The four students had completed their trial with Master Kirisawa. Now they were ready to head towards the fifth master.
"Fencer" Josec called before they began their journey.
"Anything wrong Josec?" Fencer asked.
"What's the fifth Master like?" Josec asked.
Josec, Buern, Harry and Estelle were attentive to Fencer's answer.
"Well to be blunt…her heart is just like her cooking" Fencer said.
"Pu…" they heard Master Kyem's attempt to stifle a laugh.
"And where did you pop up from suddenly?" Fencer's eyebrow twitched showing that he was bordering on the realm called Fencer's irritation.
The other Masters were present as well.
"Oh poor poor Fencer" Ayu teased.
"I wonder how it would be to meet your long lost love" Pheisl teased.
"You too?!" Fencer exclaimed in shock.
"One sided love that is" Master Kyem quickly corrected.
"Kyem you ba-a-a-asta-a-ard!" Fencer growled angrily.
"Even your lessons are incompatible" Ayu teased.
"Hey! Kirisawa!" Fencer's eyes flared momentarily.
"And the one thing that can get Fencer irritated in an instant…shockingly enough…is romance" Buern teased.
"Respect your master!" Fencer roared.
"To think he's actually a shy guy" Josec said.
"Painfully honest about it too. This is hard to watch" Harry added.
"KY-E-E-E-E-E-E-EM!!! YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS! ON MY SWORD…I WILL CRUSH YOU!!!" Fencer roared.
"If your oath is on such a thin blade…I hate saying this but I think I will survive" Master Kyem added more fuel.
When everyone was ready, a passage opened in Ayu's cavern. The students and masters headed out with the masters in the lead. Once more, it was a thin but very straight road over an abyss. When they neared their destination, a path opened ahead of them and a lady in presumably her mid-twenties walked out to meet them. She had long dark hair and piercing crimson eyes.
"You'ze finally showed up. I wondered how long it was going to take you'ze" she called to them from a distance.
Buern's eyes twitched.
"That annoying way of talking. Don't tell me she's doing it on purpose" Buern growled.
"Colette here belongs to a very wealthy family. Her parents have always wanted her to act like a proper lady. It became so troublesome she thought the best way to get them off her case was to invent an unladylike accent. It definitely did start out as something she did on purpose but overtime it just stuck like a bad habit" Master Fencer explained.
"And it more than sticks out like a sore thumb" Master Kyem added.
The girl called Colette approached them slowly. When she was before them, she stopped.
"So are we'ze going ta do it or what?" she asked.
"And what, pray tell dear Colette are we supposed to be doing?" Master Kyem teased.
"Ze secret handshake ya know?" Colette said, then she stretched out her hand to the Masters.
They stretched out their hands. She slammed across all four of their arms with tremendous speed.
"Once more, our paths are connected" she said with a smirk.
"Five canons become one" the masters replied.
Colette escorted them into her cave. It was a cave similar to all the previous masters' in more ways than one yet there were some dissimilarities. Colette had written on the walls of her cave countless words. The language was similar to the language in the Book Of Jo-lan but there seemed to be so many insertions and transliterations that you almost couldn't tell that it was the same language. Colette's words were basically not foreign or written in a strange language but her grammatical constructions made her concepts hard to grasp. Josec tried reading Colette's words and realized that Colette was always saying the same thing, except in different contexts and with different words.
Somewhere hidden in the depths of Colette's words were lists of people she admired. Somehow, Josec could see Colette's admiration of great historical characters running through her work. In Colette's cave also were many books and works of art. Josec was interested in them.
"You don't need to look so hard at everything Josec. They are all copies" Buern said.
Estelle too shared a bit of distaste for the fact that everything in Colette's cave was simply a copy. Colette's excuse was;
"Not all of us can afford the real deal you know?" to which Buern replied;
"Apparently you can. You are from a wealthy family."
Colette glared at the Masters for a short while. They shook their heads in disapproval.
"Well, leaving my wealth aside…prove your words to me…the fact that anything truly original exists that was made by man. Prove it to me in my trial" Colette said.
"Hey Colette…you don't intend on unleashing your ultimate forte on these kids do you?" Fencer seemed worried.
"I probably wouldn't have…originally…however I don't take a challenge to my ideals lying down" Colette said calmly.
It felt like she was trying to suppress her rage by being more empathetic to the students.
"What forte?" Estelle asked.
"There is nothing original in Colette's cavern however…you cannot necessarily call the things you see in Colette's cavern unoriginal because they are variations of the originals. Colette loves unoriginal variations but she detests blatant attempts to blindly copy so though Colette might appear to be a breaker of copyright…her forte actually makes her the greatest copyright enforcer" Master Kyem said.
Master Fencer looked at Estelle and Buern in calm rage.
"I did…tell you kids to pay attention. Don't blame me if you remain in this cavern for an eternity" Fencer said.
"ACCESSING EDGAR FENCER'S LIBRARY…COMMENCE INDEXING…COMMENCE SORTING…SORT BY CONCEPT…UNLEASHING EMMA COLETTE'S ULTIMATE FORTE! PSYCHORAGE ABILITY! THE GREATEST COPYRIGHT ENFORCER!" Colette called.
"It's a forte so strong Colette doesn't even use it in her parodies" Master Fencer said.
"Let's begin. Tell me a single original work made by man and I will deem your trial as complete" Colette said firmly as she sat on the ground.
"Before we begin, I will give you a clue of how this goes. Any song you mention falls under…" Colette was saying when Buern interrupted.
"Major music genres right?" Buern said.
"No, regardless of genre, they utilize one or a combination of the four musical instrument classifications. Basically, many instruments, four archetypes. If you are going to call the instruments themselves original, they are further made from things existing in nature and since things in nature were not made by man, that knocks your argument out of whack" Colette said.
"Fencer…her talking has changed" Josec shivered.
"That usually means she is getting serious" Fencer waved with a smile.
"Ideas are original!" Buern declared.
"You think so huh? An idea must be expressed to be called an idea and ideas are expressed in many ways including…" Colette was saying when Estelle interrupted.
"Words" she said.
"And words which form language derive their roots from hieroglyphs which are depictions of things already existing in nature and since you cannot call anything existing in nature as made by man…your argument crumbles. Beside that is the simple fact that an idea doesn't just pop out of nowhere. It's shaped either by experience or contemplation and since those aren't made by man…your argument further degenerates" Colette said.
"Modern medicine!" Harry volunteered.
"Made either from herbs or a combination of elements and since neither herbs nor elements are made by man…like a three legged stool without one leg does your argument fall" Colette said.
"Colette, you are being unbelievably cruel. They are just kids" Fencer said.
"I'd stay out of this one if I were you Fencer" Master Kyem warned.
"Well they seem to be quite adept in the topic of originality. Enough to lecture me. My natural curiosity has simply taken over so I'd like to learn of this really original idea that no one knows" Colette said coldly.
"Ships!" Harry declared.
Colette shot him a look that meant.
"Do you really want me to go there?"
"I had hoped to hold back my final card. The Psychorage Improv!" Buern declared.
"Are you that dumb? Neither the psychorage nor the improv. are made by man since they are a manifestation of elements and Jo-lan is entirely a supernatural existence" Colette said.
"This is going to go on forever!" Josec exclaimed.
"Exactly how many things do you think man made without observing nature? The answer is obvious. It's zero" Fencer said.
The sudden realization of this fact hit the students hard.
"That means…" Buern collapsed in despair.
"If nature were to demand its copyright…all of mankind would be sent to court. You always had a zero probability of winning from the start" Master Kyem said with a laugh.
"Yep, it's all nature's copyright and it's all expressed too" Master Fencer said.
"In the end, you could say Colette's greatest forte is that she is so unoriginal that she is in fact an original" Master Pheisl said with a laugh.
"We're so very sorry Master Colette!" Estelle and Buern bowed their heads in apology.
"You had no chance of winning from the start but I can understand your feelings. I too despise blatant copies" Colette said.
"You kids really need to review your lessons. It was Buern herself who said while in my cave that when we look at a colour, we only see a single colour however some colours are made by combining a variety of colours. Creativity in a sense is like trying to forge an alloy. You use a few number of elements with partially desirable characteristics to create even more elements with superior desirable characteristics but no one except for God has ever created something out of nothing. That would be called a miracle" Fencer explained.
The other masters nodded.
"So the key to Colette's trial is contemplating all your lessons to this point. Adaptability, affinity, heart, spirit. Combining all of these in many different ways produce creativity but there is no real way to test creativity itself. As such you could say Colette's trial was to bring you to the realization that creativity is born out of existing elements since no one can create something out of nothing" Master Pheisl said.
"So are you saying this is it? This is our fifth trial?" Josec asked.
"Like I said, there is no real way to test for creativity itself but seeing as you were adaptable enough to learn the Psychorage Improv. we can perceive that you are fairly creative. We will rest for five days before continuing our journey" Master Pheisl said.
Josec walked to Colette.
"Master Colette, what are these words that compose your history of Jo-lan? They don't look foreign but they are kinda hard to understand" he asked.
Colette laughed.
"It's an attempt at utilizing transliteration to create a universal language. See how in some languages you have homophonous words?" Colette asked.
Josec nodded.
"I'm trying to find words from multiple languages that have similar pronunciations and meanings. Sometimes I transliterate a foreign word based on experience I have already accumulated. It may not necessarily be experience concerning the language in question. It's kinda hard to explain" Colette said.
"Similar words in different cultures may just mean the cultures have interacted in the past" Josec said.
"Don't mind my history of Jo-lan. I have written it this way for my personal amusement" Colette said.
"But trying to invent a universal language around the use of transliteration is a bit insane for an amusing project" Josec said.
"You think so? Sometimes I think so too but there is another kind of universal language that exists amongst people and it doesn't need any translation" Colette said.
"What is it?" Josec laughed.
"The language of feelings. Don't underestimate it" Colette said.
Josec nodded.
Josec returned to his friends.
"Creativity huh? It might actually be one of the most difficult things we need to learn" Harry said.
"You can't learn creativity. It is a natural trait every human possesses though some tend to be exceptionally creative" Estelle said.
"Everything that man has ever created already exists in nature" Buern mused.
"I never really thought about it but it's one of the things my dad used to say" Josec said.
"Using the book of Jo-lan in combat is dare I say the most creative thing I've ever done" Harry said with a laugh.
"I didn't even know it could be used that way" Buern admitted.
"So what's the most creative thing you've ever done Estelle?" Buern asked.
"I'd say it's the Psychorage Improv." Estelle said.
"Same here" Buern admitted.
"What of you Josec?" Buern asked.
"Well for me…it was solving nature's grudge with the Port Town Of Wusihen" Josec admitted.
"You were really admirable back there" Buern admitted.
"Solving nature's grudge? What do you mean?" Estelle asked.
"Master Pheisl taught me that the Eye Of Heart involves listening to people and to my surroundings but I cannot quite describe what the 'Eye Of Heart' I felt back there is like" Josec confessed.
"Basically, Josec sees and hears more than the usual person does" Buern said.
"But Josec, I still don't understand how you can have and not have joki at the same time. I know you are not concealing it on purpose because you couldn't even see or sense your joki until recently so concealing it is out of the question" Buern said.
"Hmm, I don't know how to say this without sounding weird Buern but I do not fight with joki like the rest of you do. I fight with my will. It's probably my will you sense in combat as joki" Josec informed them.
"Your will? That does indeed sound strange. It shouldn't be possible to see 'will'. If that is true however Josec, you might be capable of harnessing other elements and utilizing a wide range of psychorages by relying on your imagination. This strange ability of yours is more synonymous with the word 'Jo-lan' than anything I have ever seen" Estelle admitted.
"Jo-lan after all means 'to give life to' so I wouldn't be surprised if to compensate for your lack of joki, your will was given life" Buern confessed.
Harry gave her a smug look that meant 'you see? I told you so'.
"That would explain how Josec could suppress Souryu at the moment of our births, expel Souryu from my body and heal us of our wounds while we were imprisoned by my father" Buern thought.
"But how could Harry know this? Harry, you were the only one that seemed absolutely certain of Josec's power even though I constantly called him a weakling" Buern was curious.
"You're different now than you were back then so don't put yourself down Vane. You say I was certain but I was never really certain of any power relating to Jo-lan. There are certain powers a human possesses just by being human. There is strength in feelings, I think I kept telling you that in the past. There is also strength in virtue and endurance. When we were kids, Josec was bullied often especially after his father's death. In fact it was in one of those situations we became friends. I fought off the bullies and that was how we initially bonded" Harry said.
"You're not saying anything out of the ordinary Harry" Buern said.
"Josec still doesn't quite understand what happened then and since I didn't understand it myself, I kept quiet about it. Those bullies were so damn persistent" Harry said.
"So?" Buern wondered.
"Your 'so' would be justified except for the fact that my pain began to lessen as I fought till I felt absolutely nothing from the bullies' fists. I didn't understand how but when I turned to look at Josec…Josec, that day your eyes assumed the likeness of the phoenix'. I don't know what this 'Eye Of Heart' you speak about is but the bullies didn't run that day because of me Josec. They did because of you. Changing eyes is one of the first visible signs of psychoraging" Harry confessed. "I believe your will has always been around you in some form, protecting you. Only you never noticed it until recently" Harry added. "On top of that were a series of strange coincidences that continued to occur around you. You never noticed them because you weren't trained in the Jo-lan martial arts. Even the most experienced of Jo-lan fighters would have trouble noticing them. I guess I did because I am a Bane. You hearing the voice of the forest and seeing the Psychorage of earth knocking down Wusihen's foundations was only one of the few" Harry said.
Buern thought back to the mission her father initially gave her.
"Father, can you hear me? Regarding my mission to spy on Josec Fenix, I find him to be no threat at all. He has no Jo-lan abilities and he does not intend to master the Jo-lan arts" she recalled her words.
"I see. However there is something in his eyes. I saw it on the day I fought against his father. Young Josec was scared but…he had the look of a warrior in his eyes plus I never actually expected him to be able to do 'that'" Buern recalled Innovain's words.
"But I thought taking care of Fenix was my job!" Buern recalled her outburst while in Innovain's dungeon with the other students.
"Actually it was…until Lord Innovain discovered your incompetence. It was by your own words. When you said Josec Fenix had no Jo-lan abilities. How could you not notice the humongous amount of joki that boy kept releasing from his body wherever he went" Buern recalled Ysmann's reply.
"What?! So Bane's words back then were true?" Buern recalled her surprise.
"You're no one to tell me what to do Fenix! Just mind your own business!" Buern recalled her argument with Josec and Harry in Sir Govina's farm back in Ferus Village.
"Then grow up already" she recalled Josec scold her.
"Fine, it pains me so much to take orders from a powerless nobody like you anyway" she recalled her intention to hurt Josec's feelings with her words.
She recalled Josec's chuckle and then his frown.
"Yes…I'm not a Jo-lan fighter like you, Harry or my dad. But if being a Jo-lan fighter brings only pain and suffering to others, then I prefer being powerless so thanks for the compliment Buern" she recalled Josec walk towards the weeds and pull them out.
"Don't you get it?! Josec's father fought to save the future of the Jo-lan! Our future! So you should have great respect for Josec. You should respect him for hating the art of fighting. And don't call him powerless, he's more powerful than you can imagine" Buern recalled Harry's words in the same farm.
Buern sighed.
"Regardless of how I look at it, I still can't believe how easy it was for you to perceive Josec's strength. That took an extraordinary amount of faith" Buern admitted.
"Like I said, my belief in his strength isn't based on his abilities as a Jo-lan fighter but in his strength as a human so nothing would have changed between us even if he never learnt the Jo-lan martial arts" Harry said.
"A lot of things make sense now. Even Josec being in two places at the same time when he rescued Harry and I from my father" Buern said.
"Yeah, how did you do that?" Harry asked.
"I still don't know how. I'm pretty sure that was a manifestation of my will but even I don't completely understand how this thing with 'will' works" Josec admitted.
The others sighed.
"I'm glad to at least know a bit more about Josec now. I know Harry quite well since he is my fiancé and Buern is quite easy to figure out but Josec was always a mystery to me" Estelle confessed.
"He is still quite a mystery to me even after all these years we've been best friends" Harry said as he rubbed Josec's hair and placed his arm around Josec's shoulders in a tight lockhold.
"You're one to talk! You're even weirder than the highest class of psychorage!" Josec retorted.
"I still wonder what Master Fencer meant though" Buern said as she recalled Fencer's words.
"Regardless of how strong you are, if your psychorage accepted you, it would definitely have been speaking to you for a while now. The only answer I can think of is that your psychorage and yourself are somewhat one entity. You may have coalesced to the point that you cannot tell one another apart. It is also completely possible that you are yourself a psychorage but I can't see that happening. You are the child of two humans" Buern recalled Fencer's words.
"Since coming to Fencer's cave and journeying with the Masters, I feel I am beginning to understand a bit of my family's role in the phoenix's body. Let's go over everything we've learnt about our families so far" Buern said.
"My family is the family of the Bane, inheritors of the phoenix's mind. It has been renowned for its problem solving abilities and the ability to repel all curses. I think creativity might be one of our strengths" Harry said.
"My family is the family of the Vern, inheritors of the phoenix's spirit. We embody its will. It is our duty to lead the phoenix out of danger and to fight only those battles worth fighting" Buern said.
"My family is the family of the Fenix. We embody the emotions of the phoenix and are known to be particularly perceptive of people's feelings. From what I can tell from the events surrounding the activation of my 'Eye Of The Heart', we have vision to see beyond the natural and are responsible for dealing with the grudges between man and nature" Josec said.
"It's almost like the three founding families of Jo-lan are fragmented parts of a whole. Over the centuries, we've lived separate lives, our cultures evolving separately. I wonder what happens when the three families unite and why they are the ones that form the core of the phoenix's body?" Buern wondered.
"I believe it was because of their ability to inspire during the battle against the Black Dragon. They were able to see beyond the endless carnage into a future of hope and it was with this common hope that they united all of mankind in confrontation against the Black Dragon" Josec said.