Plus, she was nice. And she smelled good. Like mint and something sweet...
“Oboli for your thoughts?” Clem asked as she caught up to me on the way to our early morning martial arts class. “Must be something serious judging by the thunderheads on your forehead.”
“You know me,” I said with a chuckle. “Lots of stuff to think about.”
“Don’t strain anything,” Eric said as he threw a fake punch into my shoulder. “You’re not a bookworm like Clem.”
“I’m not a bookworm,” my pink-haired friend snapped back. Then she grinned. “Okay, I am.”
We all chuckled at that, and Clem winked at Eric to show him there were no hard feelings. We entered the dojo together, still laughing.
Kyle stopped chatting with the small group of classmates around him the instant he saw me enter the dojo. He raised one hand to wave me over, and watched me intently as I headed in his direction.
My stomach tightened into a knotted fist, and my core reared like a cobra about to strike. Kyle was the only one who could have possibly known what I’d really done to him. If he hadn’t been too rattled by all the strength leaving his body, he might have noticed me drain the aspects out of his technique and the jinsei from his core. If he had, there’d be questions.
My core grumbled inside me, urging me to finish what I’d started and put the Disciple in the ground. Its logic was sound; if I’d killed Kyle, he wouldn’t be around to tell people what I’d done.
But I wasn’t a murderer. I held my temper in check, braced myself for a confrontation, and walked over to the group with a fake smile plastered across my face.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“Me, finally,” Kyle said with a laugh. “You’re going to have to show me what you did to me. It really knocked me for a loop.”
“It wasn’t all that impressive,” I said, doing my best to downplay what had happened. “I redirected your attack with my serpent. You had expected to discharge your technique into my face. When that didn’t happen, you must’ve lost control of it and all the jinsei used to activate it. That kind of shock can take down even a trained fighter.”
“Ha,” Kyle said. He scratched the side of his chin, tilted his head, and considered what I’d said. “I guess that makes sense. I’ve never thought about it like that, but I really did put everything into that punch.”
“And that is why I asked you to only fight at half strength,” Professor Song said wryly as he sauntered over to us. “Had you been more restrained, Jace would not have had to respond so harshly, and you would not have been injured.”
“I really am sorry,” I said to both my professor and fellow student. “It wasn’t my intent to hurt anyone.”
“I’m fine,” Kyle said. “It didn’t even leave a bruise, just made me want to stay in bed all day yesterday.”
“It took your core some time to replenish the jinsei you wasted on that technique,” the professor said. “It could’ve been much worse. You were lucky. Next time, you may not be.”
With that, Professor Song bowed to us and took his place at the head of the class.
“Good morning, students,” he called. “Line up. Ten wide, five deep. Let’s hustle. We have a lot to discuss today.”
I ended up sandwiched between Clem and Abi, with Eric in the row ahead of us. I’d have preferred to be at the back of the group, where I wouldn’t be surrounded by other students who could irritate my Eclipse nature, but my friends had other ideas, and we ended up in the middle of the pack. I took a deep, cleansing breath, purified my aura, and sternly reminded the dark urge to not eat anyone.
“While your serpents, core, and aura are all separate,” Professor Song continued, “the true sacred artist uses all three of these tools in unison. Every path will of course have a focus on one area or another, but it is only the fusion of all that will allow you to realize your potential.”
The professor demonstrated what he meant in a flurry of motion. With a single deep breath he inhaled jinsei loaded with wood aspects from the walls, resilience from the floor, and even light from the globes that illuminated the dojo. I was surprised by how much he’d been able to gather from the air he breathed. I could only glean that many aspects by using my Eclipse core to tear them out of my surroundings. That caused a lot of damage. If I could learn how to do it the way Professor Song had, it would be much, much easier to hide my nature.
Our professor filled his aura with the aspects he’d harvested. Wood strengthened it like natural armor. He pushed the resilience aspects into his serpents, which coiled around him like a living wall. A split second later, the light aspects combined with Professor Song’s unique aspect, and his fusion blade burst to life. He twirled the slender, elegant weapon over his head before he brought it down with its tip an inch away from the front rank of students, who gasped in surprise.
“This is the heart of martial arts.” Professor Song banished his fusion blade and serpents as quickly as he’d summoned them. “When you’re truly in tune with yourself and understand your own abilities, the three fragments of your Empyreal essence will work together as one.”
A skinny guy with thick glasses and a tangled mop of black hair raised his hand. His arms were so scrawny that his robe fell down all the way to the shoulder, and I wondered if he was getting his fair share of the food in the dining hall.
“Yes, Mr. Lynn,” the professor said. “What is your question?”
“How do we know which martial arts path to pursue?” the skinny guy asked. “I know
