Chapter 78

  Awakening (Part I)

  Badump, pump, tis.

  Frank first felt his body, its natural rhythms, its movements first. The process was odd, almost clinical. He watched his heartbeat, his chest rise and fall with each breath, and his dual circulation routes going in near perfect rhythm with each other, each polarizing circuit pumping endlessly, while forcing an equal but opposite reaction in his other cultivation pathways.

  For a moment, he thought he could also feel the change. Or rather the parts where the other elements would gently fold in and around his current network of stabilized earth energy. Not that what he had wasn’t great, but it was clear that more could be had if he pushed himself and his body to its next evolutionary level.

  “You see it, don’t you? That is good, you will of course forget this and so much more once you awaken, but know that should you need it, truly need it, I will be here to assist you,” The spirit that he had bonded with spoke in his mind.

  As the creature spoke, its form was both known and unknown at the same time, an amorphic blob of darkness that had diverted attention away from it, and towards these deeper processes of the body.

  Frank for his part chose not to look at the being that he had bonded with, the reason was that he would immediately know this creature once he awoke. But this, knowledge, it was deep, it was what he would be able to gain from the next leg of his journey.

  “Not the next leg, for you know we will have to wait until she comes,” the creature spoke.

  Again, being in a dream like state, the she was both known and not known simultaneously. Mentally, Frank went through the list of possible choices of who it could be, his mind brought forth a blurry formed face with dark hair. His mind went through the choices at hand, Drava, Ravena, even Pi, none of them were the choice for this.

  “Stop, clear your mind and focus on this, remember these weaves.” The spiritual mentor began.

  As it spoke, Frank looked and saw the brown string first, followed by a blue string that had to be twisted around the brown string. Then how a third colored string required these two to be unwound and then braided together. Then a fourth was added, and the way to group them changed.

  “That’s too much, just remember the next two steps, if you get there, then I will be able to assist again.” The creature spoke, and as it did it waved a hand, a claw, or something at the other nebulous thoughts that had tried to pop up during this time.

  Instantly, all thoughts of the nameless female were gone, all thoughts of where he was, left, only showing his next two steps. Steps that would take monumental efforts on his part to remember and enact.

  Frank focused on the images, then he felt a slight push at his back, as his spirit fully realigned with his body.

  “His eyes are open, but he still dreams,” Drava spoke.

  “Careful, this is the moment of zen, the moment when he will see what it takes to become a true warrior. If he is lucky, he can see how to become strong enough to make his spirit animal proud,” the wizened voice of Prentip cut in.

  Blink.

  Frank tried blinking, he knew that he was finally gaining control over his senses once more and that Prentip was correct. Just as he knew that he had somehow seen and witnessed the universal truths of the world. He had them all available to him, every thought and memory from throughout had been available to him, but he had focused on what would need to take place after he entered the secret door underneath the prison.

  A prison he was still supposed to go to, a prison that now seemed so far away.

  Filled with humans that would all attempt to kill him, if they knew of his new condition. A condition where he willingly accepted the role of an edge walker. Part of him had wondered if it was possible. While another part, saw it for a copout, a temporary reprieve from possibly being slaughtered by the other shifters that had arrived to witness the merging of souls.

  While the wolves and aviary packs had both promised no hostilities if he chose not to join, the same promises could not be held for the other packs that happened to arrive once the process had started.

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  Twitch.

  The was just one problem, Frank was there, his mind was fully active and engaged, but he could not move. There was a moment of concern, where something was clearly wrong.

  “Shh, come back, just relax, we are here,” Drava cooed gently into his ear. Hearing her speak, he felt his senses come alive, as her words seemed to have a weight and heat to them that caused a shiver to run down his spine.

  Yet, the very act that he could feel and have a physical reaction to her words caused Frank’s mind to finally realize where he was and that he needed to once again take control over his own body.

  Twich.

  There was another movement, this time in his fingers. He meant to raise his left hand, but instead just managed to wiggle his finger.

  “He’s moving,” Ravena called out, going over to his right side and looking down at the hand that had just moved.

  More force, that is what Frank thought to himself as he continued to fight and force his mind to once again take control over his body.

  “Careful, we should all step back,” Prentip exclaimed, as he held up his hands and began shuffling backwards. Unfortunately, his words had the exact opposite effect as everyone turned to face him, rather than look and see what Frank was doing.

  CRACK-THUD!

  There was an explosion of force, this time as Frank found his hand trying to push down, to provide the lift needed to sit up.

  TEARING.

  The effect was nearly catastrophic, for the mesh cot that Frank had been placed in provided enough resistance at first for Frank to be able to push up, causing his body to rise up far more rapidly than he had intended. Then just before he was able to maintain a sitting posture, his hand ripped through the dense fabric that began unwinding under his palm. This in turn caused his body that was still having a hard time fully coming under his control to stop, wobble, and eventually flop forward.

  Hug.

  He fell forward into the arms of Drava, who even now had to slightly shift into her beast form to gain the energy necessary to hold Frank’s wobbling form still.

  “Frank, calm down. You are a lot more powerful than you realize right now, you need to be perfectly still, less you harm poor Drava here,” Prentip’s voice echoed out.

  Realizing that he could possibly harm Drava, Frank stopped fighting for control over his body and just sat still. This was good, as it meant that the quivering mass of muscles from within his body had finally stopped pulsing.

  “Okay, now you will see the world change slightly, as we attempt to lie you back down,” Prentip said, playing up his old man voice, to garner more sympathy from Frank in the hopes that he would not resist.

  That was how Frank once again found himself lying down on the cot, eyes staring upward, with only the minor ability to view the room around him from his peripheral vision.

  “This is the catatonic state, ironic give your condition?” Prentip quipped and paused as if waiting for Frank to laugh or something at what was said. Unfortunately, Frank was now having his mind twist and turn end over end as he tried to once again feel normal while lying flat.

  “I’m afraid you awoke too early, that and the level of bonding that you have managed with your spirit is so high that your mind, body, and soul will all need time to readjust to each other. Fortunately, you came out of your state early, which means that you will be able to shift tonight in the final night of the full moon.” Prentip stated.

  As Prentip spoke, some of the words came back. There were warnings about needing to come back before the final night, that he would only have one night. Also, from his astronomy classes from the deep slums he remembered reading about how there were three nights of the full moon, though the moon was fullest on the second night. But it seemed that as a shifter all three nights would be the easiest to shift through.

  “Yes, sometimes if the bond is weak, or the spirit isn’t that interested in the candidate, then there are times when they can rise up without needing to shift. But for you, I can already see the markings appearing,” Drava spoke, awe filling her words as she began to lightly dance her fingers across the inside of Frank’s arm. Right where the mountain of earth should show.

  Were there markings on the earth? Had the spirit that Frank bonded with been one that was deeply connected to the Earth element? He didn’t think so, but his mind was still fuzzy as he was having a hard time understanding everything that had happened and was still happening.

  He understood that he had bonded with a spirit, that the spirit had then offered universal truths. Truths that Frank desperately needed in order to advance in cultivation. Was that why he chose this spirit? Had it merely been a bribe too good to pass up? Frank didn’t think that was the case, as he knew that this type of bond was important and one that would affect him for the rest of his life. To risk his entire future over a few visions of the future didn’t seem like him.

  It didn’t help that for the moment the spirit was also in a near catatonic state, as it was clearly giving up a lot of its own power to push this unification along. Realizing that the spirit was in its own state of temporary torpor helped. Misery loved company and all that. Also, it would have been seemingly one-sided, if it was only Frank who was made to suffer from this odd exchange. Knowing that his spirit was also going through similar circumstances seemed to make it so they shared this mutual pain. This would be something they could both build on and learn from.

  “I will warn you, that tonight with your shifting, you will need to make sure that you tame the spirit. The spirit will resist, but that is only because they want you to push yourself to your true limits of where they think you are destined to go, and not where you mentally place your own limitations at,” Prentip continued speaking. His words have a weight of authority.

  Wait, there was still more. Why wasn’t this noted before? Was this because of the level of bond the spirit had offered? If so, how much of a bond was it? Was this what the Serpentine Queen had to go through? Did she lose part of herself to this process?

  These thoughts and more flowed through Frank’s mind. Only for Frank to look on in horror as he could think and feel, but he could not react. At least not right now, and seemingly if Prentip was to be understood, he might lose part of himself to the beast.

  “The conflict, it is something that all edge walkers need to overcome, you will likely have more because you have been offered more.” Ravena added.

  Tinitus.

  There was a deep piercing rattle within his mind, as a teeth rattling reverberation seemed to begin in his mind and shake his entire body.

  Gasps.

  Only the fact that the others also reacted to the sudden vibrations did Frank realize it was not just in his mind. Though this was something far deeper and more noticeable. Even the charging of horses over the plains did not seem to cause this much of a disturbance.

  “What is that?” Ravena asked, as she got up to leave. As she stood up, her form momentarily blocked out the light that was streaming into the room, the only way Frank knew she went to look out a window.

  Prentip too went over to the window to peer out, only Drava remained holding his hand and whispering in his ear. Her face so close that he could see her eyes glowing with a faint purple gleam.

  “She has come, for you.”

  And this time, Frank remembered the her, it was the same one from his dream. The same one that he had been thinking about, but now he finally remembered who the she was.

  Then she heard her speak, directly into his mind.

  “Hello lover, you didn’t think I would abandon you during this time of need, did you?”

  That’s when Frank realized, everything he had seen in his dream had been real, the future, the past, the present, it had all been there. And he was now left wondering what other parts he had missed. What parts he had avoided to keep a clearer path of his cultivation.