Teaching Death how to sense energy was my priority—no point in teaching him anything else before he gets that basic technique down. To help himself focus, he sat with his back to the tree's trunk.
"So, spirit energy," I began. "Um, it has many different names: ki, chi, prana, chakra...there's plenty of names for it, but they're all fundamentally the same thing. Spirit energy consists of the inner energy within your body and the outer energy that your body expels– like its aura."
"For instance, take that 'curse' you mentioned earlier," Trik chimed in using air quotes with 'curse.' "That's actually your untamed outer energy violently spreading through – and killing – anything it touches," he said with a matter-of-fact kind of tone.
"Untamed for now," I added, glaring at Trik. Could he stop trying to antagonize the god?
"Once you have control, it won't be an issue anymore." I was trying to be positive because it was clear that Death wasn't entirely on board yet, and Trik being so blunt wouldn't help with that.
"For example, take my eyes. When I channel some of my inner energy to my eyes, my iris reflects the color, causing them to glow. That glow allows me to see the energy that people's bodies emit. It also allows me to see much further than I normally can, but for some reason, that seems just to be a me-thing, so don't be shocked if yours doesn't work that way. Anyways, it's a technique Watchers call omni-vision. You'll probably use it often once you get the hang of it," I paused to let him process that information before continuing.
"It's the outer energy that's the most interesting. It can be used in different ways, like reinforcing your body to make it stronger, faster, and more durable depending on how it's used. Something to remember, though; just like muscles, if you train well, its strength, endurance levels, and capacity will also increase. As a human, because there's a limit to what our bodies can handle, that's pretty much the extent of our capabilities with our spirit energy. But as a Primordial such as yourself, your limits are way higher. You may not even have limits, so, hypothetically speaking, you could train for centuries and become stronger than you've ever been. Plus, having a larger, stronger spirit energy and a body of a different caliber allows you to not only do what humans can — however, at a greater scale — but also achieve other feats like flying."
I was on a roll now and was really getting into this teaching thing. It felt good passing my knowledge to someone else. So good that apparently, I'd subconsciously begun to pace.
"A Primordial's spirit energy also has different properties that grant you even more abilities that match your title, like yours having a certain dominion over death, for example. The bureau back home doesn't know of every ability you may have, like the um...compulsion you used on me earlier...Yeah, we've never heard of Death having that ability before. Though I have heard of you being able to relocate instantly, I suppose we'll see if that one's true or not at some point. Frankly, It's my theory that for every reincarnation, you develop some of the same and different abilities than the last reincarnation. It's probably like that for each Primordial. Anyways, you get all of that?"
The screen flickered to life with a message – YEAH. I THINK SO. BUT HOW DO I CONTROL MY SPIRIT ENERGY? –
"Well, first, you have to learn how to sense energy before learning how to control it. You should have an affinity for it, so it shouldn't be difficult so long as you follow my directions," I replied.
"Close your eyes," I instructed. Doing so, he gave a heavy sigh. "Try to feel your body's energy – your spirit energy. From the very core of your being to its furthest reach... Feel how it stretches outward beyond you. How it flows in every direction with you as its center... Visualize its movement, its pattern, and once you can feel it grab hold of it."
There was a brief moment of silence.
– I CAN'T. EVERY TIME I FEEL SOMETHING, I LOSE IT. LIKE I'M GETTING A WEAK SIGNAL OR SOMETHING... –
"Oh, sorry! You're still inside the field; that's probably why." Clasping the crystal, I reabsorbed some of my energy and took a couple of steps back until he was no longer in the field.
"Okay, try again," I said.