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[IC] A Hero Tale {Complete} Page 173

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Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by tex
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The dirt faded and rotted much like the wood as Shaidra's claws sliced through it, turning it into a thin smoke that moved into the aura surrounding the curious little creature. She paused and jumped backwards, raising her head up high. In a poof of smoke, she was gone, leaving Bruce in the church all by his lonesome.
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Brucenorris007
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Sakki's mouth dropped a little.

"Her scent lingers."

Bruce kept one foot propped against the back of the pew in front of him. Reasoning that if Shaidra had wanted to strike him from behind, she would have pressed forward rather than jump back before disappearing, he folded his arms over his raised leg, staring at nothing. He didn't exactly have a lot of room to wander in, and basically everything was visible to him already.

'Tease,' Sakki hissed resentfully, restless and disquieted with no payoff. 'All of them, just a tease.'

Bruce ignored the darker impulses of his mind, leaping over the pews in front of him to land at the foot of the steps to the podium. With nothing else to do, he ascended, wishing Wild Card were present to theorize about escaping from lesser dimensions.
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by tex
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"She's gone," A voice called at Bruce from the back row. It echoed loudly. The room's acoustics made sure of it. He sat quietly, waiting for Bruce to notice him, fiddling with the rip in his mask with one hand. "If I had to guess,
she won't be coming back."
Hidden 6 yrs ago → 6 yrs ago Post by Brucenorris007
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Bruce swiveled on his feet toward the source of the voice. Despite never seeing the owner before, Sakki's continued grumbling about not getting a fight told him he wasn't here to deal with him.

That didn't mean Bruce immediately trusted him enough to drop out of his Sage state.

"Process of elimination says you must be," Bruce said, running through the names of the Order members in his mind, recalling the only one he hadn't seen yet. "Nexus."
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by tex
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Nexus' eyes focused on Bruce and he nodded. In moments, his sage form was forcibly removed, and his Ki was suppressed. "I'm not here to fight you," he insisted, "You should be more worried about that vicious little thing that festers inside of you." He looked down, and then back at Bruce, patting the bench with his hand, loudly enough for it to echo through the room. "I don't really like raising my voice, so..."
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Brucenorris007
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Bruce sighed. Did all the Order have the ability to just switch off his abilities? Sakki had a few rude comments lined up for Nexus, but Bruce pushed them down. He had a vague recollection of Jenso indicating Nexus was somehow different from the rest of the Order.

Out of courtesy, Bruce joined Nexus on the pew, propping his feet up on the back of the pew in front of him. Maybe Nexus could answer Bruce's question about whether Sakki was a taint or a purification of his Ki.

"She did pretty well creating an atmosphere in here," Bruce said offhand. "Suits the quiet ones, I suppose."

Bruce shook his head, turning to face Nexus.

"So, what have you come here for?"
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by tex
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"To talk," He said quietly, "I cannot help you directly, but I've spoken with Jenso already. I assured him that we would speak." He nodded to himself. "You've all been trapped in these pocket dimensions, and unfortunately, I cannot help you escape."
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Brucenorris007
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Bruce nodded, having figured that being trapped by one member only to be freed by another would be too simple.

"Any recommendations on how I might enact my own escape?" Bruce asked.

"Or if not, how I could incorporate the... less amiable part of my psyche into my Ki and soul without letting the impulses run rampant?"

One question had nothing to do with the other as far as Bruce knew, and the former addressed a more immediate problem. Still, this was one of the apparently immortal Order members talking to him. Information was invaluable.
Hidden 6 yrs ago → 6 yrs ago Post by tex
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Nexus was silent for a moment before he spoke. "The affects that your mind has on your Ki isn't something you can fix. The result, Ki distortion, is also very uncommon. It's not often that individuals with psychological disorders muster a talent or skill for Ki control. I've only had a few occasions to study similar reactions in life, before..." He paused and chuckled, "Before somebody killed my subjects, right under my nose. I reckon she found it... Funny." Nexus scratched the small hole in his mask with one finger and looked back towards Bruce. "If you seek to nurture that psychological stain, you're only looking for trouble, and death. Ki manipulation has always been a practice of emotional control, and that transformation you inhibit follows the same set of laws, if my eyes don't deceive me. The boost in raw power is also, by in large, completely irrelevant, when compared to the nature of the Order." Nexus narrowed his eyes for a moment. "I don't see why you appear so keen on it. You remind me of Prisma, on some level, or another."
Hidden 6 yrs ago → 6 yrs ago Post by Brucenorris007
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Bruce mused on that.
"I wouldn't call it nurturing," Bruce said, gesturing without much aim with one hand. "I think it's more just a consequence of all the repressed emotions I've recently," Bruce held up one hand in a fist, then threw it up and opened his palm to the ceiling. "Released."

He let his arms settle back on the pew. He refused to flinch under Nexus' scrutiny.

"I won't deny that, perhaps like Prisma, I'm interested in strength. But my reasons couldn't be more different." Bruce said evenly. He gaze ghosted through Nexus toward something that wasn't in the pocket dimension.

"My power is no longer my own- it belongs to my comrades, those gracious enough to call me their friend," Bruce said. "I don't seek simple sheer power. Not really. Right now, I only want to be able to offer up the strength I have in its purest form. No matter how much raw Ki I can muster, if using that Ki comes around to hurt them and their cause, there's no point in pursuing it. I'm not looking to enable the darker impulses of my newly liberated emotions for myself."

Bruce brought his eyes back from nowhere onto Nexus, making the intense sincerity clear in his expression.

"I aim to cleanse my soul of stains so that my companions can make my strength their own."
Hidden 6 yrs ago → 6 yrs ago Post by tex
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Nexus nodded almost immediately. "Passionate emotions all work the same way, changing how Ki flows, in a variety of ways. The less passionate, the gloomy, the darker feelings that we get, do something else. While it is impossible to reduce the overall might of a soul without access to the void, it can be dampened, disoriented, and shaken by things like sadness, hopelessness, and heartbreak. But, there is a center to it, a point where emotions lose their chaotic effect on our Ki. Peace. It's not a state of mind, it's the lack thereof. Normally, our Ki expands and contracts randomly within our bodies, changing in size and power based on how we think. But with proper training, a person can fix their Ki to their bodies, sealing it in a stasis and perfect balance, where energy can be output indefinitely. In this state of perfect concentration, you acknowledge your soul for what it is." Nexus explained thoroughly. He paused and chuckled. "Unity with Ki, it's almost like a fourth state of energy, outside of reality. Much like Meta energy. It can shape the other energies perfectly, but it is limited, and can only be created by our conscious decision to do so, through meditation, and way of life. The way we speak, the way we act, and the way we live. Peace is an energy we create, and expend, for tranquillity..." Nexus stopped and shook his head. "Jenso couldn't grasp it. He's too reckless, too brash. He holds a different kind of power. I was foolish to think he could harness it. But you seem somewhat different." Nexus pointed towards his hand.

"If you wish to turn yourself away from impulse, then you must tame those feelings. Readily accept them as your own, but rather than letting them use you, or using them, then you must not destroy this wall you've created over the years. You must create a door, and visit the realm within yourself that you've feared so long, regularly enough that the wall no longer serves a purpose." Nexus paused, and then sighed. "I am not a very good teacher, as should be obvious with Jenso's experience. I've always been more of a... Story teller."
Hidden 6 yrs ago → 6 yrs ago Post by Brucenorris007
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Bruce listened through the explanation with rapt attention. When Nexus was finished, he turned to stare up the line of pews toward the podium. One hand slid into his robe, pulling out the photographs Shaidra had left behind.

When was the last time Bruce had allowed himself to simply be?

"I wouldn't say that. Jenso can be a force unto himself." Bruce said. "And a lot of stories have morals."

'Don't destroy the wall. Traverse it, until it's purpose has been rendered obsolete.' Bruce thought.

"Perhaps a first step would be no longer referring to the other side as Sakki. Just... Me." He murmured aloud.

Bruce lay his head back, rolling it one way, then the other.

"Any stories about what's going on outside of here?" Bruce asked, gesturing behind him toward where he'd entered. "I have a feeling that if you could give me hints about getting out of here, you'd have started with that."
Hidden 6 yrs ago → 6 yrs ago Post by tex
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Nexus turned away from Bruce and relaxed himself.

"When I first started studying the rift between worlds, the endless expanse of antimatter that exists to separate and unite, I was met with a complication. I could not rip holes in space time, and that disallowed any research at all. At the time, I hadn't even given a name to the energy that gives birth to all meta creation. I had not begun to understand it as void." Nexus rose his hands and angled a small circular disk of energy towards Bruce, so that he could see into it. A picture of Nexus, much older than he appeared now, was shown, with him donning a blue lab coat while inside a sealed off, tiled room. "At the time, I didn't even know that Ki was a possibility. I didn't know that souls exist, that a limitless supply of energy existed within each and every living thing aside from the arcane. It wasn't I who made that discovery, either. It was my partner, Alexis." The picture flashed to a short woman, standing next to Nexus. Her long blue hair, and sapphire eyes, matched his. Nexus smiled, while the woman appeared with a neutral expression. "She'd somehow conceptualised Soul energy, even called it Sey at the time of her discovery, and managed to contain it in a new type of magical energy. Now, I know it as Arki, the foundation of creating new life." The picture then flashed back to Nexus, and Alexis, working on a mechanism that looked as if it was ripping a hold in the fabric of reality. "It took only a year, for use to reach some level of success. In that time, we'd done it. We'd created a stable portal to the void. Of course, as you might imagine, that did not go well for either of us. The accident that occurred, levelled half of our city. Hundreds died immediately, thousands more were corrupted, and suffered a more gruesome fate. After that, we were stripped of all authority, and our reputations were destroyed. Although our portal was stable, the resulting catastrophe was thousands of times more destructive than... Earlier accidents. I escaped through luck alone. Alexis on the other hand, did not. She-" Nexus paused and clasped his head, letting the disc in his hands fade away. He opened his eyes wide and blinked, shaking the feeling of dismay from his body. "Well, she did not survive. I may have, but the resulting effects on my body were... Troublesome. If I had not read Alexis' notes so thoroughly in the past. I would have not been able to save myself from the same fate that many of my peers had met."
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Brucenorris007
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Bruce felt a sting of sympathy for Nexus. Still, the point about rifts in reality and what Bruce had been literally shown didn't escape his notice.

"I'm guessing the story doesn't end there." It was a statement more than a question.
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by tex
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"Where does it even truly begin," Nexus Remarked quietly, reigning in a significant urge to nudge Bruce. "Void energy and Ki are opposites. But, they are also one in the same. That is why, when introduced to a thriving source of Ki, and carefully managed, it can create meta energy, granting one abilities that break the laws of reality. It is the type of energy I gained after studying and honing my corruption, through something very similar to radiation therapy- Erm... A practice used to eliminate particular diseases." Nexus paused and shook his head again. "I was able to condense my corruption, and achieve a state of meta energy. Though, it took several years, more exposure to the void, and the destruction of... Many of my morals. The results granted me a new understanding of magic, and allowed me to publicise my research. In the years that followed, however, my meta energy failed to evolve. Although I could now see much more with my primeirian eyes, I still couldn't manifest anything of significance. I couldn't execute inter dimensional travel. That's how I learned of the weakness of Meta energy. Rather, that is when I was told the weaknesses of Meta Energy, by my superior." Nexus clutched his head and stopped short of his next word. "Yzeira approached me. He returned to my world, and recruited me onto the order, so that I could learn, and help his own research. And that brings us to the now." He sighed. "To him, I am a failure. I retained too much of a... Mortal Anchor. We're all failures, the members. At least, that's what he's told us. Despite that, we are like his children, and he will not let us die." He turned to Bruce and sighed. "That is all I can say for now."
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Brucenorris007
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Bruce nodded once Nexus was finished. He craned his neck back over the seat of the pew, his eyes lidded.

"Well, your 'Dad' is kinda intimidating, I'll say that." Bruce said, kicking his legs up and rolling sideways onto his feet.

"Still, regardless of whatever else he says, that doesn't make him right."

Bruce tapped his fingers against the back of the pew, humming idly for a moment before scanning his eyes along the floor, apparently looking for something.

"It's a sad story, Nexus. But I'll give you my honest opinion."

Bruce walked to a seemingly random part of the floor and dropped where he stood into a lotus position, laying the photographs in front of him.

"Whether it's part of whatever you can't say or not, I still haven't heard anything that sounds like an ending."
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by tex
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Nexus huffed and smiled underneath his mask for the briefest of moments. "There are many reasons for that, powerful reasons. I do hope that everything will come together in due time. For the moment, I must leave you here." Nexus' body began to fade away from his feet, upwards. "Hopefully your light sworn friend will figure out a way to free themselves, and you, from these fiendish places."
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Brucenorris007
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Bruce shrugged.

"There's no question about it- they will." Bruce said, flashing a smile at Nexus.

"I'm pretty comfortable here, though, so until they need me, they can take their time."

Bruce waved a hand at Nexus as he began to fade.

"Thank you for the advice and story, even if was unfinished. Now if you don't mind," Bruce said, his voice quieting as he closed his eyes. "I'm trying to meditate."
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by tex
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Nexus chuckled to himself as the last remnants of his body faded away.

"Be at peace."


~ End Of Chapter 187 ~
Hidden 6 yrs ago → 6 yrs ago Post by tex
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~ Chapter 188 ~

Nostalgia 3


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