Aurelius blinked wearily at Mr. Tona’s weird declaration.

  The man was a former sage, one who was taken out of retirement to be given a job at the Commission as an instructor for their mages. He was undoubtedly someone more than capable of taking down Aurelius even with the handicaps he had given himself.

  Rubbing his head, Aurelius readied himself, tapping the floor a few times to get a feel for the grip and weight of his new weapon.

  “Hup” Aurelius grunted as he swung the spear towards the stationary man. He had no intention of holding back, especially with the rest of his precious Sunday on the line.

  Much to Aurelius’s surprise, he felt his first attack slow to a crawl, as if the spear was working against a wall of water.

  Mr. Tona effortlessly stopped the spear in its tracks with his wand with an expression exuding pure boredom.

  “Your form is completely wrong, and you’re not even attempting to channel your soul properly.” He chided, miming a yawn in a bid to irritate Aurelius.

  With a flick of his wrist, the man sent the spear flying back out of his domain with his wand, sending Aurelius reeling back and attempting to regain his balance.

  “The weapon is an extension of yourself, not a tool, nor object. Each movement must channel your very essence, and strike with ferocity.” He announced.

  “It’s not fair that you’re using magic.” Aurelius complained, annoyed by the way that the old man had so easily parried his attack.

  “...Kid, it’s literally just disruption. You can cut through it like butter if you use even an ounce of the kind of arts I want you to understand.” He responded, raising his eyebrows in judgement.

  Gritting his teeth, Aurelius readied himself again, this time opting for a thrust of his spear.

  Once again, the spear slowed to a crawl the moment it entered the circumference of Mr. Tona’s circular domain on the floor, ignoring all of the strength that Aurelius had put into it.

  And with a relaxed flick of his wrists, Mr. Tona sent the spear horizontally back towards Aurelius once more, this time, knocking the boy off of his feet.

  “The spear is a weapon built for control and discipline. Where is the control in your swing? Blind strength will do you no good against foes.”

  “And where is the discipline in your thrust? Your form lacks the proper embodiment of your soul.” Mr. Tona critiqued.

  “Don’t struggle.” He instructed, waving his wand casually.

  “Puppet.” He announced.

  With the sage’s mysterious spell, Aurelius felt a loss of control over his body, as he robotically moved back up to his feet.

  Mr. Tona made small, precise movements with his wand, manipulating the petrified and baffled Aurelius into grabbing hold of the spear.

  “Now, focus and dive into your soul.” He instructed.

  “It should be almost the same as observing your soul in your normal meditations, but I need you to stop and maintain a state of semi-awareness by entering a state of ‘flow’ in the dive.”

  “You should be able to see your soul throughout your body, not as an abstraction as you do in the full dive, but see with clarity the way that your soul is bound to your body as a vessel.”

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  “I want you to use this state and hold the spear as an extension of the body, and move the spear as you do with your actual arm, by naturally imbuing your soul into every move.”

  Aurelius blinked a few times in confusion as he attempted to regain control over his marionette body.

  “Tsk. Don’t struggle. I'm assisting you to make sure you don’t fall over during your little meditation. The spell is merely affecting your muscles through your nerves. I’ll give control back to you soon.” He scolded.

  Aurelius grumbled to himself, annoyed by the old man’s casual attitude to taking control over his damn body.

  However, Aurelius took the former sage’s advice, relaxing against his struggle and letting his mind quiet to a crawl.

  He followed the usual process in soul diving, closing his eyes to take in the gentle waves of different sensations throughout his body and concentrating on his soul with a calm, undisturbed mind into an abstract form that he could visualise and understand.

  Soon, he began to outline and visualise his soul, observing the colours and feel of its shape as well as watching the strange blueprint laid on top of it come into further focus…

  “No! I said the boundary between the dive and consciousness! Don’t close your eyes!” Mr. Tona scolded, snapping Aurelius out of his focus.

  “Try again.” Mr. Tona instructed with a grumpy frown on his face, and pouting lips, clearly unhappy with Aurelius.

  It’s not like I’ve done this before! Aurelius grumbled to himself, feeling a little fatigue catching up to him from that short dive.

  He once again concentrated, pouring his mind into his body and outlining his body and taking in its sensations into it and he did it with his eyes wide open. Just as he was about to sink into the depths of his soul, he stopped himself, clinging from the edge of awareness and consciousness.

  He fought against the pull of the instinctive and natural urge to dive into his soul. He oscillated between the two states, as his metaphorical toes balanced on the tightropes of his very mind.

  His body rejected such a strange state, creating a discomfort in his mind and body alike and making Aurelius hallucinate the smells of very strange things…

  His vision faded in and out, his brain unable to accurately parse the information that the world was providing him.

  Aurelius could also vaguely make out his soul coming in and out of focus as he oscillated between these two states with higher and higher frequency.

  As it became increasingly difficult to resist the push and pull of these two states, Aurelius heard a soft whisper coming from both sides, as if gently pushing Aurelius towards this vague boundary.

  The whisper intensified slowly, creating a calm presence within his mind. He felt the ground stabilise, as he felt the world coming to an equilibrium, and the sounds of the swirling colours coming to a stop.

  The world around him stopped in its tracks, as if he had simply struggled through the ferocity of a storm into its calm, central eye.

  Aurelius slowly came to his senses as he made out the overlapping voices echoing throughout his skull.

  “...enity...Balance and…ance and serenity....Balance and serenity…” The voice repeated, resonating in his mind and ears at the same time.

  Aurelius realised that Mr. Tona was somehow transmitting his voice into his mind while talking, creating a sort of anchor for him to understand his ‘coordinates’ within his dive.

  Emboldened by the help, Aurelius gripped the spear in his hand tightly, becoming hyper-aware of the crooked crevices that lined its faulty wooden outline.

  He noticed the dents and scuff marks that he didn’t notice, and the uneven gradients of the wood marked where the craftsman had shaved the wood to the shape in his hands.

  He clearly saw the way his soul spread throughout his body, and he could feel the way that the tides of mana twisted and affected the outer swirls of the soul that outlined his body.

  Aurelius let his soul solidify around its edges, pulling at it with his body. The task felt strange, as if he was stuffing a full luggage with 50 extra underwear. That is to say, it was a difficult and unfamiliar sensation for him.

  Then, he came to a sudden epiphany.

  He could simply recycle his ‘edges’ into the spear!

  Aurelius focused once more, struggling against the pull of the soul dive.

  He pushed his soul through his body, collecting its edges into the spear, creating a thin layer that coated its surface…

  On his next blink, his eyes caught sight of Mr. Tona and his satisfied expression.

  The old man in the trench coat had his arms crossed across his chest, with his wand sticking conspicuously out of his armpits.

  Suddenly, Aurelius felt the ground open up underneath him, as the spell cast by Mr. Tona was released without warning.

  He felt his muscles fire off on their own, with each sensation causing streaks of colours to appear in his mind.

  Aurelius’s senses in all areas were hyper aware of his surroundings and his body, meaning that every sensation struck him twice as hard as usual.

  Aurelius grit his teeth once more, tensing up and bringing his body back into his full control.

  He was the owner of his own damn body and muscles, and he would very well do with it as he pleased!

  Every step sent a jolt of new sensation and strangeness through his body, as he slowly made his way towards Wally Tona, step by step…