You have a misconception on power. In this world, there are four things tightly connected, and he who is aware and works on the connection wins in any situation. Firstly, there is your spirit. That is who you are, that entity you know exists, but you cannot see it … now. Your mind is controlled by your spirit, and your mind, in turn, controls your body and the surrounding energy. These are the four elements you need to learn in your training. Spirit, mind, body, energy.’
Afaris continued to watch him, trying to grasp the meaning of his words.
‘Your mind is the one connecting the spirit and the material world. The stronger the mind, the higher your control.’
‘But isn’t the energy I control within me?’
‘Yes and no. Your spirit is a receiver. It fills and empties. The bigger, the more energy you can retain. However, if your mind is narrow, then it cannot release too much energy at once. There is another trick to it. Your mind will always be weaker than your spirit. The trick is to use your energy to manipulate the already existing energy. Thus, whenever you create an energo-form, you use a part of your energy to build and control it, but if you use as much energy as possible from around you, not only will the connection be stronger, you will be left with more energy subsequent to the process.’
Afaris went pensive. He remembered the event in the forest when they were running away from the Nymphs, when he succeeded to create an energy entity bigger than he expected.
‘Do you remember two nights ago, in the forest, did you see that energy entity?’
‘Yes. You created it, did you not?’
‘Yes, but I don’t know how I did it. Was it an energo-form?’
‘Not really, it was a second degree energo-spirit.’
‘Second degree?’
Saraf nodded.
‘Yes. The first degree is lower than you, and the third degree is everything greater than you, obviously to one point. Create a Nymph the size of Akdarosif, that could be called a fourth degree energo-spirit.’
‘Then, what is an energo-form? I’ve never seen one.’
‘Everything in its due time. I will soon teach you.’
‘I’m not asking you to teach me now, I’m just curious.’
Saraf smiled and continued to watch him in silence for some moments, then replied:
‘I have my own methods, Afaris. Trust me, I know why I do not want to show you now.’
‘OK, Afaris answered slightly irritated. Anyway, you are right, I am stronger than I think. I didn’t imagine I was yet able to control a spiritual entity my size.’
‘You are even stronger than that…’
Saraf wanted to continue his sentence, but went pensive looking down at the grass growing on the tower balcony. Afaris noticed his father was contemplating something that was worrying him:
‘What’s the matter?’
Saraf looked up and crossed Afaris’s gaze and replied seriously:
‘I am not going to make the same mistake again. Promise me you will not try something foolish before consulting me first!’
Afaris looked at him in surprise:
‘Yes, sure.’
‘The energy you used to create that energy spirit was not yours. You may have composed it, but maintaining it for so long, without help, is out of the question.’
‘Did you help me?’
‘Unfortunately, it was not I who helped you. In my research on the energy pit I have noticed that in times of rage, agitation, intense stress and fear, a bond is created between you and that energy. It may enter you much more easily. It is strange you can still control it in that initial stage. So you controlled the energy coming out of the pit.’
Surprised at what Saraf was telling him, Afaris smiled and wanted to tell him something, but Saraf interrupted him before he could utter a word.
‘You control it until it controls you. In that moment of rage, you are opening a door for it. Seeing it helps you, your mind subconsciously gets along with its presence and, then, without you sensing it, takes control over you.’
‘Couldn’t you just fool it like that? Control it to your goals?’
‘It is too risky. You have seen what it is capable of. I have just told you how cunning it can be, and I reckon this is just the beginning.’
Saraf paused briefly and continued:
‘What I have told you stays between you and me. Should others find out, they would be tempted to fiddle with this energy and their life, subsequently. They will be drawn by it to taste its power and it will take away their mind. Do you understand what I am telling you?’
‘I do, Father. Rest assured, I will not do anything without informing you. By the way, when are you going up the mountain again?’
‘When you are ready. You are my assistant I have told you and I cannot go anywhere without you.’
Afaris smiled happily on hearing Saraf’s words.
‘Well then, let’s resume our training session’ Afaris said and stood up followed by his father.
Saraf had managed to incentivize him. Guided by his wish to help his father and the lust for knowledge, Afaris started pushing himself more and more, constantly exceeding his limits. Every time he hit the ground, powerlessly
, he rose up seconds later, even stronger.
When the sun reached its zenith two Aorians, a man and a woman, popped out of the tower pit.
Afaris and Saraf paused their training session on seeing them. The two stepped towards them, looking surprised:
‘I hope we’re not late’ the man said.
‘You are not, do not worry’ Saraf answered and Afaris looked at his father surprised
Seeing Afaris’s expression Saraf told him:
‘I forgot to tell you, yesterday, before dusk I sent a telepathic message to all Aorians in the town who wanted to hear it, telling them I expected them here when the sun reaches its zenith to teach them how to defend themselves.’
‘I see’ Afaris answered.
‘Is anybody else coming?’ Saraf asked the two.
‘Yes, they’re coming; I’ve spoken to some friends and they said they would be here, they should show up.’
***
Saraf and Afaris continued training watched by the other two, waiting for more Aorians to show up. As time passed, more and more people popped out of the energy pit, sitting down in the grass and watching with great interest how Afaris trained with his father.
First there were ten, then twenty and their number continued to increase.
Eventually, Saraf finished training with Afaris and released him on the grounds that he wanted to start training the rookies and there was no point for Afaris to attend. He urged him to restore his powers and continue to meditate, as there was nothing else for him to do.
Days passed and Saraf continued training with Afaris before noon and the others in the afternoon. To his surprise more and more Aorians came to train on top of the tower. Some came willingly, others were brought along by friends. In general they trained in pairs and when they felt they mastered the techniques they went back to Saraf for him to show them what needed to be done next.
Afaris was performing at the highest level. He was stronger and stronger every day. Not only did he improve his defence, but he also learnt how to attack. They kept switching roles, Afaris would attack, Saraf would defend and vice-versa. At times, when Afaris felt in full shape, they would fight, yet Saraf was less strong than him so as to force him advance.
Afaris: Shadows on Aora Page 8