As the days rolled on, it felt like he was moving in the wrong direction, further from success than when he first started practicing. He pulled out his starlight cloak, letting it wrap itself around him for comfort. That ability had come so easily.
“Essence abilities should come naturally,” Rufus told him, when Jason asked for advice. “This kind of problem you’re having usually appears when people are getting in their own way. In your world, abilities like this aren’t possible, are they?”
“Definitely not.”
“It may be there’s a part of you that still thinks it’s impossible,” Rufus said. “Your new instincts, conflicting with your old ones. A teleport power affects you more than your other powers; it consumes you, in a way. Perhaps you feel that and instinctively draw back, like flinching from a hot stove.”
“So, what do I do?”
“Instead of focusing on yourself, focus on your surroundings. Farrah has been teaching you to project outside of yourself with your aura. Use that. Probe the shadows. Instead of trying to use them, just try and understand them. What they are, what you can do with them. Right now, you have this idea in your head of what shadows are, but a power telling you something different. Until you resolve that conflict, using that power will remain out of reach.”
“You picked the basics of aura manipulation up quickly,” Farrah told Jason. “You’re slow and somewhat crude with it, but that’s to be expected. The only way to smooth the rough edges is with experience. There’s no substitute for practice.”
Jason nodded. They were in Jory’s yard, sitting face-to-face on meditation mats.
“Now you have a grasp of the fundamentals,” Farrah said, “it’s time to show you the last aspect of aura manipulation.”
“I didn’t think it would be this quick.”
“The basics of aura manipulation are exactly that. Like all essence abilities, there’s an instinctive understanding. The real difference between the capable and the incompetent is keeping up the practice. Practice is the only real secret to mastery.”
“No shortcuts.”
“No shortcuts,” Farrah agreed. “Now we’re moving on to the third aspect of aura manipulation. You can perform projection and restraint to acceptable levels, so next comes suppression. Like the other aspects, the description is right there in the name: you use your aura to suppress the auras of others. It really only works against people weaker than you, but it can be useful when you need to show dominance.”
“Alright.”
“This is a little trickier to pick up,” Farrah explained, “because there isn’t anyone weaker than you to practise on. Even normal people won’t be far below your aura strength until your spirit attribute gets stronger. At this point I’m really just showing you, rather than teaching you. It’s something you need to know about, if only to be prepared when others use it on you.”
“So, you’re going to suppress my aura?” Jason asked. “Let me get a feel for it?”
“Exactly,” Farrah said. “It can be a disconcerting experience, so it’s best you learn what you’re in for.”
“Alright,” Jason said. “Hit me.”
“Here I go,” Farrah warned.
She expanded her aura, clamping onto Jason’s and suppressing it, pushing it forcefully into his body. She looked at Jason, watching for reactions. He pulled out a small paper bag, popping a few glazed nuts into his mouth.
“Is that it?” he asked.
“Um, yes. You are feeling that, right?”
“Yep,” he said, holding out the bag. “Want some? I don’t know what they put on these nuts, but it’s really good.”
With a confused expression, Farrah reached out and took a couple of nuts from the bag.
“They are good,” she agreed. She looked at Jason, still under the effect of her aura suppression. “Are you alright?”
“Feels normal.”
“Most people find having their aura suppressed to be supremely unnerving,” Farrah said. “It leaves them feeling vulnerable and exposed.”
“Yeah, I noticed that.”
“I thought you said it feels normal?”
“That is normal,” Jason said. “I arrived in this world with no idea where I was, how I got there or why. I was literally trapped in a maze, naked, fighting monsters and dodging cannibals. Compared to how vulnerable and exposed that left me, you think giving me the evil eye will put me off my knitting?”
He let out a low chuckle.
“Ever since that day,” he said, “the more I learn, the more I realise that everything I knew or believed was either woefully incomplete or flat-out wrong. I’ve almost died several times, and there’s no telling when something will come along to finish the job. I’ve been dragged into circumstances in which I am both impotent and insignificant. I have precious-little understanding the world around me, and even less control. I’ve been living with that for every waking moment since I arrived here. So you making me feel vulnerable is like throwing sand on the beach. I only noticed the change because I watched you do it.”
One of luxuries of the suite Farrah shared with Rufus and Gary was the balcony terrace overlooking the ocean. There was enough outdoor furniture to serve as a private dining area, so Farrah carried a large tray of food from the dumbwaiter out to the table where Rufus and Gary were already seated.
“What about Jason?” Gary asked.
“Still trying to get his shadow teleport to work,” Farrah explained as she sat down.
“I’ve seen this kind of problem before,” Rufus said. “He’ll work past it, sooner or later.”
“I think it’s possible we may have overlooked some of what he’s going through,” Farrah said.
“Really?” Gary asked. “It seems like he’s doing fine.”
“He does throw himself into things like he’s looking for a distraction,” Rufus said. “You were going to suppress his aura today, right? Did he react badly?”
“He didn’t react at all,” Farrah said. “Working for the Magic Society, I’ve taught a lot of people to use their auras, but I’ve never seen that before.”
“You think there’s something behind it?” Rufus asked.
“He said it didn’t affect him because that’s how he feels all the time. He’s isolated and alone to a degree that I’m not sure I can get my head around.”
“He has us,” Gary said.
“But from his perspective,” Farrah said, “we’re another part of the strangeness. We can propel his boat, but we can’t be his anchor.”
“Have we been pushing him too hard?” Gary asked.
“No,” Rufus said. “If anything, I suspect the structure we’ve given him is what’s propped him up for this long.”
“Then what do we do?” Farrah asked.
“What we have been doing,” Rufus said. “The stronger he becomes, the more in control he will feel. You both know what I’m talking about—that feeling of power as your abilities grow. Normally you have to stop people from running off like they’re invincible, but hopefully it makes Jason feel more secure.”
“Maybe we should start showing him around a bit,” Gary suggested. “Let him see this world isn’t all cultists and monsters. Remember the villages we passed through? He seemed a lot more relaxed around normal people, so maybe a little dose of ordinary is exactly what he needs.”
“Are you saying we aren’t normal?” Farrah asked.
“I’m normal,” Gary said. “You two can be kind of intense.”
“It’s a good idea,” Rufus said. “I’ll be administering the field testing for next month’s Adventure Society intake. I’ll need to start preparing in a few days, and then I’ll be gone for a week. Relax the training while I’m gone.