Power Awakens

The boys were summoned to Nuthay’s chambers. They walked two abreast up the stairs of the western tower, Jaac and Tem in front and the servant who summoned them walking a good two paces head of them. Jaac, whose mood had lifted slightly, gave Tem one of his characteristically annoying pushes, in an attempt to knock Tem off balance and into the wall. As Jaac skipped away up a couple of steps he said “Pass it on”

Again as usual either Ainy or Mort was on the receiving end. This time it was Ainy, and Tem pushed him hard against the wall,

“Pass it on”, said Tem as he ran up the stairs after Jaac.

Ainy immediately bounced up from the wall and obediently passed the hard shove onto Mort.

“Pass it on,” he laughed as he sprinted away

“Pass it on to who” shouted Mort after the three boys, as he started after them.

Mort, being a big lad over six foot four and weighing eighteen stone, often found it hard to stop once he had started running, which was not one of his favourite pastimes, in fact any physical activity was off his pastime list, he just loved to learn and puzzle out difficult things.

Mort unknowingly rounded the last bend and crashed into all four of the group as they stood in front of the door to Nuthay’s Residence. Before nyone had time to knock on the door, the group crashed through with Mort’s momentum as the door had stood slightly ajar.

“Idiot” muttered one of the boys, as they finally managed to right themselves and look into the room.

A middle aged man looked at them from behind a huge dark wood desk, where he had been reading a thick tome. He wore a single long sleeved robe of grey wool with a bright red sash in the middle but otherwise unadorned. He had close-cropped black and grey hair and his clean-shaven face showed the signs of aging around the eyes and forehead. However, those blue eyes looked bright and youthful, and seemed to betray a depth of wisdom and knowledge at the same time as appearing to bore into the boys.

“Well now, what have we here” Nuthay said as he rose from the desk and moved towards the door and the boys.

“Ah, yes, the Nexii.” Nuthay looked stunned for a second but hid it well “Boy, you shine like the sun, did you know that?”

Obviously referring to Jaac he stammered back, “No sir, I didn’t but then I don’t understand all this Nexii business either.”

“Well now, I will explain all of that in short order, the first thing I must do is introduce myself and then get you all Focus Shielded so there won’t be any more attacks on you.” The man stood tall in front of them although he didn’t quite reach the height of Mort and said “My name is Nuthay, I am one of the most senior members of the Sorcerers Council in Breem, and I am to be your first tutor for a few weeks before assigning you out to your respective masters. Now, be so kind as to introduce yourself.”

The boys obliged Nuthay with short introductions, and Mort managed to almost get his name out without stumbling or stuttering.

“So Jaac, lad, your aura is quite amazing, you outshine all of your companions to the point that theirs can hardly be seen. Do you understand what an aura is?”

Jaac, assuming he was talking to him was about to reply when Mort chirped up “Its an electromagnetic field fuelled by the life-force in all living objects, it is more apparent in intelligent beings where it is concentrated around the brain. Some creatures can see it if they can change the way they perceive things, but all living things are affected by it, as the electromagnetic force of one life forms interacts with another, even at a distance, although this greatly decreases with distance…. Or at least I think it is…I er…read it in a book somewhere.”

“Well done Mort, you almost have it correct.” Again Nuthay was stunned by the intellect in this boy. This group really is quite remarkable he thought so much more than anyone had explained.

Despite his internal musings, Nuthay continued to speak to the boys before he lost their attention, “Everything that lives has an aura that is easily perceptible by those with the talent to do so, however, what is less commonly known is that every atom and molecule in the universe has an aura. Collectively, they create stronger and stronger auras depending on what the collective is that they create, auras tend to be static in non-living things hence why they tend to be more difficult to see.”

Seeing the boy’s eyes start to glaze over Nuthay laughed “I’m sure you don’t have a clue about what I have just said, but it is worth knowing that auras are not just the living. Electromagnetic field is an ancient term used by the Elder race, which apparently used this to power various machines and devices. This is known to be true as there are various sites around the planet where some of these devices still exist, and if you change your perception you can see the flow of the field in these devices.

But we digress, you will learn more of this if this is your talent. I have been discussing your situation with King Arem, and we have decided, that you need to Apprentice to a couple of our most trusted advisers in the keep. The intention is that ultimately, you will join a very selective group of individuals charged with protecting the Kingdom.”

Nuthay moved to stand in from of Jaac “Now, first things first, you have been attacked at least three times that we know of. This is due to Jaac’s aura, which is so strong that it shines as bright as the noonday sun for those with talent both on the metaphysical plane and the physical plane. This has made you an easy target to find. The only reason you were not found earlier was that your naming day aura was the same as any normal human. However, as you are now going through maturity, your hormones have changed your body to be more like the adult you will become. Hence, your aura has already reached its full potential in a matter of months of the hormonal changes in your body. Those with talent to view the LifeMatrix would see you as the birth of a new borne star. Even to the extent of being so bright that all life forms for leagues around you would be overshadowed by the brightness of your aura. This usually happens around your sixteenth birthday.”

Nuthay sighed “Again, this is probably beyond your knowledge. If we had known about ou earlier you would have been schooled in these basics by Majee Fraykus from a much earlier age.” Shaking his head he said “For now, I need to control the beacon and dampen it down so that only Master class talent can see it, and our enemies will no longer be able to track you.”

“Who are these enemies?” asked Jaac

“This is really important to you four boys so please pay attention closely, we, and now by association, you, have some very powerful enemies who want to destroy you and everything you know. They already want to kill Jaac, but by knowing him and travelling with him you are now all targets for the enemy. He is vast, dark and powerful, and he works through agents across the continent to try to destabilise the region. Even though he does not reside on Cromus, he is powerful enough to be able to influence it frm Xanom. His name is Grakkor and the Morrs, and we are beginning to suspect the Bhagwatis, are under the direct control of this dark being and a probability that he speaks directly for their god Elvan. The Nexii is obviously very important to them, but we don’t yet know why.

You are all caught up in this and it is absolutely essential that you don’t speak of this to anybody outside this group, only Jaac’s Father and Uncle Eddick, King Arem and his Chief of Staff, Olef know what I am telling you and I am placing a great trust in letting you understand your situation, in the hopes you will want to help protect yourselves. Nobody else can be trusted with what we say, your life and the lives of your friends and family depend on it. Are we clear?”

All four boys nodded their head, scared at the immensity of what Nuthay was telling them. Nuthay felt extreme sympathy for these boys, if the prophecies were to be believed there would be hard days for each of them before they gained control of their gifts.

“Now, I need to show you something Jaac that will mask your aura from our enemies. This is something you need to practice every day until it is natural as breathing, the way your heart works and your breathing works without conscious thought. I can do this by mind merging, which we will do quite a bit over the next few months, this is by far the fastest way of passing on knowledge and those with the ability have used this technique for thousands of years. Of course it also depends on the ability of the sender and the receiver, if they are well balanced then they will work faster than if imbalanced. Even if your latent talent is anywhere near the potential it shows, then we will have an imbalance, as you are the receiver, this shouldn’t be a big problem.

Now relax and close your eyes, try to listen to everything in the room, don’t try to distinguish between sounds, try to listen to everything evenly, slow your breathing, very deep slow breaths, relax every muscle consciously, sit down get yourself comfortable and start from the tips of your toes and work slowly consciously relaxing each muscle, remember, deep slow breathing, as you do this try to use every sense except your vision, feel the air, the fabric of chair, your clothes, feel the warmth radiated from the people in the room, try to sense it all, but continue the very slow deep breathing, consciously slow your heart. If you do this properly this should take you to an almost trance like state, don’t worry if you can’t do it straight away, it usually takes between eight and fifteen tries, I have never heard of anybody being able to do this the first time, so don’t despair, just start again, I will be able to sense when you are ready and I will place my hand slowly on your head, remember if you can’t do it straight away just start” With a look of pure amazement, Nuthay stopped talking and placed his hand on Jaac’s head,

“Now keep relaxed, keep the slow breaths, this will probably become easier as…. well who knows with you, it seems it is already natural, this state is called Koan it is a oneness with the environment, deep use of this state will eventually take you to be at one with the Life Matrix, but you need to reach the state of Satori before you can achieve this level of communion, very few reach the Satori level of enlightenment, certainly not without assistance from a Life Crystal, and even with this it is still only a few people, however, this is for a later lesson, feel my mind reach for yours, open your mind, accept my touch, it will feel like a slight tingling in the back left hand corner of your head…that’s it, relax…”

For what seemed like twenty minutes Nuthay and Jaac sat quietly, then Nuthay looked up seeming a little less sure of himself if that was possible, These boys were full of surprises.

“Ok, Jaac, that was your first mind merge, it should get easier, but probably not by much as that is probably the easiest mind merge I have ever done, your mind is incredibly strong, you have taken a lot out of me, it took all my strength not to let my consciousness be absorbed in yours, yes, incredibly strong. you need to practice what I have shown you, now your aura is masked, you can unmask it any time, but you need to continue to repeat the mantra I have shown you, your aura is now set at a normal level and only a Grande Master of Majee or possibly a Gatekeeper, could see through the mantra, especially when repeated by one such as you. There are no Grande Masters now living that I am aware of, however, this is a big planet, with many strange wonders, but I digress, lets look at your friends now that your aura doesn’t blot them out anymore.”

As Nuthay turned to look at Mort, Tem and Ainy, a look of intense surprise crossed his face, the unmasked auras of the boys were also extremely bright, not as bright as Jaac’s had been, but easily the brightest auras Nuthay had ever seen, especially the tall wiry boy, his, was nearly as bright as Jaac’s in intensity, all three boys had been totally outshone by Jaac which has obviously led those with talent to ignore the other members of the group.

Nuthay sat down in his chair to think, this was incredible, these boys weren’t Nexii tainted, they were all Nexii, all four boys. What did the prophecy say about The Nexii, did it state anywhere in its cryptic text that The Nexii was a single person, or can it be interpreted as a group of people, in fact, the number of events that it portended, could the events even be achieved with a single person?

There was much to think about, luckily for us the enemy would have been as blinded as we were by Jaac’s aura, no one would have thought that there were four Nexii, but they all have different talents, how could this be, Jaac was so strong he blinded everybody to the other boys auras, and Jaac’s potential is staggering, it is frightening in the potential power he could wield, only I know this potential when I glimpsed his mind, what would the inner circle say when they found out, yes there is much to think about, and I need to research what this means, but first I need to mask these boys before anyone finds out. Now the wiry lad, if he has as much potential as it seems...now what was his name

“…er Tem, yes you, come here, it appears all you boys have a large amount of talent, its not just Jaac who is Nexii, you all are, its very important you tell no-one about this, ok boys, Tem, I will teach you the same as Jaac, and then I’ll do the same for …er..Ainy, then Mort”

Just over two hours later, Nuthay finished the mind merges and was exhausted, luckily and equally amazing was the fact that Tem also managed the mind merge the first time, not so with Ainy and Mort, they took over five goes to achieve the merge, although usually this would have been exceptional, it paled compared to Tem’s and Jaac’s achievement. Following the merge, Nuthay had a much more detailed view of each boys talents, calling a servant Nuthay requested that the company of Mathus, Fist Lem, and Olef. Each one of these was a member of the Inner Circle and could be trusted.

When they arrived, Olef arriving last, Nuthay introduced the boys to their apprentice Masters, Jaac was more strongly aligned to Majee with the Arts Martial a very close second, Tem was the opposite with Arts Martial the primary and Majee a close second. Jaac was naturally matched with Nuthay and Tem was matched with Mathus who was a Master Swordsman and had previously won the Silver Katana. Mathus was also the Master at Arms for the City of Mank and was well respected throughout the Kingdom, although he already had three other Apprentices, Tem’s latent talents need to be honed by a Master, not the usual First Sergeant in the training school. Apprenticeship to Mathus was usually reserved for nobles as it was seen as a privileged position for those who were chosen. Ainy was matched with Fist Lem, as Ainy had a very strong latent talent for Strategy and Logistics, Lem was the Lieutenant General of the Northern Bruk Armies and was renowned on Rodina as being one of the best living Strategist, he did not usually take apprentices, however, this was not a usual situation, Ainy’s latent talents were even stronger than Lem’s. Mort’s latent talents moved in a different direction, his ability to absorb information, analyse and problem solve were so high that Nuthay didn’t have a point of reference, Olef was as close as he could think of within the Kingdom, and although Olef was the Kingdoms greatest Scholar, Mort would probably surpass him in under five years, if he reaches his own potential. Olef never took on any Apprentices and only with great reluctance did he accept Mort.

Nuthay explained to the boys that they were to be given the rank of Squire to the Court of Mank, recorded in the Book of Royal Genealogy as distant cousins to the Archduke who was first cousin to Arem, this was needed as the privileged positions of their Apprentice Masters meant they had to have some sort of rank, otherwise there would be too many questions at court.

Following the introductions, the boys were given their instructions on the beginning of their Apprenticeships. Although they were to be trained separately, they would all take basic Martial training by the First Sergeant in the Mank Martial Training School, and other joint training in the first year of their Apprenticeship, but generally they would not be together as they studied with their respective Masters. This was only during training hours, of course at night things would be different, they could socialize at much as they wanted.

Three months later they actually managed to have the first one of the mythical free nights to socialise.