Air rushed into my lungs as I gasped wildly out of control. I was laying on the dirt, clutching at my chest, heaving.
I looked around in my state of panic, my eyes catching once I'd spotted Ikuye sitting atop a retaining wall that ran the length of the training grounds. Her wings were wrapped around her body in a tight embrace—a harrowing glitter ran down her cheeks betraying her otherwise stoic expression.
Immense feelings of grief clawed at me, paired with the residual terror I'd experienced in the last moments of our mental linking.
I struggled to fight back the urge to retch.
Ikuye leered down at me with an icy gaze.
"Not really a favorite of mine."
I collected myself enough to utter a response, though my voice was a little shaky.
"W-what isn't? That memory, or the e-experience of this d-damnable psycho-garbage?"
"Both, I guess. Some things are better left buried, never to be dredged up under any circumstance."
I braced myself with both my hands behind me and leaned back, letting out a deep breath to center myself. My gaze crept back up to Ikuye.
She was already looking right at me, and our eyes locked.
"I didn't mean for t-that to happen." I stammered. "Not that it's any consolation. I can't control when that happens, nor do I really know why it does. It's the first time anyone else has experienced it with me though…"
"Yeah. I know, sister." Her expression softened a little, hiding the pain behind her eyes. "That wasn't my first time. Guess that should remedy any doubts either of us has about you having mama's divine blood."
"Her divine blood?"
"Mother, and apparently those with a pure lineage to her, are highly in tune with all kinds of magick. What you experienced is probably due to a sensitivity to some certain wavelength."
"I guess that makes sense—No, wait. I started to have these episodes before even binding with Capricorn."
"You're still the daughter of Virgo and from what I can sense, were born under the sign of mother. You're closer to the Goddesses than most beings. It shouldn't be too hard to believe you'd be blessed with a good affinity for all kinds of magicks."
I recalled the cumbersome list of magick-based affinities listed on my personal status.
Can't argue against that conclusion.
She hopped down from the wall and her wings folded back along her shoulders, eventually fading away as if they were just a trick of the eye to begin with.
"Well," she started," can't wallow in pity all day, can we? I promised to teach ya' something new so let's get to it."
Ikuye sat on the ground close by, aiming for a spot with soft grass rather than the hard dirt I was still splayed out on.
I shimmied over and found a new seat next to her.
"I take it that whatever you're considering showing me isn't something physical? I'm hoping so at least, I dunno if I could take on anything that needed me to move around right now."
My STAMINA had increased slightly from the few training sessions with Julius during our stay in Umbraedomis, but it was far from the realm of an angelic combat veteran.
The strain of our duel combined with having my mental fortitude drained thanks to another psycho—invasion of privacy—metric episode left me in a state of extreme exhaustion.
"Don't worry, you won't have to do anything physical—this time at least."
"You make it sound so foreboding, throwing it out so casually."
"It's nothing so terrible!" Ikuye laughed to herself, "I'm just thinking of how to raise you up closer to my level the quickest way."
"Ikki, I don't think humans are meant to do what you can do. Just look at how most of the people around us fared after you unleashed that aura of yours. If I had that same power, I'd never be able to fight on the battlefield with my forces again."
Ikuye paused, seeming to consider what I'd said.
After a few moments, which I'd spent unbuckling the straps on my wristguards and leggings to relax my strained muscles, she spoke up.
Her head bobbed eagerly, agreeing with herself in advance, "Then we'll just have to train up your troops at the same time. Mhmm! I'll begin operation power-leveling first thing tomorrow."
"Let's focus on one thing at a time. First off we'll need to get you introduced to everyone. I have quite the number of folks to square away. With the new addition of a few thousand elves, the conspirators aligned with Bashir…"
Not to mention one little girl with suspiciously demonic features that will cause a big commotion, I'm sure.
Ikuye's hand zipped to my face and before I could react, a solid thud resonated off my forehead as she flicked it.
"Owww?"
"You worry too much. Introductions will sort themselves out soon enough. By the time you and I finish up, I'm sure half of the city will have heard about how their princess went toe-to-toe with a messenger of the Gods."
"You… make a good point."
"I know I do. Now!" she clapped her hands, "Time for you to unlock your Iteria."
"My what now?"
"Iteria. We all have one—of course, by 'we' I mean daughters of Capricorn and, by extension, you as well. I suppose there may be other creature that may have something similar. I haven't seen one who did out of the many lesser races I've met, though."
Ikuye let silence hang, looking lost in thought for a moment. She soon continued on, "Hmmm, The best way to explain the basics of mama's magick is that our will of self can manifest in the world, and make changes as we see fit. It's kinda like rewriting a story to fit a preferred narrative, not everyone will agree with it—but if they don't have the know-how to counter or make their own changes, then our new version is the correct version."
"I never quite thought about it like that. Wait! What happens if two people practicing chaos magick fight each other?"
"The one with the strongest will wins. Well, in theory anyway. It would depend on all sorts of things like skill level, battle experience, affinities. That kind of stuff."
"Skill level? Like with the magick itself?"
Ikuye nodded with a grin, "Exactly. If your strongest spells are around Combat or Operation Class but I'm using Tactical or above Class magick, it doesn't really matter if your soul has a stronger tie to mama's magick."
The image of a certain snobbish fox declaring me as nothing more than a third-rate paladin came to mind.
I sighed, "Got it."
Ikuye patted me on the head and I felt as if I'd shrunken down and become a child.
"Sooo, if the magick is a manifestation of the will of one's own self—their soul. Then that self must exist somewhere, right?"
"Of course the soul exists somewhere. I've felt it a few times before, like casting the resurrection spell or when Capricorn performed her soul binding on me."
"Right! Now tell me, when you interacted on those levels, with your own soul, did it feel like you were communing with your own self, or did it feel like a foreign entity."
I was taken aback by her question and paused. It was my soul, right? Surely it was my own self…
Right?
Come on, Airis, think back on the resurrection. I felt a power from deep within. Like where the font of power from Capricorn is, but not quite the same place. As if two places existed in the same spot but separate?
Agh! I don't know how to explain this even to myself.
I tried to answer her question as best I could, "If I had to describe it, it feels like I'm drawing power from within my own self, but not from myself. Does that make sense?"
"Perfectly. That feeling is a dissonance between you and your Iteria."
"And there's that word again."
"I'm getting to it, don't be a brat!" Ikuye playfully pushed my shoulder, "If chaos magick is a way for your conscious wants or desires to manifest, then your Iteria is where the seeds of those wills come from. You could call it your subconscious, superego, ethos, whatever floats your fancy."
I felt the figurative gears in my mind grind to a halt and stared blankly at the girl.
She responded with a smile, "You seem confused."
"I am confused. You're talking about the inner workings of the human mind. The greatest scholars over centuries have struggled to understand this kind of stuff."
"We're not talking about the mind. I don't care about the primitive subconscious thoughts from there. This is something more than an urge to sleep, eat, and procreate. I'm talking about urges from your soul! The path you're supposed to follow as directed by our Gods, specifically whichever one watches over you."
Ikuye had a fiendish smile as she spoke, going on about the finer workings of the Celestials when they created souls.
She explained that her mother created each of her siblings to be completely unique in almost every way, and whether that was a good or bad thing was a heated circle of debate amongst them. Each of the Alaetüs was an Avatar of something.
Ikuye was the Avatar of Annihilation. Vita was the Avatar of Life. Mors, the Avatar of Death. The list went on as Ikuye rambled dozens of names before catching herself and moving on.
Their uniqueness was factored in many ways, from their personality, skill proficiency, affinity, et cetera.
Those differences were made plainly clear once the siblings began to unlock their Iteria, which Ikuye described as a field of interconnected stars deep within one's soul.
Each of these stars could be energized to become active and would grant some sort of power. The Alaetüs noticed that some of them had similar powers but in different places, and others had no related powers at all.
Many even had powers that seemed broken. Distorted stars that were warped beyond comprehension, with no way to power them.
This caused a stir within their ranks, but over time some of those with these, so-called, broken stars had managed to fix them. As time passed and they began to understand themselves, those stars changed in state.
I scratched my head trying to wrap my thoughts around what Ikuye had explained.
It felt like she glossed over quite a few key bits about her other siblings. Like missing the part where they were killing each other…
I won't push it right now, it hardly seems appropriate.
"Oh! One more super important thing." She held up a hand with a single finger raised directly at my face.
"All of that wasn't the super important part?"
"Of course it was, but there's one more thing you should know about how to gain more powers. It's the most important, probably."
I waited for her to continue but, she must have been waiting for me because I had to prod her to continue, "What is it?"
"You'll need to grow your soul's strength by defeating others more powerful than you!"
-✵-
The two of us departed the training grounds, though not before checking in on the rattled soldiers and confirming nobody has any lasting damages.
Ikuye had suggested we find a place where we wouldn't be disturbed. As she claimed the process for accessing one's Iteria required a clear mind.
We entered the Citadel proper and headed towards the Commander's Quarters, which had now been turned into the new High Command.
I had expected to find just Luke or Hanna inside, instead an abrupt shouting to call the room to attention startled me as a dozen officers scrambled up from their desks and stood in salute.
"At ease," I commanded in a low voice, "I'll be occupying the meeting room for some time and do not wish to be interrupted unless it's an emergency. Continue as you were."
Ikuye and I shuffled quickly to the room beyond amidst the clamor of everyone returning to work.
The door closed behind us and Ikuye fiddled with the lock. After a small flash of light, she turned toward me with a satisfied grin, "I've secured and sound-proofed the door. If someone tries to open it I'll be alerted by the spell. Nothing can disturb us here, so you can enter your Iteria with no worries."
I took a seat at the farthest point from the door and glanced around the room before settling my gaze on Ikuye.
I really got swept up in whatever she wanted me to do…
With a heavy sigh I closed my eyes and started to focus inward, like I've done so many times before to reach that connection with Capricorn. This time, however, I purposefully ignored the font of magick that enshrouded my own power.