Author's Note:
Last-minute chapters, but chapters nonetheless!
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Salvador, Renovas Residence | 16 Days after Chronus'Gaze | 2501
Sirius was sitting on his couch, curiously holding a small piece of paper in his hand while intently reading one of the books Merkana had given him for learning purposes.
The name of the manuscript was "The Official Guide to Pacts," originally published centuries ago by the second Modelaider, Renilson Carmini.
It was one of many books created to guide others in the art of making pacts since Renilson was the man who had introduced the concept to modern society, during a time when the Modelaider was both a major political figure and a hero.
Sirius had been reading this since the morning and was now more aware of how to learn to make pacts, even more than he had learned from his friend.
The training had three phases: the first used a paper made of light, the second used cellulose paper, and the third used no paper at all.
This paper would serve as a focus to bring the pact into the real world, which is why it started with one made of light—the energy in it would guide the Yama where to go.
Using the paper as a focus, the final step would be transferring what was inscribed on the paper into the physical environment, spreading it into the world alongside the mental energy that carried the terms of the pact.
However, the process was far from simple. That's why, as the book instructed, Sirius was trying his best to enter a meditative state.
He needed this to feel his own EIY, the first step before he could even begin.
The problem? He had no idea how meditation worked. So now, he was browsing his DD device to figure it out.
It wasn't going well, considering all he found were tutorials on how to make specifically brown cows meditate to Beethoven's music.
Still, he refused to give up. He had to rub it in his friend's face that he had mastered pact creation before she even got a chance to teach him.
Yes, his sole motivation was to show off.
(Think, Sirius, think! What do people do when they meditate?!) Sirius wracked his brain. (Do they… measure the amount?)
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**[I, the narrator of this story, hereby tender my resignation after being personally and deeply offended by the poor quality of the previous joke, which stabbed the core of my soul like a scimitar.
However, as per contractual obligations, I must continue my job, despite not receiving any salary.
So, moving on.]**
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Realizing how nonsensical his thoughts were, Sirius sighed and scanned the room to see if his father was around.
To his surprise, the old man was sitting right next to him, something that shocked Sirius—he hadn't even noticed him arrive.
"Where did you come from?"
"I've been here since the start," his father replied, attempting to face Sirius but instead looking at the wall, having turned his head in the wrong direction.
"..." Sirius didn't know how to respond.
"Having trouble understanding meditation?"
"Haaah." Sirius sank deeper into the couch, relaxing a little. "Yeah, I just… don't know what to do."
"Imagine water."
"Huh?"
"Picture a waterfall or a lake. Try to remain calm and serene. Close your eyes, control your breathing, and just… feel the moment. That's how you enter meditation." The blind man smiled. "Eventually, you'll be able to sense your EIY through that."
Sirius was surprised—not only by his father's explanation of EIY but also by the experience behind his words.
Wise, instructive, and almost as if… he had taught this to someone before.
(Yep, my theory that he's 'something big' is confirmed.) Sirius thought.
Unbeknownst to him, his father raised an eyebrow as if sensing his thoughts.
Sirius closed his eyes, trying to follow his father's instructions with all his effort.
He calmed himself, took deep breaths, and slowly began inhaling and exhaling rhythmically.
At first, he could still hear everything around him—the small movements of his body on the couch, his father's breathing, the faint buzz of mosquitoes in the distance.
Then… everything faded.
He was alone, with only the sound of silence.
Until he heard the rush of a vast, beautiful river, the roar of a waterfall, the sweet, pulsating aroma of fresh blue water, his body drenched from head to toe.
It was as if he were truly there.
He focused harder, trying to sense not what wasn't there, like the water, but what had always been there, unnoticed.
Outside his mind, Raimundo felt something—a familiar sensation, close, growing rapidly, fiercely.
He turned instinctively toward Sirius, even without sight, realizing the sensation was coming from him.
(W-what? He's already…?!) Raimundo's disbelief grew as the sensation didn't fade but stabilized—controlled, ordinary.
"I did it!" Sirius's shout confirmed Raimundo's shock.
"..." Raimundo couldn't react.
What had just happened? He asked himself, utterly stunned. At Sirius's age, it had taken him at least a day to sense his own EIY.
Yet his son had completely surpassed him in this aspect, with less experience, training, and not even having a projection yet.
This not only impressed him but filled him with regret.
What if he had realized his son's potential earlier? What if he had found even the smallest way to push him out of inertia sooner?
Combined with the promise he made to his wife—a vow to hide the truth about himself from his son—this weighed heavily on him.
But as quickly as the weight settled, it lifted, leaving room for one resolve.
If I couldn't do this for him before, I'll do it now, he thought.
"Congratulations, kid!" Raimundo hugged Sirius warmly.
Sirius was shocked, not by the gesture or the speed and joy behind it.
He was shocked by something… ridiculous.
(How the hell did he find me and hug me perfectly?!) Sirius was dumbfounded. *(HE'S BLIND!)
(Wait, how the hell did I find him and hug him perfectly?!) Raimundo was equally confused. *(I'M BLIND!)
"..." Both remained silent.
(Eh, doesn't matter.) They thought simultaneously and let go.
"Congratulations, many people take a long time to feel their own EIY."
"Uh… thanks?"
"No need to thank me, kid," he said with a smile. "The hard part begins now."
Raimundo handed the piece of paper Sirius had set aside back to him with a simple movement.
"Moving the pact terms along with mental energy into reality is… different," he explained in a teacherly tone. "It's like moving a toy train along its tracks, but the challenge is that you absolutely cannot THINK about it—you just have to DO it."
"So basically, the train is the pact terms/Ishi, the tracks are the path, and the next station is the paper?"
"Bingo!"
"But how do I do that without imagining it?"
"Simple…" Raimundo stood up from the couch and walked toward the kitchen.
"Uh, what are you—?!"
He returned holding a custom-built "HotTrails" train set, designed to simulate Japan's Shinjuku Station.
On the tracks sat a Japanese bullet train model Z-19B.
"..." Sirius blinked several times, incredulous. "How do you even HAVE that—no! How did you even FIND THIS while being BLIND?!"
"Good question," Raimundo said as he placed the toy train station on the table. "Not that I'll answer it, but it's a good one nonetheless."
"..." Sirius was too insulted to respond.
The older Renovas began instructing him.
"You need to do what I said, but here first. Not to imagine exactly this, but to replicate it mentally, substituting the train and tracks for—"
"Substituting them with the terms, the Ishi, and the path to the Yama!"
"Bingo!" Raimundo gave him a thumbs-up. "You're a quick learner."
Sirius quickly tried to grasp everything—the sensation of doing it, the step-by-step process, all of it.
He started by carefully guiding the train along the tracks, focusing on every tiny detail: the motion, the path the train followed, and most importantly, treating the path as a separate entity from the train.
He knew he would fail countless times if he treated the path and the Ishi as the same thing, even though the mind served as the bridge between soul and body.
To practice, he made the train travel long distances on the tracks, stopping to pick up imaginary passengers and visiting different locations.
After a good 45 minutes of running the train along the track, Sirius finally seemed to understand how to proceed.
"Okay, ready to try for real?" Raimundo asked.
"Yes!"
Sirius closed his eyes, entering the same state of focus as before, but now with greater ease. He could now visualize his EIY clearly.
The soul was to the left, the mind in the center, and the body to the right.
Eiji, Ishi, and Yama, in that order.
His soul wasn't the focus; instead, it was the untapped beauty of the sentient mentality within him.
He created the pact terms in his mind, and the Ishi enveloped them like a carnivorous plant snaring a fly, covering them completely as soon as the would-be pact was formed within him.
Then, like a toy train traveling along its tracks, Sirius moved the terms through the pathway that led to the unexplored capabilities of the body—the flesh itself, the Yama.
As he did so, he felt a pull from his mind directly into his body, spreading chaotically.
In that moment, before panic could set in from the lack of control, he felt the energy within the piece of paper vibrate. The light… was offering itself as a guide.
He quickly focused everything on that light, and to his surprise, it worked!
The Yama had become chaotic because there had been no track before, causing the "train" to derail.
But the light on the paper acted as a kind of track.
And so, when the nearly formed pact reached the paper, Sirius waited a few seconds and then released the fusion of Body and Mind into the environment.
The result was the sound of chains echoing deep within his being, followed by Sirius feeling bound to something by an invisible force.
The pact had been made.
The piece of paper was now a customizable sticker that changed its image when submerged in ink—provided the ink was compatible with its material, the user could draw the desired image, and there was enough ink for it.
Little did Sirius know that the time he spent creating this simple pact had stretched into several hours. Raimundo had been observing him with growing curiosity, ready to make him rest.
Surely his progress couldn't be this fast, right?
To his utter astonishment, that question was met with the opposite of what he expected.
Sirius had managed to create his first pact on the same day he learned to feel his EIY—in less than 5 hours and 50 minutes.
(H-how?) The older man didn't know how to react.
"Sweet!" Sirius jumped up and down in joy.
Now, only two phases remained—creating the pact using cellulose paper and, finally, doing so without any focal object.
He was… getting closer and closer.
To be continued…