The vast expanse faded from Marlo's mind's eye. Slowly, he felt himself being grounded back in reality from the ecstatic experience. He felt the rhythm of the channels like the rhythm of his beating heart, currently racing. He could also feel from his sternum to abdomen a well of dormant power waiting for him to tap into. He did not know how to, yet.
Passively, however, he felt his spatial awareness had gained a mystical boost. In the approximate radius of forty meters he could sense the position of where things were. Nearly overwhelming him at first, he thought that was ridiculous for someone who had just awakened. In his mind's eye he could vaguely sense the position and shape of objects. He wasn't sure which part of that was the ability and which part was memory since he'd been here more than a dozen times. He felt the gazes of the boy and girl on him. He didn't pay them much attention now.
His body had also gained a significant strength boost. This time round he felt if he swung, the skull of a grown man would break instead of his thin arms. He felt he could achieve the same, or worse, with his teeth if it came to it. Best part was the hunger he'd been feeling was gone.
Marlo felt some abilities inside him requiring active control through the open channels, those will have to wait till he learned how to. He was more excited about the fact that he had awakened to feel down about this at the moment. This was just the start, he knew. Right now he felt he could stop living like a rat. This was only the first rank, barely. The possibility of making it back home ignited faintly in his heart. Already, this world didn't seem as cruel as before.
He opened his eyes and turned to the boy and girl. If he could keep this from them at the moment he would. But they saw him go blank in his look and levitate slightly a few moments ago. He smiled at them, never like before. Not the cautious smile. This time, an idiotic one, one filled with the bliss and naivity of youth. Smiles like that weren't often and Marlo could have sworn he saw their hearts soften through their eyes. He explained to them what happened.
Eventually they smiled, for Marlo and for themselves. They came to know Marlo to have the kind of heart to be taken advantage of. The kind that shared more than ought to be and now he had awakened. Any thoughts of leaving died at that moment. He'll have to tie rocks at their feet and throw them into the Ocean. That's how her brother went, a thief. beggar. liar.
"I'm not sure how to go about this." Marlo thought out loud. Spoke to them like it was to be expected they were in this together, now, till the world chewed them up and didn't spit them out. "I don't know even the basics of being an awakened." the boy and girl were silent, they tried thinking of solutions like colors that didn't exist. Marlo scratched his head and let out a sigh, "There is one guide I have, there was an awakened here about two years ago. A horrible man though. Told me I stink and covered me with mud. I wouldn't have minded water, he said it would make it worse... " Marlo groaned, dejected, " Problem is, he did seem to only be passing by. Two years... the bastard is probably getting his boots licked in Gritjorn by now."
"We can help... " The girl's voice, this time fuller than he'd ever heard it, "Ask around... I mean."
"No, sneaking around asking questions is an easy way to die."
"Not much else we can do." The boy this time, not wanting to be left out but not really having anything to contribute. He'd mostly started thinking of awakening himself. He had never given it serious thought till now, he'd nearly believed awakened were stories of old. The slight ping of jealousy aside he had the naive boy's voice, "Observe and listen only. Make your rounds cover nearly whole kens. If before I made it worth your while to stay with me, now I can make it ten times worth your while. Remember, tell no one. If you do I'll up and abandon the both of you, doubt you'll catch me."
They would have scoffed before,'abandon us? Who are you? The world already abandoned us.'
The sun was down by the time they made it back. Best to be hidden during this hours. For them, hidden as can be. Lucky their makeshift home was elevated in a dilapidated old assembly factory of sorts. In Othen, this time of year is what would be summer. Marlo had slept in all sorts of places, damp and wet were the worst. Stunk more, maybe the awakened was right.
It was still cold, though. The three of them squeezed together, looking like kittens fighting for their mother's tit. Marlo didn't feel as cold today. He could not sleep. He'd been thinking about his situation all the way back. He wanted to run and see how fast he could make it back, wanted to jump and see how high he could. He didn't, wanted to be careful who saw. him. There had been rumours of people wanting to find an awakened and eat of their flesh that it might awaken them. Partly why he kept the girl and boy close, maybe if he fed them they'd think twice before telling the world. Beggars, liars, thieves. They were selfish about these kinds of opportunities.
Should I try meditation, He was thinking of a direction to go in. Like the monks or more so cultivators he'd barely read on. He was like that, knew a little about this and a little about that. Argued like he was proffesor on the topics though. He got up, thinking and planning could only solve so much. Try the best solution he could think of at the moment fully. He pushed through the cloth, wood and metal 'door' of theirs. Crawled through their castle bridge, a wooden plank, out an opening. He would usually jump down and out this time, however, he was going up. To the remaining patchy rooftop of the building.
The nights were beautiful here, the city dark the night sky a sight to see. The rooftop groaned under him, its boards warped and rotten, the smell of wood and rust creeping up through the cracks.
Marlo sat cross-legged near the roof's ridge, hands on his knees, eyes closed. Breathe in. Breathe out. Think of nothing, he thought best not to. Nothing.
He tried.
Once. Twice. A dozen times. Each time his thoughts came back, muttering in his ear — the cold, the wind, the creak of the roof, the weight of his own breathing. The stillness slipped away each time.
Then, finally, he felt it.
Not heat. Not light. Stillness. A stillness so perfect it scared him — the unmoving center of everything, sitting somewhere else inside him. Deep inside him. Distant yet close. Around that point, the world in his mind's shifted, like a wheel turning around its axle. The channels were there too: fine and taut, running out from that center into every direction, brushing against the edges of his entire body. He could feel them like threads against his fingertips, each one a promise of somewhere else.
And then, something tugged back.
It was subtle at first. Then it was a feral pull in the channels, as if space itself had been waiting for him to notice so it could tear him apart. He felt himself leaning into it, not his body, but the part of him holding the threads. The center point swelled, not with calm, but with pressure, each channel demanding. Marlo felt The rooftop under him lean and sway, his distances awareness stretching and collapsing in strange, impossible ways.
If he pulled too hard, he knew he'd be gone. Not just gone from the rooftop, but gone into the cold between the stars. Pieces of him scattered across places no man could see.
His breath hitched. The lines quivered, the pull grew sharper, and his instincts screamed to let go before the world made good on its threat.
So he did.
The pressure snapped. The stillness shattered. He was back on the rooftop, the wind assaulting him, cold in his bones now. The stars above hadn't moved, but they seemed to be watching him now.
He sat there a long time, listening to the roof creak and the wind hiss between the broken shingles. The taste of it lingered in him — that vast center, those endless channels.
And the danger. The way it had wanted him.
Careful, he needed to be careful. He relaxed and turnt to see the girl looking at him. She swallowed, "Something's wrong?" She was whispering, an observation more than a question. Up here, Marlo didn't see a reason to.
"Yes, felt death upon me moments ago."
Her almond brown eyes stared at him then she fully climbed onto the rooftop. Looking up at the sky she sat next to him, "My name is Selin... " she spoke tenderly matching the breeze of the night air that had now calmed down.
"Selin... " Marlo repeated just as softly, It rolled off his tongue smoothly. Not like some names he'd heard, a witch's spells they sounded.
"So, you won't tell me yours?" She asked, still not looking at Marlo. He snapped back to the moment, he got carried away easily sometimes.
"Marlo," he cleared his thoughts and got rid of the previous tone, "My name is Marlo Dane."