"You know, when I was creating my first cultivation book, I had a certain fear. You see, at that time, I had already figured out that I was the Sun Natura. I already knew the world had a grudge against me, so my biggest fear was someone reading how I was able to get stronger." The woman spoke mindlessly.
"So I created a different language, one where I took inspiration from my cultural tattoos and dances. In a way, they're dance rhythms, yes, but they're also a language that not even my family I made here would've understood." She breathed out, looking dazed in front of her, probably in memory lane.
I felt my eye twitch as I sat looking at the orb that noticed I wasn't chasing it anymore and was roaming around. Sometimes it would get closer to me to shake its sphere's body before running away.
I would like to say that I ignored the thing completely, like a mature person would.
But that would be a lie.
I want to smack it so much.
When it came closer to me again, I held back the urge to slap it. It spun in front of me, but seeing that I didn't react to it, it changed strategy and spun around me. Making sure to go slower when it was in my sight.
My eye twitched, and a scowl was making way towards my face, but I held myself back. It did this a couple more times before becoming bored and making its way to wherever. I finally felt myself relax a bit until I noticed the woman stopped talking.
I turned to look at her, who had gone into a daze. I thought she was finished, but it wasn't long before she blinked and became reanimated, talking about something else. I sighed while listening to her.
I got a childish orb that bothers me and then there's this woman beside me, talking and laughing to herself, even though I wasn't even mentally responding to her. This has been happening for the past couple of hours and all I've been pondering is what I need to do to make my goal achievable, but all I'm coming to is blank.
The woman, however, was the opposite, as apparently all she had was things going through her head. She clocked out of being a teacher, as now all she would talk about was her mythologies and some personal stories. Either from her times in this world or from times back on her planet. Either way, most of the time she would zone out before finishing it and then switch to another story to do the same.
I think I heard about 82 unfinished stories and I don't know whether to be annoyed that she's even talking to me about them knowing I'm trying to think about something or annoyed that she doesn't even finish the story because I won't lie. Some stories I tuned into with great interest only for her to not finish them.
She is worse than my aunties. At least their unfinished stories were related to each other.
I'm getting gray hairs at three years old.
How tragic.
"You're too young to get gray hairs, and as a Sun Natura, you won't be getting them anytime soon." The woman stopped mid-story and responded to me.
"Yeah?" I implored, slightly interested, and surprised that she was listening to me. I tugged on my shirt before I began fiddling with the edge of it. It still felt weird to wear something I hadn't worn in a while.
She laughed before teasing, "How old do you think I am? I will make it easier and not include the years after my official death."
I peaked at her from my twiddling and examined her. To be truthful, inspecting her based on her looks was going to leave me nowhere. She looked young, energetic, and healthy. Her vibrant red attire further makes those three points more prominent. Yet this woman was the exact opposite, besides being energetic.
My eyes trailed back to my toying with my shirt as I asked, "Do I get any hints?"
She hummed while pretending to be in deep thought before chuckling out, "I'm over 5,000 years old."
My eyes widened, and I abandoned the shirt to look at her. "5,000?" I questioned her in disbelief and turned perplexed when she nodded her head. 5,000 years old was nowhere close to what I was thinking.
Thus, with hesitance, I looked at her with furrowed brows before answering uncertainly, "5,678?"
Her smile widened before she corrected, "Close, 5,999." My eye twitched.
In what world was a 321-difference close?
"One you hit the 3 thousand, everything starts to seem close." She said it mindlessly. Scratching her head before changing the topic, she goes back to her stories.
Rolling my eyes, I went back to wondering what action I needed to do. Should I dance? I wasn't a big dancer growing up, though. How about singing? I liked singing with my mom and everyone I met said my voice was pleasant to listen to, but imagining myself doing it during battle made me have the heebie-jeebies*.
I don't think I could do it without thought or naturally. I must really love singing to do that, because then it's instilled in you. Doing it is close to breathing.
So what exactly do I need to do?
"You know the action doesn't have to be related to your goal." Sighing, I tilted my head in her direction. No longer was she constantly talking, but now she beamed at me.
Rolling my eyes, I replied, "Weren't you in the middle of telling me legends about the sun? What happened to the girl after she laid on the ferns?"
The woman giggled before saying, "The sun was in love with her beauty, so they took her as their wife, and then the sacrificial practice ended."
Smacking my lips, I was finally satisfied with hearing an ending to a story before I leaned back and mindlessly said, "Beauty really solves everything."
"I disagree!" I looked over at her, who now stood up with her hands on her waist. "If that were true, I would still be alive, living my best life." She said it with confidence.
I looked at her with a bored face but didn't comment. It wasn't as if what she was saying was false. The woman had a more mature type of beauty. One that beautifully mixed feminine and masculine traits.
However, here that beauty is only recognized by few and now after her death or maybe even when she was alive she was drawn inaccurately and demonized.
That might be me in the future.
Sighing, I tried not to let those thoughts be fully present so she wouldn't be able to hear them. Instead, I asked in my head, "What do you mean that the action doesn't have to be related to the goal?"
She was mid chatter but stopped and deflated a bit as she plopped herself back down. Scratching her head, she said something I didn't understand before explaining, "Just because my goal is to preserve my heritage doesn't mean I need to dance. I danced because that is what made me calm and fully helped me be steady to fulfill my goal."
Pointing at me, she asked, "What makes you calm but also makes you feel that it's going to help you continue? What's there but not here?"
"A lot of things."
"Yes, but what is the one thing that made you feel like the world is an alright place?" She guided further.
"Whac-A-Mole," I thought without hesitation.
I saw her face crack.
Slowly, she dropped her hand and with a twisted, confused face, she asked, "Whac-A-Mole?" She said each word one by one. Each word makes her face scrunch up further. "What is that?"
I ignored the question, as I was already standing up, inspired. I looked over to the still confused woman and transmitted, "Is there a way to get a hammer?"
"A hammer?" She looked puzzled even further, and it looked like she was going to comment on something, but she sighed and said something that I once again couldn't understand, then shook her head.
Reaching out her hand, golden flames lit, and I watched in captivation as it slowly morphed and then solidified into a golden engraved hammer. However, when it finished, my eye couldn't help but twitch as its size resembled a certain one from the market.
"Don't like it?" The woman ask, looking between me and the hammer and all I could do was sigh and nod my head, grabbing the weapon from her hand.
When she let go, the next thing I knew, I was falling straight down. My heart lept in my throat, and I almost let go in shock. However quickly, I gritted my teeth as I imagined staying still. Sweat was dripping down my face and the feeling of falling was making my stomach twist and turn.
However, no matter how much I imagined me slowing down to a halt, it was fruitless. The woman was slowly becoming a dot in the blank space of nothingness.
Trying to keep calm, I wanted to close my eyes to imagine harder, but I stopped myself and gripped the hammer harder while imagining myself different light things like a feather or a leaf.
"Remember what you are!" I heard a shout from above me.
I sucked in a breath and instantly changed the image into a nebula. This time I slowed down a bit, but I was still falling. I was thinking harder about being a nebula, but when the weight in my hand became more evident, I realized what my problem was.
I looked at the golden hammer in my hand and imagined it to be as light as a feather. However, doing so caused it to not fall down but whisk away around the space like a feather in the breeze. I was holding onto it with dangling feet as it continued moving around, like some type of roller coaster ride.
I felt gagged from the whiplash, but still, I thought about what I should do. I imagine it as a nebula, but the results just had me spinning like some tea cup. I tried other options, but the hammer did not react well to them and did its own thing.
"Is the hammer a conscious thing?" I thought before looking up at the thing that has me hanging on for dear life as it zig-zag upwards. Its body, the same size as mine, was moving with speed and movability and when I looked closer, I finally saw it.
Tiny golden orbs shimmered on it. They were small, ant-like things that I could barely see from constantly being jotted around.
So how do I make it listen to me? Compromise? Partnership?
Incorporate it into me?
I looked at the hammer and imagined it fusing into me. I watched it pause, making me sigh in relief, but it was too soon because suddenly I was being shaken around, as the hammer wanted me off it. Despite that, I held on tighter and squinted my eyes, making sure at no point I wasn't looking at it.
I made my imagination stronger, my desire more consuming. I wanted this weapon to be mine. To make me stronger.
To become me.
Suddenly, a light red fire spread from my hands and with it came a gentle feel but soon I felt a deep pain in my chest as the sound of cracking began. However, I didn't stop and continued, even when I heard a distant voice yelling at me to stop.
I gritted my teeth and, in my vision, I saw something enter my little nebula. It was struggling, but I didn't care. I forced it toward me and placed it in the center, where I smothered it. Slowly it disintegrated, but quickly it rebuilt itself; no longer was it gold, but a light red.
The hammer in real time copied its counterpart. Turning light red under my grip, until eventually it stopped moving, becoming docile.
Tired yet and amazed, I secured my grip on the hammer and ignored the woman who was coming my way. Instead, my eyes focused on a certain little thing that was still floating idly.
Looking over at the orb that didn't notice was getting hunted down, I moved towards it quickly. I lifted the hammer up with two arms and saw a light red flame light a place right in the middle of the sphere. Instinctively, I ruthlessly slammed down at the place and the orb.
A ring sounded out through the space. Sounding similar to that of a bell. I watched as a crack went straight through the orb before it split in half. Thinking that wasn't enough, I was going to slam into it again, but then more cracks started covering both split sides and suddenly it all became dust.
Puzzled, I looked at it and panted. My body was shaking, and subconscious tears were going down my face alongside sweat. I studied the multicolored dust particles that remained still for a second before rushing towards me.
I didn't flinch when they covered my whole body and disappeared into my skin. The feeling it gave me was soothing, along with a mass of energy that I depleted but also more that made me want to run 100 miles.
"Run my foot!" I felt a smack against my head and my shirt tugged from the back. Being held with my stomach out, I looked across to meet eyes with very angry golden ones.
"Did you know what you're doing?! You almost broke your soul, Vale Valea*!" The woman began speaking in rapidly while I was filled with energy and shaking in pain. I closed my eyes as I felt my inner self tear before a hand was placed on my chest.
Peaking with one eye, the woman with worried eyes and a poisonous mouth was focusing on my chest, still talking rapidly and probably cussing me out. Golden flames were spreading through my body and with them, the pain eased but didn't go away.
"I'm sorry." I transmitted to her, and she stopped talking to look up at me. We stared at each other for a bit before she sighed and shook her head.
"No, I should be the one apologizing. Don't forget where the hammer's energy comes from. The reason it was chaotic was because of my nature. I was waiting for you to ask me for help." She explained. Her mouth pursed as she took away both hands and stepped back.
"I tried to repair your soul, but I can only do so little." She murmured before becoming quiet, watching me, dazed in thought.
I touched my chest before looking at the light red weapon in my hand. "What exactly did I do?" I asked.
My question made her focus as she answered, "Amazing thing." She smiled at that before saying, "If you were healed, that is. You just turned my energy into your own."
I snapped my head up to her while asking, "Did I hurt you?"
Her smile weakened a bit before shaking her head. "No. I'm fine; it's you that is in danger." She sighed, rubbing her face as she continued, "What you did was part of soul cultivation and a very powerful method, no less. " She looked at me from between her fingers as she asked, "Don't you feel the cracking?"
Slowly, I nodded before asking, "That's my soul?"
"That's your soul." She confirmed. She huffed before looking around the place and with a snap of her finger, I woke up with a sharp inhale face-to-face with the little Teuila. The hammer was still in my hand as I sat on the dirt floor. I looked at the flower and became confused when it shrank, so its height met mine sitting down, but when I looked to the side of it, I realized it didn't shrink; it was bending down to my height.
I sat up, a little too quickly, as I was still brimming with energy and the flower straightened itself out. I looked in wonder at the moving plant before noticing one of its petals turned dry and when I touched it; it fell off the plant and turned to dust.
"Does the orb signify a petal?" I pondered, looking at the other fresh and healthy petals on the flower. I counted them one by one, counting up to 40.
"They're not petals." Jumping, I turned to look at the woman who was standing behind me. "They look like petals but they are red leaves." She said as she reached out to touch one of the bigger ones that leaned into her touch like a pet. "It's a unique and beautiful flower that my people have incorporated throughout generations." She smiled gently at that before her eyes squinted over at me.
"We have to make a boundary for you." She said this while crossing her powerful arm. I nodded my head under her stank eye.
Always getting into some rules. How about you tell me some rules to avoid freaks that wear hats?
She looked at me blankly and shook her head, saying, "We will get back to that, by the way." I groaned while she ignored me as she elucidated the boundary: "No more using your soul power. If you feel an ounce or hear an ounce of breaking, you stop what you're doing."
"It's that bad?" I asked apprehensively.
She looked at me with a wince before asking, "Did anyone tell you how badly damaged your soul was?"
I nodded my head and answered, "Someone said when I entered this world, my soul was badly injured and they could only heal 46% of it."
I saw her jerk before looking me up and down. "46%, you say?" She asked hesitantly and before I could ask anything, she breathed out, "If you were at 46%, you're now at 17%."
I dropped my hammer.
"17%?!" I yelled in my head before turning around and walking back and forth. "How did it get this bad?! I only felt the cracking around three times!" I pulled at my locs, pondering what the hell happened to me.
"It might've been that Gu Snake." She answered me during my mid freak out session. My mind instantly clicked back to the snake I saw her burn, and I swiftly turned to her.
"That wasn't here before?" I signed habitually.
Lucky for me, she read my thoughts as she shook her head before explaining, "No, it came with you. I pulled it out of your body. I thought it didn't cause any harm since I stopped it from controlling your emotions and memory, but I guess it didn't only cause harm to your mind."
My heart dropped at the news before I started thinking back. The more I thought, the more puzzle pieces that I thought were meaningless were coming into place. Like the feeling I got when the hand grabbed me, the random thoughts and actions. The memories of me before my death.
"The Gu species in general are poisonous branches. That snake should've only controlled your thought process, but the person didn't realize your soul was damaged. It's like placing a large animal in a room. If it were a big room, it would just roam around doing what it usually does. But in your case, your room is small, so in order for the animal to do what it needs to do, it's causing havoc to open up some space." She explained.
I kissed my teeth before continuing my walk back and forth. Many thoughts were going through my head, before eventually I calmed down. I just can't use my soul power anymore and let my soul heal.
That should be easy.
Sike.
"The snake came from the freak that wears hats?" I nodded to the woman's question before telling her everything. She grimaced as she comforted me, "Your luck is truly awful and I thought my experience was filled with aitu*."
I didn't comment on it, feeling peeved about the whole situation.
"Well, that just means one thing!" I looked at the woman who looked to have been rejuvenated, and I couldn't help but be jealous of her go-lucky smile.
"And that is?" I thought wearily.
She stepped up closer before bending down. "Me and you," she said, pointing at her and then me, "Got to train. Build up the body power."
"Training how?" I asked, but she didn't respond to me, as she just smiled.
"You got all that energy, don't you? Let me, Alene Fuamato, help you out with that." With that, she clapped her hands, stood up straight, and walked, making her way to her boulder. Leaving me very confused and slightly worried.