38: To Play With Prana And Blood

“You… want me to break your arm?” Said Maiya with a blank expression.

“Well, don’t break my arm, but just hit it hard enough to hurt really bad,” Vir said.

Maiya wrenched her gaze from waves—now lit by the first rays of dawn—and pushed through her seasickness to embrace Vir. “I know we’ve been through a lot lately, Vir. First we had the pirates, then we were set up and you got so badly injured, and now this ship full of slaves. Just a little longer until we’re home, Vir, okay? Just a little longer.”

“Uh, Maiya? W-What are you doing?”

“There’s no need to resort to self violence, Vir. Just take deep breaths. Here, like this,” she said, taking in one deep breath after another. “It’ll all be over soon, Vir.”

“Uhhh, Maiya… I think you’ve got the wrong idea here. I haven’t gone crazy.”

Maiya nodded knowingly. “I understand, Vir. I can only imagine what you’re going through.”

Vir grasped her shoulders and wrenched himself away. “For Vera’s sake, Maiya! Just listen to me! I am not insane. This has to do with Prana Vision. The thing I told you about? How I can ‘see’ prana?”

He simply couldn’t wait any longer. Now that they were out of immediate danger, he wanted to try activating Prana Vision again. He was so close to a breakthrough! He just had to be a bit more cautious and it would all work out.

“Huh?” She said, confused.

“It’s too much to explain right now, but just believe me when I say I’m trying to experiment with my abilities. Just trust me on this, okay?”

“Hmm. You’re sure?”

“Yes.”

“Really sure?”

“Yes.”

“Really really sure?”

“Maiya…”

“Alright! I can’t say I’m okay with this, but I’ll believe in you, Vir,” she said, picking up a metal rod lying nearby.

Vir wondered why she was being so overly dramatic about this. It wasn’t like he was asking her to kill him or something.

Maiya glanced around to ensure no one was looking, but most of the sailors were still asleep at this hour. Only a few lookouts remained abovedecks in the cold. She’d be sleeping too, if she didn’t immediately puke when she closed her eyes or went belowdecks. Only a few hours remained until the ship would drop anchor near the coastline south of Saran, allowing them off.

Grasping the rod in both hands, she raised it high up in the air.

Vir braced his arm on the ship’s wooden railing and steeled himself.

“Ay!” Maiya squeaked, bringing the rod down, slowly, with one eye closed.

“Maiya… what are you doing?” Vir asked as the rod lightly tapped his arm. He’d barely even felt it.

“Ugh. Fine. Don’t blame me for this, okay?” she said, bracing herself. It was as if she was planning on smacking her arm instead of his. Vir half expected the girl to repeat the same mistake this time.

“Ow!” He grimaced as Maiya slammed the rod into his arm with enough force to break something.

“Oh grak! Did I break something?” Maiya cried, dropping the rod. “Just hang on, I’ll grab one of the sailors. There’s gotta be someone with a Life affinity aboard, right?”

Vir grabbed her arm with his right hand. His entire left arm throbbed painfully. Bruised, but not broken. “Stop,” he said through gritted teeth. “That’ll defeat the purpose. Thanks Maiya. I’m fine. I’ll just… sit down for a sec.”

Crossing his legs, turned his vision to the water beneath the boat. Prana Vision had already begun to flare, and what’s more, it was as bright as it’d been when he’d fought the wolf above Riyan’s abode. Not quite as vivid as when he had looked through Ekanai’s eyes back in the Godshollow, but he had a theory about that.

When he looked deep into the blue and white prana of the water, he saw a new color: black.

So I was right! He thought, mentally pumping his fists.

He stopped mid-pump, peering deeper. Something was off about this ‘black’ prana, in a way that he found hard to wrap his mind around. It felt… deeper. More profound, in a way he could only feel and not explain. And the more attention he gave it, the more differences he noticed. When compared to the prana within his own body, he found them identical.

Which brought up the question of why his ‘regular’ Prana Vision could detect the prana within his own body, but had such a hard time finding prana in the wild—though after casting his gaze far into the ocean, he realized why.

Boosted Prana Vision wasn’t any different from the regular version. It simply had more resolution. It saw farther, and it saw a more detailed view of the world. The ‘black’ prana in his body wasn’t dense, not by any means, but it was much closer than far off prana under the ground or in the ocean.

Which meant he needed far less resolution to see it.

The ability was incredibly useful, but running around or getting badly injured remained the only surefire ways of turning it on.  Though, as he’d recently realized, the former method only partially activated the ability.

Back in the Godshollow, he’d not only exerted himself, but he’d also been driven by fear.

It was the same when he’d fought the wolf above Riyan’s abode that night—he’d been driven by fear. He was sure that he’d have seen this new ‘black’ prana in both instances, if he’d had the presence of mind to look. On both accounts, he’d been rather preoccupied with staying alive.

And again when he’d been roughed up by the Saran jailors. His heart had been pumping hard, and pain and fear drove the ability to new heights.

I’m not crazy, after all!

After meditating on those experiences, he realized that he could recreate that sensation. It’d paid off!

The shock of having his arm smashed triggered something within his body that powered up Prana Vision beyond what mere exertion did.

Until now, he’d sighted the ‘black’ prana that resided within his body only once in nature—on the floor of Saran’s jail.

Now, he understood why. The affinity was scarce. To the point where it was almost nonexistent, compared to the other affinities that filled the water. If he wasn’t actively searching for it, he’d miss it, even with Prana Vision flaring so brightly.

That was an interesting discovery, but it wasn’t immediately useful. His true purpose in doing all of this was to address the problem he’d been putting off for so long. He’d deluded himself into accepting Prana Vision’s glaring flaw—namely that it could only be activated by fear or exertion.

If he wanted to delve deeper into the mysteries of his body’s prana, he needed to activate the ability on demand. With his prior failure in mind, Vir closed his eyes and tried again.

When he’d attempted to control his prana in Saran’s jail cell, he’d taken hold of the prana in his neck and stopped it. That could only have ended up poorly. This time, instead of stopping the prana—and thus the flow of blood—he’d will it to continue upwards into his head. And into his eyes.

With a deep breath, Vir gave it a go. The prana obeyed, and he pushed it up. Through his neck and up his head.

Searing pain wracked his body, and he realized he’d done something horribly wrong again. Vir immediately aborted his experiment, allowing the blood to return to flow normally, but he was a moment too late.

Vir fought through the cobwebs darkening his vision, but as the seconds wore on, he realized he’d lost.

The world turned black, and he lost consciousness. Again.

— —

Vir awoke to a bright sky, the sun high overhead. “Vi—uh, Neel! Oh thank the gods!” he heard someone say.

He sat up, but immediately regretted it. A splitting headache threatened to crack his skull, and it was all he could do to remain conscious.

“What happened?” he asked after several moments had passed.

Maiya’s hazel eyes looked deeply into his own, searching for any sign of trauma. “You sat down and then you just kinda fell over. You didn’t even say anything. When I looked back, I saw you on the floor, drooling. Nothing I did woke you up. Vir, I was so worried. What happened?”

“Uh, can you speak a little more quietly?” he asked, flinching at her words. “Everything’s really loud right now.”

“Sorry,” she said, reducing her volume to a murmur. “Any better?”

Vir nodded, but quickly stopped. Like last  time, moving his head made him nauseous, and it wasn’t seasickness.

He’d made the same mistake again. He thought he’d been careful, but he wasn’t careful enough. It seemed his body violently resisted any kind of alteration to the flow of his blood.

This is gonna be tough, he thought. Blood and prana circulated through his body according to rules far more complex than he’d imagined.

“Sorry, Maiya. I’m fine now.”

“Promise me you won’t do anything like that ever again.”

“Uh…”

“Promise!” Maiya said, her tears welling up in her eyes, threatening to mar her makeup.

“I promise, not until I better understand what I’m doing. I have no intention of making the same mistake three times. Rudvik would never forgive me.”

“Three times?” Maiya asked. “What do you mean?”

“Uh, nothing. Sorry. I misspoke,” he lied.

Vir spent the next hour sitting and contemplating as his mind slowly returned to normal.

This strategy of his wasn’t working. He knew he was onto something, but he wouldn’t get there with this sort of brutish approach. Yet without guidance from someone who knew more, how would he ever progress?

As much as it vexed him, he decided to honor his words to Maiya and put his experimentation on hold. At least, until he could be reasonably sure that he wouldn’t accidentally commit suicide or cripple himself permanently. He could only hope he’d come by that knowledge soon.

The sailors sprung into action when the ship neared shore, furling the sails, tending to the rigging, steering the ship to an appropriate anchoring spot, and dealing with a myriad of other tasks.

Maiya and Vir remained near Bumpy, trying to stay out of the way as best as they could.

When the crew finally dropped anchor, a good thousand paces away from shore, Maiya began to worry.

“Uh, I hope they don’t expect us to swim,” she said. “I can’t swim. Wait. You can’t swim either, can you, Vir?”

“Nope.”

Vir wondered how this would work as well, but then remembered their encounter with the pirates the other day.

“You remember how those pirates used a tiny boat to get to shore? I don’t think these large ships can get any closer, or they might run aground.”

Sure enough, Bakura hailed them over. “Right so, dis be where we part ways m’fraid. My men’ll help ya load yer Ash’va onto dat dinghy o’er dere,” he said, pointing to a wooden boat suspended by ropes over the side of the ship. “Head straight east ‘n ye’ll get ta de Saran-Daha highway a’fore sundown. Ah done everythin’ ah can. Rest’s on you two.”

When Vir had stumbled upon the slaves, he’d been certain the man would clasp a collar on his neck and thrown him into the brig with the others, but Alda had been right, it seemed. Maybe the man wasn’t a saint, but he seemed he’d honor his word.

“Thank you,” Maiya said. “We’ll be sure to put in a good word with our father.”

“Not jes’ a good word, yeah?”

“Right,” Vir responded. “I’ll be sure he contacts you. And we’ll send you ample compensation for your troubles here.”

The man rubbed his hands together. “Good. Gooood,” he said, his eyes shining in anticipation of prospects that would never materialize. Vir wondered when the man would find out that he’d been duped by a pair of nobodies. Probably the next time he’s back at Saran…

Vir didn’t want to be anywhere near the city when that happened.

Bumpy had done surprisingly well with the rocking motions of the ship, and Vir coaxed him out onto the dinghy lashed to the side of the ship without much difficulty. The sailors had braced the small boat with wooden spars, preventing it from rocking while they loaded onto it.

The four sailors aboard the dinghy guided Vir and Bumpy to the very center of the boat, where the beast's prodigious weight wouldn’t upset its balance. After Bumpy was safely aboard and strapped down, Maiya handed Vir his rucksack, then hopped in herself.

The four crewmen cast off the spars, and with the help of the sailors aboard Bakura’s ship, lowered the dinghy down.

Bumpy began whining the instant the boat touched water, and Vir couldn’t blame him. The dinghy bobbed and rocked in seas far more than the large ship. The motions reduced somewhat when the sailors began rowing, but it wasn’t enough.

Maiya already had her face out over the water in case she needed to hurl. The ten minute ride to shore must have felt like ten hours to his poor friend.

“Blessed. Blessed shores!” Maiya cried, burying her hand into the sand. She’d jumped off the boat at the same time as the sailors, who’d offered to beach it so she wouldn’t have to get wet.

After puking a half dozen times, getting wet was low on her list of concerns.

The soldiers bid them farewell, lingering a moment before heading back with disappointed faces. Vir belatedly realized they’d been hoping for a tip.

Instead of heading east like Bakura had directed, Vir hugged the coastline and traveled south, back to Riyan’s abode. The ship had put them much farther south than anticipated, which worked to their favor. A hard day of riding would put them home before sunset.

Maiya recovered soon after on Bumpy, and the hours dragged on in silence. They had both had a long journey and neither had the energy for conversation.

The tricky eastward turn posed Vir no problems. He’d anticipated this exact problem on the way out, so he’d memorized the arrangement of the rocky hills by the shore to avoid missing the turn.

Once Bumpy was back on the sand dunes, he let the beast guide itself home, allowing his mind to wander to the grotto and the blissful rest that was soon to come.

When they arrived at Riyan’s home after what felt like an eternity, Vir spied two Ash’va stabled in the cave next to the abode. Riyan had two Ash’va, and Vir was currently on one of them.

Which meant…

“Someone’s here…”

— —

“It is good that you came, Tanya,” Riyan said, gesturing to the silver haired woman who’d just entered his abode. “You are one of the few mejai I can trust.”

“Yes, sir,” she said, her lips taut. “I’ve never known you to make requests, General.”

Riyan chuckled. “Indeed.”

The woman wore her silver hair short in a bob cut, complementing her aggressive looks. Full black leathers showed off her curvy figure, but it was her deep-set black eyes that Riyan had come to remember her by. Many men had cowered before that stare. If gazes were blades, then hers was seric. They were the eyes of a predator.

He gestured dismissively. “I am no general. Not anymore. And be sure to call me Riyan in front of them. And do not ever mention my family name.”

“Yes, sir. I mean, Riyan. This will take some getting used to.”

Riyan laughed. “I’ve no doubt you’ll prevail.”

“So, tell me more about this girl… Is she as talented as you say?”

Riyan cocked a brow as he turned towards the main door, a sly grin plastered upon his face. “Why don’t you be the judge of that? They have returned.”