Chapter 2: Soul and Spirit

Chapter 2



         I’ve read that on some of the other continents, humans use electricity (which I think is just their fancy word for fake lightning magic or something) to power machines that handle things for them, like cooking or preserving food. The machines and tools they make for those things, and the way they work is called “technology.” I find it all somewhat interesting, but not as interesting as the fact that they need those things. Aura forms like myself just use magic in some form or another. Humans don’t seem to fully grasp it though. Basically, magic can be defined as using aura - the essence of magic and lifeblood of the spirits - to alter or manipulate the forces of the world around you. Our kind are born knowing how to do that, and it took me a long time to realize that the reason humans don’t employ it as often, or as well, is because they aren’t born knowing it. Physically, aura forms and humans look almost exactly alike. Sure, we tend to have a little less muscle, and there’s… how to put it… a certain roughness you often see in human features that we aura forms don’t have. It’s something you wouldn’t really notice unless you were looking for it, but it’s there. Well, that’s what I read anyway, I haven’t met many humans, only the occasional traveler or merchant that comes passing through, usually on their way to Xander.

         While my mind wandered through all this, my body was busy preparing dinner, something I’ve done in my home for years, ever since I really got the hang of cooking. I guess you could say it was my chore, but, I enjoyed doing it, and I volunteered for it, so I’m not sure the word chore really fits. That night I was making spaghetti. I learned it, and most of the recipes I knew, from my mother, who knew a surprising amount about humans. I stirred the thick, red sauce in the large pot in front of me with the big wooden spoon in one hand while my other hand drifted to a round crystal protruding from the front of the oven. I used a tiny amount of aura to adjust the level of fire magic being put out by the larger crystal housed inside the oven, which was linked with the control crystal I touched. The oven itself, a box made of shining metal, which was a pain to keep clean sometimes by the way, greatly resembled human ovens, or so I’m told. Four circles on top marked places where the fire magic could be channeled to cook food, while more food could be placed inside the oven to be baked. Apparently human ovens have knobs and numbers and stuff to control the heat and cook the food, but I guess if you’ve never had those things, you don’t need them, because I almost never burned food, and knowing how intense the heat from the fire crystal needed to be was practically instinctive. My mom always told me cooking was a very imprecise art, and like any other form of magic, cooking was more about practice and putting your heart into it, than it was numbers and studying and… knobs and stuff, I don’t know, I forgot the second part of her quote, but you know what I mean.



         “You’re being awfully quiet, Natalie.” My mother’s voice sounded concerned behind me. She sat in a wooden chair at the round table behind me, one elbow resting on the light green tablecloth, supporting her head in her hand as she watched me. Our kitchen was just big enough to not feel cramped with the three of us eating together along with the table and cabinets and such. A few pictures hung on the walls, some of fruit, others of me proudly displaying food I learned to cook when I was younger. My hair was still the same color as my mom’s in most of them, which just looked weird to me now. My mom, Alice, had long, dirty blonde hair that was tied into a pony tail by a light blue ribbon, light blue eyes and pale skin much like mine, and was a bit taller than most women without being lanky or having sharp angles instead of curves. She was pretty, but she looked more wise and caring than beautiful. Despite the fact that she’s the one who first got Amy and me interested in human fashion, she normally wore clothing more typical of aura forms. That night she was wearing a slightly faded robe of deep purple with short sleeves, tied with a thin black rope at her waist. “Something on your mind?”

         I prodded the noodles in the second pot, checking to see if the boiling water had softened them enough, then turned town the heat to that heating circle. “Well, kind of. I mean I always think a lot, don’t I?”

         “Yes, you do.” My mom said with a shrug. “But normally, you’re talking about it as you think it, asking questions that you figure out for yourself half the time right after you ask them.”

         I didn’t answer immediately. I wasn’t sure if my mother knew about the energy forms who might be nearby. I wasn’t sure how she would react if I told her the Azure Demon might appear even tonight to attack our town. As I thought about him, a shudder went through me before I could stop it.

         Evidently my mother saw it. “Natalie, what’s wrong?”

         I took a steadying breath and answered quietly, “You remember about Sandra’s aunt, right? How Nina knows some really important people, and how she gets news about stuff happening elsewhere?” She nodded, and I continued. “Well today, Sandra told us that Nina got news of Guardian and… and the Azure Demon being close by.”

         “What?” My mother asked breathlessly.

         So she hadn’t heard. I thought that was weird. I mean, she was a teacher at the school. You would think that kind of news would get to important places like that somehow. “Guardian was in Barder, on the other side of the forest. The Azure Demon attacked and wiped them out, apparently.”

         My mother didn’t panic or get all scared like I did. She just sighed heavily, closed her eyes and leaned back in the chair with her arms crossed over her chest. “I see. Does Nina believe Guardian is heading this way?”

         I shrugged. “I don’t know. All Sandra said was that they were in the area, and that whoever Nina’s friends are, they plan to send some mages to Xander and here just to be safe.” I went back to stirring the sauce, but it was more to give myself something to do at the moment. The food was done cooking, and I lowered the heat to be just enough to keep it warm. “Even if they do though… do you think they can stop the Azure Demon?”

         “I don’t think he’s going to be a problem for us.” My mom answered with surety, and I turned to stare at her in confusion. “Guardian will attack if they are close enough, but not the Azure Demon.”

         “How do you know that?” I asked. “He’s killed so many people and destroyed entire cities just because he could. He’s a monster, Mom, why woul-”

         “That’s enough.” She snapped, her eyes opening and suddenly seeming angry. I stopped talking, more from the surprise than anything else. She sighed and shook her head, then looked back to me, perfectly calm, but serious. “You can’t believe everything you hear. The Azure Demon is powerful and dangerous, and those unlucky enough to be his enemies have every right to fear him. But people like you and I, and those in this town are neither considered a threat to him, nor should be considered threatened by him.”

         I blinked. I had never heard anyone say anything like that about the Azure Demon. It was always monster, demon, kills everyone, terror, so on and so forth. My mother was standing up for him. “But… he’s an energy form… and the worst one.”

         She raised an eyebrow. “Do you think being an energy form makes someone evil?”

         “Well, no, but… aren’t energy forms and aura forms enemies?” I asked. That’s what I had always read, and all the rumors I’d heard seemed to point to that.

         “We do seem to have a natural aversion to one another, given our respective natures. One could compare us to dogs and cats, who a lot of people believe hate each other by default.” She shrugged again and smiled casually. “I’ve seen many cats and dogs live peacefully together under the same roof though, and some even become good friends. It is true that on most of the continent, there is fighting between aura forms and energy forms, and occasionally humans get thrown into the battle as well. The Halo Family could most certainly want to spread the idea that energy forms are the enemy and should be eradicated, but just because it’s what the Archmage believes, that doesn’t necessarily make it true.”

         I finished preparing dinner as she spoke. I waved my hand and made a minor effort of magic at what appeared to be a tall box made of opaque, crystalline ice, and the front of it slowly faded away, like frost melting from a heated window. Inside were several racks holding various food and drinks, kept cold by the magic of the ice crystal embedded in the top on the inside. I got out a pitcher of tea, using two hands since it was a full pitcher and it was heavy. “The Archmage is the leader of the Halo Family, right? The most powerful mage on the planet from what I’ve read. And The Halo Family controls the upper three-fourths of the continent. Do you really think they would lie and spread propaganda like that? It seems so irresponsible.”

         “Yes. Yes I do believe that, without a shred of doubt.” My mother replied, rising and retrieving three glasses from the wooden cabinets above the water basin and oven. She had started using her teacher voice now, which always made her sound more proper and maybe a tad arrogant to someone who didn‘t know her. “But even if it weren’t just the Archmage, a great deal of hostility and animosity has existed between our races ever since energy forms first came to this world some centuries ago. Foolish prejudice and nothing more, and it’s that same ill-founded belief that drew you to the conclusion that energy forms are inherently evil, and that the Azure Demon is our absolute worst enemy. Not your stupidity of course, but stupidity nonetheless.”

         “I see… Mom, have you ever met an energy form?” I asked as I sat the pitcher on the table and went to retrieve plates.

         “I have. More than one actually, and so have you.” She replied, and I nearly dropped the plates as I stared at her with my mouth open. Mom just smiled and shrugged. “You probably believed they were just humans. Energy forms can conceal their energy and hide what they are.”

         I sat the plates on the wooden counter and turned fully toward her. New information about a race I knew almost nothing about, and not just book reading, but real, first-hand experience. My curiosity wasn’t piqued. It was jumping up and screaming to be answered. “Wait, what do you mean their energy? What is it exactly? And when did I meet one of them? And how did you know if they can hide it?”

         My mother laughed and picked up a plate, loading it up with noodles and then sauce. “Energy is the opposite of aura. It is the physical force, and the essence of the soul. As we aura forms are magically inclined people who can obtain and manipulate far more aura than a human can, energy forms are people whose souls are so powerful, they can instinctively draw power from it and use it through their physical bodies.” She picked up and began loading the next plate as I listened attentively. “Magic can be used to alter the world around us.” She pointed at the glowing light crystal hanging from the ceiling, currently bathing the room in a soft white glow. “For example, the crystals on the roofs of the houses draw in aura from the air, the light of day, the dark of night, from everything around it. Those crystals are linked magically to all the crystals in our appliances, such as the fire crystal in the oven, the light crystal in the ceiling, and the ice crystal in the cooling box, and the enchantments laid on them allow us to use that aura to generate heat, cold, light, or whatever else we may need. In combat, magic can also be used to attack someone with the elements of the world itself, such as hurling a ball of fire, or making stones rise up and strike.”

         “Energy forms do that without aura? Do they use technology like humans?” I asked quickly.

         My mom considered that for a moment, then shrugged. “I suppose that depends on their preference as a person, but no, energy forms do not use aura. In fact, they are incapable of it. With training, they may be able to harness aether as humans instinctively do, which is a combination of aura and energy, but neither they nor humans can use pure aura like our kind can. The ‘soul arts’ they perform, which is to them what magic is to us, use energy. A soul art is a technique or ability that draws power from an energy form’s soul to work, and it allows them to do things like increase the power of their muscles, transform parts of their body, or simply attack with the power of the soul itself.”

         “So…magic is the ability to use aura to change the world around you, and soul arts are the ability to use energy to change yourself?” I guessed.

         My mother put the three plates on the table, pondered for a moment, then nodded. “Simply put, yes.”

         Well that was interesting. I was very curious exactly what kind of other soul arts my mom might have known about, but I was even more curious about something else she had said earlier. “You said energy forms can conceal the power of their soul and hide what they are, right? So how could you tell energy forms passed through the town?”

         Mom filled the glasses with tea (only using one hand to do so. I guess she was a little stronger than me) and returned the pitcher to the cooling box, idly waving a hand at it and sealing it closed again. “Looking at them physically, there’s no way to do it. Their bodies are identical to humans unless they will them otherwise using their soul arts. However, if you know what to look for, and have had enough time to recognize it, you can see through their disguise. Not by sensing them as our kind sense the spirits of our own and differentiate them from the spirit of a human. It’s something more subtle, more an art than a science.” She paused to consider her words, pursing her lips to one side, then continued. “It’s in their eyes. A person’s eyes are like windows into their core, both their spirit and their soul. If you know what to look for, you can recognize an energy form by the look of their eyes.”

         “Wow…” I answered, feeling dumbstruck. How did my mom know so much about energy forms? Why had I never asked her about them before? Why was all this not in any of the books I’ve read? I didn’t even care that I might be in danger anymore, because at the moment my mind was too busy sorting and admiring all the shiny new knowledge I had acquired. The essence of the soul, and the soul arts energy forms used, and this mysterious quality of the eyes… it all sounded to me like… well, it sounded like what magic does to many humans. Something grand and mysterious, something I felt like I could probably understand if I could just get a good grasp of it, could just see it all first-hand. But mostly it just felt like something new and exciting to discover more about.

         Just then the front door opened, and my mind shoved all its new information away for later review. “Welcome home, Daddy!” I know that may sound childish to call him Daddy instead of Dad or Father, but he’d always been Daddy to me, and it just never occurred to me to call him anything else.

         “Hello, hello!” My dad’s voice sounded as he shut the door. It was a soft, but manly voice, one that was both gentle and strong at the same time. Of course I might just think that because that’s how I viewed my dad, but it was still true, to me at least.

         “Natalie made spaghetti, James. You’re just in time.” My mother called.

         “I knew it was a good day.” He replied. Two thunks sounded as he removed his boots at the front door, then he emerged into the kitchen looking cheerful, but tired. He kind of had a runner’s build, mostly lean and lightly toned. He wore a light brown robe with pants beneath it, and had dark brown hair combed to one side, and a big mustache. I hugged him in greeting as he entered, then he went to my mother and exchanged a light kiss with her.

         “How was work?” Mom asked.

         “Busy.” Daddy shook his head and blew out a breath. “There’s a lot going on, and getting ready for it all is proving to be a lot more complicated than it should be.”

         It was a vague answer, but he always answered like that about work. I didn’t know what he did, because he said it was something that was apparently very secret, something knowing about could put me in danger. I bet he told mom though. “Sounds like a pain.” I said consolingly.

         He shrugged. “It is what it is.”

         The three of us sat down and ate dinner. I thought the sauce could have used just a bit more seasoning, maybe a little more oregano, but Daddy insisted it was perfect, as always. They chatted about little things, like Mom’s students, and silly stuff Daddy’s friends did, and how summer was heating up quicker than usual. I just vaguely listened while eating and letting my mind roam over its newfound knowledge. Some little part of my mind was nagging me that something was off though. I couldn’t quite place it, but something just didn’t seem right about the way my dad was acting. Had he been holding mom’s hand the whole meal? Did I imagine the fork clinking a little when his shaky hand picked it up? Did his eyes keep going to the window, mostly covered by light green curtains, as if he expected something to appear on the other side of it? Those questions were drowned out though, as my mind conjured up a person using a soul art to climb up a wall like a spider. That would be a really cool power. I imagined a teenage man in red and blue doing it, probably wearing a mask so people wouldn’t know who he was and try to hurt his family. I bet he’d have a cool nickname if that was his specialty, something like… the Man-Spider… Nah, that was just silly. It was fun to think about though.