Chapter 13: Teach Me Sensei


Age 36

I was beginning to hate fire. It was hot, wild, and extremely annoying. And it got everywhere. While in certain cases it could be majestic, powerful, or even at times cozy, but now was definitely not the time. Getting continuously assaulted by fireballs was not how I planned to spend the afternoon.

In a spontaneous outburst, Tenga decided to make me live target practice as soon as I returned to the meadow in front of the tower, after yet another successful hunt. Out of the blue, I was suddenly pummeled by multiple orbs of glowing flames coming from every possible direction.

Worse was the fact that Tenga was casting without the use of the ancient language, giving me no time to catch my breath. Kratch was useless, eerily smiling and chuckling to himself as he enjoyed the show from the front porch.

What a great friend I have. So supportive and helpful. It was not like I did need his aid though.

While Tenga's attack was certainly quite imposing, if not slightly daunting with its continuous streams of red-hot danger coming my way, there were many different ways I could protect myself against it. Ridding the air of oxygen was one. Creating a barrier of compressed iron sand was another. In the end, I decided to rely on my enhanced reflexes, weaving through the fire like an elegant dancer as the fireballs swept past into the forest behind me.

How a forest fire did not start yet, I did not know. More magical tricks from Tenga no doubt.

Seeing me smoothly dodging the fireballs did not seem to frustrate him in the least as he began rapidly increasing the rate of his attacks. Fireballs began to appear faster, ranging from almost imperceptible sizes to enormous behemoths speeding my way. The pressure on me was increasing as my enhanced reflexes soon became unable to keep up with the sheer amount of firepower launched at me.

At the same time, for the first time since my long stay with Tenga I felt a pressure on my mental defenses. It began to grow steadily as I experienced the unpleasant sensation of multiple thin needles trying to dig into my scalp. While I expected something much more powerful from a mysterious character such as Tenga, I was sure this was not the full extent of his capabilities. As the seconds passed by it became harder and harder to concentrate as I continued to evade and protect myself from attacks on both fronts.

What first appeared to me as a joke on the part of my mentor soon transformed in quite the perilous situation, I used all of my efforts to keep up with the assault. While I actively fought back mentally and evaded physically, I was hesitant to launch a retaliatory attack or spell back to Tenga, not yet fully understanding the circumstances and origin of my unpleasant situation.

When both the pressure on my mental barriers became completely unbearable, along with the sting of several fireballs that managed to hit their mark, I decided enough was enough. With a short but extremely focused burst of willpower, I pushed away the mental probes of my opponent, clearing my mind of any external pressure that could hamper my clear thinking.

With the mental attack contained I began to try to cast a spell to form a barrier to protect me from the literal storm of fire around me. With growing horror, as an increasing number of fireballs began to hit my legs, arms, and torso, I realized that I simply did not have enough time to cast any spell in the ancient language. Each time I began to speak or even emit a sound a fireball headed my way, effectively breaking me off.

I was growing desperate, completely unable to see anything but endless swirling flames all around me. My cloak was charred, and a burning sensation was spreading on my limbs from the many places I got hit or singed by fire. The intense heat was disorientating me, causing black spots to appear in my vision.

Was I really going to die?

Here, at the hands of some decrypt hermit unable to spot the difference between a spoon and a fork.

This was not the way I wish to die. Not today, not next week, and not for a very long time.

Gathering my thoughts, focusing them solely on the desire to live, to not get burnt by the firestorm around me with great effort I cast my spell, without once moving my lips.

This was not like the simple and smooth nonverbal spells I practiced on a daily basis.

No, this was raw magic flowing with my will, focused precisely on one objective.

To protect. To live. To Survive.

Raging outwards against the fire the magical energy responded to my call, directed with one single purpose. Immediately a barrier began to form, protecting me and smothering the inferno raging around me. The flames died down as my body began to cool with the pleasantly cool magic pulsing around me.

My vision cleared as I saw Tenga's tower once again, with me standing in a completely scorched meadow. Tenga and Kratch were both sitting leisurely on the porch of the tower, both scrutinizing me with eyes that seemed to look right through me. It was with a hint of surprise that I saw a grin as large as that of my companion once again on my teacher.

"What the hell was that for!? I was almost cooked alive by those flames!" I exclaimed, rippling with some anger at the situation that almost led me to an early grave.

"Ah, but you weren't, were you, young one? A bit burnt; a bit charred but nothing that cannot be fixed with time and rest, no?" replied Tenga, grinning from ear to ear.

"That doesn't mean you should have done it at all. What if I was actually burnt down to a crisp?" I continued, frustrated, and slightly miffed at their cheerful expressions.

"Then I would have been disappointed. No need to get so jumpy about, it was quite entertaining to watch, and I found what I was searching for in the end" spoke Tenga, smoking on his pipe which he seemed to pull out of nowhere.

"I concurrrr. Watching you prance around was fun, especially in the end when you began to prance and smoke like a chicken without feathers. A lesson to not be prideful in your fights, this was and a good lesson indeed. All's well that ends well, after all" lazily purred Kratch, gracefully washing his leg with his tongue of any nonexistent dirt on it.

"So, this was nothing but a lesson? Why so sudden? Are you implying that I was growing too prideful?" I persevered in my questioning, hoping to glean at least some sort of explanation for the unpleasant experience I had.

"Well, not really a lesson in pride but more a test in talent, for I needed to see if you, young one, were ready for the final lessons, I had to teach you. What better way to do that than to thrust you towards a danger you cannot escape without thinking outside the box? The ancient language is but a crutch that you should throw away, the sooner, the better.

Though the cat is right, you were a tad too arrogant in your abilities for my liking at the start of the lesson. Though that was quickly solved later on, heh." Tenga cackled, slowly standing up from the steps and beginning to walk past the garden patch deeper into the forest.

"Fine, I guess the lesson was indeed useful in the end. Try not to do that again, for I really would hate to repair my clothes every time you wished to curb my arrogance." I relented with a sigh, fixing my cloak with a spell, and removing the horrible smell of smoke in the air.

"No guarantees! Follow me now, I have something I wish to show you" happily chirped Tenga, shuffling through the damaged trees and scorched grass as they slowly began regrow, appearing healthier and greener than they ever were before.

Turning back to see Kratch going back to taking a pleasant nap in the shade I began following the short hermit, as we delved further into the trees. Tenga seemed excited, bobbing happily up and down while rapidly mumbling under his breath again. At times he would get distracted with a bird or a squirrely sitting on the trees, as he spooked the critters off with yet another erratic movement of his pipe.

Soon we appeared at the edge of yet another of the many meadows found in the forests around the elven tower. Tenga shuffled closer to its center before turning back around towards me. Giving me a final stare with his piercing blue eyes, he eventually reached into a pouch I did not notice he was carrying and pulled out the body of a bright white rabbit.

The poor creature seemed stiff and unmoving. I would have been certain he was dead had I not sensed otherwise, as well as heard the faint beating of its heart with my enhanced hearing and other improved elven senses. The creature began to float from Tenga's hand, slowly spinning in the middle of the meadow. It would seem that whatever Tenga wanted to show me, the rabbit would be a key focus of our time.

"Observe carefully. What to do you see?" he asked, turning back to face me.

"A white rabbit, spelled to float in the air. Unmoving."

"Is it dead?" he questioned, obviously waiting for a more elaborate analysis.

"No. It is still breathing and its heart is still beating. Most likely a paralysis spell combined with a sleep spell used to make the animal fall unconscious and its muscles rigid."

"Good, at least you can see the basics. Now, what did it have for lunch?" he sighed, pacing slowly around the floating rabbit.

"Carrots. From your garden, I believe?" I replied, wordlessly using a spell to examine the contents of its stomach.

"Better. Now, where does it live? Where was it born?" he grumbled, continuing to smoke his pipe.

"A rabbit hole under an oak tree, located to the west from here, at the bank of a river," I answered, gleaning the information from the mind of the paralyzed rabbit.

"Not bad at all. And finally, what is its True name?" he exclaimed, blowing some ash into the air.

Some time passed before I answered the question, as I tried to carefully observe the rabbit, not only its physical traits but also, its memories. Apart from the information I already deduced, there were so many experiences I had to know, as well as examine all the different emotions the rabbit felt at different points in its life. In the end, after what seemed a good half hour, I relented and backed away, empty-handed.

"I… I don't know. There is too much information, too many variables to consider. I would need to completely examine all of the animal's memories from birth to discover its True name." I sighed, disappointed by my failure.

"A tricky rabbit for a tricky elf, I found. Though I am not disappointed, a difficult question I gave you. Now, look here. See this flower, growing by the birch tree? Tell me, what is its True name?" Tenga replied, pointing towards a lone blue flower growing amidst the roots of the tree.

What was Tenga getting at? The same task but a different subject of my analysis? Well, this time the answer was much easier to find. The flower had a simple cycle of life and was not yet ready to bloom. Small but important, this plant had its own unique function in the ecosystem of the forest, also serving as food for many of the animals living within.

Commonly used as an ingredient in a brew to dull pain, the flower was also widely popular for its distinct sense of smell, according to my mother's teachings. Its True name was representative of its function and beauty, merging the two together in a symbolic collection of syllables. This would mean that the True name of the flow-

"It seems you have figured it out, young one. Now that you have observed and analyzed both of these objects, tell me, what is the difference between the two? Why was the second task easier than the first?" questioned Tenga, interrupting my inner musings and breaking my chain of thought.

The difference? Tenga was correct, the deducing the name of the rabbit was much harder a task than discovering the True name of the flower.

Was it perhaps my prior knowledge and experience with herbs that helped me?

A difference between the two? What can be so crucial to change the difficulty of finding a True name of an object? But no, the rabbit is not an object, it's a being.

Hmmm… yes, I think I got it.

"The presence of a developed mind, the ability to think or experience basic emotions. Both are alive, but only one can really think on a more developed and complex level" I finally answered, turning to the hermit to await his conclusion.

For what seemed the second time today Tenga looked satisfied and even slightly pleased with my answer.

"Correct! The more complex the mind of a living entity, the more difficult it is to find its True name. Why do you think even the most incompetent fools know the True name of something so simple as iron? That is because it is dead and cannot think. A plant is harder because it is alive, but others of your kind have already figured out most if not all names for all the different trees, flowers, and bushes." Tenga loudly mumbled, gesturing wildly once again with his pipe, spilling ash all over his robes.

"So, the rabbit, being alive and with a mind more complex than a plant would hav-"

"An even more difficult to deduce True name, yes! Despite similarities, each rabbit is unique, with its own memories, emotions, and experiences. To find one's True name is possible but requires great wisdom and understanding of their nature, which you fully do not yet have. With time, this becomes simpler and easier to achieve." Tenga continued, interrupting me once again.

"I finally understand your point, old one. This would mean that the older a living entity is and the more complex its thoughts are, the harder it would be to discover its True name.

It's like trying to find a title for the book you are reading. Without reading it all and understanding what it truly symbolizes I would be unable to properly name it. No wonder it is so difficult for humans and dragons to discover their own True names. Why teach me this, however, and how is this related to the literal firestorm I had to face earlier today?" I questioned back, starting to pace around the floating rabbit white rabbit.

"Bah, those fools and worms cannot even understand what they themselves are. You are not like them; I can see the difference in you. Truly knowing yourself is one of the many steps one must take to reach enlightenment. As for why I am teaching you this, it is to make you see as I do." Tenga answered, refilling his pipe with another bundle of herbs.

"See what, Tenga? I can already see many things with magic, down to the smallest detail."

"Yet you are still unable to observe the ocean as a whole, instead of focusing on what lies inside and the water is made off. To see as I do is to understand the very beings and all living entities you set your sight upon. To be able to know everything about them, their fears, their worries, who they really are, from just one glance. How do you think I was able to tell you harbored no ill intentions during our first meeting, hmm?"

"Are you telling me that I would be able to discover the True name of everything I see just by looking at it? All just from a simple spell that you once made. Wait, if you already used it on me, do you know my True name?! Answer me, Tenga!" I exclaimed, preparing myself to fight and try to kill the hermit if he knew such precious information.

"Well no. This ability is powerful, but it would take much more than that to fully discover the True name of a human, elf, or dragon. You would know much about them, but not enough to truly find their True name unless you really put the effort into doing so. Something as basic as a rabbit on the other hand? Now that's as simple as plucking a carrot from the ground." Tenga replied, lifting his hands in a pacifying gesture.

"So, then it's a spell, that I can learn. Is it an incantation that I would have to pronounce?" I said, sighing in relief and easing the bubbling magical energy that had gathered under my skin.

If I can learn this spell, it would be simply wonderful. This would be a terrifying ability to add to my arsenal. I would be able to use to instantly know or deduce almost everything I need to know about a person and their identity. Not to mention the fact that it could help me find out the True name of the being I am dealing with. If so, I would have terrifying leverage over anyone I ever meet.

If what Tenga said was correct, no wonder Angela was able to figure out the True name of Eragon upon spending some time with him. She must have used this spell in one of their many discussions and eventually discovered his True name.

"What have I taught you about verbal casting in the ancient language? Why do you think I went to such lengths to make you cast magic mentally, without using the language as a crutch? This ability is not a spell that you can memorize once and use for the rest of your life.

It takes time to develop it, with not a single ounce of verbal spellcasting involved. Even you, despite your growing affinity and experience with casting magic without the ancient language, will be unable to get it to achieve it so easily" Tenga grumbled, as his face furrowed into a frown.

"So how will I learn it then? Especially if it's something that is not written down on a scroll but rather the use of raw magic and willpower?"

"With time and practice. I will mentally impart the experience of using the ability, which you will then attempt to replicate on the rabbit to find the most you can about it in one go. It should take less than a few months for you to grasp the basics, but mastery of the ability will only come with time and experience. Now come, let me show you the first steps." Tenga answered, getting up from his sitting position atop one of the large roots of an aged oak tree.

"I am eternally grateful for the trust you have in me to impart such knowledge to me but why give away such a precious secret?" I asked, still slightly wary of Tenga's decision to take a much more direct approach in my teaching.

"You are a searcher, are you not? How will you find the answers to your questions if you don't know what you are questioning? Now stop asking pointless questions, the sooner we start the better. You still have to water the leeks in my garden." Tenga grumbled, excitedly rubbing his hands together, anxious to start. It would seem the old hermit did indeed enjoy imparting his knowledge to others, more than he himself ever recognized.

It would seem that I really did make the correct decision to spend some time learning under this old man. So much knowledge, so much power, and all it takes is for me to bend down and grab it.

After all, opportunities multiply when they are seized.


Age 37

As time passed and my prowess grew, I continued to explore the most obscure paths and abilities with magic. It had been almost a year since the day Tenga decided to take a much more active approach in my learning since my arrival at his tower, and I was not disappointed. Each day, I grew to know more than the day before, absorbing every little nugget of information the old hermit decided to share.

Over the months I was able to greatly develop the ability of True Sight as I called it, able to recognize and perceive the very essence of the entities and objects around me. Combined with my other spells such as x-ray and microscopic vision, the ability was truly terrifying. I was able to break down and analyze entities by each separate layer, down to the very identity that made them, them.

It became easier and easier to discover and learn the True names of not only the elements and materials around me but also the various individual animals that roamed the forest. Sadly, this ability was currently limited to inorganic objects or simple living beings such as rabbits and squirrels, as I had not yet had the opportunity to practice and use it on a human individual.

With Tenga's contribution, my skill in other domains of magic grew at a steady pace. Non-verbal casting in the ancient language was still difficult, but I had been slowly overcoming my innate fear and reluctance to use it. The spells I was able to cast slowly grew in complexity and power, as I trained my thoughts and mind to be sharp and focused. The greater my mental power, the more successful and less chance of dangerous consequences I would have when using such magic.

Furthermore, I had reached an advanced level in my sorcery skill and expertise, allowing me to summon stronger and stronger spirits every time. While I was still hesitant and extremely cautious to summon multiple of these powerful beings at once, with my growing magical power and energy reserves I would eventually overcome this limitation.

With my growing experience in both sorcery and True Sight, I had one fine day posed the question on the existence of souls in the land of Alagaësia. I mean, if I was able to deduce and perceive the very identity of beings using my True sight, wouldn't this be similar to getting a clear image of the very soul of the entities I am interacting with.

Furthermore, while spirits were certainly their own independent race and entirely different from souls, being concentrated spheres of conscious magic, the resemblance between the two concepts was uncanny.

The existence of souls of living entities in the land of Alagaësia would also potentially allow me to explain such unknown phenomena such as the apparent appearance of the dwarven god Gûntera during Orik's coronation in the novels.

My ever-ambitious mind had already developed and thought of many potential things I could do if souls were proven to exist. While it would be no doubt extremely difficult, the manipulation of the souls of living entities via magic would grant endless possibilities.

Leeching off the concept of the philosopher's stone from the anime Full Metal Alchemist, I thought of the idea of using souls as sources of energy. Imagine that instead of the inefficient drain of ATP from living beings, I would drain their entire energy contained in their soul, the culmination and representation of both their body, mind, and magic. Using the energy from multiple souls would potentially allow me to fuel enormous spells requiring absurd amounts of energy.

You can't change the world without getting your hands dirty.

Unfortunately, my plans of delving into soul magic came to an abrupt halt about halfway through my studies of the subject. Despite my best efforts and multiple complex spells, I was unable to discover or certify the existence of souls in this land of magic.

When asked, Tenga himself confirmed that he himself had been unable to prove their existence. He did give me an extra bowl of stew for my efforts.

As it appears, living entities and beings do not have a concept similar to the soul residing somewhere inside them. While yes, they all indeed had a body, some sort of consciousness depending on the complexity of their brain, as well as in some cases, magical energy running through their veins. Overall, however, they did not have a soul or the metaphysical sum of all these three separate concepts. When an entity dies, there was no soul that leaves its body, to go on to some imaginary afterlife.

After all, a live body and a dead one have the same amount of particles.

True names, who I first thought to be the magical or metaphysical names for the soul of each distinct individual were in reality merely the best possible magical description of said individual's identity and impact on the world. In short, they were like the titles of books, given to each individual depending on a summary of the whole book altogether, all diluted into one or several words in the ancient language.

To my everlasting disappointment, Tenga's created ability of True sight merely allowed another individual to grasp the key points of an individual's personality and impact on the world. It was certainly not an ability to perceive a living entity's very soul or immediately discover their True name. In fact, after many hours of practice, its implications left me as bewildered as when I started learning it.

It was not a mental attack. It was not particularly a spell cast by a magician. The closest I got to classifying this skill was to an innate power of using internal magic and raw willpower, with the sole aim to understand the individual standing before you. It was similar to a mental attack in the fact that the better you are at it, the more layers you uncover, the more you learn.

If people are like onions, then I was the knife, peeling each layer away to reach the center of their being.

As such, my dreams to create endless power using magic and philosophers' stones containing hundreds of souls of now dead individuals would have to be put to rest. It would seem that in the land of Alagaësia, magic and only different magical energies are what power the supernatural abilities of different races, as other fictional or pseudo scientifical concepts did not exist.

A pity, but not the end of the world, especially after one spends some time on rational thought.

Reality is often disappointing.

If I hope to solve my problem of limited access to magical energies to power my spells, I will have to search elsewhere. For the moment, it would seem that my best options were to use my already incredible understandings of science and energy to devise a spell to convert the inorganic or pure sources of energy such as heat into the magic energy used to power spells.

There are many paths to the top, but the view is always the same.

With time and effort, everything is possible. Not to mention the other incredible applications of magic I always developing. An example of that would be my current object of attention.

A lone box made of wood, standing on a lone tree stump in yet another forest meadow. If a normal observer to look carefully, he would see nothing out of the ordinary. Of course, the contents of the wooden box are an entirely different matter. What once but a pipe dream, after almost four years of work and magical experimentation finally came to life.

Using True sight, I looked past the wood and into the dark box. If it were possible, my grin would be as big as Kratch's as I saw a lone white bunny flickering in and out of existence.

Quantum Physics truly was a marvel. Combine that with magic and we can do the impossible.

Now, however, reality can be whatever I want it to be.


Author Notes:

"Now you see me, now you don't"- Too many people to name

The end of another chapter is always a source of celebration.

I have tried to shine a bit more light on Tenga's character. A good mentor, he is.

So many ideas to include, but so much work on the background behind them.

After all, everything has to have some sort of logic behind them, no?

At least, before Tenga steps in. That guy is just too good for all of us, no matter who you are.

Please Comment and Review. Your thoughts really do help, allowing me to better shape the story in the right direction.

Cheers, and have a fine day.


Update:

Hello, sorry to disturb you if you thought a new chapter was coming in. I am working on it though.

Anyways, just made a few grammar changes and quality of life updates to this chapter.

All thanks to your reviews, thanks for pointing them out. It really does help.

Once again, thank you for the many reviews that you all wrote. The support I receive is unreal.

Reading your reviews, there were a few things that I think I need to address.

1. Vidar is confident yes, but not without reason. People might get confused but there have several times within the previous chapters that I emphasized the fact that he has some limits to his arrogance. Yes, they are blurred and he can indeed sometimes be a tad too overconfident but most of the time, he knows when to cease.

2. Vidar is not becoming a two-bit villain (Thanks for pointing it out tgfofp). Don't get me wrong, Vidar is extremely selfish and ambitious. He can and will do many things to achieve power but once again, he knows the limits. While he is indeed a morally grey character, he will not, without any logical reason decide to out of the blue slaughter innocents. Note that when he was experimenting on humans, he only used the bodies of criminals instead of normal people.

In fact, this whole topic of Vidar's common sense and morals can be summarized from a line from harry potter. He knows the line, he can see it, and times he can put a foot over. At other times he may decide to erase the line in certain areas. But overall, Vidar will, at least not for the moment, step over it completely. The future is up for debate but right now, he is a selfish, ambitious, morally grey character. A true opportunist at heart.

Now for the other topics. Primarily the fine details about souls and outliers to the currently proposed idea that they do not exist.

3. Eldunari were touched upon in previous chapters. They do not contain the soul of the dragon and rather act as an extremely powerful magic generator (heart). The way magic flows in the body was touched upon previously. When a dragon dies, his consciousness/mind is transported into the Eldunari, otherwise, it just fades away.

4. Spirits are an entirely different race and are certainly not the souls of the dead. Read this chapter for more info.

And finally, Vidar himself is a unique case. He and I myself know nothing of how he suddenly got reincarnated. Souls may be at play but maybe is something else occurred. Who knows?

Thanks again for the comments and Reviews.

Cheers, and see you next chapter.