‘Ral-ah? Huh, this is…’
Coming to, Rei bore an incredible sight. His mind shook at it, and a torrent of fear and awe surged in his heart. Yet at the same time, a monumental excitement and anticipation began bubbling within.
‘...becoming a blue orb, a large gate and darkness sprinkled with dots of light…its exactly as he described it. That means I’m going to become a…psionic.’
Rei's heart leapt with joy at the conclusion. He stuffed the ‘how’ and 'why' questions into the back of his mind as he relished in his frenzied emotions.
The thought of having magical powers strongly appealed to Rei. Fictional works involving superpowers were his favourite works to consume. Long spans of time were spent fantasizing about utilizing the powers he saw in anime, manga and novels. Now, with the white gate before him, he knew a reality where he wielded such superpowers was soon at hand. He could barely contain himself.
The question then was, what power would he awaken?
‘A Unique like Ralf…a Mimic or an Onic….any of those three would be great. Honestly, as long as it's not a Natural, I'll be happy.’ As he was pondering his possible psionic power, a distance spec of light reached its maximum brightness.
‘Powers involving space and time would be best. Oh spear of light, grant me my wish.’
After wishing upon the ‘star’, Rei braced himself. The spear of light had formed and was quickly racing toward him. Its approach caused his Soul Core to rattle. The colossal energy emanating from the spear was fearsome. ‘Ralf really took that straight up argh…he really is unlucky. Hopefully, I’m not the same.’’
The spear closed the vast expanse in a matter of moments. Finally, it arrived.
Shatter!
The spear broke into millions of white fragments as it collided with the Soul Gate’s invisible barrier. In the end, only a sliver of light, no thicker than a needle’s head managed to pass through. Racing towards Rei, it pierced his blue spherical form.
Strange sensations beset Rei as the connection to the Great Aether was being established. The process was complete when the white line connecting him to the Great Aether turned blue. Information flowed through Rei’s mind and he immediately understood what psionic class he had awakened to.
‘Not my first choice, but not bad. Now then…isn’t this taking too long?’
Usually, this was it for one’s viewing experience. Rei had heard that much from Ralf’s explanation. One’s consciousness would be ejected from this space and sent back to the outside world.
But for Rei, it wasn’t.
Swoosh!
With the gate in tow, he felt himself shift rapidly. The direction was impossible to tell, and yet, the feeling of movement was undeniable. His crystal clear perception was made to blur. Clearing a moment later, Rei found himself in another grey void. However, instead of a single gate-sphere construct, now there were two.
‘Whoa, is this Ralf’s…it's massive.’
His beach ball-sized Soul Core couldn’t compare to the behemoth that was Ralf’s. Rei was in total awe. Its enormity and blueness brought up images of Neptune in his mind.
‘His Psi capacity must be something else.’
As he was thinking that, he watched as his Soul Core approached Ralf’s. Apprehension surfaced in his heart. The blue planet was quite daunting.
‘Will I be swallowed up by that?’
His fear didn’t come to pass. The orb came to a stop after making contact.
Pressed together, the two Soul Gates lie on the outsides, facing each other. It was only once he felt the gentle ripples reaching him from Ralf’s Soul Core did Rei understand that this was the position he had been in since arriving in this world.
He hadn’t questioned this feeling or his own vibrating soul. He had just assumed this was what it was like to exist without a body. As he was revelling in relief, he observed another interesting sight.
‘Hm?’
Just as Ralf’s energy travelled his way, his own travelled Ralf’s way. Like a boulder falling in a calm lake, the surface of Ralf’s sphere was made to ripple on end.
In the outside world, Ralf was jolted. His rising panic and fear were abated as he sensed the soul quaking sensations.
Rei’s consciousness was ejected. Returning to the outside world, he reestablished the telepathic link between them.
[[Back with good news.]]
His voice broke Ralf out of his jaded state. [[Rei…what happened?]]
Rei smirked. [[This did.]]
*Boom*
[[Whoa…you really did awaken powers.]]
Ralf staggered back in bafflement as a burst of Psi erupted from his body. Finding his footing, he examined the blue energy squirming like an amoeba around him. ‘So this is how Psi looks like. This tint, this instability, and that feeling earlier…he must be a Telekinetic.’
[[Congratulations. With this, the distance between our goal of universal dominance has been greatly shortened.]]
[[Yeah.]]
An obvious joy could be found in Rei’s reply.
Ralf smiled. [[Well, show us something.]]
Rei nodded. [[Sure.]]
His eyes swept across the room until they stopped on a wooden figure. He thrust his hand toward it and directed his Psi toward it. [[Behold my power.]]
Rei’s expectations were immediately dashed. ‘Urgh, what’s with this resistance? I’m a Telekinetic, not an Onic right…this is ridiculous.’
His Psi proved too difficult to manipulate. Internally, he could shift it about at lightning speeds but after materializing it in the outside world, his Psi was no different than sludge, and disobedient sludge at that.
*Wobble*
Nearly five seconds later, his Psi finally arrived. Smothering the wooden figure, his aura lifted it a few inches up before faltering. Watching the figure topple down, Rei nearly toppled down himself as the mental strain and sheer disappointment weighed down on him.
The happy smile faded from his face. This wasn’t the power he had sought. The time spent and mental exhaustion accrued wasn’t worth it. He’d be better off walking over and moving it with his hands.
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[[Ralf…what’s this about? Am I defective?]]
[[Ahahahaha…]]
The contrasting emotions experienced by the two led to quite a bizarre expression to manifest itself on the duo's face.
Sensing Rei’s mood dip, Ralf let out his last few laughs before explaining. [[Sorry sorry, it was just too funny. You’re not defective. There’s nothing strange here. Actually, doing as much as you did is pretty impressive. You’re currently experiencing the Consolidation Phase. Unlike other psionic classes, the Standard Classes all have to go through this phase after awakening their power. After weathering this phase, your Psi will be very easy to control.]]
Rei's perked up. The negative emotions in his heart abated at Ralf’s explanation.
[[How long does this phase usually last?]]
[[Hmm, three to seven days.]]
Rei sighed.
[[Oh well, nothing to do but wait then.]]
Rei retracted the aura. [[Ralf, try releasing the aura.]]
The possibility was a natural one for Rei to arrive at when taking in their Soul Cores’ arrangement. They had the same ability in the Mental Space and equal control of the body, so could Ralf use his psionic powers?
The answer came a second later.
*Boom*
[[I can do it too, amazing!]]
Ecstatic at the result, Ralf retracted and released his aura on repeat.
‘Not one but two powers, this is great.’
[[Hmm, interesting,]] Rei commented while narrowing his eyes. [[Lets test it. Shift the aura left, I’ll go right.]]
[[Okay. 3 2-ah?]]
Their experiment was doused with cold water as a wave of blue suddenly invaded the room. Bathed in this aura, Ralf’s mind was quick to understand the situation. ‘This must be Psi Scan. Then…’ His heart trembled in anticipation as his enhanced senses focused on the figure rushing toward them.
A second later, the door was flung open. Seeing his beloved mother’s form at the doorway, his entire being became paralyzed with emotion.
Ten long years of desiring to see her again had culminated in a dam’s worth of emotions, and at the sight of her, that dam had ruptured, flooding his heart and leaving him frozen.
Hana was experiencing a similar paralysis. She was questioning whether the sight before her was another dream her mind had conjured up. Raiken knew she had plenty of them. Furthering the idea that this was a dream was the presence of the Telekinetic Psi radiating from his body, for this was an impossibility in her mind. Still, dream or not, her actions wouldn’t change.
“Ralf.”
“Mom.”
The other’s voice broke the two out of their dazes. Their bodies fell toward each other and the pair collided at rib-breaking speed before settling into a tight loving embrace.
“Ralf Ralf Ralf, you’re back, you’re finally back…I missed you so much...thank goodness.”
Tears streamed down her face as she spoke. Wrapped up in her embrace and soaking up the warmth only a parent could deliver, Ralf's vision also began blurring.
“I missed you too, mom…so much. I’m back.” His voice was soft and jittery as he spoke these words.
Hearing them, Hana’s eyes sparkled. Through the myriad of tears that streamed down her face, a beautiful smile emerged.
“Ralf.”
“Mom.”
Mother and child, the two so long separated and had finally reunited.
***
Observing this, Rei was troubled.
Experiencing everything from Ralf’s point of view caused great discomfort in him.
One’s character didn’t change that easily. Ralf was an ambiguous existence to Rei, treading the line between ‘self’ and ‘other’. This impossible position and the unique circumstances was what allowed Rei to accept him. However, his stance on others remained unchanged. Hana’s affectionate actions were no different than searing poison to him. Had he not been actively suppressing himself, he’d have broken free on first contact.
Desiring escape, Rei’s mind aimed towards the path he had come from, and a moment later, his consciousness was back in the Mental Space.
[[Rei, wait-]]
[[I’ll leave that to you. Get the details about your body. I’ll continue my investigation here. We’ll meet up and report our findings.]]
Saying in one breath, Rei didn’t allow Ralf a word as he immediately severed the telepathic link between them.
With it gone, the pour of emotions ceased, allowing Rei to ‘breath’ much easier.
He sighed.
‘Those things…they’re far beyond me,’ he thought with a bitter expression.
Wallowing in this emotion for a few seconds, he shook his head and straightened up. Moving his gaze over the vast space around him, his eyes flickered with a certain light.
‘Let’s continue.’