[attr="class","textie"]How long had it been since they had started training in this strange place? The Shining Palace was gone, Vulkan had managed to get Samson to surrender by spitting his speech back in his face, and the war was over. That was what mattered most, but Vulkan realized something during his fight. He wasn’t strong enough, and so after he left, he told no one where he was going, though he probably should have. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to tell them, but he knew they would try to follow him, and to this place they wouldn’t be able to come. It was special, and only a single portal existed, and could only be activated by someone who wielded a Spirit like him.

So they had returned to Cephoh’s Forest, the strange realm that was filled to the brim with mana, and the place where he had become a Champion of their gauntlet albeit with a lot of difficulty. Abraxas was at his side as always, as they stepped through, and looked around at what would be their home for the next however long. Vulkan hadn’t brought a change of clothes as he figured he wouldn’t need them, and as they went through they saw the familiar spider creature that they had to fight before skittering ahead of them to go tell the others of their return. It truly felt like they were in a place that they could call home. So they continued to walk at their leisurely pace until they came upon the familiar grove.

It was there that they were greeted by a familiar sight, and Vulkan just smiled as Gravarion came into sight. He looked like a Centaur made of bark though he was as large as the Royal Castle back in the Kingdom. Hooved legs were planted firmly in the ground, two curved tusks extending out from both cheeks, and amber colored eyes that glowed permanently with the power to sunder the land stared at him. Vulkan felt tiny to put it lightly, but he knew that here he was in no trouble so instead he just smiled at the large spirit.

”Gravarion it’s good to see you again...Though this time I’ve come of my own choice…” he laughed a bit waving to him, and to the rest of the denizens that he had met previously. Even Abraxas was happy to be here where the mana wasn’t so thin, though he still refrained from bulking up into the thing that he called his true form. Vulkan wondered what that looked like, and if all Spirits had them?

Though as he thought many familiar faces began to make their way to the two of them. Vintra the Grove Warden, a humanoid looking creature made out of bark, the last time they had been here, he was their first opponent in the gauntlet. Definitely a tough opponent, but they hadn’t had much time to talk to him. Like Vulkan Vintra was strong in both offense, and defense so that made him an incredibly troublesome enemy to fight at times. Though the last time they had seen him, he was much tinier, it appeared he had been nurtured back to his full size again.

”Oi hi Vintra! No hard feelings about last time yeah? We didn’t mean to blow you up, or well I guess we did, but it was a fight to death, so you understand right?” Abraxas spoke using his telepathy to the spirit which let out a hearty laugh.

”It is fine, it was a good fight, and I look forward to a rematch while you both remain here this time. I hope you have grown stronger since then!” Vintra spoke.

Looking around Vulkan saw the others that he had, had to fight. De’kata the Spidertaur whom had been reborn after his defeat like the other spirits wasn’t quite as big as he was when they fought, but there was a creepy smile on his mandibles. Resting nearby was Vitalus the so called living forest it appeared he had healed from their previous battle as well. Though he was looking for one more creature that he couldn’t quite place at the moment.

That was when it landed in front of the duo a large looking Gorilla with half of it’s body covered in what could be described in bark armor that seemed to be coming from inside of him. He couldn’t speak like the others, but he was obviously excited as he patted Vulkan affectionately on the head. The Lava Mage just smiled as he so often did, Abraxas rolled his eyes at the display, and curled around Vulkan possessively.

”Hey, get your own human! This one is mine!” He growled adorably at the much larger creature, and Vulkan just facepalmed.

”Abraxas I don’t think he is trying to take me from you, so just calm down.” he chuckled, and affectionately scratched under the tiny dragons chin to calm him down. Though he turned his attention to Gravarion. ”We have returned...I know you did alot for us last time, but I need to get stronger still...So is there anyway that we can train here until we feel ready to leave?” he asked the guardian of the forest curiously.

”You have already beaten the Gauntlet, so of course when you are ready to leave I will open the way for you without any issues this time.” A large rumbling chuckle left the spirits body, and echoed through the forest. ”But tell me...Why are you training here, and not back in your own home? Surely you can do so with more ease there?” Gravarion asked them, and it was a fair question.

”You’re not wrong...But this place is challenging, I could fight, and spar mages back home all day long, and sure I’d gain strength, but it wouldn’t be the same as here. Here I am forced to fight like my life depends on it, and I think that will make me stronger than any traditional training that I could receive back home. I think by staying in this place, and becoming a bit wilder, I’ll get much stronger, much faster. Does that make sense?” he asked Gravarion at the end of his reasoning.

”Haha you are truly interesting little Champion, but I understand if you wish to spend your days here, and train until you are content, then we will not stop you. Just know that you will have no shortage of challengers here for your title of Champion so be ready.” He smirked with his giant maw as he gave his blessing to the duo.

”See Vulkan I knew it was a good idea to come back here, and when you get stronger, and we go back getting you a girlfriend will be even easier. I bet that woman who tried to assassinate you is still single.” Abraxas seemed to muse completely serious.

”Abraxas...I’m not going to date someone who tried to murder me! How many times have I told you that?” The silver haired mage just seemed exasperated at his partners antics, but he smiled. They were here, and now they could start training in earnest, so without wasting anymore time Vulkan set up a small camp, and then he went to the clearing where the sacred spring was.

Of course he wasn’t going to drink from it again, he didn’t feel like having his body burn up from the inside again, it was harrowing enough the first time he wasn’t keen on experiencing it again. Instead he sat down at the edge of the spring, and he begin to seemingly meditate. Everything was slowly being drowned out with each second more sounds were being lost to him, as he did his best to forget everything that he thought he knew. Even Abraxas the beacon of mana that rested on his shoulder slowly faded from him. Or well he almost did.

”Vulkan what are you doing?” Came the penetrating voice directly in his mind, interrupting his concentration as he turned to face the tiny little dragon.

”I’m trying to learn how to do something...Did you know that there is a special energy that flows through everything that is alive in the world?” He asked Abraxas closing his eyes once more.

”Well yes...It’s called Mana, everyone knows that Vulkan, are you an idiot?” Abraxas teased the lava mage playfully, but seemed genuinely curious.

”No...There is another kind, I read about it in a book. Supposedly in a land across the sea invented the ability to sense this strange energy that they call Ki…” he spoke the words softly as he tried to force his senses to drown out all distractions, and extend from him. Trying to master oneself with a spirit that could talk to you telepathically was difficult to say the least, but it was something that he was going to do.

”Key? Aren’t those things that open doors...Why would you want to sense keys? Wouldn’t sensing locks be more useful?” Abraxas said clearly very confused about this strange thing that Vulkan was talking about.

Though at his confusion Vulkan couldn’t help, but laugh a bit as he continued to try, and focus.

”No not Key...Ki...It is apparently a spiritual type of energy that everything living possesses, even you, and me. So if I can learn to sense it I’ll have an ace up my sleeve, though the training to master it is supposedly very difficult.” he said keeping his eyes closed the entire time, and trying to sense the tiniest bit of anything. It was frustrating since he wasn’t even sure what it was that he was trying to feel. But he knew that he had to be at peace, and soon enough he found that his breathing had slowed down. Abraxas had decided to be quiet as well watching his partner curiously.

The duo’s breathing became in sync, and it was almost as if they shared a single heartbeat, the two of them so close together. So Vulkan focused on the sound of his heartbeat, and the rhythm of his breathing. The wind going through the trees, the sounds of various animals humming around him as he continued to just listen to the nature that they were surrounded by. It was soothing, like something was just being poured into his soul that he didn’t know he needed until he had gotten it. How had he never taken the time to just observe how truly beautiful the world was?

Birds that could only be described as exotic soared in the air above him, and Abraxas who was sleeping peacefully now, and not just pretending as he normally did. The little dragons snoring matched up with the breathing of the lava mage, and he couldn’t help but smile. Slowly, bit by bit he just continued to drown out everything unnecessary, and focus on what he could hear. The music of the forest was something else. It had been a good idea for him to come here to train, otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to bear witness to this majesty. Slowly he began to feel something strange, was it the mana of this place affecting him?

The raw power of the place that he had come to was certainly overwhelming it felt like a constant weight upon his body, but it wasn’t something he couldn’t handle. But something strange was happening to him, he could tell as he began to feel what felt like tiny vibrations from the world around him. Like the world around him was shaking violently. Vulkan just continued to let it happen opening himself up to the vibrations wanting to know what they were, and where the source of them was. Each breath seemed to bring the vibrations closer into focus, and that was when he realized that this was the wind blowing through the trees that he was sensing.

He wasn’t just hearing it like earlier, no he was truly sensing the way that the wind moved through the air, and curved around the bark, and moved the leaves against the open air. The vibration was this, and he was shocked by this moment. Was this Ki the way that the strangers from a strange land talked about it. To sense life in its most pure form. Slowly he opened himself up more to the strange vibrations that he was feeling shake him down to his very core.

The next set of vibrations that felt more like a trickle of water rather than the ground quaking underneath him, he honed in on it to the best of his ability. It wasn’t very far away, but he could feel the wing beats of the birds right above him, as they flew overhead. The subtle way in which their bodies continued to glide across the open sky almost as if the world had no sway over them. That was something he hoped he would get to experience one day, the ability to feel the freedom of the sky.

Another thought for another time however as he kept his eyes closed, and his mind open reaching out as far as he could trying to feel everything around him all at the same time without actually seeing it. The vibrations began to fade however, and so he withdrew back into himself supposedly he had Ki of his own. So he did his best to search out for it, and it appeared that he stumbled upon something new. It wasn’t mana necessarily, but it also seemed strangely familiar at the same time. Whatever this was, he thought this thing inside of him might be the Ki that the book had mentioned. Once he felt he had it, he decided to see what would happen if he expanded it to brush against the supposed Ki of other things.

So that is exactly what he did, the little orb that he visualized as his ki slowly expanded into a sphere around him, almost like a barrier that no one else would be able to see. It wasn’t a very big sphere that was for sure, and he wasn’t able to move at the moment while keeping it up, but within this sphere he was able to sense everything. The way the wind brushed through his hair, and guided the insects along it’s draft. The ants in the grass near him, the delicate fall of the spring water into the main pool

There was nothing that was hidden to him within this bubble, and slowly he tried to expand it further, but the moment he did it simply seemed to fizzle out. With a bit of an exasperated sigh he did his best to not get frustrated. Progress had been made, and quite quickly, the book made it sound like this was going to be much harder than it was. Though he had a sneaking suspicion that the reason he was picking it up so quickly was more due to his location than anything else. There was an abundance of life in this place, and he was learning an ability to sense said life. So why wouldn’t he progress quickly.

A smile crossed his lips, and turning to make sure that Abraxas was still sleeping on his shoulder he closed his eyes once more, and he found the little sphere inside of himself again. Slowly, ever so slowly he began to expand that sphere until he could do no more. This time his little bubble was stretched as far, and as thin as he could possibly make it. While he wouldn’t be able to catch some details with it like this, there wasn’t much that was going to sneak by him. Unless of course they stayed out of the range of his Ki bubble.

Curious thoughts began to cross his mind as he wondered how he might be able to augment his fighting ability with this skill, how it would improve him, and how he would improve with it. It was a good thing that in the area he was, he had no shortage of rivals. A gentle smile broached his lips as he wondered how many times he was going to have to fight them all as they challenged him to become the champion over, and over again. Though he knew that together with Abraxas there was no way they were going to lose. Regardless while he was here he would do his best to master this new ability as well.

After all if he couldn’t use it in combat then the entire point of him wanting to learn it was gone. Vulkans one weakness, and one that he didn’t really share with others, was his inability to sense others from over a large distance. While he could defend himself from practically any attack, or drop a meteor on his enemies in order to get rid of them, it was hard if he couldn’t physically see it coming. So he was for lack of a better term ‘blind’. So when he read about this strange technique it had peaked his interest enough for him to try, and learn it so that he could shore up some of his shortcomings. While he would never be as strong as a mage who specialized in sensory magic wholly. This would at least give him the ability to not be caught off guard. As it was proving right now as he did his best to maintain his concentration, and to not let his little bubble fall again.

If he was able to master this technique he would be one step closer to becoming the Captain of his squad, though he was sure that while he was gone Zaven would take up that mantle. A gentle sigh escaped his lips as his thoughts had wandered to far, and the bubble that he visualized his Ki taking the shape of simply fell as well. Though he didn’t seem to mind, he had found success, and that was all that mattered.

WC: 3059

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[attr="class","tagsie"]Zaven Blake✧