Rosanna's P. O. V:
After Alchemy class was the appointed time for Ms. Ava's private lesson. And I was determined to get things right. Partially because I needed it and partially because I have a perfectionist persona. A horrible mixture acknowledging I'm absolutely flawed.
I stepped into the classroom and found Ms. Ava in a yoga pose wearing a crop top and yoga pant.
Gorgeous, man.
I admired the effort she placed in having a toned body. She must've exercised a lot and it's showing. Her abdomen, thighs, hands were all in obvious good shape.
"Come closer, girl." She said without opening her eyes.
I moved forward and sat besides her. Wearing a different outfit for the day- I figured I'd need to get comfortable during this session. So I simply wore a grey t-shirt and milky colored pants.
"If it's possible for you, get into the position I'm in."
"Okay." I responded.
Removing my shoes, I went on my knees, before raising my left knee up in a position that seems like a proposal.
Then I placed my hands up vertically, and gently pushed my right leg back. Outstretching it in the yoga pose- warrior I.
Back when I used to do yoga before eventually succumbing to laziness and other issues, this was one of the popular poses I engaged in.
Ms. Ava stood from her position, staring at me while I contemplated standing up or remaining still until further instruction.
"Though your body isn't very fit- you have little fat. And so far, you seem familiar with this."
"Yes, yes I am." I smiled.
"Great. I figured a bit of yoga would help calm your mind and get you to connect with your Astral body "
"Sure." I said.
And so we did yoga. Ms. Ava kept for an interesting conversation- light hearted ones with a bit of jokes here and there.
It was honestly relaxing and my problems didn't just fade- I acknowledged them but didn't overthink and decided to flow just as the yoga session was going.
"You ready?"
She asked while I was in a corpse pose with my eyes closed
"Yes." I replied.
"Breath in..."
I did as told.
"Out."
I exhaled.
It went on for a few seconds before I felt a warm light coming from within.
I 'stood' in a cold dark space but the light brought in warmth, coming from afar. Instinctively, I reached out to the comforting light.
Uncaring where I was, what I was doing, or thinking of anything as a matter of fact. Just a blank mind reaching out to that warm light.
Nothingness. But warmth and the glow of that white light.
When my whole body was engulfed by the light, I jerked within and 'opened' my eyes.
An abundance of colors filled my view. The background a total covering of gold. But it wasn't confusing. They all just flowed from one direction to another in harmony.
I felt familiarity with the colors blue and red. But somehow I desired to 'eat' the background. How does one eat the background? But it is so enticing...
So I did. I 'ate' it. My body opened and absorbed the gold background at alarming speed, not forgetting to wipe out all the blue and red colors near me.
It was as pleasurable and fulfilling as eating. And this body happened to be a starved one with an abyss of a capacity.
I didn't want to stop.
So I continued.
"-ey! Hey! Wake up!"
Something was tugging at my body. I wanted to swipe that thing that was dragging me away.
"GET OUT NOW!"
Frightening shock went through my body and I shouted in pain.
Gasping, I looked up at Ms. Ava's figure who was over me with her hands pressed on my shoulders.
She was smiling with a worried look in her eyes.
"You succeeded." She said.
I grinned at her words.
I did it! I. Can. Perform. Magic!
"But," She said. Stopping my inner celebration.
"That was dangerous. You almost got disconnected to your body. I bet you were ready to swim in the Astral realm for life. Learn to control, hold your indulgence and pull out when you've tasted a bit. As much as it's pleasurable absorbing mana, it's dangerous to recklessly dive in."
"What do you mean?" I asked in confusion. Getting up in a sitting position as I watched Ms. Ava kneeling besides me.
Rubbing my left palm in a way that comforted me, she said. "If your astral body disconnects with your physical body, you die. And become one of the many nutrients to the origin of this world. Assimilation of Mana is absorbing life force to grow but there are cases where Mana assimilates us.
To explain easier, we are vessels made of Mana. And as we gain more Mana, we get filled and grow more. But there is always a chance that when a vessel looses it's form- it disintegrates and becomes a part of Mana. Like it truly is. Not just a variation. It's a bit complicated to explain but we'll deal with such topics in our coming classes."
I was mortified.
Just great, death traps everywhere!
I was this close to losing my life and I wouldn't even know how or why.
Cold sweat broke out and I felt nauseated all of a sudden.
Giving me a reassuring smile, Ms. Ava held my left hand up and brought out a ring from what I assumed to be her magical space.
"Usually, these cases don't occur unless one is highly connected to Mana- having an ancient or legendary grade talent. Do you have one?"
She asked, peering intently at me.
"No." I muttered, adverting my eyes away.
She stared for a bit before responding. "Ah, I see."
"Yeah." I focused my attention on the ring which she fiddled on my fingers before settling on my pinky finger.
The gem on the ring looked exactly like the gem on the necklace GCA gave me.
"What's that?" I asked in curiosity. Finally paying attention to what she was doing. Knowing full well I would use appraisal later.
"It's a magical item used to ensure that individuals with high affinity evades the greedy suction of Mana itself. So you're safe to practice anytime without life threatening experiences. You won't always have someone to zap you out of it."
...Right. The pain I felt earlier.
"Thank you, Ms. Ava." I smiled at her.
She chuckled, "You're welcome. It's what I'm paid for, anyways."
I maintained my smile in response.
Soon after we exchanged our goodbyes before exiting the room and parting in our different destinations.
Standing in an isolated corner of the building, I muttered focusing on the ring.
"System; Appraisal."
Quality: S+ Function: Prevents user from losing control during Mana practice and getting sucked into the Abyss. Rarity: ✯✯✯☆☆☆☆> Nice! With a rarity of three, that's something. I've done appraisal on a lot of items and they rarely have a rarity setting. Much less three. As I re-read the description, I paused. ...Abyss? Isn't that... The demon's realm? Wait... What? I remember. It's a bit frustrating remembering the story in bits but it was a really adventurous one. I'm surprised the plot is still quite clear in my head. Usually I forget easily after years of reading thousands of novels. But I guess Author Umi's work was special. In a good way and bad way. Anyways, getting back to point, the. F*cking. Abyss. This was a strategy used by the dark forces during the final war between Nazians and demons. Yes, getting integrated into Mana was possible but it required a whole lot of conditions before such cases took place. It wasn't just high affinity. And recently... During this time frame in the novel, such things have been happening more frequently than before. Even if it's to a fraction of the population lower than 1%. During the final war, a whole bunch of Elementalists began mana practice but almost at the same time- countless people dropped dead and it was later figured that the reason was a deadly strategy the Abyss used to infiltrate the astral realm. . <"You..." A hoarse scream resounded amidst the bloody paste of blood and minced meat. "A f*cking plot... Zorra, Drake... W-why..." Kairos whispered as his voice cracked towards the ending. It had been too late when he received a message concerning the newest strategy of the nightwalkers. A second too late before countless of his people turned into blood and meat. Some exploding and others bleeding from their pores before a silent death. For the first time in years, Kairos felt anguish than that of his mother's death. Tears streaming down his face as his remaining subordinates ran to hold his crashing figure.> . A flash of the lines from that scene appeared in my head. The image was vividly described by the author and Miroko Umi just seemed to like emphasizing and replaying the image in added details whenever Kairos had a nightmare. A real sadist, yeah. My head ran a million miles race and I felt my world boiling with pain and nausea. It's easier to read but difficult to see. Those fictional characters... Are now living, breathing humans with families. Who I could help... The Kairos of now should've thought of a plan to stop it. What variable would Kairos cause in an attempt to stop the world from entering a post apocalyptic setting? Is... The system against Kairos setting things straight? I'm so f*cking confused. I breathed a sigh and rested my head against the wall. Needing nothing more than a soothing hug and whispers of 'it's okay'. "System..." I asked. "Why must the variable be stopped? He... Kairos, he would make this war end better, wouldn't he?" 'No, master. His act to set things right will result in a terrifying butterfly effect. Amplified losses to Nazians and the world itself.' I groaned. You're kidding me. So... I've got to stop him from helping people thereby letting them die in order to reduce an even worse death rate? A death or lesser death situation? Well f*ck. How does one explain this? The guilt is already gnawing on me but somehow I feel, I know there's got to be a better way. 'Negate the effects' of Kairos variation. Maybe it could all work. GCA wasn't so shitty if that's true. Though they took me without consent, nevertheless it's concerning countless lives. And maybe Kairos and I... Could partner up and set things really right. Oh f*ck. I'm tired of thinking already. Much less doing.