Aiko was back in her strange detached dream, but this time, instead of sitting at the desk in some unknown classroom, dream Aiko was running for her life down some nondescript alley chased by a monster she didn't dare turn to look at.
Her dream self ran and ran. Constantly turning corners sporadically as she tried to shake off her pursuer. But no matter how far or fast she ran, her pursuer's footsteps always sounded like they were still right behind her.
And then she tripped, tumbling forward and scraping her knee on the rough concrete. Her dream self grabbed her bleeding leg in pain even though Aiko couldn't feel a thing. Yet, both of them watched in horror as the monster chasing her turned the corner, then charged straight at her.
Dream Aiko screamed, trying to crawl away, but in her heart, knowing it was hopeless, that she was going to die. Despair gripped her soul as she braced for the inevitable.
Then, it was no longer inevitable.
A small, hazy creature appeared next to her. Aiko couldn't make out the words, but she knew what they were asking, what they were offering.
And even before her dream self could speak, Aiko could already tell what the reply was going to be.
And Aiko immediately snapped awake.
-
The air in the Verge tasted of stale ash and decay, a familiar, unwelcome greeting as Aiko blinked herself awake. A deep-seated weariness clung to her bones, heavier than any all-nighter at her old office job.
Did I even sleep? She thought to herself in frustration. It had felt like she'd only closed her eyes for a mere moment before they had forced themselves back open. It wasn't even like the sunlight had forced her awake, because there was no sun in the Verge. Just the perpetual violet sky that coated the land in a constant violet hue.
"Morning, sunshine!" Elara's cheerful voice cut through the haze. She was perched nearby on the bottom half of a windowsill. Her legs dangling like a child on a swing. She held a slightly crumpled paper bag aloft. "You hungry? Because I got you breakfast if you are."
Aiko nodded, prompting Elara to lob the bag at her without any further warning. She fumbled a little but managed to catch it. The warm, greasy aroma of a fast-food burger immediately filled her nostrils as she opened it to peer inside. "Thanks, Elara," she mumbled, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. Reaching into the bag, she pulled out a wrapped, fully intact burger. "Where did you...?"
"Ordered delivery!" Elara chirped, beaming. "To your apartment. Told them to leave it at the door and grabbed them after the delivery guy left." She replied with a proud smile. "Oh, and don't worry about me, I already ate mine." She patted her stomach. "Gotta fuel up for the big day I have planned for us!"
Relief washed over Aiko. Thankful that her breakfast hadn't resulted in some poor delivery driver having a mini-heart attack as a Rift-Monster yanked a sack of burgers from their hands. She unwrapped the burger and took a large bite, enjoying the taste of a normal burger as she stared across the alien landscape.
"Sleep okay?" Elara asked, tilting her head. "You look a little tired."
"Not really," Aiko admitted between bites. "Weird dreams. Can't remember what they were about though."
"Eh, if you can't remember them, they probably weren't that important." Elara hopped down from her perch, landing lightly on the ground below. "Well, dreams or no dreams. Today's the day! Magic 101 with Professor Elara!" She struck a mock-scholarly pose, ruined by the manic gleam in her violet eyes. "I'm going to drill half a decade worth of magical experience into you in one day, but before all that, what do you say to a little sparring so I can get a better feel for your magic?"
Aiko finished the burger, the greasy satisfaction momentarily pushing aside the lingering fatigue. "Alright, Professor. Lead the way."
They moved to a larger clearing amidst the skeletal ruins, the bruised sky casting long, distorted shadows. Elara bounced on the balls of her feet, crackling with energy.
Positioning herself a good distance away from Aiko she tore open a small rift and reached in, pulling out a smooth, normal-looking gray baseball bat. Then, with a casual flick of her wrist, she activated it, causing the plain bat to emit a violet light from the many intricate violet lines that ran along its barrel.
"Alright, pupil!" Elara adopted a ready stance, bat resting loosely on her shoulder. "Time for you to show me what you got! And don't worry about getting hurt," she winked, "I promise I'll go easy on you."
Aiko adopted her own ready stance, raising both her hands up, and nodded.
Seeing her cue, Elara rushed forward, closing the distance in just a couple of strides. Aiko threw up her right hand and willed a barrier to form between them, stopping Elara right in her tracks.
Faced with the violet barrier that was the height of a door and just as wide, Elara swung into it with her bat without breaking her stride. The bat impacted the barrier with a dull thwack, and Elara hopped two steps back to avoid crashing directly into it.
"Solid first block!" Elara chirped, before planting her feet in the ground. "But this time, I'm going to hit it a little harder!" The bat glowed brighter before Elara and gripped with both hands instead of just one. Wheeling back, she swung it with the full force of her hips, torso, and arms behind the blow. The bat slammed into the barrier, causing it to explode into countless shards of dissipating violet light. Aiko stumbled back from the impact of the force, before quickly raising her other hand to create a second barrier.
"Not bad, honestly," Elara called out to her with a smirk, once again propping her bat against her shoulder.
Aiko smirked back and pushed her second barrier forward, aiming to slam it directly into Elara whilst her guard was down.
However, Elara leapt straight up, easily vaulting over the barrier as it surged past her.
"Too telegraphed, bestie!" She yelled at her with a laugh. "Your arm movements are too easy to read. Try to visualize the push internally and do the same thing, but without the hand gestures."
Aiko nodded and created another barrier. Keeping her arms frozen, she tried to push it into Elara as she rushed her again, but the barrier remained completely still.
Elara easily sidestepped the stationary barrier and tapped Aiko lightly on the head with her bat.
"Touch!" She called with a giggle, "Okay, I'll reset now."
With a flick of her wrist, Elara created another rift and fell backwards through it. Instantly popping back out at her starting position.
"Maybe this time, instead of not moving at all, try only moving your fingers?" She yelled with her hands cupped around her mouth. "Much more subtle, but might be enough to help you visualize the push."
Aiko nodded and prepared another barrier, curling only her fingers slightly as Elara rushed forward, her mind trying to make it surge forwards.
It worked, and the barrier slammed directly into Elara, who seemed perfectly content to ride it back to the starting spot as she cackled with glee with her cheek smushed against the glass.
"Nice one!" She yelled with a wave. "Let's try that again, shall we?"
They repeated the process a couple more times. With Aiko trying to keep Elara back with her push barriers, and Elara trying to close the distance by sidestepping them as they shot forwards. And although Elara scored two more 'touches', Aiko felt she was starting to get the hang of it.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
So, Elara decided to change up tactics, stomping her foot down and kicking up a small rock. With a flick of her bat, she sent it whistling towards Aiko.
Aiko raised a barrier just in time to block, watching as the stone shattered itself on her violet shield.
"Good! But try blocking them with smaller barriers if you can. Whilst in the Verge, we can basically recharge our magic whilst we are using it, but out there in the real world? Large barriers like that would quickly drain your batteries. Try to conserve as much magic as possible!" Elara stomped down again and launched three rocks forward in quick succession.
Aiko focused, shrinking her barriers, making them appear just where needed. She blocked each rock with a barrier the size of a dinner plate, creating and dispelling each one as she blocked. The first two projectiles she managed to stop in quick succession, but she felt the third whiz past her ear.
"Not bad! But let's try that again!" Elara kept the shots coming, and Aiko tried to keep up. They kept going at it for a while, with Elara slowly ramping up the number of rocks and the speed at which she shot them at.
Then, with a wicked grin on her face, Elara hit a rock wildly off target. Aiko tracked the shot, and seeing that it wouldn't hit, decided not to block it. Which then resulted in that rock hitting one of the larger chunks of rubble behind her and ricocheting directly into her backside.
"Eep!" Aiko yelped, jumping forward reflexively as the rock shattered itself upon her rear. "Elara!"
Elara just laughed, unrepentant, before Aiko shoved a barrier directly into her face.
Elara stumbled back a couple of steps, still smiling like a loon. "Okay, you asked for it! Round two!"
They continued training for a little longer, until Aiko raised her hand to call for a break, and then Elara suggested that this would be a good time to have lunch.
They acquired lunch much in the same manner in which Elara acquired breakfast. By ordering online and having it delivered to Aiko's apartment. This time, it was pizza with a side of fries, which they ate perched at the top of a ruined wall in the Verge.
After they had both refueled, Elara led them back to the clearing.
"Okay! Lesson one: What is magic?" She held up a hand, palm facing the sky. A layer of deep, shimmering indigo energy rose from her palm, forming a sphere that hovered in the air in front of her. "Magic," she declared, "is simply the energy of the soul. Released when our souls react to the world around them."
"This reaction usually takes the form of emotions: joy, fear, anger, love. A response generated by the soul to speak back to the world in a way." Elara continued, her voice losing some of its manic edge as she spoke in an almost lecturing manner. "These emotions influence our actions, and in a normal person, drive their bodies to move. To interact with the world physically as desired by that person's soul. Magic is simply another way for the soul to interact with the world, to influence it magically instead of physically."
She gestured at the indigo orb. "This orb is created with magic using my soul's energy, and therefore I can choose what emotion I impose on it, which for now, is calmness. And thus in my control it is stable and reliable." Then with her other hand, she conjured a second orb. This orb was violet instead of indigo, and pulsed sporadically in her grasp. Expanding and shrinking as if it were gasping for air. "And this is made of pure Verge energy. Energy that I have borrowed to cast magic without first filtering it through my soul. As you can see, although I am trying to impose calmness on it so that it acts in the same manner as the other orb, it can't help but move a little of its own accord."
With one swift motion, Elara dispelled both orbs.
"Both orbs are made of similar energy and controlled by the same person, giving the same commands. Yet one is stable and one isn't. Why do you think that is, Aiko?" Elara asked.
"Because the energy in the Verge is a mix of many emotions fighting against one another?" Aiko guessed.
"Close." Elara replied with a smile, "That is part of it, but the other part is that these emotions were created by many different souls as well. This makes Verge energy a jumbled mess of every emotion felt differently by a countless number of souls, and in turn is what makes it so unstable, and so dangerous to use."
"Now," Elara said, locking onto Aiko's gaze with her own eyes, "what you've been doing, raising barriers and using them to push things, that's you using Verge energy you've stored in your body. This is the most common way Rift-Touched with transformation gems like us use magic. It is simple, but dangerous." Her expression turned serious. "Leaving the unstable Verge energy inside you affects the soul itself. The confused, jumbled emotions will corrode the soul over time. Slowly leaking in until the user can no longer tell which emotions are their own, and which emotions are from the Verge energy they use to cast magic."
"The result causes them to slowly lose themselves, causing their souls to drown in the energies of the Verge themselves." Elara continued with a hint of sadness, "Turning them into confused monsters no different from the Rift-Spawn that lash out at everything in sight."
"But what about the other method?" Aiko asked, "Filtering the energy straight through our souls. Isn't that just as dangerous?"
Elara smiled at her sweetly. "It actually isn't as dangerous as it sounds. For one simple reason, by consciously choosing when you expose your soul to Verge energy, you can teach your mind when the emotions it feels are not its own. With practice, you can train your mind to recognize: 'This terror I feel isn't mine. This rage I feel isn't mine.' It can then filter them out, placing these emotions aside after the energy is finished being filtered."
"But how do you even start to do that?" Aiko asked with a frown, struggling to grasp the concept.
"You already made a small start. Yesterday, when you slept within the Verge to recharge." Elara said simply. "When a person dreams, their mind is actually more active than when they are awake. In this dream state, your mind was probably already aware something was off. Struggling to process all the foreign emotions being carried in whilst you absorbed more Verge energy."
"So, your goal today is to get a feel for the Verge energy inside you. To recognize the foreign emotions swirling in it, and practice being able to differentiate those foreign emotions from your own emotions." Elara stepped forward and placed a hand on Aiko's shoulder. "Ready?"
Aiko took a deep breath, tasting the metallic tang of the air. "I guess?"
"Then close your eyes." Elara whispered, "Try to calm your mind, then seek out the one part of you that refuses to calm itself."
She closed her eyes, trying to follow Elara's instructions. At first, she felt nothing. Just the oppressive silence of the Verge and a general sense of confusion at what she was meant to be feeling.
Then she felt something. A slight pressure in the back of her head, a buzzing on her skin. A tingling in her bones. She focused on it, trying to draw that feeling out.
And then it hit her.
Fear. Pure unadulterated fear crashed over her, cold and paralyzing. She choked back a scream, chills running up her body as the feeling slowly faded.
Then joy. Unbelievable amounts of joy. Her entire mind was flooded with serotonin as she felt herself celebrate a hundred victories in games she didn't know she was playing.
Then guilt. Anger. Hatred.
Bravery, love, loneliness.
The emotions weren't subtle; nor did they stay for long. Each one threw themselves in a kamikaze assault on her consciousness, fading almost as soon as they were felt.
Then she felt something brush against her hands. Her fingers curled as she felt Elara hold her hands in her own.
"Take it slow, Aiko." She heard Elara's voice whisper in her ears, " Remember the emotion you want to feel. That of absolute calmness. And with every emotion you feel, ask yourself, do you have a reason to feel this way right now?"
She nodded weakly, taking another deep breath as she brought herself back to calm. Swallowing hard, she tried to dive back into that feeling again. Bracing herself.
This time she felt hatred first. A deep burning hatred that tried to drive her to tear apart everything around her.
So she took a moment to ask herself what this hatred was directed at. Elara? Did she hate Elara for dragging her into this world?
No.
And so the hatred faded, replaced by fear once more. Cold and paralyzing. But what did she have to be afraid of?
Her grip on Elara's hands tightened, and she felt Elara's grip on her hands tighten in response.
There was nothing to be afraid of. She had no reason to feel fear, at least, not right now.
So she went deeper, layer by layer. Each wave of foreign emotions felt stronger, more insistent, trying to overwhelm her sense of self. Shame, envy, vicious glee, bottomless sorrow, a cacophony of foreign feelings. Her grip on Elara's hands tightened until her crystalline skin grew foggy under the pressure.
"Keep going," Elara murmured, her voice steady, her hands an anchor. "I'm right here. Face it. Recognize it. And push it all back into its place."
Aiko focused everything she had on that core sense of self. She wasn't afraid. She wasn't angry. She was Aiko, and she wanted to feel calm.
And slowly she did. The foreign emotions still refused to listen to her, but she could feel them struggle under the weight of her wish for serenity.
Slowly, she opened her eyes back up. Her mind felt exhausted from a marathon of emotional turmoil, but she felt like she had done it. She could feel those foreign emotions rolling around inside her, but she didn't feel anything when she prodded at them. Nothing, but the calmness that she wanted to feel.
She stared blankly at Elara's expectant gaze.
"How do you feel?" Elara asked.
Aiko took stock. The crushing weight of the foreign emotions was gone, but... "Tired. Really tired. But there's this hum?" She touched her temple. "At the back of my mind. Like... leftover static? Faint, but there."
Elara smiled at her gently. "Then congratulations on taking the first step. That hum is the Verge energy inside you. You haven't yet learned how to convert it into your own energy, but you have at least learned how to sense its presence." She released her grip on Aiko's hands and patted her on the shoulder. "But let's not push it any further today. You still have plenty of time to master this, and trying to forcibly master it in one day would do more harm than good."
Aiko sagged in relief, the confusion giving way to utter exhaustion. "Good, because I feel like I'm about to melt."
"Not literally right? Because that is a potential consequence of overusing magic." Aiko shook her head a little, which elicited a sigh of relief from Elara. "Good. So, relaxation time! Did you have any suggestions for how you wanted to spend the rest of the day?"
"The rest of the day?" Aiko asked, slightly confused. "Should we not try to go again after a short break."
Elara cocked her head at her. "Aiko, how long do you think we have been going at it? Because it has been three hours since we started."
"Three hours?" Aiko responded in shock.
"Yep," Elara replied with a shake of her head, resting a caring hand on Aiko's shoulder. "Which is why I insist we are done for the day. Now. Do you have any suggestions for how to spend the rest of the day?"
Aiko pondered for a moment. "We could do a movie night. I have a TV back in my apartment and a Yensid plus subscription."
"Movie night sounds like a great idea! Let's do it!" Elara clapped her hands together gleefully before tearing open another Rift. The two of them stepped through to return to Aiko's apartment.
When they returned to the real world, sunlight was still streaming through the windows, informing Aiko that it technically wasn't night yet, but instead probably late afternoon. However, this technicality did not stop Elara from scooping up the TV remote to start movie 'night', her mind buzzing with suggestions of what they could watch.
Then her phone, tucked inside a hidden pocket inside her hoodie, buzzed. Elara pulled it out, frowning at the message before sending a reply.
She glanced over at Aiko with an apologetic look. "Sorry, bestie, but it seems something came up. I need to go take care of a little problem."
"It's no problem." Aiko answered reassuringly, "Gives me some time to sort through the catalogue and pick out a good movie or order us some dinner."
Elara gave her a thumbs up before opening a Rift, departing through it with a, "I will be back before you know it."
The Rift snapped back shut, and almost instantaneously Aiko's phone buzzed.
Not the phone that Elara had given her, but her old phone. The display showed no number, with the caller's ID being hidden from her phone.
Warily, she answered it, "Hello? Who is this?"
A smooth, warm, and calm voice filtered its way out of the phone's speakers, the soothing tone of the voice doing nothing to stop the chills Aiko felt when she heard it.
"Miss Aiko Tanaka," came the warm voice of Mr. Thorne. "I do believe we are long overdue for a chat."