The wind rushed through my hair as I jumped from branch to branch, homing myself onto Jane's chakra signature. Given how bright and lively her chakra was, it wasn't exactly hard to miss. As I felt it get closer. I kicked off of the last branch and let myself fall the last thirty feet, hitting the ground with my knees bent. Jane stood about ten feet away from where I'd landed, her arms were crossed. And her expression was less than inviting.

"What took you so long?"

She asked, a solitary eyebrow raised in question. I rose to a standing posture and gave an uneasy nervous smile, before I gave my reply.

"Sorry, I kinda overslept. Had a REALLY weird dream."

Jane rather flippantly flipped a hand, as if she was swatting away a bothersome fly.

"Whatever, so what do you want to do first?"

She began to walk toward the dirt path that headed toward town. I jogged after her and fell into step beside her.

"Depends, I haven't eaten breakfast yet. You want to grab a bite?"

Jane shrugged her shoulders indifferently.

"Yeah I guess I could go for something."

"Pancake shed?"

"No."

"Fat Tony's grease shack?"

"Not feelin' it today..."

"What about that new barbecue joint?"

"But we had barbecue yesterday!"

I clenched my hands imploringly together. Giving her my most effective puppy-dog eyes.

"Please Jane?! I hear they make awesome rib tips!"

Jane crossed her arms obstinately as we walked through the bustling marketplace. People walking around us, their arms laden with
Produce and other assorted goods as they walked to and fro.

"It's just not what I'm in the mood for, ok?"

I put a hand to my face in exasperation. Gritting my teeth silently.

"Well you gotta pick something don't you?! I mean you've already said no to all the places we usually go."

As we continued to walk idly through the market stalls. Something caused Jane to turn her head suddenly, a smaller food stall, set up like a small bar. From the look and smell of the joint it looked like-

"A Ramen stand?"

Jane turned to look back at me, her expression curious.

"What's a Ramen?"

I grabbed the sleeve of her jacket, and dragged her towards the stand.

"Trust me, you're going to love this."

As we approached the booth, the apparent owner looked up at us, an elderly man in his mid to late sixties, of fairly obvious asian descent. His features were lit up as he gave me and Jane a tired but genuine smile.

"Ah, customers? Welcome! Please have a seat, eat and enjoy yourselves!"

I took a seat in front of him, Jane sitting to my immediate left. I took a moment to consider the menu, before I addressed the old man.

"I think for me a bowl of miso ramen, and a bowl of pork ramen for the lady."

He nodded, and turned to the wall behind him. And with a strong bellow that belied his age, yelled-

"Michael! Did you get that?!"

A muffled, and rather tired sounding voice replied.

"Yes Mr Takeda, I got that."

"Good!"

I heard a low exasperated sigh.

"Mr Takeda, do you have to yell?"

"Well of course I do! You're behind a bloody wall. How else would you hear me?!"

"Oh forget it..."

The voice said, as I began to hear the sounds of meal preparation from behind the wall. After about fifteen minutes, a gangly bespectacled teenager came out from behind a small curtain. A white apron tied around his neck and torso. Each hand holding a steaming bowl of broth and meat and noodles, my mouth watered at their approach.

He set the bowls down almost reverentially in front of us, and I nodded my head in silent thanks. Snapping the provided chopsticks in two before I began to dig in, I hadn't swallowed the first mouthful however. Before Jane poked my shoulder, her expression confused and quizzical. She held up her chopsticks.

"Er, how do I use these?"

She asked, giving an
Awkward and embarrassed smile.

"Oh just hold them like this."

I said, as I showed her the proper technique. She fumbled with them for a little bit. Attempting to mimic my hand position for several moments before she finally got it down. She slowly and very carefully picked up a small mouthful of noodles drenched in broth. And carefully brought it to her mouth, she chewed silently for a few moments. And then swallowed. She seemed to pause for a moment, before a huge smile broke out across her face.

"This is awesome!, I can't believe we hadn't heard of it before. We should come here all the time!"

I looked at her silently, wondering idly if I had just created a monster. Jane inhaled the rest of her ramen and then turned to me.

"Hey Matt, that stuff that you showed me how to use yesterday, kachra or something like that right?"

I gave an exasperated sigh, and wolfed down the rest of my bowl before I turned to give her my reply.

"Chakra Jane, it's chakra."

Jane nodded, giving a hum of agreement.

"Yeah, that. So I was kinda wondering, other than that freaky clone thing you can do. What else is it good for?"

I paused for a small moment before giving my answer, a sly smile creeping across my features. I could kill two birds with one stone with this, considering that I had just noticed that my pocket was quite denuded of a credit chit.

"Just watch this."

I said as I signaled the elderly owner of the stand, he tottered over after a brief fashion and looked down at our empty bowls.

"Done are you? Shall I get the check?"

I gave my most charming smile and looked him directly in the eyes, keeping a perfectly straight face as I gave my reply.

"Actually, I think you should give it to us completely for free, don't you?"

His facial expression went slack, his eyes unfocusing for the briefest of moments before he seemed to regain his lucidity. He hesitated for a moment, and then smiled and nodded.

"Certainly sir! You two have a wonderful day!"

As we walked calmly from the stand, and into the surrounding forests. Jane tugged impatiently on my arm, her expression prompting an explanation.

"W-what was that? You said that to him and then his face went all funny for a few seconds. And then he just let us walk out as if nothing happened. What did you do to him?"

I simply shrugged my shoulders.

"If given a good push, weak minds can be easily influenced."

Jane seemed to consider this for a second or two, before she smiled deviously.

"So you jedi mind tricked him?"

I rubbed the back of my head a little at the rather wrong minded comparison, though I suppose I could see the basis for comparison.

"Not really, i mean there is a real difference between-"

"You're totally a jedi!"

I grunted in exasperation.

"They really aren't the same thing."

Jane smirked.

"I bet you can make stuff float too!"

I raised a finger to protest, and promptly shut up. The Deva path allowed me to do just that. I crossed my arms. And huffed in annoyance, before glancing briefly at the ground near Jane's feet. She squeaked in alarm as she began to float upwards. She stopped about a foot into the air rotating slowly in place. Her body moving with each errant twitch of my fingers, Jane looked about. Her expression dumbfounded.

"I-uh think you've made your point."

Jane said as she made her first full revolution in mid-air. I slowly turned her right side up again, and then slowly lowered her to the ground.

Her feet landed softly on the dirt path. And she stumbled slightly before leaning heavily on a nearby tree. Breathing with slight heaviness as she looked down at her feet in relation to the ground. Shakily walking forward as she rediscovered her center of gravity. She turned to look at me, her expression queasy.

"Could you please not do that again?"

She asked as she finally straightened up. I nodded silently.

"Sorry, I've never actually done that to a person before. It's always just been logs and boulders. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, really."

She waved my concerned expression away, smiling as she did.

"Hey, don't worry about it! And anyway you haven't shown me how to do all that cool stuff!"

I walked toward the tree-line. And motioned for her to follow me.

"Well we're not going to get anywhere standing around. C'mon."

Jane punched the air, and squeed in happiness. Dashing hurriedly after me.

Jane howled in frustration. Stamping angrily as her latest, malformed attempt at a clone poofed out of existence. Leaving behind only a dissipating cloud of smoke.

"This is impossible!"

Jane yelled, falling heavily onto her knees as she panted with exertion. Her untested chakra pool was beginning to dwindle. She sat up, And looked at me in annoyance as she stole a few gasps of breath.

"I never said this would be easy, did I? And besides. You're doing something like this in a matter of hours. When it took me weeks to reach a similar result. Your progress is astounding, considering you just started doing this yesterday."

She crossed her arms and looked over at me. Her expression irritated.

"It feels like I haven't done a thing "

I had been keeping a close eye on her reserves, and from what I could tell, the problem was fairly apparent. She was using way too much chakra for each casting of the technique. It was basically the equivalent of filling a shot-glass with a fire hose.

"Jane?"

She looked up, very obviously on the verge of passing out.

"Try it just one more time."

She looked at me like I'd grown a second head.

"Are you nuts? I feel exhausted!"

I gave an imploring look.

"Please Jane? I've got a really good feeling about this."

She shakily stood back up. And carefully clasped her hands to together, closing her eyes briefly to concentrate before-

POOF!

A single flawless clone of Jane appeared. Its form Shimmering slightly. Jane looked at it in dull wonderment, her eyes glazing over even as she spoke.

"Well lookit that..."

She said as she swayed wildly in place, stumbling as unconsciousness began to take her.

"It actually worked..."

I crossed the twenty feet of space quickly, catching her before she fell. I lowered her carefully to the ground. And laid her head gently onto the grass, smiling all the while. This much growth this quickly? It was unprecedented, and amazing. I could hardly imagine just how much she would grow in the weeks to come.

Jane eventually came to. Woozy, but grinning and triumphant. I had seen fit to reward us both with ice cream cones. Rocky road for Jane, Minty chocolate chip for me. We sat under the shade of a hanging lenoa. leaning against its trunk as we idly licked the creamy delicious treats.

"So...why did it work the last time I did it?"

I shrugged.

"Overabundance of power, mixed with a total lack of control."

Jane tilted her head slightly and sighed, her expression exasperated. She nudged me on the shoulder.

"Hey, Wordy Mctalksalot. Could I get that in english please?"

I sighed theatrically. And gave her a withering look as over-exaggerated as I could muster.

"Hmph. Why I choose to socialize with such a

Philistine I will never understand."

Jane snorted.

"Just tell me what you meant smartass!"

I sat up straight and took a quick lick of my cone, stretching slightly before I turned to address her.

"Real simple version? You're playin' an ace when a two will do. Your siege engines a bit too grand for the gates. If you want to get really simple? You're using way too much chakra. And that's because you have no control whatsoever. Which wreaks havoc on your ability to effectively cast. And tires you out, though you've probably already gathered as much. Haven't you?"

She stifled a yawn.

"Yep, pretty much. So I guess this whole chakra thing was kind of a bust?"

"No, not necessarily."

She gave me an odd look.

"What? But you said that was supposed to be basic! How am I gonna ever get good if I can't even do something that you said was gonna be simple? What's the point in even teaching me anything else if it's already obvious I'm not any good at-!"

I raised a silencing finger, she closed her mouth. Eyes fixed on me.

"Listen, Jane. This kinda stuff comes easy to me. Real' easy, and I guess it was unfair of me to put that kind of expectation on you. So for what it's worth I'm sorry, if you wanted me to stop teaching you I'd understa-."

It was my turn to get cut off. Jane hastily waved both her hands, palms out. In obvious action to the contrary.

"No, no! I want you to keep teaching me, really! I was just getting worked up, that's all!"

I laughed.

"Relax Jane, I was just messing with you."

She exhaled heavily, relief clear on her face.

"Now come on, I think it's about time to head home."

I said, Jane huffed angrily.

"Why? It's noon!"

"Newest COD game just came out, celebrating the 100-something anniversary. Thought you might wanna give it a whirl."

Jane stood and punched the air exuberantly, a near instantaneous turnaround from how exhausted she seemed just a few moments ago. Shepards and their inhuman stamina i supposed

"The heck didn't you say so?! How did you get it early?!"

I shrugged nonchalantly, giving her a vague smile.

"I know a guy, who knows a guy, who knows everyone, I snagged an advanced copy."

She grinned, and ran off ahead of me. Making a beeline toward my house. long auburn hair streaming out behind her.

"First one to your house gets the controller first!"

I smiled and ran after her, panting to catch up.

"Hey! You got a head start! How is that fair?!"

"Guess you better catch up then!"

Kavira D'velas

198 years ago

Several hundred meters below the surface of unidentified Terminus fringe planet.

Finally…

She could feel its closeness, its whispers of suggestion had finally solidified into commands the further she delved into the alien cave system, it was calling her forth. She could not remember the last time she had slept. The last time she had eaten. She didn't know and she didn't care. Such fickle things could wait, for soon she would be at her master's side, and then all would finally be made clear.

Nothing else mattered.

She walked heavily along, determination and sheer willpower pushing aside exhaustion and dehydration. Soon she would find… whatever it is she was searching for. Finally the architecture took on a different feeling. The walls were comprised of some sort of black metal, that glowed in ways that metal shouldn't have. The walls crisscrossed with scintillating lines of blue light at regular intervals. Pulsating like the veins of some massive beast.

"And so, at last…. you come."

The voice hit her, encircled her. Struck her with a force that was almost physical. She fell heavily to her knees, Shivering with awe and barely contained excitement. Again the deep sonorous and reverberating voice spoke, its dulcet tones beckoning her ever onward. She doubled her pace coming eventually to a closed door, its various components and

glowing panels shifting aside to allow entry into the cavernous chamber that lay beyond.

Dim blue lights only faintly illuminating the titanic entity that lay within. Kavira beheld it in slack-jawed wonderment. Its enormous profile a reminiscence of some monolithic beast of the deep. It seemed to exude an aura of timeless wisdom, and natural authority. One that she almost instantly bent her knee to, she could barely breathe. She could not form a coherent sentence. Overwhelmed was she, with the sheer glory and power of its presence.

Again the voice resonated.

"Rise, thrall."

She hurriedly showed her compliance, quick to please the whims of her master. Standing with an almost palpable eagerness for the next command to be given.

"Long have you journeyed to find yourself before me. That your weak and pitiable shell of flesh and bone be put to use."

She shook in barely suppressed excitement, finally her time had come. Soon all the galaxy would tremble at the sound of her name. This being, this….Deity would grant her power beyond imagining.

"How would you have me serve you?"