Материал из ЭнциклопАтис
“The homin in black stared at Pü with sparkling eyes. The Zorai bowed and adopted a posture identical to that of his adversary, placing his sword at hip height, pointing towards him, and his rondache at chest height, slightly tilted to the side. For a few moments, he watched the Kami attentively, trying to guess his first move. Then a memory struck him: that of their very first duel.
Three years ago. Just over three years had passed since Pü had been transported to the Eternal Garden. Three years during which the divine creature had helped him develop his kamic powers. The aim was to make him as experienced a magician as Grandma Bä-Bä and his mother were. Admittedly, he was still a long way from matching them. But the results were there. It had all begun with that first duel, in which the Kami had not sought to defeat him, but simply to evaluate him. This was followed by a gesture as symbolic as it was essential for what was to come: the Kami delicately placed a claw on his forehead and, without any further ceremonial formality, gave him his blessing. The operation was remarkably brief and had no immediate effect Pü had felt nothing. On this occasion, the Kami had confirmed what he already knew, namely that the seed of life, buried in the brain of each homin, was what enabled them to imprint their will on the Sap, to manipulate it, and thus modify the properties of the spiritual particles that constituted and surrounded them. In other words, to practice magic. What he didn't know, however, was that the seeds of life were natively restrained. Limited in their abilities. In practical terms, blessing a homin therefore consisted in awakening his seed of life. Once the homin's potential had been unleashed, his mastery of magic could in principle reach a degree approaching that of the Kamis, albeit irremediably limited by the physical nature of his body. That was the theory…. For in practice, developing such powers required several lifetimes of hard labor. Pü had learned this at his expense: to scratch the surface of his potential, he had to like relearn how to walk.
Much of the learning involved training the mind, in the form of long meditative sessions. Although meditation was widely practiced in his tribe, often in association with prayer, Pü had never excelled at the exercise. Apart from moments of great danger, when losing concentration could have serious consequences, focusing on the present moment and preventing his mind from drifting from idea to idea, from navigating between the future and the past, had always seemed an arduous task to him. And yet, that was what it was all about: focusing on the here and now and expanding awareness of oneself and one's surroundings. Opening up to Atys to the point of being able to distinguish the network of Sap that irrigated it, and into which homins instinctively breathed their will in order to alter physical reality. Obviously, the learning process was gradual: feel the Sap flowing inside you, feel the Sap flowing around you, and finally visualize it flowing through matter in the form of a network of light that replaced the tangible world. The exercise was made easier by the Kami, who, with a simple physical touch, could temporarily heighten Pü's new senses.
For over two years, Pü did nothing but meditate. Over time, the length of his sessions increased, until they extended over several days without interruption. By developing his perceptive abilities, Pü found that it was now much easier for him to act on the spiritual particles that constituted and surrounded him. He had become more precise in the way he imprinted his will on the Sap that irrigated him, more conscious of what he was doing. While he had previously been able to strengthen certain parts of his body and heal his wounds instinctively, he now understood the underlying mechanisms and could use them for other purposes. Thus, when meditation enabled him to reach high levels of consciousness, he became able to do without food and water, using the Sap directly to nourish his metabolism. Unfortunately, this required great psychic stamina, which Pü did not yet possess. And even if, according to the Kami, his advances were exceptionally fast, the day when he would be able to stop eating for good was still a long way off.
Finally, it was only in the last year that the Kami began to include physical training and duels in Pü's apprenticeship. It was during this year that the Zoraï began to integrate his new skills into his martial arts practice. Insights into his own progress led him, for that matter, to some grim conclusions: by refusing to allow him to be blessed as a child, Grandmother Bä-Bä and his mother had deprived him of the gifts that could have saved them all. Or so he had convinced himself. Three years had passed since Pü had witnessed the massacre of his tribe. Three years in which his mental state had not improved. Three years in which one suicidal crisis followed another.
- "The Kami invites you to stay focused on the present moment, my boy. Like me, he perceives that the weight of the past weighs down your mind and that sinister thoughts overwhelm you."
Pü sighed. It had been a month since he'd last fought the Kami. And while all his training sessions were particularly grueling, none matched the intensity of these duels. If he was to avoid being knocked down at the slightest blow, the Zoraï had to give it his all. But he lacked motivation. His depressive state made everything difficult. He was weary and had long wanted stop that all. Yet he was still holding on. Thanks to the Voice. Trying to banish the thoughts parasitizing him, Pü closed his eyelids and took a deep breath. He then focused fully on the sensations in his body: the rhythm of his breathing, the softness of the grass beneath his feet, the weight of his sword in his left hand, that of the rondache on his right arm, the tingling of the straw strands that made up his loincloth, the rustling of the trees that outlined the clearing where he stood, the whistling of the wind, the song of insects, the distant cries of izams and the coolness of incipient drops on his skin. It was starting to rain. When he opened his eyes again, Pü looked at the unconventional posture the man in black had adopted. He had crouched down and placed his fists on the ground, spacing his arms shoulder-width apart. Pü understood what was going on as soon as he saw the Sap bubbling up in his opponent's legs, as well as in the arm holding the sword. Normally, when Pü probed the Kami with his new sense, he could distinguish nothing more than a homogeneous block of light. However, when the divine creature took on its human form, it went into such detail as to reproduce its anatomy. In this way, the Zoraï became able to distinguish the way the Sap circulated in his body. Without taking his eyes off the Kami, Pü tightened his guard, leaned forward slightly, spread his legs and lowered his center of gravity. He was ready.
- "Let the duel begin!" thundered the Voice theatrically.
As soon the signal issued, the homin in black propelled himself parallel to the ground towards Pü, sword brandished backwards. The manner and speed with which the divine creature leapt was unreal. The aim of these duels was not to offer Pü fair and realistic combat, but to subject him to trials as random as they were perilous, in order to force him to exploit his budding abilities in innovative ways. Pü, who had infused all he could of Sap into his right arm, managed to fend off the vertical, plunging attack with a rondache blow. Under the force of the impact, his feet sank into the ground. The Kami, who had been knocked back a few metres, was just as quick to charge again. This was followed by an acrobatic exchange of blows, during which the divine creature never ceased to use the powers of the Sap to push back the physical limits of her homine form, forcing Pü to constantly track the flow of energy. Watching the Kami leap like that, Pü thought back to his duel with the general Sirgio di Rollo ten years earlier, and the pirouette that had ensured his victory.
- "My boy, stay focused on the fight!"
Too late. The Kami's black sword severed his left hand, disarming him in the process. Pü cursed himself and chased away the parasitic memory. If he didn't retaliate within three seconds, the Kami would strike a decisive blow and the duel would end piteously.
Two.
Pü took a deep breath. The air charged with energy influx.
One.
He drew back his right leg, bent it, and brought his good arm against his right flank, as if preparing to throw the rondache hanging there.
Zero.
Pü shrieked and retaliated with a violent upward thrust of his rondache. But unlike the blow he had delivered at the start of the duel, a powerful shockwave of magic erupted as the rondache struck the Kami's sword. In less than three seconds, the spell Pü had just cast with one hand, without a magic-amplifying glove, propelled the homin in black some ten metres into the air. For a fleeting moment, the rain, which had gained in intensity during the sparring, even seemed to suspend itself around the Zoraï. This was yet another illustration of his growing ability to manipulate the Sap. With each passing month, he pushed further his mastery of the spells he had been taught as a child, and the use of amplifiers became less and less crucial. Taking advantage of the distance he had managed to create between himself and the Kami, the Zoraï stared at his left arm, focusing on its stump. The missing hand grew back in a flash. He then picked up his sword, ready to receive another assault from the Kami. Except that the Kami still hadn't fallen back. Raising his head, he found him levitating, much higher than where he had been thrown, hidden behind the curtain of rain now falling from the sky. The Kami, who had resumed his original appearance, was gaining altitude as he stared down at Pü, who managed to make out those big white eyes only up to a certain distance away. Although the divine creature had told him that he would one day be able to feel the Sap flowing over great distances, he was still far from being able to do so. Even so, Pü sheathed his weapons, knelt on the damp ground and closed his eyes. If there was one thing he'd learned in recent months, it was that there were no inappropriate times to meditate.
Regulating his breathing, he concentrated on his body, his immediate surroundings and, despite the distance, on the location of the divine creature. Before realizing that this was unnecessary. In fact, a distant but powerful whistling sound reached his ears, like a furious wind compressing the air. Pü reopened his eyes and looked up. He understood what the Kami was up to.
Magically generating fire required disposition of a material base. Thus, to form a fireball, one had customary to rub one's palms on the ground. By infusing the Sap flowing through his hands with the desire to see the sawdust clumped beneath his fingers ignite, the magician became able to modify the properties of the spiritual particles that made up the matter, and thus generate flames that he could project more or less far away. Although years of experience enabled the magician to modify this way of doing things, one condition remained: the use of solid matter as a starting point. However, having seen him at work on a single occasion, Pü knew that the Kami adopted a much freer approach. His technique consisted of two successive stages. The first consisted in absorbing air at breakneck speed and in unbelievable quantities, without his body undergoing the slightest deformation. The main consequence of such air compression was a significant increase in his internal temperature. The second step was to magically ignite the air inside his body - air, not solid matter, as homins were forced to do. The heat generated by compression in the first stage maintained a continuous flow of fire, which the divine creature could propagate in the form of gigantic incandescent waves. One of the side-effects of such air absorption, causing a temporary drop in atmospheric pressure around the Kami, was an intense hissing sound. This was what Pü had heard. The Zoraï stood up, unhooked his amplifying gloves from his belt and slipped them on. He wouldn't have needed to amplify his ability to manipulate the Sap in a simple duel, but this divine creature was a different kind of opponent. By the way, Pü felt she was taking unreasonable risks…
For, despite the mages' ability to control the heat of the fire they generated, as well as its burning capacity, Atys, made up exclusively of plant matter, remained a world prone to uncontrollable fires, . At least, this was what homin societies, most of them pyrophobic, believed. Only the Fyros people, who had elevated the mastery of fire to an art, seemed to have triumphed over this instinctive fear, deeply fixed in every homin since birth. This made the Fyros Empire particularly dangerous, both for its enemies and for itself. The siege of Zoran by Fyros armies in 2328, which resulted in the burning down of the Great Library, and that of the Coriolis Amber Mines, this last caused by Fyros miners within the Empire itself, bear witness to this. During their lifetime, the ancestors of the Pü tribe also used to tell tales of how the dead stump in which they all lived had been destroyed by a Karavan fire-breathing machine. As protectors of Atys' ecosystems, the Kamis abominated fire. It was therefore unlikely that the Black Kami would push his training to the point of setting the Eternal Garden ablaze. However spectacular his magic might appear, it was likely that the combustion capacity of the flames he would generate would be kept to a strict minimum, and that he would take advantage of the pouring rain to limit their spread. No, it wasn't likely, it was certain… Well, was it really? Although Pü had overcome his instinctive fear of fire, one doubt remained. There was no such thing as zero risk. Especially as the Kami could easily vaporize the water falling from the sky, if he so wished. Pü therefore had to do everything in his power to parry the attack. In truth, this was the only reason which might explain why the divine creature had decided to generate fire, even though it was not at all his custom to do so: to encourage Pü to seriously consider this duel.
The Zoraï closed his eyes once more and concentrated intensely. He perceived the Sap circulating nearby and tried to imagine the billions of spiritual particles it irrigated, making up both the air he breathed and the vegetal carpet on which his feet rested. As a child, his mother had taught him that matter was made up of tiny physical and spiritual particles interacting with one another, and that temperature was intimately linked to their agitation in the vacuum that hosted them. The more mobile these particles were, the higher the temperature of the body they constituted. So when a homin breathed into the Sap his desire to see the sawdust under his fingers ignite, or the moisture in the air freeze, he was actually ordering the spiritual particles to cause the other particles to accelerate or slow down, without even knowing it.
Slow down. Cool down. Right now, Pü's mind was entirely governed by this idea. With his eyes still closed, he began a slow, methodical movement of his arms. Immediately, the spiritual particles he was stirring by the billions responded to his mental command and broadcast it. The temperature dropped abruptly, a biting cold descending around him. On the ground, soaked grass and moss were covered in frost, while the colorful flowers whose beauty the Voice so loved to praise were immobilized in a frozen embrace. Ice crystals formed in the air as the rain turned to snow and hail, weaving a shimmering veil between the Zorai and the Kami's distant, glowing radiance. The incandescent attack was imminent, Pü knew. There was no time to lose. So he raised his focus to an intensity never seen before. Through the Sap, the spiritual particles responded to his will and instantly crystallised the clearing where the duel was taking place into an immaculate white landscape. The temperature, which had just dropped several notches, was pushing Pü to the limit. He had been doing his best to keep his body at a certain temperature, but now his magic was turning against him. He couldn't do it any more. The piercing cold was seeping into his bones, and his dark blue skin was paling visibly. From being the craftsman of this immaculate canvas he had created himself, Pü was gradually becoming an integral part of the work. He was becoming the missing piece in this frozen landscape. As his mind grew numb, the truth of the theory became clear. What if that was it? The solution. To let go. Slow down. Cool down.
In Pü's perception, the few moments that followed lengthened, freezing into a silent, frozen eternity. What he had wished for so many times over the last few months had finally arrived: he was as good as dead. So he didn't know how he perceived the decisive moment, engulfed in the darkness of unconsciousness, at the heart of a dream world imprisoned by ice. But he perceived it. His cold-hardened eyelids shattered as the divine creature expelled a gigantic flaming geyser towards the ground. Frozen in a mother-of-pearl vise, his eyes bloodshot, Pü looked up at the sky without the rest of his body moving. Giving all he could, he gave a final mental command to the sap flowing through him. Instantly, his will shot straight to the Kami's fiery tongue. The cold wave rose and the curtain of rain crystallized, forming a glittering fresco in its wake. A final vision of tranquility, a prelude to imminent chaos.
As expected, the two elemental forces collided, and the effect was cataclysmic. The impact generated an explosion of steam that propelled fragments of ice and glowing orbs dozens of meters into the surrounding area, echoing all the way to the heart of the Eternal Garden. Immediately, a thick, damp, whitish haze enveloped the space, fettering Pü's vision. The Zoraï, who had barely regained consciousness, was trying to extricate himself from his frozen prison without causing further damage to his body. He was aided in his task by a flaming rain that fell on him. Under normal circumstances, he would have tried to dodge such an attack, but at this precise moment, it seemed like a miracle. Not only did Pü have to melt the layer of ice covering his skin, he also had to repair the extensive damage left by the cold bite… A few seconds passed, and finally, pushed to the extreme of his ability to channel the Sap, the Zoraï collapsed to one knee. He was freed. Freed, but only partially restored. Out of breath, he threw his amplifiers to the ground, drew his sword and clutched his rondache to his right arm with difficulty. He was exhausted. He had never cast a spell of such power. And while he was stunned to have succeeded in countering the Kami's attack, the feat had drained him of all his strength. From now on, and probably until the duel was over, he could no longer rely on the powers of the Sap.
- "You're outstanding, my boy! That display of strength was simply breathtaking. I could never have imagined, just a few months ago, that you would reach such a level. However, while I must congratulate you, I would also like to remind you that this duel is not yet over. The remainder of the confrontation will probably be decided by force of arms, and will depend entirely on your determination. I place my trust in you."
But Pü wasn't determined. He was weary. What little motivation he had left was evaporating, like the ice that still covered his body in places. All around him, the clearing that had once glowed with greenery had turned into a devastated expanse, marked here and there by frozen patches and blazes, all surrounded by a dense, opaque mist. On closer inspection, this desolate landscape accurately reflected the condition in which he found himself, both physically and mentally. And despite this, his ordeal was far from over… Pü stood up, closed his guard and firmed his supports. It didn't matter whether he chose to give up or continue the confrontation: only the Kami would determine when this duel would end. A reality he had already experienced to his cost the past times. Aware of his inability to triumph, his only wish now was to see this confrontation come to a conclusion. To put a swift end to this umpteenth failure. To achieve this, he would have to fight with such tenacity that the Kami would not spare him. He would have to fight until he fell from exhaustion. To the brink of death. It was at this precise moment of reflection that the divine creature chose to emerge from the heights of the fog. Having reverted to its homin form, it attempted to strike him with a powerful upward heel strike, which Pü just managed to parry with his rondache. Leaning on the shield, the homin in black nevertheless managed to keep his balance and destabilize the Zoraï, who almost fell backwards. Landing gracefully in front of him, he took advantage of his loss of balance to strike him with a violent shin kick right in the ribs. Pü, unable to withstand the impact, was thrown several metres and crashed heavily to the ground. Unable to repair his wounds, he could only endure the pain. The homin in black, who could have seized the moment to deliver the final blow, froze instead. He stared at the Zoraï with his big white eyes. Then, a sword and a rondache materialized in his hands, and he finally began to advance towards him. Slowly. As Pü had expected, his opponent intended to keep the duel going as long as possible. He would have to endure this ordeal to the end. So he got up, despite the pain, and charged at him.
This was followed by a highly technical duel, during which Pu had to push his limits once again. Unable to heal himself, he welcomed the Kami's blade without batting an eyelid, when it managed to get past his guard and pierce his skin. Of course, he was aware that the blows dealt to him were perfectly controlled: the master wasn't trying to kill the disciple. Nevertheless, his attacks remained highly brutal. On a few occasions, he himself managed to scratch the Kami's black skin. A meagre success, given the scale of the task. All the more so as the fight dragged on and on, and the Zoraï was slowly losing his footing. Put end to end, the numerous gashes that pockmarked his body represented a substantial loss of blood. As the seconds ticked away, the decisive blow drew closer. With each spurt of blood, the imminence of coma threatened. Soon, he would be released from this interminable duel. The long-awaited moment would finally arrive. To close eyes. To rest.
For ever ?
Instantly, an oppressive vise gripped his throat and his heart flinched. Ending it all now seemed so easy. All he had to do was make the divine creature's blade pierce her heart. Especially since, as far as he knew, Kamis were not capable of bringing the dead back to life. Normally, when a death impulse took hold of Pü's mind, it was accompanied by a profound feeling of anguish, which prevented the act from being carried out. But this time, the anxiety disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. And if the Voice tried to intervene, aware that a new crisis was on the way, she strangely fainted, at once. Barely lucid, mechanically parrying the attacks of the homin in black, Pü stared haggardly at the creature's black mask. It was so like his father's. So like his own. At this thought, his opponent's skin turned blue, and he saw his image superimposed on that of the divine creature. In total confusion, on the verge of unconsciousness, Pü felt as if he were fighting his double. And his own reflection seemed pitiful. It was unbearable to see himself struggling to fulfill the destiny to which he was destined, when all those who mattered to him were no more. Was he condemned to endure this pain for the rest of his life? To be constantly reminded of the burden he had to bear every time he saw the reflection of his mask? No, the prospect seemed intolerable. He didn't mind becoming the Kamis' puppet, as long as his memory was erased and he was completely reinvented to become the prophetic warrior they dreamed of. Yes, there was no other choice. For he could no longer stand himself. But was he really ready to give up the memory of his mother and brother, however painful? Impossible, too. It was all he had left. So there was only one way out: end this miserable existence, here and now. Without further thought, and with a light heart, Pü threw himself against his duplicate's sword the moment it was raised. The moment the blade sank into his chest, a smile of relief lit up his mask.
- "My boy, can you hear me?"
Lying down on a fluffy pile of moss, Pü took a few moments to gather his memories. When the most recent ones came back to him, he instinctively ran his hands over his chest. No wounds. Nor on the rest of his body. So, he had for the first time actually tried to commit suicide, and had narrowly failed. Disoriented and nauseous, Pü struggled to his feet. His throat tightened as he spoke.
- "Can you tell me what happened after… you know?"
- "Hard to say, my boy. As you seemed to lose your footing, I tried to keep your consciousness awake and your concentration intact. But you didn't seem to hear me. You were like… somewhere else. Then suddenly, the homin in black rushed at you, chest out, as if looking for the wound. Your sword sank into his heart and you lost consciousness. As for the Kami, he returned to his original form, treated you and then vanished. He has also asked me to inform you that you are free to leave the Eternal Garden. According to him, you now have all the tools you need to wage the Sacred War on your own."
Stunned, Pü staggered back to his feet.
- "What? But that's not what I remember. It was… It was I who threw myself on his sword. I… I wanted…"
- "Yet that's not what happened, my boy. I can vouch for that. Given the state you were in, you must have been hallucinating. In fact, despite this inexplicable outcome, I'd like to offer you my congratulations. You've been remarkable every step of this way."
- "The Kami. He… he'll be back?" stammered Pü, still disoriented."
- "Certainly, my boy. He simply feels that he has completed your training. As promised, he intends to leave you free to forge your own destiny, and has no intention of interfering in the decisions of the Sacred Warrior. However, for reasons as yet unknown to me, a singular and exceptional link seems to unite you to him. For this reason, I am convinced that your paths will soon cross again."
— Bélénor Nébius, narrator
