ARKANUM - CHILDREN OF CHAOS

Chapter 6 - The Mark

A handful of moons had passed since Kaylan's ascension and he was feeling confident about leaving the temple and finally meeting other luumi. His mental grasp had grown strong, enabling him to fly around the courtyard with relative ease, and his mental voice was under control... mostly. He still had to concentrate to keep his thoughts in, but he hadn't let one slip out in the past two moons.

They were in the second moon of Hejah, the season of revelations, and Valari had told him he was nearly ready for the next stage of the teachings. She watched him as he flew around over her, through the treetops. As part of his training, he was levitating three stone cubes along with him, keeping them in a triangle around him.

"Remember to stay loose, Kay," she told him, "Just go with the flow... The tenser you are, the more energy you'll burn up, and you don't want to get tired while you're in the air. Gravity is still a dangerous thing here in the middle plane... Yes... Very good... Feel the ether flowing through you... Excellent! You're a natural flyer... Okay, that's enough flying for now. Come on down here."

He landed next to her, with perfect form, then placed the cubes in her hands.

She set them aside and requested, "Now, mentally, tell me what you think of flying."

He focused and started speaking with her telepathically, -Oh, I think flying is totally rad! It's like they say, right? It's man's oldest dream... or something. I forget how the saying goes exactly. But, yeah, it's amazing feeling the air in your face and seeing everything from up high. It's like... freedom. I love it.-

-Very good,- she praised him mentally, -Good volume control, and you spoke in a natural tone... but I can sense you're still very tense when you use your mental voice. You need to loosen up, just as you do when you fly.-

"I'm afraid..." he began to say.

But she cut him short, -Ah-ah. Mentally.-

He nodded at her and quickly returned to his mental voice, -Right, sorry, Val. It's just that I'm afraid that, if I relax, I'll lose control of my thoughts again.-

-You don't loose control of your thoughts when you're flying,- she pointed out, -or when you're playing your guitar. What's going through your mind in those moments?-

He thought about it, -I'm not sure... I guess... I just focus on what I'm doing.-

-Well, whatever it is you do,- she instructed him, -you need to apply it in conversations. Next time you pick up the guitar, or the next time you go for a spin, pay close attention to what's going on in there.-

-Okay,- he accepted. 

"Good," she said out loud, in her normal calm voice, "I'm sure you'll manage it sooner than you think." After a short pause she informed him, in a slighly regretful tone, "Kaylan, the reason I'm testing you today is because I'm going to have to aprove you for the next stage of the teachings, the tutorship, a little earlier than I'd consider ideal. There's another fledgling ready for ascension and we're a bit understaffed... But I don't want you to think that this means you're not ready for the tutorship, okay? You ARE ready."

"Oh," he took it in, a little scared, but trying not to be a burden on her, "Okay... What's the tutorship?"

She smiled at him, "School! Just like with babies, once they learn to walk and speak, they go to school to start learning about the world they live in. Don't worry, it's nothing you can't handle. And you'll get to meet other fledglings, make friends... it'll be great, trust me."

"When will I be going?" he asked, "And WHERE will I be going?"

"I can stay with you for five more days at most," she answered him, placing a hand on his cheek, "After that, I'll have to go or the new fledgling might ascend without me." She gave him a moment to process the whole thing then added, "As for where you'll be going... There's one more thing I have to tell you... You won't be going to a normal tutorship, like most other fledglings. Kay, there's a reason why you have such loud thoughts... and why you have such a strong grasp, why you can fly so easily. You have a special gift, a very rare gift. We call it a MARK. There are many different kinds of marks, you will learn about them in the tutorship. Your's is the Mark of En'Myar, which means you're a MINDBENDER. You're the first human to have this mark. With proper training, mindbenders can be powerful luumi, their instincts grow exceptionally heightened, and their mental abilities become far greater than that of normal luumi, like me." She gave him another moment to absorb the information.