Last Command of the Witheld Arc 1: Rebirth

Griffin Tucker, Great House Scion, Reborn lvl 1

Mount Discovery, Province of Aragonia

“So, this tensa… It’s like, what, magic or manna?” Griffin asked. “You said ‘arcane’ as in spells and magic?

“That is a primitive understanding of the forces involved—calling it magic will likely get you laughed at—and I think ‘manna’ is a culturally significant word for you and not for me. My lexicon indicates that the term ‘manna’ seems to indicate a religious connotation that does not apply.”

Griffin opened his eyes, raising an eyebrow, “Are you a computer or something? Nobody talks like that.”

“I thought we’d already established that I’m a subroutine of the System. My function is System Eidolon. That means that I assist you with all aspects of your career as a Reborn. Our association will last quite a long time, assuming you live of course. Keep your eyes closed.”

He closed his eyes again. “Isn’t there something I should be doing right now? I mean besides sitting and closing my eyes. Where’s Sarah?” He opened his eyes to see Kismet glaring at him, arms crossed.

“Keep your eyes closed!” She said testily, “I’m trying to teach you something important!”

He was about to protest and get up, but he realized he had no better idea, and at least Tiny Sarah—Kismet—was telling him things. He couldn’t understand much of what she said, but he could close his eyes. He did. “Good. Now, this first time will be the most difficult, but it should get easier from there. Try to clear your mind. The clearer it is, the easier it will be for you to feel what I’m describing. I’ll wait.”

Griffin tried to do what she said, but so much had gone on and his head was in a whirl still. Every time he tried to stop thinking about things, another thought or twelve crowded in, all yelling for attention. He sighed angrily and gritted his teeth, trying to force away the stray thoughts. “Stop. This isn’t working,” Kismet said. “We’ll have to try another method. It’s fortunate for you—again! —That your benefactor provided you with a System Eidolon like me because if you were stuck with a GUI, you wouldn’t be able to have any of this quality instruction!

“Now close your eyes again, but instead of trying to clear your mind, I want you to imagine a room…” Kismet’s voice—Sarah’s voice, but oddly different—grew softer and started to have a very rhythmic quality as she began guiding Griffin through imagining a room for them both to sit in, something comfortable where he’d feel safe.

It was late afternoon on a weekend at Benito’s Pizza. Hot summer sun streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the tiny pizzeria, casting the restaurant in shades of gold and vibrant yellow. Griffin opened the glass door and walked in, looking up at the little brass bell as it rang. Way in the back was that weird big fake plant in the corner by the two old pinball machines in the “Kidz Korner” and old spaghetti Western movie posters on the walls. The delicious smell of baking pizza was heavy in the air and Frank Sinatra crooned tinnily from the little boombox in the kitchen.

He'd gotten every detail right, down to the plastic red-and-white checkered tablecloths on each of the small, wobbly tables. Sarah was there, sitting at one of those tables looking with interest at a big shaker full of crushed red pepper. She was full-sized now. But no, Griffin knew the woman seated at the table wasn’t Sarah. Oh, she looked just like her, but she acted nothing like Sarah. It was weird.

Griffin looked around at the pizzeria, bemused as he sat down at the table with Kismet. He felt his stomach rumble with hunger as the smell of Benito’s really hit home. “So why are we sitting here in Benito’s? I think I might be willing to kill for some of their garlic knots and a Dr. Pepper, so if that’s something that we can do, then I’m all ears.”

Kismet stood up from the table and looked around, nodding at each little detail she uncovered. “Garlic knots are a kind of food, right? And why would you want a doctor?” Griffin just waved his hand, not bothering to explain.

Kismet shrugged and returned to her inspection. “This is good! I can see that you have some creativity and attention to detail. That will help.” She turned to face the sunny windows and smiled. “This detail, in particular, is quite interesting. Do you notice anything about the sunlight?”

Griffin frowned and was about to say no, but then he stopped, cocking his head to one side as he considered. Odd. It did feel a little different. It was hard to put your finger on it, but it felt like it was somehow warmer than it should be, or more real than the otherwise day-dreamy quality that the pizzeria had. “Yeah, I think I see what you mean,” he said, “what is it?”

“That is your dim mental reflection of your tensa pool. All living things have a tensa pool, but a Reborn’s tensa pool is vastly greater than any non-Reborn. Even now, your mind is attempting to incorporate this new facet of your being with your sense of self—it’s why you unconsciously incorporated in as the sunlight here.” She held her hand up in the light and motes of dust seemed to float around her hand and sparkle in the sunlight. “At this point, it’s still unconscious, but as you pay more and more attention to it, its nature will slowly become more and more apparent. And you’ll feel what to do.”

Griffin cocked an eyebrow at her and held his hand up in the sunlight. When he did, almost immediately, the quality of the sunlight seemed to change so that he was no longer holding his hand in the afternoon air, but rather a heavy, glowing smoke. He waved his hand around in it and it responded to his touch. The light swirled around his fingers, curling around them. Where it touched his skin, it left a lovely warm sensation. Once he set it moving by waving his hand around in it, the smoky light seemed to gain even more substance, glowing even brighter and rippling like oil in water.

The light—he supposed it was tensa—kept moving around, swirling and glowing. As it moved, he felt the warmth in him build. It wasn’t an unpleasant sensation, and he ran his hand through the light again, causing it to swirl and cascade around his fingers. That warmth built even more, feeling like heat. It was odd… it was hot enough that it should be uncomfortable, but the more he moved it, the more the heat built and the more he wanted to move it.

The heat built upon itself in intensity from moment to moment, but he couldn’t stop moving his hand through the light. His perception of the restaurant faded as he found his concentration entirely taken by the golden swirling light. Griffin didn’t even have to move his hand through it anymore. He could just swirl it around with his mind. “That’s it!” Kismet’s voice cut into his focus. “Now, listen very closely. You have begun a process which can never be undone.” Her voice was low and intense. “The path that you burn within you for the first time is vital. Follow my instructions and, whatever you do, do not waver.”

Griffin swallowed and nodded, feeling the light respond to his will. It surged and swelled within him, eager to do his bidding. He directed it as Kismet told him, slowly washing it through his entire body in the tortuously slow patterns she insisted on. He felt like he was engraving his entire insides with a hot copper wire but instead of the heat burning him with pain, it very nearly edged into ecstasy. It felt like his whole body was waking up from a long and restful sleep while at the same time getting badly sunburnt. Or baked. Maybe microwaved, but from the inside out.

It's like in Dune, Griffin thought, feeling panic grow in him, heat upon heat upon heat…But why doesn’t it hurt? It did in a way. He realized he was screaming, dimly. The heat made its slow way through every facet of his being. But that was far away in his physical body and here, in his imaginary Benito’s Pizzeria, he was lit up like an incandescent lightbulb as he drew the sunlight into himself in a greedy stream it finally completed its entire cycle.

He barely felt like he was in control as the light no longer inched its way through his body but now raced in a raging torrent. As it sped up though, it became more stable. The heat built, true, but as it did, he felt life and strength enter him in a flood. It was exhausting and exhilarating. He felt like he was getting drenched in hot water and then ice-cold water all at once and constantly. Eventually, the sensation lessened, and the light was now going so quickly he could no longer track its progress by feeling it. The heat settled into a warm glow that centered itself right behind his diaphragm.