Chapter 17: Training Begins

Crystal remained beneath the ancient tree, its sprawling roots cradling her as she watched Yaghan-Ko lumber away. His massive form moved with surprising grace through the morning mist that coiled around the clearing.

What would staying here mean? Crystal wrapped her arms around her knees, feeling the worn down jeans against her skin. No more student loans. No more sleeping in her car. No more worrying about how to stretch twenty dollars for a week's worth of meals.

But also no more modern medicine. No antibiotics. No MRIs. No emergency rooms.

She'd spent years studying, pushing herself to become a doctor, to save lives. Could she just abandon that dream? Then again, wasn't healing possible here too? Different, but perhaps just as meaningful?

Then there was also the fact that there were no more electronics. No phone. No internet. No cat memes. No microwave for instant ramen. Could she live without any of that? Technically, yes. Humans on Earth had done it for thousands of years. But, would she get bored easily?

The smell of cooking food drifted through the clearing. Crystal looked up to see Yaghan-Ko helping Spohr tend to a crackling fire while Kaji darted around them, chattering excitedly and stealing tastes from whatever was brewing in the pot.

"Too much salt!" Kaji exclaimed, his tail flicking dramatically. "You'll turn us all into dried fruit, eh?" Spohr shook his head as his cap glowed in the color Crystal recognized as his exasperated tone.

The vine curtain to Yaghan-Ko's temporary dwelling parted. Ssyn emerged first with Nyzekka following close behind. The Crocan warrior stretched, her scales catching the morning light, then turned to Rell who perched nearby. Crystal watched as Ssyn produced a small scroll from a pouch at her waist and secured it to the bird's leg, speaking low Crocan words that Crystal couldn't understand.

Rell chirped, spread her leaf-edged wings, and took flight. The bird circled once overhead before shooting off toward the east, a streak of emerald against the pale sky.

Ssyn and Nyzekka then moved to an open space near the cooking fire and began what appeared to be a series of martial forms. Ssyn's movements were powerful yet fluid—like water flowing through stone. Nyzekka mirrored her bonded partner with surprising synchronicity despite their size difference.

Crystal couldn't help but admire their grace. There was something almost like taekwondo in their movements, but wilder, more connected to the earth beneath their feet.

Yeah, there might not be electronics, but people watching was still a past time in any world. She could start learning some Crocan fighting from Ssyn. How to actually speak Crocan from Nyzekka. Perhaps she'll even join Kaji in pulling a few pranks. Crystal certainly wasn't going to be bored.

"But what would be my bigger purpose? What goals should I have?" Crystal murmured to herself.

There was the chocolate quest, of course. She'd promised Kaji, and she wasn't one to break promises. Then there was this mystery about her mother. Had she really been from Muragu? Why had she never told Crystal? What else hadn't she shared?

And this magic... Crystal flexed her fingers, remembering the white energy that had flowed through them. If she stayed, she could learn to control it, understand it. Maybe even use it to help others.

A flutter of wings caught her attention as Cottonmoss zoomed toward her, trailing sparkles of golden spores. The tiny fairy-like creature hovered at eye level, making animated gestures toward the cooking fire.

"Breakfast time?" Crystal asked.

Cottonmoss nodded vigorously, her mushroom cap bobbing.

"Alright, I'm coming," Crystal laughed, rising to her feet.

She crossed the clearing, feeling the damp earth beneath her sneakers. When she reached the fire, Kaji immediately scooted over to make room for her on a smooth log that served as a bench.

"Just in time, kreecha! Spohr made this thing he calls soup but I say it's more like lake water with ideas!"

Spohr shook his head and, Crystal wasn't sure how, did a mushroom's equivalent to an eye roll.

Yaghan-Ko settled across from Crystal, his massive form causing the log he had claimed to creak slightly. "The body requires sustenance; the spirit requires reflection. Both can happen simultaneously."

Ssyn and Nyzekka joined them last, the Crocan kneeling rather than sitting, her amber eyes scanning the perimeter once before focusing on her meal. Nyzekka perched on a small stool near Ssyn's knee.

Crystal accepted her bowl with a grateful nod to Spohr. The soup smelled earthy and rich, with hints of spices she couldn't name.

"I had the zaaniest dream," Kaji announced between slurps. "I was riding on a giant purple toad, and it kept singing songs about the weather! Every time it rained in the dream, chocolate fell from the sky instead of water."

"Sounds sticky," Crystal replied, smiling despite herself.

"Oh, it was all gloop-lucker mess," Kaji agreed enthusiastically. "But worth it! The trees were growing candy fruits and the rivers ran with sweet nectar. You were there too, Crystal, but you had wings made of light and kept zapping things into chocolate!"

"Clearly your mind is still fixated on our quest," Crystal said, remembering their original mission before all this... complication.

As everyone ate, Crystal turned to Ssyn. "I saw Rell fly off earlier. Where's she headed?"

Ssyn gave a silent look to Nyzekka, clearly asking her to answer while she remained eating in silence.

"Ssyn sent a letter to her mother, updating her on her location and informing her of the Radix Vow she has made to you," Nyzekka explained. "It is important that her tribe knows she has bound herself in service."

Nyzekka hesitated, then added, "I also sent word to my family. They will worry otherwise."

"Your families are far from here?" Crystal asked.

Nyzekka nodded. "Our village is a week's journey east by Tharn's pace. Near the great bend in the Split River."

"Will they be concerned about the vow?" Crystal asked, suddenly worried she had inadvertently caused problems.

Ssyn finished her food before she spoke, her words a flowing series of clicks and growls. "Ghess. Shüdh Radix Drakka ghe uïradsher. Aürhass zhathraür. Doch yeïd ü zhïz — shüdh drakkada ghe uïzasher."

"She says no," Nyzekka translated. "The Radix Vow is sacred. Her mother will understand. You saved her life—the bond is honorable."

Crystal nodded, still uncertain but relieved. She finished her soup, which tasted better than its murky appearance suggested, then turned to Yaghan-Ko.

"I've been thinking about what you said," she began carefully. "I'm going to be here for a while. I'm going to need to control this... magic I seem to have. Would you be willing to teach me?"

The Loxari's ears fluttered slightly, his eyes softened, and a small smile formed on the mouth hidden beneath his trunk.

"It would be my honor," Yaghan-Ko rumbled, inclining his massive head. "The stone has waited long for one who could hear its oldest songs. I have waited too."

Crystal looked around at the strange assembly gathered at the fire—a fungal mystic, a monkey trickster, a crocodilian warrior, her tiny interpreter, a moss fairy, and an elephant sage. A week ago, they would have seemed like characters from a dream or a children's story.

Now, somehow, they were becoming her people.

"Then I guess we'd better get started," she said. "After cleaning up breakfast, of course."

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The clearing emptied gradually after breakfast, each companion finding their own purpose for the morning. Spohr rooted near the edge of the trees to commune with the Deep Spore. Kaji vanished into the canopy with a promise to "keep an eye out for trouble"—though Crystal suspected he was more likely seeking mischief than preventing it. Cottonmoss fluttered between helping Ssyn and Nyzekka organize their supplies and exploring the forest floor for interesting treasures.

Crystal followed Yaghan-Ko to a flat stone overlooking a small stream that trickled down from higher ground. The Loxari settled himself with practiced grace, his massive form somehow appearing weightless as he found his center.

"Sit," he instructed, gesturing to a smaller stone across from him. "The earth remembers every step ever taken upon it. To understand the Radix Fluxus, we must first listen to what has always been here."

Crystal lowered herself onto the cool surface of the stone. The morning sun filtered through the jungle canopy, creating dappled patterns across her skin.

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"The Radix Fluxus," Yaghan-Ko began, his resonant voice measured, "is not something separate from you or me or this stone. It flows through all things, connecting them in ways most never perceive."

He pressed one massive hand to the earth beside him. "The tribes of Muragu have developed countless ways to access this flow. The Crocan through bone and blood ritual. The Myconari through spore communion. The Simari through motion and emotion. My people, the Loxari, through stone memory and earth attunement."

Crystal nodded. "And humans? How do they typically connect to it?"

"Humans..." Yaghan-Ko's eyes seemed to look beyond her, into distant memory. "Humans have not been native on Muragu for thousands of years. They had often bound themselves to focuses—crystals, staffs, tattooed sigils. Many would learn patterns and formulas, seeking to control what cannot truly be controlled."

His gaze refocused on her. "But you are different. You channel directly, without intermediary. This is rare—and dangerous."

"What makes me different?" Crystal asked.

Yaghan-Ko was silent for a long moment. "The stone has not yet revealed this. But I sense you carry something within you—a connection that existed before you ever set foot on Muragu."

He reached into a pouch at his side and withdrew a small, rounded stone with a natural hole through its center. "Look through this, at the stream."

Crystal took the stone, surprised by its warmth. She held it to her eye and peered through the hole at the stream. Colors shifted—blues deepened, greens brightened, and something else, something like shimmering threads of light, appeared to flow alongside the water.

"What you see is one aspect of the Fluxus," Yaghan-Ko explained. "It runs parallel to all living things, feeding them, connecting them."

Crystal lowered the stone. "And I can interact with this energy? Pull from it somehow?"

"Yes, but with cost." Yaghan-Ko's expression grew grave. "The Radix Fluxus must maintain balance. What is taken must be paid for."

Crystal thought back to her rescue of Ssyn. "After I fought that creature and lifted the tree when I first met Ssyn, I collapsed. I felt completely drained—worse than any physical exhaustion I've ever experienced."

"Physical exertion," Yaghan-Ko nodded. "The most immediate cost. Your body's energy spent to channel the flow. But there are others, more dangerous."

He held up three of his four thick fingers. "First, the body weakens—tremors, bleeding, fever, collapse. Second, the spirit falters—emotions darken, fears magnify, doubt consumes. Third, the land itself may recoil—plants wither, water sours, creatures flee."

Crystal shivered despite the warm air. "Has anyone... died from using too much?"

"Many," Yaghan-Ko said solemnly. "Those who take too much, too quickly, without understanding the exchange. Their bodies burn from within, or their minds fragment, or the land itself rises against them."

He leaned forward. "This is why focus tools exist—to buffer, to regulate, to create safe pathways for the energy. You seem able to bypass this need, but it makes the danger greater."

Crystal rubbed her arms, remembering the surging power and subsequent crash. "So how do I learn control?"

"First, awareness." Yaghan-Ko closed his eyes. "Before drawing from the flow, you must feel its currents. Before shaping it, you must know its nature."

He instructed Crystal to close her eyes and place her palms flat against the stone beneath her. "Listen not with your ears, but with your whole being. The Radix Fluxus speaks in vibration, in temperature, in subtle pressure. It sings in the language of life itself."

Crystal closed her eyes and tried to focus. At first, she felt nothing but the cool stone beneath her hands. Minutes passed. The sounds of the jungle—birds calling, insects humming, leaves rustling—seemed to grow louder in her awareness.

"I don't think I'm doing it right," she admitted after several minutes.

"You seek with your mind," Yaghan-Ko observed. "The Fluxus cannot be grasped by thought alone. Breathe. Feel your body as part of the whole. Remember—you do not exist separate from the flow."

Crystal took a deep breath and tried again. She focused on the sensation of air filling her lungs, the beating of her heart, the weight of her body against the stone. Gradually, she began to sense something—a subtle vibration beneath her palms, a rhythmic pulse that didn't match her heartbeat.

"I feel... something," she whispered. "Like a heartbeat, but not mine."

"Follow it," Yaghan-Ko encouraged. "Don't try to capture it—move with it."

Time seemed to slow as Crystal sank deeper into the meditation. The pulsing beneath her hands grew stronger, or perhaps her awareness of it sharpened. It felt like a current flowing up through the stone, into her palms, along her arms, and throughout her body.

Then, startlingly clear, she felt an impression—not a sound exactly, but a sensation that translated in her mind as a single word: Welcome.

Crystal's eyes flew open. "I heard it! Or felt it—I'm not sure which. It said 'welcome.'"

Yaghan-Ko nodded, unsurprised. "The Radix speaks to those who truly listen. Not in words as we understand them, but in resonances that our minds translate."

"It felt... alive. Aware."

"It is," the Loxari confirmed. "Not as you or I are aware, but in its own way. The Radix Fluxus is the collective consciousness of all living things on Muragu, past and present. It remembers. It anticipates. It responds."

Throughout the morning, Yaghan-Ko guided Crystal deeper into meditation, teaching her to recognize different qualities in the flow—threads of energy associated with growth, with movement, with healing, with transformation. Each had its own character, its own resonance.

By midday, Crystal could consistently sense the Fluxus around her, though maintaining awareness required intense concentration. When they paused for a simple meal brought by Nyzekka, Crystal discovered her hands trembling slightly.

"The awareness itself draws energy," Yaghan-Ko explained. "Even without actively channeling, the connection taxes your system."

After eating, they moved to a different location—a hollow beneath the sprawling roots of an ancient tree. Here, Yaghan-Ko explained, the Fluxus ran stronger, feeding the massive organism above them.

"Now we will attempt a small channeling," he instructed. "A single mote of light—nothing more."

He demonstrated, holding his palm upward. After a moment of concentration, a soft blue glow appeared above his hand, illuminating his craggy features from below.

"Feel the current," he instructed. "Imagine a tiny portion diverted through you, like a trickle from a stream. Give it purpose—in this case, illumination."

Crystal extended her hand as he had done and closed her eyes. She reached for the now-familiar sensation of the Fluxus, imagining a small thread of it flowing up through her feet, through her body, and into her palm.

For several minutes, nothing happened. Then a tingling sensation spread through her arm, and she heard gasps from nearby. Opening her eyes, she saw not the small blue light Yaghan-Ko had produced, but a brilliant white star hovering inches above her palm, so bright it hurt to look at directly.

"Too much," Yaghan-Ko warned, his voice tight. "Release it, slowly."

Crystal panicked momentarily, unsure how to let go. The light pulsed, growing brighter.

"Imagine opening your grip," Yaghan-Ko coached. "Allow it to dissipate, not break."

Crystal visualized her grasp on the energy loosening, allowing it to flow back into the greater current. The light dimmed gradually until it winked out completely. She slumped forward, suddenly tired.

"I did it wrong again," she sighed.

"Not wrong," Yaghan-Ko corrected. "Different. Your connection is stronger than I anticipated. We must adjust our approach."

Throughout the afternoon, they practiced with increasingly complex exercises. Crystal learned to sense the Fluxus in different materials—stone, wood, water, even air. She practiced drawing tiny amounts of energy, holding it briefly, and releasing it cleanly.

Each attempt drained her a little more, but Yaghan-Ko insisted they continue. "Control comes from familiarity," he explained. "Your body must learn its limits through experience."

As the sun began to set, casting long shadows across their training ground, Yaghan-Ko instructed Crystal in a final exercise—communing directly with the Radix Fluxus itself.

"This is not about drawing power," he explained. "It is about listening. Understanding. Asking permission."

Crystal settled into the meditation posture she'd been practicing all day. Her muscles ached, and fatigue weighed on her like a heavy blanket, but she closed her eyes and reached once more for the flow.

This time, instead of drawing energy up through herself, she imagined her consciousness extending outward, merging with the currents around her. It was disorienting at first—her sense of self seemed to blur at the edges, expanding beyond the boundaries of her skin.

Then came the resonances—emotional impressions that flooded through her. Curiosity. Recognition. Caution. Welcome.

Crystal didn't speak aloud but directed her thoughts toward the presence she sensed. Who are you? What am I to you?

The response came as a cascade of impressions rather than words. A sense of ancient cycles, of patterns repeating, of something lost now found. Crystal saw fragments of images—a woman with her face but different clothing, a child with red hair sitting beside a garden, a white light burning against darkness.

Family, came the clearest impression. Return.

The connection deepened, and Crystal felt herself drawn further into the flow. It was intoxicating—a sense of belonging more profound than anything she'd ever experienced. She wanted to sink into it completely, to dissolve into this vast consciousness.

Not yet, came the impression, tinged with what felt like sadness. Prepare first.

With gentle firmness, Crystal felt herself being pushed back, her consciousness returning to the confines of her body. She became aware of hands on her shoulders, shaking her.

"Crystal! Return now!" Yaghan-Ko's voice reached her as if from a great distance.

With enormous effort, Crystal pulled herself back fully into her body and opened her eyes. Twilight had fallen, and several faces peered at her with concern—Yaghan-Ko directly before her, Spohr and Cottonmoss hovering nearby, and even Ssyn kneeling at the edge of the clearing, amber eyes fixed on her with unusual intensity.

"You went too deep," Yaghan-Ko said, his voice unusually sharp. "Your body nearly failed. Look."

Crystal glanced down and gasped. Small vines had begun to grow around her ankles and wrists, anchoring her to the earth. As she watched, they withered and retreated, leaving faint red marks on her skin.

"What happened?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper. Her throat felt parched, as if she hadn't drunk in days.

"The Radix began to claim you," Yaghan-Ko said. "It recognized something in you and sought to keep it."

Crystal tried to stand but found her legs wouldn't support her. Ssyn moved forward with surprising speed, catching her before she could fall.

"Enough for today," Yaghan-Ko declared. "You must rest and recover."

As Ssyn lifted her effortlessly, Crystal noticed the sky had darkened completely. Stars shone overhead, and the night insects had begun their chorus. The entire day had passed in what felt like moments.

"It spoke to me," she mumbled as Ssyn carried her toward the shelter. "It said 'family' and 'return.'"

Yaghan-Ko walked beside them, his expression troubled. "The Radix rarely speaks so directly, even to those who have studied for decades. Tomorrow, we will discuss what this means. For now, your mana is depleted, and your body requires restoration."

Crystal wanted to ask more questions, but exhaustion claimed her. Her last conscious thought before drifting into sleep was of the resonant word that had echoed through her meditation: Return.