Hal was once again awakened by a bunch of strings that flung him out of his sweet slumber and into the harsh, cruel world. He had not received enough sleep after his previous turmoil of trying to get down the roof.
He had resorted to using one of the many pipes that collected water from the roof to gently slope down from the terrifying height that the girl had left him in.
And now he was to be subjected to the same harrowing training with Joset today as always. This time, she wore a black dress as she dragged him all the way to her room.
"Stay put as I go check on something real quick" Joset left the room and left Hal to his own devices. Times like this were not rare and tended to signify one thing.
The teddy bears in the room all sprang to life and made their way to Hal, jumping into his embrace with enough strength to topple him over.
Hal fell to the floor and embraced all the sweet bears in the room. He had long since gotten used to their presence, and in times like he would always play with them.
"I don't really get how the human you can be so terrifying, yet you all are so adorable" Hal picked them up and nuzzled the teddy bears, which let out a squeaking sound as their own form of laughter.
Hal enjoyed his time with them; in fact, they were the whole reason he had held out for so long. The teddy bears moved and produced strings that spelt out a certain sentence.
"Joset…Birthday….Coming soon," Hal touched his chin as he added on his own comments ", Really, you want me to celebrate it with her?" The teddy bears spelt out another stream of words that Hal read with careful consideration
"Please attend…don't want to see Joset alone this year" Joset had been there for Hal all this time, and even when he messed up, she never gave up on him, at least that is how it appeared to Hal.
Joset was hard to read, but he decided to take it that way. It made things easy and kept him motivated, and besides being alone on your birthday did not cope well with Hal, hence he turned to the teddy bears and with a smile on his face said
"I'll be there, just tell me when, and I promise you that I will make it her best birthday ever. Just tell me when" The teddy bears jumped with excitement as their strings joined together to read "Same time…Next week"
Hal laughed at the sight before a loud squeak resounded from the door. He turned to the door and saw a teddy bear jumping as it pointed at the door, and with that command, all the teddy bears jumped back into position and fell silent as if they had not been moving just a while ago.
Joset arrived in the room soon after and looked around as if suspecting something. She turned her eyes to Hal, sending a shiver down his spine, before finally saying.
"Okay, let's begin with your training" Hal was relieved as he smiled at Joset while willingly giving her his hand.
She gave him a weird glance before wrapping the strings around their hands and returning Hal to the state where he could view his soul.
The flame around it was now even more violent than before as he heard Joset say, "Like always, I want you to shatter your mind and try to bring the shattered pieces into your control. If you fail, I'll be here to help"
Hal did as she commanded and shattered his mind. His thoughts felt like they were scattered between the pieces. He calmed his mind as he remembered Lyrrah's advice.
What desire would he submit to, what emotion could he use to bind himself, what offer couldn't he refuse? He knew what all these were, and he would use them to gain complete authority over his shattered mind.
His greatest desire was to take back what entity stole from him, the emotion that drove him forward was a bitter anger. His anger seemed frail, but it was sufficient for this task.
The offer he made to the pieces was similar to that of the lord of stars 'If you submit to me, I will provide you with enough power and knowledge to fulfil our truest desire, as long as you submit.
He bonded all of this to will and then flooded his mind with it, subjecting all the other pieces to his offer, his desire and to his fleeting emotion.
He felt the other pieces try to resist him, but it was inevitable as they all soon fell silent and submitted to him. He had won and brought them under his control as he felt his mind gradually settle.
The pieces lingered for a while before recombining to form his entire mind once more. Hal fell back on the bed as he felt a surge of relief flood his soul, and what a good feeling it was
Joset's voice soon rang out in his mind, though this time it held a bit of pride within it, "You did well, Hal, but your struggle is not over yet"
A ringing sound sounded in his ears as his mind went blank, only to be flooded by loads of information about his ability, how it worked, all it could and could not do
His eyes and hair glimmered with stars once again as every aspect of his power was explained to him.
"Like I told you earlier, all gift users are born with an innate understanding of their ability; they do not need to learn how to use them because they already know how"
Joset stood up and sat next to Hal as she whispered to him, "It's just because your circumstances were not normal, so you needed something to ignite that innate understanding, and it seems that this was it"
She passed her hand through his hair, which helped to calm him down throughout the entire process, and soon his eyes and hair once again returned to normal as he turned to Joset.
"I feel so brand new, like I have been reborn, I feel like I want to learn, I want to know, I seek power, and now it feels just in reach"
A smile curled Hal's lips as Joset continued to pass her hand through his hair "So you have finally awakened, scholar of Fernis"
Hal soon found himself back to his normal senses as he saw Lady Roxanne seated in front of him, talking to Joset, who noticed his return from a trance-like state.
It felt weird being in that state. He felt like he was free, yet there was a desire that burned violently through his heart; his mind had grown to crave knowledge.
Lady Roxanne smiled at him as she spoke in a calm voice, "How do you feel, Hal?" Hal took his time answering since his mind still felt like he was floating. He scratched his head for a while as he looked for the right words to say
"I think I'm fine at least for now", he shook his head for a bit before finally settling his gaze on Lady Roxanne "Well, it seems you received a contract from the Great lord of Knowledge and Space-time Hal"
Hal stared blankly at Lady Roxanne, who continued.
"This has opened new doors for you, and I would not like to limit you. People like you hunger for knowledge with an unexplainable urge that none can overcome, and so to keep yourself sane, you will have to continuously take in knowledge"
Hal felt it difficult to pronounce his words as he spoke, "So what would that mean?"
Lady Roxanne raised two fingers "You have two choices: you can either join your fellow scholars in the congregation of knowledge and get access to their infinite library, or stay here and obtain knowledge from all the books in my possession"
Lady Roxanne stood up and walked to Hal's bed, and sat on it, saying, "But my library is limited, and you will soon exhaust all its knowledge, though our company does go on missions that expose you to all types of cultures you can learn from"
Hal did not really have to overthink about his decision; Lyrrah offered enough mysteries from which he could obtain knowledge, and their company offered him something else.
As his ability was made known to him, he learnt of something else, the actual use of the flame surrounding his body and the essence of channelling.
This company offered far more than just information; it would also be his way to truly understand the ways of channelling the soul flame as the fuel for evolution and channelling the key that ignites the engine.
He smiled at Lady Roxanne and spoke with a calm voice, "I wish to stay here. I do not know about my fellow scholars, but I desire far more than knowledge. Lady Roxanne and I know that you, too, seek my allegiance"
Lady Roxanne clapped for Hal before holding out her hand to him "I wonder what I will learn from you, Scholar of Fernis, and I hope that our alliance bears fruit"
Hal took her hand, replied with his own calm voice, "I wonder how much power I will obtain from you, and I also hope this alliance bears fruit"
Hal was one step closer to achieving that goal of his now that he could use the power given to him, now that he knew its potential, that desire of his didn't seem so out of reach