(This occurs after Christmas and before the trip to St. Kilda)
Akira had been attending the Dojo of Sensei Hsi Feng for over a week now, arriving before dawn each morning to welcome the Sun. Each morning he arrived at the garden and joined the others in meditation exercises. Mai-Li was always there to welcome him as he walked through the wooden garden door; quietly, shyly but always with a sly little smile of welcome.
He did notice that no matter how bad the weather outside the garden, it was always dry and Spring-like inside the walls. The sky above the garden seemed mellow with warm, blue skies even when the sky on the other side of the wall was grey and miserable.
Afterwards, whilst the others went through their morning katas, Akira would join the old man in one of the rooms on the ground floor of the remaining building as he enjoyed his morning tea ritual, prepared expertly by Mai-Li. Afterwards, the blind old man would smile and always asked Akira to demonstrate his powers for him.
He grinned at Akira’s illusion and invisibility spells, pointing out how using hearing and closed eyes countered both. He taught him how to gesture covertly, using only his fingers rather than the elaborate gestures favoured by the Library.
He’d also taught him a transformation spell that had the old man clapping with delight, but for the life of him he couldn’t understand why.
The Sensei immediately changed his focus and insisted that for the next few days he demonstrate his ‘natural’ abilities, starting with levitation.
He then asked him to verbally explain how his meta-powers worked whilst demonstrating them; explain in detail what he actually thought his meta-abilities did.
The old man listened, nodding as Akira explained about his powers and then brought in dozens of wind chimes, which he hung all around the room. He tilted his head as Akira again demonstrated his powers as he was directed.
He laughed when the chimes seemed to rattle and chime whenever Akira manifested his powers. What the..?
To his surprise, Sensei had then asked him why he had to use a mystical spell to create Theurgical-Kinesis when his main meta-ability appeared to be primarily telekinetically-based? It was something that he had never thought about before.
It was the third day when everything changed. He levitated a foot of the ground; prior to setting off for a fly around the chamber, though he had no idea what benefit this practice rota would give him. Suddenly the old man lashed out with a wooden staff striking the air beneath him, then he struck it upwards hard, towards his unshielded crossed legs. It hit an invisible field mere millimetres from his thighs.
“Hah, we have I think uncovered the source of your powers, young Akira. I think we can safely say you are not a psychic after all. Good, now we are ready for you to analyse and understand exactly what your Theurgical-Kinesis spell actually does.”
He then asked Akira to teach him his Theurgical-Kinesis spell – and was surprised when several hours later it still failed to work for the old man. “This is not a spell that duplicates telekinesis, so what is it actually doing young student and WHY does it seem to create that effect for you?”
Akira had a very sleepless night, trying to figure it out. It was the next morning that it all started to fall into place. Why would levitation stop him being hit by the old man’s staff?
While he was supposed to be making his mind blank, he began to analyse his TK spell. The beginning of the spell was all about direction, vector paths. The end was about the strength of the spell, magnification if you will, and control of its shape on three dimensions. The core of the spell however was something he’d never analysed before now. It wasn’t about manifesting psychic power it was about bending a natural ability to his will!
He was excited to share his insight with the Sensei so was surprised when Hsi shushed him while making him sit crosslegged beside a low table with dozens of small, ornate boxes. Mai-Li blindfolded him with a giggle and left.
“Ah, I want you to tell me what is inside each of these boxes just using your senses… Feel the material inside…” Akira almost tore the blindfold off. “How am I supposed to do that?”
“Tell me little one, am I crying or smiling? You do know the answer to that, don’t you? You can sense it but you can also use your remote sensing ability to see, even with the blindfold on. So can you use these senses to look inside the box and identify what is inside each?”
Akira nodded and reached out with his senses. It’s funny but all his powers were messed up. What he thought of as his astral projection needed no mystical spell to unlock yet his TK, which had to be related to his shield, did. Why?
A few seconds he realised that the objects inside the boxes were all hard, all the same size and all apparently the same colour and finish… He told the Sensei.
“Ah, ok so you can sense them but can you sense deeper, reach deep inside each block and feel what each is made of? Tell me did they ever teach you about atomic structures when you were amongst your fellow seekers after Gods? Good, then I want you to feel deep and tell me how many protons are inside this box?” He reached over and placed his hand upon one of the boxes. “Feel for the reactions and count them… It took Akira about half an hour the first time, mostly because he didn’t trust his own senses. Finally he said, “79, oh my; this is gold isn’t it?”
“Ah, very good, now trust your instincts, you knew that answer within seconds but you refused to trust your senses. Now this box..?” and moved his hand to a second box. This time it only took Akira a couple of seconds to confirm “26”
“And that is?” Akira struggled to remember his periodic table, “Iron?” he finally remembered.
Despite the darkness of the blindfold, he felt as though he was achieving something, though he wasn’t sure what. He heard the old man’s voices again, “now we play a little game, I want you to touch the block inside this box” he guided his hand back to the first box and opened it and placed Akira’s fingers on the metal. “Now I want you to use your senses to find and hide 53 of the sparks, can you try?”
The first time took about an hour before he heard a young female intake of breath and felt sure he’d managed to hide the subatomic sparks. He couldn’t confirm it but he felt sure the gold bar had changed to iron and without using a spell.
“Good, tomorrow we go back to your meta-abilities. We are making progress young mage, real progress.”
The next Day Akira was excited, he’d had a real insight overnight and wanted to check out his conclusions with his Sensei. He was so excited that for the first time he felt the medication exercises were a distraction. As soon as they were finished he rushed to confront the old man.
“Ah Mai-Li, I fear we may have to forgo the tea ceremony this morning, this young man is too excited to participate I fear. So, Akira what conclusions have you reached about your genetic powers?”
Akira smiled, “That I am not a psychic, that’s true. I somehow change the structure of objects don’t I? Somehow I can harden air. That what forms my shield, I alter the physical attributes of the air around me. I must create a personal platform out of this hardened air, a floating platform that your staff struck against the other day and I use hardened air to push me through the air at speed.
My TK spell is a control spell isn’t it? I need it to direct this hardened air, shape and move it. That’s why it didn’t work for you. It was only half of the equation – it fills in what my meta-ability doesn’t provide so I can use it to hold, grab and push.
“Well done, insight is a wonderful thing isn’t it and do you now understand my little transformation spell a few days ago?”
Akira thought for a few moments then smiled, “Ah, so that spell, it wasn’t though was it? You used it to focus me on my transformation ability. Does that mean I can change the structure of other elements as well as hardening air?”
Well my little mage, I understand from Mai-Li that the bar of gold you were touching changed into iron. Does that answer your question? It is something you will need to practice though; it’s not something that comes naturally to you. Yet.”
For once, Akira was dumbfounded.
Superhero Adventures, UK Style 