Huweyn, with his jet-black hair tied back, wore a plain black vest that revealed his lean physique, each muscle contour like a carved hilltop—a splendid build. His stiff, hard abdominal muscles penetrated through the fabric of the vest, with sweat trickling down his smooth skin. He then closed his brightly lit green eyes.
With his thick, dark brows furrowed, he entered an intense state of focus and concentration. Amidst calming his mind and body, he took a breath, feeling the air course through him as he erased meaningless thoughts and began tensing his muscle fibers tightly, which, to him, helped him focus.
Kairi, as he watched Huweyn, began to feel overwhelmed by an intense aura that radiated around him, an aura of sheer focus and will.
He's so calm and collected. I don't think anything could distort his focus, Kairi thought, watching Huweyn stand in complete stillness and utter silence.
Then, after a brief moment, Huweyn opened his eyes, exerting an intense, overwhelming gaze on Kairi, making him shudder for a moment.
It's so overwheming, Kairi thought. He felt the hairs on his body stand up one after the other, and as he stared back into Huweyn's intense gaze, he felt fear strike down his spine.
Then, as if nothing at all had happened, Huweyn was back to his usual self, the daunting air around him disappearing into thin air.
"What happened?" Kairi questioned. As he looked at Huweyn, he seemed no different than before. "I don't get it."
Huweyn then raised his broad right arm. "What do you see now?"
"Huh?"
As Kairi closely observed Huweyn's arm, at first, he thought there was nothing, but then—he began to notice something. Is that— It's like that one time.
Small, very few in number, loose, vibrant deep-blue thread-like mechanisms slowly emerged from his arm, barely visible, dancing about freely.
These weird, paranormal threads didn't seem to be attached to his body or skin at all; they came directly from his soul. As Kairi drew closer to observe, taking a few steps toward Huweyn, he was then startled.
A multitude of deep-blue threads pierced out of Huweyn's being where there was once little. They were sharp and concentrated, as if they hardened all in a single moment. In an instant, they flew through the air and swung at Kairi's footing, making him tumble onto the ground.
"A-Ach."
Kairi gasped for air as he tumbled hard onto the ground, rolling onto the sand. He slowly picked himself up, holding his back. He then looked over at Huweyn in disbelief. Did I just get flung through the air by those— He then peered at the threads, watching how small and thin they looked. That's just... weird.
After flinging him to the ground, the majority of the threads slowly relapsed, most definitely at Huweyn's will, shrinking back into his figure, back into his soul.
"Do these seem familiar to you? In any way or form?"
Kairi, his heartbeat still resounding through his chest after being momentarily startled, was drawn back to his earlier presumption. He thought, They're not indigo blue, but they're just like the ones that Louis fellow from the Caverns used. Acting on his suspicion, he responded, "They're like the ones that weird fellow used in the Caverns... It's called Soulweaving, right?"
"Yes, you're right about both." Huweyn then sighed in relief. "If you couldn't guess that much, then I wouldn't even bother training you. It's good that you're always so observant."
"Well, I only guessed that much because you haven't shown me Soulweaving yet, so it couldn't be anything else." Kairi retorted, always trying to remain humble. He then paused for a moment. "Wait... You did say you would show me manifestation, right?"
"I-I did."
Suddenly, all remnants of the remaining threads involuntarily dispersed back into his soul, into his being. As they subsided, Huweyn fell to his knees, plagued by sudden weakness.
He panted loudly as his vision began to diminish into a blurry onslaught. His head pounded, and his body heated up, enveloping him in an unexpected fever.
"What's wrong?" Kairi asked, rushing to him in a panic.
As Kairi approached him, Huweyn, as if nothing had happened, got up and stretched out his hand. "I'm fine; don't worry."
"What was that? Why did you just—"
"It's because I pushed it just now... Remember when I told you about Soul Fragmentation?"
"Yeah... You said something about damaging your soul." Kairi recalled.
"Yeah, it's because I experienced fragmentation in my soul that using any form of Soul techniques has become increasingly harder—There's also a high risk, a really high one, of me damaging my soul even further whenever I use any abilities." Huweyn explained.
Kairi, feeling responsible, said, "Then you shouldn't bother trying to show me anything if it's as dangerous as you make it out to be."
"Well, it's imperative that you have a proper demonstration to be the foundation for our training. Besides, it's my fault that I ended up in such a predicament." Huweyn retorted.
"Alright," Kairi retaliated, still having some lingering confusion. "So what happens when your soul becomes damaged? I get that it becomes harder to use any techniques—What else?"
"Well, you start to lose yourself slowly. At first, you'll lose your ambition and feel an overwhelming emptiness where your soul should be. You'll lose what used to make you happy, one by one. Then you'll start to lose yourself—you'll start to lose your memories, your identity."
"That's..."
Huweyn continued with a look of fear in his eyes, "You might even lose your soul to another, to a Wanderer." With an empty smile on his face, he added, "You lose everything."
Kairi had never seen such a side to Huweyn, who always seemed so apathetic and both emotionally and physically strong. But now, from Kairi's view, he looked afraid of the future—afraid of such things happening to him.
"How about we continue all of this tomorrow? You can tell me all about Wanderers and Spirit Manifestation then. For now, just rest up."
"Yeah, you're right. Tomorrow."