Kazumi dragged himself out of bed just as the sun began to creep over the horizon. He was painfully soar from yesterdays training. Shin was no where to be found but his bed was neatly made and his gear was no where to be found. Kazumi grabbed the uniform that he'd been given by Aland the night before. It was a sleeveless, dark grey, short-collared top-piece with a black button down underneath. He put it on and stepped out of his room. He looked down the hallway to see Camron stepping out of his room as well.
He called down the hall, "Mornin' Cam!"
Camron looked back and smiled, "Hey," He replied, "goin' to get breakfast?"
"Yep," answered Kazumi, "does Shin always get up so early?" He asked.
"You couldn't get him to sleep in if you tried." Laughed Camron.
The two walked down the stairs to the ground floor and turned left to the dining hall. They walked in and saw, what Kazumi guessed, was about two dozen other students sitting and eating. Kazumi walked over the the buffet and grabbed a plate. He served himself from the assortment of breakfast foods that lined the buffet, and walked with Camron over to the table where Shin, Elia, and Maria sat.
"Morning Kazumi," Maria said cheerfully. She gestured to Shin with her knife, "Elia was just telling me about how Shin really put the *break* in breaking you in." She said chuckling.
"Can say that again," Kazumi groaned, "whole body is killing me."
"Get ready for round two," Camron grinned, "he's not gonna give you a day of rest until you're at least matching our class B students."
"Jeez and I thought Aland was gonna bust my ass being the actual teacher and all." Kazumi said.
"Oh don't worry," Elia chimed, "He will, Shin's just gonna be your sparing partner so you're working around his schedule now."
Camron laughed, "Yep, he's your new best friend."
Kazumi coughed as he chewed, he'd entirely forgotten about his friends back home amidst the last 48 hours. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, he hadn't checked it since he'd arrived at the sanctuary. His screen lit up and he saw dozens of notifications. Bounced calls and texts from Belle and Kris riddled his screed. Kazumi stood up and stepped away from his seat.
"Everything alright?" Maria asked.
Kazumi faced Shin, "Tell Aland I might be a little late for training," he said, "I've got some calls to make."
He walked into the corner of the lobby just outside the entrance to the dining hall and pressed on his contact for Kris. The phone rang for a minuet then a muffled rustling sound came from the other end.
"Kazumi?!" He heard Kris's voice from the other end of the call. "Kazumi is that you?"
"It's good to hear your voice man." Kazumi said.
"Are you ok?!" Kris asked frantically, "What the hell happened to you, where did you go, everything seemed to go to south just after you went home."
"You can say that again," Kazumi replied woefully.
"We heard about your parents and-" Kris was cut off and more rustling ensued.
"Kazumi!" Belle said gleefully. "Kazumi tell me where you are right now were coming to find you."
"Yea about that," Kazumi replied guiltily, "I'm in east-Upstate New York."
"Wha- how did you end up there, what happened the other night?!" Belle yelled, confused.
"Long story, I'll explain later," Kazumi replied, "is Danielle and Eric with you guys?" He asked.
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone before a response, "Kazumi..." he heard Belle's voice, now quiet, "...after you went missing we went to try to find them to see if they had any clue where you were. Their bodies were found...or what was left of them, in an alleyway a block away from your house."
Kazumi felt his stomach turn, he paused for a moment, thinking on what to say next. "I'm sending my location to Kris's phone," He replied sternly, "you two need to get here as fast as you can. I'll explain everything when you get here. Believe me when I say you two are in danger and you're safest if you're here with me." He finished.
"My family owns a house up there," Belle's voice was shaky, "I'll see if I can excuse going up there, and try to take Kris with me." She replied.
"I'll explain everything when you two get here, I promise." Kazumi replied, trying his best to console Belle.
He heard Kris take back the phone, "This better be as serious as you're making it out to be," Kris said with a morbid chuckle, "cause if you're telling the truth you better get us out of the way before shit hits the fan."
"I won't let you guys get hurt 'cause of me." Kazumi reassured Kris. "I've got to go, if you guys aren't here by this time tomorrow I'll call you."
"Sounds good," Kris replied, "Stay safe Kazumi."
The call ended and Kazumi stood there for a moment. He glanced over and saw Shin standing in the doorway. He nodded towards the exit and Kazumi jogged to catch up along side him as he started to walk. They walked silently down the path, over to the armory where Kazumi's sword sat in a sheath on the front counter. He strapped it on underneath the top piece of his uniform. They left the armory and walked down to the courtyard. Aland wasn't there, Kazumi turned to go to the training grounds. He assumed Aland was waiting for them there, they were late anyway. He glanced to his right and saw Aland up through the clearing at the main entrance along with Naeem.
Kazumi walked up the hill to get a closer look, Shin following in suit. Kazumi stopped as he watched the gates of the sanctuary began to glow, or more specifically, engravings that he had never seen on the gates prior. The markings glowed silver while magenta and cyan wisps blew from all around. Bright yellow stars sparkled around the gate for a moment, then suddenly, it all faded.
"What was that?" Kazumi asked.
"The Astral Seal." Answered Shin. "It's part of the astral technique, but it's the only ability I've ever witnessed someone use."
Kazumi looked at Shin, puzzled, "What's the astral technique?"
Shin turned and began to walk towards the training grounds. "Aland will explain the three techniques to you today." He said, "It's not my place, I'm only proficient in one. It will be better if someone with much more knowledge on all of them explained them to you."
The two made their way to the training grounds. They opened the gates and walked over to one of the sparing pits. They were each about fifty feet long and thirty feet wide and had a moat of sand around them. Kazumi and Shin walked over the one of the open pits and took positions in the starting boxes. They each stretched before beginning their warmup sparing.
Shin directed Kazumi as they sparred, not holding back on any of his blows.
"PARRY!" Shin commanded as he swung overhead with his dagger.
Kazumi shifted his footing as the two glided across the pit, binging his sword up and jutting it out to parry his strike. The two exchanged a few more strikes until Aland entered the training grounds. He looked over and smiled at the two, who both now stood on either end of the pit, breathing heavily.
"Good to see the two of you don't take any time off." Aland remarked, smiling.
"Well I promised I'd help whip him into shape after all." Shin replied.
Aland turned to Kazumi "Kazumi, I'd like to formally introduce you to the arts of this academy." He said.
Kazumi put his sword back into its sheath and walked over to Aland. He saw Aland reach into his pocket and pull out an old tattered book. The cover was a dark leather, and it was tied shut by white rope. The cover was marked with an indented silver design of a moon eclipsing a sun, surrounded by a ring of stars. Aland untied the cover and opened it.
"This is the book of the celestial arts." Aland said, "This is where your real training begins."
He handed Kazumi the book then turned and unsheathed his sword. Kazumi skimmed the first few pages, but they were so vibrant with information he understood almost none of it.
"There are three techniques contained within the celestial arts," began Aland, "Sun, Moon, and Star. The star technique is more commonly referred to as the astral technique. The Sun technique is the one I teach here at this academy. To explain it as simply as I can, it is effectively using the energy that the sun radiates into our souls as a means of combat. This energy is called Sól energy." He continued.
"Don't you run out of it after a while?" Kazumi asked.
"No, not exactly." Aland replied, "Sól energy is carried over through generations, you have accumulated a certain amount of it from your ancestors. You also accumulate Sól energy simply by living, as the sun shines on your body, it irradiates your soul as well. Now there is a limit to how much your body can handle outputting within a certain span of time, however that threshold increases the more you train with the technique." He finished.
Kazumi skimmed the book as he listened, "So do we all kind of just have the same amount of energy?" He asked.
"Not exactly." Answered Aland. "There are ways to generate more than the average person. While we all do have the same incredible amount of Sól energy to begin with, I for instance have much higher amounts of Sól energy than almost anyone I've encountered. Meditation under the high sun is one way to vastly increase your concentration of Sól energy. There is also a method at which you can steadily generate your own from the energy present within your soul. Think of it like a nuclear reaction becoming self sustaining, however it will be quite some time before you're at a level to do that."
Kazumi listened on, intrigued by the fantastic description of, what to him, was nothing more than fiction until now.
"I'm going out on a limb and saying that you used iterations of it when you fought the Scorned?" Kazumi guessed.
"Precisely," Aland affirmed, "while you haven't seen it yet, the applications of Sól energy are much larger than you may think."
"I suppose I got here a good time." Naeem remarked.
Aland looked over at the gate and chuckled, "That you did, would you like to take over and explain your end of expertise."
"Gladly aleaziz." Naeem responded warmly, "Well, much like Sól energy, the moon technique uses Lunar energy. I think it redundant to explain that it's energy from the moon. Well it shares most of its aspects with Sól energy, however if you were to meditate to generate more, it would have to be under moonlight; but I think you're competent enough to deduce that." He finished.
"What's the difference then?" Kazumi asked, confused.
Naeem began, "Well, in regards to Sól energy, when applied, it increases all aspects of your physical being." He continued, "However, more than any other, it increases your physical strength. Conversely, Lunar energy increases your speed more than anything else. While both still increase speed and strength, each prioritizes one over the other, making their applications vary. "
"Don't beat yourself up if you're having a hard time wrapping your head around it all." Shin added. "Believe me, it's not something you memorize and become accustom to overnight."
Kazumi nodded and did his best to burn everything he had just been told into his memory. "So what about the star technique?" He asked.
Naeem chuckled, "The truth is our knowledge on the technique as a whole is limited to this one book." He began, "The books detailing further use of the technique have been lost for thousands of years. The most we know is it's origin, using Astral energy. Now yes, the stars are suns themselves, but it's the energy those suns produce and interact with out in space that differ greatly. The kinds of Sól energy that different stars produce varies based on the type of star. A Red Giant produces a different type of Sól energy than our own sun, and same with a White Dwarf or Blue Giant. Subsequently the energy from all of those stars becomes diluted as it travels through space, and mixes with the celestial energies from other bodies like nebulae and singularities. This creates Astral energy, a cosmic soup of many kinds of celestial energies, presumably the strongest of the three." He finished.
"Well," Aland began, "I think we can save the rest of the book work for out of the training grounds, I think it's about time he starts the physical part of his training."
Naeem smiled and nodded, then walked back towards the entrance of the training grounds. He turned to wave at the three as he walked out of the entrance.
Aland continued, "Now, the first step is learning how to actually harness the Sól energy contained within your soul."
Kazumi unsheathed his sword and walked over to one of the pits. He looked over his shoulder, expecting further direction from Aland.
Aland turned to Kazumi, "To start, you must actually learn to reach, and interact with that energy." He started, "To do so, we will ride, per say, the rays of sun into your soul; close your eyes and feel the sun on your skin. Now go beyond the surface of your skin, feel the energy of the sun absorb through, like water droplets on a towel."
Kazumi followed the instructions, and shut his eyes. It was the end of February, so the sun wasn't harsh, merely a soft, warm hum on his skin, getting gradually stronger as they neared mid-day.
"Now," Aland began, "focus on following that energy even to the most minute extent, as that will be where that energy breaks the plane of the physical world. You are following this energy from the metaphysical into the spiritual, know that your body is nothing more than a vessel for this spirit, binding it here, and this energy is an extension of that spirit that you posses."
Kazumi felt a tingling in his skin now, it was like the sensation of warm water rolling off your arm but this was sinking into his skin. It felt like his bones were softly vibrating as the sensation went on.
Aland watched on in silence. What Aland could see was far different from the others, he could see the flow of Sól energy around and within Kazumi. He watched as it began to bloom outward up and to the surface of Kazumi's corporeal body as Kazumi came closer and closer to tapping into it. As he watched however, he noticed something from within Kazumi's soul; the presence of an energy that he did not recognize.
Kazumi felt a sudden surge in his body. The hairs on his arms and legs stood on end as a feeling of tingling warmth washed over him. He grinned as he knew, just off of sensation, this must be the sensation of Sól energy. He gripped his sword tightly and raised it just above his head.
Shin stepped forward but Aland put his arm out to stop him. Shin looked at Aland with concerned confusion.
"But sir," Shin whispered, "if he tries this now-"
Aland cut him off, "I'd rather him first hand gain a true understanding of the consequences of pushing himself too far, before it's enough to get himself killed."
Shin nodded and looked back at Kazumi. Kazumi's blade now shimmered lightly, with a faint yellow glow. He took half a step forward, opening his eyes as he brought the blade down.
As the blade glided through the air, it trailed small orange sparks, until Kazumi stopped it, just above the ground. The ground beneath his sword burst outward in bright orange flames, until quickly extinguishing. Kazumi ginned briefly, when suddenly his entire body went ridged. Every muscle in his body seized up, and Kazumi fell to his knees as his diaphragm pushed the last of the air in his lungs out. He kneeled there for a moment, unable to move; shaking as his muscles continued to remain seized. Yet, just as quickly as it set on, it stopped, and Kazumi dropped his sword, doubling over as he tried to catch his breath.
Kazumi panted for a moment before finally squeezing out his words. "What...what was that?" He asked breathlessly.
"That," Aland began, "is the result of you having no training in actually harnessing and controlling Sól energy. I want to make sure this moment sticks with you, remember this as the least tolling consequence of pushing your limit. Had you had the knowledge on how to, and, been attempting at using a more powerful ability, it would have killed you."
Kazumi paused for a moment, before shakily getting to his feet. He returned his sword to it's sheath and turned to face Aland.
"It would probably show a bit more humility to ask for instruction wouldn't it?" He laughed, nervously.
"Don't worry," Aland chuckled, "thanks to that, I was able to teach you a lesson I otherwise would never have been able to convey the true weight of. Now, sit, and meditate with me awhile, after that we'll get lunch, then return for more training." He finished.
They two sat in the sand and began to meditate. Shin paused for a moment, then sat and meditated with the two of them. Kazumi felt the sensation grow stronger as the sun climbed higher into the sky. It felt like he was engulfed in fire, but it didn't burn, simply a warm breeze around him.
After a few hours, his eyes bolted open as a bell rang from the dining hall. Kazumi got to his feet and walked with Shin and Aland towards the exit of the training grounds. They walked out and into the courtyard, meeting back up with Elia and Camron. The four of them walked up towards the dining hall as Aland walked off towards another part of the sanctuary. They sat down in the outside seating after they grabbed their food and they talked over food.
"PAY UP!" Elia yelled, grinning at Camron as she jumped out of her seat.
"Fine fine you win." Camron groaned, rolling his eyes.
Kazumi laughed. "Well great knowing you had that much confidence in me."
"What," Elia scoffed sarcastically, "It's not like the odds were against it. The difference was I'm just shocked Aland let you go through with it; guess you're just naturally more durable than we were."
"Well we all try to overstep our limits from time to time," Shin said, "It's just a matter of knowing how far you can go past that limit. You're doing pretty good for your first official day Kazumi, you should be proud of that much."
Kazumi smiled and they all finished up their food. Shin looked at Kazumi and nodded, the two stood and waved at the others as they walked back towards the training grounds. They opened the gate and saw Aland there, waiting for the two of them. He smiled at them as they approached.
Aland drew his sword. "For as long as the sun is beyond the horizon," He started, "we will do as much basic training in harnessing the Sól energy as we possibly can."
Kazumi grinned and drew his sword. He stepped into the pit and closed his eyes, renewing the sensation he had before.
Shin looked over, addressing Aland, "Is my presence no longer required sir?" He asked.
"Not required," Aland said, looking warmly at Shin, "however, my boy, it would be missed."
Shin nodded, hiding his small smile, "Then I'll stay and help Kazumi train." He replied.
Kazumi followed every instruction he was given, as they cycled through different methods of harnessing the energy. Different sword styles, different physical and Sól energy based attacks. As the sun neared the horizon line, Kazumi was drenched in sweat.
Kazumi's entire body ached, but he had no intent at giving up yet. Kazumi was yet to muster an actual Sól energy driven attack, no matter what he did, his spirit was yet to be up to the tole it would take. He gritted his teeth, he needed to make progress, real progress, and fast, the only people he had left were counting on him.
"Kazumi," Aland said, "you're tired, you've trained hard today, you disserve a rest."
"One more Aland please, if I can manage just one." Kazumi pleaded, "my friends are in danger because of me, I need to know I'll be able to protect them when they get here. This is about me knowing my limits like you said, but I need to push it, I can't let more of my friends die on my watch."
The admiration Aland felt from Kazumi's words was a shock to even him. His words finally hit Aland, he couldn't let himself hold him back, he knew how Kazumi felt. The desire to become strong enough to protect the ones you love; a feeling he knew all too well and one he wasn't going to let Kazumi fail at achieving like he had so many years ago.
Aland glanced over to Shin and met his eyes, the two nodded to one another. "Very well," He began, "I trust you Kazumi. You will become stronger, do not doubt yourself on that. Know it will not be an easy road, however if you truly have the will to train to this extent, I will never be the one to hold one of my students back, and I will support you in every way I can."
Kazumi stared at Aland for a moment, the words of endearment reminded him of his father. He turned and steadied himself, raising his sword. He channeled the Sól energy into his blade, making it glow yet again. He clenched his teeth, bracing himself for the shock to come. He brought the sword back, and swung it down with all of his strength.
The ground burst into flames again, and the shock hit his body shortly there after. Kazumi could still breath this time however, and the tightness in his muscles was no longer present, merely incredible exhaustion. He stood, shaking for a moment before lowering his blade to his side and turning to Shin.
"The sun might be gone but I'm not." He said grinning.
Aland smiled and turned, leaving the training grounds to go back to his cabin. Kazumi and Shin sparred long into the night, their blades echoing into the quiet mountains. The two trained until Kazumi could no longer raise his sword. As Shin helped Kazumi slowly back to the room, they laughed as they talked about the days of training to come.