Mythshaper-Chapter 27: Fractal Soul

I returned to my room, inching every step carefully so as not to disturb the engraving pen hovering between my palms. Two pairs of essence threads latched onto either end of the pen—one pair holding it aloft in the air while the other pushed it around in a continuous spin.

This was one of the easier exercises Mum had shown me. The more straining exercises required me to divide my attention into two parts, spinning the pen along horizontal or parallel lines. The exercise was practically futile without Split Focus, because only through the advanced attribute was I able to interchange the anchor point between the two ends.

Mum said I needed to follow all the steps before progressing to the more advanced ones. Skipping ahead would be like trying to run without learning to crawl first.

A hundred hours was the rule of thumb to be any good at telekinesis. So I was looking at completing four layers of telekinesis in the coming weeks before moving into more advanced training.

I wondered if it was possible to use telekinesis to push myself off the ground and fly around. The theory seemed feasible, though it probably wouldn’t work if I targeted myself with the threads. It likely had to function by pushing against the ground.

Hesitating a little, I ceased the exercise with the pen and thrust all eight of my essence threads against the floor. A strum of vibration reverberated through my essence seed, but nothing else happened. My essence wasn’t nearly strong enough to bear my weight.

I knew it was hopeless. I had awakened only a few hours ago, and yet here I was, dreaming of sailing in the sky. I would probably need dozens of essence threads to even attempt it. Makes me wonder if Mum was capable of it.

There was still some time before bedtime, before Mum would come checking on me. Despite being tired, I was still too excited to call it a day. I considered practising my influence or attempting to manipulate my weight when my gaze drifted to my desk and found the metallic cube resting atop a stack of books.

If my influence reached far enough and my grasp over my power was strong enough, I would have thrown my essence threads at it and yanked the arcane knot into my palm. That kind of control was still days ahead of me. For now, I had to put my limbs to work.

It had been some time since I had completed the runic variant of the cube. But the one in my palm wasn't anything like its previous form. It was a true arcane knot, a device wholly designed to train essence-weaving capabilities, as far as I knew.

Without the ability to wield essence, it was essentially impossible to solve the arcane knot. I had lacked such capability until now, but with my awakening, I could finally try my hand in it.

Eager to find out, I wasted no time, infusing my essence threads into the cube. It came to life, flickering with light before shifting to a steady blue glow.

Even after I injected my green essence, the colour did not change. It made me wonder if it was designed that way or if it lacked a mechanism like Halostone, which could change colour according to essence type.

As my essence threaded its way deeper, an intricate system of interlocked strings obstructed my entry. Too many of those blue threads spiralled and wove together, tangling my essence threads with them. The pattern seemed nearly impossible to untangle.

Perhaps it was impossible with only arcane acuity, but now, I had Fractal Sight.

Gingerly, I prodded my Will to activate the mysterious gift. My essence seed thrummed again as slowly, a coolness pressed against my mind.

My world bloomed as I saw the cube for what it was, but I faltered, noting something else.

A halo of aura surrounded me in a spherical form, twisting, contorting, but otherwise remaining in its peaceful state.

"What is this?" I muttered, waving my arms around, though I felt nothing. Then it finally dawned on me. "Is this my area of influence?"

Fractal Soul lets me see my influence too? Excitement thrummed in my heart at the revelation.

To make sure I wasn’t merely misjudging it, I pushed my essence threads forward, testing the edge of the halo.

As expected, they frayed when they neared the edges. Yet something unexpected occurred once more. As I pushed my essence threads to the limit, the edge of my influence shifted, warping slightly to push along with my threads. Without even focusing much on it, I managed to move it two inches forward.

A severe knit crept up my brows as I finally infused my Will into it—not into the essence threads, but into the halo of my influence—and pushed. The zone, previously more spherical, began to twist as it shot forward. My essence seed twirled along in a peculiar, uncomfortable sensation. But I persisted, eager to see how far I could push it.

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Within seconds, my reach had doubled at the front. All it took was a surplus of Will, shifting the area of influence from all other directions. My influence stretched forward and shrank in every other direction to accommodate the extension.

The prickling sensation gnawed at my core. Still, I was thrilled to find it was possible at all. After a minute of persistence, I managed to stretch my influence all the way to the far wall, though in every other direction, it had shrunk to barely an inch beyond my own skin.

The discomfort peaked, my skin prickling as beads of sweat formed on my forehead. With my goal reached, I relinquished my control, letting my influence return to its original spherical form.

A breath slipped from my lips, one I hadn’t even realised I’d been holding.

"It’ll take some time to get used to," I muttered. Additionally, I needed to know whether it was harmful. It surely didn’t feel like it, except for the amount of Will I needed to exert.

Mum had also hinted that there were some exercises for influence manipulation. This was probably it.

Catching my breath, I refocused on the cube, infusing my essence into it.

The very next moment, my mind was pulled deep within all the spiralling knots of the cube. Compared to what I had seen before, it was now tenfold more complex. The number of blue threads rose to an unprecedented level. There seemed to be no end to the entanglement, the weave stretching into impossibility. That probably wasn’t the case, but to even give the illusion of it...

How did Rosalyn solve this?

My thoughts drifted off as I realised the complexity had only increased because my Fractal Sight could pierce through all the obstructions of different layers.

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There were a total of eight layers. I could see all of them without having to solve any of the problems. Did Mum forget to put a failsafe against Fractal Soul?

To be fair, she hadn’t known I would be capable of it. Blighted ashes, even I hadn’t known I was capable of this.

But there was a difference between seeing something and making sense of it, for I could not even begin to differentiate one part from another. I had no choice but to focus on just one section of the tangled mess, trying to decipher its patterns. It was far more manageable now.

Yet as I worked to untangle it, I found myself too tired for the actual job. With the help of Fractal Sight, I was finally able to see a way to make sense of this, but whenever I coaxed one blue thread in one direction, another on the opposite side would spiral out of order, unravelling any progress I made.

It happened too many times, and I felt a headache building behind my temples.

The Spell’s voice rang in my mind, timely as ever, telling me at least I was accomplishing something.

[Congratulations! Way of Fractal Sight II (25/25) is complete.]

[+4 Unallocated Points.]

[Way of Fractal Sight III (25/50) is now accessible.]

Encouraged, I split my focus, dividing my threads into pairs to work on the connected strings together. When I pulled one string, I used my other threads to stop another from spiralling out of control.

It was not a complete success, but I was incentivised to carry on.

Minutes blurred in my mind as I strained my focus to solve the weave. Now I understood why it had taken Rosalyn over two seasons to solve it.

As I played the magical equivalent of tug-of-war with the Arcane Knot, the door to my room clicked open, and Mum’s figure crept in.

I froze, a look of panic surfacing on my face.

"Arilyn?" Mum said, her voice grave. "What did I tell you about practising after bedtime?"

"I was just checking it out," I started, but the look of disapproval on her face stopped me from explaining myself. It would only make it worse.

She forced me to bed with just a look, placing the cube back on the table.

Lying back against the soft mattress, the weariness finally settled in my bones. I had been so excited about learning my capabilities and practising that I hadn’t even noticed how tired I was.

Sleep came easily, pushing me into the embrace of dreams. It was the most exhausting day of my life, and the most accomplished too. Perhaps tomorrow would be even more fulfilling. With that thought, sleep claimed me.

****

I couldn’t remember the dream I had last night, if I had even dreamt at all. My rest had been too deep, my exhaustion too heavy for me to recall anything.

I awoke, mostly rejuvenated, ready to start another great day when my eyes darted to the clock, and my breath caught in my chest.

The clock ticked closer to eight than seven. I was late.

Without even taking the time to settle my mind with meditation, I slipped out of my room. Picking up the duelling cane from the porch, I dashed to the yard. Eran was there, training alone, while Father sat in quiet meditation.

He cracked one eye open to glance at me and the training cane in my arm. "For a moment, I thought you were giving up on swordsmanship," he said. "After all the revelations from yesterday, I would understand if you did."

He tried to sound reassuring, but there was a hint of disappointment in his tone. It was about more than just the art of swordsmanship; it was about sharing something together. At least, that was what I hoped.

"I am not," I said, stepping forward to stand beside Eran, quickly slipping into the familiar rhythm of movement. "I merely overslept. You should have pulled me awake."

"And received the wrath of your mother?" Father snorted. "The awakening was exhausting. I figured you needed the rest."

At the mention of my awakening, Eran’s movement froze mid-strike. His gaze flickered to me, then to my father, hesitating. His respect for my father stopped him from breaking practice to ask about it.

I shook my head. If nothing else, I was glad I didn’t have to keep it a secret from my friend.

"Ask your question," I said. "And yes, I have awakened."

He stared at me as if I were some extinct, exotic creature.

"Truly?" he asked.

To prove my point, I thrust a couple of my essence threads against his chest. His training clothes fluttered, his skin twitching slightly.

"Was that you?" His eyes widened.

"Do you think the wind is strong enough to do that?" I grinned, pushing more essence to pull at his clothes.

"Wait!" Eran cried. "You can manipulate essence outside your body? You are a Shaper!"