The clouds were very low today. A thick fog stuck to the city, turning the streets eerie and barren. There were a couple shops open, casting gloomy light drafts onto the street. The clouds threatened to rain over the city today as a light haze of rain fell from the sky. James didn't enjoy walking through this part of the city, this was where most of the city's low lives and filth would hold up, away from the king's eye. They called this sector of Miora, The Narrows, because of how close together the streets were. It was a small portion of the city but people knew to stay away from it, especially on a day as grim as this one.
The street lamps had a fuzzy glow to them- each one barely able to cast a decent light. James knew his way through The Narrows well enough to know where he was going. His grey coat blended with the mists, making him easy to miss if you weren't looking hard enough. There were a group of men and women sitting on the steps to a building; laughing and drinking, lost in their own demons. As James walked by he could smell the reek of alcohol and smoke. A couple of them eyed him, listening closely for the sound of coins. He carried nothing on him, not even a weapon, which was bravely foolish of him.
After a couple of blocks James reached the only open space in The Narrows which was home to a church. It wasn't anything like the church at the center of the city, this one was losing its roof fast along with what was left of the glass window panels. James ascended the steps and pushed the doors open. It was dark inside, the only light in the church was coming from the candles that were lit along the walls. The nave of the church wasn't empty, kids and some adults in scattered groups, keeping close to stay warm. James shut the doors behind him and started down the middle of the aisle. He found a seat next to an old lady, her head in her hands in prayer; or so he thought. The lady was snoring ever so gently. James took off his coat and threw it over the lady, noticing that the thin fabric she wore did close to nothing to keep her from shivering.
"Always the gentleman," said a voice from behind him. James turned and noticed a small elderly woman standing over him. "Hanna always has the tendency of falling asleep during her prayers." The old woman chuckled.
He smiled, "Loreina!" He fell onto his knees and grabbed both her hands, pressing them to his forehead.
"Oh stand up, you're not a child anymore!" the woman said. James got up, still holding onto her hands. Loreina was so much shorter than him so he had to really look down at her. The old woman's expression lit up, "My boy," she said, pulling him into her arms. For someone as small and frail as her, she was a lot stronger than she seemed.
She took a step back and examined James. "By the goddess, you've become such a handsome man! Orion really beefed you up. Is that hair on your chin I see?"
James blushed. Loreina was a very beautiful older woman. Although her hair was greying it still didn't take away from her grace; it just added to it. James wondered why she was wearing glasses, Loreina always proved to have a hawk's vision. He remembered when his master, Orion, had left him at this very church in her care for two years. He didn't believe him when Orion had told him it was a part of his training but gods be damned he was right. Loreina's training regimen would put a lesser man in the medical wing for the better part of a month. It was a shame she wasn't at the castle, the soldiers could learn a thing or two from her.
"Come, come, I left a stew in the back cooking. Tell me about what's on your mind while you help me."
"What makes you think I have something on my mind?" James asked, keeping his voice steady.
Loreina snorted, "Dear, I've come to know that look on your face very well. Now come, these people are getting hungry."
James smirked. Nothing gets passed you, he thought, following her behind the altar and to the back.
A huge pot of stew hung over an open fire at the center of what looked like a vestry turned kitchen. James took a look at the bowl, noticing a variety of vegetables and sliced beef dancing alongside each other. The smell was divine. James almost forgot how good of a chef Loreina could be.
"So tell me," she started, rummaging through a crate. "What's eating at your mind?"
James walked over to help. "It's nothing to be worried about."
She pulled a couple bowls from the crate. "Well it's what I do honey. Especially when I hear you almost blew up the castle a couple days ago."
James' heart jumped, "So you heard about that?"
"Of course I did. Everyone's been talking about it for a while now. They say that there was a boy as hot as the sun inside the castle. No one was foolish enough to get close to him other than the king." She began to chuckle, "Heard he threw your ass into a heap of snow and you finally cooled down. That is before you blew up. How is Trost by the way? Haven't heard from that moose in over five years."
James laughed, "He's doing better. His arms are bandaged but the healers say he will recover soon."
That was a lie. In honest truth, James hadn't seen the king ever since the night of the council meeting. He remembered waking up in the dungeons beneath the castle. His hands bound to metal cuffs with a chain running to each side of the his small cell. The pain from the burst was gone, leaving James drowsy and exhausted. He shook the memory away.
"Ah, the festival. I almost forgot about it. Did you find someone to accompany you?"
For a brief moment a pair of blue eyes and a warm smile entered James' mind, clearing his heavy thoughts for the moment. "No not this year. Haven't really been looking."
"Well that's a shame. I'm sure there's a nice girl out there waiting for someone like you to ask her." Loreina said, setting the last of the plates down.
He wondered if the girl he met a couple days ago still remembered him. Something punched him in the gut. He looked down and noticed Loreina handing him one of her ladles.
The old lady smirked.
~
The people in the church finally had their lunch for the evening. Some of the older adults sat quietly, savoring every taste of the stew they were given. The children were the main source of the chatter in the church, laughing and teasing each other as they ate. James and Loreina sat at the altar's raised platform, looking at everyone eating their fill. The huge pot was picked clean James wondered if Loreina would've used her Essence to carry such a heavy thing. The thing was a hassle, even with the cart it rested on. Now that he thought about it, in the time he spent with her, he never once saw her use her true Essence.
"So," Loreina began. "The bursts are getting worse."
James nodded. It was what Loreina called them, bursts. Essence was the focus of all the energy in and outside of the body. The body had a way of regulating all the different Elemental and Spatial Essences that are absorbed. Casters are able to choose what Element they want inside their bodies and how to manipulate it to their choosing at any given time. Spatial Essence dealt with the manipulation of objects and all things and sensations in the area. It had its many advantages and was the most difficult to learn for a beginner. The problem James had-or rather what Loreina suspected- was that his body was overly attracted to the different Essences and as a result was unable to maintain true equilibrium. This was her theory.
Loreina sighed and took off her glasses, pinching at the corner of her eyes. "I thought by now your body would have been strong enough, or at least developed a way to stabilize itself. After you left all those years ago, I talked about it with my old scholar buddies from Masadora and they told me that they had no records of such a thing occurring in anyone."
"Yea, it's a tough deal," James said. "The burst never hit me that hard before. It was only when Trost talked about Tidus that I completely lost control. I even lost the pocket watch my parents had given me."
Loreina's expression turned dark. "So the rumors are true... Tidus Bastion is returning."
"The report Gaiya's men handed said they heard the Hymn being played." James turned to her. "The same Hymn that played the night they came to Astronova and slaughtered every single one of us."
"Except for you my boy. You're still here." She said, placing a hand on his cheek. James can't remember the last time Loreina had nurtured him. Even when he cried about the trainings she still wouldn't comfort him. It wasn't when she was awoken by his sobs, crying out for his mother and father that she held him tight, and slept with him that night. That was the only night in so many years that he felt at home. "I know too well what's going on in that hard head of yours. You plan on marching into the Onen territory and hunt down a rumor."
"If they heard the hymn then that means he's there, Loreina!" James snapped. "The hymn does not play for a dead man."
"Oh yea, and how would you know? For all we know it could be the Onen playing a trick on those soldiers. Try to scare us into thinking he's coming back."
James' Essence flared, "The hymn is a piece of him. It cannot be replicated because it is the voice of his very being. It is his Dissentia!" His voice bounced off the church walls and filled the room. A crowd of eyes began looking up to the altar. James gritted his teeth and got up, making his way to a side exit.
The door burst open and James strode powerfully down the side steps. There was a light haze of rain falling, feeding the thickness of the mists. The sun would be setting soon and he had somewhere to be.
"James Carter!" said Loreina from behind.
The woman had caught up with him easily and tackled him to the ground. James slid on the ground, but managed to recover. She approached him, tying her hair into a bun with a stick. "You can be such a brat you know that. You talk about going after Tidus, but can't even anticipate an old lady tackling you from behind."
James was ready to speak but was shushed by the woman. "The time for you to talk is over boy. Let's see if you learned anything while you were gone."
Loreina brought her left hand to her face and began chanting a lost language into it. A dark shadow engulfed her hand. "Block a single attack of mine once and you get to leave here and do as you wish. Get hit with five of my attacks and I decide what you do. You got that?"
James nodded, taking a closer look at the Essence in her hand. It wasn't like anything he had ever seen.
She slammed her hand down into the pavement and the whole street shifted. The cobblestone street morphed from its normal gray color to a bottomless black abyss.
Dissentia! James realized in shock.
Loreina had disappeared, he was now alone. James called out to her but soon realized he couldn't hear his own words. The dissentia had left him deaf, unable to rely on his hearing to locate her. He tried to burn his Essence in order to heighten the senses left to him, but the effect never kicked in. His powers were rendered useless. The only thing he could hear was the sound of his own heart thumping.
James looked around and noticed he was still alone, but he knew she was closing in on him. An image flashed at the corner of his eyes. He turned and noticed Loreina running straight for him. James readied himself but a tremendous blow landed on his shoulder, sending him staggering to the side. A dummy image, James realized. Another blow landed on his left cheek, sending him into a roll. I barely had a chance to react that time! James exploded to his feet and flared his Essence even higher. The ground must be acting as a suppressor. Which means she can choose what I can see and use on her terrain. It was a long shot, but he had to take it.
He bolted towards a nearby building and began running up the wall until he lost his footing. He grabbed onto a ledge and started climbing. As he reached the top, he found his theory to be correct. He could see Loreina waiting for him.
"It seems you have a brain after all." She said.
James panted. "Wasn't so hard after giving it a little thought." He grinned. "Gonna' be hard for you to score those last three hits!"
Loreina laughed. "You're so confident to what you see in front of you that you don't take into account a few things."
James tensed.
"The first-" She took a single step and disappeared. James flinched, and looked around for her. "- is that you failed to analyze the situation correctly." A strong blow-he suspected to be a kick- landed on one of his kidney. He struggled for air in his lungs.
"You thought all I could do with this power is disappear and reappear at will. You didn't suspect me moving quicker than normal." James gritted his teeth.
"The second being-" Ogata didn't disappear this time, but seemed to multiply into a number of copies; each walking separately from the other. "-Your ability to use Chronos is very out of practice. It is true that your Essence was suppressed, but there are always ways around it. And it is not flaring your Essence!"
The copies turned to James and began rushing him. James heightened his senses and blocked the blow of the first copy, his arm phasing through it like a phantom. He didn't stop. One of these copies has to be the real thing. One by one he blocked their attacks, resulting in their bodies disappearing. He had to hold out a little longer. James felt a sense of power returning to him, like a small ember turning into blaze. The final copy was approaching him. Found you! He focused the essence of ice in his palm and shot it towards her. The small blue sphere crashed into her and exploded into a cloud of ice shards and flurry. A palm suddenly landed on the side of James' head.
"And the third!" Loreina yelled as she sent James flying off the building.
Time was moving slowly, it felt like he was gliding instead of falling. James shifted his body and concentrated the Essence in his body to reinforce his feet as he hit the ground. James looked up and noticed Loreina standing over him. She flicked a finger on his forehead. James flinched.
"-You're too damn slow," She said.
James took a knee and lowered his head- this marked that the lesson was over. Loreina raised an eyebrow and let out a breath. "I know how much you want to go after Tidus my boy, but the man is leagues stronger than what you faced just now. What I showed you just now was intermediate Dissentia. The Onen practice on levels much higher than this, and you must be ready for that."
James said nothing, he remained in the same pose.
"You're a great fighter, I know you are, but you lack discipline. You may be smart when it comes to fights with normal men, but fighting Casters, Enhancers, Brutes, and so on is a whole different game. If you're serious about this then your reflexes are going to have to improve by two hundred and ten percent. You're knowledge of Essentia has to be sharp. You need to know when to use certain Essences and when not to.
"Just a little while ago you couldn't hear a thing and realized I was suppressing your senses. Your first instinct was to flare your Essence and try to overpower the spell but didn't think about dismantling it by scattering the essential components that make it up."
She was right. Any long lasting effects or traps used by Essentia could be easily dismantled by applying the opposites of whatever it was composed of. James just didn't think about that.
"You're not battle smart, and if you go chasing the Onen then you might as well call it suicide!"
There were people coming out from the church, looking over to the two. James got to his feet and looked at Loreina, his expression down. She fixed her glasses. "You're going to need lessons if you're going to stand a chance." James looked up. "I wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing you marched to your death without at least knowing how to defend yourself." She said.
James wrapped his arms around her, "Thank you."
"I don't know what you're so happy about. You still have the dishes to do." She broke the hug and began towards the church.
"I won't let you down, I promise." James said.
Loreina shook her head. "It isn't about letting me down sweetheart, it's about not letting yourself down. You're smarter than you think, and a lot stronger too. Stop letting emotions drive your actions, you're not a kid anymore. And another thing-" She yanked James' ear with a strong tug, "-You ever walk away from me when I call you by your full name again and Tidus is going to be the least of your worries, you got that?"
James and Loreina trailed off in the distance. James nodding to all of her complaints and smiling at the same time. James felt an odd sense of nostalgia.
A couple blocks away, on a rooftop, Fay and Alice stood; watching down at the old church. Fay shook her head and began to walk away from the ledge. "Let's go Alice. There's nothing for us here."
Alice remained looking down at the church, holding James' pocket watch in one of her hands.