—— ❖ —— —— ❖ —— —— ❖ ——
Birds tweeted; lizard-things hissed and croaked; insects of strange shapes buzzed.
The sun was now high in the sky, light scattering through the roaming clouds above.
Arion—
Gyaaahh—!
…
Arion was—
Mmph!
"Fuck!"
Breathing hard, Arion gently bent his legs deep, then pushed his hips, carrying his new date.
"Gah!"
Umm—ah yes! Arion was training with his new partner, Recall.
His body was bare except for his trousers and belt.
With his trusty Recall resting across his back, two reed ropes dangled from each end, their stone weights fused solid with frost.
"23…"
Squats were essential for both strength and power.
"26..."
They bring a whole new dimension to kinetic force when brought into the equation. It wasn't just for the lower body but for the body as a whole.
"29…"
"3—!"
He yelled with buckling knees, pushing the ground away from his feet, wanting to bring the weight back up to clear his last rep.
Until a very curious and suicidal twin-headed bird dropped on one side of Recall.
The tiniest weight meant everything—his balance crumbled, tipping one way as his left leg collapsed under the power of a small bird.
DUFF!
Eyes twitched, teeth ground.
Ice exploded, freezing the poor bastard mid-squeak.
…
After finishing his squats, he decorated his cabin with his new, small ice sculptures.
With a small water break, he proceeded to find the most comfortable fallen tree trunk.
Grabbing Recall, he laid down, performing the staff press.
The chest, arms, and shoulders worked as one system—forming a single chain along the upper body, power travelling cleanly through each link, holding huge potential.
Anyone can swing a quarterstaff; mastery demands strength, control, and unbroken focus to both defend and attack simultaneously.
Especially dealing with heavy strain or impact, the staff was strong and flexible. It was capable.
So, in return, the human wielding it needed to be as well.
Once completed, this time without any additional interruptions or additions to his sculpture collection.
He lowered the weight and held Recall in front of him, Arion then proceeded to perform wrist curls.
Power drives from below, control from above—but if the link between them falters, everything collapses.
His master had drilled it so deep into his head that even in a new body, he still performed wrist curls without realising.
With strong enough wrists, one could, in theory, dish out—and take—devastating force with barely a bruise in return.
…
The midday breeze cut through the leaves, threading through his hair.
With swelling and throbbing wrists, Arion was now standing, upright with eyes closed, he balanced on top of one of Recall's metal fittings, lost in total mental and physical focus.
Balance came hand in hand with a staff user, if one cannot maintain one's own balance, the fight is already over.
After an hour, Arion stepped off and landed, feet on the ground.
He lifted Recall gently with his foot, it glided elegantly along until it balanced midway. He stared at her, perfectly balanced, hands grasped together behind him.
I never properly learnt Great Unc's Technique, I think at that point I retired from Master's training.
He tilted his foot, let her slide down it only to quickly swap feet, his left foot came up in time for it to bump Recall up into the air.
The Legwork Gyre or also called Gyre-Leg Juggle, was an art involving one's lower body and their staff. It was Master's legacy technique.
Recall came back down, straightened perfectly, his right foot came back out and caught the tip on the base of his foot.
Many people thought it was just a jester trick, a clown act produced by an old man who could spin a staff. Which, of course, was the whole point. Funnily enough no one expected it nor could predict it, everyone was confident, until a foot juggling staff knocked them out.
His foot snapped, Recall jumped from the base to the tip of his toes.
"Well.. It's never too late to learn."
…
The forest was still except for the hum of wind through the trunks of trees and slight creaking of branches.
Arion stood blindfolded on the tip of a single stone, no wider than his heel. Recall spun between his legs in a blur of motion.
He breathed once, slow.
Recall dropped toward the ground—and his foot rose to meet it.
Instep—catch.
He flicked the shaft upward, letting it arc behind the opposite knee.
Knee—cradle.
The wood kissed cloth, rolled along his thigh, and slid down toward his ankle.
Heel—snap.
The spin reversed direction and climbed again, the same rhythm looping over and over.
After a few attempts, he had finally got the hang of the basics.
He wasn't holding Recall anymore; he was juggling it with his legs, keeping it alive through rhythm and balance.
The pole danced, weaving between his feet, tapping the floor, springing back into the air.
Every contact was a note in a song only his body could play.
A bead of sweat traced the side of his face. His supporting foot wobbled.
He shifted his hips, bent his knee, and found balance again.
Recall never faltered.
Then Recall lay there perfectly level on the tips of his toes.
No magic.
Simply a man who'd taught his body not to drop the impossible.
He snapped it onto the base of his foot and flicked it into the air, spinning with grace. He stretched out his palm and said one word:
"Recall."
Recall flew back into his palm.
He finally took off his blindfold, blinking until his vision settled.
"Haa... I think this blind date went well, don't you think?"
Recall slightly vibrated in his palm, her shard hummed with pulses of Essence saturated light.
Strange, I feel like there's a connection, well other than our amazing compatibility…
I sense a sort of pulse, like my Vitalis is receiving a wave. A message. Sentient communication?
He smiled, jumped back onto solid ground.
"I think it's time for a break," he said, treading back to his cabin.
Recall's hum faded to silence behind him.
…
—— ❖ —— —— ❖ —— —— ❖ ——
Arion, now back in his cabin, finally took a rest.
He caught his breath, drank deep, and slumped back at the desk.
He had finally managed to form a new spell that he'd come up on the spot in dire need. He was confident it was calibrated well enough to earn an entry.
—— ❖ ——
Field Entry:
Coagulate Lock — Biology / Utility
Vitalis compresses through internal circuits, focusing pressure on damaged vessels.
Each pulse binds Luminary Essence around the wound, accelerating clot formation until flow slows to a crawl.
The effect burns — heat under skin, like sealing with invisible hands — but the bleed halts within seconds.
On Earth, coagulation depends on platelets, thrombin, fibrin; a chain reaction that crawls over minutes.
Here, Luminary collapses that cascade into one instant decision: clot now, question physics later.
Science:
Vitalis acts as external mechanical pressure, Luminary Essence lowers biochemical activation barriers of clotting factors.
Result: rapid fibrin mesh generation and vascular sealing.
Thermal by-product stems from metabolic overdrive and localized Essence friction.
In Layman Terms:
I turned my own bloodstream into a patch kit.
Hot, painful, messy — but it keeps the red stuff where it belongs.
Maxim:"Seal the flow, buy the time."
—— ❖ ——
A new addition to my collection.
"Heh." He chuckled, knowing it was just the tip of what he could do.
Coagulation
…on platelets
thrombin, fibrin;
…a chain reaction
The words echo through him, the boiling pot beside him bubbled softly, nostalgic noises of his previous life.
He started to stare at the words he had written down—no, the space in between them. The words blurred, becoming out of focus on the page.
His mind slipped.
Text became white noise.
His vision vanished into pure darkness.
…Coagulation
…
"... Coagulation–"
A hum of fluorescent light.
The scent of coffee filled the air.
A pair of eyes stared into space, water dripping down a chin, a slight drool.
A woman turned around, disappointed in the sight in front of her.
Her messy golden hair was tied back in a bun, a few strands dangling to frame her striking beauty. She wore glasses that gave her a smart, serious look, a black turtleneck jumper completing it. She carried a boyish personality with a serious scientific edge.
"Gah–This kid!" She scoffed, picking up paper and rolling it into a weapon.
"Paper!"
Buff!
"Ahh! Hey–what was that for, Mum?" He piped up from his daydream.
She stared at him, arms crossed, fingers tapping her arm.
"Paper beats rock, dummy. Arion, put that rock of a brain to good use for once!"
Arion leant back on his chair.
"But Mum, this isn't Physics! It's boring!" He crossed his arms, letting out a puff of stubborn breath as he deflated into his chair.
His mother stood there shaking her head.
Why did you have to take after me so much…
"Arion, these studies are important, physics can teach you about the universe. But it can't always save your ass." She insisted, coming from experience.
A defiant silence hung.
"Got it? Good!" She turned back to the board she was scribbling on.
She paused, a sigh escaping her lips.
"This drop-dead, gorgeous lady in front of you won't always be around… Arion." She stopped for a heartbeat, until she went back to scribbling.
On the board lay words different from his usual lecture;
'Coagulation'
'platelets'
'Thrombin'
'fibrin'
'chain reaction'
And other terminology he never saw before.
There was a sentence scribbled on there, a quote underlined a few times;
Seal the flow, buy the time!
Even if they weren't the usual terms he recognised, he could tell what they generally meant. He saw patterns, as if he had a micro scope on hand, visualising the cause and effect in real time.
Though, today's lecture never compared to his mother's usual ones, some of the most modern scientific discoveries known to man had been taught to him at a young age.
A parent's greatest fear wasn't leaving their child alone in the world.
It was leaving them without a piece of themselves.
This invaluable knowledge was her gift to him.
Her legacy was him.
The scribbles stopped.
"... The chain reaction of coagulation only takes place with the above components…"
Eyes started to stare in the spaces between the scribbles, focus became blurred, everything muted to black.
"…this is…"
His mother's voice trailed off into darkness.
A ghost of echoes.
Echoing its existence for ever.
But now it had lost its warmth he had always cherished.
…
"Mum, it seems those lectures saved my ass after all..."
He exhaled. A soft, unsteady sound.
His fingers brushed over the notes—her knowledge she left behind.
"I… I wish I could have done the same for you."
—— ❖ —— —— ❖ —— —— ❖ ——